Tales of intrigue in this book include unusual unsolved crimes, legends of lost treasure, spine-tingling ghost stories, well-documented sea creature sightings, and more. Based on historic accounts from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, author L.E. Bragg recounts seventeen myths and mysteries from Washington's past, verifying some tales from multiple accounts and exposing some stories for what may have really occurred. Readers will be riveted by the detailed descriptions of Puget Sound's demon of the deep, Northwest gold fever may strike again after readers learn the details of Captain Ingalls's lost treasure, and believers will be surprised to learn that strange sightings over Mount Rainier predate the famous Roswell event. Enjoy these tales and more from Washington's suspicious past.

In the spirit of Schott's Miscellany, The Magic of Reality, and The Dangerous Book for Boys comes Can a Bee Sting a Bee?--a smart, illuminating, essential, and utterly delightful handbook for perplexed parents and their curious children. Author Gemma Elwin Harris has lovingly compiled weighty questions from precocious grade school children--queries that have long dumbfounded even intelligent adults--and she's gathered together a notable crew of scientists, specialists, philosophers, and writers to answer them.

Authors Mary Roach and Phillip Pullman, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, chef Gordon Ramsay, adventurist Bear Gryllis, and linguist Noam Chomsky are among the top experts responding to the Big Questions from Little People, ("Do animals have feelings?," "Why can't I tickle myself?," "Who is God?") with well-known comedians, columnists, and raconteurs offering hilarious alternative answers. Miles above your average general knowledge and trivia collections, this charming compendium is a book fans of the E.H. Gombrich classic, A Little History of the World, will adore.

Exploring how technological apparatuses "capture" invisible worlds, this book looks at how spirits, UFOs, discarnate entities, spectral energies, atmospheric forces and particles are mattered into existence by human minds. Technological and scientific discourse has always been central to the nineteenth- and early twentieth-century spiritualist quest for legitimacy, but as this book shows, machines, people, and invisible beings are much more ontologically entangled in their definitions and constitution than we would expect. The book shows this entanglement through a series of contemporary case studies where the realm of the invisible arises through technological engagement, and where the paranormal intertwines with modern technology.

In this fascinating, exhaustively researched reexamination of the 'Pueblo Incident,' Robert Liston comes to a remarkable conclusion: the Pueblo was purposely surrendered in a secret mission planned by the National Security Agency. The operation was the subject of a total cover-up-from the White House, the Pentagon, Congress, and the American public. Liston states that: The Pueblo was controlled by NSA operatives planted aboard the ship without the knowledge of the Navy; and the Chinese and the Soviets were after information they were led to believe was on board the Pueblo-information that was vital to both for intelligence purposes But what was this deadly information? It was part of an NSA operation, in which a rigged U.S. code machine was secretly planted aboard the Pueblo to induce the North Koreans to capture and use the rigged code machine, thus permitting the U.S. to break the Soviet system of codes. The North Koreans used the machine to radio Vladivostok for instructions. The Soviet codes were broken almost immediately. Liston maintains the Pueblo surrender was the greatest intelligence coup of modern times, preventing a major U.S. defeat in the Tet Offensive in Vietnam, foiling Soviet plans to invade China in a potentially nuclear conflict, and leading directly to the rapprochement between China and the U.S. Because the Soviets knew their codes were broken, the KGB began a massive overhaul of their entire intelligence operation. To gain time for that, the Kremlin launched its policy of detente with the West. Liston masterfully organizes his material to expose the many inconsistencies in all previous accounts of the surrender, and carefully details the roles of the major players. Drawing on published accounts and interviews with crewmen and informants, Liston logically compiles the facts and details to reach a devastating conclusion. What emerges is not only an eye-opening revelation of the risks taken by the NSA in the power play of espionage, but a chilling portrait of an unimpeachable intelligence apparatus that threatens the very foundations of American democracy.

'A brilliant and important book ... Five Stars!' Mark Dolan, talkRADIO 'An important new book' Daily Express An alternative history of the world that exposes some of the biggest lies ever told and how they've been used over time. Lincoln did not believe all men were created equal. The Aztecs were not slaughtered by the Spanish Conquistadors. And Churchill was not the man that people love to remember. In this fascinating new book, journalist and author Otto English takes ten great lies from history and shows how our present continues to be manipulated by the fabrications of the past. He looks at how so much of what we take to be historical fact is, in fact, fiction. From the myths of WW2 to the adventures of Columbus, and from the self-serving legends of 'great men' to the origins of curry - fake history is everywhere and used ever more to impact our modern world. Setting out to redress the balance, English tears apart the lies propagated by politicians and think tanks, the grand narratives spun by populists and the media, the stories on your friend's Facebook feed and the tales you were told in childhood. And, in doing so, reclaims the truth from those who have perverted it. Fake History exposes everything you weren't told in school and why you weren't taught it.

This guide to more than 2,500 Texas roadside markers features historical events; famous and infamous Texans; origins of towns, churches, and organizations; battles, skirmishes, and gunfights; and settlers, pioneers, Indians, and outlaws. With the most up-to-date records available, this sixth edition includes more than 100 new historical roadside markers with the actual inscriptions. Handy and simple to use, it lists alphabetically the hundreds of cities and towns nearest the markers and pinpoints each marker with specific highway and mileage information. With this book, travelers relive the tragedies and triumphs of Lone Star history.

A follow-up to Helterbran's popular Why Flamingos Are Pink: ...and 250 other Things You Should Know, this entertaining volume identifies more of the surprising explanations for the facts, tales, and lore associated with day-to-day living and the world around us. Organized into seven categories, this book tells you why birds perched on power lines aren't electrocuted; the origins of such expressions as "swan song" and "willy nilly;" and the science behind such phenomena as ball lightning, blue glaciers, red tide, and thunder snow. More than a mere compendium of trivia, this book is a springboard for learners of all ages.

The Secrets of Life series is written for everyone who, frankly, needs a spot of cheering up, and will provide conversation starters for years after reading! O'Connor's easy-going, conversational style brings an outsider's questioning eye to the great forces behind life. The second book in the four-part series debates the steps that led to us being so completely different to anything that had ever appeared before. If we really were just another kind of animal off the production line of life, then what were the revolutions that turbo-charged our abilities? How is it possible that we only arrived a fluttering of an eyelash ago compared to evolutionary time, yet we are now so completely dominant over everything else in life? Book Two also sets out to answer the questions around what we did that meant we could alter ourselves in an instant, and so avoid being stuck in an evolutionary niche like every other organism. Why, for example, was it such a huge step forward when we began to run? Why was the taming of fire arguably the most important thing we ever did? How did we manage to create the intelligence and insights that allowed us to make our own life decisions? Why was gossiping so critical? With the same writing approach that typified Book One, in How Did We Get To Be So Different? O'Connor sets out to answer these and other questions by summarising the views of the great biologists, anthropologists, and revolutionary theorists - and then adding some opinions of his own.. Example questions posed (and answered) in Book Two - How Did We Get To Be So Different? If we have a degree of control over our lives, then why were our rulers always so horrible- and why did we put up with them? Why do we copy each other so much, and yet we'd accept that others could be so unbelievably violent? How did fire make us so different? Where did the free will come from that let us override the drives of our animal pasts - something that no other organism had ever managed before in the long history of evolution? How did we develop language? Why was gossip so critical? How did printing and reading completely change our world?

Ghosts seem to be found everywhere in Tennessee, from the bucolic small towns to the weathered historic districts of its metropolitan centers. Readers will encounter the spirits of the Battle of Shiloh, the Fiddlin' Snake Man of Johnson County, Andrew Jackson at the Hermitage, Hank Williams at Ryman Auditorium, and Elvis Presley at Graceland. Strange creatures are also featured, including Bigfoot, the famed Wampus Cat, and the legendary Bell Witch.

The Old Dominion has been one of the nation's most embattled states. Serving as center stage for both the American Revolution and the Civil War, it is also one of the most haunted. In addition to the sagas of the tragic spirits from these wars, this volume includes stories on the female stranger of Gadsby's Tavern in Alexandria, the mysterious stone showers in Newport, the ghost hound of the Blue Ridge, Mad Lucy of Williamsburg, and the spirits of native sons Thomas Jefferson, Robert E. Lee, and Edgar Allan Poe.

This book describes a wide variety of speculations by many authors about the consequences for humanity of coming into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence. The assumptions underlying those speculations are examined, and some conclusions are drawn. The book emphasizes the consequences of contact rather than the search, and takes account of popular views. As necessary background, the book also includes brief summaries of the history of thinking about extraterrestrial intelligence, searches for life and for signals, contrasting paradigms of how contact might take place, and the paradox that those paradigms allegedly create.

Storytelling is both an art form and a means of passing on significant elements of a culture--the history, the traditions, the humor, the pathos. It is a way of entertaining and being entertained. With this compilation of Texas--and Texanized--favorite myths and legends, award-winning tale teller Donna Ingham applies her own unmistakable voice to traverse her home state through such stories as:>"The Coming of the Bluebonnet"--an oft-collected Commanche myth about love and sacrifice and the origin of the Texas state flower>"The Story Behind the Story"--about two early cattlemen and the basis for an episode in Larry McMurtry's "Lonesome Dove">"The Life and Times of Pecos Bill"--a selection of tales about this legendary folk hero>"Diamond Bill"--about an east Texas rattlesnake who fought in the Civil War>"Cupid Was a Mama's Boy"--a Texanized classic Greek myth >And much more!

A Mayan Priest Reveals What the 2012 Prophecy Really Means for Your Life

Written at the request of the Mayan Elders, by a member of the Guatemalan Elders Council and Mayan priest Carlos Barrios, The Book of Destiny is a tool to help people understand their life purpose and to use this profound knowledge to make the best of their time on earth.

According to the Mayan Elders, at the moment of birth every human being is given a destiny. Our life challenge is to develop ourselves and our skills in order to fulfill this destiny, thus fueling our individual contribution to the planet. At the heart of The Book of Destiny is the sacred Mayan Calendar, an extraordinary tool that allows readers to discover this destiny, along with their special Mayan symbol, origin, and protection spirits that accompany them through life.

In the summer of 1980, in Wiltshire, southern England, a group of three swirled circular patterns mysteriously appeared in farmer John Scull's fields of wheat and oats. Scull blamed Army helicopters. UFO enthusiasts credited flying saucers. A local meteorologist attributed them to whirlwinds. Each year thereafter, the circles continued to appear, in Wiltshire, Hampshire, Sussex, Oxfordshire - increasing in mystery and complexity as a social, religious, and scientific turmoil grew around them. Now manifesting in enormous and ornate "pictograms," the phenomenon continues to draw crowds of the curious and the faithful, not only to circles-prone fields of southern England, but to unsuspecting fields in such places as Germany, France, Belgium, Spain, Romania, Australia, Japan, Canada, and the United States. North American enthusiasts are now in the forefront of circles research - or "cerealogy" as it has come to be known - and every summer we spend tens of thousands of dollars and many hours in scientific and spiritual evaluation of circles here and abroad.
Science writer Jim Schnabel ventured into Wiltshire in search of the circles and an answer to their annual mystery. He soon became entranced, not merely by the odd swirled shapes in the fields, but by the human beings who flocked to them: plasma physicists and ritual magicians, dowsers and UFOlogists, New Age tourists and garrulous mediums, and the devoted "cereal" artists whose work lay behind it all.