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In the Kitchen

Gran Cocina Latina, The Food of Latin America

Maricel E. Presilla

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Endurance, Shackleton's Incredible Voyage

Alfred Lansing

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Barry Lopez

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Every Day in Tuscany, Seasons of an Italian Life

Frances Mayes

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New & Noteworthy

READING AND TRAVEL GUIDE

New & Noteworthy travel books that we're specially excited about

Odyssey Guide Myanmar

Odyssey Guide Myanmar

by Caroline Courtauld

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Refreshingly direct and engaging, Caroline Courtauld covers Burma's culture, long history and religion with grace in this richly illustrated guide, which includes fine color maps (as is the custom with the excellent Odyssey guides), photographs and well chosen literary excerpts. (BMA16, $26.95)

Burma, Rivers of Flavor

Burma, Rivers of Flavor

by Naomi Duguid

  • FOOD
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 364 PAGES

A culinary adventurer, Naomi Duguid presents the food, local markets, people and culture of Burma in this exceedingly informative (not to mention beautiful) cookbook and cultural guide. The 125 personable recipes (most get at least a page) are interspersed with tales and photographs from her many travels in the region. Her first solo venture (she parted ways with husband and co-author Jeffrey Alford a few years ago), Burma, Rivers of Flavor, like Beyond the Great Wall and Mangoes & Curry Leaves introduces a new world through its food. (BMA77, $35.00)

The World Atlas of Beer

The World Atlas of Beer

by Tim Webb

  • FOOD
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

Tim Webb (Good Beer Guide Belgium) and Steve Beaumont (worldofbeer.com) collaborated on this celebration of beer and beer-producing regions. Not just an artfully illustrated guide to this delightful beverage -- its origins, brewing methods and technologies -- the over-sized hard cover book (it would look good on your coffee table) also profiles 500 great beers. It's on our holiday list! (WLD235, $30.00)

Gran Cocina Latina, The Food of Latin America

Gran Cocina Latina, The Food of Latin America

by Maricel E. Presilla

  • FOOD
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 864 PAGES

A student of medieval Spanish history (she has a doctorate) and owner two restaurants in Hoboken, Presilla introduces the cuisines of Cuba, Mexico, Ecuador, Brazil, and other countries in this sumptuous overview of food and food traditions. (SAM177, $45.00)

Lost Antarctica, Adventures in a Disappearing Land

Lost Antarctica, Adventures in a Disappearing Land

by James McClintock

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 232 PAGES

A marine biologist who first traveled to the Kerguelen 30 years ago, James McClintock offers an intimate tour of the continent and his many voyages south, covering his field seasons at Palmer and McMurdo, his work on marine invertebrates and looming environmental challenges with equal, feet-on-the-ground aplomb. McClintock leads an annual expedition cruise to the Antarctic on climate change (some of you may havea traveled with him). (ANT365, $26.00)

The Last Viking, The Life of Roald Amundsen

The Last Viking, The Life of Roald Amundsen

by Stephen Bown

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 356 PAGES

Stephen Bown plumbs the archives of The New York Times, Amundsen's own words and other contemporaneous accounts to tell the full story of the unusual and hugely accomplished explorer. Best known for conquering the South Pole (100 years ago this year), Amundsen was also an aviation pioneer and the first through both the Northeast and Northwest Passages. Generally portrayed as dastardly, dour and driven, Amundsen was actually quite a celebrity, packing the house for his entertaining slide-lectures, who spent much more time in New York City than back home in Norway. (ANT369, $27.50)

Murder in the Rue Dumas

Murder in the Rue Dumas

by M. L. Longworth

  • MYSTERY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

M. L. Longworth's second deliciously entertaining mystery, once again firmly set in Aix-en-Provence, plunges the local magistrate and his on-again-off-again law professor girlfriend into the world of academia. Georges Moutte, chair of the theology department at the University d'Aix is murdered, it seems. (FRA20, $14.00)

Insight Guide Burma

Insight Guide Burma

by Insight Guides

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 365 PAGES

An illustrated overview of Burma with essays on history, archaeology and culture. (BMA04, $24.99)

All That Is

by James Salter

  • LITERATURE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER

The remarkable James Salter, tracks the life and loves and career of WWII pilot-turned-editor Philip Bowman and his crowd over 40 years in post war America. (USA517, $26.95)

The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen

by Matt Lee

  • FOOD
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 240 PAGES

Through 100 recipes, 75 full-color photographs, and numerous personal stories, let James Beard Award-winning authors and hometown heroes Matt and Ted Lee be your guide to the city's food traditions. (USE594, $35.00)

Beautiful Whale

Beautiful Whale

by Bryant Austin

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 124 PAGES

Eye to eye with whales. Founder of Marine Mammal Conservation Through the Arts -- and an aquanaut of the first order -- Bryant Austin set out to create mesmerizing high resolution portaits of the great whales -- in breaktaking lifesize images. In this 12x15 inch tribute, some of these images are resporduced at a 1:1 scale, other compsite images reduced to 1:6. (BST224, $50.00)

Letters to a Young Scientist

by Edward O. Wilson

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

Inspired by Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet, the Pulitzer Prize winning biologist and Harvard proferssor Harvard biologis E.O. Wilson looks back over a long career, anwering what it takes to be a scientist and other fundamentals. (NAT276, $21.95)

The Kingdom of Rarities

The Kingdom of Rarities

by Eric Dinerstein

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 336 PAGES

What makes rare species rare, and why does it matter? Chief scientist and vice president of conservation science at WWF, Dinerstein explores the concept of rarity in this engaging tale of science, which takes us from the Peruvian Amazon to New Guinea, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Bhutan. (NAT267, $29.95)

Forgotten Footprints, Lost Stories in the Discovery of Antarctica

Forgotten Footprints, Lost Stories in the Discovery of Antarctica

by John Harrison

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 464 PAGES

A frequent lecturer aboard expedition ships to the Antarctic, John Harrison mixes his own adventures with tales of the seamen, sealers, whalers and plain lunatics who have journeyed to the Ice to make their fame and fortune. He focuses not on Shackleton, Scott and Amundsen but lesser-known tales of the Antarctic Peninsula, South Shetlands and Weddell Sea. This book is fourth in a series that includes Up the Creek (Amazon), Cloud Road (Andes) and Where the Earth Ends (Patagonia). Wonder where John will turn up next, New Zealand? (ANT380, $24.95)

Among the Islands, Adventures in the Pacific

Among the Islands, Adventures in the Pacific

by Tim Flannery

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 246 PAGES

Tim Flannery, the exuberant field-biologist author of Throwim Way Leg and other tales of his adventure, writes with verve of his time among the islands of the southwest Pacific in the 1980s and 1990s ("the best job in the world"). He may have been in search or rare bats and rats and such but his interests are wide, covering the history, politics and people of fabled places including the Trobriands, Bismarck Islands, the Solomons, Fiji and New Caledonia. (PAC312, $25.00)

On Looking, Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes

On Looking, Eleven Walks With Expert Eyes

by Alexandra Horowitz

  • SCIENCE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 308 PAGES

Horowitz (Inside of a Dog) turns from canine perception to our own in this engaging, smart exploration of how we perceive our surroundings in 11 rambles around the neighborhoods of New York City. (NYC247, $27.00)

Lonely Planet's Guide to Travel Photography

Lonely Planet's Guide to Travel Photography

by Lonely Planet Publications

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 368 PAGES

Richard Anson shows you how to avoid common photography mistakes and to develop your compositional and technical skills as a photographer in this fouth edition of Lonely Planet's popular guide. (PHT42, $24.99)

Madagascar, The Eighth Continent

Madagascar, The Eighth Continent

by Peter Tyson

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 375 PAGES

Peter Tyson tags along with several researchers, interweaving an account of their work with travelogue, history and ecology for this far-ranging, journalistic report on the cultural and natural history of Madagascar. (MAD22, $19.99)

Round About the Earth

Round About the Earth

by Joyce E. Chaplin

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 560 PAGES

Harvard Historian Joyce Chaplin's rollicking Round About the Earth traces the outsized personalities, grand enterprises and inspired folly of those globe-trotting men and women who have circled the planet over the last 500 years. Beginning, naturally with Magellan, she covers scientists, explorers, pirates and empire builders from James Cook to Charles Darwin, Phileas Fog (she includes fictional characters too), Amelia Earhart, Yuri Gagarin, and John Glenn. (EXP99, $35.00)

Safari, A Photicular Book

Safari, A Photicular Book

by Dan Kainen

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER

As if on safari, readers encounter eight wild animals in this mesmerizing book which uses clever sliding lenses so that the cheetah bounds, the gazelle leaps, the African elephant snaps its ears and the gorilla munches the leaves off a branch. With s lively, informative essay and an at-a-glance list of important facts. (EAF397, $24.95)

Lonely Planet Better Than Fiction

Lonely Planet Better Than Fiction

by Lonely Planet

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

Alexander McCall Smith, Peter Matthiessen, Joyce Carol Oates, Frances Mayes, Pico Iyer and Jan Morris, alogn with Orange, Booker- and Whitbread-prize winners and contemporary novelists are includes in this wide-ranging collection of 32 travel essays edited by Don George. Pure pleasure. (TVL556, $15.99)

Moon Angkor Wat, Including Siem Reap & Phnom Penh

Moon Angkor Wat, Including Siem Reap & Phnom Penh

by Tom Vater

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 230 PAGES

With his long association with Cambodia, Tom Vater covers all the practicalities of visiting Angkor, Siem Reap, Battambang and Phnom Penh in this slim guide. Vater is also the author of Moon Cambodia. (CBD79, $14.99)

100 Places That Can Change Your Child's Life, From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth

100 Places That Can Change Your Child's Life, From Your Backyard to the Ends of the Earth

by Keith Bellows

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2013
  • PAPER

Editor of National Geographic Traveler, Bellows reels in friends, colleagues and local guides around the world for this engaging roundup of great places. (TVL561, $18.95)

Access All Areas, Selected Writings 1990-2011

Access All Areas, Selected Writings 1990-2011

by Sara Wheeler

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

Including Wheeler's forays into Albania and the Arctic, a trip aboard the Queen Elizabeth 2, a trek to Tierra del Fuego, a slog through the swamps of Malawi and other travels, this anthology also includes her profiles of Mary Kingsley, Isabella Bird and other adventurers she admires. (TVL560, $18.00)

Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table

Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table

by Christopher Bakken

  • FOOD
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 256 PAGES

Bakken picks olives on Thasos, bakes bread on Crete, eats thyme honey from Kythira with one of Greece's greatest poets, and learns why Naxos is the best place for cheese in the Cyclades in this lyrical account of adventures at the table and in the fields across Greece. (GRE517, $34.95)

Tibet, An Inner Journey

Tibet, An Inner Journey

by Matthieu Ricard

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

Ricard draws on his long association with the region and Buddhism for this collection of 191 vivid color photographs of the people and landscapes of Kham, or Eastern Tibet. (TBT113, $19.95)

Voyage of a Summer Sun, Canoeing the Columbia River

Voyage of a Summer Sun, Canoeing the Columbia River

by Robin Cody

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

In this sparkling account of adventure, encounters and, especailly, of the Columbia River, Cody chronicles an 82-day voyage from source to sea, interweaving history and commentary with suspenseful tales of wind, weather, imposing dams, fearsome rapids, boulders and bears. With a new epilogue. (PNW39, $19.95)

The Old Ways, A Journey on Foot

The Old Ways, A Journey on Foot

by Robert Macfarlane

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 448 PAGES

From his home in Cambridge to the chalk downs of England, Scotland's bird islands, Palestine and the sacred landscapes of Spain and the Himalayas, Robert MacFarlane meditates on the nature of walking, folding together natural history, cartography, geology, archaeology and literature. (NAT261, $27.95)

Inventing the Christmas Tree

Inventing the Christmas Tree

by Bernd Brunner

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 99 PAGES

From its German origins to world-wide phenomenon, Brunner explores the origins, myth and meaning of the familiar holiday tree in this wide-ranging, brisk short history. (EUR427, $18.00)

The Lady in Gold, The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece

The Lady in Gold, The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt's Masterpiece

by Anne-Marie O'Connor

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 349 PAGES

Washington Post journalist O'Connor recreates the intellectual and artistic milieu of turn-of-century Vienna in this haunting look at the artist Gustav Klimpt, his famous portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer, and the her niece, Maria Bloch-Bauer and her battle with the Austrian government to recover five Klimpt paintings stolen by Hitler. Ronald Lauder bought the Lady in Gold for the Neue Galerie in New York. (AST117, $30.00)

Trout of the World

by James Prosek

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 224 PAGES

From the Oxus trout of eastern Afghanistan to the small golden brown trout of British chalk streams, James Prosek illustrates all the world's trout in stunning watercolors, savoring the beauty of various fishing spots and describing each in rich detail. (FSH10, $35.00)

A Book of Voyages

by Patrick O'Brian

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 310 PAGES

Edited by master storyteller Patrick O'Brian's -- and published in honor of the centenary of his birth -- this rich collection of mostly 17th and 18th century travel accounts is both a window into the time, and great reading. On her journey through the Crimea, Lady Craven witnesses barbaric entertainments in the court of the Tartar Khan. John Bell tells us of his day's hunting with the Manchu emperor in 1721 outside Peking. An English woman in Madras gives us a detailed description of the extraordinary costume and body decoration of a high-born Indian woman, wife of a nabob. (TVL569, $25.95)

Man and Sea, Planet Ocean

by Brian Skerry | Yann Arthus-Bertrand

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER

Spectacular aerial images by Yann Arthus-Bertrand and striking underwater photographs by Brian Skerry offer a top-to-bottom tour of the world's oceans, while the enlightening text covers the sea's critical mechanisms, from currents to food chains. (OCE188, $50.00)

My Fathers' Ghost Is Climbing in the Rain

by Patricio Pron

  • LITERATURE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 224 PAGES

The American debut of one of Granta's Best Young Spanish-Language Novelists: a daring, deeply affecting novel about the secrets buried in the past of an Argentine family--a story of fathers and sons, corruption and responsibility, memory and history, with a mystery at its heart. (ARG128, $24.00)

Archipelago

by Monique Roffey

  • LITERATURE
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 384 PAGES

A native Trinidadian tells the tale of a father-daughter sailing adventure from Trinidad to the Galapagos Islands, which was longlisted for the 2013 OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature. (CRB298, $16.00)

Leonardo and the Last Supper

Leonardo and the Last Supper

by Ross King

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 352 PAGES

In this deft tale of palace intrigue, Renaissance hijinx -- and the making of a masterpiece, King chronicles not only the genesis of Leonardo's great painting in Milan but also of the fate of his benefactor, Lodovico Sforza, Duke of Milan. (ITA345, $28.00)

Bhutan, The Land of Serenity

Bhutan, The Land of Serenity

by Matthieu Ricard

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 232 PAGES

A Buddhist monk, photographer, and French interpreter for the Dalai Lama, Ricard, draws on his time in Bhutan over the last 25 years for this intimate portrait. With illuminating chapters on the remarkable Khyentse Rinpoche, sacred art, architecture, dancing monks and ceremonies. (BHU34, $19.95)

1912, The Year the World Discovered Antarctica

1912, The Year the World Discovered Antarctica

by Chris Turney

  • EXPLORATION
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 358 PAGES

Turney looks at the great leap forward in Antarctic science that was made 100 years ago with the expeditions of not just Scott and Amundsen but also those of Mawson, Filchner and Shirase in this brisk and engaging history of science and exploration in the Antarctic. An Australian scientist himself, Turney sees Mawson as the scientific hero of the age. (ANT368, $27.00)

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis

Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis

by Timothy Egan

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 370 PAGES

Egan tells the riveting, cinematic story behind Edward Curtis and the most famous photographs in Native American history. Curtis spent three decades traveling from the Havasupai at the bottom of the Grand Canyon to the Acoma on a high mesa in New Mexico to the Salish in the Northwest rain forest, documenting the stories and rituals of more than 30 Native American tribes. It took tremendous perseverance -- 10 years alone to persuade the Hopi to allow him into their Snake Dance ceremony. And the undertaking changed him profoundly, from detached observer to outraged advocate. (USW713, $28.00)

Iron Curtain, The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956

Iron Curtain, The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956

by Anne Applebaum

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 592 PAGES

Drawing on interviews, newly opened archives and personal accounts, Anne Appelbaum traces the Sovietisation of Eastern Europe after WWII in readable, persuasive detail. (EUR428, $35.00)

Eliot Porter, In the Realm of Nature

Eliot Porter, In the Realm of Nature

by Eliot Porter | Paul Martineau

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 144 PAGES

Drawn from the collections at the Getty Museum and the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, this exquisite portfolio showcases the quiet beauty and simple strength of the pioneering photographer Eliot Porter. With 90 color and black-and-white plates of lichen-encrusted rocks, landscapes and, in the final section, birds across North America, this tribute includes an essay on Porter by photography curator Paul Martineau. An early advocate of Kodachrome, Porter helped pave the way for color photography as an art form. Porter's photographs and his long-term collaboration and many books published with the Sierra Club helped win passage of the Wilderness Act. (PHT41, $39.95)

Lonely Planet Great Adventures

Lonely Planet Great Adventures

by Lonely Planet Publications

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Hike, dive, trek, paddle or climb your way to discovery and challenge around the world in this illustrated compendium of great adventure. And, if the savvy editors don't have enough on bike trips though that chapter is especially good), how about Chris Santella's Fifty Places to Bike Before You Die, latest in the series. (TVL557, $39.99)

The World Until Yesterday, What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

The World Until Yesterday, What Can We Learn from Traditional Societies?

by Jared Diamond

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 512 PAGES

Diamond contrasts modern society with that of traditional cultures, largely drawn from his time among the people of Papua New Guinea in this sweeping book on an even bigger subject: how to live, finding much to admire in both worlds. (NAT266, $36.00)

Antarctica, An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent

Antarctica, An Intimate Portrait of a Mysterious Continent

by Gabrielle Walker

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 416 PAGES

A British journalist with a Ph.D. in chemistry, Walker draws on her five trips to the Antarctic for this tale of science and life on the last continent. (ANT377, $27.00)

Here, There, Elsewhere, Stories from the Road

Here, There, Elsewhere, Stories from the Road

by William Least Heat-Moon

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 432 PAGES

From Japan, England, Italy, and Mexico to Long Island, Oregon and Arizona, this book collects William Least Heat-Moons indelible reports of people and places around the globe. (TVL555, $29.99)

The Innocence of Objects

The Innocence of Objects

by Orhan Pamuk

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 264 PAGES

Pamuk combines old movie stills, photographs of mundane objects, family portraits and other ephemera of everyday life in this illustrated portrait of his beloved Istanbul. (TKY267, $35.00)

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals

The Behavior Guide to African Mammals

by Richard Estes

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 611 PAGES

The 20th anniversary edition of Estes' authoritative overview of the ecology and behavior of African mammals for serious-minded safari-goers and scientists alike. (AFR54, $39.95)

Temple of a Thousand Faces

Temple of a Thousand Faces

by John Shors

  • LITERATURE
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 542 PAGES

Cenetered on Prince Jayavar and his favorite wife Ajadevi, Shors sets his sixth novel amid the sprawling complex of temples at Angkat the height of Khmer power in 12th-century Cambodia. The title comes from Bayon, the temple in the heart of Angkor Thom, known for its intricately carved faces of the king.. (CBD76, $16.00)

Shopping, Seduction & Mr. Selfridge

by Lindy Woodhead

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 310 PAGES

The extravagant, larger-than-life American from Chicago, Harry Gordon Selfridge (played by Jeremy Piven in the Masterpiece Classics series) is at the center of this enthralling cultural history. First published in 2007, it's the book that inspired the series, and fine glimpse into Edwardian England even without the "now a major TV series" tie-in! (GRB93, $16.00)

Facing the Wave, A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

Facing the Wave, A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami

by Gretel Ehrlich

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 224 PAGES

Gretel lets the people she meets take center stage in this beautifully observed elegy to Japan and a way of life torn apart along the largely rural Tohoku coast. (JPN432, $25.00)

Jerusalem, A Cookbook

Jerusalem, A Cookbook

by Sami Tamimi | Yotam Ottolenghi

  • FOOD
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 320 PAGES

Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi return to the city of their youth in this remarkable culinary tribute, including traditional, age-old dishes, inspired modern recipes, tales of childhood and essays on the flavors and complexity of Jerusalem. With evocative photographs and 120 recipes that you'll want to make. Friends and co-workers at Ottolenghi in London, Sami grew up in Muslim east Jerusalem and Yotam in the Jewish West, their personal stories mirroring the food of the place: "very personal, private stories immersed in great culinary traditions that overlap and interact in unpredictable ways." (ISR117, $35.00)

Spider Eaters, A Memoir

Spider Eaters, A Memoir

by Rae Yang

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 315 PAGES

Yang chronicles her coming of age during the Mao years with sly humor and remarkable candor. Fifteenth anniversary edition. (CHN735, $29.95)

Vatican City Map

Vatican City Map

by Gizi Map

  • 2012
  • MAP

This exceptionaly detailed and beautiful walking map extends along both banks of the Tiber beyond Castel Sant'Angelo to Piazza Cavour, showing the whole of Vatican City. (ITA363, $18.95)

Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future

Good Italy, Bad Italy: Why Italy Must Conquer Its Demons to Face the Future

by Bill Emmott

  • CULTURAL PORTRAIT
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 299 PAGES

In this lively, up-to-the-minute report on the economic state of Italy, Bill Emmott contrasts Bad -- the land of disgraced Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, an inadequate justice system, an economy dominated by special interests and continuing corruption -- with the Good Italy, we all know and love: the home of enthusiastic entrepreneurs, truth-seeking journalists, and citizens determined to end mafia domination once and for all. Emmot was editor in chief to the Economist and contributes regularly on international affairs. (ITA356, $30.00)

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology

Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac & Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology

by Aldo Leopold

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 832 PAGES

Featuring not just the groundbreaking A Sand County Almanac -- as vivid and persuasive as it was when first published more than 60 years ago -- this handsome Library of America edition, edited by Leopold's biographer, also includes more than 100 letters and Aldo Leopold's sharp-eyed, often humorous journals -- illustrated with his original photographs, drawings, and maps. (CON69, $35.00)

Sicily

by Silver Spoon

  • FOOD
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 271 PAGES

With a chapter on each of Sicily's nine provinces, color photographs, and notes on food traditions, this gorgeous book from the Silver Spoon is as much a travelogue as a cookbook. With 50 simple and authentic recipes. (ITA374, $39.95)

Return of a King

by William Dalrymple

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 550 PAGES

William Dalrymple draws on a rich trove of never before used sources for this thrilling tale of the first Afghan war, bring to life Akbar Khan and other personalities. (CAS218, $30.00)

Alone on the Ice, The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

Alone on the Ice, The Greatest Survival Story in the History of Exploration

by David Roberts

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 352 PAGES

The inspiring, at time harrowing, story of Douglas Mawson, leader of the 1913 Australasian Antarctic Expedition, who found himself alone, without provisions and a hundred miles from base camp after his fellow explorers disappeared down a crevasse in the ice. (ANT376, $27.95)

A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia

A Visitor's Guide to South Georgia

by Sally Poncet | Kim Crosbie

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • FLEXI-BOUND
  • 184 PAGES

A convenient, comprehensive and full-color guide to exploring South Georgia by a dynamic duo who know the region intimately. With detailed maps of visitor sites and outstanding color photographs. Second edition. (ANT236, $29.95)

The World's Rarest Birds

The World's Rarest Birds

by Erik Hirschfeld

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 360 PAGES

Robert Still and Andy Swash, directors of the excellent WILDGuides, contribute to this illustrated book survey of 515 species of endangered birds. With 977 color photos and 610 color maps. (BRD116, $45.00)

Patrick Leigh Fermor, An Adventure

Patrick Leigh Fermor, An Adventure

by Antony Beevor | Artemis Cooper

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 448 PAGES

The much anticipated biography of the dashing war hero and charming author of a string of sublime travel books. (GRB57, $40.00)

Strange Stones

Strange Stones

by Peter Hessler

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2013
  • PAPER

Last time we checked Peter Hessler was back from Beijing and living with his new wife, journalist Leslie Chang in Colorado. Now the New Yorker staff writer is in Cairo, having added twin daughters to his retinue. These 18 sparkling essays and profiles, many originally appearing in The New Yorker over the last decade, track Hessler's whereabouts and interests: lunch at the Highest Wild Flavor Restaurant, the hutong, walking the Great Wall, The Uranium Widows, reported from small town Colorado. (TVL568, $14.99)

Birds of Paradise, Revealing The World's Most Extraordinary Birds

Birds of Paradise, Revealing The World's Most Extraordinary Birds

by Edwin Scholes | Tim Laman

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 227 PAGES

Photographed in Raja Ampat, the remote Aru Islands, Australia, the Arfak Mountains and all over the highlands of New Guinea, this sumptuous book documents in glorious color all 39 species of Birds-of-Paradise. The result of an eight-year effort to 51 field sites, the Bird-of-Paradise Project not only includes this important book but also a documentary film, museum exhibit and a trove of video and audio recordings at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Tim Laman's photographs are extraordinary, many of species and courtship displays never before photographed in the wild. (NGA25, $50.00)

The Conquest of Everest, Original Photographs from the Legendary First Ascent

The Conquest of Everest, Original Photographs from the Legendary First Ascent

by George Lowe

  • BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 240 PAGES

Editor Huw Lewis-Jones brings together the remarkable imagery and rare materials from the private archives of legendary climber and photographer George Lowe, who accompanied Hillary and Norgay on that first triumphant expedition. With a forward by Hillary (one of the last things he wrote), an epilog by Jan Morris, who was with the team at base camp, and tributes by legendary climbers, the book is a tribute bot to the man and to the mountain. Lowe, founder of the Himalayan Trust and director of The Conquest of Everest, died on 20 March 2013, the last surviving member of the original 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition. With 163 Illustrations, 62 in color. (HML120, $39.95)

Antarctica, A Biography

Antarctica, A Biography

by David Day

  • HISTORY
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 624 PAGES

David Day traces two centuries of exploration, scientific investigation and contentious geopolitics in this comprehensive, colorful history of Antarctica. (ANT381, $34.95)

The Last Train to Zona Verde, My Ultimate African Safari

by Paul Theroux

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 353 PAGES

Paul Theroux pushes north through South Africa and Namibia from the Cape of Good Hope, often enjoying himself thoroughly but finding himself many, many miles later "dazed with Luanda and dispirited" in Angola. Briefly energized by a chance acquaintance -- and the prospect of traveling by train to Zona Verde (which is what the Angolans call the bush) -- Theroux's hopes are dashed when his new friend promptly dies of a heart attack. With some consternation, he takes his gout medicine, packs up his clothes abandons the rest of his trip. "Traveling north through chaos -- what would I find that I had not already learned?" he intones in the last chapter. We imagine he might have learned plenty. Ship the sad coda (What am I Doing Here?), which the rest of this fine book answers handily. (WAF172, $27.00)

The Perfect Meal, In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

The Perfect Meal, In Search of the Lost Tastes of France

by John Baxter

  • FOOD
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 400 PAGES

Part Grand Tour of France, part history of French cuisine: an irresistible journey, from Paris to Provence, to find "the perfect meal" (FRA33, $14.99)

Eyes Over Africa

Eyes Over Africa

by Michael Poliza

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2007
  • HARD COVER
  • 408 PAGES

Poliza takes to the air in this second book, superbly illustrated the beauty and diversity of Africa in stunning low aerial photographs. (AFR205, $125.00)

Mammals of Africa (6-Volume Set)

Mammals of Africa (6-Volume Set)

by Jonathan Kingdon

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • 3160 PAGES

$800 until May 31, 20013, $900 therafter. All 1160 species of African mammal are described and illustrated in unprecedented detail in this magnificant six-volume set, with more than 660 exquisite color paintings by Jonathan Kingdon, range maps and authoritative essays on the ecology and evolution, morphology and fossil history of every species of African mammal by Kingdon and his team of scholars and editors. (AFR306, $800.00)

 
The Ancient Egypt Guide

The Ancient Egypt Guide


by William J. Murnane

  • GUIDEBOOK
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 528 PAGES

With sections on history, individual sites and practical details, this new edition of the classic Penguin Guide to Ancient Egypt has been thoroughly updated by Aidan Dodson. (EGY50, $25.00)

Why Geography Matters, More Than Ever

Why Geography Matters, More Than Ever


by Harm de Blij

  • REFERENCE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 320 PAGES

A professor at Michigan State, Harm de Blij calls for a renewed focus on geography -- and geographical littracy -- in this engaging, personal overview of today's geopolitical challenges. With chapters on topics including mapping, population, climate change, the rise of China, Russian sword rattling and the future of Afria. (MAP20, $16.95)

Odyssey Guide Xinjiang

Odyssey Guide Xinjiang


by Jeremy Tredinnick

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 304 PAGES

This beautifully, authoritative illustrated guide covers with authority the archaeological and cultural riches, Silk Road legacy and fascination of China's enormous Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. (CHN508, $29.95)

Railroads and the American People


by H. Roger Grant

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 328 PAGES

A historian of the American railroad, Grant focuses this work on its 19th-century heyday, casting a nostalgic eye on the luxuries of Pullman cars, the railroads important role in community life and recording the physical remains of the great age of the railway to be found in the American landscape to this day. (USA496, $45.00)

To Marry an English Lord

To Marry an English Lord


by Carol Wallace | Gail MacColl

  • HISTORY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 409 PAGES

Inspiration for the popular TV show, Downton Abbey, this book is social history at its liveliest and most accessible. (GRB83, $15.95)

Pictures from Italy


by Charles Dickens

  • ART & ARCHITECTURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 130 PAGES

Livia Signorini illustrates this handsome hardcover edition, with 11 full-color gate folds, of Dickens' classic celebration of the street life, festivals and exuberance of the Italian people. (ITA333, $21.95)

Before They're Gone, A Family's Year-Long Quest to Explore America's Most Endangered National Parks


by Michael Lanza

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 197 PAGES

Lanza chronicles a year-long journey with his familt to explore Glacier, Yellowstone, the Everglades, Yosemite, and Mount Rainier national parks, all places that may be permanently altered by climate change. (USA491, $24.95)

Here & There, Collected Travel Writing

Here & There, Collected Travel Writing


by A. A. Gill

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 272 PAGES

The late night ramblings of the inimitable British journalist and manic traveler A. A. Gill. Dashed off for his column in an Australian newspaper, Gill displays his usual sharp eye for the interesting and absurd. And his travel tips actually excellent. (TVL554, $19.95)

In Xanadu, A Quest

In Xanadu, A Quest


by William Dalrymple

  • TRAVEL NARRATIVE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 314 PAGES

Back in print! An intrepid traveler and entertaining writer, William Dalrymple deftly observed account takes in the people and places he encounters on a journey from Jerusalem across Central Asia to China along the Silk Road, ending like Marco Polo, at Xanadu, the summer palace of Kubla Khan. (CAS50, $15.95)

As Sweet As Honey

As Sweet As Honey


by Indira Ganesan

  • LITERATURE
  • 2013
  • HARD COVER
  • 271 PAGES

Set on a fictional island in the Bay of Bengal Ganesan's third novel is a family saga that opens with a shock event at the wedding of the narrator's favorite aunt and goes on to track its consequences, along the way unfolding in sleight, lyrical prose the clashes of ancient and modern in the contemporary Indian family. (IDA666, $25.95)

Book of Unforgettable Journeys, Volume II

Book of Unforgettable Journeys, Volume II


by Klara Glowczewska

  • ANTHOLOGY
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 434 PAGES

Published in celebration of the 25th anniversary of Conde nast Traveler, this second collection from the annals of magazine, edited and with an introduction by Klara Glowczewska, includes Calvin Trillin's memorable journey in Ecuador and Pico Iyer's illuminating recent essay on travels in Jerusalem -- 26 transporting tales and all by Robert Huges, William Dalrymple, Edna O'Brien, Jan Morris and many more favorite writers. Without a dud or dull writing in the bunch, it's organized A-to-Z by country from Australia to Senegal and Uganda. (TVL551, $16.00)

The Marseille Caper

The Marseille Caper


by Peter Mayle

  • MYSTERY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 209 PAGES

The author of the best-selling A Year in Provence (FRN19) turns his pen to crime with this playful yarn about an insurance agent caught in the middle of disputed land deal on Marseille's waterfront. This is a sequel to The Vintage Caper (FRN912). (FRA21, $24.00)

The Twelve Rooms of the Nile


by Enid Shomer

  • LITERATURE
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 544 PAGES

Shomer turns the story of Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert on the Nile into a tale of friendship and European fascination with Egypt. (EGY393, $26.00)

Where'd You Go, Bernadette

Where'd You Go, Bernadette


by Maria Semple

  • MYSTERY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 336 PAGES

Bernadette, as readers of Maria Semple's romp soon learn, has gone to Antarctica, where to make matters much worse, she has gone missing. Her disbelieving, precocious daughter Bee (reluctant dad in tow), soon follows. Apart from the pleasures of plot (and there are many) and spoof of the good life in Seattle (where the author not coincidentally makes her home), this book was clearly inspired by a trip to the White Continent. Semple gets the Zodiac shuffle, too-cool-for-school expedition staff and culture of expedition cruising just right, setting a pivotal moment at Palmer Station. Fellow Antarcticans! Anyone travel with Ms. Semple? A writer for television shows like Arrested Development and Mad About You, Semple knows funny, calling Jonathan Franzen's The Corrections and Matthew Kneale's English Passengers "utterly hilarious." Guess she likes her humor black! (PNW313, $14.99)

On This Earth, a Shadow Falls

On This Earth, a Shadow Falls


by Nick Brandt

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 192 PAGES

This exquisite, oversized portfolio, bound in linen, showcases 90 rich black-and-white portraits of majestic lion, cheetah, elephant, gorilla and wildlife across the African continent. (EAF398, $160.00)

River Notes, A Natural and Human History of the Colorado

River Notes, A Natural and Human History of the Colorado


by Wade Davis

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 162 PAGES

A hymn to the Colorado River, thrilling account of his rafting adventures in the Grand Canyon and viivid report on the state of the American West, Wade Davis includes choice quotres from his heroes Edward Abbey, Eliot Porter, Aldo Leopold and others. Despite a century of human interference, Davis writes, the splendor of the Colorado lives on in the river's remaining wild rapids, quiet pools, and sweeping canyons. (RKY128, $24.95)

Serengeti Spy

Serengeti Spy


by Anup Shah

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2012
  • HARD COVER
  • 204 PAGES

A hoof-level view of the Masai Mara and Serengeti. Photographer Anup Shah lets the wildlife reveal themselves, placing small remote cameras at watering holes, outcrops and other strategic spots. The ground-level view is as surprising as it is clever, putting you face-to-face with lion and cheetah and wildebeest and all the creatures in action across the plains. (EAF396, $40.00)

What I Don't Know About Animals

What I Don't Know About Animals


by Jenny Diski

  • NATURAL HISTORY
  • 2013
  • PAPER
  • 312 PAGES

A British essayist with a wry sense of humor, Jenny Diski touches on philosophy, science and travel in this engaging collection of musings on animals, and our relationship to them. (BST216, $15.00)

A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago

A Guide to the Birds of Trinidad and Tobago


by Richard Ffrench

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 426 PAGES

A compact, comprehensive field guide to the birds of Trinidad and Tobago. Third edition. (CRB16, $39.95)

Animals of the Masai Mara

Animals of the Masai Mara


by Adam Scott Kennedy

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 144 PAGES

This beautifully illustrated guide by two Safari guides focuses on the lions, cheetah, leopards, zebra, giraffe and other celebrated wildlife. (EAF394, $27.95)

Birds of the Masai Mara

Birds of the Masai Mara


by Adam Scott Kennedy

  • FIELD GUIDE
  • 2012
  • PAPER
  • 176 PAGES

Kennedy's compact guide, full of local knowledge on habitats and birding spots, features 300 color photographs. (EAF395, $27.95)

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