The Last Imaginary Place

McGhee takes us to a thousand-year-old Tuniit campsite perfectly preserved in the Arctic cold, follows the entrepreneurial Inuit as they cross the Arctic in search of metal, and reveals the dangers that native people face today from industrial pollution and global warming."--BOOK JACKET.

This book depicts a world that is the homeland of many small northern societies, as well as an environment that southerners have viewed as fascinating, terrifying, and overwhelmingly alien. McGhee paints a vivid portrait of the Arctic through its history, from the Ice Age to the movement of Viking farmers across the North Atlantic islands, to the arduous searches for sea-passages to the north of Asia and America. The demise of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, combined with advanced transportation and communication technologies and the growth of aboriginal rights movements, has brought a new era to the Arctic world. ¿A comprehensive, enlightening look at a culturally rich and fascinating area.¿ Illustrations.

Describes and visualizes over 1,200 magical lands found in literature and film, discussing such exotic realms as Atlantis, Tolkien's Middle Earth, and Oz.

The Palaeo-Eskimos have left far more than the hundreds of pieces of art recovered by archaeologists and the evidence of human ingenuity and endurance on the perimeter of the habitable world. Their most valuable legacy lies in the realization that these two things occurred together and were part of the same phenomenon. They provide an example of lives lived richly and joyfully amid dangers and insecurities that are beyond the imagination of the present world.

Long at the margins of global affairs and at the edge of our mental map of the world, the Arctic has found its way to the center of the issues which will challenge and define our world in the twenty-first century: energy security and the struggle for natural resources, climate change and its uncertain speed and consequences, the return of great power competition, the remaking of global trade patterns In The Future History of the Arctic, geopolitics expert Charles Emmerson weaves together the history of the region with reportage and reflection, revealing a vast and complex area of the globe, loaded with opportunity and rich in challenges. He defines the forces which have shaped the Arctic's history and introduces the players in politics, business, science and society who are struggling to mold its future. The Arctic is coming of age. This engrossing book tells the story of how that is happening and how it might happen -- through the stories of those who live there, those who study it, and those who will determine its destiny.

How can we understand the infinite variety of cities? Darran Anderson seems to exhaust all possibilities in this work of creative nonfiction. Drawing inspiration from Marco Polo and Italo Calvino, Anderson shows that we have much to learn about ourselves by looking not only at the cities we have built, but also at the cities we have imagined. Anderson draws on literature (Gustav Meyrink, Franz Kafka, Jaroslav Hasek, and James Joyce), but he also looks at architectural writings and works by the likes of Bruno Taut and Walter Gropius, Medieval travel memoirs from the Middle East, mid-twentieth-century comic books, Star Trek, mythical lands such as Cockaigne, and the works of Claude Debussy. Anderson sees the visionary architecture dreamed up by architects, artists, philosophers, writers, and citizens as wedded to the egalitarian sense that cities are for everyone. He proves that we must not be locked into the structures that exclude ordinary citizens--that cities evolve and that we can have input. As he says: "If a city can be imagined into being, it can be re-imagined as well.”

Now in paperback, this dreamy, gorgeously detailed picture book leads children on a journey to impossible but wonderfully imagined places. Upside-down mountains, volcanoes that spew bubble gum, a gentle humpback whale keeping an entire city afloat. These and other wonderful worlds may not exist on Earth, but elsewhere--who knows? Each spread of this captivating book invites readers on a fantastic voyage. Ana de Lima's whimsical, softly colored illustrations are filled with surprising details that reward close examination, while Mia Cassany's soothing narrator is a nameless fellow traveler. A jungle where the animals exchange stripes, spots, and markings each time they sneeze, an archipelago made up of dessert-shaped islands, and a lighthouse so tall you can draw a new galaxy with your finger are just some of the wild places to visit. Perfect for before-bed reading, or daytime dreaming, this stunningly illustrated book will delight young readers and encourage them to conjure their own imaginary places.

Instant New York Times Bestseller One of Fall 2019's Best Books (People, EW, Lithub, Vox, Washington Post, and more) A young boy is haunted by a voice in his head in this acclaimed epic of literary horror from the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Christopher is seven years old.Christopher is the new kid in town.Christopher has an imaginary friend. We can swallow our fear or let our fear swallow us. Single mother Kate Reese is on the run. Determined to improve life for her and her son, Christopher, she flees an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with her child. Together, they find themselves drawn to the tight-knit community of Mill Grove, Pennsylvania. It's as far off the beaten track as they can get. Just one highway in, one highway out. At first, it seems like the perfect place to finally settle down. Then Christopher vanishes. For six long days, no one can find him. Until Christopher emerges from the woods at the edge of town, unharmed but not unchanged. He returns with a voice in his head only he can hear, with a mission only he can complete: Build a treehouse in the woods by Christmas, or his mother and everyone in the town will never be the same again. Twenty years ago, Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower made readers everywhere feel infinite. Now, Chbosky has returned with an epic work of literary horror, years in the making, whose grand scale and rich emotion redefine the genre. Read it with the lights on.

Winner of the National Book Award This bestselling, groundbreaking exploration of the Far North is a classic of natural history, anthropology, and travel writing. The Arctic is a perilous place. Only a few species of wild animals can survive its harsh climate. In this modern classic, Barry Lopez explores the many-faceted wonders of the Far North: its strangely stunted forests, its mesmerizing aurora borealis, its frozen seas. Musk oxen, polar bears, narwhal, and other exotic beasts of the region come alive through Lopez’s passionate and nuanced observations. And, as he examines the history and culture of its indigenous communities, along with parallel narratives of intrepid, often underprepared and subsequently doomed polar explorers, Lopez drives to the heart of why the austere and formidable Arctic is also a constant source of breathtaking beauty, mystery, and wonder. Written in prose as pure as the land it describes, Arctic Dreams is a timeless mediation on the ability of the landscape to shape our dreams and to haunt our imaginations.

“THE IMAGINARY WORLD” is all about love and life. Everyone has experienced betrayal in their life but not everyone has seen true love… it’s not easy. This book brings many writers together to show how love feels, with society issues in their way. I am very grateful to have so many amazing writers by my side, and I would like to thank each and every person present in this book and also those who aren’t. My Parents for supporting me in this and my best friend Jeet Kakkar for making me strong enough and believing in me that I can do this, I love you. Lastly, A big Thank you to TOC for this opportunity and Somya Dii our project head for holding my hand the whole time, it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Make the world a better place With your smile… Live life with no regrets Love life with no debts. ~ Sanmeet K Sethi