An exploration of mercy, its elusive presence, and why people ignore or embrace it. Shares advice for forging deeper self-understanding and how to pursue an honest, meaningful life that involves kindness to others.

"I am stockpiling antibiotics for the apocalypse, even as I await the blossoming of paperwhites on the windowsill in the kitchen," Anne Lamott admits at the beginning of Almost Everything. Despair and uncertainty surround us: in the headlines, in our families, and in ourselves. But even when life is at its bleakest--when everything makes us feel, as Lamott puts it, "doomed, stunned, exhausted, and overly caffeinated" --the seeds of rejuvenation are...

"Former NEA fellow and Pushcart Prize-winning writer Sallie Tisdale offers a lyrical, thought-provoking, yet practical perspective on death and dying in Advice for Future Corpses (and Those Who Love Them). Informed by her many years working as a nurse, with more than a decade in palliative care, Tisdale provides a frank, direct, and compassionate meditation on the inevitable. From the sublime (the faint sound of Mozart as you take your last breath)...

"The Menopause Book" incorporates the most cutting-edge research on hormones and hormone therapy; hot flashes; heart disease and stroke; breast cancer in older women; and, the subtle symptoms of ovarian cancer. It also discusses new findings on why it's hard for menopausal women to lose weight; osteoporosis and oestrogen; the interplay between migraines and hormones; panic attacks; and, more