Josh Slocum and Lisa Carlson are the two most prominent advocates of consumer rights in dealing with the death industry. Here they combine efforts to inform consumers of their rights and propose long-needed reforms. Slocum is executive director of Funeral Consumers Alliance, a national nonprofit with over 90 local affiliates nationwide. Carlson is executive director of Funeral Ethics Organization, which works with the industry to try to improve ethical standards. In addition to nationwide issues, the book covers state-by-state information needed by anybody who wishes to take charge of funeral arrangements for a loved one, with or without the help of a funeral director. More information about the book and related issues can be found at www.finalrights.org .

Drug overdoses continue to rise at an alarming rate throughout the U.S., resulting in 72,000 deaths last year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The response, tragically, has been to charge full-speed ahead with solutions that have already, and consistently, failed.

In Overcoming Addiction, Stanton Peele, a prominent addiction expert, and Zach Rhoads, a child behavior interventionist and counselor, show that defining addiction as a disease makes recovery much more difficult, and that twelve-step programs fail for most participants. But they don't just criticize. They provide a solid, research-and-experience-based alternative approach that has proven to be successful in overcoming the scourges of suicide, depression, addiction, and drug-related deaths.

The authors show that maturing out of addiction and childhood behavioral problems is a normal process--unless people are sidetracked by the widespread and commonplace therapies that undercut natural growth and self-confidence.

They present extensive research data about natural recovery and case studies of fully recovered adults and of children with various conditions, for a developmental model of addiction that has been proven to help those who are suffering. Much of the focus is on childhood addiction, but their conclusions and methods are helpful for people of all ages. Their work forms the basis for the Life Process Program, a worldwide online parenting and addiction coaching service.

As the title states, this book is designed to be easy to use for all writers. It offers straightforward, practical guidelines for editing, without getting into the weeds of advanced English grammar. You will find no loftier technical grammatical terms here, such as present perfect progressive, correlative conjunctions, imperative mood or interrogative adjective. However, much of the advice in this book is not to be written in stone. English is a flexible language, and writing a creative calling. As you will see, there are many acceptable ways for writers to express themselves. What you will find in this book is:

--How to avoid the most common errors of grammar and spelling.

--How to spot typographical and factual errors.

--Understanding the styles of print and online media.

--How to make your writing more exciting and dynamic.

--And improving your odds of having your work published.

The goal of this book is simple--to put the odds on the writers' side; to increase your chances of being published or finding success as a reporter, feature writer, novelist, freelance writer, blogger, Web developer, Web editor, communications consultant, advertising copywriter, speechwriter or public relations consultant--in fact, anything involving the written word.

In Memory Warp, Mark Pendergrast sounds a clarion call to stop the ongoing pseudoscience of repressed memory therapy, which has destroyed millions of families and continues to do so. In the 1990s, Pendergrast's book Victims of Memory helped to debunk the repressed memory craze. Now, more than two decades later, he revisits the subject and proves that this form of therapy is still widespread, still destroying family relationships and causing false allegations of terrible crimes against innocent parents and caregivers. With meticulous research and captivating writing, Pendergrast brings coverage of this issue up to date.

As the last of the northern cod disappeared from the fishing banks of eastern North America during the waning years of the 20th century, more than just fish faced the threat of extinction. In communities all around the island of Newfoundland, thousands of fishermen and their families suddenly found themselves confronted by a similar threat.

Servants of the Fish is the story of these people, who are at once the perpetrators and the victims of this event. As he did in his bestselling Riddle of the Ice, Arms employs the drama of the voyage to bring readers face to face with the people and the geography of the tale he tells. It is the tale of a particular time and place. Yet it is also an allegory of sorts--about predators and prey, about greed and denial, and about our collective ability as human beings to destroy natural systems once thought to be infinite.

ADHD is a childhood epidemic. By some estimates, 5 percent or more of the school-age children in the U.S. have been diagnosed, and most of them are being treated with powerful prescription drugs. Scientists have now discovered that a simple, basic human activity--exercise--has the same positive influence on the brain without the negative side effects.

Nature's Ritalin for the Marathon Mind shows how, in a great many cases, doses of medication can be decreased or eliminated in favor of a regular schedule of exercise, with vast improvements in the quality of life for the children and their families. The author describes in detail the scientific basis for exercise as therapy, how to determine the optimal schedule, and how to help children become motivated to obtain the appropriate level of exercise without parental nagging. If you are the parent of a hyperactive child, this may be the most important book you will ever read.

This is not an anti-Ritalin book. The author notes that in some cases, medication is essential, and that any change in treatment should be done in consultation with a physician. However, he shows that exercise is a far better solution for many children, one that can be safely tested because it is a natural part of life.

Blind since childhood, Mary Blount White was limited in what she could write. Yet after her brother and sister had died, she asked her father for a pencil and began to transcribe messages by automatic handwriting. She said, I felt as if I held a galvanic battery in my hand. Between 1913 and 1917 she received scores of letters from Harry and Helen, describing life after death. Their straight talk about the need for peace, tolerance of others, individual responsibility, and existence on other planes has impressed many and is still relevant today.This was one of the first books we published, and we've kept it in print because new people keep discovering it and thanking us for making it available. Note: The original publication date was 1987, although that date does not work on this Web form.

This is a complete manual for homeowners. When things go wrong, or when you are ready to remodel, you need expert advice. Henri de Marne is one of America's best-known and most trusted experts, who has answered just about every question a homeowner can face. For example:

What is the green stuff growing on my roof?

Why does my basement stay damp?

How can I get rid of carpenter bees?

Can I paint my basement floor?

What can I do about the rust stains on my driveway?

Which heating and cooling systems are most efficient?

How can I scrub the little black spots off of my vinyl siding?

Does the asbestos on my pipes put my family in danger?

Why do my plumbing pipes make a banging sound?

Why do cracks appear between my walls and ceiling every winter?

Those are just a few of the thousands of questions Henri de Marne has addressed in his syndicated newspaper column, First Aid for the Ailing House. With this book, you can find the answers whenever you need them. De Marne has updated all the answers for this book, to reflect the latest in research, materials, methods, concerns, and tastes. The result is a comprehensive manual for today's homeowners, a ready reference to consult whenever things go wrong or improvements are planned.

From the fiords of northern Labrador to the ice fields of western Greenland, from the outports of Newfoundland to the tiny fishing villages of Iceland and the Faroe Isles, bestselling author and lifelong sailor Myron Arms chronicles the experience of two-and-a-half decades of voyaging into some of the most remote destinations on Earth.

Presented as a series of sixteen personal essays, True North is at once a tale of white-knuckled adventure, a celebration of natural places, and a quest for contact with the planet we live on. The first five essays explore the motives of the author and those who sail with him on their first forays into the summer Atlantic. The next six essays evoke the allure of northern landscapes--the challenges of a stormy night at sea, the uncanny light of the Arctic sun at midnight, the pathos of pilot whales being driven to slaughter. The final five essays explore the geology, the archeology, the biochemistry, and the natural history of these same northern landscapes, broadening and universalizing their meaning until they become windows into the complex workings of the planet itself.

Thought-provoking and environmentally savvy, True North expresses one man's fierce determination to encounter the natural world, to live deliberately within it, to strive to minimize one's footprint upon it, and to bear witness to it before it is altered irretrievably--before it is lost.

Through the use of true stories of exploration, Why the Wind Blows looks at how these adventures were influenced by the weather and man's ignorance of its consequences. The science of meteorology is gently interspersed throughout the text, so that understanding weather becomes an integral part of the stories. Concluding with the influence of modern civilization on the changing climate and its world-altering consequences, the author challenges the reader to take action now to alter the effects of global warming on future generations.

Building Eden is Matthys Levy's first novel, a thriller with subject matter he is intimately familiar with. A gifted architect, Philip Corta, has the opportunity of a lifetime, the design of a major office/residential complex on New York's West Side, The Eden Center. The project endures many major setbacks resulting from the arrogance and shallow-minded behavior of the developer, corruption in City Hall, sabotage and murder by organized criminals, and recurring uncertainties about financing. Despite these and other setbacks, the project advances on schedule through 2001 until the events of 9/11 lead to personal tragedy and a change of direction that affects the project and all of the members of the design/construction team.