Raff tells how and why he became an evolutionary biologist and describes some of the vibrant and living science of evolution.

Throughout the 19th century in the British Empire, parallel developments in science and the law were squeezing Aborigines everywhere into nonexistence. Charles Darwin took part in this. Again and again, he expressed his approval of the extermination of the native lower races. The more interesting part of the story is that there were plenty of voices, albeit a minority and mostly forgotten now, who objected on humanitarian grounds (and sometimes scientific grounds as well). Europeans, they said, were becoming polished savages and dehumanizing the Other. Darwin was very aware of this criticism and cared not one whit. As he said in a letter to Charles Lyell, I care not much whether we are looked at as mere savages in a remotely distant future. But he well knew it was not a remote future. He had read several writers who accused Europeans of being the real savages. For a brief moment in his youth in his Diary, he himself dabbled in such criticism, even though he already believed in the inferiority of indigenous peoples. That belief grew firmer as he matured. Darwin did not dispute humanitarians so much as he ignored them. Its a sad story. But oh those humanitarians, how they inspire.

What would happen if a contemporary New York girl discovered she was a witch? Eleanor is 16 years old, lives with her grandmother and is an orphan. Life is normal, when one morning... Xander and her friends enter a world without rules or limits, travelling across continents, from India to Sweden, from South Africa to the pyramids of Bosnia, from ancient Antarctica to the Hamptons of today. They find themselves overwhelmed by their passions, loves, envy and struggle for survival against ruthless demons and sorcerers.Far from the daily life of school, cheerleaders and athletes, Eleanor and her friends find themselves in a mystical and spiritual New York, where Woodlawn Cemetery, Hart Island and China Town reveal their deepest secrets. The mysteries, buried by time, are revealed through archaeology, while the pyramids of Kruger Park and those of Bosnia give off their power.Ancient Gods blend with the Creepy pasta, Tarots, New Orleans voodoo and every type of belief to create a universe in which everything is possible...