Marcus Chown's extraordinary account of how scientists unravelled the mystery of atoms, and helped to explain the dawn of life. It is one of the greatest detective stories in the history of science. In fact, it is two puzzles intertwined, for the stars contain the key to unlocking the secret of atoms, and the atoms the solution to the secret of stars.

Our all-time bestselling title, this classic and powerful novel spanning three generations of a Slovak immigrant family has been adopted for course use in more than 250 colleges and universities nationwide. Out of This Furnace, is Thomas Bell's most compelling achievement. Its story of three generations of an immigrant Slovak family - the Dobrejcaks - still stands as a fresh and extraordinary accomplishment. The novel begins in the mid-1880s with the naive blundering career of Djuro Kracha. It tracks his arrival from the old country as he walked from New York to White Haven, his later migration to the steel mills of Braddock, and his eventual downfall through foolish financial speculations and an extramarital affair. The second generation is represented by Kracha's daughter, Mary, who married Mike Dobrejcak, a steel worker. Their decent lives, made desperate by the inhuman working conditions of the mills, were held together by the warm bonds of their family life, and Mike's political idealism set an example for the children. Dobie Dobrejcak, the third generation, came of age in the 1920s determined not to be sacrificed to the mills. His involvement in the successful unionization of the steel industry climaxed a half-century struggle to establish economic justice for the workers. Out of This Furnace is a document of ethnic heritage and of a violent and cruel period in our history, but it is also a superb story. The writing is strong and forthright, and the novel builds constantly to its triumphantly human conclusion.

Rebekah and Patrick, burned-out newspaper journalists from the USA and England, were captured by the generous spirit they found the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail. They sold up their American lives and moved to Spain in 2006, to a town of twenty farmers inthe middle of the 500-mile, thousand-year-old pilgrim road. They did their best to catch the ancient rhythms of seedtime, harvest, pig-stickings and saints' days.The year 2010 was a Holy Year, when more than 300,000 pilgrims walked to the shrine city of Santiago de Compostela. Some stayed at Peaceable Kingdom, the farmhouse where the couple offered a night's food and lodging in exchange for whatever the pilgrim wanted to give. They were nuns, bums, Oxford dons, mystics, fugitives, hippies, and lunatics, as well as greyhounds, barn cats, roosters, and donkeys. Most moved on after a day or two, but some came to stay."A Furnace full of God" is their story.

Diamonds in the Water explores the life of Windsor Langford Waterbury III, born in 1901 into a wealthy and privileged New York family and trained to become an empathetic and worldly respected physician. Early on, he is guided and directed by dear family members and close friends who instill a revered ethical standard in him. He was taught to use his hands as well as his mind to gain an appreciation for the sufferings of others, the value of hard work, and the distinct philanthropic use of money. By all accounts, his life appears perfect. As the story unfolds, the reader will come to realize that Dr. Waterbury’s life is anything but unblemished. He faces many challenges, including malicious manipulation, life-threatening illness, great love loss, and the unexpected and delayed revelation of a family secret about his highly regarded and influential grandfather. This secret offers curiosity and intrigue; it also precipitates the scrutinizing review of Dr. Waterbury’s life as he shares his grandfather’s memoirs with close family and friends. Throughout the novel, the author created characters who effortlessly encounter and interact with actual historical figures and events, who observe the emergence of scientific and technological discoveries, and whose lives are affected by the economic and social conditions of the time and place. Although the characters represent the full spectrum of fundamental personality expression, there will be a remarkably distinguished few who promote a better life experience for others. Like the world’s rarest, most precious diamonds, these distinct spiritually bound participants are resilient, unalterable, and priceless. And like the ongoing river waters seeking entry to the vast oceans, they individually continue their journey despite the obstacles and unpredictable turns; they are willing to move over, under, or around them to follow their path to its destination, shimmering and connected to life’s true forces.

Freshly recovered from the hellflame grizzly attack, Sarasa, along with new team members Iris and Kate, gets to work reopening her shop just in time for summer. She develops a cooling hat as a product to sell to the villagers...but it’s a bit too pricey for the town’s barter economy! Just as she’s about to crack the economic code and generate her most popular product yet, another alchemist shows up, one who gets in the way of her buying one of the hat’s main ingredients, icefang bat fangs. She who controls the ice controls the summer! The battle for commerce in South Strag is on!

This is the story of the cosmic background radiation, the "afterglow" of the Big Bang in which the Universe was born. Fifteen billion years after the event, the afterglow still permeates all of space, making it the oldest relic in creation and providing an imprint of the Universe as it was in its infancy. But the most astonishing thing about the afterglow of creation is that it wasn't discovered until 1965, and then only by accident - despite the fact that it had been predicted in 1948 and the technology to detect it existed during World War II. Chown brilliantly weaves a tale of the search for the origins of the Universe. Beginning in the 1920s and culminating with the flight of the COBE satellite and what it found, this book uncovers the secrets of the Universe.