Salida Book Review

¡Cochabamba! Water War in Bolivia, by Oscar Olivera, Tom Lewis. ISBN 0896087026. "Many of the wars of this [20th] century were about oil, but the wars of the next century will be about water." -Former World Bank Vice President Ismail Serageldin. Historically a common trust, water has become the focus of commodification and privatization. It is easy to understand why water is also the center of an international movement to turn back the rising tide of corporate globalization. Sounding a significant opening salvo in the water war is the triumphant struggle of grassroots activists in Cochabamba, Bolivia, who not only regained control of their water supply, but kicked out the transnational corporation that had privatized it.

Cochabamba! is the story of the first great victory against corporate globalization in Latin America. Oscar Olivera, a 45-year-old machinist at the center of the movement that brought thousands of ordinary people to the streets, conveys the ideas and emotions of a first-hand participant in this victorious rebellion that has inspired activists around the world. Cochabamba! relates the selling of the city's water supply to Aguas del Tunari, partially owned by U.S.-based transnational Bechtel, the subsequent astronomical rise in water prices and the refusal of poverty-strapped Bolivians to pay them, explaining how the people organized an opposition and recounting the dramatic struggles that eventually defeated the privatizers. Olivera reflects on the themes that emerged as a result of the war over water; the fear and isolation the Cochabambinos overcame through a spirit of solidarity and mutual aid; the challenges of democratically administering the city's water supply; and the impact of the "water wars" on subsequent resistance.

The Revenge of Conscience: Politics and the Fall of Man, by J. Budziszewski. ISBN 1890626279. Dr. Budziszewski begins by turning his criticism on himself, examining the foundations of the nihilism of his early career. Describing the political effects of Original Sin, he shows how man's suppression of his knowledge of right and wrong corrupts his conscience and accelerates social collapse. The depraved conscience grasps at the illusion of "moral neutrality," the absurd notion that men can live together without a shared understanding of how things are. After evaluating the political devices, including the American Constitution, by which men have tried in the past to work around the effects of Original Sin, Dr. Budziszewski elucidates the pitfalls of contemporary communitarianism, liberalism, and conservatism. The revenge of conscience is horrifically manifest today in abortion, euthanasia, and suicide, evils brought about by the pollution of good impulses such as pity, prudence, honor, and love. The way out of this confusion, he concludes, is Christianity, a once-prevalent faith whose troubling memory men now suppress along with their knowledge of the natural law. The political responsibility of Christians is somehow to stir up that memory and that knowledge, a daunting task in a world of sound bites and shouting matches.

The Know-It-All: One Man's Humble Quest to Become the Smartest Person in the World, by A. J. Jacobs. ISBN 0743250605. Part memoir and part education (or lack thereof), The Know-It-All chronicles NPR contributor A.J. Jacobs's hilarious, enlightening, and seemingly impossible quest to read the Encyclopaedia Britannica from A to Z. To fill the ever-widening gaps in his Ivy League education, A.J. Jacobs sets for himself the daunting task of reading all thirty-two volumes of the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His wife, Julie, tells him it's a waste of time, his friends believe he is losing his mind, and his father, a brilliant attorney who had once attempted the same feat and quit somewhere around Borneo, is encouraging but, shall we say, unconvinced.

With self-deprecating wit and a disarming frankness, The Know-It-All recounts the unexpected and comically disruptive effects Operation Encyclopedia has on every part of Jacobs's life -- from his newly minted marriage to his complicated relationship with his father and the rest of his charmingly eccentric New York family to his day job as an editor at Esquire. Jacobs's project tests the outer limits of his stamina and forces him to explore the real meaning of intelligence as he endeavors to join Mensa, win a spot on Jeopardy!, and absorb 33,000 pages of learning. On his journey he stumbles upon some of the strangest, funniest, and most profound facts about every topic under the sun, all while battling fatigue, ridicule, and the paralyzing fear that attends his first real-life responsibility -- the impending birth of his first child. The Know-It-All is an ingenious, mightily entertaining memoir of one man's intellect, neuroses, and obsessions and a soul-searching, ultimately touching struggle between the all-consuming quest for factual knowledge and the undeniable gift of hard-won wisdom.

Walking the Big Wild: From Yellowstone to the Yukon on the Grizzly Bears' Trail, by Karsten Heuer. ISBN 0898869838. Far-ranging grizzlies, elk and wolves don't know where the parks and preserves established to protect them end and much less hospitable public (and private) land begins. Thus, environmentalists have focused on creating wilderness corridors along which animals—mammals, birds and even fish—can migrate from one seasonal "island" habitat to another. Canadian wildlife biologist Heuer gives a harrowing, humorous, engagingly personal and unabashedly polemical account of his 2,100-mile trek along one such potential link, from Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming to Watson Lake in the Canadian Yukon, along what activists hope will become the Y2Y (Yellowstone to the Yukon) corridor. Heuer hiked, skied, snowshoed and canoed his way along Rocky Mountain ridges, across icy rivers and through near-impenetrable forests; he encountered heart-stopping beauty and soul-soothing calm, as well as harsh winter storms, clouds of voracious mosquitoes and fierce opposition from logging and mining interests. He also found signs that the grizzly—the animal most vulnerable to the creeping incursion of logging roads, oil pipelines and suburban sprawl—was somehow hanging on. Heuer's journey is exciting, and his passionate vision of a network of protected pathways connecting two mostly pristine wilderness areas is inspiring. Photos, maps. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Remarkable Baobab, by Thomas Pakenham. ISBN 0393059898. Standing tall on the sunburned plains of Africa and Australia, baobabs may be the oldest life forms on the planet. Many of the specimens still standing today have been around for well over two thousand years. Tremendous in size and bizarre in appearance, they have provided food, medicine, and places of refuge and worship to countless peoples, even serving as prisons and tombs on occasion. Long before European explorers opened up the African continent, the news of these "gnarled upside-down giants" had astonished the world of science and stoked the imagination of naturalists everywhere. Thomas Pakenham chronicles his personal encounters with the baobabs of Africa, Australia, Madagascar, and America and shares the countless superstitions and myths, as well as the often-strange history, that surround these enigmatic trees. With 60 color photos and 144 pages with color throughout, The Remarkable Baobab will be a great, and reasonably priced, gift book for the Christmas season.

A Passion for Trains: The Railroad Photography of Richard Steinheimer, by Richard Steinheimer, Jeff Brouws. ISBN 0393057437. To the true rail fan, Richard Steinheimer is an authentic hero, the best of the best. A pioneer in train photography, Steinheimer lived through and documented the railroad's heyday and its decline. He is one of very few photographers who appreciate the aesthetics of all locomotives, from steam engines to the latest diesel-powered behemoths. He has a particular fondness for the landscape of the American West, and many of his images situate trains in the larger geography and culture of the time. Known for taking pictures at night, in bad weather, and from risky perches on top of moving train platforms, Steinheimer has an enormous creativity and productivity. This, the first full-length celebration of his work, presents 160 of his duotone images, with an introduction by Jeff Brouws.

To the Last Man: A Novel of the First World War, by Jeffrey M. Shaara. ISBN 0345461347. Viewed from a distance, the campaigns on the Western Front from 1914-18 appear as a pitiless, mechanistic meat grinder, chewing up thousands of lives on a daily basis in a futile conflict without moral justification. So it is important to be reminded that the officers who launched these campaigns and the ordinary soldiers who fought in them were not mere automatons. Shaara, who has previously written celebrated historical novels about the Civil War and the Revolutionary War, again displays his gift for portraying the intensely human side of warriors. He focuses on the experiences of four historical figures, including the American General John "Black Jack" Pershing and the German air ace von Richtofen (the famed Red Baron). Although told primarily from an American perspective, the narrative gives appropriate attention to the attitudes and aspirations of both ordinary and prominent German military figures. When Shaara's characters are away from the front or not directly engaged in action, they indulge in soldier chatter, and the plot tends to drag. But Shaara is at his best in describing scenes of battle. He presents the horror of trench warfare in gory but necessary detail. When the action moves to aerial combat, Shaara offers images of strangely antiseptic beauty, as if airmen are somehow removed from the squalor beneath. This is first-rate storytelling that aptly describes aspects of a conflict that continues to shape our world today. -Jay Freeman. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved.

Tears for Water: Songbook of Poems and Lyrics, by Alicia Keyes. ISBN 0399152571. No doubt Keys has a fascinating story to tell—raised by a single mother, she's a classically trained, New York born-and-bred neo-soulster with two multiplatinum albums and five Grammys to her name—but she merely hints at it in this gathering of poems and lyrics. With their themes of loneliness, confusion, wonder and desire, most of Keys's free-verse poems could be the cris de coeur of any American 20-something: "Sometimes I feel/ like I don't belong anywhere/ And it's going to take so long/ for me to get somewhere/ Sometimes I feel so heavy-hearted/ but I can't explain/ cause I'm so guarded." But other poems hint at her world travels, her budding sense of social justice and her concerns about stardom ("When gone is the glory/ When gone is the shine/ Is gone the whole/ Of your fortune and pride?"). Nearly half of the book consists of lyrics from her two albums, Songs in A Minor and The Diary of Alicia Keys; while they make a nice complement to the poems, the words feel a bit flat without the blaxploitation beat of "Heartburn," say, or the impassioned vocal delivery of "Fallin.' " For the Keys completist, however, this will be a compelling book of rock ephemera. -Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Line of Beauty, by Alan Hollinghurst. ISBN 1582345082. In the summer of 1983, twenty-year-old Nick Guest moves into an attic room in the Notting Hill home of the Feddens: conservative Member of Parliament Gerald, his wealthy wife Rachel, and their two children, Toby-whom Nick had idolized at Oxford-and Catherine, highly critical of her family's assumptions and ambitions. As the boom years of the eighties unfold, Nick, an innocent in the world of politics and money, finds his life altered by the rising fortunes of this glamorous family. His two vividly contrasting love affairs, one with a young black clerk and one with a Lebanese millionaire, dramatize the dangers and rewards of his own private pursuit of beauty, a pursuit as compelling to Nick as the desire for power and riches among his friends. Richly textured, emotionally charged, disarmingly comic, this U.K. bestseller is a major work by one of our finest writers.

The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness, by Stephen R. Covey. In the more than fifteen years since its publication, the classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People has become an international phenomenon with over fifteen million copies sold. Tens of millions of people in business, government, schools, and families, and, most important, as individuals have dramatically improved their lives and organizations by applying the principles of Stephen R. Covey's classic book. The world, though, is a vastly changed place. The challenges and complexity we all face in our relationships, families, professional lives, and communities are of an entirely new order of magnitude.

Being effective as individuals and organizations is no longer merely an option -- survival in today's world requires it. But in order to thrive, innovate, excel, and lead in what Covey calls the new Knowledge Worker Age, we must build on and move beyond effectiveness. The call of this new era in human history is for greatness; it's for fulfillment, passionate execution, and significant contribution. Accessing the higher levels of human genius and motivation in today's new reality requires a sea change in thinking: a new mind-set, a new skill-set, a new tool-set -- in short, a whole new habit. The crucial challenge of our world today is this: to find our voice and inspire others to find theirs. It is what Covey calls the 8th Habit.

Ancient Civilizations: World Heritage Sites by Mario Cattaneo & J. Trifoni, from Rizzoli Books, ISBN 8854400076. Archeology and anthropology are progressively reconstructing humanity's cultural history. In 1972, UNESCO adopted a convention for the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage-the World Heritage List-which has now been signed by over 150 countries and includes almost 700 sites. This volume celebrates the success of the program with descriptions of the most interesting sites, from the cave paintings of Lascaux to the architectural marvels of Angkor and Machu Picchu, and photographs in splendid color.

Treehouses of the World, by Pete Nelson, Radek Kurzaj. ISBN: 0810949520. Treehouses bring out the child in all of us. Serving as private retreats, guest houses, or play spaces for family and friends, these enchanting arboreal constructions lift our spirits, inspire our dreams, and offer the promise of freedom from adult worries. In this magical volume, Pete Nelson, a leading authority on treehouse design and the author of three previous books on the subject that have sold more than 200,000 copies, takes us on a fascinating around-the-world journey to discover how treehouses are designed, built, and enjoyed in a wide variety of cultures.

More than 35 treehouses are shown in 250 beautiful color images, from locations in China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Italy, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom, France, and elsewhere, all photographed especially for this book. Nelson, whose frequent appearances on Oprah and Good Morning America and in newspaper and magazine features have helped to spur the soaring popularity of the treehouse, also describes in detail the process of creating-for "kids" both young and old-a fun, safe, and environmentally responsible sanctuary in a tree. AUTHOR BIO: Pete Nelson is the author of three previous books on treehouses. He is also principal of Treehouse Workshop, Inc., a treehouse design and construction business in Seattle, and the president of his own residential design and construction firm based in Fall City, Washington.

Airports: A Century of Architecture, by Hugh Pearman. ISBN: 081095012X The airport terminal, the most important building type in the world of transportation, is also the site of the most ambitious and innovative achievements in 20th-century architecture. From the timber runway used during the Wright Brothers' first powered flight to modern glass-and-steel structures, from military buildings housing fighter planes to public spaces for both travel and shopping, airport architecture has evolved rapidly to meet the demands of a growing travel industry.

Now, in the first book to celebrate a century of airport design, noted architecture critic Hugh Pearman takes the reader on a journey through the history of these majestic beauties and predicts what the future has in store. Among the spectacular designs featured here are Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal in New York, Renzo Piano's Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan, and Norman Foster's Chek Lap Kok Airport in Hong Kong. With more than 300 photographs, drawings, and posters, this exquisite volume will have enormous appeal not only for architecture, engineering, and aviation professionals, but also for armchair travelers and design buffs fascinated by the sheer beauty of these architectural masterpieces.

AUTHOR BIO: Hugh Pearman is the architecture, interiors, and design correspondent for The Sunday Times in London as well as a contributor to numerous other publications in Europe and America. He is the author of Contemporary World Architecture and Equilibrium: The Work of Nicholas Grimshaw and Partners, among other books.

Kitchen Euphoria - For those who find joy in their kitchen

Himalaya, by Michael Palin. In this his most challenging journey, Michael Palin tackles the Himalaya, the greatest mountain range on earth, a virtually unbroken wall of rock stretching 1800 miles from the borders of Afghanistan to south-west China. Penetrated but never conquered, it remains the world's most majestic natural barrier, a magnificent wilderness that shapes the history and politics of Asia to this day. Having risen to the challenge of seas, poles, dhows and deserts, the highest mountains in the world were a natural target for Michael Palin. In a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before, in 6 months of hard travelling Palin takes on the full length of the Himalaya including the Khyber Pass, the hidden valleys of the Hindu Kush, ancient cities like Peshawar and Lahore, the mighty peaks of K2, Annapurna and Everest, the bleak and barren plateau of Tibet, the gorges of the Yangtze, the tribal lands of the Indo-Burmese border and the vast Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh. Facing altitudes as high as 17,500 feet as well as some of the world's deepest gorges, Palin also passed through political flashpoints like Pakistan's remote north-west frontier, terrorist-torn Kashmir and the mountains of Nagaland, only recently open to visitors. They had a brush with the Maoists while filming in Nepal and advice from the Dalai Lama before crossing into Tibet. This book, compiled from his diaries, records the pleasure and pain of an extraordinary journey. Basil Pao, the inspired photographer of SAHARA, FULL CIRCLE and POLE TO POLE, captures the sensational beauty of the finest mountain scenery in the world. This is adventure at the very highest level.

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, by John Perkins. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man reveals a game that, according to John Perkins, is "as old as Empire" but has taken on new and terrifying dimensions in an era of globalization. And Perkins should know. For many years he worked for an international consulting firm where his main job was to convince LDCs (less developed countries) around the world to accept multibillion-dollar loans for infrastructure projects and to see to it that most of this money ended up at Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown and Root, and other United States engineering and construction companies. This book, which many people warned Perkins not to write, is a blistering attack on a little-known phenomenon that has had dire consequences on both the victimized countries and the U.S.

Lord John and the Private Matter, by Diana Gabaldon. Adored bestselling author Diana Gabaldon brings us the first book in a new trilogy featuring many of the characters from her wildly popular Outlander series. In her New York Times bestselling Outlander novels, Diana Gabaldon introduced millions of readers to a dazzling world of history and adventure -- a world of vibrant settings and utterly unforgettable characters. Now one of these characters, Major Lord John Grey, opens the door to his own part of this world -- eighteenth-century London, a seething anthill of nobility and rabble peopled by soldiers and spies, whores and dukes. Great Britain is battling France for supremacy on three continents -- and life is good for a soldier.

The year is 1757. On a clear morning in mid-June, Lord John Grey emerges from London’s Beefsteak Club, his mind in turmoil. A nobleman and a high-ranking officer in His Majesty’s Army, Grey has just witnessed something shocking. But his efforts to avoid a scandal that might destroy his family are interrupted by something still more urgent: the Crown appoints him to investigate the brutal murder of a comrade in arms, who may have been a traitor.

Obliged to pursue two inquiries at once, Major Grey finds himself ensnared in a web of treachery and betrayal that touches every stratum of English society -- and threatens all he holds dear. From the bawdy houses of London’s night-world to the stately drawing rooms of the nobility, and from the blood of a murdered corpse to the thundering seas ruled by the majestic fleet of the East India Company, Lord John pursues the elusive trails of a vanishing footman and a woman in green velvet, who may hold the key to everything -- or nothing. The early days of the Seven Years War come brilliantly to life in this historical mystery by an author whose unique and compelling storytelling has engrossed millions of readers worldwide.

American Assassination: The Strange Death Of Senator Paul Wellstone, by Four Arrows, Jim Fetzer. Senator Paul Wellstone was, "the first 1960s radical elected to the U.S. Senate." In Senate Race 2002, the White House made defeating Wellstone priority #1. Karl Rove hand-picked arch Republican Norm Coleman to run against him. Despite massive funding, Coleman was trailing the popular Wellstone two weeks before election day. Then, tragedy struck. On the morning of October 25th, 2002, Wellstone was killed after a mysterious communication cut-out and crash of his small aircraft. He died alongside his wife Sheila, their daughter Marcia, three staff members, and two pilots, while trying to land at Minnesota’s Eveleth airfield. CNN’s Wolf Blitzer insisted to his reporter at the scene that foul weather was the lethal factor in the crash, despite the statements to the contrary from the CNN correspondent. To this day, the public tends to blame the weather.

Ph.D. Professors James Fetzer and Don "Four Arrows" Jacobs present the harrowing truth. The plane was exceptionally airworthy. The weather didn’t bring down Senator Wellstone. Nor were the two pilots incompetent, as the report of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) would eventually claim.

The facts point elsewhere. The FBI arrived at the remote rural crash scene less than two hours after the crash. Could they have known about it in advance? The FBI forbade the ambulance and fire teams to take photos. Even the AP photographer on hand was intimidated, delayed and then highly monitored. For some reason, a member of the U.S. Capitol Police Dignitary Protection Division was also present.

Why did the FBI state that they were treating the site as a "crime scene" although there were "no indications of any criminal activity"? How could the FBI so very swiftly conclude and state publicly, before NTSB arrived, that there was "no evidence of terrorism" involved? Why did the NTSB search for a "black box" for a day and a half and then conclude that there hadn't been one, after all?

AMERICAN ASSASSINATION confirms the worst fears of a nation. Senator Paul Wellstone was murdered.

Both authors are decorated university professors. A Native American, Four Arrows (a.k.a. Dr. Don Jacobs) teaches educational leadership and is a staunch critic of US foreign policy. Dr. Jim Fetzer is a published expert on U.S. political assassinations and the logic of science.

Although no one can prove exactly what happened in the events leading to Wellstone’s death, these two Ph.D.s point out the official story’s inconsistencies and deliberate omissions. With a methodical argument, they present evidence of an official cover-up, a compelling motive for Wellstone’s assassination and advance a more likely explanation for how Senator Wellstone's plane was taken down. Their findings include new evidence and alternative hypotheses that were never considered by the NTSB:

• There was never any distress call from the pilots. Communication was somehow cut off shortly before the crash.

• NTSB’s Carol Carmody handled the Wellstone case. A former CIA official, Carmody is a damage-control expert who handled the NTSB’s investigation of the suspicious aircraft crash of Democratic Senatorial candidate Mel Carnahan, exactly two years earlier.

• NTSB is legally mandated to take jurisdiction over a crash scene, yet it allowed the FBI to control the scene--and then neglected to cite the FBI’s involvement in presence in the NTSB's final report.

• Some witnesses heard the engines cutting out, a phenomenon not consistent with a stall.

• Others reported odd cell-phone and garage-door phenomena that were taking place about the same time the plane lost both communications and control.

• The NTSB's own simulations, which replicated properties like those of King Air A-100s under similar conditions, were unable to bring the plane down—even when conducted under abnormally slow speeds!

• One of the members who actually signed the report, Richard Healing, admitted that they really had no idea what had caused the plane to crash.

Since becoming active in this issue, local residents have contacted Professor Fetzer and related strange electronic interference in the area at the time of the crash. One experienced an odd cell-phone phenomenon with a form of static he had never heard before. Its auditory pattern appears to be similar to that of "electro-magnetic pulse" (EMP) weapons recently developed by the Pentagon to jam the computer-assisted controls of enemy aircraft. Reports of garage doors that mysteriously opened in the immediate vicinity are surfacing. And radar images from the time of the plane crashes of Senator Carnahan and of Senator Wellstone are suggestive of EMP imprints. These weapons not only jam a plane's electronics but also disable its radio communications.

In the wake of the crash, 69% of Minnesoteans blamed a "GOP Conspiracy" for Wellstone’s death. This book makes the case that, in this case, at least, the people had it right. In appendices to AMERICAN ASSASSINATION, Paul Wellstone’s courageous stands against the rich and powerful continue to inspire us. It presents highlights from Wellstone’s platform and includes his important speech, "On Iraq." His opposition to the Bush administration helps the reader to understand why the Senator was a likely target for assassination. When the reader meets Wellstone in his own words, his vision is kept alive and lives on in each of us.

Leadville : The Struggle to Revive an American Town, by Gillian Klucas. Leadville explores the clash between a small mining town high up in Colorado's Rocky Mountains and the federal government, determined to clean up the toxic mess left from a hundred years of mining. Set amidst the historic streets and buildings reflecting the town's past glory as one of the richest nineteenth-century mining districts in North America-a history populated with characters such as Meyer Guggenheim and the Titanic's unsinkable Molly Brown--the Leadville Gillian Klucas portrays became a battleground in the 1980s and 1990s. The tale begins one morning in 1983 when a flood of toxic mining waste washes past the Smith Ranch and down the headwaters of the Arkansas River. The event presages a Superfund cleanup campaign that draws national attention, sparks local protest, and triggers the intervention of an antagonistic state representative.

Just as the Environmental Protection Agency comes to town telling the community that their celebrated mining heritage is a public health and environmental hazard, the mining industry abandons Leadville, throwing the town into economic chaos. Klucas unveils the events that resulted from this volatile formula and the remarkable turnaround that followed.

The author's well-grounded perspective, in-depth interviews with participants, and keen insights make Leadville a portrait vivid with characterizations that could fill the pages of a novel. But because this is a real story with real people, It shows the reality behind the Western mystique and explores the challenges to local autonomy and community identity brought by a struggle for economic survival, unyielding government policy, and long-term health consequences induced by extractive-industry practices.

Constitutional Chaos: What Happens When the Government Breaks Its Own Laws, by Andrew P. Napolitano. In this alarming book, Judge Napolitano makes the solid case that there is a pernicious and ever-expanding pattern of government abuse in America’s criminal justice system, leading him to establish his general creed: “The government is not your friend.” As an attorney, a law professor, a commentator, a judge, and now a successful television personality, Judge Napolitano has studied the system inside and out, and his unique voice has resonance and relevance. Whether in the big, headliner criminal cases or in the thousands of small-town trials no one ever hears about (but should), the police, the prosecutors, the politicians, the judges, and the machinery of government are inexorably grinding away at the individual liberties guaranteed to all Americans by the Constitution. But in this sensational new book, Napolitano sets the record straight, speaking frankly from his own experiences and careful, thorough investigation and revealing how government agencies will often arrest without warrant, spy without legal authority, imprison without charge, and kill without cause.

Religions of the Ancient World, by Sarah Iles Johnston (Editor). Religious beliefs and practices, which permeated all aspects of life in antiquity, traveled well-worn routes throughout the Mediterranean: itinerant charismatic practitioners journeying from place to place peddled their skills as healers, purifiers, cursers, and initiators; and vessels decorated with illustrations of myths traveled with them. New gods encountered in foreign lands by merchants and conquerors were sometimes taken home to be adapted and adopted. A full understanding of this complex spiritual world unfolds in Religions of the Ancient World, the first basic reference work that collects and organizes available information to offer an expansive, comparative perspective.

At once sweeping in scope and groundbreaking in format, the Guide eschews the usual encyclopedic approach, instead presenting, side by side, materials from ten cultures and traditions. Thus specific beliefs, cults, gods, and ritual practices that arose and developed in Mediterranean religions--of Egypt, Anatolia and the Near East, Mesopotamia, Iran, Greece, and the Roman world, from the third millennium to the fourth century C.E.--are interpreted in comparison with one another, and with reference to aspects that crisscross cultural boundaries, such as Cosmology, Myth, Law and Ethics, and Magic. Written by leading scholars of ancient religion, the essays in this guide sketch the various religious histories, raise central theoretical issues, and examine individual topics such as Sacred Times and Spaces; Prayers, Hymns, Incantations, and Curses; Sin, Pollution, and Purity; Death, the Afterlife, and Other Last Things; Divination and Prophecy; Deities and Demons; and Sacred Texts and Canonicity. Clearly and stylishly written, grandly illustrated, this comprehensive work welcomes readers as never before into the diversity and interconnections of religion in the ancient world.

13: The Story of the World's Most Popular Superstition, by Nathaniel Lachenmeyer. 13 brings together forgotten history and unknown facts about unlucky 13 to create the compelling story of the rise of a single belief. It is also a book about superstition in general - why people believe what they believe and why they stop believing when they do. 13 draws on history and the range of contemporary superstitions; in so doing, it touches on the fate of mythmaking in general. 13 answers the following questions, among others: When did the 13 superstition begin, and why? Why is Spain divided over whether Tuesday the 13th or Friday the 13th is the traditional unlucky 13th day? What other number superstitions exist in other cultures? Which is the only major hotel in New York City that has a 13th floor? What are the top three conspiracy theories about unlucky 13? What is the Thirteen Club, and why did it count three U.S. presidents among its members?

The Quilt That Walked To Golden: Women and Quilts in the Mountain West From the Overland Trail to Contemporary Colorado, by Sandra Dallas, NANETTE SIMONDS, Povy Kendal Atchison. Inspiration drawn from letters, journals, historical sources, and—essential vehicles of women's storytelling through the years—quilts fills this narrative re-creation of the history of the West from the time of the early pioneers to the present day. The purpose of quilts and the art of quilting provide a window into the lives of these women, their friendships, and their sorrows. Quilts provided warmth and occasionally served as death shrouds during the gold rush years. They were nailed to the walls and floors of rough-hewn cabins of shanty mining settlements. Quilting bees provided a rare opportunity for female fellowship at the turn of the century. The voice of a masterful storyteller brings to life the heroic and heartbreaking stories of generations of women in this sensitive and artistic portrait.

Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick: 28 Women Writers on Life, Sex, and Survival, by Autumn Stephens. The title of this anthology riffs on Teddy Roosevelt's phallocentric motto, "Speak softly, and carry a big stick." Few American women today are interested in cultivating a Teddyesque machismo - but in Roar Softly, women writers recount witty and poignant tales of modern-day survival, from finding love (and sex) as a single mom to overcoming anorexia to adopting a child. Not only do their stories offer reassurance that no woman is alone in her struggles, but they also suggest better battle strategies - more womanly battle strategies, if you will - for those who shrink from the "muscle your way through" approach. As each essay demonstrates, women can overcome the challenges of their lives not only with strength, but also with grace. Contributors include Anne Lamott, Edwidge Danticat, Mary Roach, Elizabeth Fishel, Laura Fraser, and Anneli Rufus.

Fantastic Voyage: Live Long Enough to Live Forever, by Ray Kurzweil, Terry Grossman. One of the most respected scientists and futurists in America teams up with an expert on human longevity, to show how we can tap today's revolution in biotechnology and nanotechnology to virtually live forever. Startling discoveries in the areas of genomics, biotechnology, and nanotechnology are occurring every day. The rewards of this research, some of it as spectacular as what was once thought of as science fiction, are practically in our grasp. Already it is possible to analyze our individual genetic makeups and evaluate our predisposition for breast cancer or other deadly diseases on a case-by-case basis. And once we've isolated these genes, the ability to repress or enhance them through biotechnology is just around the corner. Soon, for example, it will be feasible for 10% of our red blood cells to be replaced by artificial cells, radically extending our life expectancy and enhancing our physical and even mental abilities beyond what is humanly possible today. In Fantastic Voyage, Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman will show us how amazingly advanced we are in our medical technology, and how incredibly far each of us can go toward living as long as we dare imagine.

With today's mind-bending array of scientific knowledge, it is possible to prevent nearly 90% of the maladies that kill us, including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, and liver disease. Ray Kurzweil and Terry Grossman start the reader on a fantastic journey to undreamed-of vitality with a comprehensive investigation into the cutting-edge science on diet, metabolism, genetics, toxins and detoxification, the hormones involved with aging and youth, exercise, stress reduction, and more. By following their program, which includes such simple recommendations as drinking alkaline water and taking specific nutritional supplements to enhance your immune system and slow the aging process on a cellular level, anyone will be able to immediately add years of healthy, active living to his life.

American Heroines: The Spirited Women Who Shaped Our Country, by Kay Bailey Hutchison. As long as there has been an America, the indomitable spirit of American women has shaped both the country’s history and society. Regardless of the time and place these women were born each excelled in her respective field, making it easier for the next generation. This is what makes them heroines. In American Heroines, Kay Bailey Hutchison presents female pioneers in fields as varied as government, business, education and healthcare, who overcame the resistance and prejudice of their times and accomplished things that no woman—and sometimes no man -- had done before. Hutchison, a pioneer in her own right, became the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the State of Texas.

Interspersed with the stories of America's historic female leaders are stories of today’s women whose successes are clearly linked to those predecessors. Would Sally Ride have been given the chance to orbit the earth had Amelia Earhart not flown solo across the Atlantic Ocean fifty years before? Had Clara Barton not nursed wounded soldiers on Civil War battlefields, aid may not have reached the millions it did while the Red Cross was in the hands of women like Elizabeth Dole and Bernadine Healy. Had Oveta Culp Hobby not been appointed the first Secretary of the Department of Health and Education by President Eisenhower, the country may have been deprived of such leaders as Secretary of State Madeline Albright and National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice.

As a young girl, Senator Hutchison dreamed of an America where the qualifier "the first woman" had become obsolete. The profiles contained in American Heroines, illustrate how her dream is coming true, one courageous step at a time.

The New American Heart Association Cookbook, 7th Edition,
by American Heart Association. This 25th-anniversary edition of the classic, bestselling cookbook contains 600 heart-healthy recipes, 150 of them brand-new. The book has been updated to reflect the use of nonfat and low-fat ingredients that didn't exist just a few years ago. Recipes include appetizers, snacks, beverages, soups, salads, entrées (seafood, poultry, meat, vegetarian), vegetables, side dishes, sauces, breads, breakfasts, and, of course, desserts. Many are healthier versions of old favorites--such as Eggplant Parmesan, Chicken à la King, Sweet and Sour Pork, Spaghetti with Meat Sauce, Devil's Food Cake, and Chocolate Chip Cookies--with some new entries that reflect modern eating trends, like Portobello Mushroom Wrap with Yogurt Curry Sauce, Pad Thai, Curried Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Almonds, and Artichoke and Chick-Pea Pilaf. Whether you want a quick meal, a nutritious dinner the whole family will enjoy, or a festive entrée to impress guests, this book has an array of choices. Most recipes reflect AHA guidelines: no more than 30 percent total fat, 8 to 10 percent saturated fat, less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol per day; plenty of vegetables and grains; and moderate sugar and sodium. Some recipes are higher in fat, but you balance those with lower-fat recipes on other days of the week. Nutritional information includes calories, protein, carbohydrates, cholesterol, fat (total, saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsaturated), fiber, and sodium. --Joan Price

Got Game: How the Gamer Generation Is Reshaping Business Forever, by John C. Beck, Mitchell Wade. Think video games are kids' stuff? Think again. Provocative new data shows that video games have created a new generation of employees and executives-bigger than the baby boom-that will dramatically transform the workplace. And according to strategists John C. Beck and Mitchell Wade, managers who understand and harness this generation's distinct attributes can leap far ahead of their competition. Got Game shows how growing up immersed in video games has profoundly shaped the attitudes and abilities of this new generation. Though little-noticed, these ninety million rising professionals, through sheer numbers, will inevitably dominate business-and are already changing the rules. While many of these changes are positive-such as more open communication and creative problem-solving-they have caused a generation gap that frustrates gamers and the boomers who manage them. Got Game identifies the distinct values and traits that define the gamer generation-from an increased appetite for risk to unexpected leadership skills-and reveals management techniques today's leaders can use to bridge the generation gap and unleash gamers' hidden potential.

The United States of Europe, by T. R. Reid. In May 2004, the European Union will add ten new member states-including Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, among others-to become a union of twenty-five nations. While this might seem a fairly innocuous and minute shift of political semantics for most Americans, the enlargement will increase the population of the EU to 450 million citizens, making it larger (in population) and richer (in GDP) than the United States-not to mention that the EU has more trade than the United States and more votes on the UN Security Council and all other international organizations. This New Europe is determined to flex its political and economic muscle on the world stage. The Continent has moved much further than most Americans realize toward the dream of a "United States of Europe," to borrow Winston Churchill's term.

T. R. Reid's The United States of Europe lays bare the ways in which the EU is positioning itself to be a global counterweight and second superpower, on equal footing with the U.S.A. Reid traces the rise of the EU from the days when Churchill and other visionaries set out in the post-World War II rubble to find a means to end war in Europe. He shows how this remarkably successful effort to "create peace" also created a global economic and political power that is often at odds with the United States. This drive toward unity has been accelerated by the powerful mood of anti-Americanism (or, at least, anti-Bushism) that has swept the Continent since the war in Iraq.

In addition to the political ramifications of the EU, The United States of Europe shows the great impact this alliance is having on the global economic market. The euro, which now has more daily users than the dollar, is fast becoming a reserve currency and a new standard for global finance, a globally recognized replacement for the once-almighty dollar. Unification has spawned a generation of European corporate managers who have led firms like Nokia, Airbus, BP, Vodafone, and Red Bull to catch and surpass their U.S. competitors in global markets.

The European Union, from its beginnings as an experiment in statecraft, has rapidly emerged as a resounding success; yet Americans have so far managed to ignore the geopolitical revolution under way across the Atlantic. Reid's book shows how quietly-and not so quietly-Europe is developing itself into an economic, political, and cultural powerhouse.

Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide: Essential Skills for Living Well in an Overstimulating World by Ted Zeff, from Newharbinger Publications, ISBN 1572243961. According to the best-selling book The Highly Sensitive Person, 50 million Americans are highly sensitive. This accessible, practical guide offers immediate, practical, day-to-day coping skills. Readers learn tips for reducing the influence of provocative sensory experiences, such as excessive light and noise in the home and office. Meditation and relaxation techniques help reduce the anxiety caused by heightened sensitivity and guides readers through the challenges of communicating and interacting with others in social and intimate relationships.

Travels with Barley: A Journey Through Beer Culture in America, by Ken Wells. Do beer yeast rustlers really exist? Who patented the Beer Goddess? How can you tell a Beer Geek from a Beer Nazi? Where exactly is Beervana? Does Big Beer hate Little Beer? Ken Wells, a novelist, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and longtime Wall Street Journal writer, answers these questions and more by bringing a keen eye and prodigious reportage to the people and passions that have propelled beer into America's favorite alcoholic beverage and the beer industry into a $75 billion commercial juggernaut, not to mention a potent force in American culture.

Travels with Barley is a lively, literate tour through the precincts of the beer makers, sellers, drinkers, and thinkers who collectively drive the mighty River of Beer onward. The heart of the book is a journey along the Mississippi River, from Minnesota to Louisiana, in a quixotic search for the Perfect Beer Joint -- a journey that turns out to be the perfect pretext for viewing America through the prism of a beer glass. Along the river, you'll visit the beer bar once owned by the brewer Al Capone, glide by The World's Largest Six Pack, and check into Elvis Presley's Heartbreak Hotel to plumb the surprisingly controversial question of whether Elvis actually drank beer. But the trip also includes numerous detours up quirky tributaries, among them: a visit to an Extreme Beer maker in Delaware with ambitions to make 50-proof brew, a look at the murky world of beer yeast rustlers in California, and a journey to the portals of ultimate beer power at the Anheuser-Busch plant in St. Louis, where making the grade as a Clydesdale draft horse is harder than you might imagine. Entertaining, enlightening, and written with Wells's trademark verve, Travels with Barley is a perfect gift -- not just for America's 84 million beer enthusiasts, but for all discerning readers of flavorful nonfiction.

National Geographic Atlas of the World, Eighth Edition, by National Geographic. Combining state-of-the-art cartographic technology and information with dynamic and diverse physiographic and cultural content, the Eight Edition is National Geographic's most accurate and interesting record of the world yet. The opening section, Ninety Years of Mapping at National Geographic, traces the founding of Geographic cartography to the present advances in technology and the practice of compiling and organizing geographic information. The atlas truly begins with three stunning new, full-spread world maps, that drape Earth's surface seamlessly with satellite imagery, then physical and natural features, and finally today's political world of countries and growing cities.World thematic topics are organized into two groups: the Physical and Natural World and Human Activities. The Physical and Natural World section includes captivating core topics such as the evolution of earth, geology and tectonics, climate and weather, oceans, world water, the bioshere, and biodiversity. Human Activities covers 11 world themes: population, migration and refugees, conflict and terrorism, cultures, economy, energy and minerals, communications, food, health and education, the environment, and ending with wildlands. All of these intriguing spreads reflect the most authoritative and recent data available and are reviewed by preeminent scholars and experts. Lined up after the world thematic focus is the continental division. All seven continents open with views from space and are then represented with separate physical and political maps. Larger scale regions of each continent are presented for higher definition and detail. Because of our primary readership, additional coverage is given to the United States and Canada. An entirely new component to the Eighth Edition is the city section. Maps and text discussing urban explosion will open this compilation of sixty new maps. Pictures, fact boxes, and text will accompany each city map to create colorful and informative portraits of our built environment. Selected cites such as, New York, Mexico City-the most densely populated city in the world, and Paris will receive more detailed scaling. Less familiar and remote areas of the world and beyond-the poles, the ocean floors, and space-are mapped with new data and findings and dramatic effects. The addition of a new spread and map devoted to Mars will provide a timely reference to the expected news coverage of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission-Spirit and Opportunity. Flags and facts of every country in the world have been newly designed and consolidated into one section, listed in alphabetical order. Locater maps and cross referencing to corresponding large-scale map plates are provided for every entity. Text for each independent country summarizes physical and cultural aspects, while facts reveal the status of population, religion, area, capital, language, literacy, life expectancy, GDP, and economy. A user-friendly, 136 page, comprehensive place-name index cross-references over 130,000 geographical sites and areas. An appendix presents valuable, convenient reference to time zones, metric conversions, foreign terms, abbreviations, airline distances, and temperature and rainfall statistics from all corners of the globe. Navigating throughout the atlas is made easy with enhanced cross-referencing, pointers, labels and an end sheet that includes a visual key with corresponding plate numbers to all the maps. Every map spread in the atlas will include interactive features and access to up-to-the-minute updates and information via the electronic National Geographic Map Machine. Streams of information are available to us on myriad topics and on many fronts. At the same time, there is a need-greater than ever-to better understand our global culture. The Eighth Edition helps bridges the gap with a collection of maps and information that is as engaging as it is informative.

Men and Cartoons: Stories, by Jonathan Lethem. Jonathan Lethem’s new collection of stories is a feast for his fans and the perfect introduction for new readers—nine fantastic, amusing, poignant tales written in a dizzying variety of styles, as Lethem samples high and low culture to create fictional worlds that are utterly original. Longtime readers will recognize echoes of Lethem’s novels in all these pieces—narrators who can’t stop babbling, hapless would-be detectives, people with unusual powers that do them

Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts, by Bee Lavender, Maia Rossini. Brought to the kitchen table by Hip Mama managing director Bee Lavender and editor Maia Rossini, Mamaphonic collects confessions and conversations about the exhilarating, entertaining, and difficult aspects of remaining creative while raising children. Essays range from the hilarious, such as "The Rudest Muse" by Lisa Peet, an illustrator and specialty baker who, by listening to her teenage son, finds new directions for her work; to the heart-wrenching "Childish Things" by Lori Pfeiffer, a writer diagnosed with a terminal illness during her pregnancy, who asks, "If you had only six months to live, what would you write?" Including voices as diverse as a transgendered teenage couple, an academic feminist, a punk rocker, and a poet, this eclectic mix of musings proves that becoming a mother is not the end but the beginning. Contributors include Ingrid Wendt, Ayun Halliday, Phoebe Gloeckner, Jen Thorpe, Gayle Brandeis, and others.

Halo 2: Prima's Official Strategy Guide, by Prima Temp Authors. Developed on-site at Bungie studios and written by the elite Piggyback team, this guide includes an encyclopedic appraisal of Halo 2's multiplayer mode; a full, highly accessible walkthrough for the epic Campaign mode; and everything on basic play, all in one book. The product of over four months of writing, research, and design, this guide includes:
·Detailed annotated maps: outwit multiplayer opponents with your intimate knowledge of level architecture
·Study all features of multiplayer maps, from power-up locations to "secret" areas, attack routes, and more
·Includes and exhaustive rundown of preset and custom game types—design your own multiplayer match and attract the best crowd
·Features hundreds of digital screenshots to illustrate key points
·Packed with tips, tactics, and techniques from the Bungie team
·Learn about every adversary, vehicle, and weapon—their strengths and shortcomings and how you can exploit these
·Confidently negotiate the huge Campaign mode with our exclusive maps and step-by-step walkthrough
·Designed to enhance the Halo 2 experience for newcomers and Halo: Combat Evolved veterans alike

Bouchon, by Thomas Keller, JEFF CERCIELLO, Susie Heller, Michael Ruhlman, Deborah Jones. When Thomas Keller imagined opening a second restaurant in Napa Valley, next door to his French Laundry, he envisioned a place serving food that excited him in a different way from the food at the French Laundry. He craved food that was less complicated, and a place that was more casual, where he could go every night after work. And that was how Bouchon was born.

Bouchon cooking is about elevating to elegance the simplest ingredients, because the best food isn't necessarily what is served at white-tablecloth restaurants, and the best meals--as most chefs will tell you--don't require the most expensive ingredients or lots of them or lots of steps. The only thing that's required is that you care about all the stages of the process--the slow browning of sliced onion for an onion soup, the proper cutting of the potatoes for a gratin, the right amount of salt on a raw chicken, how long you cook a pot de crème.

All the emblematic bistro dishes are here, interpreted and executed as they've never been before. The confit of duck, country-style pâtés, soupe à l'oignon gratinée, steamed mussels, steak frites, gigot d'agneau, all achieve the impossible: they get even better.

Shadowmarch, by Tad Williams. Shadowmarch has lately fallen on hard times. Its king has been captured by a rival kingdom, the regent has been mysteriously slain, and the new regents are callow fifteen-year-olds. Moody, crippled Prince Barrick is uninterested in their responsibilities and haunted by eerie dreams. His twin, Princess Briony, takes their new duties seriously, but is hot-tempered and headstrong. How can they defeat the greatest threats in Shadowmarch history? Their nobles plot to overthrow them--and the plotters may include their pregnant stepmother, seeking the throne for her own child. The expanding empire of Xis has sent its agents into Shadowmarch. And, for the first time since it appeared centuries ago, the Shadowline has starting moving. As the maddening mist spreads south over Shadowmarch, it does not quite hide the powerful, uncanny, and vengeful Qar army of invasion...

Human (Dk Smithsonian Institution), by Robert Winston, Don E., Dr. Wilson. A highly comprehensive and illustrated account of what makes us what we are: how we evolved, how our bodies work and develop, and how we think and behave, this unbelievable reference examines the qualities all humans share but also highlights the diversity of human society and culture. Profiling more than 250 peoples who inhabit the world and examining fascinating facts - from environmental and health issues to beliefs and customs - Human is the definitive illustrated guide to our species.

Runaway: Stories, by Alice Munro. In Alice Munro's superb new collection, we find stories about women of all ages and circumstances, their lives made palpable by the subtlety and empathy of this incomparable writer. The runaway of the title story is a young woman who, though she thinks she wants to, is incapable of leaving her husband. In "Passion," a country girl emerging into the larger world via a job in a resort hotel discovers in a single moment of stunning insight the limits and lies of that mysterious emotion. Three stories are about a woman named Juliet-in the first, she escapes from teaching at a girls' school into a wild and irresistible love match; in the second she returns with her child to the home of her parents, whose life and marriage she finally begins to examine; and in the last, her child, caught, she mistakenly thinks, in the grip of a religious cult, vanishes into an unexplained and profound silence. In the final story, "Powers," a young woman with the ability to read the future sets off a chain of events that involves a friend and her husband-to-be in lifelong pursuit of what such a gift really means, and who really has it. Throughout this compelling collection, Alice Munro's understanding of the people about whom she writes makes them as vivid as our own neighbors. Here are the infinite betrayals and surprises of love-between men and women, between friends, between parents and children-that are the stuff of all our lives. It is Alice Munro's special gift to make these stories as vivid and real as our own.

Days of Infamy, by Harry Turtledove. It is December 7, 1941, and the Japanese launch an attack against United States naval forces stationed in Pearl Harbor. The Japanese follow up their air assault with an invasion and occupation of Hawaii. With American military forces subjugated and civilians living in fear of their conquerors, there is no one to stop the Japanese from using the islands' resources to launch an offensive against America's western coast.

The Deadly Dance: An Agatha Raisin Mystery , by M. C. Beaton. Bossy, impulsive, and unlucky in love, the all-too-human Agatha Raisin has proved to be a surprisingly effective---and endearing---amateur sleuth. But can Agatha make it as a private investigator? After getting mugged on vacation, in what she will always think of as the Paris Incident, she decides to find out. Agatha soon learns that running her own detective agency in the Cotswolds is not quite like starring in a Raymond Chandler movie. Instead of dames in distress with big shoulder pads, her clients are ladies with missing cats and a man whose son has run off with his car. Agatha even worries that she might be outclassed by her sixty-seven-year-old secretary, Emma Comfrey. But then wealthy divorcée Catherine Laggat-Brown walks in with their first "real" case. Mrs. Laggat-Brown's daughter has received a death threat, and when Agatha thwarts an attack on the girl at a dinner dance, she recognizes an opportunity to show what Raisin Investigations can do. Even better, the case gives her a chance to reunite with her long-absent friend, Sir Charles Fraith. As they scour the Cotswolds in search of leads, Charles' insights prove invaluable and his charms irresistible, leading poor Emma to fall madly in love with him. As ever, Agatha bumbles her way through the case, trying her friends' patience and flirting shamelessly with the chief suspect. Will she put her tiny agency on the map, or has even the outrageous Agatha finally bitten off more than she can chew?

Long Way Round : Chasing Shadows Across the World, by Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman. It started as a daydream. Poring over a map of the world at home one quiet Saturday afternoon, Ewan McGregor - actor and self-confessed bike nut - noticed that it was possible to ride all the way round the world, with just one short hop across the Bering Strait from Russia to Alaska. It was a revelation he couldn't get out of his head. So he picked up the phone and called Charley Boorman, his best friend, fellow actor and bike enthusiast. 'Charley,' he said. 'I think you ought to come over for dinner...'
From London to New York, Ewan and Charley chased their shadows through Europe, the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, across the Pacific to Alaska, then down through Canada and America. But as the miles slipped beneath the tyres of their big BMWs, their troubles started. Exhaustion, injury and accidents tested their strength. Treacherous roads, unpredictable weather and turbulent politics challenged their stamina. They were chased by paparazzi in Kazakhstan, courted by men with very large guns in the Ukraine, hassled by the police, and given bulls' testicles for supper by Mongolian nomads.

And yet despite all these obstacles they managed to ride over 20,000 miles in four months, changing their lives forever in the process. As they travelled they documented their trip, taking photographs, and writing diaries by the campfire. Long Way Round is the result of their adventures - a fascinating, frank and highly entertaining travel book about two friends riding round the world together and, against all the odds, realising their dream.

Miracle: A Celebration of New Life, by Anne Geddes, Celine Dion. Never before have two top artists created such a multimedia work to honor the unique and steadfast bond between mother and child. Vocalist Celine Dion and photographer Anne Geddes conceived Miracle as a way to express something deep within their own hearts, and now both the experience and the outcome will delight music and visual art fans throughout the world.Miracle features more than 100 stunning new Geddes images. Each frame reflects the beauty, grace, and magic of both the photographer and her subject. Babies enfolded in blooms, mothers embracing the life flowering within: Anne's artistic eye captures it all. The exquisite images are wedded with the lyrics to all-new songs by Dion, created and performed on the book-accompanying CD in Celine's unmistakable international superstar style. It's easy to hear how her clear and melodious voice has captivated millions throughout her career. A DVD rounds out this artistic package, exploring the genesis of the Miracle project and taking its audience behind the scenes to witness the making of this memorable production. Celine's title track music video highlights the DVD.As a complement to this many-faceted experience, Sony Music will release its stand-alone Dion CD concurrent with the book's debut. AMP is delighted to play a role in bringing this important collaboration to readers and listeners, providing a crossover experience rivaled by few others. Mothers, grown children, grandmothers, friends, and gift givers everywhere will want to join this celebration of wonder.

The Soul of a Butterfly : Reflections on Life's Journey, by Muhammad Ali, Hana Yasmeen Ali. ISBN 0743255690. After fighting some of the fiercest bouts in boxing history against Joe Frazier and George Foreman, today Muhammad Ali faces his most powerful foe -- outside the boxing ring. Like many people, he battles an illness that limits his physical abilities, but as he says, "I have gained more than I have lost....I have never had a more powerful voice than I have now." Ali reflects on his faith in God and the strength it gave him during his greatest challenge, when he lost the prime years of his boxing career because he would not compromise his beliefs. He describes how his study of true Islam has helped him accept the changes in his life and has brought him to a greater awareness of life's true purpose. As a United Nations "Messenger of Peace," he has traveled widely, and he describes his 2002 mission to Afghanistan to heighten public awareness of that country's desperate situation, as well as his more recent meeting with the Dalai Lama.

Ali's reflections on topics ranging from moral courage to belief in God to respect for those who differ from us will inspire and enlighten all who read them. Written with the assistance of his daughter Hana, The Soul of a Butterfly is a compassionate and heartfelt book that will provide comfort for our troubled times.

Disappearance of the Universe, Straight Talk About Illusions, Past Lives, Religion, Sex... by Gary Renard, from Hay House, ISBN 1401905668. This spiritual tour-de-force addresses a wide variety of subject matter while stressing the necessity of advanced forgiveness in our troubled world. Launched in Spring 2003, the title rapidly sold through its first printing and often inspires readers to buy more copies to give away. Reviewer's Choice in the Midwest Book Review called it "an impressively detailed examination of the essence of life and what it means to live fully . . . a welcome addition to Metaphysical Studies reading lists." Now in paperback!

Truth and Fiction in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine, by Bart D. Ehrman. Oxford University Press. ISBN: 0195181409. Dan Brown’s popular work of fiction, The Da Vinci Code has been an enormous publishing success. But this fast-paced mystery is unusual in that the author states up front that the historical information in the book is all factually accurate. But is this claim true? In the new book TRUTH AND FICTION in The Da Vinci Code: A Historian Reveals What We Really Know About Jesus, Mary Magdalene, and Constantine, noted historian Bart D. Ehrman asks if there is any truth to Brown’s “historical backdrop” and the claims made about Jesus, Mary Magdalene, Constantine the Great, and the formation of the canon of scriptures.

Unlike many other critiques of Brown’s novel, Ehrman focuses on the historical foundations of the text and seeks to separate the fact from fiction about the historical beginnings of Christianity, especially in the life of Jesus and the writings that make up the New Testament:

Did the ancient church engage in a cover-up to make the man Jesus into a divine figure?

Did Emperor Constantine select for the New Testament-from some 80 contending Gospels—the only four Gospels that stressed that Jesus was divine?

Was Jesus Christ married to Mary Magdalene?

Did the Church suppress Gospels that revealed the secret to their marriage?

Ehrman examines all of these claims and also offers a wealth of background information about other aspects of early Christianity, such as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls (which are not Christian in content, contrary to The Da Vinci Code). Ehrman also reveals how scholars of early Christianity establish “proof” from the myriad of conflicting sources surrounding the historical Jesus, Mary, the Christian church, the writings of the Gospel, and the role of Constantine, in order to debunk the allegations that The Da Vinci Code makes.

Curiosity about the origin of Christianity and religious iconography has been peaked by such sources as The Da Vinci Code and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ. The insight that Ehrman brings to this subject far surpasses these blockbusters and sheds new light on the life of Jesus and the writings that make up the New Testament.

The Da Vinci Code: Special Illustrated Edition, by Dan Brown, from Doubleday, ISBN 0385513755. Brown's best-seller has captivated millions of readers, not just because of the riveting mystery at its core, but through the range of fascinating subjects woven into the novel: artistic masterpieces, ancient symbols, mystical locations, secret societies, and religious iconography. Now, for the first time, the visuals are right before your eyes in this special collector's edition - 150 full-color images in all, as vivid as the story itself.