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books tagged “Non-Fiction” (non-fiction / non fiction)
books tagged “Non-Fiction”
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10,000 Answers : The Ultimate Trivia Encyclopediaby Stanley Newman, Hal FittipaldiISBN 037571944X (0-375-71944-X)
Softcover, Random House Information Group
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The Age of Innocenceby Edith WhartonISBN 0375753206 (0-375-75320-6)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Age of Innocence'Book summary:Newland Archer saw little to envy in the marriages of his friends, yet he prided himself that in May Welland he had found the companion of his needs--tender and impressionable, with equal purity of mind and manners. The engagement was announced discreetly, but all of New York society was soon privy to this most perfect match, a union of families and circumstances cemented by affection. Enter Countess Olenska, a woman of quick wit sharpened by experience, not afraid to flout convention and determined to find freedom in divorce. Against his judgment, Newland is drawn to the socially ostracized Ellen Olenska, who opens his eyes and has the power to make him feel. He knows that in sweet-tempered May, he can expect stability and the steadying comfort of duty. But what new worlds could he discover with Ellen? Written with elegance and wry precision, Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is a tragic love story and a powerful homily about the perils of a perfect marriage. Commentary by William Lyon Phelps and E. M. Forster [via]
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Agee on Film: Criticism and Comment on the Moviesby James AgeeISBN 0375755292 (0-375-75529-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Art of Travelby Alain De BottonISBN 0375725342 (0-375-72534-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Art of Travel'Book summary:Any Baedeker will tell us where we ought to travel, but only Alain de Botton will tell us how and why. With the same intelligence and insouciant charm he brought to How Proust Can Save Your Life, de Botton considers the pleasures of anticipation; the allure of the exotic, and the value of noticing everything from a seascape in Barbados to the takeoffs at Heathrow.
Even as de Botton takes the reader along on his own peregrinations, he also cites such distinguished fellow-travelers as Baudelaire, Wordsworth, Van Gogh, the biologist Alexander von Humboldt, and the 18th-century eccentric Xavier de Maistre, who catalogued the wonders of his bedroom. The Art of Travel is a wise and utterly original book. Dont leave home without it. [via]More editions of The Art of Travel:
Auditioning: An Actor-Friendly Guideby Joanna MerlinISBN 0375725377 (0-375-72537-7)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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A Beginner's Guide to the World Economy: Eighty-One Basic Economic Concepts That Will Change the Way You See the Worldby Randy Charles EppingISBN 0375725792 (0-375-72579-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Best Business Stories of the Yearby Andrew Leckey, Marshall LoebISBN 0375725008 (0-375-72500-8)
Softcover, Knopf Publishing Group
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The Best Business Stories of the Year, 2002by Ken Auletta, Andrew LeckeyISBN 0375725016 (0-375-72501-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Beyond Glory: Joe Louis Vs. Max Schmeling, And a World on the Brinkby David MargolickISBN 0375726195 (0-375-72619-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Book of Political Lists: From the Editors of George Magazineby Blake Eskin, George MagazineISBN 0375750118 (0-375-75011-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Book of Warby Sun-TzuISBN 0375754776 (0-375-75477-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Book of War'Book summary:Civilization might have been spared much of the damage suffered in the world wars this century if the influence of Clausewitz's On War had been blended with and balanced by a knowledge of Sun-tzu's The Art of Warfare. --B.H. Liddel Hart
For two thousand years, Sun-tzu's The Art of Warfare was the indispensable volume of warcraft. Although his work is the first known analysis of war and warfare, Sun-tzu struck upon a thoroughly modern concept: "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." Karl von Clausewitz, the canny military theorist who famously declared that war is a continuation of politics by other means, also claims paternity of the notion "total war." His is the magnum opus of the era of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic vars.
Now these two great military minds are made to share the same tent, metaphorically speaking, in The Book of War. What a bivouac it is, and what a conversation into the night.
Military writer Ralph Peters has written a new Introduction for this Modern Library edition. [via]More editions of The Book of War:
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The Broken Estateby James WoodISBN 0375752633 (0-375-75263-3)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Broken Estate'Book summary:For James Wood, great fiction is always a venture into danger--a journey to the farthest shores. By extension, great criticism too should demand and risk all. And his first collection, The Broken Estate, does so again and again. Since Wood graduated from Cambridge in the 1980s and began reviewing for The Guardian, his name has been preceded by phrases such as enfant terrible and followed by adjectives such as fierce, fearless, and occasionally far worse. Few critics have such an urgent relation to their reading, and it is this, combined with his all-encompassing intellect and verbal velvet, that makes Wood so terrifying--and so tender.
In his introduction to The Broken Estate he writes, "The gentle request to believe is what makes fiction so moving" (gentle, as both adjective and verb, and its adverbial form, seem key terms), and this is what Wood is drawn to explore in the Russian greats and the English, European, and American moderns, among others. Many of these essays originally appeared in the London Review of Books and The New Republic, where he is a senior editor, but his book is far from a bundle of accident. Wood's contention is that in the mid-19th century, the "distinctions between literary belief and religious belief" began to blur (or, depending on the writer, shimmer), causing a crisis for the likes of Melville, Gogol, and Flaubert, and leading to "a skepticism toward the real as we encounter it in the narrative." I suspect, however, that some will head straight for the pieces on their literary loves and not be so concerned with Wood's overarching thesis, at least initially. No matter. Each essay also stands on its own, whether the author is positing Jane Austen as "a ferocious innovator" more radical than Flaubert, Melville as the ultimate linguistic spendthrift, or Gogol as "a defensive fantasist."
In a brilliant take on Virginia Woolf--Wood makes even the much-discussed new--he declares (admits?) that "the writer-critic, wanting to be both faithful critic and original writer," is caught "in a flurry of trapped loyalties." But he himself almost always works his way out of such snares, one of the many joys of this book. In his analysis of the several sides of Thomas More, for example, Wood first reads Utopia as a comedy but then suggests we read it "more tragically--not as a Lucianic satire but as a darkly ironic vision of the impossible." The aphorisms and aperçus come thick and strong. (Keepers of commonplace books should start a separate volume just for Wood.) For example, "Leslie Stephen acted like a genius but he thought like a merely gifted man." Or, "Hemingway has a reputation as a cold master of repetition, an icicle formed from the drip of style, while Lawrence is most often seen as a hothead who fell over himself, verbally." And he also has a gift for the telling domestic detail: Gogol "irritated others by playing card games he had invented and then changing the rules during play. He became rather selfishly involved with undercooked macaroni cheese, a dish he made again and again for guests." But Wood will dislike being complimented on his sentences as much as he claims Woolf did. His art, too, must be measured in chapters.
Wood is a great lover, and this makes him if not a great hater then one who gets hot under the critical collar, his ardor turning to irritation and intemperance in pieces on Morrison, Pynchon, and Murdoch. But in his finest discussions--among them one on Chekhov and another on late-20th-century treasure W.G. Sebald--he instantly quickens writers, books, and readers into being. --Kerry Fried [via]
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The Buddha from Brooklyn: A Tale of Spiritual Seductionby Martha SherrillISBN 0375726489 (0-375-72648-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Buddhist Wisdom: Containing the Diamond Sutra and the Heart Sutraby Edward ConzeISBN 0375726004 (0-375-72600-4)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Careers in Advertisingby Eva Lederman, Princeton Review StaffISBN 0375750916 (0-375-75091-6)
Softcover, Random House Information Group
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Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrardby Sara WheelerISBN 0375754547 (0-375-75454-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Cherry: A Life of Apsley Cherry-Garrard'Book summary:Sara Wheeler, author of the acclaimed Terra Incognita, became fascinated with Antarctic explorer Apsley Cherry-Garrard after reading The Worst Journey in the World, his classic account of Captain Robert Falcon Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole, of which he was a survivor. "His book was not the disembodied account of an expedition: it was an intimate reflection of the man behind the authorial mask. I wanted a glimpse of that man," she writes. What she offers is much more than a glimpse; Cherry is a fascinating and detailed look at this complicated and often troubled hero.
A man of substantial means and a strong sense of duty, Cherry "recoiled from the sedate life of the country squire," throwing himself into strenuous adventures whenever he was not crippled by episodes of severe depression which haunted him his entire life. After returning from the pole, he traveled to eastern China as part of a zoological expedition and then served Britain in World War I before writing The Worst Journey in the World, which National Geographic has called the greatest adventure book of all time. Wheeler covers not only his many adventures, but the inner workings of the man, such as his bouts with mental illness, including delusional phases, hypochondria, and severe anxiety, all of which affected his physical health as well. She also covers his often complex relationships, including his close friendship with George Bernard Shaw, who certainly influenced Cherry's writing. Written with the cooperation of Cherry's widow and full access to his papers and notes, this is the first authorized biography of this extraordinary man. --Shawn Carkonen [via]
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The Compleat Angler: Or the Contemplative Man's Recreationby Izaak Walton, Charles CottonISBN 0375751483 (0-375-75148-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Complete Book of Absby Kurt BrungardtISBN 0375751432 (0-375-75143-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Complete Book of Abs'Book summary:Kurt Brungardt was at the front end of the abdominal obsession. His Abs of Steel video was a bestseller, and the original Complete Book of Abs, published in 1993, was considered the bible of midsection exercises for trainers and fitness enthusiasts. The obsession has only grown since then, manifested by dubious infomercial products, a burgeoning fitness-magazine industry promising readers great abs with almost no investment of time and effort, and (perhaps because of the shortcomings of the first two phenomena) a boom in the demand for legitimate nutritionists and personal trainers. Even Brungardt himself came out with a 1998 book, 3-Minute Abs, to take advantage of the craze.
With all that going on, it seems hard to believe that there's anything new to say about abdominal exercise. Indeed, this revised version of The Complete Book of Abs doesn't really try. There is a new prebeginner midsection routine, which leads into the more advanced exercise regimens described in the original book, and a handful of new exercises. But other than that, the expanded sections are in nutrition (several new pages of recipes) and total-body fitness (new photos demonstrating exercises for body parts other than abs).
Still, the original package is a terrific deal: more than 100 exercises, numerous training routines, and lots of basic information about exercise and diet. Each abdominal exercise is rated for difficulty on a scale of 1 to 3 and how risky it is to the lower back. The routines are complete and thoughtfully compiled, and there's not a bit of advice in the entire book that isn't scientifically legitimate. That's why this book--in either edition--remains indispensable for those serious enough about fitness to need information that goes beyond the basics. --Lou Schuler END [via]
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The Cost of Livingby Arundhati RoyISBN 0375756140 (0-375-75614-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Cost of Living'Book summary:From the bestselling author of The God of Small Things comes a scathing and passionate indictment of big government's
disregard for the individual.
In her Booker Prize-winning novel, The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy turned a compassionate but unrelenting eye on one family in India. Now she lavishes the same acrobatic language and fierce humanity on the future of her beloved country. In this spirited polemic, Roy dares to take on two of the great illusions of India's progress: the massive dam projects that were supposed to haul this sprawling subcontinent into the modern age--but which instead have displaced untold millions--and the detonation of India's first nuclear bomb, with all its attendant Faustian bargains.
Merging her inimitable voice with a great moral outrage and imaginative sweep, Roy peels away the mask of democracy and prosperity to show the true costs hidden beneath. For those who have been mesmerized by her vision of India, here is a sketch, traced in fire, of its topsy-turvy society, where the lives of the many are sacrificed for the comforts of the few. [via]More editions of The Cost of Living:
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The Count and the Confession: A True Mysteryby John TaylorISBN 0375725830 (0-375-72583-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Count and the Confession: A True Mystery'Book summary:Roger de la Burde was an unusual and charming mana wealthy scientist and art collector, he claimed to be a Polish Count, wore ascots, and always bowed to women. But after he was found dead in the library of his Virginia estate, police discovered that de la Burde was not the man he had pretended to be. In fact, he was such a womanizing swindler that they had no difficulty compiling a list of suspects, including the tobacco company he was suing, his disgruntled business associates, his longtime girlfriend, his pregnant mistress, and her husband.
The woman they ultimately charged with the crime seemed the least likely of them all to commit murder; Beverly Monroe was an educated and unfailingly genteel Southern mother of three who had never had so much as parking ticket. But she had been de la Burdes lover for twelve years (despite his frequent affairs) and she made a bizarre confession under intense police questioning. Was she really guilty, or was she manipulated by the police? With unimpeachable research, Taylor reveals the multiple layers of this fascinating case and leaves readers with troubling doubts about de la Burde, about Monroe, and about the justice system in America. [via]More editions of The Count and the Confession: A True Mystery:
Cracking the Ap U.S. History: 2000-2001by Tom MeltzerISBN 0375754946 (0-375-75494-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Crusader Nation: The United States in Peace And the Great War, 1898-1920by David TraxelISBN 0375724656 (0-375-72465-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paperby Nicholson BakerISBN 0375726217 (0-375-72621-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper'Book summary:The ostensible purpose of a library is to preserve the printed word. But for fifty years our countrys librariesincluding the Library of Congresshave been doing just the opposite, destroying hundreds of thousands of historic newspapers and replacing them with microfilm copies that are difficult to read, lack all the color and quality of the original paper and illustrations, and deteriorate with age.
With meticulous detective work and Bakers well-known explanatory power, Double Fold reveals a secret history of microfilm lobbyists, former CIA agents, and warehouses where priceless archives are destroyed with a machine called a guillotine. Baker argues passionately for preservation, even cashing in his own retirement account to save one important archiveall twenty tons of it. Written the brilliant narrative style that Nicholson Baker fans have come to expect, Double Fold is a persuasive and often devastating book that may turn out to be The Jungle of the American library system. [via]More editions of Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper:
Eating in the Dark: America's Experiment With Genetically Engineered Foodby Kathleen HartISBN 0375724982 (0-375-72498-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and Afterby Edward W. SaidISBN 0375725741 (0-375-72574-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After'Book summary:Soon after the Oslo accords were signed in September 1993 by Israel and Palestinian Liberation Organization, Edward Said predicted that they could not lead to real peace. In these essays, most written for Arab and European newspapers, Said uncovers the political mechanism that advertises reconciliation in the Middle East while keeping peace out of the picture.
[via]
Said argues that the imbalance in power that forces Palestinians and Arab states to accept the concessions of the United States and Israel prohibits real negotiations and promotes the second-class treatment of Palestinians. He documents what has really gone on in the occupied territories since the signing. He reports worsening conditions for the Palestinians critiques Yasir Arafat's self-interested and oppressive leadership, denounces Israel's refusal to recognize Palestine's past, andin essays new to this editionaddresses the resulting unrest.
In this unflinching cry for civic justice and self-determination, Said promotes not a political agenda but a transcendent alternative: the peaceful coexistence of Arabs and Jews enjoying equal rights and shared citizenship.More editions of The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After:
Every Employee's Guide to the Law: What You Need to Know About Your Rights in the Workplace-And What to Do If They Are Violatedby Lewin G. JoelISBN 0375714456 (0-375-71445-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Farthest Northby Fridtjof Nansen, Roland HuntfordISBN 0375754725 (0-375-75472-5)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Farthest North'Book summary:The Modern Library has unearthed a classic. The long out-of-print Farthest North, one of the first titles in the library's Exploration series, recounts Dr. Fridtjof Nansen's epic 1893 pursuit of the North Pole. Like Jon Krakauer, the series' editor, Nansen was the chronicler of one his age's most sensational adventures. But he was also much more: statesman and explorer, scientist and sex symbol, Nansen's singular character and remarkable spirit demand attention and respect. It's hard to fathom how a story with such an alluring hero was forgotten in the first place.
The good doctor entered the limelight after his landmark first crossing of Greenland in 1888. Shortly after, he concocted a brilliant (or lunatic, depending on whom you asked) scheme to conquer the pole. He and a small crew would freeze a specially designed boat in the ice and drift with the Arctic current, which he believed would carry him from the coast of Siberia northwest to the pole. In mid-voyage, he realized that the current would not carry him far enough. Undaunted, he and a companion set out across the ice with a dogsled. Nansen was left for dead, but when he stumbled upon another exploration team more than a year later--having reached farther north than anyone before him--he returned to Norway an international sensation.
This book, the chronicle of that journey, was hurriedly written to capitalize on that sensation. Penned in only two months, it lacks literary polish, but Nansen's eye for detail and indomitable spirit shine through. Because he wrote while still thawing from his adventures, his story has an exciting immediacy, one that the passing of a century has done little to diminish. As a historical document, as an epic adventure, and as a revival of a worthy hero long forgotten, Farthest North is a tale well worth remembering. --Andrew Nieland [via]
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Flesh and Machines: How Robots Will Change Usby Rodney A. BrooksISBN 037572527X (0-375-72527-X)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Frankensteinby Mary Wollstonecraft ShelleyISBN 0375753419 (0-375-75341-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Frankenstein'Book summary:Frankenstein, loved by many decades of readers and praised by such eminent literary critics as Harold Bloom, seems hardly to need a recommendation. If you haven't read it recently, though, you may not remember the sweeping force of the prose, the grotesque, surreal imagery, and the multilayered doppelgänger themes of Mary Shelley's masterpiece. As fantasy writer Jane Yolen writes of this (the reviewer's favorite) edition, "The strong black and whites of the main text [illustrations] are dark and brooding, with unremitting shadows and stark contrasts. But the central conversation with the monster--who owes nothing to the overused movie image & but is rather the novel's charnel-house composite--is where [Barry] Moser's illustrations show their greatest power ... The viewer can all but smell the powerful stench of the monster's breath as its words spill out across the page. Strong book-making for one of the world's strongest and most remarkable books." Includes an illuminating afterword by Joyce Carol Oates. [via]
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Freud for Beginnersby Richard Appignanesi, Oscar ZarateISBN 037571460X (0-375-71460-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Freud for Beginners'Book summary:The Beginner Books -- "Their cartoon format and irreverent wit make difficult ideas accessible and entertaining." -- Newsday
Everything you need to know about neurosis, libido, ego, and id -- but somehow it slipped your mind.
Freud for Beginners is a perfect introduction to the life and thought of the man whose discovery of psychoanalysis revolutionized our attitudes towards mental illness, religion, sex, and culture. This documentary cartoon book plunges us into the world of late-nineteenth-century Vienna in which Freud grew up. We explore his early background in science, his work as a therapist, his encounter with cocaine, and his theories on the unconscious, dreams, the Oedipus Complex, and sexuality.
We meet his family, his friend and enemies, and his patients -- The Rat Man, Anna O., Little Hans -- and we get an insider's view as the psychoanalytic movement is launched. The zany art and probing text do an extraordinary job of simplifying Freud without trivializing him. [via]More editions of Freud for Beginners:
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The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected Worldby Lawrence LessigISBN 0375726446 (0-375-72644-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World'Book summary:If The Future of Ideas is bleak, we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Author Lawrence Lessig, a Stanford law professor and keen observer of emerging technologies, makes a strong case that large corporations are staging an innovation-stifling power grab while we watch idly. The changes in copyright and other forms of intellectual property protection demanded by the media and software industries have the potential to choke off publicly held material, which Lessig sees as a kind of intellectual commons. He eloquently and persuasively decries this lopsided control of ideas and suggests practical solutions that consider the rights of both creators and consumers, while acknowledging the serious impact of new technologies on old ways of doing business. His proposals would let existing companies make money without using the tremendous advantages of incumbency to eliminate new killer apps before they can threaten the status quo. Readers who want a fair intellectual marketplace would do well to absorb the lessons in The Future of Ideas. --Rob Lightner [via]
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Ghostwrittenby David MitchellISBN 0375724508 (0-375-72450-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Ghostwritten'Book summary:"What is real and what is not?" David Mitchell's Ghostwritten: A Novel in Nine Parts plays with precisely this question throughout its elaborately compartmentalized narrative. (That there are 10 chapters in this 9-part invention is just one more aspect of the author's mysterious schema.) With its multitude of voices and globe-girdling locations--Tokyo, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Petersburg, London--this first novel offers readers a vertiginous, sometimes seductive, display of persona and place.
At the heart of Mitchell's book is the global extension of the postmodern city, and the networks (cultural, technological, phantasmagoric) to which it gives rise. A metropolis like Tokyo is quite literally beyond our comprehension:
Twenty million people live and work in Tokyo. It's so big that nobody really knows where it stops. It's long since filled up the plain, and now it's creeping up the mountains to the west and reclaiming land from the bay in the east. The city never stops rewriting itself. In the time one street guide is produced, it's already become out of date. It's a tall city, and a deep one, as well as a spread-out one.
At this level, urban sprawl becomes an epistemological condition. On one hand it leads to a Japanese death cult, purging the "unclean" from the city's subway with nerve gas. And on the other, it produces a certain splintering of the human personality. "I'm this person, I'm this person, I'm that person, I'm that person too," chants Neal, the narrator of the book's second part. "No wonder it's all such a ... mess." He's talking about his life as a Hong Kong trader, a "man of departments, compartments, apartments." But he might also be describing the experience of reading Ghostwritten. At once loquacious and knowing, leisurely and frantic, Mitchell offers a huge, but fragmentary, portmanteau. And while he's labored diligently to solder together the many parts--the aching bodies, the reality police, the impossibly complex machinery of contemporary life--his novel, too, may suffer from an excess of split personality. --Vicky Lebeau [via]More editions of Ghostwritten:
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Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greeceby Gustav SchwabISBN 0375714464 (0-375-71446-4)
Softcover, Pantheon Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece'Book summary:From fire-stealing Prometheus to scene-stealing Helen of Troy, from Jason and his golden fleece to Oedipus and his mother, this collection of classic tales from Greek mythology demonstrates the inexhaustible vitality of a timeless cultural legacy.
Here are Icarus flying too close to the sun, mighty Hercules, Achilles and that darn heel, the Trojans and their wooden horse, brave Perseus and beautiful Andromeda, wandering Odysseus and steadfast Penelope. Their stories and the stories of the powerful gods and goddesses who punish and reward, who fall in love with and are enraged by the humans they have created, are set forth simply but movingly, in language that retains the power and drama of the original works by Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Homer. In Gustav Schwabs masterful retelling, they are made accessible to readers of all ages. [via]More editions of Gods and Heroes of Ancient Greece:
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The Great Republicby Winston ChurchillISBN 0375754407 (0-375-75440-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Great Republic'Book summary:Drawn from uncollected speeches and articles as well as from the author's four-volume History of the English-Speaking Peoples, this anthology of the great statesman Winston Churchill's writings on American history highlights both its author's vigorous prose style and his commitment to the idea that the United States and the United Kingdom shared not only a common past but a common destiny.
As a young man, writes his namesake and grandson in his introduction, Churchill toured some of the battlefields of the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and it is in writing of these two epochs and the expansionist years between them that Churchill is strongest. Of particular interest are his remarks on the ideological origins of the colonial revolution in such documents as the Magna Carta and the teachings of the Puritan elders, although, as an eminently practical politician, Churchill gives attention to less lofty causes of dissent--for instance, the English crown's logistical difficulty in governing an overseas empire with ideas of governance and resources of its own. Churchill's reflections on the Second World War are also of much value, and he provides an insider's view of the defeat of Nazism and the birth of the cold war.
Devotees of Churchill's work will not find much new here, but readers approaching him for the first time will find this volume to be a fine introduction to Churchill's writing and thought. --Gregory McNamee [via]
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The Great Wave: Gilded Age Misfits, Japanese Eccentrics, and the Opening of Old Japanby Christopher E. G. BenfeyISBN 0375754555 (0-375-75455-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Haunted Woodby Allen Weinstein, Alexander VassilievISBN 0375755365 (0-375-75536-5)
Softcover, Modern Library
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History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990sby Timothy Garton AshISBN 0375727620 (0-375-72762-0)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s'Book summary:The 1990s. An extraordinary decade in Europe. At its beginning, the old order collapsed along with the Berlin Wall. Everything seemed possible. Everyone hailed a brave new Europe. But no one knew what this new Europe would look like. Now we know. Most of Western Europe has launched into the unprecedented gamble of monetary union, though Britain stands aside. Germany, peacefully united, with its capital in Berlin, is again the most powerful country in Europe. The Central EuropeansPoles, Czechs, Hungarianshave made successful transitions from communism to capitalism and have joined NATO. But farther east and south, in the territories of the former Soviet Union and the former Yugoslavia, the continent has descended into a bloody swamp of poverty, corruption, criminality, war, and bestial atrocities such as we never thought would be seen again in Europe.
Timothy Garton Ash chronicles this formative decade through a glittering collection of essays, sketches, and dispatches written as history was being made. He joins the East Germans for their decisive vote for unification and visits their former leader in prison. He accompanies the Poles on their roller-coaster ride from dictatorship to democracy. He uncovers the motives for monetary union in Paris and Bonn. He walks in mass demonstrations in Belgrade and travels through the killing fields of Kosovo. Occasionally, he even becomes an actor in a drama he describes: debating Germany with Margaret Thatcher or the role of the intellectual with Václav Havel in Prague. Ranging from Vienna to Saint Petersburg, from Britain to Ruthenia, Garton Ash reflects on how "the single great conflict" of the cold war has been replaced by many smaller ones. And he asks what part the United States still has to play. Sometimes he takes an eagle's-eye view, considering the present attempt to unite Europe against the background of a thousand years of such efforts. But often he swoops to seize one telling human story: that of a wiry old farmer in Croatia, a newspaper editor in Warsaw, or a bitter, beautiful survivor from Sarajevo.
His eye is sharp and ironic but always compassionate. History of the Present continues the work that Garton Ash began with his trilogy of books about Central Europe in the 1980s, combining the crafts of journalism and history. In his Introduction, he argues that we should not wait until the archives are opened before starting to write the history of our own times. Then he shows how it can be done.
From the Hardcover edition. [via]More editions of History of the Present: Essays, Sketches, and Dispatches from Europe in the 1990s:
Hope Against Hopeby Nadezhda Mandelshtam, Max HaywardISBN 0375753168 (0-375-75316-8)
Softcover, Modern Library
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Hunting Trips of a Ranchman: Sketches of Sport on the Northern Cattle Plainsby Theodore RooseveltISBN 0375751521 (0-375-75152-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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If It Die: An Autobiographyby Andre GideISBN 0375726063 (0-375-72606-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Introduction to the Devout Lifeby FrancisISBN 0375725628 (0-375-72562-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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$ix-figure Freelancing: The Writer's Guide to Making More Moneyby Kelly James-EngerISBN 0375720952 (0-375-72095-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Laramie Projectby Moises KaufmanISBN 0375727191 (0-375-72719-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Laramie Project'Book summary:On October 7, 1998, a young gay man was discovered bound to a fence in the hills outside Laramie, Wyoming, savagely beaten and left to die in an act of hate that shocked the nation. Matthew Shepards death became a national symbol of intolerance, but for the people of Laramie the event was deeply personal, and its they we hear in this stunningly effective theater piece, a deeply complex portrait of a community. [via]
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The Leader's Mentor: Inspriation from the World's Most Effective Leadersby Ian JackmanISBN 0375720626 (0-375-72062-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Lost In Space: The Fall Of Nasa And The Dream Of A New Space Ageby Greg KlerkxISBN 0375727736 (0-375-72773-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Lost In Space: The Fall Of Nasa And The Dream Of A New Space Age'Book summary:The daring, revolutionary NASA that sent Neil Armstrong to the moon has lost its meteoric vision, says journalist and space enthusiast Greg Klerkx. NASA, he contends, has devolved from a pioneer of space exploration into a factionalized bureaucracy focused primarily on its own survival. And as a result, humans havent ventured beyond Earth orbit for three decades. Klerkx argues that after its wildly successful Apollo program, NASA clung fiercely to the spotlight by creating a government-sheltered monopoly with a few Big Aerospace companies. Although committed in theory to supporting commercial spaceflight, in practice it smothered vital private-sector innovation. In striking descriptions of space milestones spanning the golden 1960s Space Age and the 2003 Columbia tragedy, Klerkx exposes the real NASA and envisions exciting public-private cooperation that could send humans back to the moon and beyond. [via]
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The Making of 2001, a Space Odysseyby Modern Library, Martin Scorsese, Stephanie Schwam, Fay CocksISBN 0375755284 (0-375-75528-4)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Making of 2001, a Space Odyssey'Book summary:"If 2001 has stirred your emotions, your subconscious, your mythological yearnings, then it has succeeded."--Stanley Kubrick
Stanley Kubrick's extraordinary movie 2001: A Space Odyssey was released in 1969. The critics initially disliked it, but the public loved it. And eventually, the film took its rightful place as one of the most innovative, brilliant, and pivotal works of modern cinema. The Making of 2001: A Space Odyssey consists of testimony from Kubrick's collaborators and commentary from critics and historians. This is the most complete book on the film to date--from Stanley Kubrick's first meeting with screenwriter Arthur C. Clarke to Kubrick's exhaustive research to the actual shooting and release of the movie. [via]More editions of The Making of 2001, a Space Odyssey:
Manifold Destiny : The One and Only Guide to Cooking on Your Car Engineby Bill Scheller, Chris MaynardISBN 0375751408 (0-375-75140-8)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Meetings with Remarkable Treesby Thomas PakenhamISBN 0375752684 (0-375-75268-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Memo from David O. Selznick: The Creation of Gone With the Wind and Other Motion Picture Classics, As Revealed in the Producer's Private Letters, Telegrams, Memorandums, andby Rudy Behlmer, David O. SelznickISBN 0375755314 (0-375-75531-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Modern Library Writer's Workshopby Stephen KochISBN 0375755586 (0-375-75558-6)
Softcover, Modern Library
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Monster: Living Off the Big Screenby John Gregory DunneISBN 037575024X (0-375-75024-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Montcalm and Wolfe : The French and Indian Warby Francis Parkman, John Keegan, Caleb CarrISBN 0375754202 (0-375-75420-2)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Montcalm and Wolfe : The French and Indian War'Book summary:The result of over forty years of passionate research, Montcalm and Wolfe is the epic story of Europe's struggle for dominance of the New World. Centuries of rivalry and greed between the great imperial powers culminated in five brutal years of war; resulted in the death of both generals, Louis de Montcalm and James Wolfe; and ultimately sowed the seeds of the American Revolution, fought a scant seventeen years later. A brilliant work of scholarship as well as a riveting read, Montcalm and Wolfe was thought by many, including the author, to be Parkman's greatest work. It is an essential part of any military history collection.
The books in the Modern Library War series have been chosen by series editor Caleb Carr according to the significance of their subject matter, their contribution to the field of military history, and their literary merit. [via]More editions of Montcalm and Wolfe : The French and Indian War:
Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summitby Robert MacFarlaneISBN 0375714065 (0-375-71406-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Necessary Targets: A Story of Women and Warby Eve EnslerISBN 0375756035 (0-375-75603-5)
Softcover, Villard Books
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The News About the News: American Journalism in Perilby Robert G. Kaiser, Leonard DownieISBN 0375714154 (0-375-71415-4)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, the Composers, the Recordingsby Denis FormanISBN 0375751769 (0-375-75176-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'A Night at the Opera: An Irreverent Guide to the Plots, the Singers, the Composers, the Recordings'Book summary:As a nuts-and-bolts operagoer's guide, Denis Forman's book is richly incisive. It's equally satisfying as a tart, effervescent take on the solemn world of opera.
The author--a British television executive and former deputy chairman of the Royal Opera House--covers most of the likely offerings of your local repertory company, with a few questionable omissions (Peter Grimes) and inclusions (The Threepenny Opera). For each he provides a synopsis, musical highlights, critical remarks, and historical information (the premiere of Il Trovatore: "stupendous"; that of Norma: "a flop"). Another section offers comments on everything from the craze for authenticity to the practice of booing.
Forman's opinions sometimes run athwart of convention. Falstaff "has no sex appeal and no heart, and opera demands both these qualities"; Tristan und Isolde is the creation of "the Wagner that liked to spend time stroking velvet." His tone, especially in the synopses, is often evocative of Anna Russell's opera parodies: "It really is too bad of you Tristan to die on me like this. She passes out."
The prose can be cute, but that fits Forman's approach of puncturing the inflated atmosphere of opera while glorying in it. Though he is most entertaining when he's daring to shout in church, his enthusiasms are as illuminating as his barbs. "Traviata is the first grown-up opera about contemporary life," he says, adroitly locating that work in operatic history. In Don Giovanni, "Mozart brought terror to the opera stage for the first time." It's the book's greatest pleasure that Forman's passion is matched by his knowledge. --David Olivenbaum [via]
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Nothing but Youby Roger AngellISBN 0375751505 (0-375-75150-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Order of Things: How Everything in the World Is Organized into Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Ordersby Barbara Ann KipferISBN 0375719695 (0-375-71969-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Order of Things: How Everything in the World Is Organized into Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Orders'Book summary:This amazing, one-of-a-kind reference book has been revised and completely updated. Called "a definite reference must" by King Features Syndicate, The Order of Things is an illustrated collection of orders and classifications in science, religion, history, business, the arts, sports, technology, mathematics, society, and domestic life.
Includes:
" Over 400 informative lists, hierarchies, and illustrations, from the ancient past to today -- divided into 13 major areas of knowledge.
" Extremely well-organized and accessible, from the Table of Contents to the extensive and all-encompassing index.
" Unique information that is useful, surprising, and enlightening. Here, reader's will find the 64 emperors of Byzantium; ranks in the British army; how a television dish is operated; the different layers of soil; coal sizes; the various ice ages; how your ear hears something; how all the languages in the world are organized -- and much, much more.
" Illustrated with graphs, models, drawings, and portraits to make complex subjects understandable. [via]More editions of The Order of Things: How Everything in the World Is Organized into Hierarchies, Structures, and Pecking Orders:
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Paperboy: Confessions of a Future Engineerby Henry PetroskiISBN 0375718982 (0-375-71898-2)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Paperboy: Confessions of a Future Engineer'Book summary:Anyone wondering what sort of experience prepares one for a future as an engineer may be surprised to learn that it includes delivering newspapers. But as Henry Petroski recounts his youth in 1950s Queens, New Yorka borough of handball games and inexplicably numbered streetshe winningly shows how his after-school job amounted to a prep course in practical engineering.
Petroksis paper was The Long Island Press, whose headlines ran to COP SAVES OLD WOMAN FROM THUG and DiMAG SAYS BUMS CANT WIN SERIES. Folding it into a tube suitable for throwing was an exercise in post-Euclidean geometry. Maintaining a Schwinn revealed volumes about mechanics. Reading Paperboy, we also learn about the hazing rituals of its namesakes, the aesthetics of kitchen appliances, and the delicate art of penny-pitching. With gratifying reflections on these and other lessons of a bygone eralessons about diligence, labor, and community-mindednessPaperboy is a piece of Americana to cherish and reread. [via]More editions of Paperboy: Confessions of a Future Engineer:
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Perfume: The Story of a Murdererby Patrick Suskind, John E. WoodsISBN 0375725849 (0-375-72584-9)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Perfume: The Story of a Murderer'Book summary:An acclaimed bestseller and international sensation, Patrick Suskind's classic novel provokes a terrifying examination of what happens when one man's indulgence in his greatest passion-his sense of smell-leads to murder. In the slums of eighteenth-century France, the infant Jean-Baptiste Grenouille is born with one sublime gift-an absolute sense of smell. As a boy, he lives to decipher the odors of Paris, and apprentices himself to a prominent perfumer who teaches him the ancient art of mixing precious oils and herbs. But Grenouille's genius is such that he is not satisfied to stop there, and he becomes obsessed with capturing the smells of objects such as brass doorknobs and frest-cut wood. Then one day he catches a hint of a scent that will drive him on an ever-more-terrifying quest to create the "ultimate perfume"-the scent of a beautiful young virgin. Told with dazzling narrative brillance, Perfume is a hauntingly powerful tale of murder and sensual depravity. Translated from the German by John E. Woods. [via]
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Persepolisby Marjane SatrapiISBN 037571457X (0-375-71457-X)
Softcover, Pantheon Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Persepolis'Book summary:Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis is an exemplary autobiographical graphic novel, in the tradition of Art Spiegelman's classic Maus. Set in Iran during the Islamic Revolution, young Satrapi is the six-year-old daughter of two committed and well-to-do Marxists. As she grows up, she witness first-hand the effects that the revolution and the war with Iraq have on her home, family and school.
Like Maus, the main strength of Persepolis is its ability to make the political personal.
Told through the eyes of a child (as reflected in Satrapi's simplistic yet expressive black-and-white artwork), young Marjane learns about her family history and how it is entwined with the history of Iran, and watches her liberal parents cope with a fundamentalist regime that gets increasingly rigid as it gains more power. Outspoken and intelligent, Marjane chafes at Iran's increasingly conservative interpretation of Islamic law, especially as she grows into a bright and independent teenager. Throughout, Marjane remains a hugely likeable young woman
Persepolis gives the reader a snapshot of daily life in a country struggling with an internal cultural revolution and a bloody war, but within an intensely personal context. It's a very human history, beautifully and sympathetically told. --Robert Burrow [via]
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Persepolis 2: The Story of a Returnby Marjane SatrapiISBN 0375714669 (0-375-71466-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return'Book summary:Picking up the thread where her debut memoir-in-comics concluded, Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return details Marjane Satrapi's experiences as a young Iranian woman cast abroad by political turmoil in her native country. Older, if not exactly wiser, Marjane reconciles her upbringing in war-shattered Tehran with new surroundings and friends in Austria. Whether living in the company of nuns or as the sole female in a house of eight gay men, she creates a niche for herself with friends and acquaintances who feel equally uneasy with their place in the world.
After a series of unfortunate choices and events leave her literally living in the street for three months, Marjane decides to return to her native Iran. Here, she is reunited with her family, whose liberalism and emphasis on Marjane's personal worth exert as strong an influence as the eye-popping wonders of Europe. Having grown accustomed to recreational drugs, partying, and dating, Marjane now dons a veil and adjusts to a society officially divided by gender and guided by fundamentalism. Emboldened by the example of her feisty grandmother, she tests the bounds of the morality enforced on the streets and in the classrooms. With a new appreciation for the political and spiritual struggles of her fellow Iranians, she comes to understand that "one person leaving her house while asking herself, 'is my veil in place?' no longer asks herself 'where is my freedom of speech?'"
Satrapi's starkly monochromatic drawing style and the keenly observed facial expressions of her characters provide the ideal graphic environment from which to appeal to our sympathies. Bereft of fine detail, this graphic novel guides the reader's attention instead toward a narrative rich with empathy. Don't be fooled by the glowering self-portrait of the author on the back flap; its nearly impossible to read Persepolis 2 without feeling warmth toward Marjane Satrapi. --Ryan Boudinot [via]
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Personal Memoirsby Ulysses S. Grant, Geoffrey PerretISBN 0375752285 (0-375-75228-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Personal Memoirs'Book summary:Destitute and wracked by throat cancer, Ulysses S. Grant finished writing his Personal Memoirs shortly before his death in 1885. Today their clear prose stands as a model of autobiography. Civil War soldiers are often celebrated for the high literary quality of the letters they sent home from the front lines; Grant's own book is probably the best piece of writing produced by a participant in the War Between the States. Apart from Lincoln, no man deserves more credit for securing the Northern victory than Grant, and this chronicle of campaigns and battles tells how he did it. (The book also made a bundle of money for his family, which had been reeling from the failure of Grant's brokerage firm.) This is not an overview of the entire Civil War; as the North was beating the South on the third day of Gettysburg, for example, Grant was in Mississippi capturing Vicksburg. But it is a great piece of writing, one that can be appreciated even by readers with little interest in military history. --John J. Miller [via]
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The Practical Guide to Almost Everything : The Ultimate Consumer Almanacby Peter W. Bernstein, Christopher Ma, Almanac, Inc. StaffISBN 0375750290 (0-375-75029-0)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People and Abba Meditations on the Lord's Prayerby Evelyn Underhill, John F. Thornton, Susan B. VarenneISBN 0375725709 (0-375-72570-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People and Abba Meditations on the Lord's Prayer'Book summary:"God gives without stint all that the creature needs, but it must do its part. He gives the wheat: we must reap and grind and bake it." Evelyn Underhill
In these two classics, British poet and mystic Evelyn Underhill shows herself to be one of the most authoritative modern voices on mysticism. Written on the eve of World War I, Practical Mysticism reviews the works of the greatest Western mystics, including Teresa of Avila, Julian of Norwich, and Thomas à Kempis. Underhills goal is to guide her readers on a journey toward mystical consciousness, to teach them to see the eternal beauty beyond and beneath apparent ruthlessness. Abba, first published in 1940, takes as its starting point the seven phrases of the Lords Prayer, using them as a means to propel the self toward union with God. In these important works, Underhill brings an often esoteric subject onto a practical footing, showing that the profound gifts of mysticism are not only for the few but are within reach of us all. [via]More editions of Practical Mysticism: A Little Book for Normal People and Abba Meditations on the Lord's Prayer:
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The Pritchett Centuryby V. S. PritchettISBN 037575217X (0-375-75217-X)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Pritchett Century'Book summary:Sir Victor Pritchett disproved almost every cliché of literary life. After making a striking debut as a journalist and fiction writer during the 1920s, he not only failed to burn out in a fashionably bohemian style but got a second wind that carried him clear through the 1990s. In an age of specialization, he left his mark on a half-dozen genres--the novel, short fiction, memoir, casual essay, travel writing, and criticism. Throughout a career of such jaw-dropping duration, he resisted literary fads like the plagues that they are. Finally, he had that rarest of authorial virtues--common sense--which enlivens almost every word of The Pritchett Century. No doubt Pritchett fans will argue over what their hero did best. But his short stories, which leaven a near-Chekhovian delicacy with the driest of British wit, equal anything written in our age. And his criticism is as entertaining as it is accurate, particularly when he wrote about books he loved. (Here's Pritchett on Huckleberry Finn, for example, mixing his panegyric with a soupçon of poison: "Huck is a only a crude boy, but luckily he was drawn by a man whose own mind was arrested, with disastrous results in his other books, at the schoolboy stage; here it is perfect.") In any case, The Pritchett Century contains ample helpings of every genre, which adds up to an amazingly distinguished--let's say Victorious--anthology. [via]
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Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climateby Nancy MitfordISBN 0375718990 (0-375-71899-0)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate'Book summary:Few aristocratic English families of the 20th century have enjoyed quite the delicious notoriety that the Mitford sisters courted in the years bracketed by two world wars. For a start, two of the girls, Unity and Diana, were Fascists (the former was a friend of Hitler and Goebbels, and the latter married Sir Oswald Mosley, founder of the British Union of Fascists). Two others took the writing route: Jessica ran away from home and became a famous muckraking journalist, and Nancy composed maliciously witty--and transparently autobiographical--novels as well as several biographies. The Pursuit of Love (1945), her greatest fictional success, and its companion, Love in a Cold Climate (1949), keep closely to the spirit (and details) of their youthful amusements and more grown-up adventures.
Seen through the adoring eyes of Fanny Logan, the self-effacing cousin who records their shenanigans with a wicked sincerity, the Radletts of Alconleigh shine with Gloucestershire glamour: apoplectic Uncle Matthew; Lord Alconleigh (modeled to a fine nuance after Mitford's father, Lord Redesdale, who like Uncle Matthew used to hunt his children with bloodhounds); his kind, rather vague wife, Aunt Sadie; as well as Fanny's favorite cousin Linda and the other six Radlett children. The Radlett daughters and Fanny wait impatiently for life to become interesting. Because of their station, however, nothing but marriage is expected of them, so they hurl themselves at love like crusaders, with varied and always fascinating results. At one point Fanny recounts:
A few minutes only after Linda had left me to go back to London, Christian and the comrades, I had another caller. This time it was Lord Merlin...."This is a bad business," he said, abruptly, and without preamble, though I had not seen him for several years. "I'm just back from Rome, and what do I find--Linda and Christian Talbot. It's an extraordinary thing that I can't ever leave England without Linda getting herself mixed up with some thoroughly undesirable character. This is a disaster--how far has it gone? Can nothing be done?"
The Pursuit of Love follows the romantic fortunes of Linda Radlett, while Love in a Cold Climate ventures further afield with the story of Polly Hampton's shocking love affair and its unexpectedly funny aftermath. Fanny's inexhaustible narration is a pleasant buffer for Mitford's deft teasing, which dances along just this side of mockery. The author of U and Non-U, a famous tongue-in-cheek treatise on the shibboleths of upper-class mores, Mitford often leaves the reader wondering just where she stands in the class wars, and much of her humor arises in the fine distinctions of aristocratic manners and speech. Still, there's an inimitable tart sweetness to these stories of true love and its pallid imitators, making them perfect snapshots of a vanished world. --Barrie Trinkle [via]More editions of Pursuit of Love and Love in a Cold Climate:
Quarrel & Quandary: Essaysby Cynthia OzickISBN 0375724451 (0-375-72445-1)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Random House Webster's Handy Grammar, Usage & Punctuationby Random HouseISBN 0375720057 (0-375-72005-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Random House Webster's Pocket American Dictionaryby Random HouseISBN 0375719377 (0-375-71937-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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![[???]: Random House Webster's Pocket Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/P/0375719679.01._SL160_SCLZZZZZZZ__.jpg "[???]: Random House Webster's Pocket Grammar, Usage, and Punctuation")
Random House Webster's Pocket Grammar, Usage, and PunctuationISBN 0375719679 (0-375-71967-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Random House Webster's Student Notebook Dictionaryby Random HouseISBN 0375721207 (0-375-72120-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Random House Webster's Student Notebook Dictionary'Book summary:" Covers the core vocabulary students need
" Over 56,000 easy-to-read definitions for students of all levels
" Includes ready-reference section full of useful tables and maps [via]More editions of Random House Webster's Student Notebook Dictionary:
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Random House Webster's Student Notebook Spanish Dictionaryby Random HouseISBN 0375721924 (0-375-72192-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Random House Webster's Student Notebook Spanish Dictionary'Book summary:·Three-hole punched to fit into a standard binder
·Over 50,000 definitions
·Full pronunciations for Spanish and English [via]More editions of Random House Webster's Student Notebook Spanish Dictionary:
Random House Webster's Student Notebook Thesaurusby Random HouseISBN 0375721916 (0-375-72191-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Red: Passion and Patience in the Desertby Terry Tempest WilliamsISBN 0375725180 (0-375-72518-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Remember Me to Harlem: The Letters of Langston Hughes and Carl Van Vechtenby Langston Hughes, Carl Van Vechten, Emily BernardISBN 0375727078 (0-375-72707-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails With America's Hoboesby Ted ConoverISBN 0375727868 (0-375-72786-8)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails With America's Hoboes'Book summary:In Ted Conover's first book, now back in print, he enters a segment of humanity outside society and reports back on a world few of us would chose to enter but about which we are all curious.
Hoboes fascinated Conover, but he had only encountered them in literature and folksongs. So, he decided to take a year off and ride the rails. Equipped with rummage-store clothing, a bedroll, and a few other belongings, he hops a freight train in St. Louis, becoming a tramp in order to discover their peculiar culture. The men and women he meets along the way are by turns generous and mistrusting, resourceful and desperate, philosophical and profoundly cynical. And the narrative he creates of his travels with them is unforgettable and moving. [via]More editions of Rolling Nowhere: Riding the Rails With America's Hoboes:
Salonica, City Of Ghosts: Christians, Muslims And Jews, 1430-1950by Mark MazowerISBN 0375727388 (0-375-72738-8)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Secret Language of Eating Disordersby Peggy Claude-PierreISBN 0375750185 (0-375-75018-5)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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A Shortcut Through Time: The Path to a Quantum Computerby George JohnsonISBN 0375726187 (0-375-72618-7)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Soldier's Storyby Omar Nelson Bradley, A. J. LieblingISBN 0375754210 (0-375-75421-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Status Anxiety: Library Editionby Alain De BottonISBN 0375725350 (0-375-72535-0)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Status Anxiety: Library Edition'Book summary:Anyone whos ever lost sleep over an unreturned phone call or the neighbors Lexus had better read Alain de Bottons irresistibly clear-headed new book, immediately. For in its pages, a master explicator of our civilization and its discontents turns his attention to the insatiable quest for status, a quest that has less to do with material comfort than with love. To demonstrate his thesis, de Botton ranges through Western history and thought from St. Augustine to Andrew Carnegie and Machiavelli to Anthony Robbins.
Whether its assessing the class-consciousness of Christianity or the convulsions of consumer capitalism, dueling or home-furnishing, Status Anxiety is infallibly entertaining. And when it examines the virtues of informed misanthropy, art appreciation, or walking a lobster on a leash, it is not only wise but helpful. [via]More editions of Status Anxiety: Library Edition:
Stupid Movie Lines: The 776 Dumbest Things Ever Uttered on the Silver Screenby Kathryn PetrasISBN 0375753303 (0-375-75330-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Taste : One Palate's Journey Through the World's Greatest Dishesby David Rosengarten, Television Food Network StaffISBN 037575265X (0-375-75265-X)
Softcover, Random House Publishing Group
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Tim McCarver's Baseball for Brain Surgeons and Other Fans: Understanding and Interpreting the Game So You Can Watch It Like a Proby Danny Peary, Tim McCarverISBN 0375753400 (0-375-75340-0)
Softcover, Villard Books
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To End a Warby Richard HolbrookeISBN 0375753605 (0-375-75360-5)
Softcover, Modern Library
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› Find signed collectible books: 'To End a War'Book summary:Between 1991 and 1995 over a quarter million people died during the conflict in the Balkan states. Meanwhile, the rest of Europe did not understand--or chose not to understand--what this war was about. The U.N. sent peacekeeping forces to aid the helpless, but would not assert its will to bring a peaceful end to the atrocities.
In a bold, contentious move by Clinton's first administration, a peace delegation was sent to Bosnia to secure an accord at any cost. A vocal proponent of this was Richard Holbrooke, then assistant secretary of state, who believed in hawkish diplomacy and a willingness to impose the moral will of America, if necessary. Holbrooke's belligerent pursuit of peace can be attributed in part to the tragedy of losing three of his team on the way through Sarajevo, making his quest for peace purposeful and passionate. In To End a War, an honest assessment and account of the events that followed, Holbrooke walks us through the complexities of the Dayton Accord from the perspective of the politicians and military men involved. It provides a fascinating insight into modern political diplomacy and the role of America in the international arena.
Without being a crusader, Holbrooke stresses throughout the need for responsible public service, subtly attacking some modern-day diplomats who use their positions irresponsibly. Ultimately he concludes that this peace process demonstrates the need for countries of power, such as the U.S., to take their of leadership roles seriously. To End a War is the definitive account of the peace process in the former Yugoslavia, important to anyone who wishes to understand the conflict in its entirety. --Jeremy Storey [via]
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Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japanby Robert WhitingISBN 0375724893 (0-375-72489-3)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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Trial by Juryby D. Graham BurnettISBN 0375727515 (0-375-72751-5)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Undergroundby Alfred Birnbaum, Haruki Murakami, J. Philip Gabriel, Philip GabrielISBN 0375725806 (0-375-72580-6)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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› Find signed collectible books: 'Underground'Book summary:From Haruki Murakami, internationally acclaimed author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Norwegian Wood, a work of literary journalism that is as fascinating as it is necessary, as provocative as it is profound.
In March of 1995, agents of a Japanese religious cult attacked the Tokyo subway system with sarin, a gas twenty-six times as deadly as cyanide. Attempting to discover why, Murakami conducted hundreds of interviews with the people involved, from the survivors to the perpetrators to the relatives of those who died, and Underground is their story in their own voices. Concerned with the fundamental issues that led to the attack as well as these personal accounts, Underground is a document of what happened in Tokyo as well as a warning of what could happen anywhere. This is an enthralling and unique work of nonfiction that is timely and vital and as wonderfully executed as Murakamis brilliant novels. [via]More editions of Underground:
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The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000by Martin AmisISBN 0375727167 (0-375-72716-7)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The War Against Cliche: Essays and Reviews 1971-2000'Book summary:In Martin Amis's War Against Cliché, a selection of critical essays and reviews published between 1971 and 2000, he establishes himself as one of the fiercest critics and commentators on the literature and culture of the late 20th century. (He has already established himself as one of the most controversial and original novelists writing in English with novels such as Money and Time's Arrow.) In his foreword to the book Amis ruefully admits that his earlier reviews reveal a rather humorless attitude towards the "Literature and Society" debate of the time. Yet this only adds to the fascination of the collection, as Amis gradually finds his critical voice in the 1980s, confirming his passionate belief that "all writing is a campaign against cliché."
In the subsequent sections of the book, this war leads to some wonderfully cutting and amusing responses to whatever crosses his path, from books on chess and nuclear proliferation to Cervantes' Don Quixote and the novels of his hero Vladimir Nabokov. Praise for his literary heroes is often fulsome: J.G. Ballard's High-Rise "is an intense and vivid bestiary, which lingers in the mind and chronically disquiets it." But his literary wrath is also devastating in its incisiveness: Thomas Harris's Hannibal is dismissed as "a novel of such profound and virtuoso vulgarity," while John Fowles is attacked because "he sweetens the pill: but the pill was saccharine all along." Often frank in its reappraisals (Amis concedes to being too hard on Ballard's Crash when reviewing the film many years later), some of the best writing is reserved for his journalism on sex manuals, chess, and his beloved football. The War Against Cliché will provoke strong reactions, but that only seems to confirm, rather than deny, the value of Amis's writing. --Jerry Brotton, Amazon.co.uk [via]
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Warmth Disperses and Time Passesby Hans Christian Von BaeyerISBN 0375753729 (0-375-75372-9)
Softcover, Modern Library
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Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Requires a Pagan Ethosby Robert D. KaplanISBN 0375726276 (0-375-72627-6)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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Whittaker Chambers: A Biographyby Sam TanenhausISBN 0375751459 (0-375-75145-9)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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The Wisdom of John Paul II: The Pope on Life's Most Vital Questionsby Nick Bakalar, Richard Balkin, John Paul, John WhiteISBN 0375727329 (0-375-72732-9)
Softcover, Vintage Books
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› Find signed collectible books: 'The Wisdom of John Paul II: The Pope on Life's Most Vital Questions'Book summary:The essential thoughts of Pope John Paul II on matters of belief and conscience have been culled from his encyclicals, speeches, homilies, and statements to fellow bishops and collected in one volume.
Throughout his more than two decades as the leader of the worlds Catholics, John Paul II has spoken both officially and informally on all aspects of life in the modern world.
Whether defining the Church's teachings or passionately espousing the basic human rights of all people, whether speaking from his throne in the Vatican or from a platform set up on a soccer field, the Pope has always eloquently and clearly stated his thinking, vision, and hopes for the Church and the world.
For this new edition, the compilers have added significant new material, including the pontiff's thoughts as we enter the third millennium of Christianity. [via]More editions of The Wisdom of John Paul II: The Pope on Life's Most Vital Questions:
WIT : The Greatest Things Ever Saidby Leonard Roy FrankISBN 0375720316 (0-375-72031-6)
Softcover, Random House Information Group
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The Writer's Mentor : Secrets of Success from the World's Great Writersby Ian JackmanISBN 0375720618 (0-375-72061-8)
Softcover, Random House Information Group
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Random House Webster's Student Notebook Spanish Dictionaryby Random HouseISBN 0375720294 (0-375-72029-4)
Softcover, Random House Inc
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