How the very things we create to protect ourselves, like money market funds or anti-lock brakes, end up being the biggest threats to our safety and wellbeing. We have learned a staggering amount about human nature and disaster -- yet we keep having car crashes, floods, and financial crises. Partly this is because the success we have at making life safer enables us to take bigger risks. As our cities, transport systems, and financial markets become more interconnected and complex, so does the potential for catastrophe. How do we stay safe? Should we? What if our attempts are exposing us even more to the very risks we are avoiding? Would acceptance of danger make us more secure? Is there such a thing as foolproof? In FOOLPROOF, Greg Ip presents a macro theory of human nature and disaster that explains how we can keep ourselves safe in our increasingly dangerous world.

A non-mathematician explores mathematical terrain, reporting accessibly and engagingly on topics from Sudoku to probability. Brian Hayes wants to convince us that mathematics is too important and too much fun to be left to the mathematicians. Foolproof, and Other Mathematical Meditations is his entertaining and accessible exploration of mathematical terrain both far-flung and nearby, bringing readers tidings of mathematical topics from Markov chains to Sudoku. Hayes, a non-mathematician, argues that mathematics is not only an essential tool for understanding the world but also a world unto itself, filled with objects and patterns that transcend earthly reality. In a series of essays, Hayes sets off to explore this exotic terrain, and takes the reader with him. Math has a bad reputation: dull, difficult, detached from daily life. As a talking Barbie doll opined, “Math class is tough.” But Hayes makes math seem fun. Whether he's tracing the genealogy of a well-worn anecdote about a famous mathematical prodigy, or speculating about what would happen to a lost ball in the nth dimension, or explaining that there are such things as quasirandom numbers, Hayes wants readers to share his enthusiasm. That's why he imagines a cinematic treatment of the discovery of the Riemann zeta function (“The year: 1972. The scene: Afternoon tea in Fuld Hall at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey”), explains that there is math in Sudoku after all, and describes better-than-average averages. Even when some of these essays involve a hike up the learning curve, the view from the top is worth it.

Some frightening things have been happening to Jim Salvino. Certain people, very bad people, are interested in his help. It’s 1985. Steel is dying and Jim, who brokers the foreign variety, is visiting Miami. Recovering from a rough divorce, full of confusion about himself and with a hot Italian temper, he just may be ready to play. But as he becomes more and more deeply involved and starts to resolve his own ambivalence he begins to unravel the many layers of deceit enmeshing him. A ship from South America is moving closer and his options are getting fewer—and scarier. The action moves between the Brazilian jungle, Rust Belt snow and a cooking Miami sun, and it’s propelled by real characters: smart guys, tough guys and beautiful women, all full of complexity and hidden motives—and capable of anything when the stakes are high enough.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The Food Network star and beloved home cook shares her secrets for pulling off deeply satisfying meals that have the “wow!” factor we all crave Start with delicious Dukes Cosmopolitans made with freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus Jalapeño Cheddar Crackers that everyone will devour. Lunches include Hot Smoked Salmon, Lobster & Potato Salad, and Easy Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons, all featuring old-fashioned flavors with the volume turned up. Elegant Slow-Roasted Filet of Beef with Basil Parmesan Mayonnaise and show-stopping Seared Scallops & Potato Celery Root Purée are just two of the many fabulous dinner recipes. And your guests will always remember the desserts, from Sticky Toffee Date Cake with Bourbon Glaze to Salted Caramel Brownies. For Ina, “foolproof” means more than just making one dish successfully; it’s also about planning a menu, including coordinating everything so it all gets to the table at the same time. In Barefoot Contessa Foolproof, Ina shows you how to make a game plan so everything is served hot while you keep your cool. There are notes throughout detailing where a recipe can go wrong to keep you on track, plus tips for making recipes in advance. It’s as though Ina is there in the kitchen with you guiding you every step of the way. With 150 gorgeous color photographs and Ina’s invaluable tips, Barefoot Contessa Foolproof is a stunning yet infinitely practical cookbook that home cooks will turn to again and again.

Discover how to design and stitch beautiful machine quilting with the walking foot on your home sewing machine. Intimidated by free-motion machine quilting? You don’t need it to beautifully machine-quilt your own tops. Well-known teacher Mary Mashuta’s classroom-tested methods guarantee quilting success. Mary teaches you to use heavier-weight threads on the top of your machine, rather than in the bobbin, so that all your stitching is done on the right side of the quilt. • Learn to combine the right needles, threads, and batting to create exactly the look you want • Add style to your machine quilting with heavy-weight threads and your machine’s built-in decorative stitches • Use paper folding and cutting to create your own simple quilting motifs and border designs • Learn to adapt commercial templates and stencils into quilting motifs

Learn why money flows to some people and away from others. Some financial advisors recommend reading this book.

Martine Roberts and Elliot Tillman’s childhood friendship was intense. When they bump into each other again thirty years later, sneaking out of an apartment after one-night stands with a pair of roommates, all their feelings come rushing back. Elliot needs a place to stay, and Martine needs a roommate. It should be simple, but it’s not friendship simmering between them. Growing up in Key West, rum distiller Martine has friends and family to spare, but her deepest heart she keeps to herself. With her career in the Coast Guard, Elliot’s never had a permanent address and didn’t mind, until moving in with Martine gives her a home. Now she wants to chart a different course with a woman who likes her relationships short and seasonal? Perfect. Sometimes friends with benefits isn’t a foolproof way to hide from the truth at the heart of an affair.