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Internet Bookwatch

Volume 13, Number 4 April 2003 Home | IBW Index

Table of Contents

Reviewer's Choice International Studies Shelf Antiques/Collectibles Shelf
Black Studies Shelf Business Shelf Computer Shelf
Interior Design Shelf Women's Studies Shelf Photography Shelf
Artbook Shelf Musicbook Shelf Biography Shelf
Health/Medicine Shelf Mystery/Suspense Shelf Theatre/Cinema Shelf
American History Shelf Political Science Shelf Self-Help Shelf
Fiction Shelf Graphic Novel/Comix Shelf Needlecraft Shelf
Cookbook Shelf Education Shelf Metaphysical Studies Shelf
Journalism Shelf Literary Shelf Jobs/Careers Shelf
Fantasy/Sci-Fi Shelf Audiobook Shelf Islamic Studies Shelf
Gardening Shelf Library Science Shelf Travel Shelf
Judaic Studies Shelf Aviation Shelf Writing/Publishing Shelf
Civil War Shelf Humor Shelf Archaeology Shelf
Money/Finance Shelf Architecture Shelf Economics Shelf
Environmental Shelf Gaming Shelf Parenting Shelf
Military Shelf Hunting/Fishing Shelf History Shelf
Native American Shelf Criminology Shelf Pets/Wildlife Shelf
Science Shelf Religion/Spirituality Shelf Poetry Shelf
Railroading Shelf Psychology Shelf Buddhist Studies Shelf


Reviewer's Choice

Design Humor
Steven Heller
Allworth Press
10 East 53rd Street, #510, NY, NY 10010
1581152469 $21.95 1-800-491-2808

Design Humor is an exploration of humor and its use in graphic design provides a quirky history, from the first satiric cave drawing to more modern efforts in humor. Visual puns, exhibitions, designer concepts and examples of comical design forms provide an invaluable, lively guide.

Book Lovers' London
Lesley Reader
Metro Guides/Trafalgar Square
PO Box 257, Howe Hill Road, North Pomfret, VT 05053-0257
1902910133 $14.95 1-800-423-4525

What a gem of a take-along for any book lover planning a trip to London! Book Lovers' London is packed with guides to not only used and new book shops, but to charity shops, markets, libraries, and places of literary interest. Virtually anything having to do with literacy is covered here; with each listing including establishment hours, web sites, public transit connections, and description. A handy index at is organized by subject and provides the reader with specific breakdowns by area of interest. This second updated edition of Book Lovers' London is simply a 'must' for the London-bound book junkie.

Ivan R. Dee
1332 N. Halsted St., Chicago, IL 60622
1-800-462-6420 www.amazon.com

The Ivan R. Dee expanding, affordable 'In 90 minutes' set created by Paul Strathern (6.95 each) provides libraries with basic introductions to philosophy, with short 90-page coverages providing just enough history and philosophy to be important study guides. Dewey (156663475X) tells of a man once regarded as the foremost philosopher of his age. J.S. MILL (1566634733) provides a review of the man best known as the leading exponent of Utiltarianism. Both are excellent, basic guides. Stephen Gardiner's House: Its Orgiins And Evolution (1566634806, $29.95) provides an overview of the development of house and home, from its beginnings in civilization to the various types of structures which have been influenced by climate, science, and changing human needs. Why have people chosen particular building paths? This explains all, with plenty of illustrative embellishment.

The Man Who Flattened The Earth
Mary Terrall
University of Chicago Press
1427 E. 60th St., Chicago, IL 60637
0226793605 $39.00 1-800-621-2736

The Man Who Flattened The Earth: Marpertuis And The Sciences In The Enlightenment is the story of Maupertuis and his scientific interests in the early to mid 1700s and who represented Enlightenment thinking. Mary Terrall re-creates 18th century European society and science alike as she surveys the man who began his career as a mathematician in Paris, only to form controversial theories about the Earth, physics, and even astronomy. Maupertius used his social connections to enhance both his science and his position in society: this provides a lively account of his achievements.

New World Library
14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949
1-800-972-6657 www.amazon.com

Echo Bodine's The Gift (1577312058, $12.95) is no ordinary new age title, but an in-depth guide to understanding and developing one's psychic abilities. Chapters blend metaphysics with advice on personal growth, exploring psychic phenomena and how it works as a gift of God. An intriguing, unusual study of such powers and their abilities to enhance living. Patricia Monashan's Red-Haired Girl From The Bog (1577311906, $22.95) is hard to easily categorize: it blends mythology, travel, and Irish history as it presents the author's rambles through Ireland and her discover of spiritual ancestors within legends and landmarks of the country. In Red-Haired Girl From The Bog, a strong, involving story is told blending Celtic myth and spirituality.

Firefighting
Jack Gottschalk
DK Publishing
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
0789489090 $30.00 www.dk.com

Jack Gottschalk's Firefighting is a lavish coffee table title which provides a rich documentary of the history of firefighting, from early technological accomplishments which created fire-fighting equipment to modern times. Over 500 photos capture key moments in fire history around the world, while special insights on the science and physics of fires makes for an excellent survey of fire-fighting challenges.

Haunted Arizona
Ellen Robson
Golden West Publishers, Inc.
4113 N. Longview Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85014
www.goldenwestpublishers.com
1885590903 $12.95 1-800-658-5830

Compiled by Ellen Robson Haunted Arizona: Ghosts Of The Grand Canyon State is a fascinating, exciting travel guide to haunted locations throughout the state of Arizona. Featuring black-and-white photographs, spine-chilling supernatural anecdotes, addresses and contact information of scary sites open to the public, and more, Haunted Arizona is enthusiastically recommended for Arizona tourists looking for something different, something metaphysical, something paranormal, something out of the ordinary, something truly memorable.

CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For
Marylu Walters
The University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E1
0888643950 $29.95 ualberta.ca/~uap

CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For by Edmonton-based writer, editor, and dedicated CKUA listener Marylu Walters is the history of CKUA, a radio station that had its beginning on the campus of the University of Alberta and has evolved to enjoy a world-wide audience over the Internet. In addition to being the story of a little radio station that has become a global Internet information dispensing powerhouse, Walters has also captured the political and cultural context of its history including the pioneering spirit that brought the station to life, the creativity that emerged from benign neglect, and the passionate battles that maintained the station through adversity. Enhanced with anecdotal stories told by the people who lived them, CKUA: Radio Worth Fighting For is a unique and highly recommended contribution to Communication Arts reference collections in general, and CKUA fans in particular.

A Cafecito Story
Julia Alvarez
Chelsea Green Publishing
Box 428, White River Junction, VT 05001
1931498067 $8.95 1-800-639-4099

Julia Alvarez creates a rousing literary work in both Spanish and English with A Cafecito Story, the engrossing story of a Nebraska farmer's boy who becomes a teacher and eventually finds his life changed by a sojourn to the Dominican Republic. A Cafecito Story is highly recommended as being an intriguing blend of sparse writing, specific images, and involving discussions.

Omnigraphics
615 Griswold St., Detroit, MI 48226
$78/each 1-800-234-1340

Four new guides join others in the expanding basic 'Health Reference' series, providing consumers with the latest information and research. Annemarie Muth and Karen Bellenir edit Surgery Sourcebook (0780803809), which appears in its first edition to cover the basics of inpatient and outpatient procedures, from reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries to cardiac and throat procedures. Discussions include the history of techniques, alternatives to surgery, complication possibilities, and recovery periods. The first edition of Karen Bellenir's Depression Sourcebook (0780-806115) provides a strong selection covering different types of depression in children, adolescents, men, women and the elderly. From diagnosis to treatment options and suicide prevention ,this compiles the latest findings about depression. Chad Kimball's Vegetarian Sourcebook (0780-804392), is a basic consumer guide to different vegetarian diets and their affects on health. Chapters offer tips on adopting vegetarianism while meeting nutritional needs, and include plenty of basic information on vegetarian diets as they affect pregnant women, children, and seniors. Dawn Matthews edits Learning Disabilities Sourcebook (0780806263), appearing in its second edition to update the layperson's knowledge of learning disabilities. Teachers as well as consumers will find this an essential guide to understanding various syndromes and their latest treatments. All are invaluable references for public and school library collections alike.

Xingyiquan
Liang, Shou-Tu & Dr. Yang, Jwing-Ming
YMAA
4354 Washington Street, Roslindale, MA 02131
0940871416 $26.95 1-800-669-8892

Xingyiquan: Theory, Applications, Fighting Tactics And Spirit informatively surveys the essence of Xingyiquan, the better known of the Chinese internal martial arts. The style promotes bodily circulation and health and is more than just a form of defense: this surveys traditional Xingyiquan training includes two sequences with martial applications, and provides an in-depth understanding of the practice for all levels.

Dialogues On Cultural Studies
Shabo Xie & Fengzhen Wang
University of Calgary Press
2500 University Dr. NW, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2N 1N4
1552380742 $34.95 1-800-565-3770

Dialogues On Cultural Studies: Interviews With Contemporary Critics is an essential dialogue which poses a set of questions to a panel of North America' leading cultural critics, resulting in interviews which survey a range of modern issues, from gender and political conflicts to sources of modernity and globalization issues. Virtually anything having to do with modern cultural issues and studies is debated by scholars who know their stuff. Highly recommended for a college-level readership.

Thirty Day Essentials For Marriage
Jyotish Novak
Crystal Clarity
14618 Tyler Foote Road, Nevada City, CA 95959
1565891686 $11.95

Marriage can present many challenges, and Thirty Day Essentials For Marriage is a simple handbook "tell all" on how to enrich the union of marriage. An impressive and reader friendly book which focuses on easy, simple ways for couples to enhance their lives together, Thirty Day Essentials For Marriage ranges from discovering the foundations of a lasting relationship, to imparting joy -- and is recomended for its loving pairing of words and color photos.

Double Take
Zane Williams
The University of Wisconsin Press
1930 Monroe St., Madison, WI 53711
029917820X $45.00 1-800-621-2736

Double Take: A Rephotographic Survey Of Madison, Wisconsin is a decidedly impressive collection of black-and-white photography by Wisconsin native Zane Williams and celebrates the beauty and uniqueness of Wisconsin's capital city of Madison. Impressive quality images of urban landscapes, monuments, and grand architecture fill the pages of this memorable collection from cover to cover. Enhanced with informative commentaries by Zane Williams, Thomas H. Garver, Harvey M. Jacobs, George A. Talbot and John O. Holzhueter, Double Take is a superbly appropriate sightseeing souvenir, as well as a true delight for Madisonians to simply page through.

Healthy Beauty
Letha Hadady
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Gulotta Communications (publicity)
111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030
0471075345 $24.95 1-800-225-5945

Healthy Beauty: Using Nature's Secrets To Look Great And Feel Terrific by alternative medicine expert Letha Hadady is a practical, thoroughly "user friendly", self-help guide to utilizing herbs, diet, homeopathic remedies, stress-reduction, and cruelty-free beauty and health products in order to improve how one looks and feels. Dealing with such ills and beauty issues such as being overweight, hair loss, aging, the complexion, and more, Healthy Beauty offers sound and easy-to-apply advice for men and women alike. Healthy Beauty is highly recommended reading for anyone seeking to enhance and sustain their energy, vitality, sexual allure, and peace of mind.

Shipwrecks Of Lake Michigan
Benjamin J. Shelak
Trails Books
PO Box 317, Black Earth, WI 53515
1931599211 $19.95 1-800-236-8088

Shipwrecks Of Lake Michigan by Great Lakes expert Benjamin J. Shelak provides the reader with an impressively detailed and comprehensive collection of information about shipwrecks in Lake Michigan from 1800 down to the present day. Meticulously researched and deftly written, organized and presented with an eye for accuracy, Shipwrecks of Lake Michigan is as engaging, informative, and highly recommended for personal, professional, and community library Maritime History collections and reading lists.

The Words Of Peace
Irwin Abrams, editor
Newmarket Press
18 East 48th Street, NY, NY 10017
1557045372 $14.95 1-800-669-3903

Now in its third edition and featuring a foreword by President Jimmy Carter, The Words Of Peace collects selections of commentaries on peace drawn directly from speeches by the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize. A deeply moving and inspirational anthology filled from cover to with uplifting and emotional messages aspiring to the best of human nature, The Words Of Peace is especially timely and enthusiastically recommended reading in this present international situation of a global war on terrorism.

Romantic Antics
Joy Decker & Kevin Decker
Adams Media Corporation
57 Littlefield Street, Avon, MA 02322
1580626017 $12.95 adamsmedia.com

Romantic Antics: Creative ideas For Successful First Dates, Adventurous Saturday Nights, And Playful Long Weekends is a handy and "user friendly" self-help guide to keeping male/female relationships passionate, adventurous, and close. Written by Joy Decker and Kevin Decker (a happily married husband-and-wife duo and creators of the successful InspriationPoint.com web site), Romantic Antics offers such ideas as learning to practice and enjoy massage, rekindling dating fervor, romantic recipes, new ways to celebrate holidays together, and much, much more. Romantic Antics is warmly recommended as an inspirational treasure trove of ideas of kindling (and rekindling) romance.


The International Studies Shelf

The Chechen Wars
Matthew Evangelista
Brookings Institution Press
1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington DC 20036
0815724993 $19.95 www.brookings.edu

The Chechen Wars by Matthew Evangelista (Professor of Government and Director of the Peace Studies Program, Cornell University) is a close, meticulous study of the root causes of the Chechen Wars of 1994 and 1999, and an informative, scholarly examination of the impact these conflicts had on both Chechnya and Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union. Stressing the importance of dealing with violent conflict without undermining citizens' freedom and rights, as well as calling for the United States to be more attentive and provide a role model applicable to Russia's conflicts, The Chechen Wars is sober, involving reading and a very strongly recommended addition to International Studies reference collections in general, and Chechen/Russian Studies reading lists in particular.

Uncle Sam And Us
Stephen Clarkson
University of Toronto Press
10 St. Mary Street, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2W8
0802085393 $35.00 1-800-565-9523

Uncle Sam And Us: Globalization, NeoConservatism, And The Canadian State by acclaimed scholar and international relations expert Stephen Clarkson is an exhaustive, scholarly, and meticulously scrupulous study of just how severely Canada's government and economy have been affected by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the World Trade Organization, and other international, hemispheric, and American/Canadian agreements trade and economic relationships.. Closely scrutinizing the Canadian economy's weaknesses, the inherent contradictions of neoconservatism, and contrasting different models of the state, Uncle Sam And Us is a thoughtful, 534-page appraisal of conditions, options, and possible paths for Canada's future. Enhanced with sixty-two pages of notes, six pages of acronyms, five pages of special acknowledgments, as well as comprehensive Author and Subject indexes, Uncle Sam And Us is a seminal and invaluable contribution to Canadian Economics, U.S./Canadian Trade, and International Studies reference collections and reading lists.


The Antiques/Collectibles Shelf

Warman's Glass
Ellen T. Schroy
Krause Publications
700 E. State Street, Iola, WI 54990-0001
087349394X $24.95 1-888-457-2873

Now in an updated and expanded fourth edition, Warman's Glass: A Value & Identification Guide compiled and edited by antique glassware expert Ellen T. Schroy is an superbly presented and illustrated price guide to more than 200 types of American and European Glass. Offering histories, references, clubs, and museums, Warman's Glass is accessibly structured in alphabetical order, and consists of entries offering brief and succinct descriptions of various individual pieces. Warman's Glass is an excellent catalogue and a reliable resource recommended for antiques dealers, auctioneers, hobbyists, and collectors.

Collector Books
Box 3009, Paducah, KY 42002-3009
1-800-626-5420 www.amazon.com

These new publications provide avid collectors with tested reference guides packed with important pricing and identification information. Lar Hothem's Indian Trade Relics (1574323032, $29.95) pairs excellent-quality color photos with a fine history of typical Indian relics and their changing values. Chapters easily referenced by type of relic provide the latest details on their identification and come from collections across the country. The 2003 Complete Price Guide To Watches (1574323-377, $29.95) authoratively reflects numerous price changes and provides a weighty but reliable annually-updated guide. Included are the histories of watch-making companies and their unique productions, along with a guide to specific types of watches from comic and character watches to European wrist watches. Packed with detail. Elaine Pardee and Jackie Robertson's Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls (157-4323075, $29.95) presents dedicated collectors of this bisque doll with a guide to values and models from (1574329364). Color photos throughout make it easy to identify different period dolls and changing series styles, and will lend to a collector's reference library. Linda Crowsey's superbly organized Madame Alexander (1574323288, $14.95) provides a easy-to-use 2003 collector's price guide to these specific dolls number 28 in the ongoing updates. While there are some color photos peppered throughout, the value of this guide lies in its specific, updated prices to all types of Alexander doll styles. The 11th edition of Garage Sale & Flea Market Annual (1574323229, $19.95) is also a strong collector's price guide reference, not to be linked with the glitzy photo publications on the market. Pages are packed with important guides to the latest lucrative collectibles and this will make a perfect, essential take-along tote for any garage sale goer. All are specific, narrow guides which collectors will find important references.


The Black Studies Shelf

Soulstepping
Elizabeth C. Fine
University of Illinois Press
1325 South Oak St., Champaign, IL 61820
0252024753 $24.95 1-800-545-4703

Soulstepping: African American Step Shows by Elizabeth C. Fine (Associate Professor in the Center for Interdisciplinary Studies and Director of the Humanities Program, Virginia Tech) is an informed and informative introduction to a complex and unique form of performance that blends dance, percussion, chanting, drama, initially developed by African-American fraternities and sororities, and has evolved to now being practiced and performed worldwide. The history, culture, politics, and art of this African-American performance artform is examined in-depth; with black-and-white photographs embellish this impressively, scholarly, highly recommended contribution to Black American cultural studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

Prometheus Books
59 John Glenn Dr, Amherst, NY 14228
1-800-421-0351 www.amazon.com

The "Humanity" imprint from Prometheus Books provides unabridged classics of black studies titles and will provide invaluable resources to libraries seeking to replace worn copies with unabridged, quality paperback editions. Bill Lawson introduces Frederick Douglass' My Bondage And My Freedom (1591020069, $21.00), telling of his life in antebellum Maryland and his experiences of both freedom and slavery. Patricia Hill Collins introduces On Lynchings By Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1591020085, $18.00), analyzing the practice of lynching during the 1880s and 1890s their heyday, when over a hundred Afro-Americans per year were lynched. Wells was the lone voice of protest against these actions, and her protests sparked a life-long crusade. Kenneth Goings introduces W.E.B. Du Bois' The Negro (1591029603), a classic treatise on racism which seeks to counteract the ignorance about black people that fed white racism. Under its own imprint, Prometheus provides Molefi Kete Asante's 100 Greatest African Americans (1591029-638, $49.00), a biographical encyclopedia of selected notables from John Coltrane to Paul Laurence Dunbar. Biographical notes each cover several pages in provide depth on each individual's achievements.


The Business Shelf

Complete Reference Checking Handbook
Edward Andler & Dara Herbst
Amacom Books
1601 Broadway, New York, NY 10019
0814407447 $29.95 1-800-250-5308

Prevent hiring mistakes through savvy assessments of an applicant's references and the use of Complete Reference Checking Handbook. Managers, business owners, and HR pros alike receive an updated edition which covers everything from understanding legal requirements and traps to developing networking and reference-checking techniques which work. An excellent, involving guide.

Mentoring The New Executive
Kevin Michael Struck
The Writers' Collective
780 Reservoir Avenue, Suite 243, Cranston, RI 02910
www.MentoringTheNewExecutive.com
1932133194 $14.95 1-920-467-5767

Kevin Michael Struck's Mentoring The New Executive: "Old Guard" Meets "New Attitude" is an enjoyable and "reader friendly" blend of light humor and solid business savvy. Written in the form of a conversation between a 62-year-old executive and his cocky and interrogative 26-year-old student, Mentoring The New Executive covers life-long lessons about public relations, office decor, corporate mergers, speaking at seminars, and much more. Practical advice and tips, tricks, and techniques blended with an upbeat corporate zest make for reading that is as fun as it is informative.


The Computer Shelf

Crackproof Your Software
Pavol Cerven
No Starch Press
555 De Haro St., Suite 250, San Francisco, CA 94107
1886411794 $34.95 www.nostarch.com

Crackproof Your Software: The Best Ways To Protect Your Software Against Crackers by software expert and programmer Pavol Cerven is a solid and impressively written guide to a profusion of tips, tricks, and techniques programmers can use to protect their software against hackers, vandals, and unscrupulous crackers who try to take programs apart and figure how they work for the purpose of avoiding paying money to copy, use, or distribute them. Addressing issues specific to shareware programmers, programming for Windows, and much more, Crackproof Your Software is a solid information source which is especially recommended for commercial software programmers and entrepreneurs. An included is an accompanying CD offering dozens of compression and encoding programs, debuggers, anti-debugging tricks, practical demonstrations, as well as sample code from the text.

Murach's Java Servlets And JSP
Andrea Steelman & Joel Murach
Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.
2560 West Shaw Lane, Suite 101, Fresno, CA 93711-2765
1890774189 $49.50 1-800-221-5528

Murach's Java Servlets And JSP by Java experts Andrea Steelman and Joel Murach provides a complete instructional resource for programmers wanting to master Java web programming. Section 1 introduces the basics of Java web programming (including a crash course on HTML giving programmers the HTML skills needed without having to fall back on another textbook). Section 2 covers the essential servlet and JSP skills (including JSP tags, servlet methods, the Model 2 architecture, requests, responses, sessions, cookies, JavaBans, and custom JSP tags). Section 3 covers database handling (the key to most business applications). Section for presents advanced skills including JavaMail, SSL, security, HTTP, XML, and Enterprise JavaBeans. Section 5 presents ac complete Music Store website that ties all the pieces together. The code for this website is also available on the accompanying CD-ROM. Murach's Java Servlets And JSP is a very strongly recommended, core component of any dedicated Java reference shelf.

Network Tutorial
Steve Steinke
CMP Books
600 Harrison St., San Francisco CA 94107
1578203023 $29.95 cmpbooks.com

Now in an updated and expanded fifth edition, Network Tutorial: A Complete Introduction To Networks by Steven Steinke (with the assistance of the editors of "Network Magazine") is a "user friendly" introduction and reference to network technology, written especially for managers and executives seeking to update their knowledge on the latest challenges of evolving network infrastructures. Individual chapters cogently address such topics as physical layer protocols, data-link protocols, network hardware and software, security and backup systems, and much, much more in this involved and extensive resource filled with diagrams and extensive description.

Computer Security
Matt Bishop
Addison-Wesley
75 Arlington St, #300, Boston, MA 02116
0201440997 $74.99 awprofessional.com

Computer Security: Art And Science by Matt Bishop (Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, University of California - Davis) is an extensive, 1084-page instructional introduction to the science and challenges of computer security, and which is useful as either a classroom text or as a self-teaching tool. Individual chapters address all aspects of computer security including methodologies and technology for improved security, ways to analyze vulnerability and detect intrusions, computer security examples, ways to limit access privileges, digital signatures, and a great deal more. An excellent college-level educational resource for the digital age, Computer Security is an essential, accessible, core addition to any personal or professional computer security reference collection.

McGraw-Hill Book Company
Two Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121
1-800-722-4726 www.amazon.com

Robert Penner's Programming Macromedia Flash MX by Robert Penner (0072-223561; 460 pages; $39.99) details renowned Flash developer Robert Penner's groundbreaking designs, showcasing his work which merges math and design with Flash, and provides an inside look at his sophisticated and unique approach to design incorporating advanced ActionScript programming. Penner shares exclusive techniques and teaches the elemental theories of space, math, color, motion, and shape to let his readers discover practical methods of employing theory to create a hybrid of organic and technological design. ActionScript: The Complete Reference by William Sanders (0072226439; 688 pages; $49.99) coverings fundamental ActionScript actions such as controlling motion, movie clips, and interaction. Sanders offers information about new properties and methods, as well as object-oriented features and user interface components. Readers will learn how to handle variables, format text dynamically with new formatting objects, and more.

Tomcat Kick Start
Martin Bond & Debbie Law
Sams Publishing
201 West 103rd St, Indianapolis IN 46290
0672324393, $34.99, www.mcp.com

Apache Jakarta Tomcat is a Java application server, the open-source equivalent to BEA's WebLogic Server. It's also the official reference implementation for Sun's JSP and Servlet technologies. As the official implementation, millions of Java developers learning JSP need instruction and practical advice about Tomcat. However, there are currently few books and limited online resources to explain the nuances of JSP development using Tomcat. Tomcat covers Tomcat4.0.3 and 4.1,the latest versions developed for the current JSP and Servlet specifications. Tomcat Kick Start starts with the essentials of JSP and Servlets, and then explains how to install and administer the Tomcat server. Further chapters discuss how Tomcat enhances application development with tag libraries, error logging, filters and valves, and more. It includes the use of the popular Apache Struts framework and Apache XML processor. Later chapters explain advanced concepts such as Tomcat security and integrating Tomcat into larger J2EE applications. 552 pp. User Level: Intermediate

New Riders
201 W 103rd St., Indianapolis, IN 46290
www.newriders.com

Object-Oriented Programming with ActionScript (0735711836, $39.99) is written by two of the most highly respected programmers in the Flash community by Branden Hall and Samuel Wan who offer Flash developers a blue-print for how best to use Flash MX's new functionality: object-oriented programming. For advanced users, this instructional reference work will teach everything they need to know about application development from the ground up. Dreamweaver MX Extensions (0735711828, $40.00) is a practical tutorial on getting more from Dreamweaver MX by writing your own extensions. Dreamweaver expert Laura Gutman explores the configuration of Dreamweaver MX and its API (Application Programming Interface) so that you can understand how to create Dreamweaver MX extensions to solve programming problems.

Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks
Jack Unger
Cisco Press
201 West 103rd St, Indianapolis IN 46290
1587050692 $60.00 www.ciscopress.com

Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks by Jack Unger (Founder and President of Wireless InfoNet, Inc.) is a handy, "start-to-finish", 329-page guide about the design, installation, operation, support information and more for wireless Internet Service Providers, as well as any others using outdoor wireless wide-area networks which are broadband and license-free (meaning that they offer high-speed Internet access without requiring the use of products and services of local telephone and cable companies). An informative, practical, accessible and information-packed technical account, Deploying License-Free Wireless Wide-Area Networks filled with troubleshooting tips and a very highly recommended addition to any academic or professional wireless communications reference shelf.

Osborne/McGraw-Hill
2600 Tenth Street, Berkeley, CA 94710
1-800-722-4726 www.amazon.com

With Dreamweaver MX: The Complete Reference by Ray West and Thomas Muck (0072195142, 1008 pp, $49.99) developers will learn how to customize powerful Web applications, learn the most effective ways to design, plan, and build a Web site and then use it to collect, distribute, and leverage information for customers and employees. Additionally, this comprehensive resource covers all of the new features of Dreamweaver MX in detail, including a discussion of the .NET Platform and ASP.NET integration. With ColdFusion MX: The Complete Reference by Jeffry Houser (0072225564, 896 pp, $49.99) developers will learn how to build, troubleshoot, and deploy sophisticated Web solutions using this definitive guide. This detailed resource provides complete coverage of all ColdFusion MX's new features and functionality, and contains information on administration, optimization, and application development. Including information on important security issues associated with ColdFusion development, and details on working with the native scripting language CFML, this comprehensive guide also shows how to expertly integrate ColdFusion into Flash applications.

The Security+ Exam Guide
Christopher A. Crayton
Charles River Media, Inc.
10 Downer Ave., Hingham, MA 02043
1584502517 $34.95 charlesriver.com

The Security+ Exam Guide by CompTIA certified instructor Christopher A. Crayton is an invaluable and "student friendly" resource designed especially for those preparing for Security+, the newest certification exam for CompTIA. Leading the reader through the Security+ certification process, while emphasizing necessary skills and study techniques, as well as being enhanced with key highlights, The Security+ Exam Guide is a superbly organized and highly recommended reference encompassing the knowledge and practical abilities needed to score well. Also included is a CD-ROM with original, timed exams and answer reviews for effective self-tests.


The Interior Design Shelf

The House & Garden Book Of Country Rooms
Leonie Highton
The Vendome Press
1370 Ave of the Americas, NY, NY 10019
086565994X $40.00 1-888-330-8477

Ideal for anyone seeking interior design inspirations for evoking a country atmosphere, The House & Garden Book Of Country Rooms is a simply gorgeous showcase filled with full-color photographs compiled by Leonie Highton (Editor-in-Chief of the British "House & Garden" magazine) of aesthetically pleasing and eminently practical country-style room designs. Descriptive captions highlighting balance and arrangement compliment the stunning and inspirational illustrations in this very highly recommended interior design reference.

Kids' Rooms
Anna Kasabian
Rockport Publishers, Inc.
33 Commercial St, Gloucester, MA 01930
1564969711 $19.99 www.rockpub.com

Kids' Rooms: A Hands-On Decorating Guide by interior design expert Anna Kasabian is a very special and "user friendly" how-to guide for creating wonderful rooms crafted especially to meet the needs of children. Filled from cover to cover with a wealth of tips, tricks, techniques, and enhanced with full-color photographs of delightful, inspirational, and friendly room designs and colors for young people, Kids' Rooms provides practical inspirations for home owners and apartment dwellers, from creating safe and fun play areas for children of all ages, to soothing bedrooms for boys or girls, to babyproofing for an infant's safety. Kids' Rooms is an especially enjoyable and very highly recommended instructional guide for parents wanting to cherish ambiance, practicality, and originality in the decor of their children's rooms.


The Women's Studies Shelf

Believing In Ourselves
Nancy Carson & Jennifer Jones
Andrews McMeel
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111-7701
0740722204 $27.95 1-800-851-8923

The collaborative effort of author Nancy Carson and photographer Jennifer Jones, Believing In Ourselves: A Celebration Of Women showcases the wisdom and inspiration of thirty-five ordinary but nonetheless remarkable women drawn from all over North America. Black-and-white photographs enhance each of the women and their exemplary encouragements placing pinnacle importance upon women having faith in themselves to achieve their goals, dreams, and aspirations. Believing In Ourselves is a very highly recommended and inspiring addition to personal improvement and Women's Studies reading lists.

Her Past Around Us
Polly Kaufman & Katharine T. Corbett
Krieger Publishing Company
Box 9542, Melbourne, FL 32902-9542
1575241307 $33.50 1-800-724-0025

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Polly Welts Kaufman and Katharine T. Corbett, Her Past Around Us: Interpreting Sites For Women's History is an impressive and "reader friendly" guide to places and sites historically and culturally important to the subject of Women's History. Eleven articulate and informative essays explore the use of women's history and feminist analysis to reexamine familiar places (ranging from family kitchens to city halls) through the lens of gender. Individual case studies are utilized to interpret (or re-interpret) homes, gardens, factories, cemeteries, business districts, even entire communities with respect to their import for Women's History. Highly recommended for Women's Studies and American History reference collections, Her Past Around Us will also prove exceptionally useful reading for anyone interested in incorporating local and national historic sites to illustrate and enhanced a Women's History class course curriculum.


The Photography Shelf

Silvereye
Guido Argentini
Te Neues Publishing Company
16 West 22nd Street, NY, NY 10010
382385593X $50.00 www.teneues.com

Silvereye is a provocative and avante-garde coffee-table book displaying the photographic talent and artistic inspiration of Guido Argentini, an Italian photographer who uniquely captures the unclothed female form. 104 black-and-white duotone photographs present nude female beauty, activity, flexibility, and more in an eye-catching collection of images that reflect and embody the enduring principles of photography as art.

The Ganges
Raghubir Singh
Thames & Hudson
500 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10110
0500284105 $29.95 1-800-233-4830

The Ganges is the fascinating and informative personal story of one man's pilgrimage along the famous and revered river Ganges, ranging from it's sources in the Himalaya mountains to its ultimate destination in the Bay of Bengal. 123 impressive, unforgettable color photographs enhance a deeply engaging text by contemporary photographer Raghubir Singh. Both image and commentary blend to document Singh's undeniable eye for detail, and fill the 192-pages this remarkable travelogue and memorable tribute to a timeless and sacred river.

The South West
Rob Oliver
University of Western Australia Press
c/o ISBS, dist.
5824 N.E. Hassalo Street, Portland, OR 97213-3644
1876268840 $40.50 1-800-944-6190

Written and illustrated by Rob Oliver, The South West: From Dawn Till Dusk is an utterly stunning, full-color photographic showcase of the glory of nature in the diverse landscapes of Western's Australia's southwest region stretching from Mandurah to Albany. A thoughtful and informative text is enhanced with simply gorgeous color photography documenting and showcasing lavish landscapes, as well as offering the reader social history, background information, and even legends. The South West is a welcome contribution to Photography and Australian Cultural reference collections, and is particularly recommended for tourists, naturalists, and armchair travelers with an abiding interest in spectacular, wild, and hauntingly beautiful nature.

Gotham Restored
James Rudnick
Monacelli Press
902 Broadway. 18th fl., NY, NY 10010
1580930859 $50.00 www.amazon.com

Thomas Mellins provides the text for Gotham Restored: The Preservation Of Monumental New York, an impressive survey of photographer James Rudnick's works on New York. Rudnick's images gave him a reputation as a documentary photographer, and his projects following landmark buildings and structures in New York provide fine shots from 'before' and 'after' their reconstruction. New Yorkers in particular will find this packed with memories and familiar images.

East 100th Street
Bruce Davidson
St. Ann's Press
PO Box 641421, Los Angeles, CA 90064
0971368139 $75.00 stannspress.com

East 100th Street is a truly stunning, black-and-white photographic portrait of East 100th Street of Harlem. These stark, memorable images captured by Bruce Davidson show poverty, survival, individuals, children, and families -- some having fun, some withdrawn into themselves. "What you call a ghetto, I call my home", is an impressive quote spoken to the photographer, and East 100th Street showcases both sides of this remark in an exceptional and unforgettable manner.


The Artbook Shelf

Edouard Vuillard
Guy Cogeval
Yale University Press
Box 209040, New Haven, CT 06520-9040
0300097379 $65.00 1-800-987-7323

The career of this French painter and photographer spanned the first four decades of the 20th century and produced a wealth of works. Edouard Vuillard represents the most comprehensive and authoritative study of Vuillard's art, with over a hundred works covering the wide range of his creations and enjoying essays by the authors, who explore his career and influences. Though it's the catalog for an exhibition in Washington DC, Edouard Vuillard will also earn its own rightful place as an authoritative coverage of Vuillard's vast body of art.

Mad Art
Mark Evanier
Watson-Guptill
770 Broadway, New York NY 10003
0823030806 $24.95 1-800-451-1741

Mad Art celebrates fifty years of MAD art, presenting not only a catalog of highlights, but discussions with MAD Magazine's veteran contributors about their favorite creations and pieces. Except for a selection of vivid color in the middle, these are black and white reproductions of MAD art comics, accompanied by biographies and insights by their creators. Prior MAD fans will find Mad Art a 'must' keepsake, packed with iconoclastic humor, irony, and insights.

Paintings Of Joan Mitchell
Jane Livingston, et al.
University of California Press
945 Madison Ave., New York NY 10021
0520235703 $35.00 www.ucpress.edu

Joan Mitchell was one of the more notable painters of Abstract Expressionism in the period between 1950-1980, yet her fame has until now been largely restricted to professional circles. The collaborative effort of Jane Livingston, Linda Nochlin, Yvette Lee, Maxwell L. Anderson, Paintings Of Joan Mitchell is published to accompany a major exhibition at the Whitney Museum, and offers full-page color plates of Mitchell's paintings to accompany further insights on her craft and achievements. A vivid, highly recommended pick which stands alone from its exhibit foundations.

Baby-Boom Daydreams
Dan Cameron, et al.
Hudson Hills Press
74-2 Union Street, Manchester, VT 05254
1555952216 $45.00 1-802-362-6450

The collaborative effort of Dan Cameron (Senior Curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York); David S. Rubin (Curator of Visual Arts at the Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans), and art consultant Estill Curtis Pennington , Baby-Boom Daydreams: The Art Of Douglas Bourgeois showcases the live and work of American figurative artist Douglas Bourgeois. His subject matter ranged from the everyday citizenry of Louisiana, to pop-culture artifacts, environmental concerns, social issues, iconic "Golden Age" Hollywood personalities, to contemporary rock 'n' roll. Comprised of three insightful and informed essays enhanced with reproductions of key works raging from 1975 to 2001, Baby-Boom Daydreams is a welcome and highly recommended addition to personal and academic 20th Century American Art History collections.

Gifts Beyond Measure
The Art Institute of Chicago
111 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 6060
0865592022 $15.00 (individuals)
0865592022 $19.00 (institutions)
1-312-443-3786 www.artic.edu/aic/books

Gifts Beyond Measure: The Antiquarian Society And European Decorative Arts, 1987-2002 is the Volume 28, No. 2 issue of Museum Studies and comprises Acknowledgments by Janis W. Notz and Ghenete Zelleke; and the essays Higher Things': Remembering the Early Antiquarians by Celia Hillard, and An Embarrassment of Riches: Fifteen Years of European Decorative Arts by Ghenete Zelleke. Also features is a one-page Presidents of the Antiquarian Society, 1877-2002. Beautifully illustrated throughout with full color as well as black-and-white photography, (and made possible through the generosity of the Antiquarian Society -- the Art Institutes oldest support group), Gifts Beyond Measure is an impressive and highly recommended introduction into the Art Institute's collection of European decorative arts.

Van Gogh's Imaginary Museum
Chris Stolwijk, et al.
Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
100 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10011
0810945762 $49.95 1-800-759-0190

Collaboratively compiled and collectively edited by Chris Stolwijk, Sjraar Van Heugten, Leo Jansen, and Andreas Bluhm, Van Gogh's Imaginary Museum: Exploring The Artist's Inner World is a 150th anniversary tribute celebration of Vincent Van Gogh's March 30th birthday. Inspired by "Vincent's Choice: The Musee Imaginaire of Van Gogh" (an impressive art exhibition at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam), this 320-page coffee table artbook offers an informed and informative body of expert commentary in the form of ten essays on Van Gogh and the artists his masterpieces inspired. Enhanced with more than 300 images (including 196 plates in full color), as well as excerpts from letters by Vincent Van Gogh, Van Gogh's Imaginary Museum is a superbly presented, enthusiastically recommended contribution to personal, professional, academic Art History and Art Appreciation reference collections and supplemental reading lists. Van Gogh's Imaginary Museum would also make a perfect community library "Memorial Fund" acquisition selection.

Princeton Architectural Press
37 E. 7th St., New York NY 10003
1-800-722-6657 www.amazon.com

Constantin Boym & Peter Hall's selections of design works comprising Curious Boym (1568983530, $40.00) underscores the use of irony in art. Boym finds many unusual twists in ordinary life, and has the ability to take contemporary trends, work facets, and modern living and blend them in pictures both surprising and thought-provoking. This survey of his methods and creations is accompanied by color illustrations and photos throughout. Vicki Gold Levi and Steven Heller's Cuba Style (1568983603, $20.00) provides intriguing graphics from the 1920s-50s, providing an image of Cuba which is synonymous with paradise. Hundreds of vintage graphics of Cuba from this era provides a virtual treasure trove of a bygone world, reproducing works from packaging, posters, and popular magazines alike. A stunning visual history.


The Musicbook Shelf

Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me
Dave Gelly
Backbeat Books
600 Harrison St, San Francisco, CA 94107
0879307293 $22.95 backbeatbooks.com

Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me by jazz critic Dave Gelly is an engaging and informative biography of Stan Getz. Taking the reader on a dizzying tour through this great jazz saxophonist's life and music, including Getz's rise to fame in Woody Herman's "Four Brothers" saxophone section in the 1940s, to his breakneck bop in the 1950s, to his international hit "The Girl From Ipanema", and much, much more, Stan Getz: Nobody Else But Me deftly examines this outstanding musician's work and personal life in thoughtful detail.

Raw Music Material
Walter Huegli, editor
Scalo
560 Broadway, #301, NY, NY 10012
3908247519 $34.95 www.scalo.com

Compiled, arranged, and edited by Walter Huegli (in collaboration with Martin Jaeggi), Raw Music Material: Electronic Music DJs Today is an impressively presented archive featuring color photographs, personal interviews, enhanced with exciting music on two accompanying audio CDS. Presenting a cohesive and upbeat portrait of electronic music DJs in the modern age, Raw Music Material is enthusiastically recommended as a cutting-edge showcase of modern popular culture and rhythm.


The Biography Shelf

Diana: The People's Princess
Melissa Burdick Harmon
Metrobooks
230 5th Ave. #700, NY, NY 10001
1586635816 $9.98 1-800-367-9692

Diana: The People's Princess is a lavish picture book provides a close-up of Princess Diana's life, providing over a hundred photos and a lively text which chronicles the progress of her life both before and after her marriage to Charles. Fans of Diana who want a coffee table celebration of her accomplishments will find Diana: The People's Princess to be satisfying and colorful.

I Flunked Santa Claus
Joyce Holsclaw
Elderberry Press
1393 Old Homestead, 2nd Floor, Oakland, CA 97462
1930859511 $19.95 elderberrypress.com

I Flunked Santa Claus was written by Joyce Holsclaw, an 80-year-old woman who was an early feminist, a single parent, and a demanding teacher. With humor and irony Joyce engagingly recounts over seventy years of her experiences, blending a zany sense of humor with insights into the social and political events of her times. A very fine and entertaining autobiography.

If You Could See What I Hear
Kathy Buckley & Lynette Padwa
Plume
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
0452283353 $14.00 www.amazon.com

Kathy's severe hearing loss lead to an early diagnosis of mental retardation: she was also molested, run over, and stricken with cancer all before the age of thirty but she never lost her sense of humor. If You Could See What I Hear provides her life story and how she kept this sense of humor through the darkest of days. A powerful memoir and personal account of hope.

A Heart Poured Out
Sister Gargi (Marie Louise Burke)
Kalpa Tree Press
Cate Cummings (publicity)
65 East 96th St, Suite 12D, NY NY 10128
0970636814 $26.00 www.amazon.com

A Heart Poured Out is the biography of Swami Ashokananda (1893-1969), who was a prominent monk of the Ramakrishna Order and a man who devoted most of his life to developing the Vedanta Society in San Francisco. Knowledgeably written by Sister Gargi, a disciple of Swami Ashokananda since 1948, A Heart Poured Out deftly covers the breadth of Ashokananda's life ranging from his childhood in India, to his enthusiastic dedication to personal spirituality, to his independence in daring to refute some of Mahatma Gandhi's political viewpoints. A Heart Poured Out is highly recommended as being a unique and rapturously written biography of an intrinsically fascinating man.

The Hidden Life Of Otto Frank
Carol Ann Lee
Morrow & Company
10 E. 53rd St., New York NY 10022
0060520825 $26.95 1-800-242-7737

The Hidden Life Of Otto Frank is a lively new biography provides important new clues to the question of who betrayed Anne Frank and her family to the Nazis. New documented information about Anne's father Otto and the individual who would claim responsibility makes for an involving study which is packed with excerpts from Frank's own secret journal and exhaustive research results. The Hidden Life Of Otto Frank is a 'must' for any library offering a definitive collection on the Frank experience in particular and Nazi survivors in general.

The Girl With The White Flag
Tomiko Higa
Kodansha America, Inc.
575 Lexington Avenue, NY, NY 10022
4770029314 $11.95 1-800-451-7556

The Girl With The White Flag is the true and personal story of Tomiko Higa, who as a seven-year-old girl miraculously found the strength and perseverance to survive on her own in Okinawa, during the darkest days of World War II. A highly accessible and captivating account of the will to survive, The Girl With The White Flag is an original, candid, and attention gripping autobiographical narrative which is superbly written and enthusiastically recommended as being quite appropriate for readers of all ages.

Mountain Born, Mountain Molded
Larry G. Morgan
Parkway Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 3678, Boone, NC 28607
1887905693 $14.95 www.amazon.com

Mountain Born, Mountain Molded by Larry G. Morgan is a wryly written personal memoir of growing up in the Nantahala region of western North Carolina from 1945-1955 as the fifth in a family of ten children. Childhood memories, simple games kids played long before popular culture became overloaded with atrociously expensive collectible toys, and the refreshing wonder of the great outdoors are all recalled in this memorable, nostalgic, and highly recommended narrative.

Drake: For God, Queen, And Plunder
Wade G. Dudley
Brassey's Inc.
PO Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960
1574884069 $19.95 brasseyinc.com

Drake: For God, Queen, And Plunder by military historian Wade G. Dudley (Visiting Assistant Professor, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina) is a fascinating, informed and informative, military and historical biography of Sir Francis Drake, the famous high seas plunderer of fifteenth century England, who was fueled by hatred of Catholic Spain and his devotion to his Protestant queen Elizabeth I. Highly recommended reading, Drake is a very carefully researched and engagingly told account with an especial focus upon Drake's nautical and military tactics.

Art And Its Discontents
Richard Read
Penn State University Press
820 North University Drive, University Park, PA 16802-1003
0271022965 $55.00 1-800-445-9880

Art And Its Discontents: The Early Life Of Adrian Stokes by Richard Read (Senior Lecturer in Art History at the University of Western Australia) is a definitive study of the provocative art criticism, poetry, and other writings of Adrian Stokes' (1902-72). Stokes was one of the first (if not the first) critical writers in Britain to connect psychoanalytic theory to art, -- a talent that might itself relate to his entry into psychoanalysis in 1929 in order to cope with his own dilemmas of sexual identity and self-consciousness. Art And Its Discontents is a masterful written, exceedingly thoughtful, and highly commended study of a singularly articulate individual.

Searching For Joaquin
Bruce Thornton
Encounter Books
665 Third St., San Francisco, CA 94107
1893554562 $26.95 1-800-786-3839

Searching For Joaquin: Myth, Murrieta, And History In California by Bruce Thornton (Professor of Classics and Humanities, and Chairman of the Foreign Language Department, California State University - Fresno) is a compelling biography and history of Joaquin Murrieta, one of the most notorious bandits of the Gold Rush era who was to meet his ultimate fate on a hot July dawn in 1853 in a gunfight which took place on the western edge of the San Joaquin Valley (midway between San Francisco and Los Angeles). Long a figure of myth and legend, Searching For Joaquin is a compelling, meticulous, treatise that shows how myth and history can blend into exaggeration, romanticism, and ethnic pride. A work of superb scholarship, Searching For Joaquin is a highly recommended contribution to American Frontier History and Biography.


The Health/Medicine Shelf

Life On Cripple Creek
Dean Kramer
Demos
386 Park Avenue So, #201, NY NY 10016
1888799684 $18.95 www.amazon.com

Life On Cripple Creek: Essays On Living With Multiple Sclerosis provides an autobiographical coverage of what it's like to live with MS. There are numerous titles which outline the physical condition and its challenges; this follows author Dean through the failures and victories as she faces ongoing struggles with a progressive disability: her essays will reach many.

Seeing Without Glasses
Roberto Kaplan
Beyond Words Publishing
20827 NW Cornell Rd. #500, Hillsboro OR 97124-9808
1582700893 $14.95

This third edition of Seeing Without Glasses provides new updates on techniques which are recommended for improving eye strength and enhancing the healing process. From reducing eyestrain from prolonged computer use to learning preventative techniques to avoid side effects of vision stress, Seeing Without Glasses provides an overall guide to eye health and vision preservation.

Take A Load Off Your Heart
Joseph C. Piscatella & Barry A. Franklin
Workman Publishing Company, Inc.
708 Broadway, NY, NY 10003-9555
0761126767 $14.95 workman.com

Take A Load Off Your Heart by cardiac health expert Joseph C. Piscatella (President of the Institute for Fitness & Health, Gig Harbor, Washington) and Barry A. Franklin (Director of the Cardiac Rehabilitation Program and Exercise Laboratories at William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan) is a very practical and "user friendly" guide to for the non-specialist general reader seeking to improving their cardiovascular system. A little extra effort in looking after oneself now can save an immense amount of money, pain and grief in the future. Take A Load Off Your Heart features 109 easy-to-follow tips ranging from walking briskly, to drinking black tea, to improving the daily diet, to making exercise a regular habit. Written especially for those seeking to improve their daily lifestyle routines, Take A Load Off Your Heart is a "must-read" for all in these heart health conscious times.

Germs, Biological Warfare, Vaccinations
Gary Null, Ph.D.
Seven Stories Press
140 Watts Street, New York, NY 10013
1583225188 $16.95 sevenstories.com

Germs, Biological Warfare, Vaccinations: What You Need To Know by health and fitness expert Gary Null (with the assistance of James Feast, editor of the "Journal of the History of Philosophy") offers the basic and readily accessible information about drug-resistant germs, biological warfare, natural ways to boost one's own immune system, and much, much more. A very practical and informative health guide, as well as a useful primer for protecting oneself against biological pathogens, Germs, Biological Warfare, Vaccinations is a timely, authoritative, and invaluable informational resource for non-specialist general readers in these troubled and troubling times.


The Mystery/Suspense Shelf

Rumpole Rests His Case
John Mortimer
Viking Press
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
0670031399 $24.95 www.amazon.com

Mortimer brings the first new volume of Rumpole stories in six years, returning the comic British legal defender to modern times with seven new, funny stories of his court appearances. Familiarity with prior Rumpole accounts is not required but will enhance enjoyment of this latest series of episodes.

Berkeley Prime Crime
375 Hudson St., NY, NY 10014
1-800-847-5515 www.amazon.com

Three splendid new mysteries are thrillers which fans of the genre won't want to miss. Robin Paige's Death At Glamis Castle (0425188477, $22.95) provides a Victorian mystery telling of Lord Sheridan and his American wife, on an archaeological dig when they receive a telegram which brings them to a historic Scottish castle. Past and present bring danger and mystery as they uncover its secrets. The Mystery Writers of America's Hot And Sultry Night For Crime (0425188396, $23.95) brings strong crime stories by Jeffrey Deaver, Loren Estleman, John Lutz and others. From a mystery set on the Mexican coast to a deserted highway's twisted crimes and a group therapist's unwitting release of deadly anger, this is packed with experienced writers and unusual stories. Susan Conant's The Dogfather (0425188388, $19.95) blends a canine owner's nose for trouble with a healthy dose of humor, bringing to life the story of a dog trainer to the Mob who becomes involved in a new murder. Engrossing and absorbing. Doyle's True Crime Files, rediscovered by Stephen Hines, appears for the first time in paperback (0425189007, $13.00) to present Doyle's cases combined with newly discovered background information. Source material reveals the impact of Doyle's involvements with real-life crime investigations, and makes for a true-crime account unparalleled in its link of fiction with nonfiction.

Death, Bones And Stately Homes
Valerie Malomnt
Perseverance Press
PO Box 21922, Santa Barbara, CA 93121
1880284650 $13.95 1-800-662-8351

A quaint Pennsylvania town opens its historic houses for a charity tour, only to uncover hidden secrets it would rather keep hidden. Reporter Tori stumbles on many of these secrets, but earns the goodwill of the town through her personality. Death, Bones And Stately Homes is an intriguing and thoroughly entertaining mystery.

Poisoned Pen Press
6962 E. First Ave. #103, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
1-800-421-3976 www.amazon.com

Three new titles by this publisher were not viewed in finished form, but the proofs look promising and the stories read well. Mark de Castrique's Dangerous Undertaking(1590580559, $24.95) tells of a man who assumes the job of a small town undertaker only reluctantly, only to find his job turns deadly. S.K. Rizzolo's Blood For Blood (1590580540, $24.95) tells of Lord Byron's era, and one John Chase who finds himself entangled in family secrets which prove deadly. The historical background reads well and smoothly. Mary Anna Evans' Artifacts (1590580-567, $24.95) reveals a woman broken, who has lost almost all but her ancestral old plantation home. An uncover of murder may threaten her illegal status and bring problems to a head, so she must do her own dangerous investigating of her discovery. All are excellent plots which read quickly and well.


The Theatre/Cinema Shelf

Sam Mendes At The Donmar
Matt Wolf
Limelight Editions
118 East 30th St., New York, NY 10016
0879109823 $22.50 limelighteditions.com

Sam Mendes At The Donmar: Stepping Into Freedom by London theatre critic and arts correspondent Matt Wolf is a close chronicle of first decade of the Donmar Warehouse, the site of unforgettable play performances which ranged from classics of live theatre to the works of contemporary playwrights such as Samuel Beckett, Brian Friel, and Harold Pinter. Celebrating The Donmar's tenth anniversary as a theater (and doubling as a farewell to Sam Mendes who has left the theater to further his career on the silver screen), Sam Mendes At The Donmar is a unique and captivating tribute enhanced throughout with black-and-white photographs and thought-provoking quotations.

Smith & Kraus
177 Lyme Rd., Hanover, NH 03755
1-800-895-4331 www.amazon.com

Three new collections of plays are recommended picks for a wide audience; from high school aspiring dramatists to adult theatre productions seeking something new in the way of play sources. Todd London edits New Dramatists 2001 (1575252988, $19.95), a quality collection of the best plays by the graduating class of 2001. D.L. Lepidus edits New Playwrights: Best Plays Of 2000 (1575252-49X, $19.95), which provides a wide variety of productions based on successful plays presented in New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. Tanya Palmer and Amy Wegener's Humana Festival 2002: Complete Plays (1575253178, $19.95) provides yet more best-known and highly recommended American plays suitable for production. All are outstanding sources theatre companies will welcome and relish.

The Newmarket Press
18 E. 48th St., New York NY 10017
1-800-669-3903 www.amazon.com

These new titles provide dramatists and movie-goers with shooting scripts and screenplays of some memorable movies. Neil Tolkin's Emperor's Club (1557045-81X, $18.95) tells of a classics professor set in his ways until a new student challenges the foundations of his beliefs; Atom Eoyan's Ararat (1557045526, $18.95) tells of two estranged families searching for reconciliation and truth in their lvies; Burr Steers' Igby Goes Down (1557045720) tells of a rebellious teen who can't accept the life of privilege he's been born into; Peter Hedges and Chris and Paul Weitz's About A Boy (1557045-715) tells of a childless man whose fling with a woman leads to complications and trouble; Adam Sandler and Emily Watson's Punch-Drunk Love (1557045682, $24.95) includes script revisions in multi-colored pages as it tells of a small business owner with business problems and bossy sisters. Ted Tally's screenplay and shooting script to Red Dragon (1557045585, $18.95) provides the script for a chilling drama of an investigator who becomes involved in some grisly murders, coming out of retirement to display a unique method of catching the killer. All will appeal to a wide audience; from fans of the particular production to aspiring dramatists seeking in-depth scripts for production.

You Can Be A Movie Extra
Rob Martin
Titan Books Ltd.
144 Southwark Street, London, England, SE1 0UP
1840235225 6.99 Brit. pounds 020-7620-0200

Rob Martin is a professional theatrical agent who draws upon his many years of experience in You Can Be A Movie Extra to show aspiring actors how to acquire an agent; what to expect on a set; how to improve the chances of being selected; details of regional work; and the different and diverse kinds of employment in films, television, music video (including crowed work, walk-ons, and body doubling). Enhanced with checklists, contact details, sound advice from seasoned extras, as well as illustrative stories from the sets of major motion picture productions including Tomb Raider, Die Another Day, and Band of Bothers, You Can Be A Movie Extra is a "must read" for anyone who has ever wanted to find themselves involved in front of the cameras of a film or television project.

Hollywood Distributors Directory
Hollywood Creative Directory
1024 North Orange Drive, Hollywood, CA 90038
1928936245 $59.95 www.hcdonline.com

Now in a fully updated fourteenth edition for 2003, Hollywood Distributors Directory is a straightforward, 266-page reference and resource guide filled from cover to cover with alphabetical listings for film and movie distributors, segregated by type and category: domestic distributors, international distributors, internet distributors, broadcast & cable networks, television syndication, "direct to" video/DVD projects, fiancial backers, film industry publicists, and more. Names, addresses, phone numbers, fax numbers, email listings, web sites, preferred genres, round out each entry in this useful, practical, invaluable resource which is especially recommended for independence filmmakers, film festival enthusiasts, and academic Cinematic Studies reference collections.

Garth Gardner Company
2545 Sandbourne Lane, Herndon, VA 20171 www.amazon.com

Two new "Gardner's Guides" titles by the Garth Gardner Company provide important keys to working in TV and new media formats. Marilyn Webber's Gardner's Guide To Television Scriptwriting: The Writer's Road Map (1589650042, $26.95) provides a writer's road map for writing one-hour TV productions. This outlines the basic requirements for a one-hour script, from building on a basic four-act structure and using TV plot gimmicks to learning how to construct scenes and dialogue. The Gardner's Guide To Internships In New Media 2004: Computer Graphics, Animation, Multimedia, Second Edition (1589650085, $34.95) is even more important, packing in profiles of hundreds of companies and studios that offer internships in new media, from computer graphics to animation and multimedia. Students can receive on-the-job training through this important guide which includes all facts of what kind of opportunities are available in specific companies. Both are very focused, specific guides which are highly recommended picks.


The American History Shelf

First Crossing
Derek Hayes
Douglas & McIntyre
201-2323 Quebec Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V5T 4S7
1550549944 $35.00 1-800-367-9692

First Crossing by historian Derek Hayes is the amazing story of Alexander Mackenzie, and his trailblazing journey across the North American continent before civilized society conquered the North American wilderness. Illustrated throughout with maps and photographs in black-and-white and color, the deftly researched and meticulously reported details of Mackenzie's voyage vividly reconstruct an 18th Century expedition of truly insurmountable bravery and pivotally important discovery.

Colorado's Colorful Characters
Gladys R. Bueler
Pruett Publishing Company
7464 Arapahoe Road, Suite A9, Boulder, Colorado 80303
www.pruettpublishing.com
087108595X $9.95 1-800-247-8224

Colorado's Colorful Characters by Gladys R. Bueler provides the reader with a truly fascinating picture of the lives of pioneers, miners, con artists, mountain men, dreamers, and more, all of whom contributed to making Colorado what it is today. Black-and-white photographs, a comprehensive chronology, and most of all, a wide range of amazing anecdotal tales makes Colorado's Colorful Characters an engaging read offering a dash of zesty flavor to a proud state's history.

Gotham At War
Edward K. Spann
SR Books
104 Greenhill Av, Wilmington DE 19805
0842050574 $17.95 1-800-772-8937

The ninth volume in the outstanding SR Books "The American Crisis Series", Gotham At War: New York City, 1860-1865 provides an unusual focus on the history of New York City during the Civil War era. New York's pro-Union spirit was not a unified reaction to the war: some opposed the war effort and sided with the South, and the city's poorly trained military force was offset by a strong financial backing which had a strong influence on Union successes. The analysis of economic and social influences on the outcome of the war makes for fascinating reading.

Literacy In America
Edward E. Gordon & Elaine H. Gordon
Praeger Publishers
88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
0275955249 $24.95 www.praeger.com

The rather impressive collaborative effort of literacy experts Edward E. Gordon and Elaine H. Gordon, Literacy In America: Historic Journey And Contemporary Solutions is an extensive, meticulously researched and superbly organized and presented historical survey of literacy in America from the colonial days of 1620 down to the modern era. From the evolution of public school down through the centuries, to pioneer educators, to conflicts over Native American and African American education, Literacy In America is a scholarly, informative, and reflectively thoughtful history. No definitive Education History or American History reference collection can be considered complete without the inclusion of Literacy In America.

California
Josiah Royce
Heyday Books
PO Box 9145, Berkeley, CA 94709
189077152X $21.95 heydaybooks.com

First published in 1886, California: A Study Of American Character: From The Conquest In 1846 To The Second Vigilance Committee In San Francisco is a study providing an early history of California and which seeks to provide a more realistic assessment of the state than most. Josiah Boyce found he could not trust many of the historic narratives about the state's founding, and sought a more candid, realistic view of the pioneers. Fact and myth are contracted in an important history which pulls no punches.

Call of Gold
Newell D. Chamberlain & Peter Browning
Great West Books
PO Box 1028, Lafayette, CA 94549
0944220134 $15.95 www.amazon.com

Revised and edited by Peter Browning for modern times, The Call Of Gold: True Tales On The Gold Road To Yosemite provides a selection of true tales in a chronicle of events affecting California's Mother Lode country during and after the Gold Rush. Newspapers of the time and interviews with early pioneers and their children provides many intimate, 'you are there' portraits which mixes interviews and pioneers voices with history. A lively read, Call of Gold will prove of interest to leisure readers as well as readers of California history and culture.

American Grit
Emily Foster, editor
The University Press of Kentucky
663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, KY 40508-4008
0813122651 $45.00 kentuckypress.com

Compiled and edited by Emily Foster, American Grit: A Woman's Letters From The Ohio Frontier is an inherently fascinating collection of correspondence from the first half of the nineteenth century, written by Anna Briggs Bentley, a devout Quaker wife determined not to lose contact with her mother and sister. Filled with emotion, a willingness to work, love for her family and her many children, and a great deal more, American Grit provides contemporary readers with a compelling and enjoyable look through a kind of "window of time" at daily life in rugged terrain. A fine work enhanced with brief annotations for clarity, American Grit is very highly recommended for Women's Studies and American History Studies collections and reading lists.

Shaniko
Helen Guyton Rees
Binford & Mort Publishing
PO Box 91580, Portland, OR 97291-0580
0832305383 $12.95 1-888-221-4514

Shaniko: From Wool Capital To Ghost Town by Helen Guyton Rees is a captivating capsule history of the little town of Shaniko, Oregon. It had its humble origins as a tent city in the early 1900s because of its location at the end of a railroad line. The community of Shaniko went on to become a great center for the wool trade, and petered out in the post World War II era -- until it was dubbed a Ghost Town in 1959. Yet a lively remembrance of the town's local roots continue to make Shaniko an enjoyable tourist destination, and this deftly written account presents an intrinsically fascinating history of an American community enhanced with more than hundred rare and historic black-and-white photographs drawn from the last century.

Myths Of American Slavery
Walter D. Kennedy
Pelican Publishers
1000 Burmaster St., Gretna, LA 70053
1589800478 $24.95 1-800-843-1724

Slavery has received numerous arguments and coverages which have ultimately fostered a series of unjust myths about history, and historical data is used by Kennedy to reveal the truth behind these myths. From the commonly-held misconceptions about the history of slavery (it has existed since prehistoric times and persists today) to the acknowledgment that slavery has been used by all races around the world, Myths Of American Slavery provides an important and iconoclastic coverage which surveys social, political and even religious interactions with slavery issues. An important, eye-opening book.

New Mexico In The Nineteenth Century
Andrew K. Gregg
Eakin Press
Drawer 90159, Austin, TX 78709-0159
1571683380 $24.95 eakinpress.com

Spanning the years 1840 to 1890, New Mexico In The Nineteenth Century by Andrew K. Gregg is an impressive and informative "picture history" of New Mexico's history and features more than 500 original woodcuts and steel engravings by 19th Century artists and explorers. Replete with scenes of Indian pueblos, Spanish villages, and frontier army posts, the engaging text draws from diverse sources as the journals of early travelers, long out of print books, official reports. Each illustrations is enhanced with an accompanying text and is identified as to its source. New Mexico In The Nineteenth Century is a unique and highly recommended contribution to American Frontier History in general New Mexico historical studies in particular.

The Record-Setting Trips
Curt McConnell
Stanford University Press
1450 Page Mill Road, Palo Alto, CA 94304-1124
0804743967 $60.00 www.sup.org

The Record-Setting Trips: By Auto From Coast To Coast, 1909-1916 by automotive history expert Curt McConnell is a lavishly illustrated history of the dawn of cross-continental automotive travel by the general public. This was an era in which cross-country expeditions were made simply to prove that they could be done -- and to persuade the American public that the automobile was a safe, effective, and desirable form of transportation. Few roads connected even the major cities, and those that existed were often snow-clogged in winter, mud-bogged in spring, and deeply rutted the rest of the year. The Record-Setting Trips is a welcome contribution to Automotive History and American History reference collections. Also very highly recommended is Curt McConnell's previous book, Coast-To Coast By Automobile: The Pioneering Trips, 1899-1908 (0804733805, $45.00).


The Political Science Shelf

Cato Handbook For Congress
Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001
1930865392 $20.00 1-800-767-1241

This is the fifth handbook for new Congress which raises issues likely to be major agenda items for decades; form tax cuts and public health program reforms to creating policies for returning the federal government to a healthier size and scope. Included is an update on terrorism initiatives and their threats to civil liberties. The Cato Handbook For Congress is an essential political survey of issues which are certain not to become quickly dated.

Women And Congress
Karen O'Connor, editor
The Haworth Press, Inc.
10 Alice St, Binghamton, NY 13904-1580
0789016710 $24.95 1-800-429-6784

Compiled and edited by Karen O'Connor (Professor of Government and Director of the Women & Politics Institute in the School of Public Affairs at American University), Women And Congress: Running, Winning, And Ruling is a impressive anthology of essays surveying and analyzing the political standing of female candidates and congresswomen. A variety of knowledgeable political scientists have contributed their commentaries ranging from concerns with respect to media coverage, to the implications of candidate gender, to the Hyde Amendment, to glass ceilings, fundraising efforts by female non-incumbent candidates, and much, much more, fill the pages of this insightful and very strongly recommended study for students of Political Science and Women Studies.

The Incomplete Projects
Carl Freedman
Wesleyan University Press
110 Mt. Vernon St, Middletown CT 06459
www.wesleyan.edu/wespress
0819565555 $24.95 1-800-421-1561

The Incomplete Projects: Marxism, Modernity, And The Politics Of Culture by Carl Freedman (Professor of English, Louisiana State University) is a thoughtful and scholarly examination and analysis of the role of Marxist theory plays in the study of human culture. Part I delves into a solid groundwork of Marxist thought, and Part II applies the Marxist vision to a wide variety of popular culture works, including the novels of Philip K. Dick and the television series M*A*S*H. An absorbing look at human culture, lifestyle and entertainment, The Incomplete Projects is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to 20th Century Cultural Studies reference collections and reading lists.

The Racial State
David Theo Goldberg
Blackwell Publishers
350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148
0631199217 $26.95 1-800-216-2522

The Racial State by David Theo Goldberg (Director of the system-wide University of California Humanities Research Institute and Professor of African American Studies and Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California - Irvine) is an astutely written, scholarly account that blends political and social theory, in a meticulous and deftly written study of the intersection of race and the formation and government of nation-states. Challenging the reader to reconsider long-held preconceptions, The Racial State is an erudite and very highly recommended college-level study which breaks new ground in its seminal analysis of human, social, and governmental behavior.


The Self-Help Shelf

The Power Of Positive Habits
Dan Robey
Abritt Publishing Group
PO Box 77-1148, Miami, FL 33177-1148
0972521976 $16.95 www.abritt.com

The Power Of Positive Habits by health and fitness expert Dan Robey provides the reading with an exceptionally "user friendly", step-by-step program to inculcate positive habits for permanent weight loss, better general health and fitness, improved personal and professional relationships, as well as healthier heart, success, and exercise habits. If you have time for only one do-it-yourself, self-help, self-improvement title, then make it Dan Robey's The Power Of Positive Habits!

If I'd Known Then What I Know Now
J. R. Parrish
Cypress House
Cate Cummings (publicity)
155 Cypress Street, Fort Bragg, CA 95437
1879384493 $12.95 cypresshouse.com

If I'd Known Then What I Know Now is the memoir and advice guide of J. R. Parrish, a man who went from milkman to millionaire. His wisdom, mistakes, dynamic transformations, practical suggestions, and much more, fill the pages of this highly recommended read for anyone looking to better their own lot without getting stuck on the same hurdles that have floored countless others before them. If I'd Known Then What I Know Now is one book where the subtitle says it all -- "Why not learn from the mistakes of others? You can't afford to make them all yourself!".

Confronting the Horror
Wilma L. Derksen
Amity Publishers
c/o Kindred Productions (distributor)
169 Riverton Avenue, Winnipeg, MB, Canada, R2L 2E5
0973155701 $17.50 1-800-545-7322

Confronting The Horror: The Aftermath Of Violence by Wilma L. Derksen combines graphic honesty with compassion and hope while serving as a practical guide through the aftermath of violence. Addressing both the personal and justice issues encountered after experiencing a violent act, Confronting The Horror takes the reader through the fifteen elements of serious crime which are intricately associated with victim's journey to recovery. With it's "reader friendly" text enhanced with personal stories, Confronting The Horror is especially recommended reading for victims of crime, as well as their friends, family, and service providers. Also highly recommended are two other relevant titles: Sue Simpson's Getting Through The Maze: A Guidebook For Survivors Of Homicide (0968838561, $6.75) and Wilma L. Derksen's Have You Seen Candace?: A Mother's True Story Of Coping With The Murder Of Her Daughter (097315571X, $11.75).


The Fiction Shelf

The Good Men
Charmaine Craig
Riverhead Books/Penguin
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
1573229733 $14.00 www.amazon.com

A young woman in 14th century France is tried for heresy by the Catholic Inquisition and finds many different points of view come to light in the process of her trial in The Good Men, a powerful work of historical fiction. Fans of the genre will find this an involving and eye-opening piece which is packed with believable, well-researched background.

The Side Of Brightness
Colum McCann
Picador
175 Fifth Avenue, NY, NY 10010
0312421974 $13.00 picadorusa.com

Set both during the turn of the century and in the present day, The Side Of Brightness by Colum McCann is an original and rewarding novel of workers who undertook one of the most dangerous jobs in existence - that of the sandhog, someone who digs under the bowels of the riverbed to create the tunnel that will carry trains from Brooklyn to Manhattan. The counterpoint of a homeless person living beneath the streets today complements this saga of those who risked (and often lost) their lives to advance transportation and technology in this complex and involving story of the building of New York City. Also very highly recommended are Colum McCann's previous works: (Everything In The Country Must (0312273185, $11.00) and Songdogs (0312147414, $12.00).

Face To Face
Linda Dorrell
Baker Book House
Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
0801064252 $11.99 bakerbooks.com

Face To Face by Linda Dorrell is a heart-wrenching novel about a recovering alcoholic mother's search to find her lost daughter. Meanwhile, a sheriff's detective is confronted with a baffling murder mystery and myriad family problems. Their stories intersect in this powerful and emotionally moving saga of the search for redemption and second chances.

An Unclean Act
Dean Burgess
The Permanent Press
Gulotta Communications (publicity)
4170 Noyac Road, Sag Harbor, NY 11963
1579620469 $26.00 www.amazon.com

Set in 1661 among Puritan colonists of America, An Unclean Act by Dean Burgess is an engaging and deftly written novel about religious intolerance, and conflicts between men and women of the pioneer era. Painting an unembellished picture of how life truly was, An Unclean Act follows the story of Thomas Burge, a man trapped in a loveless marriage, whose affair with another woman is considered "unclean" by community standards. An Unclean Act is recommended as being a thought-provoking period piece.

Stealing The Ambassador
Sameer Parekh
The Free Press
0743214307 $13.00 simonsays.com

Stealing The Ambassador by Sameer Parekh is an astutely written novel of family, clashing beliefs, and the eternal yearning for a happy and prosperous future. Rajiv Kothari is a young man whose father believes that success and freedom can only be truly enjoyed in America, while his grandfather believes in such ideals for their native India. The dynamic tension and interplay between generations is a crucial focus point in this captivating, enriching, highly recommended read.


The Graphic Novel/Comix Shelf

NBM
www.nbmpublishing.com

Three new graphic novels provide adventure and stories holding special appeal. Take Mattotti and Kramsky's Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1561633305, $15.95), for example. Stevenson's classic comes alive in full color, emphasizing the underlying psychological tension in a title which brings alive the evil hidden in a respected man's soul. Will Eisner retells Sundiata: Lion Of Mali (1561633321, $15.95), bringing to visual prowess the story of a crippled boy who becomes a brave young man able to face down a mighty ruler. Schuiten and Peeters' The Invisible Frontier (1561633-33X, $15.95) adds to the 'Cities of the Fantastic' series, using time travel and cartography to provide a fantasy of political satire and social commentary. In an allusion to Serbia, this tells of an effort to thwart geography and leadership to provide a new design. All are unique, intriguing treatments.


The Needlecraft Shelf

Pick-A-Pattern Applique & Variations
Joan Sjuts Waldman
American Quilter's Society
PO Box 3290, Paducah, KY 42002-3290
1574328034 $24.95 www.AQSquilt.com

Pick-A-Pattern Applique & Variations by needlecraft expert Joan Waldman is a thoroughly "user friendly" compendium of pattens, settings, and techniques for personally designing a quilt which will reflect individual stye by changing the blocks in a setting and employing different techniques to stitch or paint the blocks. Pick-A-Pattern Applique & Variations shows that by mixing or matching the pattern pieces, anyone can create a virtually unique, one-of-a-kind quilt with its own distinctive "personality" -- especially when coupled with different methods of hand or machine applique, embroidery, redwork, paint, stencils, or trapunto. With its fifty beautifully designed blocks inspired by 18th and 19th century album quilts, Pick-A-Pattern Applique & Variations is a simply wonderful addition to any dedicated quilter's reference collection.

Americana Quilts
Sandy Bonsib
Martingale & Company
20205 144th Avenue NE, Woodinville, WA 98072-8478
1564774651 $22.95 martingale-pub.com

Americana Quilts by educator and quilting expert Sandy Bonsib is a colorful, practical, illustrated, 79-page guide to simple quilting designs which celebrate American heritage and culture. The step-by-step instructions make Americana Quilts needlecraft projects very easy to follow and provides a truly first-rate and highly recommended resource for quilters of all skill and experience levels.

Applique Inside The Lines
Carol Armstrong
C & T Publishing
PO Box 1456, Lafayette, CA 94549
1571201890 $23.95 1-800-284-1114

Applique Inside The Lines: 12 Quilt Projects To Embroider & Applique by quilting expert Carol Armstrong offers the needlecrafter twelve superbly presented and highly recommended projects depicting traditional quilting pattern favorites including flowers, fruit, hearts, stars, butterflies, and fish. Each pattern provides complete instructions and patterns for easy embroidery and simple applique. Offering ideas and inspiration for individual quilting designs, Applique Inside The Lines offers a fun technique accessible to even the most novice beginner, yet has great creative value for even the more seasoned quilting and needleworking expert.


The Cookbook Shelf

Asian Sauces & Marinades
Wendy Sweetser
Firefly Books
PO Box 1338, Buffalo NY 14025
1552976149 $19.95 1-800-387-5085

Asian Sauces & Marinades is a recommended pick for any who would learn the secrets of Asian cuisine and who have access to a well-stocked Asian market. Marinades, stir-fry sauces, curries, and glazes are accompanied by tips and hints on how to prepare classic dishes in home kitchens. Both familiar and unusual recipes for all types of Asian dishes are accompanied by color photos. Asian Sauces & Marinades is a welcome addition to any kitchen cookbook collection!

Tastes Of The Pyrenees, Classic And Modern
Marina Chang
Hippocrene Books
171 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016
0781809495 $24.95 www.amazon.com

The Pyrenees region blends both French and Spanish cuisine and culture, offering dishes which are a product of different cultural traditions. Both traditional and modern dishes from the region are included in Tastes Of The Pyrenees, Classic And Modern Range from Catalan Beef Stew and Oxtail Stew to Lobster and Rabbit with Lemon Butter. An excellent survey of changing Catalan food styles emerges. No photos, but the dishes are relatively easy to reproduce and don't need them.

Vegetarian Cooking
Better Homes And Gardens
Meredith Books
1716 Locust St., Des Moines, IA 50336
0696213451 $16.95 1-800-678-8091

The new Better Homes And Gardens Vegetarian Cooking is a compilation of sixty-five healthy, meatless recipes covering the full range of meal menu planning. Enhanced with more than thirty full color photographs, and offering nutritional information, each recipe is made from familiar, accessible ingredients with results that will please any palate and satisfy any appetite. From Artichoke-Stuffed New Potatoes; Carrot and Chile Pepper Soup; Southwestern Black Bean Cakes; and Sweet Onion and Rice Casserole; to Cheese Frittata with Mushrooms; Summertime Eggplant and Herbs; Grilled Gazpacho Sandwiches; and Zucchini, Corn, and Potato Tacos, Vegetarian Cooking will quickly become a "family favorite" addition to the vegetarian cookbook shelf.

1,001 Low-Fat Recipes
Sue Spitler
Surrey Books
230 East Ohio Street, Chicago, IL 60611
157284048X $19.95 surreybooks.com

Now in a completely revised, expanded, and updated edition, Sue Spitler's 1,001 Low-Fat Recipes is enhanced with the inclusion of more than five hundred new and delicious recipes. Most of the entrees feature ten or fewer ingredients and take less than thirty minutes to prepare. 1,001 Low-Fat Recipes offers the kitchen cook a culinary wealth of 64 appetizers; 77 soups; 43 salads; 54 chicken-based dishes; 42 pizzas; 44 vegetarian entrees; 53 pasta entrees; 45 meat dishes; 46 rice, grains and bean dishes; 17 breads and muffins; 50 seafood dishes; 46 vegetable dishes; 45 sauces; 125 desserts -- and more! Every recipe features nutritional facts for calories, fat, cholesterol, sodium, protein, carbohydrates, and diabetic exchanges. Now health conscious kitchen cookbook collection can be considered as complete or comprehensive without the inclusion of 1,001 Low-Fat Recipes!

Man, A Can, A Plan
David Joachim
Rodale Press
400 South Tenth St., Emmaus, PA 18098
1579546072 $15.95 www.rodale.com

Compiled by David Joachim (with the assistance of the editorial staff of "Men's Health"), A Man, A Can, A Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make is an innovative recipe book emphasizing delicious and appetite satisfying dishes that are quick and easy to make from off-the-shelf canned goods. The recipes are printed on laminated cardboard-stock pages that are resistant to cooking mishaps and easy to clean with a damp washcloth. From Mandarin Chicken Express; Fish in a Blanket; and Mexi Chili Pie; to Spud Skins with Bean Salsa; Mushroom Meat Loaf; and Fruit-Cup Shortcake, A Man, A Can, A Plan is enthusiastically recommended as being first-rate culinary resource for men (and women) who enjoy appetizing meals but hate investing extensive time to prepare them.

Cookbook Of The Year
Don Collins
Hara Publishing Group
PO Box 507, Lynnwood, WA 98046
1883697352 $21.95 harapublishing.com

Don Collins' Cookbook Of The Year is a meal-planning compilation of 52 weeks worth of outstanding recipes reflecting the culinary needs for the health-conscious cook. Enhanced with weekly shopping lists and time-saving tips, each creative and complete meal is based on easy-to-follow, "kitchen friendly" recipes. Each individual dish is accompanied by a preparation time estimate and serving numbers. From Orange Roughy with Mustard Glaze; Smoked Salmon Pasta; and Lemon Chicken with Rice; to Omelet with Italian Turkey Sausage and Spinach; Hot Fajita Salad; and Pasta Prima Vera, Cookbook Of The Year offers a full year's worth of culinary delights and terrific dining!

Cooking By Moonlight
Karri Ann Alrich
Llewellyn
PO Box 64383, St. Paul, MN 55164-0383
1567180159 $17.95 www.llewellyn.com

The recipes comprising Cooking By Moonlight: A Witch's Guide To Culinary Magic are in balance with the seasons and in harmony with the phases of the moon. From Pesto Artichoke Hearts Baked in Parmesan; Orange-Walnut Scones; and Creamy Garlic Grits; to Maple-Pecan Roasted Squash; Strawberry Snow; and Blue Moon Berry Crisp, Cooking By Moonlight recipes are easy to prepare, delightful to serve, and delicious to consume. Of special value to Wiccans are the additional chapters devoted to "Love Foods and Practical Magic", "Using Herbs and Spices Magically", "Lunar Lessons and Moonlit Menus", and "Goddess-Worth Beverages".

Dad's Own Cook Book
Bob Sloan
Workman Publishing Company
708 Broadway, 6th Fl., NY, NY 10003
0894807668 $13.95 1-800-722-7202

Compiled by professional New York-based caterer Bob Sloan, Dad's Own Cook Book is a "guy friendly" kitchen cookbook covering all the basics with charts, tips, and directions ideal for even the most novice newcomer to meal time preparations. Beginning with how to shop for groceries, and then moving on to food processors and microwaves, saute pans and clean up, Dad's Own Cook Book is a complete course of instruction on what to do and how to do it. Ranging from the basic egg (boiled, scrambled, fried, poached, and the omelet) to soups, salads, pastas, stews, and desserts, every element and aspect of the meal is covered with a wealth of delicious recipes. There are even invaluable sections devoted to making pizza with the kids, cooking in the great outdoors, cooking for a crowd, holding a cocktail party, and birthday parties for the children! Whether for the suddenly single father, or the helpful hubby wanting to give the wife a break, Dad's Own Cook Book is the perfect instructional reference combined with a cornucopia of outstanding (and easy to make) recipes for all occasions!

From Generation To Generation
A Temple Emanu-El Cookbook
c/o FRP, dist.
2451 Atrium Way, Nashville TN 37214
0972076905 $24.95 1-800-358-0560

Recipes can (and often are) timeless culinary messages of family meal-time bonding as well as community-oriented celebatory traditions. From Generation To Generation is a perfect example of this. From Hot Artichoke Dip; Brandied Cranberries; and Honey Ritz Chicken; to Apricot Pound Cake; Ice Cream Strudel; and Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls, From Generation To Generation offers up recipes that would grace any table and satisfy any appetite!

Mangia Bene
Pasqualina Rio Gregory
Hale Mary
c/o Syracuse University Press
621 Skytop Road, #110, Syracuse, NY 13244-5290
0964347792 $35.00 www.amazon.com

This survey of Italy's traditional recipes packs in hundreds of traditional Italian recipes collected from both north and south, reflecting Pasqualina Rio Gregory's personal travels through the country as well as her family heritage. Her favorites comprising Mangia Bene represent the range of Italian dishes, with over sixty color photos of Italy capturing the Italian countryside. It's not the photos which are the standout here, though: it's the recipes, which blend both old styles with new creations speciifc to different regions.

Best Of The Best From The Great Plains Cookbook
Gwen McKee & Barbara Mosely, eds.
Quail Ridge Press
PO Box 123, Brandon, MS 39043
0937552852 $16.95 quailridge.com

Best Of The Best From The Great Plains Cookbook compiles its recipes from 88 cookbooks drawn from North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Kansas. From a non-alcoholic Hot Buttered Rum to Mexican Ice Cream, this impressive, highly recommended compendium offers up wonderful selections for any family meal time or celebratory dining occasion. Of special interest to cookbook enthusiasts is the extensive listing of titles for the entire "Best of the Best" cookbook series from Quail Ridge Press.


The Education Shelf

College In Three Years
John C. Attig
iUniverse.com, Inc.
2021 Pine Lake Road, Lincoln, NE 68512
0595219675 $12.95 www.iuniverse.com

John C. Attig's College In Three Years: Stop Wasting Time & Money is a very practical, sensible, "user friendly" guide to conserving the expenses of a higher education. Offering advice on using advanced placement tests and college-level exams to earn credits without taking courses, as well as Internet correspondence courses and community college courses, College In Three Years also advises shortening a college career by taking extra courses and summer school, instead of a part-time job which will not only reduce one's available time for education but which will also reduce opportunities for financial aid. A highly recommended guide with useful advice even for those who don't have three years in college as their exact maximum goal, College In Three Years is especially recommended and invaluable reading for anyone seeking a college degree despite limited financial resources.

School Vouchers And Privatization
Danny Weil
ABC-CLIO Inc.
Box 1911, Santa Barbara, CA 93116-1911
1576073467 $45.00 1-800-368-6868

School Vouchers And Privatization: A Reference Handbook by education consultant and expert Danny Weil presents unbiased information on controversial matters arising from proposals to privatize education and the concept of school vouchers. Careful descriptive analysis is providing for their impacts on diverse aspect of education including: special education, alternative schools, student rights, diverse sexuality in schools, Native American education, and much, much more. Presenting all sides on these hotly debated issues (such as the arguments for and against neoliberalism and privatization efforts), School Vouchers And Privatization is an invaluable contribution for today's national dialogue on the issue and very highly recommended reading for anyone who needs to know the facts without having to sift through layers of biased propaganda.

Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools?
David Mathews
NewSouth Books
PO Box 1588, Montgomery, AL 36102
1588381102 $15.95 newsouthbooks.com

Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools?: What Early Communities Have To Tell Us by David Mathews (former President of the University of Alabama, former Secretary of the United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and current Trustee and President of the Kettering Foundation) is a close and analytical look at how frontier communities such as those in Alabama came together to build their schools, extracting lessons from history that can be applicable to the present and the future conditions of education. From scrutinizing past attitudes, to the profound impact of the Free Public School Act of 1854, to unintended consequences of the state system of public schools, and more, Why Public Schools? Whose Public Schools? is a thoughtful, highly recommended historical survey of the groundwork from which our current system originated -- with all its flaws and achievements.

Multicultural Literature For Children & Young Adults
Mingshui Cai
Greenwood Press
PO Box 5007, Westport, CT 06881-5007
0313312443 $64.95 1-800-225-5800

The steep price tag of this college-level reference will limit its acquisition to only the most specialized of collections; but there's much discussion of multicultural literature in education today, and any school or curriculum serious about its importance will find Multicultural Literature For Children & Young Adults to be an essential reference. This examines the foundations of issues related to such literature, critiquing multicultural literature both individually and as a whole, and analyzing the role of authors and readers in contributing to the experience. The result is not the expected bibliography of works; but a critical assessment of the field as a whole which provides many important insights to parents and teachers alike.

With Rigor For All
Carol Jago
Heinemann
361 Hanover St., Portsmouth, NH 03801
1893056066 $20.00 heinemann.com

With Rigor For All: Teaching The Classics To Contemporary Students By Carol Jago (Director of the California Reading and Literature Project at UCLA) is a persuasive and engaging enthusiastic advocacy for the values and benefits of teaching classic works of literature to contemporary students. From a methodology that helps students to think about the classics and interpret the stories for themselves, to book lists of great classics for the classroom, to a cautious survey of obstacles that can interfere with learning about the classics, With Rigor For All is an excellent and recommended supplementary resource for classroom educators and curriculum developers.

Ready, Set, Read
Janet Chambers
Zephyr Press
Box 66006, Tucson, Arizona, 85728-6006
1569761515 $34.95 1-800-232-2187

Ready, Set, Read: Building A Love Of Letters And Literacy Through Fun Phonics Activities by educator and experienced classroom teacher Janet Chambers embraces multisensory education, the idea of using phonics and other methods to reinforce reading skills in whole-body ways. Explained techniques include word walls, personal flashcards, drawings, word books, and other parallel extension activities in this superb guide for teaching young ones preschool through third grade to read well and love it. Although primarily designed for traditional classroom instructors, Ready, Set, Read is also very highly recommended (and "user friendly") for homeschooling parents as well.

Stories Of Beginning Teachers
Alysia D. Roehrig, et al.
University of Notre Dame Press
310 Flanner Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556
0268017778 $15.00 undpress.nd.edu

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Alysia D. Roehrig, Michael Pressley, and Denise A. Talotta, Stories Of Beginning Teachers: First-Year Challenges And Beyond is an informed and informative survey and description of the unique and manifold challenges new classroom teachers face, replete with anecdotes from teachers during their first year on the job, including memorable encounters, students, and tasks. A highly accessible look at the especial travails of one of the most important occupations concerning the future of humankind, Stories Of Beginning Teachers is especially commended reading for anyone contemplating embarking upon a teaching career.

Differentiation In Practice
Carol Ann Tomlinson
Caroline Cunningham Eidson
ASCD
1703 N. Beauregard Street, Alexandria, VA 22311-1714
0871206552 $29.95 www.ascd.org

Differentiation In Practice: A Resource Guide For Differentiating Curriculum Grades 5-9 is a very practical, tool filled resources complete with annotated lesson plans applicable to social studies, language arts, science, mathematics, foreign languages, and more. Providing sample differentiated worksheets, product assignments, rubrics, homework handouts, and a great deal more, Differentiation In Practice is a very highly recommended, "user friendly", step-by-step guide to evolving the curriculum to adequately meet the manifold challenges of inquisitive young minds.

Beyond The Bard
Joshua Rutsky
Allyn & Bacon
160 Gould Street, Needham Heights, MA 02494-2310
0205308090 $22.00 www.abacon.com

Compiled by Joshua Rutsky, Beyond The Bard: Fifty Plays For Use In The English Classroom offers summaries of the themes, set requirements, planning ideas and more of fifty different plays classroom teachers can utilize as part of the curriculums for their English Literature classes. A superb catalog that carefully outlines the works its presents and offers "red flags" as to any suggestive or possibly inappropriate material, before discriminating teachers have to pay expensive royalties for right to peruse and perform the plays themselves, Beyond The Bard: Fifty Plays For Use In The English Classroom is a unique and very highly recommended contribution to Highschool and College English Department and Theater Department curriculum supplementation and reference collections.

Adventuring With Books
Amy A. McClure & Janice V. Kristo, eds.
National Council of Teachers of English
1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801
0814100732 $39.95 1-800-369-6283

Now in an updated thirteenth edition, Adventuring With Books: A Booklist For Pre-K - Grade 6 is a superb reference and book guide, presenting recommended scholastic titles from appealing fiction to practical and educational information to poetry and high fantasy. Each listed suggestion is aptly summarized in a thoughtful paragraph, offering a close snapshot of what the book itself is like. Collaboratively compiled and edited by Amy A. McClure and Janice V. Kristos (and drawing upon the resources and contributions of the Committee to Revise the Elementary School Booklist), Adventuring With Books is a very highly recommended reference for both elementary school teachers and grade school librarians.

Letters To Dalton
John R. Turner
Word and Image
45 Liberty Street, Montpelier, VT 05602
0972342605 $12.00 1-802-299-5032

Letters To Dalton: Higher Education And The Degree Salesmen by education observer and commentator John R. Turner is an impressive collection of thirty-six letters in which he deftly presents a variety of attitudes and viewpoints critiquing high schools and colleges. Sometimes invective, sometimes inspirational, always with an eye toward the foundation of educational institutions rather than their surface issues, Letters To Dalton: Higher Education And The Degree Salesmen is an erudite presentation and highly recommended reading -- especially for those charged with responsibilities as educational administrators, policy makers, and curriculum developers.

Hands-On Information Literacy Activities
Jane Birks & Fiona Hunt
Neal-Schuman Publishers
100 Varick Street, New York, NY 10013
1555704565 $75.00 neal-schuman.com

Hands-On Information Literacy Activities by Information Literacy Librarians Jane Birks and Fiona Hunt (working on the Dubai and Abu Dhabi campuses of Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates) is an impressively presented multimedia resource for high school and college librarians and teachers for instructing children and young adults on how to assess their information ;needs and address them with library catalogues, search engines, databases, search strings, Boolean and other advanced searching techniques. Each activity has been successfully tested with both secondary school and undergraduate college students. Ethical practices in the use of information is provided special attention. Enhanced with an accompanying CD-ROM containing all the activity materials and handouts in Microsoft Word for easy customization, Hands-On Information Literacy Activities is an enthusiastically recommended addition to Library Science and Education Department reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Metaphysical Studies Shelf

Egyptian Mystics
Moustafa Gadalla
Tehuti Research Foundation
Box 39406, Greensboro, NC 27438-9406
1931446059 $11.95 egypt-tehuti.org

Egyptian Mystics: Seekers Of The Way is an impressive and groundbreaking contribution to an enlightened and enlightening study of the Egyptian contributions to Sufism and Alchemy in the ancient world. Iconoclastic Egyptologist Moustafa Gadalla provides an informed and informative examination and correlation between the Ancient Egyptian calendar of events and the cycles of the universe -- including the Egyptian contributions to the Christian calendar in terms of Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, and more. Egyptian Mystics is an original, thought-provoking, and thoroughly "reader friendly" study which is enthusiastically recommended for students of Sufism, Egyptology, and metaphysics.

New Page Books
3 Tice Rd., Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417
1-800-227-3371 www.amazon.com

Laura Perry's The Wiccan Wellness Book: Natural Healthcare For Mind, Body, And Spirit (1564146235, $14.99) is not to be missed: it's an unusual combination of natural health practices and Wiccan earth-oriented spirituality and as such fits neatly with both holistic healing practices and spiritual beliefs. A set of rituals helps blend physical, mental and spiritual health into one unified goal. Carl McColman's When Someone You Love Is Wiccan: A Guide to Witchcraft and Paganism for Concerned Friends, Nervous Parents, and Curious Co-Workers (1564146227, $13.99) provides a concise explanation of wicca for those who have little knowledge of the pagan spirituality. When an acquaintance proclaims their belief and membership in a Wiccan coven, it's this introduction which should be picked up it covers everything from basic Wiccan spiritual foundations to etiquette in interacting with Wiccans and other pagans.


The Journalism Shelf

What Liberal Media?
Eric Alterman
Basic Books
387 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016
0465001769 $25.00 1-800-242-7737

What Liberal Media?: The Truth About Bias And The News by media columnist Eric Alterman is a close and critical survey and analysis of crucial questions for the information age ranging from whose interests does the media strive to protect?; to "Is bias in the media keeping the public from the whole story?". The most stringent criticism of the media has generally come from the political Right, claiming that the media has a strong bias to the Left - yet journalist and historian Eric Alterman offers his own take on the conflicting forces of media bias -- including strong forces of conservative bias that are all too often overlooked. Highly recommended reading for students and non-specialist general readers with an interest in American journalism and the issue of media-bias, What Liberal Media? is a thought-provoking and sharply written account.

The World News Prism
William A. Hachten & James F. Scotton
Iowa State Press
2121 State Avenue, Ames, IA 50014-8300
0813827884 $32.99 iowastatepress.com

Now in its sixth edition, updated to include how the world news media responded to the September 11th attack on America, The World News Prism: Global Media In An Era Of Terrorism by William A. Hachten (Professor Emeritus Of Journalism And Mass Communication, University of Wisconsin - Madison) and James F. Scotton (Associate Professor of Journalism, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an informative and analytical survey of a wide variety of media and its influences within the context of the twenty-first century, including the Internet, modern public diplomacy and political warfare, globalization of the information distribution, and much, much more. The World News Prism is a fascinating and eruditely presented study which is especially recommended for Journalism, Media Studies, Political Science, and International Studies reference collections and reading lists.


The Literary Shelf

Ulysses
James Joyce
Dover Publications
31 E. 2nd St., Mineola, NY 11501
0486424448 $29.95 1-800-223-3130

This photomechanical reproduction of the 1922 first edition of James Joyce's Ulysses is a recommended pick for any library seeking a replacement for worn, aging paperback copies. The unabridged republication provides new audiences with the highlight of Joyce's literary career and is a cut above some packages which lack eye appeal.

D. H. Lawrence: Self And Sexuality
James C. Cowan
Ohio State University Press
1070 Carmack Road, Columbus, OH 43210-1002
0814209149 $49.95 ohiostatepress.org

D. H. Lawrence: Self And Sexuality by James C. Cowan (Founder and Editor of "The D. H. Lawrence Review" and recipient of The D. H. Lawrence Society of North America Award for Distinguished Scholarship) is a thoughtful and thought-provoking psychologically oriented examination of assorted issues arising from the sexual topics found throughout the writings of D. H. Lawrence. Professor Cowan ranges from employing object relation theories of D. W. Winnicott, to traditional Freudian interpretations, to self-psycho-logical terms, and much, much more. An erudite and meticulously reasoned account, D. H. Lawrence: Self And Sexuality is an original and seminal contribution which is especially commended to students of the life and work of D. H. Lawrence.

The Talk In Jane Austen
Bruce Stovel & Lynn Weinlos Gregg, eds.
The University of Alberta Press
Ring House 2, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6G 2E1
0888643748 $29.95 www.uap.ualberta.ca

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Bruce Stovel (Department of English, University of Alberta) and highschool English teacher Lynn Weinlos Gregg (Edmonton, Alberta), The Talk In Jane Austen is an imposing collection of articulate and insightful essays contributed by a variety of learned contributors, each of whom examines Jane Austen's memorable and classic novels. Focusing in particular upon dialogue, from how Jane Austen's characters use conversation to further their aims, to Austen's delicate subtexts and ironies, The Talk In Jane Austen is thoughtful and thought-provoking in its analysis, as well as informed and informatively detailed in its detection of fine layers. The Talk In Jane Austen is an invaluable contribution to Literary Studies and very highly recommended reading for Jane Austen enthusiasts.

The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites
Katharine A. Dean, et al.
Libraries Unlimited
88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
1563089351 $29.95 www.lu.com

The collaborative effort of Katharine A. Dean, Miriam Conteh-Morgan, and James K. Bracken, The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites is an authoritative, informative, useful and "user friendly" guide to websites devoted to the lives and works women writers. Focusing on more than 180 women writers ranging from medieval to contemporary, and whose works are widely incorporated into college level literary studies, each individual entry comprising The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites includes concise lists of the best websites, printed sources (including biographies, criticisms, dictionaries, handbooks, indexes, concordances, journals, and bibliographies). The Undergraduate's Companion To Women Writers And Their Web Sites is an especially recommended addition to Women's Studies and Literary Studies academic reference resource collections.

Fables Of The Novel
Warren Motte
Dalkey Archive Press
ISU Campus Box 8905, Normal, IL 61790-8905
1564782832 $19.95 dalkeyarchive.com

Fables Of The Novel: French Fiction Since 1990 by Warren Motte (Professor of French and Comparative Literature, University of Colorado) looks at ten French novels published during the 1990s as samples and examples of a trend toward innovation that transcends traditional plots, themes, and messages in contemporary French literature. Scrutinizing the evolution of the French novel, as well as drawing out hidden insights in modern work, Fables Of The Novel is a scholarly and strongly recommended contribution to the study of contemporary French Literatre.


The Jobs/Careers Shelf

Finding Your Perfect Work
Paul Edwards & Sarah Edwards
Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10014
1585422169 $17.95 penguinputnam.com

Now in a newly revised and updated edition for the twenty-first century, Finding Your Perfect Work by Paul Edwards and Sarah Edwards is a practical career guide offering personal style surveys, information about degree requirements, an alphabetical directory of self-employment careers, and much, much more. A handy, easy-to-use resource for finding a path in life that one enjoys most, Finding Your Perfect Work is a welcome and recommended addition to personal, job center, and career counseling reference collections and reading lists.

Impact Publications
9104-N Manassas Dr., Manassas Park, VA 20111-5211
www.amazon.com

Three new titles provide some important keys to jobs and job-hunting for both newcomers to the field and those who have been downsized recently. Newcomers will appreciate Ron and Caryl Krannich's Job Hunting Guide: Transitioning From College To Career (1570231885, $14.95), directed to new graduates. From skills assessment and building important networking contacts to setting goals, researching companies, and acing difficult interview questions, this covers both personal and electronic job search techniques and is a recommended pick for newcomers to the job market. Their Nail The Job Interview! 101 Dynamite Answers To Interview Questions (1570232075, $13.95) should also be considered a 'Bible' of information: chapters outline over thirty common mistakes in answering typical interview questions, tell how to apply key principles to the job interview process, and show what differentiates a winning response from a loser. Those already employed who dream of something better will want to consult Gary Rubin's Quit Your Job And Grow Some Hair: Know When To Go, When To Stay (157023-1915, $15.95), a guide which imparts the basics of how to find jobs, communicate with others, and make career-changing decisions. All are excellent guides for all levels of job-seeker.


The Fantasy/Sci-Fi Shelf

Seven Beyond
Stella Atrium
PublishAmerica
Cate Cummings (publicity)
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
1591296013 $24.95 publishamerica.com

A lifespan stretching 800 years is nothing exceptional to the ancient Longists in Seven Beyond, a fantastic story of spiritual bonds between worlds and lifeforms. Combining the journey for a new place to call home with the emotion of true friendship, Seven Beyond is an involving, metaphysical, and emotional saga, and documents Stella Atrium as an original and talented writer of science fiction fantasy.

Angelica
Sharon Shinn
Ace Books
375 Hudson St., NY, NY 10014
044101013X $23.95 www.amazon.com

Fans of Sharon Shinn will welcome her return to the planet Samaria, with a new fantasy of an archangel who has chosen a nomadic tribal woman to be his mate. Susannah bows to God's will, but a slow affection grows between mortal and near-mortal, and when a threat to their world introduces new dangers to her, it's up to Archangel and Angelica to work together to rescue their people. Strong characterization keeps this fantasy fast-paced.

Conquistador
S.M. Stirling
ROC
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
0451459083 $23.95 www.amazon.com

This novel of alternate history is set in 1946, in an alternative America where the white man is about to discover America. Oakland ex-soldier John discovers a portal between alternate worlds, a 21st century game warden discovers an impossible historical juxtaposition, and two very different histories threaten to crash together in this story of discovery and challenge.

Throne Price
Lynda Williams & Alison Sinclair
Edge Science Fiction/Fantasy Publishing
PO Box 1714, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2P 2L7
1894063066 $13.95 edgewebsite.com

Collaboratively co-written by Lynda Williams and Alison Sinclair, Throne Price is an impressively presented science fiction saga of conflict and tension between a hierarchical empire of genetically modified humans and a republic that embraces computer technology. Rivalry for the empire's throne threatens war and bloodshed, and tests the worth of one man who has tried to delicately balance political forces for eighteen years. An exhilarating and enjoyable read, Throne Price is enthusiastically recommended reading for dedicated and discerning science fiction fans.

The Literary Werewolf
Charlotte F. Otten, editor
Syracuse University Press
1600 Jamesville Avenue, Syracuse, NY 13244-5160
0815607539 $24.95 1-800-365-8929

The Literary Werewolf is an impressive and diverse anthology of twenty-two werewolf tales by twenty-two very talented authors ranging from antiquity down to the present day. Each individual story paints a different perspective of this unique mythical creatures, some portraying them as bloodthirsty and murderous villains, and some as intelligent and determined protectors or avengers. From Stephen King's February, Cycle of the Werewolf; to Rudyard Kipling's The Mark of the Beast; to Ovid's Lycaon's Punishment; to Algernon Blackwood's Running Wolf, these stories take the reader on powerful journeys into the human psyche as well as providing an outstanding literary celebration of lycanthrope legend and lore.

March To The Stars
David Weber & John Ringo
Baen Books
PO Box 1403, Riverdale, NY 10471
0743435621 $26.00 www.amazon.com

Roger is having a rough year: the worst of events is his discovery of his heritage to be a warrior prince and to embark on a world adventure. Political intrigues and battles mark his days and Roger and his allies must face an impossible civilization in order to hijack a starship to find the way to his true home. Tongue-in-cheek wry humor blends with fast-paced political confrontation.

Lord Kelvin's Machine
James P. Blaylock
Arkham House Publishers, Inc.
PO Box 546, Sauk City, WI 53583
0870541633 $19.95 arkhamhouse.com

Deftly written by James P. Blaylock (a winner of the World Fantasy Award and the Philip K. Dick Memorial Award), Lord Kelvin's Machine is a fantastic steampunk saga set in Victorian London. Our intrepid hero, Langdon St. Ives, is devastated by murder and surrounded by mayhem in the midst of an uproar over (and battles to possess) a wondrous machine with the power to travel through Time itself. An astutely told science fiction adventure laced through and through with humanity, reflection, high escapades, drama, and coming to grips with the terrible specter of death, Lord Kelvin's Machine is enthusiastically recommended reading for all dedicated science fiction enthusiasts.

DAW Books
375 Hudson St., NY NY 10014
1-800-847-5515 www.amazon.com

Mercedes Lackey's new Joust (0756401-224, $24.95) is powered by the strong character of one serf Vetch, whose anger enables him to survive countless beatings by his master. When he changes masters after a chance encounter with a dragon, he enters a different world where his anger continues to motivate him to learn secrets and contemplate changes. Kate Elliott's Gathering Storm (0756401194, $24.95) is a recommended pick for prior readers of the Crown of Stars series. This represents Volume 5 in the growing set and tells of a cataclysm about to descend on the world as the lost land of the Aoi returns to the earth. Add armies, legions of fantasy creatures, spells and counterspells and you have a political fantasy epic which prior fans will consider a strong addition to the story.

Comes The End
William Creed
House of Stuart Publishing
64155 Van Dyke, Washington, MI 48095
0972289135 $14.95 www.amazon.com

Comes The End: A Futuristic Thriller by William Creed is a fascinating, astutely written look at what could happen if aliens were to visit the Earth. The aliens choose 144,000 people to meet their ships (seemingly at random), save that each one is atheist or agnostic. Comes The End is tense, original, entertaining, and highly recommended science fiction thriller with layers of deceit and twists.


The Audiobook Shelf

Soldier Of The Legion
Tracey Estes, Producer/Director
Timberwolf Press
202 North Allen Drive, Suite A, Allen, TX 75013
1587520419 $49.95 timberwolfpress.com

Soldier Of The Legion is a 9 hour, 8 CD, unabridged audio dramatization of a superbly written, presented and performed science fiction action/adventure audiobook thriller. Seeking adventure, "Thinker" is a young man who joined the Legion which defends the Confederation of Free Worlds against the depredation of space pirates, slavers, forces of the despotic inner world systems based empire known as the "System", and the utterly lethal and horrific alien race known only as the Omnis. It's up to Thinker and his rather colorful squad mates to go where they are sent and to fight the enemy wherever they are to be found. The action is fairly nonstop and includes fascinating interpersonal relations within their own ranks. Superbly enhanced with sound effects and benefiting from a large cast of talented voice actors, Solider Of The Legion is an enthusiastically recommended "theatre of the mind" experience which (because of its violence, language, adult situations) is intended for mature audiences.

Angel Eyes
Loren D. Estleman
Americana Books
PO Box 11546, Albuquerque, NM 87192
158807045X $25.00 1-888-883-8203

When go-go dancer Ann Maringer disappears it's up to Detroit-based private eye Amos Walker to find her. But this is no ordinary missing persons case, not when Amos must deal with a union boos, a corrupt judge, a vengeful son, and a concerned mistress! Loren Estleman's Angel Eyes is a superbly written, 360 minute, 4 cassette, hard-boiled mystery which is masterfully narrated by Alan Zimmerman.

Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows
Radio Spirits
974 Estes Court, Schaumburg, IL 60193
1878078372 $59.98 1-800-723-4648

Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows clearly and fully lives up to its title as it showcases sixty of the finest radio program series to constitute the "Golden Age" of radio broadcasting. Ranging from Burns And Allen; The Lone Ranger; Dragnet; and Dimension X; to The Screen Director's Assignment; The Green Hornet; The Quiz Kids; and Songs By Sinatra; the 30 hours of programming in this magnificently presented anthology covers all of the diverse genres of popular radio programing from comedies, mysteries, and dramas, to science fiction, westerns, and variety shows. This superbly presented sampler is enhanced with a sturdy album case and a booklet which includes details and history for each show. A perfect introduction for new generations of listeners (as well as appreciative nostalgic old-timers!), Old Time Radio's Greatest Shows is very highly recommended for personal and community library audiobook collections.

Time Warner
1-800-759-0190 www.amazon.com

Two new audios are highly recommended picks from this publisher. Garrett Sutton's Own Your Own Corporation (1586214-667, $24.98) joins others in the 'Rich Dad's Advisors' series, providing an audio cd presentation read by the author, a corporate attorney, and telling how to make a corporate structure work. James Patterson and Andrew Gross' The Jester appears in both abridged cassette (1586215353, by Cary Elwes, narrated by Cary Elwes) and unabridged cassette form (1586214144, $39.98, narrated by Neil Dickson). Both narrators bring to life this gripping story of a poor innkeeper who returns from war disillusioned by carnage, only to find his family destroyed. He takes on the role of a jester to infiltrate the court to free his wife in this tense thriller, which comes alive under audio treatment.

Highbridge
1-800-847-5515 www.amazon.com

Two excellent audio presentations will receive widespread attention and interest among listening fans. Garrison Keillor's A Life In Comedy (1565116968, $22.95) performs from his work stories of fatherhood, Lake Wobegon, and youth. These are favorites from the author's life and Keillor's customary narrative style brings these warm tales to life. Elizabeth Buchan's Revenge Of The Middle-Aged Woman (1565117514, $34.95) tells of Rose, who juggles marriage and family for over thirty years, only to fall apart when both abruptly end. Can she begin anew without preparation after a lifetime of habits? Narrator Jean Gilpin brings her story to life.

Brilliance Corporation
1-800-854-7859 www.amazon.com

Brilliance's monthly audios are highly recommended picks for any consumer audience interested in a pairing of high-interest novelists and writers and charged readers. Bobby Unser's Winners Are Driven (1590866517, $29.95), comes from a successful auto racing legend, receives a powerful pairing with narrator Jim Bond, and explores the drive to succeed which has been the key of Indy winner Unser's life. Liz Curtis Higgs' Thorn In My Heart (1590867858, $24.95) also appears on audio cd and pairs veteran narrator Laural Merlington's smooth and passionate voice with the story of Lena, who faces a life without love and children until romance and history step in. Tracie Peterson's Across The Years (159086820X, $24.95) appears in compact disc form with Sandra Burr providing the seasoned reader's pairing. Ashley is disowned by her parents for marrying a man they disapprove of, and faces a lonely single life when she loses her husband in this moving novel. The choices in audio cassette from this publisher are even wider: new additions include George Pelecanos' Soul Circus (1590864034, $19.95), with Richard Allen's voice powering the story of two private investigators who enter a world of crime lords in search of answers; Barbara Delinsky's Heart Of The Night (1590868-262, $24.95), with Sandra Burr's voice powering the story of a society wife's kidnapping; Robert Crais' Last Detective (1590865204, $19.95), with James Daniels telling of a strained relationship with an attorney who finds violence touches her life too easily; J.D. Robb's Portrait In Death (1590867211, $24.95), with Susan Erickson providing her long-experienced readership skills to this story of a female cop who faces a serial killer; Patricia Lewin's Blind Run (1590865456, $19.95), with long-time veteran narrator Dick Hill accenting this rollicking story of action and suspense; Eileen Dreyer's With A Vengeance (1590867173, $24.95), receiving Laural Merlington's impassioned presentation of a nurse and SWAT team medic who loves justice; and Sarah Lovett's Dark Alchemy (159086624X, $19.95), with Joyce Bean providing her experienced voice to the story of a doctor's investigation of a serial killer. These are powerful plots specializing in strong action and narrator skills, and should not be missed.

Recorded Books Inc.
21-800-638-1304 recordedbooks.com

Recorded Books' library-quality plastic packaging is second to none for the public library market; while their ability to pair seasoned narrators with solid plots makes for a growing, high-interest catalog. Michael Crichton's Prey (1402535937, $84.00) enjoys a classy reading by George Wilson, whose varied performance background and skills lends to a highlight of this computer thriller; Stephen King's From A Buick 8 (1402518862, $93.00) tells of an abandoned Buick turned evil; spiced heavily with the drama of various narrators; Larry McMurty's Sin Killer (1402523912, $64.00) receives a fine embellishment by Henry Strozier as it tells of a family of English aristocrats who make their way up the Missouri River; Sandra Brown's The Crush (140251610X, $83.00) enjoys Tom Wopat's warm rendition as it tells of a doctor who helps acquit a gun for hire accused of murder; her Kiss Remembered (1402516096, $47.00) enjoys a fine romantic embellishment by the warm voice of Barbara McCulloh as it tells of a friendship with a teacher which comes to life years after graduation; Faye Kellerman's Stone Kiss (1402525702, $102.00) receives a spirited rendition by veteran George Guidall as it tells of a murder which hits too close to home; Robert Parker's Shrink Rap (1402528582, $85.00) receives Deborah Raffin's fine voice as it tells of a Boston PI who works as a bodyguard for a popular romance writer; Tony Hillerman's Wailing Wind (1402523939, $48.00) also benefits from Guidall's excellent and spirited rendition as it tells of a murder victim and a retired lieutenant's involvement in investigations; James Lee Burke's Jolie Blon's Bounce (1402523955, $102.00) receives narrator Mark Hammar's distinguished theater background, which accents and spices the story of the brutal rape and murder of two women; Lilian Jackson Braun's Cat Who Brought Down The House (1402538626, $43.00) enjoys Guidall's warm and enthusiastic reading as it tells of an elderly woman who opens the stage for murder; and Janet Evanovich's Hard Eight (140-2523858, $69.00) receives C.J. Critt's now-experienced recording voice, enhanced by years of stage work as it brings to life a Stephanie Plum mystery of a nasty crook and an amateur detective. All are vivid, warm stories which come alive under the expert audio voices and handling of Recorded Book's readers.

Clipper Audio
1-800-638-1304 recordedbooks.com

These unabridged quality recordings in their sturdy library binding lean toward British authors and voices more heavily than the Recorded Books imprint; but these better-known writers and solidly professional narrative styles make these especially recommended picks for American listeners. Bernard Knight's The Grim Reaper (184197420X, $82.00) receives Paul Matthews' lively voice as it pairs a historical setting of 1195 with the mystery of a series of murders and multi-ethnic involvements. Anne Perry's Bluegate Fields (18419736046, $72.00) receives veteran Davina Porter's excellent and lively voice as it tells of a boy's body and Inspector Pitt's involvements in an upper-class murder investigation; Gordon Griffin narrates J.G. Ballard's Super-Cannes (1841974-129, $92.00), which tells of a doctor and his wife who learns their new small town home may be a dangerous place to seek utopia. Charles Todd's Legacy Of The Dead (1841973769, $72.00) receives Samuel Gillies' warm accent as it tells of a Scottish murder; Deborah Crombie's A Finer End (1841973874, $82.00) benefits from Jenny Sterlin's moving voice as it tells of a Glastonbury town boy who discovers a secret of the past which can spark violence in the present; Iris Murdoch's Jackson's Dilemma (464-1, $72.00) receives Juliet Mill's lively and revealing voice as it tells of a wedding which brings with it a drama and a mystery; J.G. Ballard's Cocaine Nights (1841973882, $72.00) pairs Gordon Griffin's expert experienced voice with the story of an exclusive Spanish resort's trials. All are particularly well suited for American listeners, with their more familiar authors and mystery plots spiced by British readers.

The Gold Coast
Nelson DeMille
Books On Tape, Inc.
Box 25122, Santa Ana, CA 92799-5122
0736690913 $144.00 1-800-541-5525

The "Gold Coast" is that stretch along the northern shore of Long Island where once America's wealth and power had been concentrated. It's also where Wall Street lawyer John Sutter is holding onto a fading aristocratic legacy and Mafia don Frank Bellarosa is establishing himself. The two men collide in a passionate and suspenseful story of friendship, seduction, love, betrayal, and violence. Very highly recommended for community library audiobook collections, The Gold Coast is dramatically narrated by Scott Brick.


The Islamic Studies Shelf

The Arab Mind
Raphael Patai
The Hatherleigh Press
1578261171 $16.95 1-800-528-2550

The Arab Mind by the late cultural anthropologist Raphael Patai (who died in 1996) is a thoroughly researched, keenly insightful, psychological examination and analysis of the cultural, mental, and emotional factors predominant among Arabic nations and peoples throughout history and down to the present day. A meticulously researched and evenhanded, scholarly account, The Arab Mind deftly covers the influence of Islam on Arabic thought and character, child-rearing practices, insights found in a close study of Arabic, and a great deal more. The Arab Mind is very highly recommended reading and an enduringly valued contribution to International Studies, Islamic Studies, and Arab Cultural History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Gardening Shelf

The Gardener's Five Year Journal
John Ashton
Whitecap Books Ltd.
c/o Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co.
PO Box 10306, Portland, OR 97296-0306
155285342X $16.95 1-800-452-3032

John Ashton's The Gardener's Five Year Journal is an impressively handsome garden journal guide spanning five years of planning and organization for a productive garden. Ideal for beginners and will be prized by seasoned gardening practitioners, The Gardener's Five Year Journal is replete with informative tips, quotations, personal anecdotes, and is further enhanced with a special section for children making it an especially "user friendly" workbook companion for the gardener. An extensive records section enables the gardener to track all of the planning, planting, and plant care so that past efforts are easily accessible for current and future gardening projects and decisions. If you are a dedicated gardener, then The Gardener's Five Year Journal will prove an invaluable, indispensable aid to getting the most out of your horticultural efforts.

The Complete Shade Gardener
George Schenk
Timber Press, Inc.
133 S. W. Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, Oregon 97204-3527
0881925349 $22.95 1-800-327-5680

The Complete Shade Gardener by landscape and garden designer George Schenk is an exceptional, well-written and organized guide to shade-gardening for atmosphere, beauty, and personal satisfaction. Black-and-white photographs with an inset selection of color plates illustrate the advice and commentary provided. Also included is a horticultural wealth of background information on a long list of recommended plants to cultivate, how-to instructions for their incorporation into a garden, and a great deal more. The Complete Shade Gardener is an excellent gardening resource and a welcome, practical, highly recommended addition to personal and professional gardening reference collections.

Tabletop Gardens
Rosemary McCreary
Storey Books
210 MASS MoCA Way, North Adams, MA 01247
1580174663 $27.50 www.storey.com

Stunningly illustrated with full color photographs by William Holt, Tabletop Gardens was specifically written by gardening expert and workshop instructor Rosemary McCreary to be a "user friendly" guide to creating artistic and visually refreshing simple gardens within the home environment -- regardless of the season. Individual chapters offer sample herb gardens, foliage gardens, flower gardens, gravel gardens, water gardens, and a great deal more in this simply gorgeous, truly inspiring, and highly recommended in-door gardening reference.


The Library Science Shelf

Libraries To The People
Robert S. Freeman & David M. Hovde
McFarland & Company, Inc.
PO Box 611, Jefferson, NC 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
078641359X $39.95 1-800-253-2187

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Purdue University librarians Robert S. Freeman and David M. Hovde, Libraries To The People: Histories Of Outreach is an impressive selection of fourteen essays by experienced authors examining the difficulties libraries face in providing easily accessible educational and enriching resources to those portions of the population who are most estranged by socioeconomic, geographic, or cultural factors. Discussing libraries in low-population areas, shipboard libraries for the American navy, using radio to promote libraries, electronic outreach that predates the Internet, and much, much more, Libraries To The People is a seminal work with ideas critical to advancing the benefits of the library to the entire public and a very strongly recommended addition to professional and academic Library Science reference collections.

The Library's Legal Answer Books
Mary Minow & Tomas A. Lipinski
American Library Association
50 East Huron Street, Chicago, IL 60611
0838908284 $48.00 1-800-545-2433

The collaborative effort of Mary Minow (President of the California Association of Library Trustees and Commissioners) and Tomas A. Lipinski (Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Information Policy Research, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee's School of Information Studies), The Library's Legal Answer Book is a thoughtful and authoritative survey and analysis of the intersection of legal matters and library business. Ranging from adapting digital library resources to serve patients with disabilities, to issues of privacy and library records, to issues pertaining to library employment, The Library's Legal Answer Book is a thoughtfully written and extensively researched account, expertly created to give the reader a good grounding in background information about libraries and the law. No private, corporate, academic, or community library system should be without recourse to a copy of The Library's Legal Answer Book.


The Travel Shelf

An Explorer's Guide: Maryland
Leonard M. Adkins
The Countryman Press
PO Box 748, Woodstock, VT 05091
www.countrymanpress.com
0881505188 $19.95 1-800-245-4151

An Explorer's Guide: Maryland by the award-winning author and Maryland travel expert Leonard M. Adkins, is a handy and informative guide for tourists, travelers, and locals wanting to explore the wealth of fun, scenic, and educational experiences that Maryland has to offer. From locations of hotels and reviews of fine restaurants, to great places for shopping, special events, family activities, all enhanced with 34 up-to-date downtown and regional maps, An Explorer's Guide: Maryland is enthusiastically recommended for anyone looking forward to a Maryland vacation whether for a week or just a week-end!

Moon Metro Chicago
Avalon Travel Publishing
1400 - 65th Street, Suite 250, Emeryville, CA 94608
1566914795 $16.95 1-800-345-5473

Moon Metro Chicago is a unique and easily portable tourist guide in which every single two-page spread unfolds into a practical and durable map of this great midwestern city. In full color, printed on heavy stock paper, these detailed and up to date descriptions and "user friendly" maps make for an economical and handy guide for tourists, business travelers, and vacationers looking to explore Chicago's diverse greatness with a minimum of hassle and a maximum of efficiency.

60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cleveland
Diane Stresing
Menasha Ridge Press
PO Box 43673, Birmingham, AL 35243
0897325311 $15.95 menasharidge.com

Compiled by National Park volunteer Diane Stresing, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Cleveland is a solidly written, "user friendly" guide to fun and healthful hikes in the Cleveland area. Packed with maps, descriptions, useful information, black-and-white photographs, and more, 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles offers a wealth of walking routes for Northeast Ohio's vacationers and dedicated hikers.

Great Vacations For You & Your Dog, USA 2003-04
Martin Management Books
2108 Kahekili Highway, Wailuku, HI 96793
1878500139 $19.95 1-808-244-4187

Great Vacations For You & Your Dog, USA 2003-04 is a straightforward, no-nonsense list of dog-friendly vacation accommodations for all 50 States, and for canine accompanied travelers on all budget levels. Pages and pages of canine-hospitable locations are listed by city while providing addresses, phone numbers, very brief descriptions of the facilities, fees and more. From Dog Camps, Family Camps, Resorts, Ranches, Cabins, Hotels, Inns, Lodges, and Bed & Breakfast accomodations, Great Vacations For You & Your Dog, USA 2003-04 is a practical and very enthusiastically recommended resource for dog owners traveling to anywhere in the country for business or pleasure.

Adventure Guide To The Bahamas And Turks & Caicos
Blair Howard
Hunter Publishers
130 Campus Dr., Edison NJ 08818
1588433188 $16.95 1-800-255-0343

This updated third edition of the Adventure Guide To The Bahamas And Turks & Caicos includes heavily expanded sections on hotels, restaurants, dive sites and fishing in all the Bahamas, surveying the best of adventures and establishments. Adventure Guide To The Bahamas And Turks & Caicos is an outdoors-oriented adventurer's guide, and destination-oriented visitors will appreciate the attention to regional specialties and attractions.

Diving & Snorkeling: U.S. Virgin Islands
Lonely Planet Publications
150 Linden Street, Oakland, CA 94607
1740593243 $16.99 lonelyplanet.com

Now in an updated third edition, Diving & Snorkeling: U.S. Virgin Islands (including sites of St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix) is an informative and gorgeously presented travel guide which is profuse illustrated with full-color photographs detailing a wide variety of diving and snorkeling places and resources in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Along with a wealth of practical tips for getting around, what to bring, health and safety concerns, and more, Diving & Snorkeling: U.S. Virgin Islands is enthusiastically commended as being a brilliant and vibrant resource which packed from cover to cover with useful, accessible information for the diving and snorkeling enthusiast.

One-Day Trips Through History
Jane Ockershausen
EPM/Howell Press
1713-2D Allied Lane, Charlottesville, VA 22903
1574270907 $14.95 howellpress.com

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Jane Ockershausen's One-Day Trips Through History is an impressive and "user friendly" compendium of more than two hundred museums, battlefields, plantations, colonial churches, monuments, historic homes, forts, and parks -- all within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. Perfect for weekend side trips and one-day "getaway" vacations, One-Day Trips Through History is ideal for planning chronological, geographical, or seasonal excursions to pivotal and notable places of interest with respect to American history ranging from the arrival of the first European colonists at Jamestown, Virginia, to the bloody battlefields of the Civil War, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Enhanced with "user friendly" information on the recreational aspects of these various and diverse day-tripper options, One-Day Trips Through History is an informed and informative travel guide.

The Wee Guide To Scotland
Goblanshead
c/o Dufour Editions, Inc.
Box 7, Chester Springs, PA 19425-0007
1899874283 $14.95 1-800-869-5677

Written, printed and published in Scotland, The Wee Guide To Scotland: A Concise History With 1250 Heritage Sties To Visit is a sueprbly organized travel guide which is as easy to use as it is an intrinsically fascinating survey of some 5,000 years of Scottish history ranging from prehistoric times to the present. From neolithic settlements, burial cairns, standing stones and circles, to medieval forts, brochs, and castles, to renaissance mansions, gardens, and cathedrals, to twentieth century museums and galleries, The Wee Guide To Scotland is enhanced with simple maps, information on locations, visitor facilities, opening times, and contact details. If you are planning a vacation or business trip to Scotland, then begin your itinerary preparations with a careful reading of The Wee Guide To Scotland!

A Traveller's History Of Oxford
Richard Tames
Interlink Books
99 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
1566564670 $14.95 interlinkbooks.com

A Traveller's History Of Oxford by Richard Tames (Lecturer for the London Programs of Syracuse University and the American University) is an superbly researched, accessibly written, deftly informative guide to exploring and appreciating one of Britain's most famous and provincial cities. Featuring Oxford's history, museum highlights, recommendations for bicycle, car, train and bus trips, this handy and "user friendly" volume is enhanced with sections devoted to sports, walking tours, a bibliography, glossary, and an index. A Traveller's History Of Oxford is especially recommended for on-site vacationers and is ideal for "armchair travelers" wanting to know more about the history and attractions of this venerable English city.

Walt Disney World Universal Orlando 2003
Corey Sandler
The Globe Pequot Press
PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437
www.globe-pequot.com
0762724986 $15.95 1-800-243-0495

Compiled by Corey Sandler, Walt Disney World Universal Orlando 2003 is a fact-filled, guide for vacationers determined to enjoy the best of what the Magic Kingdom, MGM Studios, Epcot and more have to offer. Pricing comparisons for tourists on a budget, day-trip itineraries, hints on the least busy days and weeks in the year to go, and much more round out this recommended resource. Also including SeaWorld and Central Florida attractions, as well as several pages of money saving coupons, the Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando 2003 travel guide is a welcome and very highly recommended resource for planning a truly memorable holiday or summer vacation experience.

Ulysses Press
PO Box 3440, Berkeley, CA 94703
1-800-377-2542 www.amazon.com

Two take-along travel totes appear in updated, new editions to provide the latest information to adventure-oriented travelers who would see more than the usual tourist attractions of a region. Richard Harris' Hidden Cancun & The Yucatan (1569752923, $16.95) follows unique travel choices in a heavily touristed area of Mexico: byways and outdoor adventures which offer little-known locales devoid of the usual tourist crowd. From dining on distinctive Gulf Coast dishes to diving in a world of wonder, this surveys sights, lodging, and all kinds of special opportunities in the region, far from the maddening crowd. The sixth edition of Hidden Boston And Cape Cod (1569753288, $14.95) also covers unique travel choices in a well- traveled region; this focusing on colonial sites in Boston, wild shorelines untouched on Cape Cod, and a myriad of outdoors adventures which are known mostly by locals. Both are exceptional guides for destination-bound visitors.

Explore Puerto Rico
Harry S. Pariser
Manatee Press
PO Box 225001, San Francisco, CA 94122-5001
1893643522 $17.95 1-800-729-6423

Now in a fully updated and revised fifth edition, Harry Pariser's Explore Puerto Rico covers all of the geographic areas of this island nation in 360 information-paced pages which are enhanced with 29 maps, hundreds of sidebars, tips, and charts, as well as 30 color and 60 black-and-white photographs. All types of accommodations (including campgrounds) are identified, along with information on horseback riding, bridwatching, hiking, diving, surfing, snorkeling, and more. Complete and accurate information is provided on Puerto Rico's history, culture, hotels, and resorts. The traveler is also provided with transportation details on car rentals, buses, plane travel, and ferries. Complete with hundreds of Puerto Rico oriented websites, email addresses, phone and fax numbers, Explore Puerto Rico is the complete and indispensable guide for planning (and getting the most out of) any Puerto Rican vacation or business trip.

The Complete Guide To Bed & Breakfasts, Inns And Guesthouses International
Pamela Lanier
Lanier Publishing International
Ten Speed Press, dist.
PO Box D, Petaluma, CA 94953
1580084486 $14.95 1-888-410-224

Now in a fully updated 20th Anniversary Edition, Pamela Lanier's The Complete Guide To Bed & Breakfasts, Inns And Guesthouses International is an impressive 800 page reference featuring more than 7,500 member inns and small lodging accommodations from 132 countries. Each inn, home, or guesthouse is listed with a description of the property, dates of operation, rates, type of breakfast and other meals offered, number of rooms and private baths, amenities, and more. Ideal for planning truly memorable trips for those seeking out quaint, cozy, unique lodgings whether at home or abroad, The Complete Guide To Bed & Breakfasts, Inns And Guesthouses International is an invaluable, indispensable, enthusiastically recommended reference guide and resource.


The Judaic Studies Shelf

The New Jewish Encyclopedia
David Bridger, editor
Behrman House, Inc.
11 Edison Place, Springfield, NJ 07081
0874411203 $24.95 1-800-221-2755

Compiled and edited by David Bridger (with the assistance of Samuel Wolk), The New Jewish Encyclopedia presents an comprehensive and alphabetical discussion of topics, places, names, and events central to Jewish history and identity. Offering a library's worth of Jewish knowledge in a single, 541-page volume, The New Jewish Encyclopedia is superbly written, organized, and illustrated with black-and-white photographs. Presenting a vast wealth of history, folklore, and faith, The New Jewish Encyclopedia is a core addition to personal and academic Judaic Studies reference collections.

Hide & Seek
Lynne Schreiber, editor
Urim Publications/Lambda Publishers
3709 13th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11218
9657108489 $24.95 1-718-972-5449

Hide & Seek: Jewish Women And Hair Covering by journalist, author, and educator Lynne Schreiber is a charged collection of essays by learned authors about the traditional Judaic practice of married women covering their hair. The testimony is profoundly in favor of following the long-held ways, for reasons that vary from rejecting the casual popular pressures of an increasingly immodest society, to the importance of holding divine law in high esteem, to the significance of not defining ourselves through our physical appearances. A unique addition to Judaic Studies reading lists, Hide & Seek is highly recommended for its thought-provoking and fascinating account.


The Aviation Shelf

Piloto
Lt. Col. Henry Cervantes, USAF (Ret.)
Hellgate Press/PSI Research
PO 3727 Central Point, OR 97502
1555716288 $16.95 1-800-228-2275

Piloto: Migrant Worker To Jet Pilot by Henry Cervantes is his personal story of being a Mexican-American pilot who proudly served the United States Air Force. An engaging and candid memoir of what it was like to be a Latino in a life-or-death field dominated by Caucasians, Piloto offers the reader a firsthand witness of one man's transformation in while serving in the Air Force both during and after World War II. Piloto is a unique and welcome contribution to American Military and Aviation History collections.

Hypersonic
Dennis R. Jenkins & Tony R. Landis
Specialty Press
39966 Grand Avenue, North Branch, MN 55056
158007068X $39.95 1-800-895-4585

Collaboratively compiled and written by aviation experts Dennis R. Jenkins and Tony R. Landis, Hypersonic: The Story Of The North American X-15 is an immensely detailed and comprehensive look at the North American X-15, the fastest airplane ever built, and the only vehicle ever flown by a pilot (instead of by a computer) into space and back. 500 black-and-white photographs, 50 color photographs, and 100 line drawings (including some never-before-seen images), are deftly paired with an in-depth commentary on both the history and the technical specifications of this superb aircraft. Hypersonic is a most memorable tribute to the predecessor of the Space Shuttle and an invaluable contribution to Aviation History reference collections.

Canada's Warplanes
Dan McCaffery
James Lorimer & Company Ltd.
35 Britain Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5A 1R7
1550286994 $14.95 www.amazon.com

Filled from cover to cover with black-and-white and color photographs, Canada's Warplanes by Dan McCaffery is a remarkable and enthusiastically recommended showcase of 24 distinctive military aircraft carefully preserved in Canadian aviation museums. The intelligent text astutely recounts details, history, and highlights of these remarkable aviation machines and their contribution to Canadian and world history.


The Writing/Publishing Shelf

Television Scripwriting
Marilyn Webber
Garth Gardner Company Publishing
2545 Sandbourne Ln, Herndon, VA 20171
1589650042 $26.95 GoGardner.com

Television Scripwriting: The Writer's Road Map by Marilyn Webber is a highly practical guide to the art of writing viable, intelligent, and marketable television shows and scripts. Whether attempting to turn ideas into a television series, or a seeking to earn a living as a professional writer in the exciting and dynamic medium of television, Television Scripwriting: The Writer's Road Map is a first-rate and highly recommended resource (especially for the novice with no prior experience) featuring basic information, pitfalls to be aware of, useful checklists, and much, much more.

The Canadian Writer's Market
Sandra B. Tooze
McClelland & Stewart Ltd.
481 University Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5G 2E9
0771085265 $19.95 mcclelland.com

Now in an up-to-date and expanded fifteenth edition, The Canadian Writer's Market: The Essential Guide For Freelance Writers is a solid, practical, invaluable "how to" guide to getting the art and science of getting one's work published. Individual chapters cogently offer basic advice, including contact information for a vast wealth of consumer magazines, literary publications, trade and business publications, newspapers, book publishers, literary agents and a great many more places to which one can send a manuscript to be published. Phone number, email addresses, mailing addresses, web sites, and more, fill the bulk of this solid, 433-page submission reference for aspiring Canadian authors. If you are seeking to be published in the Canadian market, then you will need access to The Canadian Writer's Market: 15th Edition!

The Publishing Game: Find An Agent In 30 Days!
Fern Reiss
Peanut Butter and Jelly Press
Box 590239, Newton, MA 02459-0002
1893290832 $19.95 www.PBJPress.com

The Publishing Game: Find An Agent In 30 Days! by author and publishing expert Fern Reiss is a solidly written, reliable and informative guide to finding an agent to market any kind of book be it fiction or nonfiction, adult or juvenile. From coming up with an idea for a bestseller; to writing an attention-grabbing book proposal accompanied by a professional quality cover letter; to avoiding agents' reading fees; to negotiating with an agent or publisher for a profitable book deal; and much, much more, The Publishing Game: Find An Agent In 30 Days! is a truly first-rate resource which is especially recommended for aspiring authors with little or no previous experience at getting their work published. Enhanced with contact information for more than three hundred literary agents, The Publishing Game: Find An Agent In 30 Days! is an invaluable resource and an essential addition to any personal or professional writer's reference shelf.

The Publishing Game: Publish A Book In 30 Days!
Fern Reiss
Peanut Butter and Jelly Press
Box 590239, Newton, MA 02459-0002
1893290859 $19.95 www.PBJPress.com

The Publishing Game: Publish A Book In 30 Days! by author and publishing expert Fern Reiss is an imminently practical guide to self-publishing a book. Practical and "user friendly" step-by-step instructions and advice are accompanied by a wealth of information about publishing at home, getting an eye-catching cover, printing books for just two to three dollars a copy, using a website to take orders from buyers worldwide, selling to online bookstores, marketing to libraries, and much, much more. The Publishing Game: Publish A Book In 30 Days! is a very highly recommended and an especially valuable contribution to anyone frustrated or stymied by the conventional or traditional publishing community when seeking to get their work published and available to the reading public.

Without Covers
Lesha Hurliman
Numsiri C. Kunakemakorn
NotaBell Books
c/o Purdue University Press
South Campus Courts, Building E, 509 Harrison St., W, Lafayette, IN 47907
1557532524 $15.95 thepress.purdue.edu

Collaboratively compiled and deftly edited by the team of Lesha Hurliman and Numsiri C. Kunakemakorn, Without Covers gathers the insights by a variety of diverse authors concerning the expanding field of online publishing, including its influence on both traditional literary circles, and as a reflection of an increasingly technological age. The individual essays look at literary magazines online, editors in the age of the Internet, the redefinition of the book itself, and much, much more in this original and ground breaking anthology of informative commentaries of magazine publishing in the new and rapidly evolving digital era.


The Civil War Shelf

One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End
Gary Dillard Joiner
Scholarly Resources Inc.
104 Greenhill Ave, Wilmington DE 19805
0842029370 $17.95 scholarly.com

One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End: The Red River Campaign Of 1864 by Gary Dillard Joiner (Louisiana State University - Shreveport) is an intense and focused study of the largest Union armed forces collaborative operation in the Civil War which took place in the spring of 1864 west of the Mississippi river against entrenched Confederate forces and involved between the 40,000 Union Army troops and 60 Union Naval vessels. The purpose of the engagement was to capture the capital city of Shreveport as part of the campaign to wrest Louisiana and Texas from Confederate control. Relating all of the critical aspects of the campaign including the rather spectacular errors made within it by the Union, One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End showcases a single campaign of the war that tore America in two. One Damn Blunder From Beginning To End is a work of superb scholarship and an important contribution to personal and academic Civil War Studies with its informative and informative treatment of an often overlooked but significant campaign.

The Voyage Of The Hunley
Edwin P. Hoyt
Burford Books/NBN, dist.
32 Morris Avenue, Springfield, NJ 07081
1580800947 $20.00 burfordbooks.com

The Voyage Of The Hunley: The Chronicle Of The Pathbreaking Confederate Submarine by military historian Edwin P. Hoyt is the fascinating story of the first successful submarine attack in history - an innovative triumph for which the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley paid the ultimate price as it was lost with all hands aboard, and not to be raised from the watery depths for another 136 years. A dramatic, insightful, and fascinating study of a turning point in naval military history, The Voyage Of The Hunley is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Civil War Studies and American Naval History reference collections and reading lists.


The Humor Shelf

When Body Language Goes Bad
Scott Adams
Andrews McMeel Publishing
4520 Main Street, Kansas City, MO 64111
0740732986 $10.95 www.dilbert.com

When Body Language Goes Bad is the twenty-first collection of Scott Adams' "Dilbert" daily comic strips. Hysterically and ruthlessly funny cartoons featuring overtaxed engineers, their clueless pointy-haired boss, incompetent co-workers, a dog with more power than most dictators, and an insidiously evil cat in charge of human resources fill the pages of this hilarious and sometimes regretfully timely collection. When the mean and unscrupulous boss says, "Ha ha! We're filing for chapter 11 because all of our so-called profits are fake. I'm laughing because I sold all of my stock on the same day I heard that our CFO did!", both the humor and the message come across clearly and sink in deeply.

Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year 2003 Edition
Charles Brooks, editor
Pelican Publishing Company
PO Box 3110, Gretna, LA 70054
www.pelicanpub.com
1589800907 $14.95 1-800-843-1724

Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year 2003 Edition is a superb collection of black-and-white political and social cartoons that aptly summarize the turning points of the year. Including numerous award-winning cartoons among its 420 selections, Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year 2003 aptly captures the range of political turmoil, governmental indecisions, social ills, and sardonic looks at the near and far future. Highly recommended, especially for political science students in need of a little levity showcasing what are often keen political insights.


The Archaeology Shelf

Archaeology: The Comic
Johannes H. N. Loubser
Alta Mira Press
1630 North Main Street #367, Walnut Creek, CA 94596
075910381X $24.95 1-800-462-6420

A very original approach to introducing the science of archaeology is taken by Johannes H. N. Loubser in Archaeology: The Comic. A professional archaeologist working for New South Associates (a contract firm in Georgia), Loubser is an expert on rock art, having done extensive field research in North America, South Africa, and Australia. Loubser draws upon his considerable expertise to provide readers with a graphic novel approach to explaining archaeology in terms of what it is and how it's done. Readers will follow young Squizee after some antiquarian pots are discovered on her family farm. Squizee learns from professional archaeologists how to survey, excavate, analyze, interpret, and preserve archaeological sites and their material remains. Also covered are the site protection laws, consultations with native peoples, museum exhibitions, radiocarbon dating, ground-penetrating radar, plant flotation, thermoluminescence, and more. Ideal for school classroom curriculums, Archaeology: The Comic would also serve as an ideal template for presenting other science disciplines!

Archaeology Of The Everglades
John W. Griffin
University Press of Florida
15 Northwest 15th Street, Gainesville, FL 32611-2079
0813025583 $55.00 1-800-226-3822

First written as a report for the National Park Service in 1988, Archaeology of the Everglades by Florida archaeologist John W. Griffin is an extensive documentation of the pre-Columbus human occupation of the interior portion of the region. Portraying the Everglades' climate, landscape, and the culture and social organizations of its inhabitants, Archaeology Of The Everglades is an authoritative and scholarly survey and analysis of the profound influence human settlement had on the Everglades environment and a legacy left to future generations. Deftly edited by Jerald T. Milanich (Curator of Archaeology, Florida Museum of Natural History) and James J. Miller (State Archaeologist and Chief of Florida's Bureau of Archaeological Research), Archaeology Of The Everglades is a welcome and recommended addition to professional and academic Archaeological Studies collections.


The Money/Finance Shelf

Money Changes Everything
Erlend Peterson, CFP
Seven Locks Press
PO Box 25689, Santa Ana, CA 92799
1931643164 $9.95 1-800-354-5348

Written by Erlend Peterson (a registered investment advisor and certified financial planner), Money Changes Everything: Seven Simple Steps That Will Make Money Work For You! is a useful and "user friendly" instructional guide to the basics of managing personal finance. Individual chapters deftly address easy-to-follow ways to keep a balanced household budget, save for the future, and prepare for retirement. An all-around general primer written in highly accessible language for lay readers, Money Changes Everything is especially recommended for those with no prior money management experience or expertise.

Talk Your Way Out Of Credit Card Debt
Scott Bilker
Press One Publishing
PO Box 563, Barnegat, NJ 08005-0563
0964840154 $19.95 1-609-660-0682

Talk Your Way Out Of Credit Card Debt by money management expert Scott Bilker is a straightforward, "user friendly" guide to negotiating with credit card banks for better interest rates and getting fees waived. Offering tested strategies for the waiver of annual fees, late payment fees, cash-advance fees and more, shopping for the best credit card deals, comparing loan options, getting refunds, and more, Talk Your Way Out Of Credit Card Debt is very highly recommended reading. Bilker's finance evaluation strategies are extremely useful, even to those who choose to carefully avoid getting into credit card debt in the first place!

Plan Ahead
Frank J. Eberhart
SelfCounsel Press
1704 N. State St, Bellingham, WA 98225
1551804050 $16.95 self-counsel.com

Plan Ahead: Protect Your Estate And Investments by Frank Eberhart is a highly practical resource for non-specialist general readers seeking to put their personal estate and finances in order, as well as generally protecting their families against the inevitable. Written in no-nonsense, easy-to-understand terms, "user friendly" chapters, Plan Ahead presents straightforward information as to what happens to one's assets when one dies, the effects of the latest tax laws, what the different types of trusts are and how they can be used to ensure financial security for family members, understanding the basics of various types of investments, and a great deal more. Plan Ahead is a very highly recommended primer -- especially for the novice beginner in estate and financial management planning.

Smart Tax Write-Offs
Norm Ray, CPA
Rayve Productions, Inc.
PO Box 726, Windsor, CA 95492
1877810215 $14.95 www.amazon.com

Authoritatively written by a Certified Public Accountant Norm Ray who draws from his more thirty-five years of professional experience, Smart Tax Write-Offs is now in an updated fourth edition and presents the reader with a straightforward collection of advantageous guidelines and suggestions which small business owners can utilize to save money. Thirty pages of this brief yet practical guide are devoted to an extensive checklist of common items that can be considered business supplies and deducted to save money. A highly recommended "must-read" for home-based businesses, independent contractors, freelance entrepreneurs, and small business owners, Smart Tax Write-Offs will prove to be one of the best financial investments any taxpayer can make in today's economically stressed times.

Money Working For You
Robert S. Bacarella
Monetta Education Foundation
c/o Terry Ruffolo Communications
9 Midway Drive, Willowbrook, IL 60514
0972367411 $19.95 www.monetta.com

Compiled and written by financial investment expert Robert S. Bacarella (Founder, President, and Director of the Monetta Family of No-load Mutual Funds), Money Working For You is a workbook/textbook style primer to the basics of investing one's money in practical, rewarding, and reasonably safe ways. From the concept of money, to the importance of saving regularly, to the difference between savings and investing, and between common stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and real estate investing, exercises, definitions, a wealth of solid advice, including investment tips, tricks, techniques, pack the pages of this first-rate, enthusiastically recommended resource for anyone new to the world of finance and determined to learn.

Frugal Families
Jonni McCoy
Bethany House
11400 Hampshire Avenue South, Bloomington, Minnesota, 55438
0764226142 $10.99 bethanyhouse.com

Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Frugal Families by Jonni McCoy is a thoroughly "user friendly" budget-conscious guide to saving expenses when celebrating the holidays, while on vacation, when taking care of pets, when buying insurance and cars, and much, much more. Featuring a wealth of simple ways to make money at home and teach financial responsibility to kids, as well as being a highly practical resource to cutting costs without scrimping on fun and simple pleasures, Frugal Families is confidently recommended for anyone seeking to make the most of their financial resources while thoroughly enjoying all aspects of family life.

Are You Normal About Money?
Bernice Kanner
Bloomberg Press
PO Box 888, Princeton, NJ 08542-0888
1576600874 $12.95 1-888-388-2749

Are You Normal About Money? by Bernice Kanner is an amusing quiz book drawn from bloomberg.com surveys, and Madison Avenue industry sources, about the general population's views (on average) toward a variety of money matters. Presenting a host of ethical and philosophical money-related questions alongside statistics reflecting how people have answered, from "Would you have sex for money?" (60% no, 6.7% yes, 20.4% it depends on who with) to "Ever contribute to political campaigns?" (two-thirds of us never do), Are You Normal About Money? is a simply fascinating read for its quintessential insights about average human nature when confronting money and money management issues.

Investing In Information Technology Stocks
Robert J. Williams
InfoTech Publishing, Inc.
9101 W. Sahara Ave., Suite 105-B16, Las Vegas, NV 89117
0964905620 $19.95 infotechpub.com

Investing In Information Technology Stocks: Essential Elements For The Successful Investor by professional investment analyst Robert J. Williams covers twenty investing strategies to aide investors in creating personal wealth through the judicious exercise of competent and knowledgeable decision making. The individual chapters comprising this "user friendly" introduction and guide including "Information Technology"; "Stock Trading"; "Economic Indicators"; "Corporation Reports"; "Fundamental Indicators"; "Technical Indicators"; "International Investing"; "Investing Information"; "Getting Started"; and "Investing Resources". Enhanced for the novice investor with an appendix featuring the DJIA Index Stock List, the Nasdaq-100 Index Stock List, S&P 500 Index Stock List, as well as Abbreviations, Glossary, and Index, Investing In Information Technology Stocks is invaluable reader for the beginning tech stocks investor and has much of value for even the more experienced and seasoned investor with an established portfolio of technology stocks.

The Vital Few vs. The Trivial Many
George Muzea
Seven Locks Press
PO Box 25689, Santa Ana, CA 92799
0971695830 $15.95 1-800-354-5348

The Vital Few Vs. The Trivial Many by investment expert George Muzea (President of Muzea Insider Consulting Services) is an advisory guide written specially for novice investor, and has a great deal to offer even the more experienced stock market investor seeking to maximize returns in a time of extreme market volatility. Presenting common mistakes to be avoided; tips, tricks, and techniques for learning when to buy stocks and when to pass on the volatile market; specialized wisdom for short sellers and investors who buy stock bottoms, The Vital Few Vs. The Trivial Many is recommended reading for dedicated investors determined to learn all they can before putting their hard-earned dollars on the line.


The Architecture Shelf

Richmond Indiana
Mary Tomlan & Michael Tomlan
Indiana Historical Society Press
450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, Indiana 46202-3269
0871951592 $39.95 indianahistory.org

Richmond Indiana: Its Physical Development And Aesthetic Heritage To 1920 by architectural historian Mary Raddant Tomlan in collaboration with Michael Tomlan (Director of the Graduate Program in Historic Preservation Planning in the College of Architecture, Art and Planning at Cornell University) showcases the history of architecture in the community of Richmond, Indiana. This 364-page descriptive survey is enhanced with more than 130 illustrations, including maps, subdivision plats, aerial views, and streetscapes which position individual buildings within the context of their urban settings. Richmond, Indiana examines this Midwestern city's physical nature, as well as a broad range of factors drawn over decades of urban growth and civic development -- all within the context of complex geographic, economic, political, technological, and cultural conditions that blended together to create the city from its founding up through the first two decades of the 20th Century. Published by the Indian Historical Society Press, Richmond, Indiana is very highly recommended reading and could well serve as a template for other urban communities in crafting an architectural and urban history of their villages, towns and cities.


The Economics Shelf

Space: The Free-Market Frontier
Edward L. Hudgins, editor
Cato Institute
1000 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20001
1930865198 $15.00 www.cato.org

Compiled and edited by Edward L. Hudgins (Washington Director of The Objectivist Center), Space: The Free-Market Frontier is a straightforward look at the interest private entrepreneurs who have had an increasingly important role in accessing the "final frontier" of outer space. The writings constituting Space: The Free-Market Frontier derive from educated and knowledgeable contributors concerned with the practical issues for creating forms of space transportation, the legalities of private activities in outer space, commerce in outer space, and more. Space: The Free-Market Frontier is an involving, informative, highly recommended look at the intersection of economic and technological possibilities in space exploration for the private sector.

The Economics Of Sin
Samuel Cameron
Edward Elgar Publishing
136 West Street, Northampton, MA 01060
1840648678 $85.00 1-800-390-3149

The Economics Of Sin: Rational Choice Or No Choice At All? by Samuel Cameron (Reader in Economics in the Bradford Centre for International Development at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom) is surveys and analysis the evolution of "sin" from the perspective of rational choice economics. Economist Samuel Cameron considers the formation of religions (including the New Age revival of Wicca) as regulators of the quasi-market in sins and appraise the economic role of lying, envy, jealous, greed, lust, sloth, and waste in individual markets and in macroeconomic activity. An original, innovative, ground-breaking, interdisciplinary study, The Economics Of Sin is scholarly and very highly recommended reading for students of Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy, and Religion.


The Environmental Studies Shelf

Wild Logging
Bryan Foster
Mountain Press Publishing Company
PO Box 2399, Missoula, Montana 59806
0878424482 $16.00 1-406-728-1900

Wild Logging: A Guide To Environmentally And Economically Sustainable Forestry by forestry expert Bryan Foster is a useful and "user friendly" guide designed especially for the owners and managers of private forest lands. Wild Logging will enable the reader to craft a charter for private and corporate land-based forestry management that balances both harvesting interests and long-term ecological stability. Wild Logging is confidently recommended as being an exceptionally thoughtful, balanced and practical guide which is deftly written to provide a viable commercial alternative to the evils of clear-cutting or forest habitat destruction.

Ecosystem Management
Gary K. Meffe, et al.
Island Press
1718 Connecticut Avenue NW, #300, Washington, DC 20009-1148
1559638249 $40.00 islandpress.org

The collective and collaborative effort of Gary K. Meffe (Adjunct Professor, Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida), Larry A. Nielsen (Fisheries biologist and Den of the College of Natural Resources, North Carolina State University), Richard L. Knight (Professor of Wildlife Conservation, Colorado State University), and Dennis A. Schenborn (Chief of Planning and Budget for the Bureau of Fisheries Management and Habitat protection of the Wisconsin State Department of Natural Resources), Ecosystem Management: Adaptive, Community- Based Conservation is an intelligently organized, "reader friendly" textbook which is an ideal resource and teaching tool for discusses a wide range of environmental issues including: genetic diversity in ecosystem management, landscape-level conservation, single-species land management, the skill and art of keeping fragile ecosystems in balance; methodology, examples, and mathematical models. An astute presented and detailed college-level text, Ecosystem Management is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to Environmental Studies reference collections in general, and Ecosystem Management curriculum reading lists in particular.


The Gaming Shelf

Starting Out: The French
Byron Jacobs
Everyman Chess
PO Box 480, Guilford, CT 06437-0480
1857442296 $16.95 everymanbooks.com

Compiled by chess author and journalist Byron Jacobs, Starting Out: The French is an extensive analysis of The French defense and its variations for Black in the classic game of chess. Insightful explanations and page after page of play-by-play games, with visual diagrams enhancing the appropriate positional shorthand, make Starting Out: The French a superb guide, especially for intermediate level chess players seeking to advance their skills.

Mutant Underground
Kevin Siembieda
Palladium Books
12455 Universal Drive, Taylor, MI 48180
157457065X $13.95 palladiumbooks.com

Based on concepts by Mike Wilson and written by role gaming veteran Kevin Siembieda, Mutant Underground is an enthusiastically recommended role-gaming sourcebook developed especially for the second edition of the "Heroes Unlimited" RPG system, and which is also compatible with the "After the Bomb" scenario, within the Palladium Books Megaverse. Source material for planning an RPG campaign dealing with the mutant underground includes new "random mutation tables", sample mutant and superhero or supervillain characters, a playable scenario for rescuing mutants, and more. Mutant Underground is an exciting and enjoyable resource for dedicated roleplay gamers looking to create or enhance a comic-book-style superhero gaming campaign.


The Parenting Shelf

No More Push Parenting
Elisabeth Guthrie & Kathy Matthews
Broadway Books/Random House
1745 Broadway, New York NY 10019
0767907523 $12.95 www.amazon.com

There's been much publicity about parents who push their children to achieve beyond their abilities and years: so how can parents avoid suffocating children, yet encourage them to do their best? With No More Push Parenting, parents receive a guide filled with insights on how to encourage their kids to measure up, without pushing too hard. Dr. Guthrie provides alternatives supported by case studies of real kids; some of whom are achieving, others are not.

Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus The Art Of Parenting Teens
Gary Gagliardi
Clearbridge Publishing
PO Box 33772, Seattle, WA 98133
1929194161 $9.95 clearbridge.com

In Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus The Art Of Parenting Teens, Gary Gagliardi applies an ancient Chinese wisdom to practical techniques for dealing with modern-day parenting dilemmas. An excellent, sharply written account featuring a complete translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, with adaptations especial to parenting, Gary Gagliardi addresses everything from familial contests of wills, to adopting the strategy of Bing-Fa to a parental efforts to better guide their children. If you have a difficult or problematic teenager in your family, then give a very careful reading to Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus The Art Of Parenting Teens.

Keeping Your Toddler On Track Till Mommy Gets Back
Walter Roark
Clearing Skies Press
4002 Dunbarton Way, Roswell, GA 30075
0970793715 $15.95 clearingskies.com

Keeping Your Toddler On Track Till Mommy Gets Back: The Toddler Survival Guide For 21st Century Dads by Walter Roark is a child-rearing guide written especially and specifically for fathers. Wry and humorous, with an emphasis on common sense approaches, Keeping Your Toddler On Track Till Mommy Gets Back is a "reader friendly" compendium of solid advice for dealing with little tyke's bodily functions, temper tantrums, precocious nature, and more. As enjoyable to read as it is practical, Keeping Your Toddler On Track Till Mommy Gets Back is highly recommended reading for any Dad who must keep an eye on the kids while Mom's away!

Unmasking Sexual Con Games Parent Guide
Ron Herron & Kathleen M. Sorensen
The Boys Town Press
Father Flanagan's Boys' Home
14100 Crawford St, Boys Town NE 68010
1889322180 $8.95 1-800-282-6657

Collaboratively written by Ron Herron and Kathleen M. Sorensen, Unmasking Sexual Con Games Parent Guide is a straightforward primer for teaching children to protect themselves from sexual harassment and abuse, set healthy personal boundaries, and develop good relationships. The straightforward advice is very practical and addresses issues that every child must learn for their own sakes. Written in no-nonsense, direct and easy-to-understand terms, Unmasking Sexual Con Games Parent Guide is an absolute "must-read" for all parents seeking to protect their children from sexual con artists wherever and whenever they may encounter them.

Dollars & Sense For Kids
Janet Bodnar
The Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.
1729 H St., N.W., Washington, DC 20006
www.kiplinger.com
0938721674 $17.95 1-800-280-7165

Dollars & Sense For Kids: What They Need To Know About Money - And How To Tell Them by Janet Bodnar (Senior Editor, "Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine") is a practical and "user friendly' parenting guide to the art of teaching kids of all ages how to be responsible with their money. From using allowances to teach hands-on experience in budget and resource management, to helping children balance the responsibilities of a part-time job with schoolwork and other concerns, to coping with teenagers who think they know everything about money already, Dollars & Sense For Kids is a highly accessible and strongly recommended money-management instructional manual for parents at any income level.


The Military Shelf

USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850)
Robert F. Sumrall
Tin Can Sailors, Inc.
PO Box 100, Somerset, MA 02726-0100
097077222X $10.95 www.destroyers.org

Tin Can Sailors is the publishing arm of The National Association of Destroyer Veterans. Compiled and edited by A.D. Jensen, the USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) is an impressively informative and descriptive presentation of an American naval destroyer that was launched on 26 July 1945 and commissioned for service in Boston on 15 December 1945 with Commander H.G. Moore, USN in command. Profusely illustrated with historic black-and-white photography; a very special color plate section, and a wealth of statistics, the authoritative text presents a complete depiction and history of a memorable ship in American naval service. USS Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. (DD-850) is an impressive and highly recommended addition to personal and academic American Naval History and Nautical Studies reference collections.

A Midshipman's War
Frank Wade
Cordillera Publishing Company
8415 Granville Street, Box 46, Vancouver, BC Canada V6P 4Z9
www3.telus.net/FrankWade
189559006X $10.00 1-604-922-69083

A Midshipman's War: A Young Man In The Mediterranean Naval War 1941-43 by British veteran Frank Wade is the story of the search for German naval forces in the Eastern Mediterranean. Specifically included is the Axis drive to capture the Suez Canal and the determined Allied effort to keep the canal open and control access to the Middle East. The result of extensive research, A Midshipman's War: A Young Man In The Mediterranean Naval War 1941-43 is replete with dangers of seaborne military encounters, the terrible naval losses, and offers the reader a deeply personal, "eye-witness" insight into the war and its inevitable toll. Enhanced with a dedicated webpage (www3.telus.net/FrankWade), A Midshipman's War is a welcome and strongly recommended addition to World War II Military Studies collections and supplemental reading lists.

With The Battle Cruisers
Filson Young
Birlinn/Casemate Publishers
2114 Darby Rd, Havertown, PA 19083
1841581267 $18.95 1-610-853-9131

With The Battle Cruisers is an eyewitness account by Filson Young of what it was like to live inside the Grand Fleet of the British navy during the early months of the First World War. Vivid descriptions, a harrowing rendition of the battle of Coronel, depictions of the terrible losses of life at sea, and a great deal more fill the pages of this remarkable and unforgettable autobiographical history. With The Battle Cruisers is an impressive and welcome contribution to World War I Military History collections and reading lists.


The Hunting/Fishing Shelf

Dry-Fly Patterns For The New Millennium
Poul Jorgensen
Frank Amato Publications
PO Box 82112, Portland, OR 97282
1571882448 $19.95 amatobooks.com

Compiled, edited, and illustrated by Poul Jorgensen, Dry-Fly Patterns For The New Millennium features flies from contributors and expert fly-tiers from around the world. More than 360 flies are shared, along with their individual recipes, as well as tying or fishing notes. Enhanced with 375 color photographs and 366 individual color fly plates, Dry-Fly Patterns For The New Millennium is a superbly presented and highly recommended addition to any dedicated angler's reference collection. Dry-Fly Patterns For The New Millennium is also available in a hardcover edition (1571882456, $29.95).

Gun Dogs
John R. Falk
Voyageur Press, Inc.
PO Box 338, Stillwater, MN 55082
0896580040 $14.95 voyageurpress.com

Gun Dogs: Playful Pup To Hunting Partner by master hunter and dog trainer John R. Falk is specifically written for anyone wanting to hunt with a canine companion, whether they are novice hunters and first-time dog owners or seasoned dog hunters with previous field-hunting experience. Superbly enhanced throughout with black and white photography, Gun Dogs comprehensively covers choosing a puppy (and naming it), the different breeds of dogs as the relate to hunting, the best training tools and equipment, selected a capable veterinarian, the basics of nonverbal communication, obedience training, and beginning field training. The debut title in the new Voyageur Press "Master Training Series" for training dogs, Gun Dogs is an invaluable and truly "user friendly" instructional reference for anyone wanting to hunt with dogs.

Rifles And Cartridges For Large Game
Layne Simpson
Safari Press, Inc.
15621 Chemical Lane, Bldg. B, Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1506
1571572589 $39.95 safaripress.com

Deftly and accessibly written by experienced hunter Layne Simpson (who has traveled and hunted across five continents), Rifles And Cartridges For Large Game is a solid, comprehensive, 325 page instructional reference guide to which rifles, cartridges, bullets, loads, and scopes are best for an impressive variety of situations when hunting large game animals ranging from deer to bear to elephant. Packed from cover to cover with cogent advice, professional techniques, and enhanced throughout with full-color photography, Rifles And Cartridges For Large Game presents a wealth of practical, field-based experience and is very strongly recommended reading for aspiring big game hunters.


The History Shelf

Athens
Kinstantinos S. Staikos, et al.
Oak Knoll Press
310 Delaware St., New Castle, DE 19720
www.oakknoll.com
1584560916 $85.00 1-800-996-2556

Collaboratively edited by Konstantinos S. Staikos, Michael B. Sakellariou, Charalambos Bouras, and Evi Touloupa, and featuring contributions by sixteen diverse and knowledgeable contributors, Athens: From The Classical Period To The Present Day (5th Century BC - AD 2000) is a 521-page compilation of seventeen chapters presenting an amazing study at the evolution of a great and proud city throughout the millennia. The establishment of democratic government, achievements in art and civilization, war, rebuilding, renewal, and more, fill the pages of this informed and informative history. Filled with both black-and-white and color photographs, and enhanced for the reader with an extensive introduction and a comprehensive, fourteen-page index, Athens is a very highly recommended contribution to Hellenic Studies and Greek History academic collections -- and would make a superb "Memorial Fund" acquisition choice for community libraries as well.

Europe In The High Middle Ages
William Chester Jordan
Viking Press
375 Hudson St., New York NY 10014
0670032026 $27.95 www.amazon.com

Europe's High Middle Ages period spanned the Crusades and the events of Dante's classic writings and Thomas Aquinas: this paints a vivid picture of this lost age, surveying the great popes who revived the power of the church, the thinkers who ruled their times, and the social and religious philosophy of the era. In-depth and complex, yet with a most readable tone, this is a recommended pick.

Bolchazy-Carducci
1000 Brown St. #101 Wauconda IL 60084
www.bolchazy.com www.amazon.com

Two unique and outstanding history coverages may not find use in every collection; but any collection with in-depth focus on Eastern Europe will find these essential editions. Particularly important is Slovak History: Chronology And Lexicon (086-5164444, $59.00), an important chronology of events which attempts to fill the gap in literature on Slovak history. The coverage records Slovak history chronologically up through 1998, then offers an encyclopedia dictionary with over three hundred entries outlining the important concepts and events of the region. Jan Chryzostom Cardinal Korec, S.J.'s Night Of The Barbarians: Memoirs Of The Communist Persecution Of The Slovak Cardinal (086-5165378, $24.95) provides the author's memoirs of the Communist persecution of the Slovak Cardinal. Cardinal Korec guided his Church and took a dangerous stand in the Czech republic, one which resulted in his imprisonment. This provides his personal observation of events which shaped Eastern Europe. Both are quite specific but powerful additions to any in-depth collection on the region.

Witchcraft And Magic In Europe
Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark
University Pennsylvania Press
4200 Pine Street, 3rd floor, Philadelphia, PA 19104-4011
081221787X $22.50 1-800-445-9880

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark, Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Period Of The Witch Trials is a scholarly examination and analysis of supernatural beliefs in Europe with an especial focus on the prosecutions for the crime of witchcraft, which were most frequent during the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. Examining witch hunts, methods of torture, historical incidents, and how beliefs in witchcraft, magic, and demonology affected European culture, Witchcraft And Magic In Europe is an informed and informative amalgamation of history and interpretation. Also very highly recommended are the University of Pennsylvania Press companion titles: Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: Biblical And Pagan Societies; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: Ancient Greece And Rome; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Middle Ages; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries; and Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Twentieth Century.

Hitler And the Germans
Eric Voegelin
University of Missouri Press
2910 LeMone Blvd, Columbia MO 65201
0826214665 $15.95 1-800-828-1894

Deftly edited by Detlev Clemsn (Assistant Professor, Institute of Political Science, Friedrich-Alexander University, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany) and Brendan Purcell (Lecturer in Philosophy, University College, Dublin, Ireland), Hitler And The Germans is a selection of lectures by the late Eric Voegelin (1901-1985), a respected scholar and articulate critic of Hitler's regime in Germany. Professor Voegelin's intelligently written books drew the Nazi state's ire and forced him to leave Austria in 1938, barely escaping arrest by the Gestapo. Voegelin's seminal study of Germany's "descent into the depths", of the reprehensible crimes against humanity brought about by the Nazi regime (and the German people's allegiance to it), as well as the political and social fallout of the post World War II era, is both scholarly and personal. Hitler And The Germans is a fascinating and sharply observed perspective which is very highly recommended for students of German National Socialism.

A History Of Contempory Italy
Paul Ginsborg
Palgrave/St. Martin's Press
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
1403961530 $24.95 1-888-330-8477

A History Of Contemporary Italy: Society And Politics 1943-1988 by Paul Ginsborg (Professor of Contemporary European History, University of Florence) is an in-depth survey of Italy's social and political dynamics that saw it evolve from a war-torn and poverty-stricken, primarily agrarian country, into a prosperous, politically stable member of the European community. Here ably and accessibly recounted are the events, personalities, and reforms that were critical to eventually overcoming endemic and persistence corruptions, shortages, and obstacles necessary before the tremendous achievements of contemporary Italy and its eventual entrance into the European Union. A History Of Contemporary Italy: Society And Politics 1943-1988 is a scholarly, meticulous history and a welcome and recommended contribution to European International Studies and 20th Century Italian History reference collections and reading lists.

Becoming A Subject
Polymeris Voglis
Berghahn Books
604 West 115th Street, NY, NY 10025
1571813098 $27.50 1-800-540-8663

Becoming A Subject: Political Prisoners During The Greek Civil War by Polymeris Voglis (Center Fellow at the International Center for Advanced Studies at New York University) offers the reader an unflinching examination of the harsh reality of political prisoners during the Greek Civil War (1946-1949), the last major conflict in Europe before the end of the Cold War. Drawing comparisons with political prisoners in Germany and Spain, this meticulously researched and documented analysis presents an candid and revealing history of torture, deprivation, hunger strikes and other forms of protest in prisons. A sober and often disturbing account, Becoming A Subject is a welcome and appreciated scholarly contribution to 20th Century Greek History and "Cold War Era" International Studies collections.


The Native American Shelf

Talking Birds, Plumed Serpents And Painted Women
Joanne Stuhr, editor
The University of Arizona Press
355 South Euclid, Suite 103, Tucson, AZ 85719-6654
091161124X $35.00 1-800-426-3797

Compiled and edited by Joanne Stuhr (Curator of the Tucson Museum of Art) and featuring contributions by Eduardo Gamboa Carrera (Instituto Nacional de Arte y Historia) and John Ware (Amerind Foundation), Talking Birds, Plumed Serpents And Painted Women: The Ceramics Of Casas Grandes offers an informative, beautiful, enthusiastically recommended presentation showcasing the Native American ceramics of Casas Grandes. Flourishing from approximately 1300-1450 A.D., the Casas Grandes culture of Chihuahua in Norther Mexico is currently the focus of an archeological renaissance with excavations offering superlative new discovers every year. With its 75 full color photographs of truly exquisite potteries and bilingual essays, we are treated to Casas Grandes cosmology with depictions of Macaws, snakes, birds, transformational imagery, complex geometric designs, all contributing to an improved understanding of the ritual and cultural life of this ancient Native American MesoAmerican culture.

We Are A People In This World
Conger Beasley Jr.
The University of Arkansas Press
McIlroy House, 201 Ozark Avenue, Fayetteville, AR 72701
1557283869 $18.95 1-800-626-0090

We Are A People In This World: The Lakota Sioux And The Massacre At Wounded Knee by journalist Conger Beasley Jr. recounts the 1890 massacre of the Lakota Sioux at Wounded Knee, blending a grimly defining episode of Native American history with the author's personal story of participating in the commemorative Big Foot Memorial Ride some one hundred years after the slaughter. A compelling account that includes oral testimony from some who survived the killing, poignant and highly recommended historical event, We Are A People In This World is an invaluable and recommended contribution to Native American Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

The Miami-Illinois Language
David J. Costa
University of Nebraska Press
233 North 8th St., Lincoln, NE 68588
0803215142 $75.00 1-800-755-1105

Compiled by professional linguist David J. Costa, The Miami-Illinois Language is an exhaustive grammatical reconstruction of the language spoken by the Miami and the Illinois Native Americans -- dialects of the Algonquian language family. The populations of the speakers of these languages were decimated by warfare and disease; now, The Miami-Illinois Language pieces together a complex technical map of how people once communicated, with information from surviving stories, historical sources, comparison with related languages and more. A seminal work of impeccable scholarship, The Miami-Illinois Language is very highly recommended for inclusion into Native American Studies in general, and Native American Linguistics reference collections in particular.

Eskimo Architecture
Molly Lee & Gregory A. Reinhardt
University of Alaska Press
1st Floor Gruening Building, University of Alaska
Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775-1580
1889963224 $45.00 1-888-252-6657

The collaborative effort of cultural anthropologist Molly Lee (Curator of Ethnology at the University of Alaska Museum and Professor of Anthropology, University of Alaska - Fairbanks) and Alaskan geoarcheology, and paleoindian prehistory expert Gregory A. Reinhardt, Eskimo Architecture: Dwelling And Structure In The Early Historic Period is a unique and seminal work of impeccable and ground breaking scholarship. Profusely illustrated, the informed and informative text covers Eskimo winter houses, transitional dwellings, summer dwellings, special-use structures, as well as associated rituals and beliefs organized in regional contexts which include Greenland; the Central Arctic; Northwest Arctic and Bering Strait; and Southwest Alaska, Bering Sea, Siberia, and Gulf of Alaska. Enhanced with a final chapter of "Summary and Conclusions", (as well as an Appendix, References, Names Index, and Subject Index), Eskimo Architecture is a unique and exceptionally welcome contribution to Native American Studies reference collections in general, and Eskimo Cultural Studies reading lists in particular.

Visions Of The Buffalo People
Linda Little Wolf
Pelican Publishing Company, Inc.
1000 Burmaster Street, Gretna, LA 70053
1589801245 $14.95 1-800-843-1724

Visions Of The Buffalo People is a presentation of the culture of the Plains Indians which is as engaging as it is informative. Presented by Linda Little Wolf, Visions Of The Buffalo cover everything from Native American buffalo hunts and drives; to vision quests; to examples of tribal sign language; and much, much more. Enhanced throughout with historic photographs and line-drawn illustrations, Visions Of The Buffalo People is an intrinsically fascinating treasure trove of which offers an authoritative introduction Plains Indian life, and is a very highly recommended contribution school and community library Native American reference collections and personal reading lists.


The Criminology Shelf

Punishment And Social Structure
Georg Rusche & Otto Kirchheimer
Transaction Books
390 Campus Drive, Somerset, NJ 08873
0765809214 $34.95 1-888-999-6778

Now with a new introduction by Dario Melossi, Punishment And Social Structure by Georg Rusche and Otto Kirchheimer offers significant scholarship in the study of criminology, and one that traces the origin of its ideas to an article written by Georg Rusche in 1933, entitled "Labor Market and Penal Sanction: Thoughts on the Sociology of Criminal Justice". Expanding on the original article's ideas to classify the history of crime into three primary eras - early Middle Ages with emphasis on penance and fines, later Middle Ages marked by severe corporal and capital punishment, and the seventeenth century with its development of the prison system, Punishment And Social Structure is an involving essay about the foundation of society and its treatment of miscreants and a strongly recommended addition to professional and academic Law, Jurisprudence, Penology, and Criminology Studies reference collections and reading lists.

Excellent Books
Box 131322, Carlsbad, CA 92013-1322
$19.95 each www.excellentbooks.com

Two new titles are recommended picks for any collection strong in criminal justice system probes. Maureen Harrison and Steve Gilbert edit two collections of Supreme Court decisions which outline the basics: Criminal Justice Decisions (1880780151) and Death Penalty Decisions (1880780240) each provide landmark decisions backed by actual legal cases. Readers have the chance to view the decisions in action, as well as to understand the underlying foundations of these decisions as they apply to actual cases. A recommended pick for law and other libraries.


The Pets/Wildlife Shelf

Dogs Of The Iditarod
Jeff Schultz
Sasquatch Books
119 South Main Street, Seattle WA 98104
1570612927 $15.95 sasquatchbooks.com

Filled from cover to cover with glorious full-color photographs, Dogs Of The Iditarod by Anchorage-based professional photographer Jeff Schultz celebrates the canine participants in Alaska's famous Iditarod Sled Dog Race. These dogs' athletic endeavors, their incredible endurance, and their very special bonding with their owners are all showcased in this fantastically visual and highly recommended read for dog lovers everywhere.

Equine Liability
James Clark-Dawe, ESQ.
Carriage House Publishing
223 Silver Street, Middleton, NH 03887
www.carriagehousebooks.com
096700473X $19.95 1-603-755-8954

Compiled and written by attorney and "backyard horseman" James Clark-Dawe, Equine Liability: What Every Horse Owner Needs To Know deftly addresses legal issues that every horse owner should have a solid grounding in, ranging from the necessity of fencing to avoid problems with loose horses, to a scrutiny of equine liability acts adopted by some states, to practical safety advice for horse riders, to warnings of what horse owners are strictly liable for. Equine Liability is an absolute "must-read" for all horse owners in today's litigious society.

Komodo Dragons
James B. Murphy, et al.
Smithsonian Institution Press
750 Ninth Street NW, Suite 4300, Washington, DC 20560-0950
1588340732 $45.00 1-800-782-4612

Collaboratively compiled and edited by James B. Murphy, Claudio Ciofi, Colomba de La Panouse, and Trooper Walsh, Komodo Dragons: Biology And Conservation is an impressive and informative collection of deftly presented essays by a variety of knowledgeable contributors about the evolution, population, distribution, habitat, ecology, of the great and unique carnivorous reptiles known as Komodo Dragons. A scattering of black-and-white photographs enhance these fascinating scientific analyses. Komodo Dragons is enthusiastically recommended reading and a seminal contribution to academic and professional Zoological Studies reference collections.


The Science Shelf

On Quaternions And Octonions
John H. Conway & Derek A. Smith
A K Peters, Ltd.
63 South Avenue, Natick, MA 01760
1568811349 $29.00 www.akpeters.com

On Quaternions And Octonions: Their Geometry, Arithmetic, And Symmetry is a collaboratively presented treatise by John H. Conway and Derek A. Smith on the geometry of the quaternion and octonion algebras. Examining 3- and 4-dimensional Euclidean spaces, enumerating the corresponding finite group of symmetries, analyzing the arithmetics of quaternions and octonions and much more, this impressive presentation sheds new light on the geometry of complex numbers and is a scholarly addition to Advanced Mathematics reference collections and reading lists.

The Space Elevator
Bradley C. Edwards & Eric A. Westling
Spageo Inc.
1288 Columbus Avenue, Suite 288, San Francisco, CA 94133
0972604502 $18.95 www.spageo.com

The collaborative effort of physicist Bradley C. Edwards and professional science writer Eric A. Westling, The Space Elevator: A Revolutionary Earth-To-Space Transportation System is an unusually accessible technical engineering study exploring the possibility of reaching out into space itself. Packed from cover to cover with theories, charts, tables, calculations, and scientific explanations, The Space Elevator is both an optimistic and an eye-opening look at what could be possible in the very near future.

Volcanology
Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff
Alexander R. McBirney
Jones and Bartlett Publishers
40 Tall Pine Drive, Sudbury, MA 01776
076371318X $34.95 1-978-443-5000

Now in its newly second updated and expanded edition, Volcanology by volcanologists Jacques-Marie Bardintzeff and Alexander R. McBirney, provides a coherent and detailed scientific look at how volcanoes work, their impact on humans and upon the environment, how volcanoes shape the Earth and other planets, and much, much more. Enhanced with a gorgeous eight-page insert of color plates and highly recommended for school and community library Earth Sciences collections, Volcanology presents the complex science of volcanology in terms the astute and keen-minded non-specialist readers can readily acquire.


The Religion/Spirituality Shelf

Conflict In The Quorum
Gary James Bergera
Signature Books
564 West 400 North, Salt Lake City, UT 84116-3411
1560851643 $24.95 1-800-356-5687

Compiled and analyzed by Mormon scholar Gary James Bergera (Director, Smith-Pettit Foundation, Salt Lake City, Utah), Conflict In The Quorum: Orson Pratt, Brigham Young, Joseph Smith is a meticulously researched, carefully written documentation of the manifold disagreements between various strong-willed and devout leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (popularly known as the "Mormons") during its first turbulent years of existence. Looking at how conflicts between diverse leaders had significant and enduring effects upon LDS doctrine, policy, and organizational structure, Conflict In The Quorum is an impressive body of scholarship which presents an astutely written and insightful account that can be read with considerable interest by both academic scholars and non-specialist general readers alike.

Dictionary Of Third World Theologies
Virginia Fabella & R. S. Sugirtharajah
Orbis Books
PO Box 308, Maryknoll, NY 10545-0308
1570754055 $25.00 www.maryknoll.org

Compiled and edited by Virginia Fabella and R. S. Sugirtharajah, the Dictionary Of Third World Theologies compiles definitions of religious and theological terms from around the world. Most of the entries are penned by a diverse spectrum of different authors, yet the listings are in an easily accessible, A through Z alphabetical order from "Aboriginal Theology" to "Vietnamese Theology". Most of the definitions concisely summarize theological beliefs or terms within a couple pages of text or less. A solid reference, Dictionary Of Third World Theologies is a highly recommended, core addition to personal, professional, and academic Religious Studies reference collections.


The Poetry Shelf

Let The Faces Speak
Peter Nichols
Plain View Press
PO Box 33311 Austin, TX 78764
189138631X $14.95 1-800-878-3605

Let The Faces Speak is a singularly unique collection of poetry by Peter Nichols. Each original free-verse poem is based on the portrait picture a person or a couple in their archaic black-and-white photographs dating from the 1860s to the 1910s. Few of the photos had names; the verses are creative interpretations and imaginings of the people in the photographs and their lives. A thoughtful and enjoyable work celebrating America's heritage and character. Fritz and Constance Webber: No one, not even Constance, expected Fritz/to be an amorous beau./Yet Little Fritzy wooed ample Constance/with the ardor of a prairie cock./He preened, he pranced, he pouted when/Constance spurned his offers./He brought her flowers and she relented./She made him fudge, and she consented./At the German Lutheran Church/they exchanged their vows./There was nothing in them about obeying./They ran the livery, had five children./He was a Woodman of the World,/and she a Dorcas./He brought flowers and she made fudge.

My Life Is Like A Story
Richard Dale
Poetry For Today Publishing
3562 Seneca Forest Drive, Nashville, TN 37217
0971388512 $12.95 poetryoftoday.com

An Evangelist preacher, Richard Dale's poetry comprising My Life Is Like A Story reflects his life of service, preaching, and spirituality. Standing Firm: Devil you can't push me/around, like I'm some/type of clown.//I'm not a germ I'm standing/firm in the word, forget what/you heard.//This is not Gilligan's Island/you don't toss me around,/until I wind up on some/unfamiliar ground.//Who do you think you are/mike Tyson under alcohol,/I'm not going to fall.//You know what devil,/you're just a worm,/and I'm still standing firm.

Me Comma You
Kelly Le Fave
Gibbs Smith, Publisher
PO Box 667, Layton, UT 84041
www.gibbs-smith.com
1586852531 $10.95 1-800-748-5439

Winner of the 2002 Gibbs Smith Poetry Competition, Me Comma You is a collection of brief yet illuminative free-verse poems by Kelly Le Fave that add depth and wonder to commonplace events, and cast a roving eye to the shadows of the future. Song of Wanting: Nails, tacks, chandeliers flying/over water pipes, fake jewels, gobs/of paint, hunks of lead, the brain-/tingling outbreak of matter undead,/these things make me want you,/your uncivilized smolder, your drowning/lament. I remember the marrow/of Adam's rib, its soup of iron and snake./Where have you gone, my walking wounded?/Where is my hole in your chest? Come,/no idle words, come.

A Walk In Hell
Gregory A. Helle
Xlibris Corporation
436 Walnut Street, 11th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106
1401075185 $22.99 (pb); xlibris.com
1401075193 $32.99 (hc); xlibris.com

A Walk In Hell is the profound work of free-verse poetry by Gregory A. Helle, one of many Vietnam War veterans, whose horrifying experiences induced post-traumatic stress disorder, haunting him with terrible and vivid memories thirty long years after the end of the fighting. The words capture emotion, distress, misery and the shocking reality of war with their brief simplicity and powerful impact. In My War: They had not taught me to fight/To kill/To survive/In my war//Taught to be a clerk/Nothing bad would happen/But that was not reality/They lied//They put me in harm's way/Without being trained/Without warning/They didn't care//Sometimes a bunker/Sometimes a hole/But Always the danger/Always the fear//The weapons were new to me/Had to learn fast/My life was on the line/With the lives of my buddies//Expendable


The Railroading Shelf

Realistic Model Railroad Operation
Tony Koester
Kalmbach Publishing Co.
21027 Crossroads Circle, Waukesha, WI 53187
0890244189 $19.95 kalmbachbooks.com

Realistic Model Railroad Operation: How To Run Your Trains Like The Real Thing by Tony Koester is a complete and "user friendly" guide to realistic model railroad operation. Readers will be provided with a quick-start guide to realistic operating sessions complete in a single evening; diverse schemes for forwarding cars and moving trains across a model railroading layout; explanations of sign systems as they apply to model railroads; and an appendix of precise railroading terminology. Superbly enhanced with previously unpublished color photography of tony Koester's HO scale Allegheny Midland Railroad (along with other great model railroads), Realistic Model Railroad Operation is a seminal and core addition to any dedicated model railroaders reference shelf. Model railorading enthusiasts are encouraged to send for the free Kalmbach Publishing catalog for a complete listing of their titles.


The Psychology Shelf

Group Leadership Skills
Carolyn Chambers Clark
Springer Publishing Company
536 Broadway, NY, NY 10012-3955
0826123341 $39.95 springerpub.com

Now in an updated and expanded fourth edition, Group Leadership Skills by therapist and group work consultant Carolyn Chambers Clark is a solid and comprehensive guide to group work and organization, which was originally intended to be used as a text for nurses, then became expanded so as to be applicable to all business and social circles. Individual chapters address group problem solving, qualities needed from an effective group leader, the importance of recording and analyzing group processes, working with focal groups, and much more. Group Leadership Skills is very strongly recommended reading for anyone whose personal or professional activities involve them in group work situations or scenarios.

TV Or No TV?
Faye B. Steuer & Jason T. Hustedt
University Press of America
4270 Boston Way, Lanham, MD 20706
0761824332 $27.00 univpress.com

The collaborative effort of Faye B. Steuer (Professor of Psychology, College of Charleston, South Carolina) and Jason T. Hustedt (Postdoctoral Fellow, Graduate School of Education, University of Pennsylvania), TV Or No TV?: A Primer On The Psychology Of Television is based on a study of four families who went for several years without television in their homes because the adults deliberately chose not to have the children exposed to the cultural and psychological influences of commercial television. Written primarily as a supplemental text, TV Or No TV? is a unique and scholarly work that is very strongly recommended for Family & Child Psychology Studies, Contemporary Sociology Studies, and Media Communication Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.


The Buddhist Studies Shelf

Dakini's Warm Breath
Judith Simmer-Brown
Shambhala Publications Inc.
300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115
157062920X $18.95 shambhala.com

Dakini's Warm Breath: The Feminine Principle In Tibetan Buddhism by Judith Simmer-Brown (Professor and Chair of the Religious Studies Department at Naropa University) is an extensive and learned discussion of "dakinis" within the context of Tibetan Vajrayana Buddhism, and how the interpretation of the dakini affects one's understanding of Buddhism. Carefully researched and accessibly written by a woman who has practiced Buddhism since 1971, Dakini's Warm Breath is a very highly recommended read for students, scholars and practitioners of Tibetan Buddhism.

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