A fascinating journey through the world’s musical cultures. Every culture on Earth has music. Every culture that’s ever existed has had it, but we don’t exactly know why. Music is not like food, shelter, or having opposable thumbs. We don’t need it to live, and yet we can’t seem to live without it. Glenn Dixon travels the globe exploring how and why people make music. From a tour of Bob Marley’s house to sitar lessons in India, he experiences music around the world and infuses the stories with the latest in brain research, genetics, and evolutionary psychology. Why does music give us chills down the backs of our necks? What exactly are the whales singing about and why does some music stick in our minds like chewing gum? Through his adventures, Dixon uncovers the real reasons why music has such a powerful hold on us – and the answers just might surprise you.

Abigail Gray is a dance instructor whose life tragically ends at the age of thirty-four. She is welcomed to the other side--in a room of pure white--by her guardian angel, a brown book with gold accents, a movie screen, and a remote control. With no recollection of her death, the reel commences as Abbey and her guardian angel, Michael, focus on her last year on Earth. In this year, we follow a journey of newfound love with a man named Jason, as well as a magical friendship with the spiritual intuitive who owns the town's apothecary shop. Acting as a mentor, this prestidigitator helps Abbey decipher the dreams that have been haunting her sleep since the day she bought the 'must have' picture of a dancing couple, an item she found at the local antique shop. He also teaches her the importance of living her life's truth. As the reel of Abbey's life plays out, she and Michael embark on this visual journey together, while Michael carves a wooden sculpture and offers her heavenly wisdom about life's fragility, opportunity, and purpose. "Inspirational ... a perfect blend of spiritual and earthly wisdom woven through a poignant love story." Christine Duminiak, certified grief recovery specialist, author of Heaven Talks to Children "As we follow Abbey's journey, we cannot help but pause for thought about our own personal beliefs and question the purpose of our own lives. The words of the author display a deep understanding of spiritual philosophy." Alison Baughman, numerologist, author of Get His Number! "In a story playfully sprinkled with fascinating trivia and spiritual wonder, Tracy Glassey explores the power of all the connections and influences we don't even realize are there, and in the process conveys a great deal of wisdom and practical life lessons." Ralph Marston, Greatday.com

The fantastic reality that is modern physics is open for your exploration, guided by one of its primary architects and interpreters, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek. Some jokes, some poems, and extracts from wife Betsy Devine's sparkling chronicle of what it's like to live through a Nobel Prize provide easy entertainment. There's also some history, some philosophy, some exposition of frontier science, and some frontier science, for your lasting edification. 49 pieces, including many from Wilczek's award-winning Reference Frame columns in Physics Today, and some never before published, are gathered by style and subject into a dozen chapters, each with a revealing, witty introduction. Profound ideas, presented with style: What could be better? Enjoy.

“Humorously entertaining. . . subtly thought-provoking. . . . Pratchett’s Discworld books are filled with humor and with magic, but they're rooted in—of all things—real life and cold, hard reason.”—Chicago Tribune Bumbling wizard Rincewind and hapless tourist Twoflower have survived a host of misadventures . . . only to face annihilation as a red star hurtles towards the Discworld in this gloriously funny second installment in Sir Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series (also the second book in the Wizards collection) It’s just one of those days when nothing seems to go right—and a most inopportune time for the first tourist ever to set foot in Discworld—accompanied by the carnivorous Luggage—to extend his already eventful vacation, even if it’s not quite by choice. A monstrous red star is on a direct collision course with the Discworld and the future appears uncertain at best. Discworld needs a hero to save it from total destruction. Unfortunately, it’s got the bumbling Rincewind, still recovering from the trauma of falling off the edge of the world. The alternative couldn’t be much worse. . . . The Discworld novels can be read in any order, but The Light Fantastic is the second book in the Wizards collection. The other books in the collection include: The Color of Magic Sourcery Eric Interesting Times The Last Continent Unseen Academicals

Nabbing flights for less than a fiver, Andrew Fraser took off on a month long jaunt around ten European cities for £144. In this entertaining account of his trip, he not only describes what he saw, but also how he did it, coaching aspiring travellers in how to create their own dream travel itineraries on flights which cost less than an airport latte. Join him on a bargain journey to some of Europe's weirdest, least visited backwaters, while also learning how to plan a ten-city adventure of your own. Andrew Fraser travelled 6,928 miles at an average cost of 2p per mile. Now you can, too.This unique title - the only one available that explains how to travel so far for so little - takes in some of Europe's least discovered cities, including Skopje, Girona, Thessaloniki, Gdansk, Warsaw and Wroclaw, as well as giving an entertaining overview of some more familiar places, such as Barcelona, Rome and Brussels. It tells you how to book secret five star hotels for three star prices with no mystery about where you are going to stay, how to travel the world cheaply from your local airport, and how to save a fortune and create an adventure by abandoning the notion of the linear return flight. Uncovering the little known travel gems which you can fly to for under a tenner, it is also an often surreal, idiosyncratic and funny account of one man's adventures on the move, from attending an octopus autopsy in Barcelona to unearthing uncomfortable secrets in Europe's new Capital of Culture and discovering hip Warsovian apartments which straddle the worlds of Molotov and Madonna. What's more, it's a journey in search of culture, gastronomy and history and - on occasions - the seamier side of life in some of Europe's most thrilling but least known cities.Andrew Fraser is former Travel Editor and Deputy Editor of Attitude magazine, and former Chief Writer of OK! Magazine. He has had a love of the obscure, a love of bargains, and a love of travel since he was a strange eight year-old-boy locked in his bedroom obsessing over maps of Narnia-esque towns, cities and regions on the red side of the European map, which he was told he would never be able to visit. When the Berlin wall fell in 1989, he rushed to Prague, Bratislava and Budapest where he enjoyed the greatest adventure of his life so far, costing little more than pennies. Now the internet and low cost airlines, have brought back those halcyon days of cheap travel bliss and Andrew Fraser's mission in life is to transport you to places beyond your wildest dreams for less than the cost of your airport latte. Come join him.

Fly-fish in the virgin waters of the Chilean fjords, participate in a polar bear safari near the Arctic Circle, or spend a night in Dubai's most luxurious hotel--these are the kinds of life-altering vacations profiled in this full-color volume.

Abigail Gray is a dance instructor whose life tragically ends at the age of thirty-four. She is welcomed to the other sidein a room of pure whiteby her guardian angel, a brown book with gold accents, a movie screen, and a remote control. With no recollection of her death, the reel commences as Abbey and her guardian angel, Michael, focus on her last year on Earth. In this year, we follow a journey of newfound love with a man named Jason, as well as a magical friendship with the spiritual intuitive who owns the towns apothecary shop. Acting as a mentor, this prestidigitator helps Abbey decipher the dreams that have been haunting her sleep since the day she bought the must have picture of a dancing couple, an item she found at the local antique shop. He also teaches her the importance of living her lifes truth. As the reel of Abbeys life plays out, she and Michael embark on this visual journey together, while Michael carves a wooden sculpture and offers her heavenly wisdom about lifes fragility, opportunity, and purpose. Inspirational ... a perfect blend of spiritual and earthly wisdom woven through a poignant love story. ~Christine Duminiak, certified grief recovery specialist, author of Heaven Talks to Children As we follow Abbeys journey, we cannot help but pause for thought about our own personal beliefs and question the purpose of our own lives. The words of the author display a deep understanding of spiritual philosophy. ~Alison Baughman, numerologist, author of Get His Number! In a story playfully sprinkled with fascinating trivia and spiritual wonder, Tracy Glassey explores the power of all the connections and influences we dont even realize are there, and in the process conveys a great deal of wisdom and practical life lessons. ~Ralph Marston, Greatday.com