Our Blog
You Gotta Eat
A trained chef teaches you how to keep yourself fed in the face of stress, burnout, and exhaustion—and have fun doing it.
Delivery is expensive. Eating a spoonful of peanut butter is depressing. You can’t imagine having the energy to chop an onion. But somehow, you gotta eat. How does anyone feed themselves under these conditions?
Enter You Gotta Eat, a friendly, accessible resource for getting something on your plate when you have too much on your plate. Part cookbook, part pep talk, and part action plan, You Gotta Eat offers tips and tactics—plus ten “do exactly this” recipes—for making effortless food that’s nourishing, tasty, and even a little fun. Choose your current energy level and learn important kitchen skills:
- If you can open a package: Turn instant ramen into a feast
- If you can assemble a plate: Make a cheese board fit for a king
- If you can press a button: Whip up perfect eggs in the microwave
- If you can wield a knife: Turn any leftovers into a hearty casserole
- And dozens more ideas for living deliciously without impossible effort!
Whether you’re burnt out, depressed, overworked, a new parent, living away from home for the first time, or some combination of the above, let food editor, classically-trained chef, and nacho enthusiast Margaret Eby show you how to make your eating experience better—and easier—in every way.
Posted by Gaby Iori
Movies with Balls
This irreverent, balls-out celebration of the greatest matchups in sports movie history includes analysis, maps and diagrams, and designed memorabilia, perfect for movie buffs and sports fans.
Including Caddyshack, Rocky IV, White Men Can’t Jump and 23 more classic flicks!
If you’re the kind of fan who cheers every single time you watch Rocky beat Drago, or remembers who said “If you build it, he will come,” or has ever wished you were in the stands at the ADAA Dodgeball Finals when Peter LaFleur took out White Goodman, then Movies with Balls is the book for you.
Movies with Balls celebrates and analyzes more than two dozen of the greatest sports films of all time. You’ll be transported into fictional arenas, stadiums, gyms, fields, and golf courses to relive the climactic moments from:
- The Natural
- Field of Dreams
- Teen Wolf
- The Karate Kid
- She’s the Man
- The Waterboy
- Bend It like Beckham
- Creed
- And many more!
Illustrated with fictional ticket stubs, trading cards, play maps, and more, Movies with Balls brings to life the iconic films and characters that we love and admire—just as much as we love our real-world sports and athletic heroes—letting us cheer them on, again and again.
Posted by Gaby Iori
Tiny Pep Talks
Why should you need to be doing something important or impressive to get a pep talk? Two comedians offer hilarious encouragement for your most mundane struggles.
Anybody can tell you “You can do it!” before the big job interview, or before you walk down the aisle, or before you head out onto the field to make the game-winning kick at the Super Bowl. But what about the other 99.99% of stuff you do? Who’s going to gas you up for all those low-stakes situations where you need an extra push?
That’s where Tiny Pep Talks comes in. Comedians Paula Skaggs and Josh Linden are rooting for you, and they’re here to cheerlead you through your everyday challenges. You’ll find specific, constructive, and—most of all—very funny motivation for:
- Parallel parking (cars just weren’t meant to go sideways!)
- Sending a scary email (if you died and came back as a ghost, wouldn’t it suck if this was your unfinished business?)
- Making a doctor’s appointment (think how good you’ll feel when you’re finished—like a runner’s high without the chafing!)
- Doing your taxes (just round to the nearest dollar! The IRS could never be mad at you—not with a face like that)
- Getting through a breakup (did you know the grocery store will sell you a cake on any day for any reason?)
- Remembering that all your friends are not secretly mad at you (they’re busy worrying all their friends are secretly mad at them)
- …and many more!
If you’re going through it, have ever gone through it, or will maybe go through it in the future, let Tiny Pep Talks give you the boost you need.
Posted by Gaby Iori
Revisionaries
Find creative inspiration in this fascinating rummage through the wastebaskets, secret diaries, and abandoned files of 20 literary superstars.
If you like to write—whether it’s a pastime, a passion, or a profession—you’ve probably found yourself reading something brilliant and thinking, “I could never do this! I might as well give up.” But if there’s one thing every great author has in common, it’s this: they’ve all written some hot garbage.
Revisionaries takes you on an engrossing tour through the discarded drafts, false starts, and abandoned projects of influential writers. In the process, it dismantles some of our most deeply held—and most suffocating—ideas about what it takes to produce great creative work. You’ll learn that:
- Franz Kafka lacked confidence
- Octavia Butler had writer’s block blocked
- F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote bad drafts
- Ralph Ellison got overwhelmed
- Louisa May Alcott got off to a bad start
- And more deep, dark secrets about the authors you most admire
Written by an award-winning novelist and creative-writing professor, Revisionaries is a compelling peek behind the scenes of genius for writers and readers alike.
Posted by Gaby Iori
Cult Following
From the author of Cursed Objects and The United States of Cryptids comes an eye-popping compendium of the most infamous, audacious, and dangerous cults in history
Have you ever wondered how smart, normal people end up enmeshed in extreme cults? Weird history expert J. W. Ocker strives to answer that question in Cult Following. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about history’s most notorious cults–and the psychology of the people who join them–is packed into this accessible, engaging volume. Walk in the footsteps of the followers who were lured into these sinister groups, including:
- Branch Davidians: Led by David Koresh, this cult was waiting out the apocalypse in 1993 when the FBI infamously raided their compound in Waco, Texas.
- Narcosatanists: This cult of drug traffickers in 1980s Mexico was led by Adolfo de Jesús Constanzo, who believed he had magic powers and committed human sacrifice.
- Brotherhood of the Seven Rays: The earliest known UFO cult, the infiltration and study of the Brotherhood by psychologists inspired the term “cognitive dissonance.”
- Ho No Hana Sanpogyo: The founder, Hogen Fukunaga, claimed to be able to tell someone’s fortune by examining their feet.
- Breatherianism: Breatherians believe that humans can live on air alone. Their founder, Wiley Brooks, claimed to have gone without food for nineteen years.
- NXIVM: This twenty-first century cult attracted several members of Hollywood and engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, and racketeering under the guise of personal development seminars.
In Cult Following, Ocker sheds light on the terrifying attraction of cults, demonstrating the elasticity of belief, the desperateness of belonging, and the tragedy of trust.
Posted by Gaby Iori
Horror for Weenies
A smart, funny crash course in 25 iconic horror movies, from Psycho to Hereditary, for people who love getting the reference but hate being scared.
You don’t have to miss out just because you don’t like to be frightened! Stop trying to read nonsensical Wikipedia plot summaries (we know you’re doing it), and let an expert tell you everything you need to know about the most influential horror films of the past 60 years—without a single jump scare or a drop of gore.
With a rundown of the history and significance of horror cinema, explanations of common tropes, and detailed entries on 25 important movies ranging from Night of the Living Dead to The Blair Witch Project to Get Out, Horror for Weenies will turn even the scarediest of cats into a confident connoisseur.
Each entry includes:
- A detailed plot summary, with enough jokes that it won’t freak you out
- Smart, illuminating analysis of the film’s themes and cultural significance
- Descriptions of iconic scenes you definitely do not want to look at
- Talking points for impressing even the biggest scary-movie buffs
Never get left out of a conversation again!
Posted by Gaby Iori