What is the one true secret to weight loss? What is the correct way to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Is the designated hitter rule the salvation of baseball or its undoing? Is it rational to be an optimist? And-the question that haunts us all- should toilet paper unwind over the top of the roll or from underneath?

In his first collection of essays, author Brian Kenneth Swain tackles hundreds of life's questions while exploring a vast array of subjects-from tubas to two year-olds, from field goals to child labor laws, and from high school shop class to the worst round of golf ever played. With an acerbic wit and an honest approach, Swain shares his perspective on such pivotal matters as how to ski without losing a limb or your self-esteem, how to correctly prepare and consume lobster according to Maine standards, and whether marketing ploys hypnotically convince consumers to replace perfectly functioning items without a second thought. Swain encourages a kind of tongue-in-cheek thinking that prompts us to take a second look at the world around us.

"The Curious Habits of Man" shares an amusing glimpse at life as one man contemplates many of our greatest-and smallest-questions.

In Chechnya, a terrible mistake costs a brilliant young engineer his family.

In Istanbul, an oil tanker on its maiden voyage sinks for no apparent reason.

In Moscow, an astonishing new weapon threatens to upset the balance of world power.

And in Sochi, a cutting-edge energy facility opens for business.

Movlady Saidov is a young man struggling to navigate a tightrope between rage and love, embroiled in a complex web of conspiracy only partly of his own making. His story is fiction, but the technology, the politics, and the tension are as real as the headlines of yesterday's newspaper. This is Swain's most compelling thriller yet, drawing together the seemingly unrelated worlds of cryogenic fuel technology and directed energy weaponry and placing them at the center of a high-stakes game of global geopolitics.

It will keep you guessing. It will keep you thinking. It will keep you engrossed until the final climactic moments.

My America is a poem that examines the full range of human experience and emotion in the context of everyday places and images. From urban to rural, from the coasts to the plains, the stories are of ordinary people, their loves, their fears, and their dreams. It is "Winesburg, Ohio" and "On The Road," rolled up in one audacious and unforgettable journey.

Vanguard Corporation, an agricultural company led by a greedy and mercurial CEO, has developed a new line of genetically modified seed products. Designed to significantly increase crop yields and resist draught, pests, and disease in the hopes of reducing hunger in Third World countries, the seeds should also earn huge profits for the firm.

Vanguard's testing in Belarus, Colombia, and India initially goes well, but midway through the crops' development, reports begin to emerge of bizarre insect observations linked to incidents of domestic animal slaughter, and eventually, the death of several people. The high-growth genetic enhancements engineered into the seeds have been transferred into the insects through their ingestion of the test crops.

The strains of these "super" insects are much larger, more aggressive, and increasingly resistant to pesticides and disease than their natural counterparts. As the insects become more plentiful and widespread, Vanguard desperately combats them while dealing with the media, environmentalists, the government, and other distractions. Meanwhile, scientists, entomologists, and field operatives frantically work together to eradicate the new species and deal with the fallout of mankind's apathy toward environmental meddling.

What is the one true secret to weight loss? What is the correct way to make a grilled cheese sandwich? Is the designated hitter rule the salvation of baseball or its undoing? Is it rational to be an optimist? And-the question that haunts us all- should toilet paper unwind over the top of the roll or from underneath?

In his first collection of essays, author Brian Kenneth Swain tackles hundreds of life's questions while exploring a vast array of subjects-from tubas to two year-olds, from field goals to child labor laws, and from high school shop class to the worst round of golf ever played. With an acerbic wit and an honest approach, Swain shares his perspective on such pivotal matters as how to ski without losing a limb or your self-esteem, how to correctly prepare and consume lobster according to Maine standards, and whether marketing ploys hypnotically convince consumers to replace perfectly functioning items without a second thought. Swain encourages a kind of tongue-in-cheek thinking that prompts us to take a second look at the world around us.

"The Curious Habits of Man" shares an amusing glimpse at life as one man contemplates many of our greatest-and smallest-questions.

In Chechnya, a terrible mistake costs a brilliant young engineer his family.

In Istanbul, an oil tanker on its maiden voyage sinks for no apparent reason.

In Moscow, an astonishing new weapon threatens to upset the balance of world power.

And in Sochi, a cutting-edge energy facility opens for business.

Movlady Saidov is a young man struggling to navigate a tightrope between rage and love, embroiled in a complex web of conspiracy only partly of his own making. His story is fiction, but the technology, the politics, and the tension are as real as the headlines of yesterday's newspaper. This is Swain's most compelling thriller yet, drawing together the seemingly unrelated worlds of cryogenic fuel technology and directed energy weaponry and placing them at the center of a high-stakes game of global geopolitics.

It will keep you guessing. It will keep you thinking. It will keep you engrossed until the final climactic moments.

My America is a poem that examines the full range of human experience and emotion in the context of everyday places and images. From urban to rural, from the coasts to the plains, the stories are of ordinary people, their loves, their fears, and their dreams. It is "Winesburg, Ohio" and "On The Road," rolled up in one audacious and unforgettable journey.

Vanguard Corporation, an agricultural company led by a greedy and mercurial CEO, has developed a new line of genetically modified seed products. Designed to significantly increase crop yields and resist draught, pests, and disease in the hopes of reducing hunger in Third World countries, the seeds should also earn huge profits for the firm.

Vanguard's testing in Belarus, Colombia, and India initially goes well, but midway through the crops' development, reports begin to emerge of bizarre insect observations linked to incidents of domestic animal slaughter, and eventually, the death of several people. The high-growth genetic enhancements engineered into the seeds have been transferred into the insects through their ingestion of the test crops.

The strains of these "super" insects are much larger, more aggressive, and increasingly resistant to pesticides and disease than their natural counterparts. As the insects become more plentiful and widespread, Vanguard desperately combats them while dealing with the media, environmentalists, the government, and other distractions. Meanwhile, scientists, entomologists, and field operatives frantically work together to eradicate the new species and deal with the fallout of mankind's apathy toward environmental meddling.