The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack

The Believer is the weird and chilling true story of Dr. John Mack. This eminent Harvard psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer risked his career to investigate the phenomenon of human encounters with aliens and to give credibility to the stupefying tales shared by people who were utterly convinced they had happened. Nothing in Mack's four decades of psychiatry had prepared him for the otherworldly accounts of a cross section of humanity including young children who reported being taken against their wills by alien beings. Over the course of his career his interest in alien abduction grew from curiosity to wonder, ultimately developing into a limitless, unwavering passion. Based on exclusive access to Mack's archives, journals, and psychiatric notes and interviews with his family and closest associates, The Believer reveals the life and work of a man who explored the deepest of scientific conundrums and further leads us to the hidden dimensions and alternate realities that captivated Mack until the end of his life.

Biographies & Memoirs

Blumenthal, Ralph

Professionals & Academics

High Road Books

Rick Bass's Fortunate Son is a literary tour of the Lone Star State by a native Texan of exceptional talent. The essays encompass a Texas that is both lost and found, past and present. The stories reach from Galveston Bay to the Hill Country outside Austin, and from Houston in the 1960s to today. They are bound together by a deep love and a keen eye for the land and its people and by an appreciation for what is given, a ruefulness for what is lost, and a commitment to save what can be saved. "This is a journalist's Texas scrapbook, then: a firefighting story, a musical pilgrimage, a ramble in Texas's tiniest public wilderness (one of only five in the entire state). Fishing with my father and uncle on a lake that is partly in Texas and partly in Louisiana; flying around the borders of Texas--usually defined by water, a resource that will vanish in much of the state within our lifetime; hanging out at my parents' cattle farm down near Goliad; reading the work of Texans before me."--from the Introduction

Fortunate Son: Selected Essays from the Lone Star State

History

Bass, Rick

Americas

The film Casablanca opens with the words, "With the coming of the Second World War, many eyes in imprisoned Europe turned hopefully, or desperately, toward the freedom of the Americas." Leslie Epstein's Hill of Beans is the story of how one nation, one industry, and in particular one man responded to that desperate hope. That man is Jack Warner. His impossible goal is to make world events--most importantly, the invasion of North Africa by British and American forces in 1942--coincide with the release of his new film about a group of refugees marooned in Morocco. Arrayed against him are Stalin and Hitler, as well as Josef Goebbels, Franklin Roosevelt, a powerful gossip columnist, and above all a beautiful young woman with a terrible secret. His only weapons are his hutzpah and his heroism as he struggles to bring cinema and city, conflict and conference together in an epic command performance. Hill of Beans is the novel that Leslie Epstein--the son and nephew of Philip and Julius Epstein, the screenwriters of Casablanca--was born to write.

Hill of Beans: A Novel of War and Celluloid

Literature & Fiction

Epstein, Leslie

Genre Fiction

Product Description 
Fritjof Capra, scientist, educator, activist, and accomplished author, presents the evolution of his thought over five decades in Patterns of Connection. First introduced in the late 1950s to the work of Werner Heisenberg, a founder of quantum mechanics, Capra quickly intuited the connections between the discoveries of quantum physics and the traditions of Eastern philosophy--resulting in his first book, the bestselling The Tao of Physics. This synthesis, representative of the change from the mechanistic worldview of Descartes and Newton to a systemic, ecological one, went on to inform Capra's thinking about the life sciences, ecology, and environmental policy.Today Fritjof Capra remains a major figure at the crossroads of physics, spirituality, environmentalism, and systems theory. Organized thematically and chronologically, the essays in Patterns of Connection document the revolutionary and far-reaching intellectual journey of one of the major public thinkers of the last half-century. 
 Review 
"Fritjof Capra is a rare innovative thinker who, for five decades, has weaved together trends of thought with unique imagination: Eastern religions and quantum physics, the fate of the Earth and systems thinking, the notion of deep ecology and ethics, to name a few. This essential collection of essays celebrates Capra's worldview, calling for the collective awakening as a species that seems to want to sabotage its own collective future."--Marcelo Gleiser, 2019 Templeton Prize Laureate, and author of 
The Island of Knowledge: The Limits of Science and the Search for Meaning\n"This is the chronicle of an intellectually important and interesting life--Capra's understanding of systems thinking becomes ever more useful as we enter this period of systemic collapse. It's a story of routes we never really took and that we must now find again."--Bill McKibben, author of 
Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?\n"Fritjof Capra is one of the foremost thinkers at the interface between modern physics and an encompassing worldview looking toward a sustainable future. In these essays, he has provided us with the intellectual tools to probe these critical and emerging ideas."--Jonathan Ashmore, contributor to 
The Senses: A Comprehensive Reference, Second Edition\n"This synthesis of the work of Fritjof Capra spanning five decades provides an essential systems-thinking framework to understand and tackle the complex socioecological challenges confronting the planet."--Miguel A. Altieri, author of 
Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture 
 About the Author 
Fritjof Capra is the recipient of many awards, including the Gold Medal of the UK Systems Society, the Medal of the President of the Italian Republic, the Bioneers Award, the New Dimensions Broadcaster Award, and the American Book Award. He became universally known for his book 
The Tao of Physics: An Exploration of the Parallels between Modern Physics and Eastern Mysticism, which explored the ways in which modern physics was changing our worldview from a mechanistic to a holistic and ecological one. Capra lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and daughter.

Patterns of Connection: Essential Essays from Five Decades

Science & Math

CAPRA, FRITJOF

Biological Sciences

Product Description 
In the late summer of 1942, more than ten thousand members of the First Marine Division held a tenuous toehold on the Pacific island of Guadalcanal. As American marines battled Japanese forces for control of the island, they were joined by war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. Tregaskis was one of only two civilian reporters to land and stay with the marines, and in his notebook he captured the daily and nightly terrors faced by American forces in one of World War II's most legendary battles--and it served as the premise for his bestselling book, Guadalcanal Diary.One of the most distinguished combat reporters to cover World War II, Tregaskis later reported on Cold War conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. In 1964 the Overseas Press Club recognized his first-person reporting under hazardous circumstances by awarding him its George Polk Award for his book Vietnam Diary. Boomhower's riveting book is the first to tell Tregaskis's gripping life story, concentrating on his intrepid reporting experiences during World War II and his fascination with war and its effect on the men who fought it. 
 Review 
"In author Ray Boomhower's talented hands, the gripping story of one of World War II's finest journalists leaps off the page in an action-packed tale of a life on the front lines of history."--James M. Scott, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author of 
Target Tokyo: Jimmy Doolittle and the Raid That Avenged Pearl Harbor\n"A fascinating biography of the groundbreaking World War II correspondent Richard Tregaskis. . . . Boomhower fills in all the missing psychological and historical details with immediacy, authenticity, and humanity. . . . An engrossing picture of one of the twentieth century's most important combat reporters, [this book] serves as a necessary companion to Tregaskis's own front-line dispatches."--Joe Jackson, author of 
Black Elk: The Life of an American Visionary\n"A unique analysis of the life, writings, and experience of war correspondent Richard Tregaskis. . . . Through the words and experiences of Tregaskis in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, the author provides the reader with a new perspective on why combat journalists risk their lives to cover wars and tell the stories of the people who fight in them."--James R. Hedtke, author of 
The Freckleton, England, Air Disaster: The B-24 Crash that Killed 38 Preschoolers and 23 Adults, August 23, 1944\n"Ray Boomhower digs deep into his wealth of sources and resources to gather details for an intimate portrait of what war is like for the troops who fight it. He then deftly weaves all that research into a fine, engaging read with a writing style that is sure to put the reader in the center of the battles. As much as you think you know what war is like, you will still find a deeper understanding of it by reading this book."--Jim Willis, author of 
100 Media Moments That Changed America\n"Alongside Ernie Pyle, Richard Tregaskis was perhaps the most outstanding American war correspondent of World War II. Tregaskis remains best known today for his landmark 
Guadalcanal Diary, but that book covered only one small chapter of his reporting from the front lines. Ray Boomhower's excellent new biography finally does justice to Tregaskis in this deeply researched, thoughtful portrait of the man and his times."--Richard B. Frank, author of 
Guadalcanal: The Definitive Account of the Landmark Battle 
 About the Author 
Ray E. Boomhower is a senior editor at the Indiana Historical Society Press. He is also the author of more than a dozen books, including 
Dispatches from the Pacific: The World War II Reporting of Robert L. Sherrod; 
John Bartlow Martin: A Voice for the Underdog; and 
Robert F. Kennedy and the 1968 Indiana Primary.

Richard Tregaskis: Reporting under Fire from Guadalcanal to Vietnam

Boomhower, Ray E.

Leaders & Notable People

For more than thirty years, Ana Castillo has been mesmerizing and inspiring readers from all over the world with her passionate and fiery poetry and prose. Now the original Xicanista is back to her first literary love, poetry, and to interrogating the social and political upheaval the world has seen over the last decade. Angry and sad, playful and wise, Castillo delves into the bitter side of our world--the environmental crisis, COVID-19, ongoing systemic racism and violence, children in detention camps, and the Trump presidency--and emerges stronger from exploring these troubling affairs of today. Drawings by Castillo created over the past five years are featured throughout the collection and further showcase her connection to her work as both a writer and a visual artist. My Book of the Dead is a remarkable collection that features a poet at the height of her craft.

My Book of the Dead: New Poems

Castillo, Ana

Poetry

In his enthusiastic explorations and fervent writing, Michael J. Yochim "was to Yellowstone what Muir was to Yosemite. . . . Other times, his writing is like that of Edward Abbey, full of passion for the natural world and anger at those who are abusing it," writes foreword contributor William R. Lowry. In 2013 Yochim was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease). While fighting the disease, he wrote Requiem for America's Best Idea. The book establishes a unique parallel between Yochim's personal struggle with a terminal illness and the impact climate change is having on the national parks--the treasured wilderness that he loved and to which he dedicated his life. Yochim explains how climate change is already impacting the vegetation, wildlife, and the natural conditions in Olympic, Grand Canyon, Glacier, Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks. A poignant and thought-provoking work, Requiem for America's Best Idea investigates the interactions between people and nature and the world that can inspire and destroy them.

Requiem for America’s Best Idea: National Parks in the Era of Climate Change

Yochim, Michael J.

Earth Sciences

I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer is the memoir of Nichols' extraordinary life, as seen through the lens of his writing. Everything that went into making him a writer and eventually found an outlet in his work--his education, family, wives, children, friends, enemies, politics, and place--is told from the point of view of his daily practice of writing.\nBeginning with his first novel, The Sterile Cuckoo, published in 1965 when he was just twenty-four, Nichols shares his highs and lows: his ambivalent relationship with money; his growing disenchantment with the hypocrisy of capitalism; and his love-hate relationship with Hollywood--including the years-long struggle of working with director Robert Redford on the film version of The Milagro Beanfield War, which was filmed around Truchas and featured many of Nichols' northern New Mexico neighbors.\nThroughout I Got Mine Nichols spins a shining thread connecting his lifelong engagement with progressive political causes, his passionate interest in and identification with ordinary people, and his deep connection to the land.

I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer

Nichols, John.

Arts & Literature

Over the course of more than twenty years, James D. Richardson and his wife, Lori, retraced the steps of his ancestor, George Richardson (1824-1911), across nine states, uncovering letters, diaries, and more memoirs hidden away. Their journey brought them to the brink of the racial divide in America, revealing how his great-great-grandfather Richardson played a role in the Underground Railroad, served as a chaplain to a Black Union regiment in the Civil War, and founded a college in Texas for the formerly enslaved. In narrating this compelling life, The Abolitionist's Journal explores the weight of the past as well as the pull of one's ancestral history. The author raises questions about why this fervent commitment to the emancipation of African Americans was nearly forgotten by his family, exploring the racial attitudes in the author's upbringing and the ingrained racism that still plagues our nation today. As America confronts a generational reckoning on race, these important perspectives add a layer to our larger national story.

The Abolitionist’s Journal: Memories of an American Antislavery Family

RICHARDSON, JAMES D.

Community & Culture

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the High Road Books publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by High Road Books

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the High Road Books publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack

Fortunate Son: Selected Essays from the Lone Star State

Hill of Beans: A Novel of War and Celluloid

Patterns of Connection: Essential Essays from Five Decades

Richard Tregaskis: Reporting under Fire from Guadalcanal to Vietnam

My Book of the Dead: New Poems

Requiem for America’s Best Idea: National Parks in the Era of Climate Change

I Got Mine: Confessions of a Midlist Writer

The Believer: Alien Encounters, Hard Science, and the Passion of John Mack

The Abolitionist’s Journal: Memories of an American Antislavery Family