Book Shelter

This Book is an excerpt from a book arguing that President Franklin D. Roosevelt deliberately provoked Japan into attacking Pearl Harbor to bring the United States into World War II.  The author supports this claim using declassified documents obtained via the Freedom of Information Act, detailing intercepted Japanese communications and alleged US government actions designed to escalate tensions....

This Book excerpt comprehensively covers English grammar rules, from the basics of parts of speech and sentence structure to more advanced concepts like verb tenses, moods, and the use of various types of clauses.  It provides numerous examples and explanations of grammatical rules, including exceptions and common errors.  The text also distinguishes between American and British English convention...

Che Guevara's diary entries from his time in the Congo are presented, offering a firsthand account of his experiences supporting Congolese revolutionaries. The text includes editorial notes clarifying events and personalities for the reader. Correspondence between Guevara and Fidel Castro reveals concerns about the mission's progress and Guevara's personal safety. The diary details the challenges...

This book examines the viability of "state-nations"—democracies accommodating multiple cultural identities—versus "nation-states" prioritizing a single national identity.  It uses case studies of India, Spain, Belgium, Sri Lanka, and Ukraine to explore how different policies, particularly federalism (especially asymmetrical federalism), impact the success of state-nations.  The authors challenge t...

Phillip G. Payne's Crash! explores the economic boom and bust of the 1920s, examining the factors that led to the 1929 stock market crash and the subsequent Great Depression. The book analyzes the role of speculation, easy money, and the changing nature of finance, highlighting the actions of key figures like J.P. Morgan and Richard Whitney. Payne traces the shift from a conservative, gold-standar...

Kevin Kwan's Crazy Rich Asians is a novel excerpt showcasing the opulent lifestyles and complex relationships of ultra-wealthy Chinese families in Singapore and beyond. The Book provides glimpses into various family dynamics, highlighting social hierarchies, cultural clashes, and romantic entanglements. Intricate family trees and descriptions of lavish settings are interspersed with dialogue revea...

The Book is an excerpt from a fantasy romance novel, "Brothers of Ash and Fire," featuring a centuries-old dragon shifter, Grigori Barinov.  The story follows Madelyn Haynes, a researcher who discovers Grigori's existence through an antique diary, leading to her pursuit by a security guard and subsequent encounter with Grigori.  Their relationship develops amidst a backdrop of ancient family secre...

This Book comprises excerpts from an 1899 edition of Robert Browning's shorter poems.  The introduction provides biographical information and commentary on Browning's poetic style, noting his strengths in character portrayal and his sometimes challenging, oblique writing.  The subsequent pages offer a selection of his poems, including famous works like "The Pied Piper of Hamelin," along with annot...

Santosh Nair's Bulls, Bears and Other Beasts is a memoir detailing his career as a jobber and broker on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The book chronicles his experiences navigating the highs and lows of the Indian stock market, from his early life and career struggles to his rise within the industry and observations on major market events and scandals. Nair describes the inner workings of the B...

This Book is a table of contents and excerpts from Calculus II For Dummies. The book aims to teach calculus II concepts, starting with a review of precalculus and calculus I. It covers integration techniques (substitution, integration by parts, trigonometric substitution, partial fractions), applications of integration (area, volume, arc length), and infinite series (convergence, divergence, Taylo...

Geshe YongDong Losar's Calm Breath, Calm Mind is a guide to ancient Tibetan breathing practices, exploring the concept of lung (vital energy). The book details various breathing exercises for calming the mind and improving physical and mental health, integrating them with meditation, visualization, and movement techniques. Foreword endorsements emphasize the transformative potential of these pract...

David Sedaris's Calypso is a collection of essays exploring family dynamics, aging, and mortality. Sedaris recounts anecdotes about his eccentric family members, their often-bizarre interactions, and his own observations on life's absurdities. The essays cover a range of topics, including his sisters' unusual personalities, his relationship with his partner Hugh, and his reflections on his own agi...

This Book is a collection of excerpts from a critical edition of Baruch Spinoza's works, focusing on textual issues and interpretations. The editors meticulously compared Spinoza's original Latin texts with contemporary Dutch translations to resolve textual uncertainties, particularly concerning technical terms and the geometric method's intricacies. Discussions explore Spinoza's philosophical con...

This Book comprises excerpts from J.R.R. Tolkien's commentary and translation of Beowulf, offering insights into the poem's composition and textual history. Tolkien meticulously examines multiple manuscript versions, detailing his editorial choices and linguistic interpretations. He explores the poem's complex themes, including fate, heroism, and the blending of pagan and Christian elements. The c...

This Book is an excerpt from a young adult novel, Better Than the Movies, focusing on the narrator's senior year of high school. The narrative centers on the narrator's complex relationships with her longtime nemesis, Wes, and her childhood crush, Michael, who has returned to town. Themes of love, friendship, and self-discovery are explored through humorous anecdotes and romantic entanglements. Th...

This scholarly work examines the historical and cultural context of witchcraft and shamanism in early modern Europe, focusing on Hungarian witch trial records. The author analyzes different types of witches, including "neighborhood witches" involved in social conflicts and "supernatural witches" connected to the spirit world. The study explores the overlap between witchcraft and shamanism, particu...

Ta-Nehisi Coates's Between the World and Me is a letter to his adolescent son exploring the realities of being Black in America. The book uses personal anecdotes, literary excerpts, and historical analysis to examine systemic racism and its impact on Black bodies. Coates details his own experiences navigating racism, from childhood in Baltimore to his time at Howard University, framing it as a con...

Ethan Siegel's Beyond the Galaxy is a non-technical book explaining the history of humanity's understanding of the Universe. The book traces the evolution of cosmological models, from geocentric to heliocentric views, and explores key discoveries like the expansion of the Universe and the cosmic microwave background radiation. Siegel details the scientific process, highlighting the contributions o...

This Book is an excerpt from the book "Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies," a comprehensive introduction to the technology behind Bitcoin. The excerpt covers a wide range of topics, including the history of electronic payment systems, the cryptographic foundations of Bitcoin, the mechanics of Bitcoin transactions and mining, Bitcoin's decentralization, anonymity features and their limitations...

Matthew Syed's Black Box Thinking explores how various organizations and individuals respond to failure. Syed contrasts fields like aviation, which systematically investigates accidents to improve safety, with others, such as healthcare and criminal justice, that often avoid examining failures. He highlights the role of cognitive dissonance, where individuals distort information to protect their s...

Brad Thor's Black Ice is a spy thriller following Harvath, a former US operative, as he investigates a Chinese plot to gain influence in the Arctic. The narrative unfolds during Harvath's summer in Norway, intertwined with his romantic relationship and a series of escalating events involving Chinese espionage, Russian involvement, and a dangerous race against time. Key elements include the pursuit...

Haruki Murakami's Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman is a collection of short stories, some previously published and significantly revised, others newly compiled. The author reflects on his writing process, noting the relative brevity of short stories compared to novels. Several stories originally written as short stories were later expanded into novels, demonstrating the interconnectedness of his work....

Leif Wenar's Blood Oil examines the global consequences of resource-rich countries' dependence on natural resource exports. The book argues that the current system allows authoritarian regimes to profit from the sale of resources, using the revenue to fund oppression and violence, ultimately harming both the citizens of those countries and the global community. Wenar explores the complex web of su...

Joshua Cohen's novel, excerpted here, follows a narrator's experiences as he grapples with identity, memory, and the nature of writing. The narrative unfolds across multiple locations and time periods, weaving together personal anecdotes, reflections on technology, and encounters with various characters. Critical praise for Cohen's work is interspersed with the novel's text, highlighting his uniqu...

Emily Jane Fox's Born Trump is a biography exploring the lives of Donald Trump's children, focusing on their upbringing, relationships, and roles within their father's political career. The book examines the family's dynamics, including their individual personalities and the impact of their parents' high-profile lives and divorces. Fox analyzes the children's involvement in the 2016 presidential c...