*As heard on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour* *A Blackwell's and Waterstones Best Popular Science Book of 2022* 'Excellent ... one of those rare pop-science books that make you look at the whole world differently' The Daily Telegraph ***** 'Riveting' Mail on Sunday ***** 'Captivating' Guardian, Book of the Day 'Compelling' Observer Sarah Chaney takes us on an eye-opening and surprising journey into the history of science, revisiting the studies, landmark experiments and tests that proliferated from the early 19th century to find answers to the question: what's normal? These include a census of hallucinations - and even a UK beauty map (which claimed the women in Aberdeen were "the most repellent"). On the way she exposes many of the hangovers that are still with us from these dubious endeavours, from IQ tests to the BMI. Interrogating how the notion and science of standardisation has shaped us all, as individuals and as a society, this book challenges why we ever thought that normal might be a desirable thing to be.

*A Blackwell's Book of the Year* *A Waterstones Best Popular Science Book of 2022* *A Telegraph Best Book for Summer 2022* *As heard on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour* 'Excellent ... one of those rare pop-science books that make you look at the whole world differently' The Daily Telegraph ***** 'Riveting' Mail on Sunday ***** 'Captivating' Guardian, Book of the Day 'Compelling' Observer Before the nineteenth century, the term normal was rarely ever associated with human behaviour. Normal was a term used in maths: people weren't normal - triangles were. But from the 1830s, this branch of science really took off across Europe and North America, with a proliferation of IQ tests, sex studies, a census of hallucinations - even a UK beauty map (which concluded the women in Aberdeen were "the most repellent"). This book tells the surprising history how the very notion of the normal came about, how it shaped us all, often while entrenching oppressive values. Sarah Chaney looks at why we're still asking the internet: Do I have a normal body? Is my sex life normal? Are my kids normal? And along the way, she challenges why we ever thought it might be a desirable thing to be.

The National Park Service, Biological Resources Division, sponsored the development of a Restoration Rapid Assessment Tool (RRAT), an objective and transparent process for prioritizing sites for restoration in parks and other preserves. This document details the application of the Restoration Rapid Assessment Tool to Selected Disturbed Sites on Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, California

Alex never thought of himself as a hero. He thought he'd live his entire life in relative ease-- nothing out of the ordinary ever happens to him. Then his world was turned upside down. The people of Amoria are vanishing and Alex's Dad was one of the first to go. Alex doesn't know what to think but he knows that there is something happening in the Winter kingdom that is beyond his understanding. Then ten years after his Father's disappearance his Mother goes missing as well. Alex embarks on a journey to find the missing but gains more than he bargained for when he enters the Dark Forest. Alex finds himself in a situation unlike any he has ever faced before and must make decisions that not only effect him but that of his new 'family' as well. Alex may have never imagined himself as a hero, but now he has no choice but to become one or all of Amoria will face the same fate.

Self-harm is thought by many to be a modern epidemic: a phenomenon of the late twentieth century, a symptom of extreme emotional turmoil in young people, particularly young women. Yet it was 150 years ago, within early asylum psychiatry, that self-mutilation was first codified as a category of behaviour, and explanations for a variety of self-injurious acts were conceived very differently. Psyche on the Skin charts the secret history of self-harm. The book describes its many forms, from sexual self-mutilation and hysterical malingering in the late Victorian period, to self-castrating religious sects, to self-mutilation and self-destruction in art, music and popular culture. Sarah Chaney's refreshing historical approach refutes the notion that self-harm has any universal meaning - that it necessarily says something specific about an individual or group, or that it can ever be understood outside the historical and cultural context of a particular era. Drawing on her personal experiences, written in an engaging style and containing many powerful images, Psyche on the Skin challenges the misconceptions and controversies surrounding self-harm. The book is crucial reading for professionals in the field as well as all those affected by this act.