Nonfiction Exploration

A dramatic tale of explorers of the 1930s racing to find and harvest a poisonous Amazon vine, and how their work plundered local tribes and spurred the invention of new medicines. In the fall of 1938, a young, frail American explorer set off down a river in the western Amazon in search of curare...

A ship was more to a pirate than just a place to make a living. Ships often provided more freedom than pirates could get in most places. Come aboard to see how pirates lived, worked, and fought on their ships.

Canada – ‘The true north strong and free’ in the words of its national anthem – is the subject of this exhilarating new travel book from Paul Theroux: both a journey into the past and a cross-country road trip in the present, at a pivotal point in Canada's history. A vastly diverse and...

You just tried out for the school play. Who wants the lead part more than anyone? YOU! Imagine sailing the high seas without a care in the world. Storming castles for gold and jewels. Wearing a horned helmet. But be careful what you wish for. That might not be the way it was for an explorer on a Viking ship.…

Can we crack the code to life itself? In the third volume in the Discovering Life’s Story series, scientists compete to decipher the genetic blueprint behind all life on earth. It’s the dawn of the twentieth century. Darwin has theorized that traits get passed down through generations, and...

Trace the history of life science in the first of a four-part MITeen series by mega-best-selling author Joy Hakim, who brought us The History of US. When did we start learning the scientific secrets of life? Step back to the Islamic Golden Age, when scholars ask questions about life science and...

Millions of people around the world have reported a near-death experience. Do they prove the existence of a loving God? Never in history, until now, have we been able to hear from so many people around the world who have been brought back from clinical death. Modern medical resuscitation and...

Terra Incognita is a meditation on the landscape, myths and history of one of the remotest parts of the globe, as well as an encounter with the people who inhabit this region - living in close confinement despite the surrounding acres of white space - and the mechanics of day-to-day life in...

In the second volume of the Discovering Life’s Story series by best-selling author Joy Hakim, the theory of evolution takes hold—transforming ideas about survival, extinction, and life itself. Can species change? Or go extinct? In the eighteenth century, most people answer no to both...

In this guide-that’s-not-a-guide, metal detectorist cousins Ellie and Lucie explore their local landscape, getting to grips with the hobby, history and themselves along the way. ‘Enchanting and visceral’ DR MADELEINE PELLING ‘Brilliantly witty and magnificently down to earth’ DR...

The mesmerizing, larger-than-life tale of an eccentric adventurer who traversed some of the greatest frontiers of the twentieth century, from uncharted Arctic wastelands to the underground resistance networks of World War II. Deep in the Arctic wilderness, Peter Freuchen awoke to find himself...

An entertaining tour of the seemingly simple formula guiding the search for extraterrestrial intelligence Cloudy with a Chance of Starships takes listeners on an irreverent expedition through the marvelous world of astrobiology, using as a guide the most important equation in science since E=mc2...

More than twenty years ago, Alan Elliott shared his positive outlook and uplifting view of the spirit of the American people in A Dose of the American Dream. Now in this revised, modernized, and newly titled edition, Elliot showcases the vision, accountability, faith, and essential values that...

An exquisite, lyrical foray into the world of deep-sea divers, the obsession and madness that oceans inspire in us, and the story of submarine inventor Peter Madsen's murder of journalist Kim Wall—a captivating blend of literary prose, science writing, and true crime "[A] thrilling study of an...

This program features an introduction and epilogue read by the author. "In the grand tradition of Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson, we now have a new tour guide to the cosmos."―Charles Cockell, Professor of Astrobiology, University of Edinburgh "Absorbing, informative, and entertaining...

WINNER OF THE 2019 PEN HESSELL-TILTMAN PRIZE The fascinating history of Christopher Columbus’s illegitimate son Hernando, guardian of his father’s flame, courtier, bibliophile and catalogue supreme, whose travels took him to the heart of 16th-century Europe’ Honor Clerk, Spectator, Books...

The height of Mt. Everest was first measured in 1850, but the closest any westerner got to Everest during the next 71 years, until 1921, was 40 miles. The Hunt for Mt. Everest tells the story of the 71-year quest to find the world's highest mountain. It's a tale of high drama, of...

NATIONAL BESTSELLER Named Best Book of the Year by the Globe and Mail, History Today and The Hill Times A gripping and eye-opening account of the building of the engineering triumph that created a nation: the Canadian Pacific Railway The sharp decline of the demand for fur in the late nineteenth...

Former NASA astronaut Terry Virts offers an insider's guide to astronauting—a behind-the-scenes look at the training, basic rules, lessons, and procedures of space travel, including how to deal with a dead body in space, what it’s like to film an IMAX movie in orbit, what exactly to do when...

Susan Orlean, the beloved New Yorker staff writer hailed as "a national treasure" by The Washington Post and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Library Book, gathers a lifetime of musings, meditations, and in-depth profiles about animals. "How we interact with animals has...