We meet this affluent bachelor, the epitome of a 'mad' scientist, as he adventures to delights with his leprechaun girlfriend. After transforming statues into people (and vice versa) in his home town, he moves to the Greek gods in the Metropolitan Museum. You'll have quite a few laughs mixed in with social commentary. Read it.

A collection of myths from many cultures.

Author Thorne Smith puts his seemingly boundless imagination to good work in The Night Life of the Gods, a rip-roaring novel that postulates about what would happen if ancient deities were revived and allowed to run wild in the streets of Depression-era New York City. This turn of events comes about when inventor Hunter Hawk devises a method of turning people into stone statues and vice versa.

Published in 1904, this forgotten classic is sci-fi and dystopia at its best, written by the creator and master of the genre Following extensive research in the field of "growth," Mr. Bensington and Professor Redwood light upon a new mysterious element, a food that causes greatly accelerated development. Initially christening their discovery "The Food of the Gods," the two scientists are overwhelmed by the possible ramifications of their creation. Needing room for experiments, Mr. Besington chooses a farm that offers him the chance to test on chickens, which duly grow monstrous, six or seven times their usual size. With the farmer, Mr. Skinner, failing to contain the spread of the Food, chaos soon reigns as reports come in of local encounters with monstrous wasps, earwigs, and rats. The chickens escape, leaving carnage in their wake. The Skinners and Redwoods have both been feeding their children the compound illicitly—their eventual offspring will constitute a new age of giants. Public opinion rapidly turns against the scientists and society rebels against the world's new flora and fauna. Daily life has changed shockingly and now politicians are involved, trying to stamp out the Food of the Gods and the giant race. Comic and at times surprisingly touching and tragic, Wells' story is a cautionary tale warning against the rampant advances of science but also of the dangers of greed, political infighting, and shameless vote-seeking.

This is a quirky, amusing, information-packed book for all lovers of sleep. It's a celebration of nature's greatest free gift, the perfect companion for the bedside table. It's the book to curl up with before falling asleep. It looks at the history, culture, folklore, language and science of sleep. Did you know that the siesta was once a British tradition? Why do we say 'sleep like a top'? Does counting sheep work? What are the very best sleeps? Who invented pyjamas? If dogs sleep so much, why are they always yawning? What are the best films about sleep? Do today's children have less sleep than Edwardian children? Does booze help or hinder sleep? Not only is sleep a great natural pleasure, it's also essential to good health. The book examines how a lack of sleep is increasingly seen as a health risk. Sleep is also the place of dreams and nightmares. Why are so many dreams the same and what are the archetypal recurring dreams? What is the origin of the word 'nightmare'? And what do Bugs Bunny, the surrealists and Freud have to do with dreaming? Sleep is there to be enjoyed. It's not worth getting into bed for anything else.