The Prometheus Award-winning author of "Alongside Night" and "The Rainbow Cadenza" offers a collection of his short fiction, including two never-before-seen stories.

An NPR Best Book of 2022 * One of Christian Science Monitor's 10 best books of May “This amazing new book . . . takes us on a journey through classic and contemporary philosophy powered by questions like ‘What do we have the right to do? When is it okay to do this or that?’ They explore punishment and authority and sex and gender and race and the nature of truth and knowledge and the existence of God and the meaning of life and Scott just does an incredible job.” —Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic Some of the best philosophers in the world gather in surprising places—preschools and playgrounds. They debate questions about metaphysics and morality, even though they’ve never heard the words and perhaps can’t even tie their shoes. They’re kids. And as Scott Hershovitz shows in this delightful debut, they’re astoundingly good philosophers. Hershovitz has two young sons, Rex and Hank. From the time they could talk, he noticed that they raised philosophical questions and were determined to answer them. They re-created ancient arguments. And they advanced entirely new ones. That’s not unusual, Hershovitz says. Every kid is a philosopher. Following an agenda set by Rex and Hank, Hershovitz takes us on a fun romp through classic and contemporary philosophy, powered by questions like, Does Hank have the right to drink soda? When is it okay to swear? and, Does the number six exist? Hershovitz and his boys take on more weighty issues too. They explore punishment, authority, sex, gender, race, the nature of truth and knowledge, and the existence of God. Along the way, they get help from professional philosophers, famous and obscure. And they show that all of us have a lot to learn from listening to kids—and thinking with them. Hershovitz calls on us to support kids in their philosophical adventures. But more than that, he challenges us to join them so that we can become better, more discerning thinkers and recapture some of the wonder kids have at the world.

Presented by the National Theatre of Scotland and the Traverse Theatre as a double-bill as part of their Debuts season, these two shorts plays take an unflinching look at the darker side of Scottish families. In Kenny Lindsay's The Dogstone, a father and son aren't seeing eye to eye in Oban. Teenager Lorn is trying to get his life started as his Dad is throwing his away with last night's empties. He's a 'heroic drinker' who loves to tell Lorn the local legends and stories of warriors, kings and the fabled Dogstone. Just how far can his fantasies take him? Andy Duffy's Nasty, Brutish and Short finds two brothers, Jim and Luke, holed up in a Glasgow flat. No job, no money and it looks like the only things on offer are all bad. As the options start to run out, Jim takes what isn't his and sets the two brothers on a collision course . . .

Birds do it, and bees do it, so do all animals, some of them in weird and wonderful ways. Quirks & Quarks' latest book explores the more bizarre behaviours of more than 100 creatures, from barnacles to Panda bears. The tiny spider that has to tear off one of its two huge sex organs just to be able to get around; the sea slug that produces a powerful love drug and mates with both males and females; the bedbug that stabs its penis into the female's abdomen — the range of animal sexual practices is mind-boggling. And it's not only reproduction that has them doing very strange things. There's a beetle that shoots a stream of boiling hot, toxic liquid when it's threatened; a lizard that can run on water; a shrimp that explodes its prey. Quirks & Quarks' latest guide is much more than a catalogue of peculiar practices, it's an engrossing look at the astonishing behaviours different animals have evolved in order to survive and reproduce. With an introduction by Bob McDonald, host of Quirks & Quarks.

An expert takes us inside the dark world of gangs in Canada. Dr. Mark Totten has spent fifteen years learning all about these gangs and the young men and women who belong to them. He has interviewed over 500 gang members across the country, traced their lives from infancy to adulthood, and explored the roots of their involvement in crime and their reliance on violence. Nasty, Brutish and Short offers a groundbreaking picture of the reality of gangs in Canada. Much of what Dr. Totten has to say is at odds with popular ideas. His research leads him to believe that breaking through the circumstances that produce young criminals is far more difficult than most people think. For most individuals caught up in gang life, exiting that world is next to impossible -- in fact, the most common way out is an early death from violence or suicide. This book opens the door on a way of life unknown to most Canadians.

Nasty, Brutish, and Short is a collection of irreverent essays about life overseas. The author no longer has to hold his tongue about his experiences—which means it’s payback time. He now speaks his mind about all the strange people and places he has encountered around the world over the last twenty years. And he takes the reader on a funny and endearing jaunt to a dozen countries, from England to Egypt, and Afghanistan to Haiti, answering crucial questions like Why are Pakistani driving ranges so dangerous? And, How long can Bulgarians actually hold a grudge? Unlike other foreign travel books, the author isn’t just passing through. He has lived in these dangerous and difficult places, often for years at a time. He knows their people, streets, and customs like the back of his hand. It was part of his job. Sometimes his life depended on it.

Read Ira Rosofsky's posts on the Penguin Blog A candid, humane, and improbably humorous look at the world of eldercare In nursing homes across the country, members of the Greatest Generation are living out their last days. Life is a succession of pokes and prods, medications, TV, bingo, and, possibly, talking to Ira Rosofsky. With a compassionate eye but mordant wit, Rosofsky, a psychologist charged with gauging the mental health of his elders, reveals a culture based not in the empathy of caretaking, but rather in the coolly detached bureaucracy of Medicare and Medicaid. A portrayal of what is increasingly becoming the last slice of life for many, Nasty, Brutish, and Long is also a baby boomer's poignant meditation on mortality, a reflection on his caregiving for his parents' final days, and an examination of the choices that we, as a society, have made about health care for the elderly who are no longer of sound mind and body.

Vols. 1-26 include a supplement: The University pulpit, vols. [1]-26, no. 1-661, which has separate pagination but is indexed in the main vol.