selected reviews...
"Be Prepared: The Complete Financial, Legal, and Practical
Guide for Living with a Life-Challenging Condition"
by David S. Landay
ON Sale!
Coming off the deaths of his father following a bout with
lung cancer, a loved one who was diagnosed with leukemia,
and a number of friends who contracted HIV, attorney David
S. Landay wrote "Be Prepared" for people facing
life-challenging conditions. The book is organized and
presented in a tone Landay says is necessary for anyone
facing an uncertain future. As such, he repeatedly
emphasizes a need to both expect the best and prepare for
the worst. He covers a variety of topics, including drugs
and treatments, nutrition and exercise, taxes, new uses of
existing assets, and estate planning. Being proactive is a
consistent theme and is particularly relevant in areas such
as medical power of attorney, living wills, do-not-resuscitate
orders, durable power of attorney, and preneed decisions
about children. Of course, when it comes to an area such as
money, it's tempting to assume that much of this information
is already presented in other reputable books on financial
planning that cover areas such as life, disability, and
health insurance. But Landay makes a point of noting that
some of his concepts for people with life-challenging
conditions appear to fly against conventional wisdom. He
calls attention to those concepts with a special symbol and
refers to them as CASH: Conventional Advice Switched on its
Head. (Examples: As long as you have a taxable income, it is
advisable to continue to invest in retirement accounts; even
if you don't have health insurance, there are still ways to
get it; disability does not generally happen overnight;
Medicaid covers more long-term care than Medicare.) And the
book is certainly unique in its compilation of advice in a
variety of areas (medical, financial, and legal), all aimed
at informing people facing critical decisions. In the end,
it's hard to know if "Be Prepared" is a truly proactive
tool, or the type of resource people won't turn to until a
crisis strikes. In that sense, it's much like earthquake
preparation guides that go unnoticed until the big one
hits. Nevertheless, Landay's effort is a sobering reminder
both that poor health can send our lives spiraling out of
control and that a little planning ahead can bring pride,
dignity, and a sense of power to an otherwise compromised
life.
"World Desk Reference"
ON Sale!
Set aside a little extra time when you're looking up
information from the "DK World Desk Reference"--you won't be
able to keep yourself from browsing. The large, gorgeous
pages are colorful and well designed, and while the facts
you need are readily available, their neighbors are
clamoring for your attention, too. Beginning with a set of
physical, historical, and economic maps of the world and its
continents, the "Desk Reference" quickly gets to its heart:
several pages devoted to each nation of the world (as of the
year 2000), from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. Clear, detailed
maps, synopses of political, economic, environmental,
historical, and demographic information, and exquisitely
helpful charts bring each country to life and serve as a
brief but thorough lesson on its place in the world. The
four-page spread on Yugoslavia will help you understand the
situation there better and faster than a pile of history
textbooks, and your awareness of the importance of groups
such as the G7, WTO, and IMF will expand tremendously after
just a few minutes of browsing. Despite its entertainment
and educational value, though, the "DK World Desk Reference"
is also a sharply focused reference tool: The index and
gazetteer will bring you to the right page without fail time
and again.
"Dictionary of the Performing Arts"
by Frank Ledlie Moore and Mary Varchaver
ON Sale!
Music, dance, acting, film, television, and other creative
endeavors--each develops its own jargon to communicate
within the field. There's plenty of overlap in this
terminology, and this often creates a confusing mess when
artists try to work together. The "Dictionary of the
Performing Arts" aims to help professionals, students, and
critics understand each other by providing comprehensive,
cross-discipline definitions of thousands of performance-
related terms. Each word is followed by short or
medium-length explanations of its meaning as used by
different performers and technicians. "Fade," for example,
has related but different meanings to people working in
audio, lighting, and motion pictures, while a "stage
manager" is the same to any variety of live performance.
Including terms from circus, vaudeville, opera, classical
Greek and Asian theater, the dictionary covers vast tracts
of artistic territory--not many reference works contain
extensive definitions of both "pas de deux" and "heavy
metal" (though the latter curiously refers to Jimi Hendrix
as one of its "greatest exponents"). Whether you're a
scholar or a showboat, the "Dictionary of the Performing
Arts" will come in handy when you need to make sense of the
language of creation.
"The Oxford Companion to the Year"
by Bonnie Blackburn, Leofranc Holford-Stevens,
ON Sale!
"The Oxford Companion to the Year" is one of those splendid
volumes that should have a permanent place in every personal
reference library, next to a well- thumbed Brewer's. The
main body of the book gives a huge amount of historical and
folkloric information on every day of the year (including,
yes, February 30, which has happened three times); the days
of the week, months, and seasons; and the major feast days
and festivals in a wide variety of different cultures. This
is the section that most readers will find the most
fascinating; its 658 pages provide endless browsing. The
second part concentrates on the making of calendars over the
centuries: how our own complex calendar evolved with its
irregular month lengths and its rules for when leap years
occur, plus details of the calendars of many other
cultures--Chinese, Hindu, Muslim, and many more--all trying
to find a regular system that can cope with the fact that
the roughly 29- and-one-half-day lunar month and the roughly
365-and-one-quarter-day solar year simply can't be
meshed. Bonnie Blackburn and Leofranc Holford-Strevens must
be congratulated on the huge amount of work this book must
have taken, and on such splendid results.
"Atlas of the Prehistoric World"
by Douglas Palmer
Your price
Not to be critical or anything, but the earth is hardly the
spring chicken it was 4.6 billion years ago. Continents have
shifted, merged, and split apart. Seas have turned to land
and land has been submerged by sea. The "Atlas of the
Prehistoric World" forms a digest of what is known so far
about the history of the earth, enhanced with brilliant
maps, photographs, and illustrations and explained in lucid,
enjoyable prose.
"Nolo's Deposition Handbook"
by Paul Bergman and Albert J. Moore
Your price
Being deposed can be a confusing, Kafkaesque experience, but
"Nolo's Deposition Handbook" takes much of the fear and
uncertainty out of the process. Authors (and attorneys) Paul
Bergman and Albert Moore do a commendable job of dealing
with real-life issues, such as what to do--and not to do--in
preparation and how to deal with the trick questions that
many lawyers just love to ask.
BOOK COLLECTOR'S GUIDES
***********************
Love rare books? Whether you collect incunabula or modern
first editions, building a truly great collection of rare
books is no easy task, but we've put together a list of
identification and price guides to help you separate the
wheat from the chaff. Who knows? Your next flea market find
may turn out to be worth a bundle!
Your price
THE KAPLAN ADVANTAGE
********************
For decades, Kaplan has been the leader in test-prep
books. Preparing for the TOEFL, LSAT, or others, over 3
million students have looked to Kaplan to help them achieve
the best possible scores. If you're preparing for a big exam
this year, have a look at our list of Kaplan's latest prep
books--after all, you can never be too prepared, can you?
Your price
EDITOR'S CHOICE
***************
When Henry Petroski's "The Book on the Bookshelf" first
landed on my desk, I was dubious. "An entire book about
bookshelves? Sounds about as exciting as the history of the
paper clip." An evening perusing the book soon made me
change my mind. Petroski's charming and erudite history of
book storage is really an analysis of our drive to
categorize and store information for quick access. And as
Petroski clearly shows, when it come to our quest for
knowledge, we humans can be amazingly resourceful.
Your price
NEW AND NOTABLE
***************
"A Perfect Home Wedding: Inspirations for Planning Your Special Day"
by Kerry Eielson
Your price
Those contemplating an at-home wedding will find that "A
Perfect Home Wedding" addresses those special concerns in a
friendly, realistic way, so that, hopefully, even if the
special day doesn't go off without a hitch, you'll be
prepared for every possibility.
"Penguin Dictionary of American Folklore"
by Alan Axelrod and Harry Oster
Your price
The A-to-Z design of the "Penguin Dictionary of American
Folklore" enables fast access if you know what you want to
look up, but it also provides seemingly endless
opportunities for happy browsing.
1. "The Hutchinson Encyclopedia of the Renaissance"
by David Rundle
Check it out here
The 15th and 16th centuries marked a turning point for
Western culture--when "civilization progressed from
monochrome to technicolour," as Oxford historian Dr. David
Rundle puts it. His new book, "The Hutchinson Encyclopedia
of the Renaissance," gives the reader a new perspective on
the pioneers of our now thoroughly explored cultural
territory, and may just provide a map of what lies ahead.
2. "Encarta World English Dictionary"
Edited by Anne Soukhanov
Check it out here
While becoming the world's new lingua franca, English has
been changing at breakneck speed. The "Encarta World English
Dictionary" covers all the new developments in the language
thoroughly and efficiently, creating a reference tool for
anyone hooked into the global culture. We're really quite
"chuffed."
3. "The American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of
Garden Plants"
Check it out here
The undisputed gardening-reference champion, "The American
Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants"
weighs in with more than 15,000 entries and 6,000 photos and
illustrations of North American plants, trees, and flowers.
It includes answers for every gardening question, from light
requirements to heirloom-seed varieties.
4. "Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay"
by Richard Lederer and Richard Dowis
Check it out here
In "Sleeping Dogs Don't Lay," indefatigable verbivores
Richard Lederer and Richard Dowis present a quick-and-dirty
grammar guide, tip a few sacred cows, and even offer some
helpful hints on orthography and punctuation. Now, if only
they could do the actual writing for us.
5. "Random House Webster's Quotationary"
edited by Leonard Roy Frank
Check it out here
Looking for a pithy quote for your next speech? Maybe you're
just curious about who said, "Great minds are like eagles,
and build their nest in some lofty solitude" (Schopenhauer,
if you really must know). Random House Webster's
"Quotationary" offers over 20,000 quotations by everyone
from Edward Abbey to Emile Zola.
6. "Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary"
Check it out here
Inveterate logophiles that we are, we love the
100th-anniversary edition of "Merriam Webster's Collegiate
Dictionary." With over 200,000 entries, authoritative usage
guides, etymologies, and synonym paragraphs, this
dictionary, we think, would make Noah proud.
7. "Why I Write"
edited by Will Blythe
Check it out here
Will Blythe gathers 25 essays detailing the joy of writing
by fiction writers as diverse as David Foster Wallace, Ann
Patchett, and Terry McMillan in "Why I Write." More than a
meditation on the art of writing, "Why I Write" celebrates
fiction's power to inspire, challenge, and liberate our
imaginations.
8. "DK Millennium World Atlas"
Check it out here
The "DK Millennium World Atlas" is a big, lush book, at home
whether displayed on a coffee table or on a library's
reference shelf. State-of-the-art cartography has never
looked so good.
9. "Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus"
Check it out here
Need a word in a hurry? Look no further than "Webster's New
World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus." Combining the traditional
Roget's-style thematic index with the convenient alphabetic
organization of the modern lexicon, it's a veritable orgy of
synonymy.
10. "Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2000"
Check it out here
Curious about the inner workings of a jet? Wonder how
crystals are formed? You'll find this and more wonderfully
deconstructed information in "Ultimate Visual Dictionary
2000."
"Informatica 1.0"
By Peter M. Black
Check it out here
The Internet is still a wild, chaotic place, and you can
spend many hours searching fruitlessly for the information
you need. But fear not! Peter M. Black has done all the
legwork for you and brings you the coolest stuff on the Web
in "Informatica 1.0."
"Africana"
edited by Kwame Anthony Appiah and Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Check it out here
A splendidly packaged reference work that will adorn
libraries and homes for years to come, "Africana" defines
the black experience in the same sweeping way that the
"Encyclopedia Britannica" defined Euro-American
civilization. More important for young readers, the
magnificent collection shows that Africans and the
continent's descendants are a truly global people who have
made tremendous contributions to human civilization.
"A History of Mathematics"
by Carl B. Boyer and Uta C. Merzbach
ON Sale!
First published in 1968, "A History of Mathematics" is a
tour de force of intellectual history. In just over 600
pages, Boyer surveys mathematical thought from ancient
Mesopotamia right up through modern times. Though it does
presuppose some knowledge of the field, the interested
layperson will have no trouble following along.
"Dictionary of Imaginary Places"
by Alberto Manguel and Gianni Guadalupi
Check it out here
Like an ordinary geographical dictionary, "The Dictionary of
Imaginary Places" contains alphabetically organized entries
for more than a thousand locales. In this case, however, the
locales in question are far from ordinary--they range from
the orc-ridden wastes of Tolkien's Middle-Earth to the
languorous shores of Homer's Island of the Lotus-Eaters.
This handsome and whimsically charming book, adorned with
fanciful line drawings and maps, is rich with enough fictive
detail to please the most inveterate reader.
"Encyclopedia of Hell"
by Miriam Van Scott
Check it out here
From the fire-and-brimstone pit of medieval Christianity to
icy Niflheim, the German underworld for anyone who didn't
die in battle, Mirima Van Scott's "Encyclopedia of Hell"
offers a wide-ranging, multicultural look at the dark side
of the afterlife.
"Early American Furniture: a Practical Guide"
by John Obbard
Check it out here
Don't get taken in by fakes and imitations! "Early American
Furniture: a Practical Guide" is essential reading for
anyone interested in collecting and caring for Early
American furniture.
"Maloney's Antiques & Collectibles Resource Directory"
by David J. Maloney
Check it out here
If you are serious about antiques and collectibles, you'll
want to pick up the latest edition of "Maloney's Antiques &
Collectibles Resource Directory." With thousands of listing
for clubs, contacts, periodicals, and Web sites, you'll
always know where to go to find the perfect addition to your
collection.
"Your Secrets Are My Business"
by Kevin McKeown and Dave Stern
Check it out here
With the crime of identity theft on the rise, we all need to
be more cautious with our private information. In "Your
Secrets Are My Business," security experts Kevin McKeown and
Dave Stern show you the most common ways your secrets are
stolen, and what you can do to prevent theft.
"Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2000"
DK Publishing
Check it out here
Curious about the inner workings of a jet? You'll find this
and more wonderfully deconstructed information in DK's
"Ultimate Visual Dictionary 2000."
"DK Millennium World Atlas"
DK Publishing
Check it out here
The "DK Millennium World Atlas" is a big, lush book, just as
much at home on a coffee table as a library's reference
shelf. State-of-the-art cartography has never looked so
good.
"Dictionary of Languages"
by Andrew Dalby
Check it out here
Andrew Dalby's "Dictionary of Languages" is an essential
ready reference for anyone interested in the languages of
the world. Dalby, honorary librarian at the Institute of
Linguistics and a regular contributor to the journal The
Linguist, has done a marvelous job of collecting information
on over 400 languages into one volume. Though rather light
on hard linguistic information, the dictionary does cover
the history and social background of each language, and is
one of the few reference works on languages that gives equal
time to more obscure ones, such as Maba (spoken in Chad) and
Sorbian (spoken in Germany). The perfect book for quick
information or for an afternoon of pleasant browsing.
"Webster's New World College Dictionary"
Check it out here
Is "legislator" pronounced with an "er" sound at the end or
an "or"? Is the Jewish festival of lights spelled
"Chanukah," "Hanuka," or "Hanukkah"? With "Webster's New
World College Dictionary," which promises to describe rather
than prescribe, you can take your pick. Easy to use and
understand, "Webster's New World College Dictionary" is a
fine addition to any high school or college student's desk
set.
"Sin and Syntax"
by Constance Hale
Check it out here
You gotta love a grammar guide that calls verbs "moody
little suckers" and adverbs "promiscuous." Constance Hale
("Wired Style") relishes prose that is deliberate,
beautiful, and bold. In "Sin and Syntax," Hale offers
liberating advice for the struggling writer: Go ahead and
break the rules, she says; just know the rules first, and
know why you are breaking them.
"An Incomplete Education"
by Judy Jones and William Wilson
Check it out here
You'll find everything you forgot from school--as well as
plenty you never even learned--in "An Incomplete Education,"
an all-purpose reference book, an instant classic when it
first appeared in 1987. The updated version takes a
whirlwind tour through 12 different disciplines, from
American studies to philosophy to world history.