Amid family dysfunction, in a postindustrial society, Femida Samara struggles to find greater meaning past the dream of a nine to five. In a dream, she is visited by an interdimensional immortal. Through this meeting, Femida is given the ability to travel through and interpret the dreams of others. She soon discovers she's not the first one who has been visited and is introduced to and joins the League of the Loom, a secret organization that caters to international elites, obsessed with dreams and their ability to predict the future. The organization is led by Eli, an aging Holocaust survivor and the father Femida never had. With her newly acquired powers, Femida is sent on a mind-bending adventure. She is forced to navigate race, culture, and the mind of a lucrative client.

The story of a young boy who goes pearl diving with his father and discovers the treasures and dangers of the sea.

In 1948, a nineteen-year-old pearl diver's dreams of spending her life combing the waters of Japan’s Inland Sea are shattered when she discovers she has leprosy. By law, she is exiled to an island leprosarium, where she is stripped of her dignity and instructed to forget her past. Her name is erased from her family records, and she is forced to select a new one. To the two thousand patients on the island of Nagashima, she becomes Miss Fuji. Although drugs arrest the course of Miss Fuji's disease, she cannot leave the colony. Instead, she becomes a caretaker to the other patients, and through the example of their courage, she gains insight into the deep wellspring of strength she will need to reclaim her freedom. Written with precision and eloquence, The Pearl Diver is a dazzling meditation on isolation and community, cruelty and compassion.

Provides a comprehensive overview of the U.S. coal industry over 20 years, with emphasis on the major changes that occurred, their causes, and their effects. Presents and analyzes data in terms of trends in production, consumption, distribution, and prices. Profitability of major energy companies' coal operations is also tracked. Over 100 charts, tables, graphs and photos.

Breathing, one of our most essential bodily functions, is central to the proper working of the body and to your quality of life. Taking a wider view, the lungs are the only major system in direct contact with the environment, serving to protect the body with a variety of defenses, but also taking the brunt of the onslaught, when the air we breathe is toxic. The Ins and Outs of Breathing is the result of Dr. Norman Jones's fifty-year odyssey to understand how the lung works and the science of breathing. Jones traces the struggles of scientists from Leonardo to the present day as they pieced together the structure of the lungs. He examines the effect of changes in breathing and its secondary effects on other body systems. Understand how breathing influences many bodily functions, from our muscles, brain, and even the immune system. Discover how Everest was climbed without oxygen, how Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile, and how SCUBA allows you to enjoy underwater exploration. Find the evidence to convince you or your friends to stop smoking. See all the different ways in which animals, marine creatures and birds breathe. Gain insights into asthma, COPD, and other lung complaints. Discover what makes your partner snore at night, and what to do about it. Accessible and wide-ranging, this layman's guide to the lungs can help you appreciate the many meanings of inspiration.

“Forget the edge of your seat. Last Breath takes you to the edge of your life, for a pulse-pounding glimpse into the Great Beyond. There are many ways to risk your life in the out-of-doors, and Stark has captured them in exquisite and harrowing detail.” –JIM ROBBINS Author of A Symphony in the Brain An enthralling blend of adventure and science, Last Breath re-creates in heart-stopping detail what happens to our bodies and our minds in the perilous last moments of life when an extreme adventure goes awry. Combining the adrenaline high of extreme sports with the startling facts of physiological reality, veteran travel and outdoor sports writer Peter Stark narrates a series of adventure stories in which thrill can cross the line to mortal peril. Each death or brush with death is at once a suspense story, a cautionary tale, and a medical thriller. Will they survive, or will they succumb? Readers will shiver with a man lost in the snowy woods, suffering from hypothermia and tearing off his clothes as he’s burning up from the cold; they will hallucinate with a young woman stranded at the top of Annapurna as she experiences a cerebral edema; and while a kayaker tumbles helplessly underwater for two minutes, five minutes, ten minutes, readers, too, will gasp for their last breath.