Lights on a Ground of Darkness: An Evocation of a Place and Time


Ted Kooser - 2009
    With a poet’s eye for detail, Kooser captures the beauty of the landscape and the vibrancy of his mother’s Iowa family, the Mosers, in precise, evocative language. The center of the family’s love is Kooser’s uncle, Elvy, a victim of cerebral palsy. Elvy’s joys are fishing, playing pinochle, and drinking soda from the ice chest at his father’s roadside Standard Oil station. Kooser’s grandparents, their kin, and the activities and pleasures of this extended family spin out and around the armature of Elvy’s blessed life. Kooser has said that writing this book was the most important work he has ever undertaken because it was his attempt to keep these beloved people alive against the relentless erosion of time.

Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop


Paul Kingsbury - 2001
    Country musicians and magicians, professional wrestlers and rock stars, all have turned to Nashville's historic Hatch Show Print to create showstopping posters. Established in 1879, Hatch preserves the art of traditional printing that has earned a loyal following to this day (including the likes of Beck, Emmylou Harris, and the Beastie Boys). Hatch Show Print: The History of a Great American Poster Shop is the first fully illustrated tour of this iconic print shop and also chronicles the long life and large cast of employees, entertainers, and American legends whose histories are intertwined with it. Complete with 190 illustrations--as well as a special book jacket that unfolds to reveal an original Hatch poster on the reverse--Hatch Show Print is a dazzling document of this legendary institution.

October Fury


Peter A. Huchthausen - 2002
    . . October Fury contains startling revelations.-- TOM CLANCYDrama on the high seas as the world holds its breathIt was the most spectacular display of brinkmanship in the Cold War era. In October 1962, President Kennedy risked inciting a nuclear war to prevent the Soviet Union from establishing missile bases in Cuba. The risk, however, was far greater than Kennedy realized.October Fury uncovers startling new information about the Cuban missile crisis and the potentially calamitous confrontation between U.S. Navy destroyers and Soviet submarines in the Atlantic. Peter Huchthausen, who served as a junior ensign aboard one of the destroyers, reveals that a single shot fired by any U.S. warship could have led to an immediate nuclear response from the Soviet submarines.This riveting account re-creates those desperate days of confrontation from both the American and Russian points of view and discloses detailed information about Soviet operational plans and the secret orders given to submarine commanders. It provides an engrossing, behind-the-scenes look at the technical and tactical functions of two great navies along with stunning portraits of the officers and sailors on both sides who were determined to do their duty even in the most extreme circumstances.As absorbing and detailed as a Tom Clancy novel, this real-life suspense thriller is destined to become a classic of naval literature.

The Healthy Juicer's Bible: Lose Weight, Detoxify, Fight Disease, and Live Long


Farnoosh Brock - 2013
    Free radical-fighting blueberries, nutrient-rich kale, or protein-packed spinach--every fruit and vegetable you can think of pairs up in this juice bible for devoted followers of the juice craze that's sweeping the nation. A passionate green juicer for over five years, author Farnoosh Brock shares her knowledge, discoveries, best tips, and lessons learned from her years of green juicing! She gives you the good, the bad, and the ugly so you can make smart and informed decisions as you learn how to heal your body and return it to harmony using healthy plants from your farmer's market, garden, or produce aisle.Brand new to juicing and want to know why you should bother? Don't know the unique benefits of juicing over eating raw foods or making raw green smoothies?Uncertain how your body will react to green juicing with a sensitive stomach? Wondering how to stay motivated after the initial excitement wears off? Farnoosh talks you through all of those situations, and gives you tips on how to manage each as you move forward in this journey. She also includes nutritional information and details on the benefits of juicing for life! Whatever your fitness regimen, health goals, or daily routine--this is a comprehensive resource discussing every aspect of the wonderful world of juicing!

This Other London: Adventures in the Overlooked City


John Rogers - 2013
    Nursing two reluctant knees and a can of Stella, he perambulates through the seasons seeking adventure in our city’s remote and forgotten reaches.When John Rogers packed away his rucksack to start a family in London he didn’t stop travelling. But instead of canoeing up the Rejang River to find retired headhunters in Sarawak, he caught the ferry to Woolwich in search of the edge of the city at Crayford Marshes.This Other London recounts that journey and many others – all on foot and epic in their own cartilage-crunching way. Clutching a samosa and a handful of out-of-date A-Zs, he heads out into the wilderness of isolated luxury apartment blocks in Brentford, the ruins of Lesnes Abbey near Thamesmead, and the ancient Lammas Lands in Leyton.Denounced by his young sons as a ‘hippy wizard’, Rogers delves into some of the overlooked stories rumbling beneath the tarmac of the city suburbs. Holy wells in Lewisham; wassailing in Clapton; a heretical fresco in West Ham. He encounters the Highwaymen of Hounslow Heath, Viet Cong vets still fighting Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket in Beckton, Dutch sailors marooned at Erith pier; and cyclists – without Bradley Wiggins’ sideburns – at Herne Hill Velodrome. He heads out to Uxendon Hill to witness the end of the world, Horsenden Hill to learn its legend, and Tulse Hill to the observatory of the Victorian Brian Cox.This Other London will take you into the hinterland of the city. The London that is lived in; the London where workaday dormitory suburbs sit atop a rich history that could rival Westminster and Tower Bridge. In an age when no corner of the globe has been left untrampled-upon by hordes of tourists, it is time to discover the wonders on our doorstep.This Other London is your gateway through the underexplored nooks of London. As Pathfinder wrote in 1911, ‘Adventure begins at home’.

Power Sewing Step-By-Step


Sandra Betzina - 2000
    she inspires a love of sewing itself. A contemporary classic, Power Sewing is clearly written with detailed photos; it guides the reader through every facet of garment construction with ease.

Covering Ground


Barbara W. Ellis - 2007
    Give your landscape a vibrant new palette that is both sustainable and low-maintenance through plantings of herbs, shrubs, mosses, and more. Barbara W. Ellis provides a variety of full-color lawn designs and professional planting advice to get you started. You’ll be amazed as your ordinary lawn transforms into a striking display of color and texture.

There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program


Gabriel Cousens - 2008
    Conventional wisdom calls it incurable, but renowned Dr. Gabriel Cousens counters that claim with this breakthrough book. There Is a Cure for Diabetes lays out a three-week plan for reversing the negative genetic expression of diabetes to a physiology of health and well-being. Dr. Cousens’s method, widely tested at his famous Tree of Life centers, is to reset the DNA through green juice fasting and a 100% organic, nutrient-dense, vegan, low-glycemic, low-insulin-scoring, and high-mineral diet of living foods in the first twenty-one days. Both practical and inspirational, the book explains how to abandon the widespread “culture of death”–symbolized by addictive junk food–that fosters diabetes in favor of a more natural, nurturing approach. The program renders insulin and related medicines unnecessary within four days as the blood sugar drops to normal levels; and the diabetic shifts into a non-diabetic physiology within two weeks. The third week focuses on live-food preparation, featuring 100 delicious raw recipes. Dr. Cousens emphasizes regular consultations, monitoring blood chemistries, and emotional support, and includes a one-year support program to help maintain a diabetes-free life.

Kiwi Tracks


Andrew Stevenson - 1999
    Andrew Stevenson explores the hiker's heaven of New Zealand's famed wilderness areas, and provides an illuminating and gently humorous view of his fellow back-packers.

A Meal Observed


Andrew Todhunter - 2004
    As Todhunter describes it, Taillevent’s highly orchestrated kitchen is “less an atelier than a gun deck on a ship of war, a place of shouts and fire.”On the other side of the kitchen’s double doors, in the warm light of the nineteenth-century dining room, the American couple surrenders to the sensual pleasure of a beautifully wrought and meticulously served dinner—from the amuse-bouche (a warm cheese puff to “amuse the mouth”) and the crème de cresson soup, with its sunken treasure of lobster tomalley, to the crowning glory of the fantaisie. In the spirit of A.J. Liebling’s Between Meals, Todhunter layers mouthwatering descriptions of French dishes and their preparation with reflections on his American childhood (when food, like sex and money, was not to be discussed at the table), dips into culinary history and philosophy, and entertains with asides on everything from olive oil and chestnuts to the science of viniculture and the chemistry of chocolate. Between courses, Todhunter brings us back to the sanctum of the kitchen itself, where he has probing conversations with chef de cuisine Philippe Legendre and pastry chef Gilles Bajolle, both major figures in the French culinary pantheon, and their assistants. Through these great chefs and their impeccably trained brigade we gain a unique glimpse into the heart of French cuisine and the love of fine food. Is cooking more an art, a craft, or a science? Are great chefs born or made? Why are there so few women chefs in France? What is the greatest danger for a chef at the top of his game? How is a new dish developed? What is the future of haute cuisine in France and in the world at large? When we cook for others, for love or for money, what do we give of ourselves?As richly satisfying as the five-hour meal it describes, A Meal Observed is a delightful paean to the French and French cuisine, and to the universal love of the table. Bon appétit!

Extreme Frontiers: Racing Across Canada from Newfoundland to the Rockies


Charley Boorman - 2012
    Travelling mainly on his much-loved bike, Charley will explore the world's second largest country - home to some of the most stunning and challenging terrain known to man. Along the way he will work with Alberta's famous 'Bear Whisperer'; travel with Native Canadians and learn more about their mythology and shamanic rituals; get involved in the world famous National Lumberjack competition; work with the Mounties search and rescue team and visit the world's smallest jail in Ontario. Along the way he will take a raft along the Nahanni river; cross Canada's only desert in Okanagan Valley; climb the Canadian Rockies and circumnavigate Newfoundland, taking an old steel sloop through the infamous Iceberg Alley, stopping to camp, hunt and cook with local foraged food. EXTREME FRONTIERS is vintage Boorman, packed with all the excitement, adventure - and bikes! - of his previous bestselling books.

H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands


Chris Williams - 1986
    Lovecraft's Dreamlands provides everything needed for Call of Cthulhu investigators to travel down the seven hundred steps, through the Gates of Deeper Slumber, and into the realm of dreams. Includes a travelogue of the dreamlands, a huge gazetteer, dreamlands character creation rules, over thirty prominent NPC's, over 60 monsters who dwell within the dreamlands, descriptions of the dreamlands gods and their cults, six adventures to help jump start a dreamlands campaign, and a new fold-out map of the Dreamlands by Andy Hopp.

Galen Rowell's Inner Game of Outdoor Photography


Galen A. Rowell - 2001
    He clearly explains why "pre-visualizing" a photograph before exposing any film is one key to making an arresting image rather than a mere replica of what we see through the viewfinder. Along the way he also offers advice on practical and technical matters such as how to pack camera gear; what to leave behind when you've got to travel light; pushing film to extremes; and when and how to use fill flash, smart flash, and remote smart flash.This is a how-to book by an artist who has made adventure and photography a way of life. It is both an inspired manual to taking better photographs and an inspiring journey of discovery into the creative process.

Machines that Think: Everything you need to know about the coming age of artificial intelligence (New Scientist Instant Expert)


New Scientist - 2017
    So are we on the edge of an AI-pocalypse, with super-intelligent devices superseding humanity, as predicted by Stephen Hawking? Or will this herald a kind of Utopia, with machines doing a far better job at complex tasks than us? You might not realise it, but you interact with AIs every day. They route your phone calls, approve your credit card transactions and help your doctor interpret results. Driverless cars will soon be on the roads with a decision-making computer in charge. But how do machines actually think and learn? In Machines That Think, AI experts and New Scientist explore how artificial ingence helps us understand human intelligence, machines that compose music and write stories - and ask if AI is really a threat.--

Life in Nelson's Navy


Dudley Pope - 1981
    Pope covers every aspect of naval life including the ships, officers, press gang, medicine, crime and punishment, and arms and battle.