Twelve years ago, Richard Yancey answered a blind ad in the newspaper offering a salary higher than what he’d made over the three previous years combined. It turned out that the job was for the Internal Revenue Service -- the most hated and feared organization in the federal government.So Yancey became the man who got in his car, drove to your house, knocked on your door, and made you pay. Never mind that his car was littered with candy wrappers, his palms were sweaty, and he couldn't remember where he stashed his own tax records. He was there on the authority of the United States government.With "a rich mix of humor, horror, and angst [and] better than most novels on the bestseller lists" (Boston Sunday Globe), Confessions of a Tax Collector contains an astonishing cast of too-strange-for-fiction characters. But the most intriguing character of all is Yancey himself who -- in detailing how the job changed him and how he managed to pull himself back from the brink of moral, ethical, and spiritual bankruptcy -- reveals what really lies beneath those dark suits and mirrored sunglasses.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

The best-selling Rumi book ever is now better than ever! This revised and expanded edition of the comprehensive one-volume edition of America's most popular poet includes a new introduction by Coleman Barks, and 57 new poems never published before. The ecstatic, spiritual poetry of Rumi is more popular than ever, and The Essential Rumi continues to be far and away the top-selling title of all Rumi books. With the addition of many new poems and a new introduction, The Essential Rumi is now clearly the definitive, and most delightful selection of Rumi's poetry.

A new, comprehensive English anthology What is the meaning of lifeHow should I liveIs there any purpose to the universeGenerations have turned to the great German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer for answers to such essential questions of existence. His influence has extended not only to later philosophers Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein among them but also to musicians, artists, and important novelists such as Tolstoy, Thomas Mann, and Proust.The Essential Schopenhauer, the most comprehensive English anthology now available of this seminal thinker's writings, will open English readers to Schopenhauer's profound ideas. Selected by Wolfgang Schirmacher, president of the International Schopenhauer Association, The Essential Schopenhauer is an invaluable and accessibleintroduction to Schopenhauer's powerful body of work.

Doris Lessing's love affair with cats began at a young age, when she became intrigued with the semiferal creatures on the African farm where she grew up. Her fascination with the handsome, domesticated creatures that have shared her flats and her life in London remained undiminished, and grew into real love with the awkwardly lovable El Magnifico, the last cat to share her home.On Cats is a celebrated classic, a memoir in which we meet the cats that have slunk and bullied and charmed their way into Doris Lessing's life. She tells their stories their exploits, rivalries, terrors, affections, ancient gestures, and learned behaviors with vivid simplicity. And she tells the story of herself in relation to cats: the way animals affect her and she them, and the communication that grows possible between them a language of gesture and mood and desire as eloquent as the spoken word. No other writer conveys so truthfully the real interdependence of humans and cats or convinces us with such stunning recognition of the reasons why cats really matter.

Inventive, (mostly) edible DIY gadgets and projects guaranteed to captivate The Hungry Scientist Handbook brings DIY technology into the kitchen and onto the plate. It compiles the most mouthwatering projects created by mechanical engineer Patrick Buckley and his band of intrepid techie friends, whose collaboration on contraptions started at a memorable 2005 Bay Area dinner party and resulted in the formation of the Hungry Scientist Society a loose confederation of creative minds dedicated to the pursuit of projects possessing varying degrees of whimsy and utility.Featuring twenty projects ranging from edible origami to glowing lollipops, cryogenic martinis to Tupperware boom boxes, the book draws from the expertise of programmers, professors, and garden-variety geeks and offers something to delight DIYers of all skill levels.

The shocking, never-before-told story of the bizarre world inside the legendary Playboy Mansion - and finally the secret truth about the man who holds the key - from one of the few people who truly knows: Hef's former number-one girlfriend and star of The Girls Next Door. A spontaneous decision at age 21 transformed small-town Oregon girl Holly Sue Cullen into Holly Madison, Hugh Hefner's number-one girlfriend. But like Alice's journey into Wonderland, after Holly plunged down the rabbit hole, what seemed like a fairy tale life inside the Playboy Mansion - including A-list celebrity parties and her own number-one-rated television show for four years - quickly devolved into an oppressive routine of strict rules, manipulation, and battles with ambitious, backstabbing bunnies. Life inside the notorious mansion wasn't a dream at all - and quickly became her nightmare. After losing her identity, her sense of self-worth, and her hope for the future, Holly found herself sitting alone in a bathtub, contemplating suicide. But instead of ending her life, Holly chose to take charge of it. In this shockingly candid and surprisingly moving memoir, this thoughtful and introspective woman opens up about life inside the mansion, the drugs, the sex, the abuse, the infamous parties, and her real behind-the-scenes life with Bridget, Kendra, and, of course, Mr. Playboy himself. With great courage Holly shares the details of her subsequent troubled relationship, landing her own successful television series, and the hard work of healing, including her turn on Dancing with the Stars. A cautionary tale and a celebration of personal empowerment, Down the Rabbit Hole reminds us of the importance of fighting for our dreams - and finding the life we deserve.

An unstoppable collection of the most hardcore figures who ever strapped on chain mail and ran screaming into battle Throughout history from the bone-crushing age of antiquity to the sack-tearing modern era there have been larger-than-life ass-kickers with a natural talent for unleashing their epic bloodlust on anyone who crossed them. They built empires, smashed armies, and ravaged civilizations for wealth, glory, and ultimate supremacy. Sometimes villains, sometimes heroes, sometimes criminally insane, they had one thing in common: They were all . . . Badass!Chandragupta MauryaAn Indian warlord who commanded an army of drunken war elephants and employed an elite detachment of highly trained female bodyguardsPeter FranciscoAn unsung hero of the American Revolution, this powerful giant battled the British with a massive five-foot-long broadswordWolf the QuarrelsomeA mysterious barbarian leader who only appears in history twice and both times he's kicking someone's assBhanbhagta Gurung A fearless Gurkha who won the Victoria Cross by clearing out six Japanese foxholes with nothing more than grenades, a bayonet, and a knifeFrom Alexander the Great to George S. Patton, from Genghis Khan to Bruce Lee, this pantheon of ass-kicking awesomeness should inspire you to quit your stupid job and dive headfirst into a new career as a professional badass.

In this phenomenal New York Times bestseller, Neil Cavuto shares the inspirational stories of an array of personal heroes, many of whom motivated him to continue his career as he battled cancer and multiple sclerosis.Joining the nascent Fox News Channel in 1996, Neil was set to establish himself as one of business journalism's most important players. Ten years after being diagnosed with cancer, however, Cavuto was dealt another body blow: He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. As friends and strangers alike gathered to offer their support, he became attuned to the stories of others in the business world who also triumphed over serious setbacks of their own. More Than Money shares with us their personal stories, among them: Evelyn Lauder, the cosmetics executive who pioneered the pink ribbon campaign after her own battle with breast cancer Richard Branson, who overcame dyslexia and used his creativity and entrepreneurial spirit to build the Virgin empire Michael Wilson, a senior executive at the Royal Bank of Canada, who launched a public campaign to raise awareness of and money for treating depression after his son committed suicide Jon Huntsman, who survived two bouts with cancer to build one of the largest petrochemical companies in the world and found one of the most prominent cancer research centers Moving, sincere, and wise, More Than Money profiles individuals whose stories are a testament to courage, compassion, and dignity in the face of adversity.

When and Where I Enter is an eloquent testimonial to the profound influence of African-American women on race and women's movements throughout American history. Drawing on speeches, diaries, letters, and other original documents, Paula Giddings powerfully portrays how black women have transcended racist and sexist attitudes--often confronting white feminists and black male leaders alike--to initiate social and political reform. From the open disregard for the rights of slave women to examples of today's more covert racism and sexism in civil rights and women'sorganizations, Giddings illuminates the black woman's crusade for equality. In the process, she paints unforgettable portraits of black female leaders, such as anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, educator and FDR adviser Mary McLeod Bethune, and the heroic civil rights leader Fannie Lou Hamer, among others, who fought both overt and institutionalized oppression. When and Where I Enter reveals the immense moral power black women possessed and sought to wield throughout their history--the same power that prompted Anna Julia Cooper in 1892 to tell a group of black clergymen, "Only the black woman can say 'when and where I enter, in the quiet, undisputed dignity of my womanhood, without violence and without suing or special patronage, then and there the whole . . . race enters with me.'"

One of the greatest songwriters of all time offers a frank and riveting account of his life and the stories behind the hits. Over the past six decades, Burt Bacharach's legendary songwriting has touched millions of devoted listeners all over the world. In Anyone Who Had a Heart, Bacharach steps out from behind the music to give an honest, engaging look at his life from his work with Hal David, Dionne Warwick, Elvis Costello, and many others to his tumultuous marriages and the devastating fate of his beloved daughter.Growing up in Forest Hills, New York, during the 1930s and '40s, Burt Bacharach fell in love with music after sneaking into a Manhattan jazz club to see the legendary Dizzy Gillespie. After a stint in the Army during the Korean War, he toured the world with Marlene Dietrich, wrote an endless string of hits, scored numerous Hollywood films, married the glamorous movie star Angie Dickinson, and composed the music for the huge Broadway hit Promises, Promises.While he soared professionally, Bacharach's private life was dominated by the never-ending search for love and the heartbreak that comes when it is lost which is reflected in his greatest songs. His firstthree marriages ended in divorce. His long-running partnership with the late Hal David suffered a bitter split that lasted seventeen years. Throughout the highs and lows, Bacharach steadfastly pursued his muse a quest that continues to this day.Anyone Who Had a Heart is the story of a manwho has always expressed his deepest feelings through his music. Filled with the emotional power that defines Burt Bacharach's most unforgettable songs, his memoir offers a candid backstage look at show business as well as the personal struggles of an artist whose incredible body of work has earned him a unique position in the American cultural landscape.

Anthropologist John Fox sets off on a worldwide adventure to thefarthest reaches of the globe and the deepest recesses of our ancientpast to answer a question inspired by his sports-loving son: "Why do we play ball?"From Mexican jungles to the small-town gridirons of Ohio, frommedieval villages and royal courts to modern soccer pitches andbaseball parks, The Ball explores the little-known origins ofour favorite sports across the centuries, and traces how a simpleinvention like the ball has come to stake an unrivaled claim on ourpassions, our money, and our lives. Equal parts history and travelogue,The Ball removes us from the scandals and commercialism of today'ssports world to uncover the true reasons we play ball, helping us reclaimour universal connection to the games we love.

50th Anniversary Edition With a New Preface and Two Bonus Essays The most influential critique of psychiatry ever written, Thomas Szasz's classic book revolutionized thinking about the nature of the psychiatric profession and the moral implications of its practices. By diagnosing unwanted behavior as mental illness, psychiatrists, Szasz argues, absolve individuals of responsibility for their actions and instead blame their alleged illness. He also critiques Freudian psychology as a pseudoscience and warns against the dangerous overreach of psychiatry into all aspects of modern life.

In this new collection, Oxford theologian George Pattison translates and selects Sren Kierkegaard's previously neglected writings on spirituality works that greatly deepen our understanding of the influential thinker. In philosophy and literature, Kierkegaard ("By far the most profound thinker of the nineteenth century" Ludwig Wittgenstein) is generally perceived as epitomizing existential angst. However, there is much moreto Kierkegaard than the popular image of the melancholy Dane or the iconoclastic critic of established Christendom. Alongside the pseudonymous books for which he is largely known, Kierkegaard also wrote many devotional works, which he called "upbuilding" or "edifying" discourses. Taken as a whole, these writings offer something very different from the popular view they embody a spirituality grounded in a firm sense of human life as a divine gift.

Using the latest research in animal behavior, Dr. Milani has produced a wonderfully intriguing book about the body language of cats and what it reveals, including how body language displays can enhance or undermine relationships between cats and people.

A rare glimpse into the private lives of your favorite athletes and what gives these champion sportsmen and women a deeper satisfaction than any trophy or championship ring. It's no surprise that the stories in Wish Granted are profoundly inspiring. What is unexpected is how the life lessons have unfolded for the athletes with each wish granted. These athletes set about to make a difference for a child . . . but found, instead, that the child changed them.In Wish Granted, you'll become the confidant to twenty-five elite athletes as they share their most heartfelt thoughts. At the center of these stories, you'll find the victories, challenges, triumphs, and tears that sum up the experience of wish granting. Packed with compelling, never-before-published photos, Wish Granted focuses on the uplifting power people have to offer hope and joy to others both athlete to child, and child to athlete.Wish Granted celebrates the strength and courage of the human spirit in the face of adversity and a celebration you can be a part of. Every book sold will help grant life-changing wishes.

"This shit would be really interesting if we weren't in the middle of it." Barack Obama, September 2008In 2008, the presidential election became blockbuster entertainment. Everyone was watching as the race for the White House unfolded like something from the realm of fiction. The meteoric rise and historic triumph of Barack Obama. The shocking fall of the House of Clinton and the improbable resurrection of Hillary as Obama's partner and America's face to the world. The mercurial performance of John McCain and the mesmerizing emergence of Sarah Palin. But despite the wall-to-wall media coverage of this spellbinding drama, remarkably little of the real story behind the headlines has yet been told. In Game Change, John Heilemann and Mark Halperin, two of the country's leading political reporters, use their unrivaled access to pull back the curtain on the Obama, Clinton, McCain, and Palin campaigns. How did Obama convince himself that, despite the thinness of his resume, he could somehow beat the odds to become the nation's first African American presidentHow did the tumultuous relationship between the Clintons shape and warp Hillary's supposedly unstoppable bidWhat was behind her husband's furious outbursts and devastating political miscalculationsWhy did McCain make the novice governor of Alaska his running mateAnd was Palin merely painfully out of her depth or troubled in more serious ways?Game Change answers those questions and more, laying bare the secret history of the 2008 campaign. Heilemann and Halperin take us inside the Obama machine, where staffers referred to the candidate as "Black Jesus." They unearth the quiet conspiracy in the U.S. Senate to prod Obama into the race, driven in part by the fears of senior Democrats that Bill Clinton's personal life might cripple Hillary's presidential prospects. They expose the twisted tale of John Edwards's affair with Rielle Hunter, the truth behind the downfall of Rudy Giuliani, and the doubts of those responsible for vetting Palin about her readiness for the Republican ticket along with the McCain campaign staff's worries about her fitness for office. And they reveal how, in an emotional late-night phone call, Obama succeeded in wooing Clinton, despite her staunch resistance, to become his secretary of state.Based on hundreds of interviews with the people who lived the story, Game Change is a reportorial tour de force that reads like a fast-paced novel. Character driven and dialogue rich, replete with extravagantly detailed scenes, this is the occasionally shocking, often hilarious, ultimately definitive account of the campaign of a lifetime.

Three of the greatest plays in American literature collected in one volume This important new omnibus edition features an illuminating foreword by playwright John Guare and an extensive afterword for each play drawing on unpublished letters and other unique documentary material prepared by Tappan Wilder.Our Town Wilder's timeless 1938 Pulitzer Prize-winning look at love, death, and destiny is celebrated around the world and performed at least once each day in the United States.The Skin of our Teeth Wilder's 1942 romp about human follies and human endurance starring the Antrobus family of Excelsior, New Jersey. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1943.The Matchmaker Wilder's brilliant 1954 farce about money and love starring that irrepressible busybody Dolly Gallagher Levi. This play inspired the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly!.

Hailed by critics as a long overdue portrait of Sugar Ray Robinson, a man who was as elusive out of the ring as he was magisterial in it, Pound for Pound is a lively and nuanced profile of an athlete who is arguably the best boxer the sport has ever known. So great were Robinson's skills, he was eulogized by Woody Allen, compared to Joe Louis, and praised by Muhammad Ali, who called him "the king, the master, my idol." But the same discipline that Robinson brought to the sport eluded him at home, leading him to emotionally and physically abuse his family -- particularly his wife, the gorgeous dancer Edna Mae, whose entrepreneurial skills helped Robinson build an empire to which Harlemites were inexorably drawn. Exposing Robinson's flaws as well as putting his career in the context of his life and times, renowned journalist and bestselling author Herb Boyd, with Ray Robinson II, tells for the first time the full story of a complex man and sport-altering athlete.

Thieves, liars, and killers it's a criminal world out there, and someone has to write about it. A thrilling collection of the year's best reportage by the aces of the true-crime genre, The Best American Crime Reporting 2009 brings together the mysteries and missteps of an eclectic and unforgettable set of criminals. Gripping, suspenseful, and brilliant, this latest addition to the highly acclaimed series features guest editor Jeffrey Toobin, New Yorker staff writer, CNN senior legal analyst, and bestselling author of The Nine.

From bestselling author Kim Harrison comes this original short story (to be featured in her anthology Into the Woods, October 2012) where things are most definitely not as they seem. A pet shop employee’s innocent date with a customer quickly turns disturbing rather than delightful. She and her family hold a centuries-old secret, and they want him to stay with them forever . . .

From master storyteller Diane Stanley comes a spellbinding tale, based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, of two princes—one chosen, one lost—and a mysterious girl on a magical island, all caught in a great web of destiny.On the day of his birth, Prince Alexos is revealed to be the long-awaited champion of Athene. He grows up lonely, conscious of all that is expected of him. But Alexos discovers that being a champion isn't about fame and glory—it's about sacrifice and courage.Alexos follows the course of his destiny through war and loss and a deadly confrontation with his enemy to its end: shipwreck on a magical, fog-shrouded island. There he meets the unforgettable Aria, and faces the greatest challenge of his life.