It's no secret that Beethoven went deaf, that Mozart had constant money problems, and that Gilbert and Sullivan wrote musicals. But what were these people-and other famous musicians-really like? What did they eat? What did they wear? How did they spend their time? What were they like as children? What were their phobias, obsessions, and bad habits? And what did their neighbors think of it all? Here are the fascinating and often humorous stories of...

Describes the life and work of the scientist who won two Nobel Prizes and died of radiation poisoning from years of investigating the dangerous elements that she herself had discovered. Readers will learn about the dark side of a woman and her devotion to science--the politics of science, her depression, and the drive to succeed. It is a brutally honest portrayal of a woman in a field dominated by men.

Traces the life and work of the British biologist made famous by his controversial theory of natural selection.

An introduction to the thirteenth-century Chinese emperor which offers a more complete picture of the man than books which treat him as just a supporting player in Marco Polo's adventures.

History comes to life in this dynamic volume! Here are inside views of twenty writers-people of all shapes, sizes, temperaments, and lifestyles, from various countries and historical periods. Included are William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Mark Twain, Zora Neale Hurston, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Jane Austen, Emily Dickenson, Charles Dickens, and many others.

Which president barked likes a dog-and why did another bark like a seal? Who threw lavish dinner parties with twenty-nine courses-and who was so disliked that his parties were boycotted? Which president had eighty pairs of pants? And which liked to remove his pants (and everything else) for a dip in the pool, expecting everyone around him to skinny-dip too? The presidents of the United States have been different not only in politics, but also as people....

Profiles many of history's most noteworthy scientists, from Zhang Heng and Isaac Newton to Albert Einstein and Barbara McClintock, sharing lesser-known facts about their favorite activities, relationships, and eccentricities.

"John Glenn wasn't just the first American to orbit Earth. He was a family man, a soldier, a United States senator, and a national hero. He laid the groundwork for future star voyagers--and dreamers--everywhere. From the time he was a child, John Glenn loved flying. Later he did so by flying airplanes for the U.S. military, and then when space travel became a possibility, he trained for years to become an astronaut. John had to push his mind and body...

A biography of the African-American woman who overcame crippling polio as a child to become the first woman to win three gold medals in track in a single Olympics.

This book explores the world of Sigmund Freud, who, making it into the author's highly popular series due to his creation of a brand-new branch of medicine called psychoanalysis, introduced the world to such controversial theories as Oedipal complexes, the id, and the ego.