Hardcover Nonfiction

by Lin Yutang · Reynal & Hitchcock

by Eve Curie · Doubleday, Doran

"A biography [of Nobel Prize winner Madame Curie] that stirs the heart and the mind by a fine counterpoint of sense and sensibility, a great story superbly told."--New York Times Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934) was the first woman scientist to win worldwide acclaim and was, indeed, one of the great scientists of the twentieth century. Written by Curie's daughter, the renowned international activist Eve Curie, this biography chronicles Curie's legendary achievements in science, including her pioneering efforts in the study of radioactivity and her two Nobel Prizes in Physics and Chemistry. It also spotlights her remarkable life, from her childhood in Poland, to her storybook Parisian marriage to fellow scientist Pierre Curie, to her tragic death from the very radium that brought her fame. Now updated with an eloquent, rousing introduction by best-selling author Natalie Angier, this timeless biography celebrates an astonishing mind and a extraordinary woman's life.

by Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld · Simon & Schuster

Albert Einstein and Leopold Infeld explain the dramatic changes which the science of physics underwent between the time of Isaac Newton and the 20th century. With some 80 illustrations, the authors embark on a lively and plain-spoken account of scientific principles, pledging in the preface to embark on a simple conversation with the reader. The struggle of the human mind in understanding and explaining the various physical phenomena of the world and universe resulted in a succession of theories as centuries passed. Successive improvements of equipment for experimentation and advent of the scientific method led to better measurements of physical phenomena. Since this book seeks to explain physics for the general population, it contains no advanced mathematics. Instead, the authors rely on numerous drawings and several photographs of relevant phenomena. Explanations are accomplished with examples of real world objects; cars on the roads, or rollercoasters in the theme park, being relied upon to explain aspects of velocity and motion. More complex aspects of the science, such as quantum mechanics and the attributes of heat, are described in simpler terms and with use of analogy.

by Rene Belbenoit · Dutton

Illustration by a fellow prisoner. The text in this volume is based on the original translation from the French by Preston Rambo.

by Elizabeth Hawes · Random House

Personal experiences of a fashion designer.

by The New York Herald Tribune Home Institute · Scribner

by W. Somerset Maugham · Doubleday, Doran

Memoir: Somerset Maugham looks back at his life in literature. Of course, his life was far from over-he was to live a further twenty-seven years! Maugham has written "an account of himself, his chosen profession and its practitioners; and he has done so with a lucidity, a simplicity, a euphony, and a liveliness that should win the admiration and gratitude of all literate and discriminating readers." -Terence Holliday, Saturday Review, 26 March 1938