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  The Darning-needle

  Hans Christian Andersen

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  "The Darning Needle"  is a short fantasy story for children by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published in 1845.
  The needle who is the story's title character and protagonist is a snob. She accuses most of those around her of being self-centered while being unaware of how conceited she is herself. She is convinced that her social status is much higher than it is in reality. As part of this delusion, she fancies that she is much more delicate than she really is.

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  Captain's Wife

  Abby Jane Morrell

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  “Gives the reader a woman’s perspective on life at sea aboard a schooner when conditions under sail were uncomfortable and, at times, dangerous.” —The Northern Mariner   During the nineteenth century it became increasingly common for merchant service masters to take their wives to sea, particularly in the whaling industry, where voyages of 2–3 years were not uncommon. Reflecting the sailors traditional dislike of women on board—seen as unlucky by the superstitious and disruptive by the more rational—these ships were derisively dubbed Hen Frigates and although they have been the fashionable subject of academic interest in recent years, there is not much literature by the women themselves. Among the first, and most accomplished, is Abby Jane Morrell’s account of a voyage between 1829 and 1831 that took her from New England to the South Pacific. Her husband Benjamin was in the sealing trade but was a keen explorer, and his adventurous spirit led him and his wife into situations normally well outside the world of the Hen Frigate.   Curiously, Benjamin also wrote an account of this voyage, but since he was described by a contemporary as the greatest liar in the Pacific, his wife’s is a better record of what actually happened, even when dealing with dramatic incidents like the murderous attack by cannibal islanders. Apart from the descriptions of exotic places, much of the interest in this book is the traditional, centuries-old world of the sailor as seen through the eyes of a thoughtful and well-educated woman. As such it heads a long line of improving books aimed at ameliorating the seaman’s lot.  “A book that absorbs and rewards the reader. Highly recommended.” —Firetrench

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  Blood & Iron - Letters from the...

  Hugh Montagu Butterworth

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  Until now Hugh Butterworth was just one of the millions of lost soldiers of the Great War, and the extraordinary letters he sent home from the Western Front have been forgotten. But after more than ninety years of obscurity, these letters, which describe his experience of war in poignant detail, have been rediscovered, and they are published here in full. They are a moving, intensely personal and beautifully written record by an articulate and observant man who witnessed at first hand one of the darkest episodes in European history. In civilian life Butterworth was  a dedicated and much-loved schoolmaster and a gifted cricketer, who served with distinction as an officer in the Rifle Brigade from the spring of 1915. His letters give us a telling insight into the thoughts and reactions of a highly educated, sensitive and perceptive individual confronted by the horrors of modern warfare. He was killed on the Bellewaarde ridge near Ypres on 25 September 1915, and his last letter was written on the eve of the action in which he died.

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  Confessions of an Alien Hunter -...

  Seth Shostak

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  Since the first Martian "canals" were charted in 1877, space aliens have captivated sky-gazers, night travelers, and television watchers worldwide. Polls show that nearly half of all Americans believe in extraterrestrials, and many are convinced they've visited Earth. A fair number of scientists also suspect that aliens exist, and for decades they've been seriously searching-using powerful antennas and computers to scan for radio waves coming from other star systems. This engaging memoir reveals the true story of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and discloses what we may very soon discover. 
   
  Chronicling the program's history with insight and humor, SETI senior astronomer Seth Shostak assures us that if there is sentient life in the universe, we are within decades of picking up its signal. Methodically busting urban legends about alien crash landings, crop circles, and the like, Shostak pits scientific truth against speculation and delivers important news on the state of our knowledge. He answers a host of questions about SETI, including where its antennas are aimed…how we know which frequency to monitor…what our response might be…and why, if a signal is detected, "it will be one that's deliberately beamed into space, not the Klingon equivalent of I Love Lucy." 
   
  Contrary to popular opinion, any aliens found by SETI will not resemble the squishy, big-eyed creatures on cinema screens. Rather, they will have already invented their successors: super smart post-biological thinking machines vastly beyond our own capabilities. 
   
  Edgy, amusing, and remarkably profound, Confessions of an Alien Hunter addresses the startling possibilities awaiting us in deep space and in humankind's own future.

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  A Primate's Memoir - A...

  Robert M. Sapolsky

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  "I had never planned to become a savanna baboon when I grew up; instead, I had always assumed I would become a mountain gorilla," writes Robert Sapolsky in this witty and riveting chronicle of a scientist's coming-of-age in remote Africa. 
  An exhilarating account of Sapolsky's twenty-one-year study of a troop of rambunctious baboons in Kenya, A Primate's Memoir interweaves serious scientific observations with wry commentary about the challenges and pleasures of living in the wilds of the Serengeti—for man and beast alike. Over two decades, Sapolsky survives culinary atrocities, gunpoint encounters, and a surreal kidnapping, while witnessing the encroachment of the tourist mentality on the farthest vestiges of unspoiled Africa. As he conducts unprecedented physiological research on wild primates, he becomes evermore enamored of his subjects—unique and compelling characters in their own right—and he returns to them summer after summer, until tragedy finally prevents him. 
  By turns hilarious and poignant, A Primate's Memoir is a magnum opus from one of our foremost science writers.

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  Pioneering Palm Beach - The...

  Ginger Lee Pedersen, Janet M...

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  A vivid biography of the nineteenth-century society couple who helped turn a tropical wilderness into a Gilded Age paradise. 
   
  Palm Beach’s sunny and idyllic shores had humble beginnings as a wilderness of sawgrass and swamps only braved by the hardiest of souls. Two such adventurers were Fred and Byrd “Birdie” Spilman Dewey, who pioneered in central Florida before discovering the tropical beauty of Palm Beach in 1887.  
   
  Though their story was all but lost, this dynamic couple was vital in transforming the region from a rough backcountry into a paradise poised for progress. Authors Ginger Pedersen and Janet DeVries trace the remarkable history of the Deweys in South Florida from their beginnings on the isolated frontier to entertaining the likes of the Flaglers, Vanderbilts, Phippses, Cluetts, Clarkes, and other Palm Beach elite. Using Birdie’s autobiographical writings from her bestselling books to fill in the gaps, Pedersen and DeVries narrate a chapter in Florida’s history that has remained untold until now.

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