The writer of the New York Times Magazine' s popular "Who Made That?" column explains how better ideas enter the world, revealing the fabled "ah-a" moment to be the result of a series of steps anyone can apply to solve the problems we encounter in everyday life.

When the strongest earthquake in U.S. history occurs just north of their St. Louis home, Kate and Jeremy find the disaster further complicated by Kate's self-proclaimed-medium twin's prediction about a more powerful earthquake, a situation that places Kate under public scrutiny and reveals her own psychic abilities.

Ben loves to draw and does so in all of his classes, but his drawings of people are so good he is afraid to let his classmates see them, until the day he loses his notebook and his talent is revealed.

"Seventeen-year-old Ruby is a Fireblood who must use her powers of heat and flame to help two Frostblood rebels overthrow a maniacal Frostblood king"--

Eighteen-year-old Bitterblue, queen of Monsea, realizes her heavy responsibility and the futility of relying on advisors who surround her with lies as she tries to help her people to heal from the thirty-five-year spell cast by her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities.

Nicola Marter was born with a gift so rare and dangerous, she kept it buried deep. When she encounters a desperate woman trying to sell a small wooden carving called "The Firebird," claiming it belonged to Russia's Empress Catherine, it's a problem. There's no proof. But Nicola's held the object. She knows the woman is telling the truth.

"What's the most effective path to success in any domain? It's not what you think. Plenty of experts argue that anyone who wants to develop a skill, play an instrument, or lead their field should start early, focus intensely, and rack up as many hours of deliberate practice as possible. If you dabble or delay, you'll never catch up to the people who got a head start. But a closer look at research on the world's top performers, from professional athletes...

Froggy tries to figure out what he is best at, from soccer to baking a cake to playing the saxophone.

A freak accident. A tiny, unnoticed fragment of metal is embedded in an infant's brain. Eight years later, the bizarre is triggered, a phenomenon that goes undetected by medical personnel, but which may save America from a sinister conspiracy. Widowed Jennifer Bolton is desperate to deny the strange voices that her young son Tanner has started hearing. But when their home is ransacked and their lives threatened by fearful, unseen forces, Jennifer...

Illustrations and text express a desire for the sharp eyesight of a blackbird, the tail of a lemur, and other animal's strengths.