Guns, Germs, and Steel is a historical non-fiction book concerned with the conquest of the Indigenous peoples of Africa and the Americas by European and North African power structures. The book explores the various reasons for these occurrences, including the early development and distribution of firearms, inherited immunities to disease, and the availability of resources like steel. The book also explores in depth the various events of the Spanish invasion of South America.
Songs of the Humpback Whale is the story of Jane Jones and her daughter Rebecca. Together they flee California and Jane's abusive husband, Oliver, a marine biologist who conducts research on humpback whales. They spend time on an orchard in Massachusetts where both women enter complex relationships with older men. Oliver tracks them down, Rebecca 's lover is killed in an accident, and the two women return home with Oliver.
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club is a humorous and satirical novel by Charles Dickens. Originally published as a serial, The Pickwick Papers features a collection of adventures around England. A wealthy gentleman named Samuel Pickwick proposes to his Pickwick Club that the members travel away from London and return to tell of their travels. The adventures consist of humorous adventures, comedies of misunderstanding and satirical caricatures of the members and English country life.
A Treatise on Human Nature is a philosophical treatise by David Hume published in 1739-1740. Hume takes a skeptical approach to the question of human nature, opting to examine the question through empirical observations of human psychology. The work is divided into three books: "Of Understanding," a study of cognition, "Of the Passions," an examination of free will and emotions, and "Of Morals," about justice and morality. Each of the books further taxonomizes and expounds upon different types of perception, emotion and reasoning.