The Genius And The Goddess

Huxleyian philosophy is conveyed through a scientist's account of his first love affair.

The 1956 wedding of Marilyn Monroe and Arthur Miller surprised the world. The Genius and the Goddess presents an intimate portrait of the prelude to and ultimate tragedy of their short marriage. Distinguished biographer Jeffrey Meyers skillfully explores why they married, what sustained them for five years, and what ultimately destroyed their marriage and her life. The greatest American playwright of the twentieth century and the most popular American actress both complemented and wounded one another. Marilyn craved attention and success but became dependent on drugs, alcohol, and sexual adventures. Miller experienced creative agony with her. Their marriage coincided with the creative peak of her career, yet private and public conflict caused both of them great anguish. Meyers has crafted a richly nuanced dual biography based on his quarter-century friendship with Miller, interviews with major players of stage and screen during the postwar Hollywood era, and extensive archival research. He describes their secret courtship. He also reveals new information about the effect of the HUAC anti-Communist witch-hunts on Miller and his friendship with Elia Kazan. The fascinating cast of characters includes Marilyn's co-stars Sir Laurence Olivier, Yves Montand, Montgomery Clift, and Clark Gab≤ her leading directors John Huston, Billy Wilder, and George Cuk∨ and her literary friends Dame Edith Sitwell, Isak Dinesen, Saul Bellow, and Vladimir Nabokov. Meyers offers the most in-depth account of the making and meaning of The Misfits. Written by Miller for Monroe, this now-classic film was a personal disaster. But Marilyn remained Miller's tragic muse and her character, exalted and tormented, lived on for the next forty years in his work.

Aldous Huxley’s unforgettable tale of a brilliant physicist, his beautiful wife, and the young man who tears their world apart. Thirty years ago, ecstasy and torment took hold of John Rivers, shocking him out of “half-baked imbecility into something more nearly resembling the human form.” He had an affair with the wife of his mentor, Henry Maartens—a pathbreaking physicist, winner of the Nobel Prize, and a figure of blinding brilliance—bringing the couple to ruin. Now, on Christmas Eve while a small grandson sleeps upstairs, John Rivers is moved to set the record straight about the great man and the radiant, elemental creature he married, who viewed the renowned genius through undazzled eyes.

In a brilliant mix of magic, history, and romance, M. K. Hobson moves her feisty young Witch, Emily Edwards, from the Old West of 1876 to turn-of-the-nineteenth-century New York City, whose polished surfaces conceal as much danger as anything west of the Rockies. Like it or not, Emily has fallen in love with Dreadnought Stanton, a New York Warlock as irresistible as he is insufferable. Newly engaged, she now must brave Dreadnought’s family and the magical elite of the nation’s wealthiest city. Not everyone is pleased with the impending nuptials, especially Emily’s future mother-in-law, a sociopathic socialite. But there are greater challenges still: confining couture, sinister Russian scientists, and a deathless Aztec goddess who dreams of plunging the world into apocalypse. With all they must confront, do Emily and Dreadnought have any hope of a happily-ever-after?

DIVDIVAfter running into trouble with the law, a teenager with an attitude is sent to a boarding school with a big secret/divDIV Even though it wasn’t Rachel’s idea to steal the car, she was happy to go along for the ride. But when her so-called friends bolt as soon as the cops show up, they leave Rachel to take the rap. In court, the judge takes pity on the Beverly Hills bad girl, and offers her a choice: thirty days in juvie, or a year at Blackthorn Academy. Rachel chooses the boarding school. After all, how bad could it be?/divDIV Cut into the side of a Pennsylvania mountain, Blackthorn is weirder than Rachel could ever have imagined. The students take Tae Kwon Do instead of gym, there are guardhouses on the edge of campus, and there’s a secret Top Floor that only certain students are allowed to access. Despite Blackthorn’s mysteries, Rachel is starting to fit in. She likes her roommate and her classmates, and even the all-knowing headmaster, Mr. Kim. But when Mr. Kim disappears, Rachel learns a secret about Blackthorn Academy—and herself—that will change her life forever./divDIV/div/div

Two of the most famous pieces of non-fiction by Aldous Huxley (best known for Brave New World), The Doors of Perception details his experiences on the mind-altering drug mescaline, while Heaven and Hell details the relationships between mysticism, art, and sense perception that these experiences helped Huxley to explore and develop. He analogizes the mental states achievable through the use of mind-altering substances to very forms of religious self-flagellation, and also theorizes that they might be used as a form of treatment for psychological ailments. The two works have been significant influences on thinkers in this field, as well as writers, theologians, and philosophers. Random House of Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in ebook form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

A Today Show Summer Reads Pick A Washington Post Book of the Year "We think we know the ones we love." So Pearlie Cook begins her indirect, and devastating exploration of the mystery at the heart of every relationship--how we can ever truly know another person. It is 1953 and Pearlie, a dutiful young housewife, finds herself living in the Sunset District in San Francisco, caring not only for her husband's fragile health, but also for her son, who is afflicted with polio. Then, one Saturday morning, a stranger appears on her doorstep, and everything changes. Lyrical, and surprising, The Story of a Marriage is, in the words of Khaled Housseini, "a book about love, and it is a marvel to watch Greer probe the mysteries of love to such devastating effect."

In Greek mythology there were 9 Muses, the daughters of Zeus, but history forgot one - The 10th Muse - the Muse of Justice, Emma Sonnet's birthright! Emma Sonnet is on the debate team, a cheerleader and popular. Everyone in high school has their secrets, hers being a superhero. This is a tale of one girl that will make a difference. When students on the swim team are missing, the 10th Muse must solve the puzzle of the Minotaur in time to save them.