An entertaining account of the 1936 adventures of Ruth Harkness, the New York socialite and dress designer, who traveled to China on a quasi-scientific expedition and emerged with a baby giant panda, the first the world had ever seen. Croke, a journalist who has written about zoos, draws on letters and contemporary accounts to re-create both the arduous journey to Sichuan and all the fuss that greeted Harkness upon her return to America. Interestingly, this is the second recent book on the expedition, a media sensation in its day. Michael Kiefer's Chasing the Panda focuses on Harkness's Chinese-American partner Quentin Young.  (CHN250, $14.95)