"In the ten years since her beloved, groundbreaking Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, New York Times bestselling author Amy Krouse Rosenthal has been quietly at work on this modest but mighty magnum opus, creating a spectacular literary experience that is unprecedented, unforgettable, and explosively human. Amy Krouse Rosenthal has cultivated a distinct blend of nonlinear memoir, observational humor, wistful reflections, and interactive connections with readers. A decade after Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life, she's back with a sublime new work, a timeless collection of insights, memories, and moments that are at once intimate and universal. Why the title Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal? Because each piece of prose is organized into classic subjects such as Social Studies, Music, and Language Arts. Because textbook would accurately describe a book with a first-of-its-kind interactive text messaging component. Because textbook is an expression meaning "quintessential"--Oh, that wordplay and unconventional format is so typical of her, so textbook AKR. Because if an author's previous book has the word encyclopedia in the title, following it up with a textbook would be rather nice. Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal speaks to the awe, bewilderment, and poignancy of being alive"--

Tireless, controversial, and hugely inspirational to those who knew her or encountered her work, Lynn Margulis was a scientist whose intellectual energy and interests knew no bounds. Best known for her work on the origins of eukaryotic cells, the Gaia hypothesis, and symbiogenesis as a driving force in evolution, her work has forever changed the way we understand life on Earth. When Margulis passed away in 2011, she left behind a groundbreaking scientific legacy that spanned decades. In this collection, Dorion Sagan, Margulis's son and longtime collaborator, gathers together the voices of friends and colleagues to remark on her life and legacy, in essays that cover her early collaboration with James Lovelock, her fearless face-off with Richard Dawkins during the so-called "Battle of Balliol" at Oxford, the intrepid application of her scientific mind to the insistence that 9/11 was a false-flag operation, her affinity for Emily Dickinson, and more. Margulis was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1983, received the prestigious National Medal of Science in 1999, and her papers are permanently archived at the Library of Congress. Less than a month before her untimely death, Margulis was named one of the twenty most influential scientists alive - one of only two women on this list, which include such scientists as Stephen Hawking, James Watson, and Jane Goodall.

The problems, responsibilities and, ultimately, the meaning of our lives have long been concerns of philosophers, poets, artists - indeed all thinkers, whether their religion informs their opinion or their disbelief challenges conventional wisdom.--Amazon.com.