Describes such dangerous jobs as smoke jumper, undercover cop, test pilot, and epidemiologist and presents brief interviews with people who hold these risky jobs.

Do you find yourself daydreaming about a glamorous occupation, such as a racing driver, an astronaut or a stunt double? This compelling book unravels the mysteries and exposes the pitfalls of the world’s most dangerous jobs, giving a fascinating insight into the working lives of those who regularly stare death in the face.

Presents brief descriptions of hazardous jobs, covering the risks involved and pay rates for positions as a smoke jumper, CIA agent, bomb squad technician, roofer, and more, and includes Web sites to consult for additional information.

A Year in the Woods Brush Cat recounts a year in the life of men who perform one of the most dangerous jobs in America—logging New England’s vast forests for timber used in hundreds more ways than most of us realize, from houses to furniture to paper to electricity. In the spirit of John McPhee and Tracy Kidder, we meet an unforgettable cast of characters; feel their pain and exultation, and come to realize the centrality of wood in all of our lives. While they are first and foremost loggers cutting down trees, they are also ardent and effective conservationists who depend on healthy, intact forests for their long-term survival. True, some loggers are wood pirates, but most are pragmatic environmentalists, always asking the question: How do we keep this crop alive and thriving forever? The narrative moves deftly from useful tips on how not to lose body parts to a chain saw, through the terror of huge trees that fall the wrong way, to inconsistent and wrong-headed government forest management. It explores the worldwide demand for wood and wood chips, as well as the effect of climate change on the forest, and traces the money that keeps it all moving. Brush Cat clears the branches to reveal a hidden and fascinating world.

The role of bodyguard or close protection officer" is highly misunderstood. In action films, threats are obvious: ski-mask wearing gunmen fire at the client from a speeding black Suburban truck. In real life, threats may be harder to assess. If a crowd of unarmed protesters blocks the client's access to his or her car as well as the building they are being escorted to, this poses a threat. However, bodyguards have no legal right to use force in a public place unless they are being attacked. Usually bodyguards are the ones who call the police. This interesting new book examines the different types of bodyguard - police, military and civilian; their training; typical roles; the equipment they use; weapons; bodyguards and the law; evasive driving; and life as a bodyguard.

Learn about the men and women who engage enemy aircraft, fly over enemy territory, and operate complex weapons.

Recipient of the 2015 PEN New England Award for Nonfiction “The arrival of a significant young nonfiction writer . . . A measured yet bravura performance.” —Dwight Garner, The New York Times James Joyce’s big blue book, Ulysses, ushered in the modernist era and changed the novel for all time. But the genius of Ulysses was also its danger: it omitted absolutely nothing. Joyce, along with some of the most important publishers and writers of his era, had to fight for years to win the freedom to publish it. The Most Dangerous Book tells the remarkable story surrounding Ulysses, from the first stirrings of Joyce’s inspiration in 1904 to the book’s landmark federal obscenity trial in 1933. Written for ardent Joyceans as well as novices who want to get to the heart of the greatest novel of the twentieth century, The Most Dangerous Book is a gripping examination of how the world came to say Yes to Ulysses.