1942, The Year That Tried Men's Souls  •  Winston Groom HISTORY •  2006 •  PAPER  • 480 PAGES Groom (Forrest Gump, A Storm in Flanders) brings to life the heroism, tragedy and trials of America's entry into the Pacific, including the brutal fight for Guadalcanal, in this popular, page-turning history. (WAR122, $15.00)
Arts of Southeast Asia  •  Fiona Kerlogue ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2004 •  PAPER  • 224 PAGES A handsome guide to the art, architecture, textiles and crafts of Southeast Asia, featuring 183 illustrations, 102 in color. Organized thematically, this concise book includes chapters on Hindu, Buddhist and indigenous art. A volume in the World of Art series. (SEA45, $16.95)
Berlitz Filipino Tagalog Phrase Book & CD  •  Berlitz Multimedia LANGUAGE & PHRASEBOOKS •  2007 •  AUDIO CD  • 224 PAGES A 224-page phrase book and audio CD, this handy language primer focuses on food, people, fun and the basic phrases for getting around in another language. Compatible with iPod and MPS devices, this bestselling series is geared for travelers. (PLP31, $14.95)
The Diver's Handbook  •  Alan Mountain GUIDEBOOK •  1997 •  PAPER  • 160 PAGES • COMING IN Designed for beginning divers, this illustrated handbook covers everything from equipment and health to conservation. (DIV26, $24.95)
Extreme Cuisine, The Weird & Wonderful Foods That People Eat  •  Jerry Hopkins  •  Michael Freeman FOOD •  2004 •  PAPER An illustrated (!) compendium of the (strange) things people, mostly rural and mostly in developing nations, eat. With recipes. (TVL84, $21.95)
Footprint Diving the World, A Guide to the World's Coral Seas  •  Beth Tierney  •  Shaun Tierney GUIDEBOOK •  2006 •  PAPER  • 350 PAGES An inviting, beautifully illustrated guide to 220 dive sites in 19 countries with chapters on Australia and the Pacific, Mexico and Honduras, Egypt, East Africa and the Maldives, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines and Micronesia. Featuring the diving couple's favorite destinations, the book includes a planning guide, practical tips, and listing of dive centers, hotels, restaurants and live-aboards. (OCE102, $29.95)
A Fortune-Teller Told Me, Earthbound Travels in the Far East  •  Tizanio Terzani TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  2002 •  PAPER  • 371 PAGES Grounded for a year, the peripatetic journalist (Italian-born, writing in German, and based in India) sets off by any other means to complete his rounds through Laos, Cambodia, Burma, Thailand, Mongolia, China, Japan and other far-flung destinations. The result is this warm, anecdotal account of the character of the region. It's got to be the book most recommended to us on contemporary Asia. (SEA35, $14.95)
Give Us This Day  •  Sidney Stewart BIOGRAPHY/MEMOIR •  1999 •  PAPER  • 254 PAGES Captured in Bataan in 1942, 21 year old Sidney Stewart endured over three years of captivity. This is his harrowing account of that time as a prisoner of war. Heralded by many as one of the great works about prisoners of war, this book is more than just a retelling of the events of the Bataan Death March, it is a gripping story of human will. (SEA19, $13.95)
The Great Hill Stations of Asia  •  Barbara Crossette TRAVEL NARRATIVE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 272 PAGES A modern tour of the mountain enclaves of colonial Asia -- appreciative, magnificently researched and engaging. Crossette, an Asia correspondent for the "New York Times," criss-crosses the continent visiting Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. (ASA13, $16.00)
Rough Guide Philippines  •  David Dalton GUIDEBOOK •  2007 •  PAPER  • 576 PAGES This practical guide in the excellent British series includes a good historical and cultural overview. (PLP29, $26.99)
Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide  •  Gerald Allen  •  Roger Steene FIELD GUIDE •  1998 •  PAPER  • 378 PAGES • COMING IN This comprehensive identification guide to coral reef fishes and invertebrates from Hawaii to the Red Sea features 1,800 color photographs. It also includes chapter on marine mammals, turtles and birds. The authors, Gerald Allen and Roger Steene are the reigning authorities on the region (and fine photographers). Highly recommended. (DIV48, $40.00)
Insight Guide Southeast Asia  •  Insight Guides GUIDEBOOK •  2003 •  PAPER  • 302 PAGES • COMING IN A profusely illustrated overview of Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Phillippines, featuring concise essays by well regarded authors on history, politics and culture, as well as hundreds of photos and maps and some limited practical information. (SEA51, $22.95)
Jewelry of Southeast Asia  •  Anne Richter ART & ARCHITECTURE •  2000 •  HARD COVER  • 304 PAGES An in-depth analysis of Southeast Asia's jewelry tradition that spans from the Neolithic and Bronze Age to the present, complemented by 350 full-color illustrations. Richter showcases more than 300 prized pieces and provides insightful commentary. (SEA25, $75.00)
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 Natural History of Shells  •  Geerat Vermeij NATURAL HISTORY •  1993 •  PAPER  • 207 PAGES This elegant, beautifully illustrated volume is a fascinating look at the biology of shells. The author, a biologist fascinated by form, considers shells not only as stunning objects but also as the product of living organisms. It's a serious-minded book that provides a real appreciation and understanding of shells. (CRB14, $24.95)
A Naturalist's Guide to the Tropics  •  Marco Lambertini  •  John Venerella NATURAL HISTORY •  2000 •  PAPER  • 338 PAGES A compact guide to the world's tropical zone, organized by biome. It's a good overview of the ecology of forests, mangroves, coral reefs, deserts, and grasslands found between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer. A useful companion for travelers to tropical latitudes. With color photographs and color plates illustrating a sampling of the most conspicuous birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians, and fish. (CON17, $25.00)
Saving the Oceans  •  Joseph MacInnis NATURAL HISTORY •  1996 •  HARD COVER  • 180 PAGES • COMING IN An illustrated and up-to-date summary of threats to oceans around the world by a panel of experts, including Sylvia Earle. Deep Sea diving pioneer Joseph MacInnis edited the book, which features 120 superb photographs, maps and illustrations. The book takes us to the ice-covered Arctic Ocean, beleaguered Mediterranean and 13,000 feet down to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. It is an articulate, beautiful overview of our oceans. A portion of the royalties from the sale of this book are donated to the World Wildlife Fund. (OCE04, $40.00)
Sea Change, A Message of the Oceans  •  Sylvia Earle NATURAL HISTORY •  1995 •  PAPER  • 354 PAGES A tribute to our watery planet -- and real-life adventure story by Sylvia Earle, a World Wildlife Fund national council member and diving pioneer. In this book she introduces us to marine biology and recounts her many exploits underwater. Former chief scientist of NOAA (the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration), Earle has become our ambassador-at-large for the world's oceans. Using many examples of contemporary threats to the health of the world's oceans in this lively book, she takes us to the fish markets of Tokyo, sight of the Valdez disaster in Prince William Sound, and to the Persian Gulf. The book concludes with a detailed, constructive plan of what we must do to preserve our ocean resources. (OCE01, $13.95)
Southeast Asia, A Concise History  •  Mary Somers Heidhues HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 192 PAGES A lively, illustrated history of Southeast Asia, covering the politics, economics, society and culture of Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines. With 131 black-and-white illustrations and 11 maps. (SEA26, $19.95)
Vulcan's Fury, Man against the Volcano  •  Alwyn Scarth NATURAL HISTORY •  1999 •  HARD COVER  • 299 PAGES In the contest of "Man against the Volcano," nature always wins. The author draws together eyewitness accounts, science, sociology and folklore in this page-turning account of 15 dramatic volcanic events from Vesuvius to Krakatau, Mt. St. Helens and Pinatubo. (GEO10, $48.00)
Vulcan's Fury, Man Against the Volcano  •  Alwyn Scarth NATURAL HISTORY •  2001 •  PAPER  • 320 PAGES The enthralling tales of 15 notorious volcanic eruptions spanning continents and centuries make for fascinating reading. Scarth, a British geologist, combines his storytelling talent and scientific knowledge to tell the histories of the world's most deadly blasts from Vesuvius to Pinatubo. (GEO21, $24.00)
War Letters, Stories of Courage, Longing and Sacrifice  •  Robert Kenner HISTORY •  2002 •  DVD Produced for PBS, this hour-long documentary dramatizes letters home from the American Revolution to Persian Gulf, Directed by Robert Kenner and narrated by Joan Allen, Edward Norton, Bill Paxton, Giovanni Ribisi, David Hyde Pierce among others. (WAR77, $19.98)
A Woman's Asia  •  Marybeth Bond ANTHOLOGY •  2005 •  PAPER  • 310 PAGES These thirty-five personal, often hilarious accounts of women's adventures from China to Sri Lanka to Turkey to Bhutan, not only illuminating the everyday, oft-overlooked cultural practices of Asia, but also giving a glimpse into the thoughts and feelings of the female traveller. Featuring selections from Jan Morris, Pamela Logan and Alison Wright. (ASA49, $17.95)