As a child, Fry led a life that suggested he was more likely to end up in prison (as, in fact, he did for a while before college) than in pictures. After wearing out teachers and parents with his thievery, sexual antics, and general tendency to trouble, Fry matriculated to Pucklechurch Prison and Cambridge before taking off on his illustrious actin...more

Author of Snake Oil, John Diamond, believed journalism to be an ephemeral thing: "If I wanted to write for posterity's sake, I'll start another unfinishable book." Sadly, he did. At the time of his death, on March 2, 2001, Diamond had written six chapters of Snake Oil. Intended to be "an uncomplimentary view of complementary medicine", he was spurr...more

People are minded creatures; we have thoughts, feelings and emotions. More intriguingly, we grasp our own mental states, and conduct the business of ascribing them to ourselves and others without instruction in formal psychology. How do we do this? And what are the dimensions of our grasp of the mental realm? In this book, Alvin I. Goldman explores...more

With her renowned storytelling gifts in full force, Colleen McCullough delivers a breathtaking novel that proves once again that she is the top historical novelist of our time.Grand in scope and vivid in detail, McCullough's gripping narrative thrusts readers headlong into the complex and fascinating world of Rome in the tumultuous last days of the...more

Now in paperback comes Jim Steinmeyer’s astonishing chronicle of half a century of illusionary innovation, backstage chicanery, and keen competition within the world of magicians. Lauded by today’s finest magicians and critics, Hiding the Elephant is a cultural history of the efforts among legendary conjurers to make things materialize, levitat...more

According to The Waiter, 80 percent of customers are nice people just looking for something to eat. The remaining 20 percent, however, are socially maladjusted psychopaths. Eye-opening, outrageous, and unabashed—replete with tales of customer stupidity, arrogant misbehavior, and unseen tidbits of human grace in the most unlikely places—Waiter ...more