Hungry for a treasure trove of weird and wonderful facts beyond your wildest imagination? Then keep on reading…Did you know that trees collaborate, communicate, and engage in chemical warfare?Or that humans are better at smelling rain than sharks are at smelling blood?Or that Napoleon once fought a pack of tame rabbits… and lost?Sometimes, life gets boring. Your sense of wonder often gets lost in a pile of chores, paperwork, and obligations.But whether you’re bored and hunting for entertainment or just want some fascinating facts to share with your family and friends, you’ve come to the right place.With tons of boredom-busting facts and mysteries about plants, animals, history, space travel, and everything in between, you have a set of fail-safe curiosities and conversation starters up your sleeve.So, if you want to find out…Why some people believe their families have been replaced by impostorsHow tens of thousands of fireflies can synchronize with each other to blink in unisonOr what the weird bubble-like objects at the center of the Milky Way areThen this book is here to satisfy your curiosity.In this enthralling collection of 60 fascinating, bizarre, and entertaining phenomena, you’ll discover:The creature that never dies — it just goes back to the juvenile stage and starts all over againA multicolored shrimp that attacks unsuspecting prey with the force of a .22-caliber bullet… underwaterHow a slimy glob of single-celled organisms can remember, learn, and transfer knowledgeWhen science-fiction turns into real-life horror — how a fungus takes over ants’ bodies and turns them into zombiesHow scientists can look at your tears and tell whether you were sad or just cutting an onionThe story of the “dancing plague” that swept through Europe 500 years ago, leaving people dead from exhaustionThe country where you can pay someone to apologize for you, or even quit your jobThe identical twins who lived unbelievably identical lives — even though they were separated at birthThe mechanics of black holes and the possibility of “white holes”... places where time runs backwardHow this one material can make building a human colony on Mars possible (is it urine, blood, or potatoes?)And so much more.This isn’t just any old collection of recycled factoids and half-true anecdotes — all of the information has been carefully curated, thoroughly researched, and fact-checked to within an inch of its life.What’s more? You’ll also find unbelievable stories from the past, new technologies right at the leading edge of science, and futuristic ideas with the potential to completely transform human lives.So, what are you waiting for?If you’re ready to fill your mind with wonders and dazzle your friends over dinner, scroll up and click “Add to Cart” now!

A suburban housewife's picture-perfect life is shattered in this riveting true crime book from the author of Evil Next Door. When Nancy Cooper moved from Canada to Cary, North Carolina, with her new husband Brad, their future was bright. Living in one of the most picturesque towns in the United States, the couple mingled with neighbors, attended parties, and raised two daughters. Then, on July 14, 2008, the façade came crashing down when Nancy's strangled body was found in a storm pond. Nancy's husband claimed she had gone for a jog and never came back. But as the police investigation deepened, a complex web of affairs and lies involving multiple residents of Cary's idyllic neighborhoods was uncovered, and Brad was brought to trial for the murder of his wife. At the heart of it stood the Coopers' soured marriage, Nancy's threat to leave with the children, and her own cold-blooded murder. It would take a mountain of damning evidence before justice was served.

Timothy Wells and Christine Sevilla's love was inspiring. Married for almost twenty years, the husband and wife passionately adored each other. Friends, family, and acquaintances all wished to have a relationship as solid as that of Tim and Christine. There was no sign that their marriage was anything less than ideal-until the day Wells brutally murdered his wife.This deep, disturbing exploration of the psyche of Timothy Wells is not a whodunit but a "whydunit." Written with Wells's cooperation, this riveting account thoroughly presents the circumstances leading up to Sevilla's murder. It features interviews and letters from the Wells and Sevilla families as well as testimony from friends, neighbors, and ex-spouses. Trapped inside his own mind, Wells' emotional insecurities left him with no escape from his severe depression and swiftly multiplying anxieties. In chilling detail, this true narrative traces the path of a man doomed by his own inner demons.

Award-winning author: 2020 Readers' Favorite Silver Medal!***This book provides you with fun and challenging questions, whether you want to quiz yourself or your family. Learn something new every day and surprise your circle of friends and colleagues!Knowing stuff makes you a cool and interesting interlocutor. You will always have an icebreaker at hand to start a conversation or to keep it going by dropping a weird fact.I covered a wide range of topics and intentionally made the questions assorted, so you will not know what sort of fact is coming. As I would do myself, you can choose to read as many facts as you please in one sitting, or even just one fact each day!You could use this collection when preparing for a pub quiz or quiz night at work or at home. All the questions are well-researched and family-friendly.

Edgar Award Finalist: The extensively researched true story of the five-year hunt for Ronnie Shelton, Cleveland's West Side Rapist, and the victims who united for justice."Groundbreaking . . . Even after twenty-five years of writing in this genre, I found myself chilled by Neff's dead-on narrative." —Ann Rule, bestselling author of The Stranger Beside MeFrom 1983 to 1988, serial rapist Ronnie Shelton preyed on the women of Cleveland. Dubbed the West Side Rapist, twenty-seven-year-old Shelton would spy on his victims, stalk them, and brutally assault them in their homes. Arrested at least fifteen times for other crimes, Shelton slipped through the cracks of an overburdened police department so often it seemed he would never be caught.Based on more than 150 interviews with the survivors, the police, psychiatrists, and Shelton himself, this "groundbreaking study of the infinite perils of serial rape" is the extensively researched story of Shelton's crimes and the five-year pursuit that ended in his capture (Ann Rule). Investigative journalist James Neff also documents the long-term devastation caused by rape and celebrates the courage of the women who helped to put a sexual predator behind bars. It resulted in a sentence of 3,195 years—the longest in Ohio state history.A finalist for the Edgar Award, Unfinished Murder is "not only a riveting nonfiction thriller but an important account about the true nature of sex crimes in America" from the prizewinning true crime journalist who is also the author of The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case and Mobbed Up: Jackie Presser's High-Wire Life in the Teamsters, the Mafia, and the FBI, which was the basis for the HBO movie, Teamster Boss (Nicholas Pileggi).

In this remarkable legal page-turner, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Barry Siegel recounts the dramatic, decades-long saga of Bill Macumber, imprisoned for thirty-eight years for a double homicide he denies committing. In the spring of 1962, a school bus full of students stumbled across a mysterious crime scene on an isolated stretch of Arizona desert: an abandoned car and two bodies. This brutal murder of a young couple bewildered the sheriff 's department of Maricopa County for years. Despite a few promising leads—including several chilling confessions from Ernest Valenzuela, a violent repeat offender—the case went cold. More than a decade later, a clerk in the sheriff 's department, Carol Macumber, came forward to tell police that her estranged husband had confessed to the murders. Though the evidence linking Bill Macumber to the incident was questionable, he was arrested and charged with the crime. During his trial, the judge refused to allow the confession of now-deceased Ernest Valenzuela to be admitted as evidence in part because of the attorney-client privilege. Bill Macumber was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.The case, rife with extraordinary irregularities, attracted the sustained involvement of the Arizona Justice Project, one of the first and most respected of the non-profit groups that represent victims of manifest injustice across the country. With more twists and turns than a Hollywood movie, Macumber's story illuminates startling, upsetting truths about our justice system, which kept a possibly innocent man locked up for almost forty years, and introduces readers to the generations of dedicated lawyers who never stopped working on his behalf, lawyers who ultimately achieved stunning results. With precise journalistic detail, intimate access and masterly storytelling, Barry Siegel will change your understanding of American jurisprudence, police procedure, and what constitutes justice in our country today.