Contains 250 questions and answers about astronomy, particular for the amateur astronomer.

From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Secret World of Weather and The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs, learn to tap into nature and notice the hidden clues all around you Before GPS, before the compass, and even before cartography, humankind was navigating. Now this singular guide helps us rediscover what our ancestors long understood—that a windswept tree, the depth of a puddle, or a trill of birdsong can help us find our way, if we know what to look and listen for. Adventurer and navigation expert Tristan Gooley unlocks the directional clues hidden in the sun, moon, stars, clouds, weather patterns, lengthening shadows, changing tides, plant growth, and the habits of wildlife. Rich with navigational anecdotes collected across ages, continents, and cultures, The Natural Navigator will help keep you on course and open your eyes to the wonders, large and small, of the natural world.

We can't escape them; aliens are everywhere. They sell us soft drinks and star in their own sitcoms. But to the many people who believe they have been abducted aboard strange crafts, aliens are a very serious reality. Stories of these encounters, taken from investigators' files, have been vividly depicted in television specials and motion pictures. Despite their predominance as a cultural phenomenon, experts offer drastically conflicting opinions: aliens are harmless creatures whose aim is to better understand humans; aliens are angel-like entities here to enhance our spiritual awareness; aliens are conspiring with the government in a plot to enslave humans; and aliens are genetically breeding with humans to create a new race of hybrids. But, what is really going on? Are aliens abducting thousands of unsuspecting people each year? Are they then inserted with tracking devices and monitored? Based on his own investigative files and almost twenty-five years of research, science writer Chris Rutkowski asks hard questions, looking critically, yet compassionately, at the stories of abductees. He is an astronomer, educator and published commentator within the area of study known as "ufology." Rutowski presents case histories of many abductees, showing both their diversity and similarities, and examines how our understanding is shaped by media, by science, and by society itself.

“Although the benefits of this study to scholars are obvious, this thought-provoking mixture of scholarly and colloquial will enlighten inquisitive general readers, too.” — Library Journal (starred review) The classic study of the creative process from the bestselling author of Flow. Creativity is about capturing those moments that make life worth living. Legendary psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (“The leading researcher into ‘flow states.’” — Newsweek) reveals what leads to these moments—be it the excitement of the artist at the easel or the scientist in the lab—so that this knowledge can be used to enrich people's lives. Drawing on nearly one hundred interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists, to politicians and business leaders, to poets and artists, as well as his thirty years of research on the subject, Csikszentmihalyi uses his famous flow theory to explore the creative process. He discusses such ideas as why creative individuals are often seen as selfish and arrogant, and why the "tortured genius" is largely a myth. Most important, he explains why creativity needs to be cultivated and is necessary for the future of our country, if not the world.