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Soap is supposed to cleanse and soothe skin, but what's available in stores often just dries and irritates. With The Natural Soap Chef anyone can quickly learn how to make all-natural soaps that gently wash even the most sensitive skin. Not only are these soaps good for the body, they beautifully dress up any home with their delicious scents and colors. This book will show you the way your great-grandma made soap, by using the cold process method and the basic components of soap: lye and oil. With easy-to-follow instructions and photos that guarantee success, you'll be a soap-making expert in no time.

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Everyone knows the world is toxic. But few of us realize that the average person carries a load of 700 chemicals in the body. The gradual buildup of these toxins has a ripple effect on our health, starting with mild ailments and culminating in chronic illness.

Working with hundreds of patients, integrative medicine expert Dr. Jeffrey A. Morrison has found an easy and effective solution. Outlining both a 30-day intensive and a 10-day seasonal tuneup, he offers a simple and nutritious eating plan that efficiently detoxifies the body, allowing it to heal itself. Readers will not only cleanse their body of toxins, but also shed pounds of toxic weight as they uncover and remove the underlying causes of illness.

Unlike other detox plans, Cleanse Your Body, Clear Your Mind features cooked food and regular meals, making it easy for readers to start and stay on the path to good health.

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One Sunday afternoon, as she unloaded the dishwasher, Gretchen Rubin felt hit by a wave of homesickness. Homesick-why? She was standing right in her own kitchen. She felt homesick, she realized, with love for home itself. "Of all the elements of a happy life," she thought, "my home is the most important." In a flash, she decided to undertake a new happiness project, and this time, to focus on home.

And what did she want from her home? A place that calmed and energized her. A place that, by making her feel safe, would free her to take risks. Also, while Rubin wanted to be happier at home, she wanted to appreciate how much happiness was there already.

So, starting in September (the new January), Rubin dedicated a school year (September through May) to making her home a place of greater simplicity, comfort and love.

In The Happiness Project, she worked out general theories of happiness. Here she goes deeper on factors that matter for home, such as possessions, marriage, time and parenthood. How can she control the cubicle in her pocket? How might she spotlight her family's treasured possessions? And it really was time to replace that dud toaster.

Each month, Rubin tackles a different theme as she experiments with concrete, manageable resolutions ... and this time, she coaxes her family to try some resolutions, as well.

With her signature blend of memoir, science, philosophy and experimentation, Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire readers to find more happiness in their own lives.

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Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of best-selling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the 12 months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her-and what didn't.

Her conclusions are sometimes surprising-she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference-and they range from the practical to the profound. Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable. Gretchen Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.

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Making Babies is a fun, informational, artistic and colorful pregnancy book. Follow author Shoshanna Easling through her pregnancy and the birth of her daughter, as she stays healthy and builds a baby. Packed with 480 beautiful pages of research about fertility, conception, morning sickness, pregnancy, birth, nursing, postpartum issues, losing weight, and more, Making Babies is a fresh, organic look at the simple beauty of pregnancy and birth. You will also find delectable recipes, superb remedies, must-have tips, birthing exercises, resources, and relaxing techniques to aid in having a healthy and natural pregnancy and birth.

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In The Alzheimer's Prevention Cookbook, Dr. Marwan Sabbagh outlines the latest evidence-based research on Alzheimer's and nutrition, and presents a dietary plan with nearly 100 recipes to enhance your health. Incorporating high-powered brain-boosting ingredients such as turmeric, cinnamon, leafy greens, and even red wine, the recipes developed by Food Network star chef Beau MacMillan are also full of antioxidants, anti-inflammatories and omega-3s.

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Scientific studies have shown that natural environments can have remarkable benefits for human health. Natural environments are more likely to promote positive emotions; and viewing and walking in nature have been associated with heightened physical and mental energy. Nature has also been found to have a positive impact on children who have been diagnosed with impulsivity, hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder. A powerful wake-up call for our tech-immersed society, Your Brain on Nature examines the fascinating effects that exposure to nature can have on the brain.

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What the Animals Taught Me brings together stories about rescued farm animals at a shelter in Sonoma County, Calif., and shows what these animals can teach us. Each story illustrates how animals can help us reconnect with the natural world … and see and embrace others as they truly are.

Wishing to escape the urban rat race, freelance writer and editor Stephanie Marohn moved to rural northern California in 1993. Life was sweet. She was a busy freelancer. In return for reduced rent, she fed and cared for two horses and a donkey. Her life was full.

And then, more farm animals started to appear: a miniature white horse, a donkey, sheep and chickens, followed by deer and other wildlife. Each one needed sanctuary, either from abuse, physical injury or neglect. Marohn took each animal in and gradually turned her 10-acre spread into an animal sanctuary.

Each chapter of What the Animals Taught Me focuses on a particular animal that became part of Marohn's life. She shares what she learned from the sheep she rescued from an animal collector, the abused donkey she helped nurse back to health, and many others. Her book reminds us that animals have much to teach us about love, compassion, trust, and so many of the other qualities we so often try to cultivate in ourselves.

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In the same way that Michael Pollan’s slim best-seller Food Rules brought a gust of common sense to the everyday activity of eating, Just Ride is a revelation. Forget the ultralight, uncomfortable bikes, flashy jerseys, clunky shoes that clip onto tiny pedals, the grinding out of endless miles. Instead, ride like you did when you were a kid—just get on your bike and discover the pure joy of riding it.

A reformed racer who’s commuted by bike every day since 1980, Grant Petersen shares a lifetime of unexpected facts, controversial opinions, expert techniques and his own maverick philosophy. His company, Rivendell Bicycle Works, makes bikes for riders ready to opt out of a culture overrun by racing, and his writings and opinions have appeared in major bicycling and outdoor magazines.