Our favorite 15 books of the year, a mix of illustrated books, history, literature and travel.

		E-mail Print
Select Item

	Burton Holmes Travelogues  •  Genoa Caldwell TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 366 PAGES • NEW A glorious selection of photos, hand-tinted lantern slides and tales from Burton Holmes's extraordinary multi-volume Travelogues, originally published in 1901. From the grand boulevards of Paris to China's Great Wall, from the construction of the Panama canal to the 1906 eruption of Mount Vesuvius, Holmes was there, camera and pen at the ready. He made a career of sharing his stories, colorful photographs, and films with audiences across America, billing himself as "the World's Greatest Traveler." (TVL116, $59.99)
	Life, A Journey Through Time  •  Frans Lanting EXPLORATION •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 303 PAGES • NEW Lanting evokes the evolution of life on Earth, its beauty, diversity and grandeur, in 200 sumptuous color photographs. From fiery eruptions, geysers and stark geology, through single-celled organisms and fish, to the rise of amphibians and reptiles, birds, flowering plants and mammals, this is a splendid tale of biodiversity and wonder. Life is also a touring exhibition and multi-media presentation with a score by Philip Glass. (NAT110, $59.99)
	Galen Rowell, A Retrospective  •   Sierra Club  •  Galen Rowell ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 288 PAGES • NEW A tribute to the renowned traveler, photographer and friend, by a host of contributors and the editors of Sierra Club books, featuring a stunning sampling of Rowell's magnficent color photographs, including mountain images, Antarctica and the Arctic. (PHT21, $50.00)
	Historical Atlas of the United States  •  Derek Hayes REFERENCE •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 280 PAGES • NEW One in a series of handsomely-produced books by geographer Derek Hayes, this oversized overview of the United States charts exploration and discovery, treaties and war and development up to now in 500 beautiful full-color maps and drawings. (USA150, $39.95)
	The Middle Sea, A History of the Mediterranean  •  John Julius Norwich HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 720 PAGES • NEW A marvelous writer who has already tackled Byzantium, the Normans in Sicily and Venice, Norwich spins his magic in this story of culture, trade and politics, royalty and rulers, wars and religion in the Mediterranean from antiquity to the end of the First World War. (MED98, $20.00)
	The Classical World, An Epic History from Homer to Hadrian  •  Robin Lane Fox HISTORY •  2008 •  PAPER  • 656 PAGES • NEW Classicist and popular author Fox (Alexander the Great) illuminates ancient Greek and Roman civilizations with wit and flair in this hugely ambitious, stimulating history. Heroes and tyrants populate his tales, ranging from Homer to Augustus, the exploits of Alexander the Great, Roman rule and the rise of Christianity. (GRE293, $18.95)
	La Bella Figura, A Field Guide to the Italian Mind  •  Beppe Severgnini CULTURAL PORTRAIT •  2007 •  PAPER  • 288 PAGES • NEW A witty guide to the Italian character, hugely popular in Italy, including the apparently never-ending Italian passion for beauty, great love of disorder and high emotion. An Italian journalist, Severgnini opens with a snapshot of the hubbub at Malpensa airport, taking the unwary reader firmly by the hand on a journey to Milan,Tuscany, Rome, Naples and Sardinia. He hilariously points out Italian rituals and quirks from the highway to hotels, bedrooms, restaurants, the office and beach. (ITL718, $12.95)
	Reluctant Mr. Darwin, An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution  •  David Quammen NATURAL HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 304 PAGES • NEW David Quammen hits just the right note in this sprightly tale of the man, his ideas and impact. Not just a marvelous and witty writer with a conversational style, Quammen (Flight of the Iguana, Song of the Dodo, etc.) also has an uncanny ability, in full display in this extended essay, to express complex ideas with clarity. (NAT94, $14.95)
	The Places in Between  •  Rory Stewart TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES • NEW Born in Hong Kong, educated at Eton and Oxford and formerly tutor to Prince William and Prince Harry, Rory Stewart ditched it all in 2000 to walk 6,000 miles from Turkey to Bangladesh. The Places in Between, which won the Ondaatje Prize, illuminates the absurdity, plight and peril of the Afghans after the fall of the Taliban. Stewart walked from Herat to Kabul in the dead of winter, depending on luck, a big dog and the kindness of strangers (along with his ability to speak Persian and his knowledge of local customs). His thrilling, poignant book is a worthy successor to Bruce Chatwin and Peter Levi's 1960s trek recounted in The Light Garden of the Angel King. (MDE100, $14.00)
	Overthrow, America's Century of Regime Change from Hawaii to Iraq  •  Stephen Kinzer HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 384 PAGES • NEW Hawaii, Nicaragua, Guatemala, Iran, the Philippines, Granada, Panama, Chile, Afghanistan, Iraq. In this compelling review, New York Times journalist and author Kinzer (Crescent and Star, Turkey Between Two Worlds) crisply outlines the events, politics and personalities of 14 cases in which America has brought down foreign governments since 1893. Kinzer effectively demonstrates that revolutions, invasions and foreign meddling are as American as apple pie (and that such adventures rarely do much to enhance security). (USA148, $16.00)
	The Naked Tourist, In Search of Adventure and Beauty in the Age of the Airport Mall  •  Lawrence Osborne TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2007 •  PAPER  • 256 PAGES • NEW "It came upon me suddenly," Osborne reports, "like a mental disorder unknown to psychiatry: the desire to stop everything in normal life, to uproot, leave." And so he does, taking off on a six-month journey from Dubai to India, Bangkok, Bali and Papua New Guinea on the "Asian Highway." Osborne is not just interested in travel, but also in the reasons why we travel, layering his own entertaining adventures with ruminations on Shangri-La, The Grand Tour, the exotic and primitive. (SEA50, $14.00)
	A Complete Guide to Arctic Wildlife  •  Richard Sale NATURAL HISTORY •  2006 •  HARD COVER  • 464 PAGES • NEW Featuring 400 lively color photographs of Arctic peoples, wildlife and landscapes, this handsomely illustrated book is both a primer on the circumpolar north and a guide to Arctic birds and mammals. With hundreds of spectacular color photographs, color range maps and descriptions of 200 species of birds and 77 kinds of mammals. (ARC190, $49.95)
	Oracle Bones, A Journey Between China's Past and Present  •  Peter Hessler HISTORY •  2007 •  PAPER  • 512 PAGES • NEW Peter Hessler (River Town) captures the confounding pace of change in these tales of travel and conversation in contemporary China. The Beijing correspondent for the New Yorker with a depth of knowledge and love of the place, Hessler draws on his familiarity with the country, linguistic ability and his many friends for this penetrating report from the field. (CHN316, $15.95)
	The Caliph's House, A Year in Casablanca  •  Tahir Shah TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 343 PAGES • NEW Shah's entertaining account of the transformation of a spectacularly crumbled palace in Casablanca, abandoned for a decade. Shah is a marvelous writer and storyteller, interweaving Moroccan customs and history and deft portraits of neighbors, craftsmen and others. He captures the mix of old and new, absurd and moving, frustration and joy of Morocco. The house was not just crumbling but occupied by spirits. (MRC66, $13.00)
	The Inheritance of Loss  •  Kiran Desai LITERATURE •  2006 •  PAPER  • 336 PAGES • NEW Alternating between a once grand household in northern India and the life of the cook's son in New York, this second novel by the marvelous and wise Desai skewers the aspirations and reality of both worlds. Happily, she immerses the reader in the particulars of place. Winner of the 2006 Man Booker Prize. (IDA303, $14.00)

	Bradt Safari Guide Northern Tanzania with Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar  •  Philip Briggs   • GUIDEBOOK • BEST SELLER • NEW  •  A compact, practical overview of the history, wildlife and attractions of northern Tanzania, including the Serengeti, Tarangire, Ngorongoro, Olduvai, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar. With maps, town plans and lots of good travel information. (EAF143, $22.95)
	A Commonwealth of Thieves, The Improbable Birth of Australia  •  Thomas Keneally   • HISTORY • NEW  •  Keneally illuminates the birth of New South Wales with drama and flair, richly evoking the social conditions in London, long sea voyage and the conditions in Australia. (AUS177, $15.95)
	Mysteries of the Middle Ages, The Rise of Feminism, Science And Art from the Cults of Catholic Europe  •  Thomas Cahill   • HISTORY • NEW  •  Cahill deftly evokes the historic glories of the major medieval (and the places they frequented) in this illuminating overview of philosophy, art and literature. (EUR239, $32.50)
	The Reindeer People, Living with Animals and Spirits in Siberia  •  Piers Vitebsky   • CULTURAL PORTRAIT • NEW  •  An anthropologist, Vitebsky captures the hardships, challenges and routines of everyday life on the taiga of northeastern Siberia in this portrait of the Eveny people. (SIB48, $15.95)
	The Spice Route, A History  •  John Keay   • HISTORY • NEW  •  John Keay draws on ancient logs, traveler's accounts and maps for this rousing history of trade in cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, pepper, gums, resins and other costly goods from antiquity to the 17th century. (ASA52, $16.95)
	The Cave Painters, Probing the Mysteries of the World's First Artists  •  Gregory Curtis   • ART & ARCHITECTURE • NEW  •  Curtis introduces the masterworks of cave art, the Paleolithic and paleoarchaeology in this tour of Altamira, Lascaux, Les Trois-Freres, Cosquer, Chauvet and other caves in France and Spain. (FRN620, $14.95)
	Climbing the Mango Trees, A Memoir of a Childhood in India  •  Madhur Jaffrey   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • NEW  •  An actress and food writer, Jaffrey combines her warm tale of coming-of-age in a sprawling homestead in Old Delhi with 32 recipes. (IDA327, $14.95)
	Cross Country  •  Robert Sullivan   • TRAVEL NARRATIVE • NEW  •  Sullivan's marvelously digressive chronicle of a cross-country car trip, the history of the Interstate system, fast-food, variety of to-go coffee cup lids, the marvels of the roadside attraction and many, many other subjects. (USA135, $14.95)
	My Life in France  •  Julia Child   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • NEW  •  Child's characteristically ebullient record of Paris and Provence, her many friends, family and memorable meals, in the years after WWII. (FRN596, $14.95)
	Scott of the Antarctic, A Life of Courage and Tragedy  •  David Crane   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • NEW  •  In this balanced and dramatic new biography, Crane looks at Robert Falcon Scott afresh in the context of Edwardian exploration and empire, showing him to a be flawed hero but a hero nonetheless. (ANT233, $16.95)
	Under The Loving Care of the Fatherly Leader, North Korea and the Kim Dynasty  •  Bradley K. Martin   • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR • NEW  •  A detailed portrait of Kim Il Sung and his son and successor Kim Jong-Il, their monstrous egos, appetites and monuments, and of the relationship of North Korea to the rest of the world, by a Newsweek bureau chief. (KOR18, $19.95)
	Absurdistan  •  Gary Shteyngart   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  Shteyngart, a young Russian immigrant himself, riffs on the privilege and behavior of the new breed of Russian oligarchs along with many more less politically correct targets in this outrageous first novel set in the Bronx, St. Petersburg and oil-besotted Absurdsvani. (RUS321, $13.95)
	Measuring the World, A Novel  •  Daniel Kehlmann  •  Carol Brown Janeway   • LITERATURE  •  Kehlman interweaves the lives and adventures of explorer Alexander Von Humboldt and mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss with wit and invention in this surprise bestselling novel of South American travel, science and ideas. (GER202, $14.95)
	Russian Short Stories  •  Robert Chandler   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  This fine collection of tales captures the sweep and soul of Russian literature, including Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Chekhov and Tolstoy along with lesser-known greats. (RUS288, $17.00)
	The Night Watch  •  Sarah Waters   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  Waters gradually reveals her characters in this intricately plotted, atmospheric novel set in London in the 1940s. (GBR681, $15.00)
	The Ruby in Her Navel, A Novel of Love and Intrigue in the 12th Century  •  Barry Unsworth   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  Unsworth transports the reader to the 12th century in this richly imagined novel of love and intrigue set in Norman Sicily, where Christian knights, Anatolian belly dancers, Jews and Arabs mix and mingle. (ITL760, $14.95)
	The Secret River  •  Kate Grenville   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  Inspired by the history of her own family, Kate Grenville evokes all the bravado, trickery and conflict over the settlement of New South Wales in her tale of a Thames boatsman banished to the new colony in 1806 (AUS179, $14.00)
	The Whistling Season  •  Ivan Doig   • LITERATURE • NEW  •  Doig's richly textured novel of the Old West revolves around a rancher, a new housekeeper (can't cook but doesn't bite) and her scholarly, mysterious brother, who takes over as schoolteacher in Marias Coulee, Montana. (RKY94, $14.00)
	Africa  •  Michael Poliza   • NATURAL HISTORY  •  Cape Town-based Poliza's 12-pound behemoth (packaged in its own carrying case) is a labor of love -- and worth every cent. It's a lavishly produced, mesmerizing celebration of the diversity of Africa and especially its wildlife. The German photographer loves color and pattern, abundantly on display here, with each of the 180 exquisite images printed across two jumbo pages. He followed up with a breathtaking helicopter journey from Hamburg to Cape Town, showcased in his new book, Eyes Over Africa. (AFR180, $125.00)
	The World of the Polar Bear  •  Norbert Rosing  •  Ian Stirling   • NATURAL HISTORY • NEW  •  Norbert Rosing provides all new photography for this edition of his sumptuous and informative volume showcasing not only the photogenic bears and their cubs but also the sly Arctic fox, sleek seals, ungainly walruses, myriad seabirds and glimmering aurora borealis. Tracking change over the four seasons, his accompanying essays describe his travels and the natural history of Hudson Bay. (ARC50, $45.00)
	Whales, Dolphins, and Other Marine Mammals of the World  •  Hadoram Shirihai  •  Brett Jarrett   • FIELD GUIDE • NEW  •  This eye-catching Princeton Field Guide by Shirihai and illustrator Jarrett is noteworthy for its 450 excellent color photographs, range maps and text, all bundled in a compact package. (FG62, $24.95)
	FC3 Full Circle Globe  •   Atmosphere Globemakers    •  With its sleek Danish modern design, simple inclination mounting on an aluminum axis and circular dark rubber base, this 12-inch blue ocean globe is a beauty. (GLB45, $119.95)

Here are some other groups of books that might interest you. Click to view a listing:

More Books