Books published by publisher Doubleday Books ( 2014 )

In the spirit of "Tiny Beautiful Things" and "How to Be a Woman" comes a collection of new, unpublished letters and advice by Heather Havrilesky, the author of the popular advice column Ask Polly featured on "New York "magazine's blog, "The Cut." Is there ever a right time to cheat on your spouse? How do you rein in an overbearing mother? Will you ever stop dating half-hearted assholes? Should you put off having a baby for your career? When is it time to get your shit together and start making your art? (Hint: right now). Heather Havrilesky is here to guide you through the "what ifs" and "I don't knows" of modern life with the signature wisdom and tough love her readers have come to expect. " How to Be a Person in the World" is a collection of never-before-published material, along with a few fan favorites from the archives. Whether she's responding to cheaters or loners, lovers or haters, the depressed or the down-and-out, Havrilesky writes with equal parts grace, humor, and compassion to remind you that even in your darkest moments you're not alone.

From one of our most beloved authors, a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home now richly illustrated with more than three hundred images. National bestseller "At Home" is Bill Bryson s epic chronicle of domestic history. In this handsome new edition, his riveting room-by-room journey of discovery around his house a Victorian parsonage in southern England is enhanced by more than three hundred carefully curated illustrations, the large majority of them in full color. As he did in the hugely successful "A Short History of Nearly Everything: Illustrated Edition," Bryson complements his sparkling prose with striking illustrations selected from a wide array of sources to create a feast for the eyes as well as the mind. He has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive brains on the planet, and he is a master at turning the seemingly mundane into an occasion for the most diverting exposition imaginable. When you ve finished this book, you will see your house and your daily life in a new and revelatory light. In Bill Bryson s hands, the bathroom provides the occasion for the history of hygiene; the bedroom for an account of sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen for a discussion of nutrition and the spice trade. From architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the telephone to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets and the brilliant, creative, and often eccentric minds behind them Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world ends up in our houses, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture."