Walden is one of the best-known non-fiction books ever written by an American. It details Thoreau's sojourn in a cabin near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson. Walden was written with expressed seasonal divisions. Thoreau hoped to isolate himself from society in order to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simplicity and self-reliance were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by Transcendentalist philosophy. This book is full of fascinating musings and reflections. As pertinent and relevant today as it was when it was first written.

Edmund Curll was a notorious figure among the publishers of the early eighteenth century: for his boldness, his lack of scruple, his publication of work without author's consent, and his taste for erotic and scandalous publications. He was in legal trouble on several occasions for piracy and copyright infringement, unauthorized publication of the works of peers, and for seditious, blasphemous, and obscene publications. He stood in the pillory in 1728 for seditious libel. Above all, he was the constant target of the greatest poet and satirist of his age, Alexander Pope, whose work he pirated whenever he could and who responded with direct physical revenge (an emetic slipped into a drink) and persistent malign caricature. The war between Pope and Curll typifies some of the main cultural battles being waged between creativity and business. The story has normally been told from the poet's point of view, though more recently Curll has been celebrated as a kind of literary freedom-fighter; this book, the first full biography of Curll since Ralph Straus's The Unspeakable Curll (1927), seeks to give a balanced and thoroughly-researched account of Curll's career in publishing between 1706 and 1747, untangling the mistakes and misrepresentations that have accrued over the years and restoring a clear sense of perspective to Curll's dealings in the literary marketplace. It examines the full range of Curll's output, including his notable antiquarian series, and uses extensive archive material to detail Curll's legal and other troubles. For the first time, what is known about this strange, interesting, and awkward figure is authoritatively told.

Drawing on private and published sources, Roger Fagge takes an in-depth look at J.B. Priestley's work, seeking to reclaim him as an important English thinker. Priestley grew up in Bradford, and served on the front line in the First World War, before attending Cambridge and embarking on a career as a writer. A committed radical, he wrote widely for the press, as well as producing autobiographies, social criticism and plays. This work revealed a growing interest in the meaning of Englishness and the start of a long-running relationship with America. Priestley achieved even greater influence during the early years of World War II via his popular BBC radio 'postscripts'. His later career, however, saw his faith in the people give way to a disillusionment with the spread of the Americanised mass society, although his critical response to the latter maintained a perceptive engagement with world. The Vision of J.B. Priestley charts the continuities, strengths and weaknesses in the author's long career, and his vision of an outward looking radical Englishness.

Here at last in paperback is Frank McCourt's critically acclaimed and bestselling book about how his thirty-year teaching career shaped his second act as a writer. "Teacher Man" is also an urgent tribute to teachers everywhere. In bold and spirited prose featuring his irreverent wit and heartbreaking honesty, McCourt records the trials, triumphs and surprises of teaching in public high schools. "Teacher Man" shows McCourt developing his unparalleled ability to tell a great story as, five days a week, five periods per day, he works to gain the attention and respect of unruly, hormonally charged or indifferent adolescents.

For McCourt, storytelling itself is the source of salvation, and in "Teacher Man" the journey to redemption--and literary fame--is an exhilarating adventure.

In this book John Radner examines the fluctuating, close, and complex friendship enjoyed by Samuel Johnson and James Boswell, from the day they met in 1763 to the day when Boswell published his monumental Life of Johnson. Drawing on everything Johnson and Boswell wrote to and about the other, this book charts the psychological currents that flowed between them as they scripted and directed their time together, questioned and advised, confided and held back. It explores the key longings and shifting tensions that distinguished this from each man's other long-term friendships, while it tracks in detail how Johnson and Boswell brought each other to life, challenged and confirmed each other, and used their deepening friendship to define and assess themselves. It tells a story that reaches through its specificity into the dynamics of most sustained friendships, with their breaks and reconnections, their silences and fresh intimacies, their continuities and transformations.

Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) was an English writer, physician, and philosopher whose work has inspired everyone from Ralph Waldo Emerson to Jorge Luis Borges, Virginia Woolf to Stephen Jay Gould. In an intellectual adventure like Sarah Bakewell's book about Montaigne, How to Live, Hugh Aldersey-Williams sets off not just to tell the story of Browne's life but to champion his skeptical nature and inquiring mind. Mixing botany, etymology, medicine, and literary history, Aldersey-Williams journeys in his hero's footsteps to introduce us to witches, zealots, natural wonders, and fabulous creatures of Browne's time and ours. We meet Browne the master prose stylist, responsible for introducing hundreds of words into English, including electricity, hallucination, and suicide. Aldersey-Williams reveals how Browne's preoccupations-how to disabuse the credulous of their foolish beliefs, what to make of order in nature, how to unite science and religion-are relevant today. In Search of Sir Thomas Browne is more than just a biography-it is a cabinet of wonders and an argument that Browne, standing at the very gates of modern science, remains an inquiring mind for our own time. As Stephen Greenblatt has written, Browne is "unnervingly one of our most adventurous contemporaries."

A citizen in The Galacterian Alignment of Space Peoples and Planets, Thyron is an ExtraTerrestrial Titan with a highly evolved soul, but born with a duality disorder. In this parable of the soul's journey towards perfection and rebirth, Thyron must merge his Light and Dark to evolve into a Being spiritually strong enough to lead others towards the Light. Archangel Michael, the Universal Sovereign, orders him into The Shadow Chamber, to force him to look deep into the Darkness within himself. Once he has conquered his own Shadow Self, Michael sends Thyron to meet with the imprisoned Rebel Archangel Lucifer to take down his statement before his Tribunal. What happens next in Thyron's story will leave you wondering not only about your very own existence, but what's secretly happening on Earth right now. It's time to finally reveal the secrets hidden inside the vaults of Universal Magic. Get ready Star Trek and Star Wars fans for the next phase of entertainment, for you are about to meet the extraterrestrials--your cosmic family "Speaking not only as an author, but an avid reader, I haven't had any book hold my attention like Craig's book has. If you liked or loved Avatar, you'll be ecstatic about this book. I can also see this as a great movie. Kudos to you, Craig, for this marvelous book and good luck with its success, although we don't need luck when something is great and this is." -From Foreword by Sylvia Browne www.AutobiographyOfAnET.com

Virginia Woolf has been among the most scrutinised figures of the past century. Her unique literary genius, her pioneering work for women's rights, her position at the nucleus of the Bloomsbury group, her high-profile family and marriage, her relationship with Vita Sackville-West, and her suicide have all been dissected. Life and art were, for Woolf, inextricably entangled, and the autobiographical elements of many of her works, including the masterpieces To The Lighthouse and The Waves, have heightened interest in this most fascinating of figures. Elizabeth Wright here takes a fresh look at the life and legacy of one of the greatest figures of English literature. Perfect for Woolf enthusiasts and newcomers alike, Brief Lives: Virginia Woolf offers a concise, authoritative account of the author's life, and presents an engaging overview of her afterlife in literary history.

How could William Shaksper of Stratford, who was illiterate, be the author of plays that have dazzled the world for centuries? Answer: he wasn't. His authorship is a remarkably successful hoax.

It was not until 1920 that J. Thomas Looney plucked Edward de Vere out of historical obscurity and introduced him as the real Shakespeare. In the next fifty years, powerful articles and books validated his authorship claim but much of this evidence has been neglected.

The first five volumes of this book series salvage this early research which makes Edward de Vere by far the likeliest candidate for being the great playwright, William Shakespeare.

In Volume One, you'll learn:

● Why Shakespeare's breadth of knowledge and intimate familiarity with England's Royal Court exclude Shaksper of Stratford as the true Bard;
● Why Francis Bacon is an unlikely Shakespeare authorship candidate;
● Why Edward de Vere fulfills all criteria to be the great playwright;
● And much more

Stop blindly accepting what the textbooks say. Take a logical, analytical approach to one of history's most important questions. Start Building the Case for Edward de Vere as Shakespeare with Volume 1: The Great Shakespeare Hoax.

When Anne D. LeClaire decided to turn an ordinary Monday into a day of silence, little did she realize she had begun an inner voyage that would transform her life.

In the seventeen years since, LeClaire has practiced total silence two days each month. By detaching herself from the bustle of her hectic lifestyle and learning to listen to her deepest self, she has found a center from which to live--one that tests, strengthens, and heals her. In practicing silence, she has discovered her own secret garden--a cloistered, sacred private place where true personal growth is possible.

In this eloquent book--part memoir, part philosophical inquiry, written with clarity and warm humor--LeClaire reflects on how silence can help us expand our awareness, ignite and nurture creativity, and achieve inner peace.

Delve into the fascinating life of Ray Bradbury, one of the most prolific writers of our time, spokesperson for the Space Age, and idea man for Disney. Author of more than forty-five books and nearly five hundred short stories, Bradbury has entertained generations of readers worldwide with imaginative stories, poetry, TV shows and movies.

In "Ray Bradbury-Uncensored " author and journalist Gene Beley examines the life of this literary King Kong of writers. A plethora of interesting insights and milestones from Bradbury's life includes:

• Advice to writers
• Non-edited speeches from the 1960s
• Views on architecture, religion, and space
• CBS television plagiarism court battles
• Sparring with movie producer John Huston over the Moby Dick screenplay
• How and where he got his ideas for his classic books and short stories. Beley offers an intriguing look at one of the world's greatest, iconoclastic minds, revealing why Bradbury has inspired many other creative people to practice his "optimal optimism."

When Agatha Christie died in 1976, at age eighty-five, she had become the world's most popular author. At the end of 2004, following the death of Christie's daughter, Rosalind, a remarkable legacy was revealed: seventy-three handwritten volumes of notes, lists, and drafts outlining all her plans for her many books, plays, and stories. Buried in this treasure trove, all in the beloved author's unmistakable handwriting, are revelations about her famous books that will fascinate anyone who has ever read or watched an Agatha Christie story.

Full of details she was too modest to reveal in her own autobiography, this remarkable book includes a wealth of excerpts and pages reproduced directly from the notebooks and her letters--plus, two complete, recently discovered Hercule Poirot short stories never before published.

Profiles of and reading lists for 100 of today's most popular nonfiction authors have been gathered together in this single source, which covers representatives from all major nonfiction genres-true adventure, true crime, travel and environmental narrative, science, history, life stories, and investigative writing. While focusing on such contemporary authors as Sebastian Junger, Frances Mayes, Joan Didion, Bill Bryson, and Anne Lamott, a few classics whose works are still in print and widely read (e.g., Truman Capote, M.F.K. Fisher, and Carl Sagan) are also included. In addition to information about the personal and writing lives of this fascinating and diverse group, users will find a complete list of their published works. Black and white author photos accompany many of the profiles.