A survey of conservation, preservation and threats to cultures and monuments around the world. The author is a frequent contributor to the New Yorker (where you may have read portions of this book). In these interconnected essays, Stille argues that the rapid rate of change and explosion in information makes it increasingly difficult to understand -- and protect -- our cultural legacy. Organized geographically, he enlivens the discussion with anecdotes and travels to places as distant (and disparate) as Sicily, China, Egypt, India, Madagascar, Somalia, Washington and Rome. A journalist by training and temperament, Stilles lets the people he meets around the world speak for themselves on the implications of their work. Each place and researcher gets its own chapter. Stimulating.  (CON23, $16.00)