In the New York Times best-selling book from the creator of the wildly popular webcomic xkcd, Randall Munroe gives hilarious and informative answers to important questions you probably never thought to ask.
Fans of xkcd ask Munroe a lot of strange questions. What if you tried to hit a baseball pitched at 90 percent the speed of light? How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live? If there was a robot apocalypse, how...

When actor Leslie Jordan learned he had "gone viral," he had no idea what that meant or how much his life was about to change. Now, he brings his bon vivance to the page with this collection of intimate and sassy essays.

With dazzling wit and astonishing insight, Bill Bryson-the acclaimed author of The Lost Continent-brilliantly explores the remarkable history, eccentricities, resilience and sheer fun of the English language. From the first descent of the larynx into the throat (why you can talk but your dog can't), to the fine lost art of swearing, Bryson tells the fascinating, often uproarious story of an inadequate, second-rate tongue of peasants that developed...

Author of three memoirs of her own, Mary Karr synthesizes her expertise as graduate writing professor and therapy patient, writer and spiritual seeker, recovered alcoholic and "black belt sinner, " providing an irreverent window into the mechanics and art of the form. Anchored by excerpts from her favorite memoirs and anecdotes from fellow writers' experience, The Art of Memoir lays bare Karr's own process. In addition, all those inside stories about...

"Stick man is the guy you see around town, but don't really know very well. He seems nice. He gives up his seat at the front of the bus for those in greater need. He throws his litter away in the proper trash receptacle. He even indicates when it's safe to cross the street. He also helpfully demonstrates, by way of warning and at great personal peril, what happens if you don't mind the subway gap, stray too close to the cliff's edge, slip on a wet...

In the early seventies, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe-in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. He was accompanied by an unforgettable sidekick named Stephen Katz (who will be gloriously familiar to readers of Bryson's A Walk in the Woods). Twenty years later, he decided to retrace his journey. The result is the affectionate and riotously funny Neither Here Nor There.

A New York Times–bestselling, comical take on world history from the beloved New Yorker humorist. So, you think you know most of what there is to know about people like Nero and Cleopatra, Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun, Lady Godiva and Miles Standish? You say there's nothing more to be written about Lucrezia Borgia? How wrong you are, for in these pages you'll find Will Cuppy footloose in the footnotes of history. He transforms these...

"From one of the hottest young comedians at work today--two Netflix specials, a world tour, a brand new HBO special, and a well-earned reputation as mind-bogglingly funny and hilariously offensive and challenging--a book about his favorite subject . . . and you will never think about relationships in the same way again. Daniel Sloss's comedy engages, enrages, offends, makes people uncomfortable, provides solace, and gets everyone roaring with laughter--all...

Southern humorist Julia Reed celebrates Southern food, Southern women, and the Southern penchant for enjoying good times in this collection of her food writing. Julia Reed spends a lot of time thinking about ham biscuits. And, cornbread and casseroles and the surprisingly modern ease of donning a hostess gown for one's own party. In Ham Biscuits, Hostess Gowns and Other Southern Specialties Julia Reed collects her thoughts on good cooking and the...