Books with author Charles C Martin

Based on the latest scientific findings, this breakthrough book argues that most of what we thought we knew about the Americas before Columbus was wrong. In the last 20 years, archaeologists and anthropologists equipped with new scientific techniques have made far-reaching discoveries about the Americas. For example, Indians did not cross the Bering Strait 12,000 years ago, as most of us learned in school. They were already here. Their numbers were vast, not few. And instead of living lightly on the land, they managed it beautifully and left behind an enormous ecological legacy. In this riveting, accessible work of science, Charles Mann takes us on an enthralling journey of scientific exploration. We learn that the Indian development of modern corn was one of the most complex feats of genetic engineering ever performed. That the Great Plains are a third smaller today than they were in 1700 because the Indians who maintained them by burning died. And that the Amazon rain forest may be largely a human artifact. Compelling and eye-opening, this book has the potential to vastly alter our understanding of our history and change the course of today’s environmental disputes.

Two hundred million years ago the earth consisted of a single vast continent, Pangea, surrounded by a great planetary sea. Continental drift tore apart Pangaea, and for millennia the hemispheres were separate, evolving almost entirely different suites of plants and animals. Columbus's arrival in the Americas brought together these long-separate worlds. Many historians believe that this collision of ecosystems and cultures - the Columbian Exchange - was the most consequential event in human history since the Neolithic Revolution. And it was the most consequential event in biological history since the extinction of the dinosaurs. Beginning with the world of microbes and moving up the species ladder to mankind, Mann rivetingly describes the profound effect this exchanging of species had on the culture of both continents.

Violet Vancourt lives her life hidden behind her sunglasses, using her shades as her armor. Things are easier that way until she meets the coldly handsome Ryder Essen. One touch of Ryder's hand on hers destroys everything she knows about herself and her family, making her question everything. Drawn to him but not sure she can trust him, Violet searches for answers while fighting her growing attraction to Ryder. After all, how can you have a relationship with someone whose skin you're afraid to touch?

In this groundbreaking work of science, history, and archaeology, Charles C. Mann radically alters our understanding of the Americas before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Contrary to what so many Americans learn in school, the pre-Columbian Indians were not sparsely settled in a pristine wilderness; rather, there were huge numbers of Indians who actively molded and influenced the land around them. The astonishing Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had running water and immaculately clean streets, and was larger than any contemporary European city. Mexican cultures created corn in a specialized breeding process that it has been called man’s first feat of genetic engineering. Indeed, Indians were not living lightly on the land but were landscaping and manipulating their world in ways that we are only now beginning to understand. Challenging and surprising, this a transformative new look at a rich and fascinating world we only thought we knew.

On a winter night, two strangers meet at Salt Lake City airport. Writer Ashley Knox is flying East for her wedding; while Dr Ben Payne is returning home from a medical conference. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane and offers the spare seat to Ashley. But the unthinkable happens and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness - one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States. Injured and alone but for the pilot's dog, Ben and Ashley face a battle for survival... The Mountain Between Us is soon to be a major motion picture starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet.

On a winter night, two strangers meet at Salt Lake City airport. Writer Ashley Knox is flying East for her wedding; while Dr Ben Payne is returning home from a medical conference. When the last outgoing flight is cancelled due to a forthcoming storm, Ben finds a charter plane and offers the spare seat to Ashley. But the unthinkable happens and the plane crashes into the High Uintas Wilderness - one of the largest stretches of harsh and remote land in the United States. Injured and alone but for the pilot's dog, Ben and Ashley face a battle for survival... The Mountain Between Us is soon to be a major motion picture starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet.

"When Maggie opened her eyes that New Year's Day some seventeen months ago, I felt like I could see again. The fog lifted off my soul, and for the first time since our son had died and she had gone to sleep--some four months, sixteen days, eighteen hours, and nineteen minutes earlier--I took a breath deep enough to fill both my lungs."Life began again for Dylan Styles when his beloved wife Maggie awoke from a coma. A coma brought upon by the intense two-day labor that resulted in heartbreaking loss. In this poignant love story that is redolent with Southern atmosphere, Dylan and Maggie must come to terms with their past before they can embrace their future.