New Book List

February 27, 2004

NONFICTION

The Prism and the Pendulum: The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in Science - Crease, Robert

Can science be beautiful? The answer is a resounding yes, as acclaimed philosopher and historian Robert Crease shows in this engaging exploration, based on a wide-ranging survey of the world's most beautiful experiments. The result is an engrossing journey through two thousand years of scientific progress, from the point of view of its most exhilarating moments. We see the first measurement of the Earth's circumference, accomplished in the third century B.C. by Eratosthenes, using sucks, shallows, and geometry. We visit Foucault's pendulum, a gigantic iron ball suspended from the dome of the Pantheon, revealing the revolution of the Earth on its axis. We meet Galileo (the only scientist with two experiments in the top ten), drawing on his musical training to measure the speed of falling bodies. And, in the most. beautiful experiment. of all, we travel to the quantum world. From the ancient world to quantum physics, the most beautiful experiments reveal something fundamental about the world, pulling its out of our confusion, and bringing us face-to-face with the wonder of science. - from the publisher

Behind Enemy Lines : The True Story of a French Jewish Spy in Nazi Germany - Marthe Cohn

This compelling memoir is testament to how extraordinary circumstances can transform a life-and how an extraordinary person reacts to difficult circumstances. Cohn was a typical French-Jewish teenager when WWII broke out, but as it did for millions of others, the war transformed her life in unimaginable ways. "There was no time to be frightened," she and Holden, a veteran journalist, write. The first part of the book chronicles her family and friends' response to the war. That countless other books have described the effects of the Nazi onslaught-the life-and-death consequences of the unthinkable decisions many were forced to make-makes her descriptions no less powerful and tragic. The narrative turns into a quasi thriller in its second half, depicting how the death of Cohn's fiancé led her, now a nurse, to join the Free French forces in the fight to defeat the Nazis. A blonde, fluent German speaker who never mentioned to her superiors that she was a Jew, she went on several life-threatening missions into German territory, earning France's highest military honors. But she describes her actions without self-aggrandizement. What comes through is the importance of courageous individual action in the most dire situations. - Publisher's Weekly

Sweets : A History of Candy - Tim Richardson

Richardson, a British editor and journalist, chronicles the history of candy and confectionery in this delightfully passionate and wonderfully witty survey. From the scientific explanation for a sweet tooth to the business side of the candy trade, Richardson leaves no detail unexplored. Drawing from science, geography, history, and literature, he looks at confectionery commodities, such as sugar and chocolate, and the origins of individual sweets, including chewing gum and marzipan. He also covers the colorful individuals of the sweets trade and companies like Hershey and Lindt. - Library Journal

Girls Will Be Girls: Raising Confident and Courageous Daughters - Deak, Joann

JoAnn Deak offers a comprehensive road map to the many emotional and physical challenges girls ages six to sixteen face in today's changing world. Renowned for her knowledge of what makes girls tick, Dr. Deak brings together stories and lessons from more than 20 years as a school psychologist and principal. She draws from the latest brain research on girls to illustrate the exciting new ways in which we can help our daughters learn and thrive. Most telling of all, she gives us the voices of girls themselves as they struggle with body image, self esteem, intellectual growth, peer pressure, and media messages. The result is a masterly book that addresses the key issues for girls growing up in this chaotic contemporary culture. - from the publisher

Glass: A World History - University of Chicago Press

MacFarlane (anthropological science, Univ. of Cambridge) and Martin, a historian of glass instruments, make the case for the centrality of glass in the artistic renaissance and scientific revolution that took place in Western Europe from the 14th to 17th centuries. They discuss the origins of glass making and trace its development and usage across centuries and multiple cultures (Europe, the Middle East, China, India, and Japan). Their discussion combines cultural, artistic, and aesthetic viewpoints of glass within these cultures with history and developments in science. The result is a thoroughly readable, carefully argued work, filled with delightful surprises (such as the discussion on eyeglasses, vision, and art). - Library Journal

My Fellow Americans: The Most Important Speeches of America's Presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush - Waldman, Michael

Presents in text and on two audio CDs more than 40 speeches from America’s presidents. The lavishly illustrated book includes:

- the texts of the speeches themselves;

- dozens of rare photographs, handwritten manuscripts and illustrations

- introductory essays explaining the drama, context and importance of each speech.

The CDs include the voices of every president since Benjamin Harrison in 1889 and extensive excerpts from the greatest speeches in the volume. David Gergen – advisor to four presidents, Harvard professor and author of Eyewitness to Power – contributed an insightful foreword. And former chief executives themselves contributed original essays about the speeches that influenced them the most.

The audio CDs add another dimension. Highlights include:

- The Gettysburg Address, recounted by a man who saw it as a young boy.

- Campaign recordings by Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson.

- A whistle-stop speech by Harry Truman.

Outside 25: Classic Tales and New Voices from the Frontiers of Adventure - Espen, Hal

True stories of wild places and extreme endeavors from the magazine that invented adventure writing as we know it.Sebastian Junger goes whaling; Jon Krakauer solves the fatal mystery of a lost hiker; David Quammen tracks big, bad wolves in Romania; Ian Frazier profiles the world's wiliest mushroom hunter; Susan Orlean goes native with Maui's surfer girls; Bill McKibben crosses the disappearing finish line; Peter Maass endures free-fire zones in Sudan and Somalia; Mark Jenkins explores the soul of mountaineering; Hampton Sides runs wild with skiing's fastest man; Bill Vaughn skates home backwards; Hodding Carter Jr. adopts a wild manatee; David Rakoff survives survival school; and more. The editors of Outside bring together 36 stories that comprise some of the finest nonfiction gathered anywhere, works that take us to remote corners of the world and into distant realms of the imagination. By turns comical and sobering, whimsical and nerve-racking, the stories in this collection embody Outside's ability to hone the cutting edge, publishing the innovative, exhilarating, zany, wise voices of sport, travel, and adventure. - from the publisher

Red Sky in Mourning: The True Story of Love, Loss, and Survival at Sea - Ashcraft, Tami Oldham

Ashcraft awoke below decks in the boat she and her fiancé, Richard, had been sailing to find herself knee-deep in water and covered with blood. Remembering that they had been trying to outrun a hurricane, she emerged to discover calmer seas and the unmistakable absence of her sweetheart, leaving no explanation but the unavoidable and heartbreaking conclusion that he was washed overboard. With much of the food ruined by salt water, the mast destroyed, the engine inoperable, the radio dead, and the help beacon unhelpfully silent, Ashcraft nevertheless made it back to land on her own after more than a month stranded at sea. Her account is peppered with memories of adventures with her fiance--of voyages made and places visited--and conversations with the voice of reason (or her conscience, or a guardian angel, or her fiance). Tragic, depressing, and yet inspiring, the contrast between the idealized past and the horrific present is stark, making Ashcraft's story of survival and perseverance all the more memorable and profound. - Booklist

Spy Dust: Two Masters of Disguise Reveal the Tools and Operations that Helped Win the Cold War - Mendez, Jonna

Readers interested in the spy game will salivate at the prospects of reading this insider account of final five years of the cold war. The authors, former CIA agents charged with developing new techniques for keeping the KGB from spying on and recruiting American intelligence personnel, fell in love as they worked to change the rules of espionage; their story is a rare combination of nuts-and-bolts tradecraft and gentle romance. But don't be misled by the love angle; the developing relationship between the spies adds a human dimension to the story, but it never gets in the way of the insider stuff: descriptions of the technology of spying; play-by-play accounts of some major operations; and a wealth of information about Soviet espionage techniques (the book gets its title from a powder used by Russian spies to track American agents without having to maintain visual contact). This is an endlessly fascinating book, one that spy buffs will return to again and again. - Booklist

Twin Tracks: The Unexpected Origins of the Modern World - Burke, James

Burke is back with another volume of the surprising and frequently serendipitous connections among the seemingly unconnected people, events and discoveries that have shaped our modern world. His work meanders through the history of science, medicine and technology, playing an intellectual history version of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. His motto: "Everything is connected." As in earlier books, Burke tweaks the form a bit, this time offering 25 pairs of parallel narratives; each pair starts with one "trigger event," then they diverge and reconverge at the end (hence the book's title). Want to know how the Boston Tea Party led to the development of contact lenses, or The Marriage of Figaro to the F-117A stealth fighter? Burke can tell you, following two simultaneous threads that careen off in wildly different directions from the "trigger event," then create the conditions for the end result. The real fun is in Burke's dry wit and his sheer exuberance as he takes us through centuries of history in mere pages, only to pick a new starting point and do it all over again. - Publisher's Weekly

Who Cooked the Last Supper?: The Women's History of the World - Miles, Rosalind

For every woman who has ever wondered what the women were doing while generals fought battles and kings beheaded their enemies (and for every man who hasn't), this book is for you. [It comes] complete with Rosalind Miles's wry wit and disarming puns, a very necessary comic relief to the recounting of centuries of abuse and oppression. From the very beginning, women played a central role in human evolvement, from their critical part in sustaining early tribes with their food gathering (hunting brought marginal food contributions) to the impetus for developing the first technologies--sticks for digging and slings for carrying babies. Examples of active, courageous, and inspiring women abound, from women warriors in Islam to the woman doctor who opened the first birth control clinic. Miles also reveals the barbaric truths behind euphemisms like chastity belt and child bride, and the truly impressive strength of such heroines as Florence Nightingale, who was nicknamed "the lady with the hammer" for attacking a locked storeroom when she needed nursing supplies, and Harriet "General" Tubman, who not only smuggled black slaves to freedom but commanded an action during the Civil War that liberated more than 750 blacks. This is a bracing, disturbing, and always lively read and proves definitively that in history there were always women, too. -- Amazon.com

A Conspiracy of Decency: The Rescue of the Danish Jews during World War II - Werner, Emmy E.

"The people of Denmark managed to save almost their country's entire Jewish population from extermination in a spontaneous act of humanity - one of the most compelling stories of moral courage in the history of World War II. Drawing on many personal accounts, Emmy Werner tells the story of the rescue of the Danish Jews from the vantage-point of living eyewitnesses - the last survivors of an extraordinary conspiracy of decency that triumphed in the midst of the horrors of the Holocaust." A Conspiracy of Decency chronicles the acts of people of good will from several nationalities. Among them were the German Georg F. Duckwitz, who warned the Jews of their impending deportation, the Danes who hid them and ferried them across the Oresund, and the Swedes who gave them asylum. Regardless of their social class, education, and religious and political persuasion, the rescuers all shared one important characteristic: they defined their humanity by their ability to act with great compassion. These people never considered themselves heroes - they simply felt that they were doing the right thing. - from the publisher

Albion's Seed: Four British Folkways in America - David Hackett Fischer

This cultural history explains the European settlement of the United States as voluntary migrations from four English cultural centers. Families of zealous, literate Puritan yeomen and artisans from urbanized East Anglia established a religious community in Massachusetts (1629-40); royalist cavaliers headed by Sir William Berkeley and young, male indentured servants from the south and west of England built a highly stratified agrarian way of life in Virginia (1640-70); egalitarian Quakers of modest social standing from the North Midlands resettled in the Delaware Valley and promoted a social pluralism (1675-1715); and, in by far the largest migration (1717-75), poor borderland families of English, Scots, and Irish fled a violent environment to seek a better life in a similarly uncertain American backcountry. These four cultures, reflected in regional patterns of language, architecture, literacy, dress, sport, social structure, religious beliefs, and familial ways, persisted in the American settlements. The final chapter shows the significance of these regional cultures for American history up to the present. Insightful, fresh, interesting, and well-written, this synthesis of traditional and more current historical scholarship provides a model for interpretations of the American character. Highly recommended for the general reader and the scholar. - Library Journal

25 to Life: The Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing But the Truth - Leslie Crocker/Shacht Snyder

New York Judge Snyder, known among criminal defendants in New York City as the "Ice Princess," "Princess of Darkness," and "25 to Life" for her long sentences in drug cases, has written a blunt, fascinating account of her work as a prosecutor, defense lawyer, and judge. Snyder entered Radcliffe College at 16, earned a law degree in Cleveland, and became a lawyer with a top New York firm. Bored, she quit civil practice and became a Manhattan prosecutor. Here, she recounts in detail her cases and achievements as the first female homicide prosecutor and the originator of the Manhattan District Attorney's Sex Crimes Division. Judge Snyder does an excellent job of describing the work of prosecutors and gives her unvarnished opinions of weak judges, shifty defense lawyers, and evil criminals. In her concluding chapter, she opposes the legalization of drugs, promotes more drug education for children, and advises readers to commit time to public service. A forthright and provocative book. - Library Journal

Intelligence in War: Knowledge of the Enemy from Napoleon to Al-Qaeda - Keegan, John

Noted military historian Keegan examines several military campaigns to show how intelligence affected the outcome. Admiral Nelson had to chase Napoleon to Egypt with few intelligence resources yet achieved a great naval victory. Gen. Stonewall Jackson's local knowledge enabled him to beat superior Union forces consistently in the Shenandoah valley. At Midway the U.S. Navy had the intelligence advantage, but the outcome still depended on chance. Use of human resources proved most important in the Allied campaign against Hitler's vengeance weapons. The British defeat at Crete and the Falklands War are also analyzed. As Keegan persuasively shows, the keystone to victory was not formal military intelligence but the human factor. Intelligence organizations are now dominated by huge technical systems with lots of expensive equipment, but timeliness, completeness, effective evaluation of the material, and proper use of the knowledge gained are always vital. Only the application of sufficient force, not the quantity of intelligence data, can lead to success. - Library Journal A History of Britain: The Fate of Empire 1776-2000 - Schama, Simon

Renowned historian Schama has done it again with the third and final volume of this magnificent work, displaying his gift for combining scholarship and grace in a highly accessible narrative. Schama begins with the French Revolution and the "back to nature" philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau that made such an indelible impression on Britain. Radicals such as Tom Paine and Mary Wollstonecraft demanded revolutionary changes to Britain's oligarchic government. The big question on everyone's lips was: Would Britain experience European-style, violent revolution? As Schama makes clear, Britain settled for incrementalism instead. Schama examines the omnipresent urge for political and social reform by devoting much of the middle part of the book to the evolving role of women. He gives us an array of Victorian female pioneers, from photographer Julia Margaret Cameron to Dr. Elizabeth Garrett, who were part of a network of social reformers seeking to ameliorate the lives of the poor. This reformist, "civilizing mission" also spread to the empire, as exemplified here by Thomas Babington Macaulay, who believed the British would eradicate poverty and ignorance in India. The natives, however, often held a differing view of British "civilization." Schama skillfully describes the 1857 Sepoy Revolt in India, and also depicts the horrors of massive famines there and in Ireland. Looking at the last century's gradual decolonization and imperial decline, Schama masterfully recounts the lives of Winston Churchill and George Orwell, who he says personify Britain's "difficult" 20th century. Schama has written a delightfully readable book that should be mandatory for anyone interested in British history. - Publishers Weekly

Empire: How Spain Became a World Power, 1492 - 1763 - Kamen, Henry

How did a barren, thinly populated country, somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe, establish itself as the world's first superpower? Henry Kamen's impressive new book offers a fresh and highly original answer. Empire is a global survey of the two and a halt centuries (from the late fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth) in which the Spaniards established the most extensive empire the world had ever known, ranging from Naples and the Netherlands to the Philippines. Unlike previous accounts, which have presented the Empire as a direct consequence of Spanish power, this provocative work of history emphasizes the inability of Spain to run an imperial enterprise by itself. The role of conquest was deceptive. Spain's rise to power was actually made possible by the collaboration of international business interests, including Italian financiers, German technicians and Dutch traders, in the task of setting up networks of contact ranging across the oceans. At the height of its apparent power, the Spanish Empire was in reality a global enterprise in which non-Spaniards -- Portuguese, Basque, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese, Flemish, West African, Incan and Neapolitan -- played an essential role. It is this vast diversity of resources and people (which included many of its greatest adventurers and soldiers) that made Spain's power so overwhelming. - from the publisher

Several behind-the-scenes books on the creation of The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy:

The Lord of the Rings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy - Sibley, Brian

Including more than 300 photographs from all three films, most unique to this book, and exclusive interviews with all the cast and crew, Brian Sibley's fascinating book takes every fan inside the process of adapting J.R.R. Tolkien's masterwork for the screen. For the first time in history, three major movies were made at the same time, a triumphant and monumental undertaking that took the world by storm. Here can be found details about the hundreds of dedicated artists, craftspeople and cast and crew members who labored for years -- adding authenticity at every stage -- to bring one of the greatest stories ever told to an eager film audience. Sibley takes us inside the process of filmmaking to show us how the magic is made -- from the director, writers and actors to wardrobe, makeup, miniatures, music and digital special effects, it's all here. - from the publisher

The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Two Towers - Russell, Gary

This authoritative book is packed with more than five hundred full-color images -- many exclusive to this volume -- and shows the development of the imagery in The Two Towers from concept drawings to wide-screen glory. With illuminating captions telling the story of the images in the words of the artists and designers responsible for the look of the film, including the renowned artists Alan Lee and John Howe, and contributions from Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor, Grant Major, Ngila Dickson, Paul Lasaine, and others. - from the publisher

The Lord of the Rings: The Art of the Fellowship of the Ring

Full-color, large-format guides to the characters, cultures, and locations of J.R.R. Tolkien's extraordinary creation Middle-earth, as depicted in The Lord of the Rings' movie trilogy. - from the publisher

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Visual Companion, The Two Towers Visual Companion and The Return of the King Visual Companion - Fisher, Jude

These official, authorized companions to the movie trilogy will be helpful to anyone wanting background about Middle-earth, the ancient history of the rings of power, and the main characters and creatures in J. R. R. Tolkien's work. Readers will learn the history of the free peoples of Middle-earth, hobbits, elves, dwarves, and men. The first book ends with the Istari, an Elvish term meaning an order or brotherhood of wizards; Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White are highlighted in this section. Finally, the Dark Powers are featured, including the Orcs, Uruk-Hai, and the Nazgul. The photos are excellent and give readers a good idea of what the characters are all about and their roles in the movies. Anyone interested in a brief history of Tolkien's novels, filmmaking, and cinematography will find this series an entertaining read.- School Library Journal

A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America - Kukla, Jon

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the U.S and set in motion visions of Manifest Destiny; it dramatically reshaped European influence in North America and helped preserve a tentative Union while establishing it as a territorially rich land. It was also brought about by men who had never seen the Mississippi Valley, in response to political rumblings thousands of miles away. Always controversial, its introduction would eventually force the issue of slavery in the territories. Kukla tells the stories of characters famous and obscure, European and American, before arriving at the story's climax, Jefferson's deal to purchase the "immense wilderness." History buffs will enjoy the level of detail, and the uninitiated will enjoy the thorough explanations of background events like the French Revolution. Overall, this selection is an engaging look at a key historical event. - Booklist

Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause: Land Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana Purchase - Kennedy, Roger

A sweeping, continent-wide reinterpretation of early US history from Kennedy (Burr, Hamilton, and Jefferson, 1999, etc.), who replaces individualist heroes such as Daniel Boone with economic movements, transcontinental forces, and unintended consequences. For example, writes the former director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a nation of yeomen, landholding farmers. What he got-what he allowed, in fact-was a corporatist country of plantation owners beholden to the hated England. When Napoleon arranged for Jefferson's purchase of the vast Louisiana territory in 1803-a sale he was not legally authorized to make, nor Jefferson to accept-his aim was to assure American dominion over the interior of North America, thus thwarting English efforts to keep a flanking presence on the Mississippi River. What happened, though, was that Jefferson, for puzzling reasons that do not reflect well on him, allowed fellow members of the slaveholding planter class that dominated early American politics to dictate the terms of settlement in the new lands of the Louisiana Purchase, thereby rendering his vision of a land settled by smallholders and eventually absent of slavery all but impossible-and, in the bargain, sowing the seeds of civil war. Kennedy offers a portrait that replaces nation-states with contending corporate forces: "There were more non-Americans fighting for American independence at Yorktown," he writes, "than native-born, and only a minority of the opposing troops under the command of Cornwallis were born in England," while the Spanish and even Indian nations were congeries of many ethnicities bonded by ever shifting alliances. Thematically rich and full of subtle arguments, Kennedy's study forces a reconsideration of accepted views. Fresh, endlessly fascinating, and altogether extraordinary. - Kirkus

Every Second Counts - Armstrong, Lance

In It's Not about the Bike, Armstrong related his battle with cancer and his incredible Tour de France victory. In this book, he gives a gripping account of his second through (record-tying) fifth victories at the Tour. (His latest triumph might be missed by less-than-thorough readers-it's at the very end, following the afterword.) One sees that Armstrong has grown up quite a bit since his first book. However, he still has a reckless streak, as witnessed by his fondness for diving into a place called Dead Man's Hole. There are glimpses into his personal life and reflections on his illness, but this memoir is unabashedly about the thrill of racing and winning with the U.S. Postal Team. Armstrong talks about his teammates with humility and admiration. He also deals frankly, yet with remarkable restraint, with the accusations of doping by the French. The cyclist still works with his Lance Armstrong Foundation against cancer, but readers get the sense that he is definitely looking forward. Warm and informal in tone, Every Second Counts is a must-read for cycling fans. - School Library Journal

In the Beginning Was the Ghetto: Notebooks from Lodz - Rosenfeld, Oskar

From February 1942 to July 1944, Oskar Rosenfeld served in the statistics department of the Lodz ghetto. A Jewish playwright and journalist, he kept his own records - meticulous and harrowing notes on life and conditions in the ghetto - for the fictionalized account he hoped to someday write. Upon the liquidation of the ghetto, he and the nearly eighty thousand remaining inhabitants were deported to Auschwitz, where he perished. Rosenfeld's notebooks offer a wrenching view of life in the ghetto and the day-to-day struggle for survival of what was, initially, a population of more than one hundred thousand. Rosenfeld's keen observations and vivid narration of the stories of his fellow sufferers have the haunting immediacy of eyewitness testimony. Descriptions of ever-present hunger, forced labor, disease, degradation, and deportation are juxtaposed with those of the attempts of the imprisoned to maintain a cultural, social, and religious life and to preserve their dignity. - from the publisher

Splendid Legacy: The Havermeyer Collection

The fabulous Havemeyer Collection of Manhattan's Metropolitan Museum of Art is sampled in this exhibition catalog. Coupling 800 plates (176 in color) with informative essays by a team of 27 scholars led by exhibition co-curators Frelinghuysen and Tinterow, the album includes works by Rembrandt, El Greco, Veronese, Cranach, Bronzino, Daumier and Courbet, plus impressionist masterpieces by Corot, Manet, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Degas and Mary Cassatt. That Louisine Havemeyer (1855-1929), husband Henry (1847-1907) and their family possessed broad taste in Asian arts is evident in objects ranging from Japanese woodblock prints to a Korean hanging scroll. Their eclectic passion for the decorative arts is also on display in Egyptian sculpture, Islamic painting and pottery, Venetian glass, Italian majolica and Tiffany glass and flatware. - Publisher's Weekly

Jacopo della Quercia, Sculptor - Seymour, Charles

The first book in English about this major artist who ranks with Ghiberti and Donatello as a leading sculpture of the early Italian Renaissance. - Roy Young Booksellers

The Book on the Bookshelf - Petroski, Henry

In all of his books, Petroski reveals the technological issues and surprising histories of everyday things. Here he details the evolution of the bookshelf. Most people, librarians included, think of bookshelves, if they think of them at all, as an inevitable response to the development of books. Petroski starts by questioning why books are shelved vertically on horizontal shelves with their spines out and follows with the story of how the storage and shelving of books as well as the design and construction of libraries has developed: from the scrolls and codexes of ancient times to medieval monastic libraries (where books were chained to desks) to the development of modern bookstacks, the evolution of compact shelves, and a consideration of the future of the book. Petroski includes delightful glimpses of noteworthy book collectors of the past and how they organized their books. Well written and richly illustrated, this book is not just for bibliophiles. - Library Journal

The Secular Spirit: Life and Art at the End of the Middle Ages - Metropolitan Museum of Art

Catalog of an exhibition held at the Cloisters, Mar. 25-June 3, 1975. Essays on aspects of life in the Middle Ages followed by photographs of items such as clothing, tools, household objects, etc.: "...a great variety of things made for use during the course of daily life...between 1300 and 1550...drawn entirely from collections in North America...many are almost unknown - some have never been exhibited or even published before..." - from the book's forward

Tristan and Isolde, An Illuminated Manuscript

A manuscript of the prose version of "Tristan" sumptuously illustrated by the Master of Bedford, from the library of the Duc de Berry--a French manuscript of the early 15th century and one of the treasures of the National Library of Austria. - from the text

100 Simple Secrets of Happy People: What Scientists Have Learned and How You Can Use It - Niven, David

Based on scientific research and psychological studies of real people, these 100 practices, attitudes, and habits have been proven to transform a unhappy existence into a full and happy life. Experts have spent their careers investigating what makes people happy. While their methods are sound and their conclusions valuable, the results often remain hidden in obscure scholarly journals. At last, social scientist and psychologist David Niven, Ph. D., has cut through the scientific gobbledygook. After examining over a thousand of the most recent and important scholarly studies into the psychological traits of happy people and uncovering their most promising discoveries into the causes of happiness. Dr. Niven presents 100 easy-to-digest nuggets of advice: 'Enjoy what you have.' 'Believe in Yourself.' Grounded in science, his approach is fresh, useful, and inspiring. - from the publisher

FICTION

The Lady and the Unicorn - Chavalier, Tracy

     Chevalier (Girl with a Pearl Earring) has written another novel featuring a world-famous masterpiece. In this case, it's a series of woven panels called the Unicorn Tapestries, made in the late 15th century. Because nothing is known about the real artist, Chevalier creates one: Nicolas des Innocents, a coarse opportunist who is commissioned to do the artwork even though his specialty is painting miniatures of court ladies. Unfortunately for him, he becomes enamored of his patron's young daughter, Claude le Vista, who is determined to lose her virginity to him. A chorus of alternating characters each relate their part in the tapestry's creation and how it changed their life-for better or worse. Historical details, an intriguing plot, and captivating characters make this an enjoyable and rewarding experience. While some may wish the story had more meat, others will be more than satisfied with this literary delight. - Library Journal

Angels & Demons - Dan Brown

If you liked The Da Vinci code, you might want to try Brown's first novel with its hero. " Robert Langdon, a Harvard specialist on religious symbolism, is called in by a Swiss research lab when Dr. Vetra, the scientist who discovered antimatter, is found murdered with the cryptic word "Illuminati" branded on his chest. These Iluminati were a group of Renaissance scientists, including Galileo, who met secretly in Rome to discuss new ideas in safety from papal threat; what the long-defunct association has to do with Dr. Vetra's death is far from clear. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, makes a frightening discovery: a lethal amount of antimatter, sealed in a vacuum flask that will explode in six hours unless its batteries are recharged, is missing. Almost immediately, the Swiss Guard discover that the flask is hidden beneath Vatican City, where the conclave to elect a new pope has just begun." - Publisher's Weekly

Jennifer Government - Barry, Max

In Max Barry's twisted, hilarious vision of the near future, the world is run by giant American corporations (except for a few holdouts like the French); taxes are illegal; employees take the last names of the companies they work for; The Police and The NRA are publicly-traded security firms; the U.S. government may only investigate crimes if they can bill a citizen directly. It's a free market paradise! Hack Nike is a lowly Merchandising Officer who's not very good at negotiating his salary. So when John Nike and John Nike, executives from the promised land of Marketing, offer him a contract, he signs without reading it. Unfortunately, Hack's new contract involves shooting teenagers to build up street cred for Nike's new line of $2,500 sneakers. Scared, Hack goes to The Police, who assume he's asking for a subcontracting deal and lease the assassinations to the NRA. Soon Hack finds himself pursued by Jennifer Government, a tough-talking agent with a barcode tattoo under her eye and a rabid determination to nail John Nike (the boss of the other John Nike). In a world where your job title means everything, the most cherished possession is a platinum credit card, and advertising jingles give way to automatic weapons in the fight for market share, Jennifer Government is the consumer watchdog from hell. - from the publisher

Ruled Britannia - Harry Turtledove

Bestseller Turtledove buckles a handsome Elizabethan swash with his latest fascinating what if: suppose the Spanish Armada had beaten the Virgin Queen's little navy and reimposed on England the fanatic Roman Catholicism of Bloody Mary Tudor and her ruthless husband, Philip II of Spain. For almost a decade, the English have chafed under Philip's daughter Isabella and her Austrian consort, as well as the Inquisition, enforced by arrogant dons, their hired-gun Irish gallowglasses (rumored to be cannibals) and English Catholic sympathizers. Good Queen Bess languishes in the Tower of London while her supporters plot rebellion-to be sparked by no less than a patriotic new play by Will Shakespeare, Turtledove's lovingly drawn hero, who's drawn willy-nilly into the conspiracy by Elizabeth's former minister, Lord Burghley. The author revels in complex turns of language and spouts brilliant adaptations of the real Shakespeare's immortal lines. Superbly realized historical figures include Robert Cecil and the "darkly handsome," doomed Kit Marlowe. Equally engaging are such lesser characters as the "cunning woman" Cicely Sellis, who "thinks of England." Turtledove has woven an intricate and thoroughly engrossing portrait of an era, a theatrical tradition, a heroic band of English brothers and their sneering overlords. O, brave alternative world that has such people in't! - Publisher's Weekly

The Philip K. Dick Reader - Dick, Philip K.

Many thousands of readers consider Philip K. Dick the greatest science fiction mind on any planet. Since his untimely death in 1982, interest in Dick's works has continued to mount, and his reputation has been further enhanced by a growing body of critical attention. The Philip K. Dick Award is now given annually to a distinguished work of science fiction, and the Philip K. Dick Society is devoted to the study and promulgation of his works. Dick won the prestigious Hugo Award for the best novel of 1963 for The Man in the High Castle. In the last year of his life, the film Blade Runner was made from his novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? This collection includes some of Dick's earliest short and medium-length fiction, including "We Can Remember it for You Wholesale" (the story that inspired the motion picture Total Recall), "Second Variety" (which inspired the motion picture Screamers), "The Minority Report" (which inspired the Speilberg movie of the same name), "Paychecks", and 21 more. - from the publisher

The Scar - Mieville, China

Winner of the Locus s/f award, nominee for Hugo Award. "The Scar is also set in the alternate world of Bas-Lag, where linguist Bellis Coldwine is fleeing the city of New Crobuzon. On her journey, pirates capture her ship, and she and the slaves onboard are taken to the floating city of Armada, ruled by the twisted Lovers. The Lovers have a plan that will change the lives of more than the inhabitants of Armada forever, and the quest to find the mysterious reality-shifting place called the Scar begins. The world of Bas-Lag is dark and dangerous and its odd and macabre inhabitants are fully formed, however alien they seem. But even if the noir story and characters were merely ordinary, Mieville's writing would set this book apart. If poetry can have internal rhymes, the prose has an internal structure that uses sound and syllable repetitions, resulting in brilliant and biting word combinations that produce a style more analogous to music than to writing. The author's technique is something akin to Lewis Carroll's use of portmanteau. Sophisticated readers will be engrossed not only by the story but also by the very words used to detail the plot, and they will never think of the fantasy genre, or fantasy authors, in quite the same way again."- School Library Journal

Perdido Street Station - Mieville, China

Golly, I think Amazon liked this one: "This novel's publication met with a burst of extravagant praise from Big Name Authors and was almost instantly a multiaward finalist. You expect hyperbole in blurbs; and sometimes unworthy books win awards, so nominations don't necessarily mean much. But Perdido Street Station deserves the acclaim. It's ambitious and brilliant. It's Dickensian in scope, but fast-paced and modern. It's a love song for cities, and it packs a world into its strange, sprawling, steam-punky city of New Crobuzon. It can be read with equal validity as fantasy, science fiction, horror, or slipstream. It's got love, loss, crime, sex, riots, mad scientists, drugs, art, corruption, demons, dreams, obsession, magic, aliens, subversion, torture, dirigibles, romantic outlaws, artificial intelligence, and dangerous cults. Generous, gaudy, grand, grotesque, gigantic, grim, grimy, and glorious, Perdito Street Station is a bloody fascinating book. It's also so massive that you may begin to feel you're getting too much of a good thing; just slow down and enjoy." - Amazon.com

The Years of Rice and Salt - Robinson, Kim Stanley

All the reviews I saw on this science-fiction book were flat-out raves. Here's one: "In this alternative version of the history of the modern world, the bubonic plague kills almost all of the Europeans, and the West never recovers. The major world powers are Islam and China, and the major religions are Islam (in various forms) and Buddhism. Many other peoples, including Hindus, Sikhs, Japanese, and Yingzhou (from the New World) also play significant parts. Robinson's story encompasses familiar parallels: the discovery of the Americas, religious strife and cultural breakthroughs, political tyranny and devastating world war, scientific renaissance, technological wonders, and the pursuit of happiness. Though this world is vast and complex, its history is experienced by readers on a human scale, learned through the colorful and vivid tales of individual people. Through the centuries, they live and die in startlingly different ways, yet there is an underlying structure, and the characters remain familiar because they are the same group of souls, reincarnated in different places and times. After death, they meet in the Bardo, where they are judged, and then they are off on other adventures-again struggling to make progress in their "years of rice and salt" on Earth. This is an addictive, surprising, and suspenseful novel about characters and a world whose fate comes to matter considerably to readers." - School Library Journal

Black Ajax - Fraser, George MacDonald

Fraser gives us a superb novel about the real Tom Molineaux, a freed slave from Virginia who was a boxing sensation in the early days of the sport in Regency England. Fraser's encyclopedic knowledge of 19th-century British mores and slang and his splendid eye for period color have never been put to better use. He tells the story of Molineaux through a series of narrators: Molineaux's trainer and second; contemporary boxing journalists; Flashman's rakish father, who takes up Tom's cause for a time; his childhood sweetheart; a lascivious footman; and others. All of them are characterized with a perfect ear for their particular dictionand, for those taken aback by the authentic vernacular, there is a useful glossary. The portrait of Molineauxvain, strutting, childlike, at once hugely courageous and profoundly vulnerableis memorable. Has there ever been a more vivid picture of the thrills and horrors of the early bare-knuckle boxing days, when the sport was at once illegal and a national obsession? For anyone interested in the period, in the place of a black man in a highly stratified society and in a compelling story of courage and ultimate sorrow, this is the book. - Publisher's Weekly

Dead Aim - Johansen, Iris

Photographer Alex Graham has worked hand-in-hand at disaster sites with search-and-rescue teams, and the tragedy in Arapahoe Junction, Colorado, is no exception. A dam collapsed on the town, and during the rescue, Alex inadvertently finds out that the tragedy was not a natural disaster but part of an evil plot. The police and the FBI find it hard to believe an earthquake did not cause the accident but take Alex seriously enough to offer her sanctuary in a safe house, which she refuses. Soon the tables turn, and she's the chief suspect in the tragedy. Her only hope for staying alive and uncovering the truth is Judd Morgan, an ex-operative wanted by the CIA. Crisscrossing the country in an effort to prevent further tragedies, they try to stay one step ahead of the law and the assassins hunting them both. Readers will stay up all night reading this cat-and-mouse chase, a reminder that terrorists are not necessarily foreigners. - Booklist

Turtle Belly - Monture, Joel

This first novel is the powerfully moving coming-of-age story of a boy named Sam, the son of a Mohawk mother and white father, who is called Turtle Belly because of the color of his skin. We meet Sam at age six, when his mother leaves him at the Reservation with her cousin Ellie, hoping to keep him safe from his violent father. A few days later, the two appear at Ellie's house, where the father stabs the mother to death as the young boy watches. Ellie and her husband, Tom, accept Sam as their own and surround him with older relatives and neighbors still practicing the old ways. Still, Sam grows up with one foot in each culture, a stranger to both. Life on the Reservation is hardwhat work can be found is back-breaking, dogs are numbered instead of named since so many are lost to reckless driving, and boys learn that they have to fight constantly to maintain their places in the pecking order. We watch this frightened boy grow into a young man of integrity and value and see him off to Dartmouth, where his questioning of his place on Earth begins anew. A stunning debut by a Native American storyteller and noted beadwork artist. - Library Journal

Ill Wind - Barr, Nevada

Newly assigned to Colorado's Mesa Verde National Park, Ranger Anna Pigeon, struggling with personal demons, strives to find out what is making park visitors sick and why a ranger trainee, Meyer, and the husband of a park employee have died under suspicious circumstances. - Audiofile

Trojan Odyssey - Cussler, Clive

Adventure tales for boys (and girls) of all ages have no more vigorous champion today than Cussler, who has kept the spirit of Joe and Frank Hardy alive, albeit on a grander scale, in numerous bestsellers. This 17th Dirk Pitt extravaganza finds Cussler (literally, as he makes a cameo at book's end) and his entourage of paint-by-number characters in fine fettle, foiling a dastardly plot by outlandish villains to launch a new ice age, and at the same time demonstrating that the Achaeans were not Greeks but Celts, and that Troy was a town in what's now England. After a prelude set during the Trojan War, the novel proper starts with a roar, as a monstrous hurricane sweeps toward the Caribbean, endangering not only Pitt's twin son and daughter, engaged in undersea exploration, but also the Ocean Wanderer, a luxury floating hotel owned by a mysterious billionaire known as Specter. Publisher's Weekly

The Arraignment - Martini, Steve

When lawyer Paul Madriani's old friend, flamboyant criminal-defense lawyer Nick Rush, is gunned down on the streets of San Diego along with a client, Madriani sets out to find the killer. He follows the trail through shady real-estate dealings, cross-border smuggling, political corruption, and a nasty fight between Rush's ex and his young trophy wife over a hefty life-insurance policy. Eventually the case leads Madriani to the Yucatan Peninsula near Cancún. The sheer vigor of Martini's prose, his densely inventive plotting, and his sharply drawn characters carry you happily, tensely along. And the denouement is great fun, although the complex plot takes a lot of explaining at the end. Martini's not perfect, but he's still one of the best legal/adventure thriller writers going. - Amazon.com

Exit Wounds - Jance, J. A.

Sheriff Joanna Brady investigates the murder of Carol Mossman, who lived alone in the desert and was shot with an antique gun. Her 17 dogs died, too, due to an intense buildup of heat in the trailer. The investigation leads to the deceased woman's siblings, grandmother, and father, and two murdered female reporters. While working on the case, Brady deals with the local animal activist group and illegal immigrants, all while running for reelection. This 10th in the series offers topics for thought and a rousing plot. - School Library Journal

The Split Second - Baldacci, David

From bestselling author David Baldacci comes a new thriller reminiscent of his phenomenal debut, Absolute Power. It was only a split second--but that's all it took for Secret Service agent Sean King's attention to wander and his "protectee," third-party presidential candidate Clyde Ritter, to die. King retired from the Service in disgrace, and now, eight years later, balances careers as a lawyer and a part-time deputy sheriff in a small Virginia town. Then he hears the news: Once again, a third-party candidate has been taken out of the presidential race--abducted right under the nose of Secret Service agent Michelle Maxwell. King and Maxwell form an uneasy alliance, and their search for answers becomes a bid for redemption as they delve into the government's Witness Protection Program and the mysterious past of Clyde Ritter's dead assassin. But the truth is never quite what it seems, and these two agents have learned that even one moment looking in the wrong direction can be deadly. Full of shocking twists and turns. - from the publisher

The Big Bad Wolf - Patterson, James

Alex Cross' family is in terrible danger--at the same time that his new job with the FBI brings him the scariest case of his career. A team of kidnappers has been snatching successful, upstanding men and women right before their families' eyes. Alex's knowledge of the D.C. streets, together with his unique insights into criminal psychology, make this mindbending case one that only he can solve--if he can just get his colleagues to set aside their staid and outdated methods. With unexpected twists and whiplash surprises. - from the publisher

MAPS

Lewis & Clark and the Louisiana Purchase, 1803 - 1806 [map]

Not just a map of the Lewis and Expedition or the boundaries of the Louisiana Purchase, but "an attempt to trace the principal Indian trails and paths, as well as the establish Post roads, pioneer routes, King's highways and other thoroughfares that constituted the transportation network, circa 1804, of what became the contiguous US…The intention is to provide a sense of the enormity of the wilderness and give perspective to man's stolid effort to explore, negotiate and settle it." - from the map

Traveller's Map of the West Indies - National Geographic

Insets: Nassau, Bahamas -- San Juan, Puerto Rico -- Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands -- Havana, Cuba -- George Town, Cayman Islands. Text and col. ill. on verso. Tourist maps on verso: [Aerial view of West Indies] -- Bahamas -- U.S. Virgin Islands -- British Virgin Islands -- St. Martin (St. Maarten) -- St.-Barthélemy -- Antigua & Barbuda -- Guadeloupe -- Martinique -- St. Lucia -- Barbados -- Grenada -- Trinidad & Tobago -- Puerto Rico -- Curaçao -- Aruba -- Jamaica -- Cayman Islands.

MEDIA

World Population DVD

7-minute video graphic simulation of human population growth. As the years roll by on a digital clock from 1 A.D. to 2030, dots light up on an illustrated map to represent millions of people added to the population. Historic references on the screen place population changes in context.

Features:

     * Searchable chapter menu

     * The latest population projections through 2030

     * Remastered dot animation, sound, and artwork

     * 12-page Activity Guide to enhance students' understanding of population and resource use

     * Both English and Spanish narration included

National Gallery of Art CD-ROM

This interactive program allows users to explore more than 1,500 works of art from the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Based on the museum's Micro Gallery multimedia system, this encyclopedic CD-ROM introduces the life and work of more than 600 artists. High-quality color reproductions permit close study of the works of art as well as enlarged details of every image. A subject index relates the works of art thematically, and a timeline places them in the context of historical and cultural events. Also included are an atlas and a dictionary of art terms. - from the publisher

REFERENCE

Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt, 3 volumes

Until now, there has been no comprehensive, scholarly English-language encyclopedia covering ancient Egypt. This beautifully constructed work fills that gap with more than 600 academic, but accessible, articles on all aspects of Egyptology. The coverage is interdisciplinary, combining history, archaeology, economics, science, and literary and religious studies. A stunning piece of scholarship. - Outstanding Reference Sources, American Libraries