What the Dog Saw And Other Adventures

What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures (Hardcover)






Authors Malcolm Gladwell

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Product Description
What is the difference between choking and panicking? Why are there dozens of varieties of mustard-but only one variety of ketchup? What do football players teach us about how to hire teachers? What does hair dye tell us about the history of the 20th century?

In the past decade, Malcolm Gladwell has written three books that have radically changed how we understand our world and ourselves: The Tipping Point; Blink; and Outliers. Now, in What the Dog Saw, he brings together, for the first time, the best of his writing from TheNew Yorker over the same period.

Here is the bittersweet tale of the inventor of the birth control pill, and the dazzling inventions of the pasta sauce pioneer Howard Moscowitz. Gladwell sits with Ron Popeil, the king of the American kitchen, as he sells rotisserie ovens, and divines the secrets of Cesar Millan, the "dog whisperer" who can calm savage animals with the touch of his hand. He explores intelligence tests and ethnic profiling and "hindsight bias" and why it was that everyone in Silicon Valley once tripped over themselves to hire the same college graduate.

"Good writing," Gladwell says in his preface, "does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to engage you, to make you think, to give you a glimpse into someone else's head."What the Dog Saw is yet another example of the buoyant spirit and unflagging curiosity that have made Malcolm Gladwell our most brilliant investigator of the hidden extraordinary.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 432 pages
# Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (October 20, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0316075841
# ISBN-13: 978-0316075848
# Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.8 x 1.4 inches
# Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds

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Reviews What the Dog Saw And Other Adventures


GREAT PRAISE FOR WHAT THE DOG SAW:

"[Malcolm Gladwell] is one of the brightest stars in the media firmament...Gladwell's clear prose and knack for upending conventional wisdom across the social sciences have made The Tipping Point, Blink and Outliers, as well as his lengthy magazine features on topics ranging from cool-hunting to ketchup, into must reads." (Time.com Alex Altman )

"This evidence of a Gladwell effect helps to predict something larger: that Mr. Gladwell's new book will be as successful as his first three...This book full of short conversation pieces is a collection that plays to the author's strengths. It underscores his way of finding suitably quirky subjects (the history of women's hair-dye advertisements; the secret of Heinz's unbeatable ketchup; even the effects of women's changing career patterns on the number of menstrual periods they experience in their lifetimes) and using each as gateway to some larger meaning." (New York Times Janet Maslin )

"Gladwell is a writer of many gifts. His nose for the untold back story will have readers repeatedly muttering, "Gee, that's interesting!" He avoids shopworn topics, easy moralization and conventional wisdom, encouraging his readers to think again and think different...Some chapters are masterpieces in the art of the essay." (The New York Times Book Review Steven Pinker )

"Uniformly delightful...Malcolm Gladwell can write engrossingly about just about anything...His witty, probing articles are as essential to David Remnick's New Yorker as those of Wolcott Gibbs and A.J. Liebling were to Harold Ross's...Gladwell has a gift for capturing personalities, a Borscht Belt comic's feel for timing and a bent for counterintuitive thinking. He loves to start a piece by settling you onto a cushion of received ideas, then yanking it out from under you."- (Bloomberg News Craig Seligman )

"Malcolm Gladwell triumphantly returns to his roots with this collections of his great works from The New Yorker Magazine....Do yourself a favor and curl up with What the Dog Saw this week: It is more entertaining and edifying than should be legal for any book." (Louisville Courier-Journal Scott Coffman )

"In What the Dog Saw, Malcolm Gladwell leads the reader on delightful side excursions, shows with insightful conversation how one path interweaves with another, and suggests meaning-he is, in short, an interpretative naturalist of American culture." (The Oregonian Alice Evans )

Mastering the Art of French Cooking

Mastering the Art of French Cooking (2 Volume Set) [BOX SET] (Hardcover)






Authors Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, Simone Beck

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Product Description
The perfect gift for any follower of Julia Child—and any lover of French food. This boxed set brings together Mastering the Art of French Cooking, first published in 1961, and its sequel, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume Two, published in 1970.

Volume One is the classic cookbook, in its entirety—524 recipes.
“Anyone can cook in the French manner anywhere,” wrote Mesdames Beck, Bertholle, and Child, “with the right instruction.” And here is the book that, for nearly fifty years, has been teaching Americans how.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking is for both seasoned cooks and beginners who love good food and long to reproduce at home the savory delights of the classic cuisine, from the historic Gallic masterpieces to the seemingly artless perfection of a dish of spring-green peas. The techniques learned in this beautiful book, with more than one hundred instructive illustrations, can be applied to recipes in all other French cookbooks, making them infinitely usable. In compiling the secrets of famous Cordon Bleu chefs, the authors produced a magnificent volume that continues to have a place of honor in American kitchens.

Volume Two is the sequel to the great cooking classic—with 257 additional recipes.
Following the publication of the celebrated Volume One, Julia Child and Simone Beck continued to search out and sample new recipes among the classic dishes and regional specialties of France—cooking, conferring, tasting, revising, perfecting. Out of their discoveries they made, for Volume Two, a brilliant selection of precisely those recipes that not only add to the repertory but, above all, bring the reader to a new level of mastery of the art of French cooking.

Each of these recipes is worked out step-by-step, with the clarity and precision that are the essence of the first volume. Five times as many drawings as in Volume One make the clear instructions even more so.

Perhaps the most remarkable achievement of this volume is that it will make Americans actually more expert than their French contemporaries in two supreme areas of cookery: baking and charcuterie. In France one can turn to the local bakery for fresh and expertly baked bread, or to neighborhood charcuterie for pâtés and terrines and sausages. Here, most of us have no choice but to create them for ourselves.
Bon appétit!

Product Details
# Hardcover
# Publisher: Knopf; Later edition (December 1, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0307593525
# ISBN-13: 978-0307593528
# Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 7.5 x 3.6 inches
# Shipping Weight: 6.4 pounds

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Reviews Mastering the Art of French Cooking


I discovered this cookbook several years ago and, at least gastronomically, it changed my life forever. The recipes are broken down into the absolute simplest steps possible. The sauces are phenomenal. One can finally appreciate the notoriety that French cooking has (deservedly) earned by preparing and tasting any of these recipes. Julia has confirmed me as a French cooking fan!

The quest for good food led to a life-long passion for honest good food. The French approach eating with a sincereity Americans lack. Julia has been able to present classic French Cuisine to generations of Americans. This set of two volumes contains the essence of French cooking that will serve as a foundation to wherever one travels on the food road. Mine is almost disentegrating from years of loving use, and I am replacing one for the library, but plan to continue to use my dog-eared friend!

Stones into Schools Promoting Peace with Books

Stones into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and Pakistan (Hardcover)





Authors Greg Mortenson

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Product Description
In this dramatic first-person narrative, Greg Mortenson picks up where Three Cups of Tea left off in 2003, recounting his relentless, ongoing efforts to establish schools for girls in Afghanistan; his extensive work in Azad Kashmir and Pakistan after a massive earthquake hit the region in 2005; and the unique ways he has built relationships with Islamic clerics, militia commanders, and tribal leaders even as he was dodging shootouts with feuding Afghan warlords and surviving an eight-day armed abduction by the Taliban. He shares for the first time his broader vision to promote peace through education and literacy, as well as touching on military matters, Islam, and women-all woven together with the many rich personal stories of the people who have been involved in this remarkable two-decade humanitarian effort.

Since the 2006 publication of Three Cups of Tea, Mortenson has traveled across the U.S. and the world to share his vision with hundreds of thousands of people. He has met with heads of state, top military officials, and leading politicians who all seek his advice and insight. The continued phenomenal success of Three Cups of Tea proves that there is an eager and committed audience for Mortenson's work and message.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 448 pages
# Publisher: Viking Adult; 1st edition (December 1, 2009)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0670021156
# ISBN-13: 978-0670021154
# Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
# Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds

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Reviews Stones into Schools Promoting Peace with Books


In his latest book, Greg Mortenson hosts the reader as a valuable and welcomed traveling companion as he retraces his steps through the most remote areas of Pakistan's Northwest Frontier areas and the formidable terrain of Afghanistan holding a mirror to our humanity. Mortenson introduces us to his trusted companions t...urned employees of Central Asia Institute, the so-called "Dirty Dozen", who truly embody the virtues of goodwill and perseverance in the name of literacy and, of course, God.

In short, Greg Mortenson's work makes Anthony Bordain's exotic travel look like a visit to Epcot Center.

Mortenson's committment to cross-cultural understanding beyond the borders of Pakistan and Afghanistan is rivaled only by his determination to educate the under-served girls in the most remote areas of these countries. Stones Into Schools is a suspenseful, heart-breaking as it is heart-warming, true account of a life well lived and a people well-served. Mortenson is an honor to the human race and diplomat for world peace. About now, Greg Mortenson would do well to take his own advice and sit for a month under a walnut tree to recuperate.

His second book is even better in my opinion. Teaching people that they have the power to change themselves is so simple but sometimes takes incredibale amounts of work by other people. Greg and his team have performed incredible acts of bravery, endurance, and dedication to the noble cause of providing education to the girls of Pakistan and Afghanistan. You will not be able to put this book down. You also learn firsthand accounts of the success of many of the first girls to go through Greg's schools.

National Geographic Image Collection

National Geographic Image Collection (Hardcover)






Authors National Geographic

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Product Description
Leah Bendavid-Val is director of photography publishing for National Geographic Books. She is the author of five books on photography including Song Without Words.

Michelle Anne Delaney is an associate curator in the Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution.

Maura Mulvihill is a vice president and director of the Image Collection at National Geographic, where she has worked for 30 years.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 512 pages
# Publisher: Focal Point (October 6, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews National Geographic Image Collection


Behind National Geographic’s worldwide reputation as a powerhouse of photography lies one of the finest, most extensive, and most unique graphic resources on Earth: the National Geographic Image Collection. For the first time ever, readers will plumb the fascinating depths of this immense archive from the earliest photographs collected in the late 19th century to the cutting-edge work of today. Both iconic and never-before-seen images from virtually every corner of the globe, every species of wildlife, and amazing human achievements in exploration, adventure, science, and more are showcased and placed in historic, artistic, technical, and journalistic context.

Following this lavish visual journey, readers will be awed by a behind-the-scenes profile of the entire collection, its size, its richly diverse character, and its special collections, ranging from delicate and beautiful Autochromes to the famous Alexander Graham Bell collection to the amazing stratosphere collection. Fine artwork and imaginative illustrations are also featured.

Finally, a listing of photographers whose work is represented stands as a fitting tribute to those without whose tireless and brilliant efforts the Collection would not exist.

I Alex Cross

I, Alex Cross (Hardcover)






Authors James Patterson

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Product Description
You can't run

Detective Alex Cross is pulled out of a family celebration and given the awful news that a beloved relative has been found brutally murdered. Alex vows to hunt down the killer, and soon learns that she was mixed up in one of Washington's wildest scenes. And she was not this killer's only victim.

You can't hide

The hunt for her murderer leads Alex and his girlfriend, Detective Brianna Stone, to a place where every fantasy is possible, if you have the credentials to get in. Alex and Bree are soon facing down some very important, very protected, very dangerous people in levels of society where only one thing is certain--they will do anything to keep their secrets safe.

Alex Cross is your only hope to stay alive

As Alex closes in on the killer, he discovers evidence that points to the unimaginable--a revelation that could rock the entire world. With the unstoppable action, unforeseeable twists, and edge-of-your-seat suspense that only a James Patterson thriller delivers, I, Alex Cross is the master of suspense at his sharpest and best.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 400 pages
# Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (November 16, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews I Alex Cross

James Patterson brings back his most beloved character in this sixteenth installment of the Alex Cross series. Long time fans will be pleased to know that this latest installment falls much closer to home than recent attempts. Patterson has certainly put Cross through the ringer with countless relationship problems, a myriad of career changes, and even a poorly imagined international romp in Cross Country.

The story opens with Alex celebrating a birthday at home with his family and girlfriend Bree (this is something I never quite understood - the need for the author go ALWAYS give Cross a girlfriend). Unfortunately, Alex gets "one of those calls" during his party and finds out that his niece (daughter of a brother he had not be close to in adulthood) has been found dead. When Alex arrives at the scene, he is told that they only have "remains", that his niece was actually killed and then put through a grinder of sorts - Alex is stunned and vows to find the killer.

Alex Cross has just been notified that a distant family member has been murdered. As he looks into the details of the gruesome death, he finds connections to even more killings and mysterious disappearances. Soon the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into place and all signs seem to point to a killer within the White House. Alex Cross has faced his fair share of foes, but never has he gone against a killer who is as untouchable as this madman. Never one to give up, Alex Cross holds nothing back in his quest for justice.

Guinness World Records 2010

Guinness World Records 2010 (Hardcover)






Authors Guinness World Records

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Product Description
Guinness World Records 2010 continues to build on the intriguing, informative, inspiring and instructional records and superlatives that have made Guinness World Records one of the most famous brands and an annual best-seller around the world. Over 100 million copies have sold since the first edition was published in 1955. Nearly 4 million copies are sold every year in more than 100 countries and in 25 languages.

What's new in GWR10?...

- Free downloadable content, including videos, photographs, screensavers and interviews - 100% new photographs and fully updated records - Brilliant new "steampunk" graphic novel design - New sections and record threads celebrating the first decade of the 21st century - Top 50 Records of the Decade - Record of the Day - one for every day of the year - Unbreakable Records (those that will seemingly never be broken) - Lasts (records such as the last living survivor of the Titanic disaster, or the last known dodo) - The Name's Bond (celebrating the James Bond phenomenon) - Culture Shock (unusual rituals and festivals around the globe) - Gold (the commodity that never loses its luster) - Updated gazetteer sections covering records in all major regions of the world - Fully updated regular sections, including Space, Planet Earth, The Animal Planet, The Body, Human Achievements, Engineering and Technology, The Modern World, Arts and the Media and, of course, Sports.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 288 pages
# Publisher: Guinness World Records (September 15, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews Guinness World Records 2010


GREAT BOOK THAT ARRIVED RIGHT ON TIME. THIS WAS A GIFT FOR AN 10 YEAR OLD WHO HAS NOW BECOME THE "FAMILY QUIZ-MASTER".

THE PHOTOS ARE BEAUTIFUL, AND, THERE IS SOMETHING IN THERE FOR ANYONE OR ANY AGE.

The Guinness World Record book and this one was just as "Super" as ever. It is so much fun to look thru and the pictures are really awesome. There are little surprises here & there also, like what record was made on each day of the year & what year at the bottom. There is something for everyone to be interested in. As soon as I showed everyone my picture, they were flipping thru it to see other things.

Have a Little Faith

Have a Little Faith: A True Story [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)






Authors Mitch Albom

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Product Description
"Clear some space on your bookshelf for Mitch Albom's, Have a Little Faith, the story of a faith journey that could become a classic. Those who were born into faith, have lost faith, or are still searching will all be engaged and challenged by this powerful story of "finding faith" in relationships with others and with something greater than ourselves. Never satisfied with easy answers or soft platitudes, Mitch explores some of life's greatest mysteries and unanswered questions with great honesty, depth and self reflection. "
--Jim Wallis, CEO and Founder of Sojourners and author of The Great Awakening

What if our beliefs were not what divided us, but what pulled us together?

In Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom offers a beautifully written story of a remarkable eight-year journey between two worlds--two men, two faiths, two communities--that will inspire readers everywhere.

Albom's first nonfiction book since Tuesdays with Morrie, Have a Little Faith begins with an unusual request: an eighty-two-year-old rabbi from Albom's old hometown asks him to deliver his eulogy.

Feeling unworthy, Albom insists on understanding the man better, which throws him back into a world of faith he'd left years ago. Meanwhile, closer to his current home, Albom becomes involved with a Detroit pastor--a reformed drug dealer and convict--who preaches to the poor and homeless in a decaying church with a hole in its roof.

Moving between their worlds, Christian and Jewish, African-American and white, impoverished and well-to-do, Albom observes how these very different men employ faith similarly in fighting for survival: the older, suburban rabbi embracing it as death approaches; the younger, inner-city pastor relying on it to keep himself and his church afloat.

As America struggles with hard times and people turn more to their beliefs, Albom and the two men of God explore issues that perplex modern man: how to endure when difficult things happen; what heaven is; intermarriage; forgiveness; doubting God; and the importance of faith in trying times. Although the texts, prayers, and histories are different, Albom begins to recognize a striking unity between the two worlds--and indeed, between beliefs everywhere.

In the end, as the rabbi nears death and a harsh winter threatens the pastor's wobbly church, Albom sadly fulfills the rabbi's last request and writes the eulogy. And he finally understands what both men had been teaching all along: the profound comfort of believing in something bigger than yourself.

Have a Little Faith is a book about a life's purpose; about losing belief and finding it again; about the divine spark inside us all. It is one man's journey, but it is everyone's story.

Ten percent of the profits from this book will go to charity, including The Hole In The Roof Foundation, which helps refurbish places of worship that aid the homeless.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 272 pages
# Publisher: Hyperion (September 29, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews Have a Little Faith


itch Albom is blessed with an incredible ability to capture thoughts and stories that touch the soul. Have a Little Faith is one of the books that should be required reading for life; particularly now with so much going on in the world around us. His conversations with two great, yet unknown, men of God are lessons in how to deal with the normal challenges and struggles of life.

A book to lead you towards believing in something bigger than yourself - where spreading faith and hope and making a difference in the lives of others is what it's all about. This is a warm-hearted, inspiring book where the talented author Mitch Albom examines how faith shines differently in people's expressions. Mitch writes about the spiritual journey of two holy men, one a rabbi close to death and the other an inner-city pastor. Each of these holy men express their faith in different ways but, none the less, their faith supports and sustains many of their congregation through trying and difficult times.

The Inside Story of How Wall Street - Too Big to Fail

Too Big to Fail: The Inside Story of How Wall Street and Washington Fought to Save the Financial System---and Themselves (Hardcover)






Authors Andrew Ross Sorkin

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Product Description
A real-life thriller about the most tumultuous period in America’s financial history by an acclaimed New York Times Reporter

Andrew Ross Sorkin delivers the first true behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of how the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression developed into a global tsunami. From inside the corner office at Lehman Brothers to secret meetings in South Korea, and the corridors of Washington, Too Big to Fail is the definitive story of the most powerful men and women in finance and politics grappling with success and failure, ego and greed, and, ultimately, the fate of the world’s economy.

“We’ve got to get some foam down on the runway!” a sleepless Timothy Geithner, the then-president of the Federal Reserve of New York, would tell Henry M. Paulson, the Treasury secretary, about the catastrophic crash the world’s financial system would experience.


Product Details
# Hardcover: 624 pages
# Publisher: Viking Adult (October 20, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews The Inside Story of How Wall Street - Too Big to Fail


The author has done remarkable research and has composed it into a highly readable account of the 2008 Financial Panic.

What surprised me was the extent to which the likes Paulson, Geithner, people at Goldman Sachs knew in early Spring that the dominoes had lined up and yet in a sense couldn't stop them from toppling. Conventional wisdom until now has been that Paulson & Bernanke were unprepared & totally blindsided by the sudden loss of confidence in September. Sorkin writes this was untrue, he has furnished a memo written by Neel Kashkari in early APRIL outlining a last-ditch "Break the glass" plan that later came out to be.....TARP!.

He also gives you an hour-by-hour account of that fateful week in Sept by telling the story of all the players. What would amaze you, is the sheer number of merger combinations that were attempted but didn;t succeed. Like JP Morgan buying Morgan Stanley for $1 a share, or Goldman merging with Citi, Paulson trying to entice Lewis to buy Lehman.

This book provides incredible insight into one of the most gut wrenching financial crises this nation has ever endured. And... You're arguing about pricing? And worse, basing your review on that! As someone else wrote, review the content -- that's what a book review is all about. And this one rates five stars for content.

The Lacuna: A Novel

The Lacuna: A Novel (Hardcover)






Authors Barbara Kingsolver

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Product Description
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by by Ron Charles Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, "The Lacuna," is the most mature and ambitious one she's written during her celebrated 20-year career, but it's also her most demanding. Spanning three decades, the story comes to us as a collection of diary entries and memoir, punctuated by archivist's notes, newspaper articles, letters, book reviews and congressional transcripts involving some of the 20th century's most radical figures. The sweetness that leavened "The Bean Trees" and "Animal Dreams" has been burned away, and the lurid melodrama that enlivened "The Poisonwood Bible" has been replaced by the cool realism of a narrator who feels permanently alienated from the world. That central, though oddly faint, character is Harrison Shepherd, a popular writer of romantic adventure novels. Kingsolver neatly weaves this quiet, watchful man through tumultuous events that rocked two countries, and one of the most impressive feats of "The Lacuna" is how convincingly she tracks his developing voice, from when he's a sensitive teenager in 1929 until he becomes a national celebrity in the early 1950s. The story begins in Mexico when Shepherd is 13, but we gradually learn that he was born in Washington, D.C., the product of a doomed marriage between a dull federal bureaucrat and a saucy Mexican beauty. His mother has abandoned America and taken up with a brutal right-wing businessman in tropical Isla Pixol, hoping to land a better husband. Alone and without any formal education, Shepherd begins reading moldy adventure novels and Mexican history, and he also takes up the lifelong practice of journal writing -- "the beginning of hope: a prisoner's plan for escape." Those journals, carefully transcribed and surreptitiously preserved years later, become the bulk of this complicated novel. A "permanent foreigner," not at home in the United States or Mexico and aware that his budding homosexuality must not be expressed, young Shepherd quickly develops an outsider's detached perspective, tinged with loneliness. He has a sharp eye for the beauty of Mexico, its lush tropics and its colorful towns, and Kingsolver convincingly positions him near some of the era's larger-than-life figures. A handy cook, he gets a job making plaster for the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera and eventually becomes a part of his household. Rivera and his wife, the painter Frida Kahlo, leap off these pages in all their flamboyant passion and brilliance, repeatedly cheating on and punishing each other, even while their international reputation blossoms. As Kahlo's closeted gay confidant, Shepherd offers this gifted female artist a rare chance to share her frustrations about her husband and the shadow he casts over her work. Shepherd's connection with Rivera and Kahlo, both committed communists, quickly brings him into contact with their contentious friend Leon Trotsky, and this fascinating section shows the Russian Revolution from the perspective of one of its reviled and isolated engineers.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 528 pages
# Publisher: Harper; 1 edition (November 3, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews The Lacuna: A Novel


Summary: In a story told entirely through diary entries and letters, we meet Harrison William Shepherd, a half-Mexican, half-American boy who grows up with his mother in Mexico. He has no education, but his love of reading and writing nurtures his own inner dialog that leads to his success as a writer. But that's getting ahead of the story. First he passes his adolescence working for some of Mexico's most infamous residents in the 1930s - Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, and Lev Trotsky. His break with Mexico is abrupt, and Shepherd moves to America where he embarks on a writing career with the assistance of his invaluable stenographer, Mrs. Violet Brown.

When a novel covers a person's life, from the beginning to the end, it takes on an epic flavor by default. Harrison Shepherd's life could be considered epic even if it was condensed down to a three paragraph obituary. It's an extraordinary tale told during haunting times in both Mexico and the U.S.

The story opens in 1929 and ends in 1951. Harrison William Shepherd (a fictional character) born in the US to a US father and a Mexican mother, is a child in Mexico. Since his parents are both disinterested in parenting, he makes his own way in life. First he is a cook/secretary in the household of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo, then for Bolshevik/Marxist Revolutionary Leon Trotsky during his exile in Mexico. After Trotsky is assassinated, Shepherd is encouraged by Kahlo to move to the US where he finally becomes what he was meant to be; an author of historical fiction.

The Pleasures of Cooking for One

The Pleasures of Cooking for One (Hardcover)






Authors Judith Jones

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Product Description
Amazon.com Review
From The Pleasures of Cooking for One: Boeuf Bourguignon

Make this rich stew on a leisurely weekend. You’ll probably get a good three meals out of it, if you follow some of the suggestions below. When buying stew meat at a supermarket, you don’t always know what you are getting, so ask the butcher. If it’s a lean meat, it will need less time cooking (in fact, it will be ruined if you cook it too long), but the fattier cuts can benefit from at least another half hour. --Judith Jones

Ingredients

* 2 ounces bacon, cut into small pieces, preferably a chunk cut into little dice
* About 1 1/4 pounds beef stew meat, cut into 1- to 1 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 tablespoon light olive oil
* 1 medium onion, diced
* 1/3 carrot, thick end, peeled and diced
* 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
* Salt
* 1 cup red wine
* 1 cup beef broth
* Herb packet of 1/2 bay leaf; a fat garlic clove, smashed; a small handful of parsley stems; 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme; 4 or 5 peppercorns

For Vegetable Garnish

* 3 or 4 baby onions, or four 1-inch pieces of leek
* 3 or 4 baby carrots, or the thin ends of larger ones, peeled
* 2 or 3 small new potatoes

Product Details
# Hardcover: 288 pages
# Publisher: Knopf (September 29, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews The Pleasures of Cooking for One


I have several other "cooking for 1" cookbooks. For example, a pork tenderloin becomes a small roast, scallopine, a gratinate, hash, and stir fry. Her examples have encouraged me to improvise myself. I can envisage a BBQ pork sandwich, a pasty with leftover pork tenderloin, skirt steak and potatoes.

She encourages playing with the recipes to create a meal exactly to your own tastes. Several of her recipes also include vegetable substitution recommendations allowing for seasonal meals. Or, if you're like me and can't stand a particular vegetable then you can swap it for something more palatable.

This new book is sort of an offshoot of her earlier memoir, which had a short but terrific recipe section. It is a sublime book--thoughtfully designed, detailed but not pedantic, practical, accessible, utterly personal, and completely charming. I'm not sure there is another book out there like this one, which takes us shopping and then into the kitchen to make the most of both common items and ingredients or dishes it might never have occurred to us to try. I can't wait to try most all of them. Of course, a little simple math will ratchet up a recipe for 1-2 to a recipe for 3-4 and so on--so this is absolutely a book for all cooks.

Breaking Dawn -The Twilight Saga, Book 4

Breaking Dawn (The Twilight Saga, Book 4) (Hardcover)






Authors Stephenie Meyer

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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
It might seem redundant to dismiss the fourth and final Twilight novel as escapist fantasy--but how else could anyone look at a romance about an ordinary, even clumsy teenager torn between a vampire and a werewolf, both of whom are willing to sacrifice their happiness for hers? Flaws and all, however, Meyer's first three novels touched on something powerful in their weird refraction of our culture's paradoxical messages about sex and sexuality. The conclusion is much thinner, despite its interminable length. [...] But that's not the main problem. Essentially, everyone gets everything they want, even if their desires necessitate an about-face in characterization or the messy introduction of some back story. Nobody has to renounce anything or suffer more than temporarily--in other words, grandeur is out. This isn't about happy endings; it's about gratification. A sign of the times? Ages 12–up. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details
# Reading level: Young Adult
# Hardcover: 756 pages
# Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1st edition (August 2, 2008)
# Language: English

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Reviews Breaking Dawn -The Twilight Saga, Book 4


First off, all the spoilers, if you think about it...she knew what she was writing and she left many different loop holes while answering questions so that you can not sit there and say "She lied to us! She said it was impossible!"

Many people have said it seems like a glorified fanfic but isn't that what every writer is? They love their story lines and plot twists that they make it how they want it to be? I honestly did read some of the spoilers and thought "what?!?!" However, after reviewing those chapters and then reading the book, it really is a good story if you let your guard down. Many of you have these plot lines you WANT in the book but that isn't how SM planned it. I liked how the characters continued to develop and grow and how it shows that the bonds of friendship and family know no bounds and that justice will prevail in the proof of innocence.

Well worth the wait (and staying up 'til 5:30 to finish!). I was worried this last book couldn't adequately tie all the threads together. But the story threads weren't just neatly tied, they were woven beautifully in unanticipated ways. A great way to spend several hours in a thrilling tale. As a side note, I liked how the intimacy (it was Edward and Bella's honeymoon after all!) was hinted at, but not at all explicit. Sweet and sensual, yes. Purple prose like a cheap bodice-ripper? Not at all. Just an amazing read and series overall.

Ford County: Stories

Ford County: Stories (Hardcover)






Authors John Grisham

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Product Description
Amazon.com Review

In the mail last week, I received a copy of John Grisham’s latest fiction. It surprised me that the book was comprised of seven short stories. From the time I first began publishing at Doubleday, they have always made sure that I received a copy of a Grisham book long before it went on sale in the bookstores. He has written 22 books, and I’ve read them all as soon as they were available in crisp review copies.

I have loved the Grisham books for the same reason that I love the works of John Irving, Richard Russo, or Anne Rivers Siddons: I get hooked by an early page, and pure habit forces me to read until I am issued my walking papers and can return to my normal life. These writers are all wish-bringers who cast spells with the bright enchantment of their stories, and the power of story has retained its glamour and necessity for me. I’ve always liked it when Grisham took a sabbatical from his impressive fiction to romp in the field of sports or non-fiction.

John surprised me by entering the ring of danger that the short story represents for all writers. In the world of writing, the poets come first as they finger the language like worry beads and wonder where their next meal is coming from. The art of the short story writer is one of economy, concision, and the genius of trying to craft a whole world inside a mason jar. The modern world punishes the short story writer with inattention. The literary reviews keep the short story alive and finger-popping in America today, while the New Yorker tries to strangle the form with its bare hands. But a great short story is a source of joy, and the reading of Chekhov, de Maupassant, Flannery O’Connor and others offer pleasures unmatched by any other form. Since I’m incapable of writing the short story form, I wanted to see how Grisham fared, knowing the critics would sharpen their swords against him no matter how accomplished his stories might be.
Product Details
# Hardcover: 320 pages
# Publisher: Doubleday (November 3, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews Ford County: Stories


John Grisham is a storyteller. For all the flack he takes for being a "pop" author, this man knows how to tell a tale. The only thing this book was missing was a rocking chair and a porch. These are stories that might have been told on a lazy Sunday evening while sitting on grandpa's lap listening to the cicadas playing a tune composed by Mother Nature.

The book is composed of seven beautifully written tales from Grisham's roots in Mississippi. Each story is a gem! The mostly contemporary plots range from hilarity ("Blood Drive") to heartache ("Michael's Room"). By the end of the last selection ("Funny Boy"), the reader wishes there were seven more.

Clanton, the town where Grisham's first blockbuster "A Time to Kill" takes place is now the setting for a number of unique characters, something a bit of an island of misfit toys. The book is a composite of seven stories- and yet, maybe because of the setting and the writing style, the stories flowed into one another and gave me a sense of a bigger picture than just a collection of individual stories.

Eclipse -The Twilight Saga

Eclipse (The Twilight Saga) (Paperback)






Authors Stephenie Meyer

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Product Description
The third episode of Meyer’s vampire-romance series finds heroine Bella Swan anxious to become a vampire and live forever with handsome vampire Edward. Obstacles arise when Edward demands marriage and werewolf Jacob declares his love for Bella. Eventually, the Cullen vampires and the Quileute werewolves unite to face off against a pack of uncontrollable vampires seeking revenge on Bella. Kadushin portrays kindly Edward in soft, warm tones and voices teenager Jacob in more brash, edgy speech patterns. She captures Bella’s uncertainty as she wavers between her love for Edward and her intrigue with Jacob. Kadushin’s performance is particularly stellar in passages where Bella is cold and her words come out in a chattering fashion or when she is upset, causing her to sob and hiccup. Matt Weathers reads the epilogue, which indicates a follow-up title is likely, news that should please fans of the popular series. Grades 9-12. --Pam Spencer Holley --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.
Product Details
# Reading level: Young Adult
# Paperback: 640 pages
# Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (August 4, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews Eclipse -The Twilight Saga


I started out by reading the first two in the series after watching the movie. I was hooked. I just finished the third book in two days, now I am ready to start the 4th. I can't wait to see how it ends, before I see part 2 in the movie theatres next week.

They are all good so far. I plan on reading "Breaking Dawn". My only wish is that there were geared more towards adults rather than teens. So far so good.. They are really easy reads. In this third book she is realizing that she has serious feelings for Jacob and I don't much like that. But competition is always good. I just hope that she ends up with Edward..We will see.

The Twilight Saga Collection

The Twilight Saga Collection [BOX SET] (Hardcover)






Authors Stephenie Meyer

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Product Description
This stunning set, complete with all four hardcover books as well as four collectible prints, makes the perfect gift for fans of the bestselling vampire love story.

Product Details
# Reading level: Young Adult
# Hardcover: 2560 pages
# Publisher: Little, Brown Young Readers (October 15, 2008)
# Language: English

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Reviews The Twilight Saga Collection


This set includes all the books from the Twilight Saga, which includes; Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and lastly Breaking Dawn. The books themselves are exactly likes the ones you find at any bookstore, in hardcover. The case it comes in has all the book covers displayed on each side minus the names of each book.
What is included that you couldn't normally get by buying each one individually elsewhere are 4 5x7-ish cards that have the cover picture on one side, then quotes from the corresponding book written on the other.

This is a value buy for those who are contemplating sinking their teeth [pun intended] into Stephenie Meyers' Twilight series as it not only offers all four books, i.e. Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse and Breaking Dawn for a great price, they all come housed in a gorgeous keepsake box.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - Dog Days

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (Hardcover)







Authors Jeff Kinney

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Product Description
It’s summer vacation, the weather’s great, and all the kids are having fun outside. So where’s Greg Heffley? Inside his house, playing video games with the shades drawn.

Greg, a self-confessed “indoor person,” is living out his ultimate summer fantasy: no responsibilities and no rules. But Greg’s mom has a different vision for an ideal summer . . . one packed with outdoor activities and “family togetherness.”

Whose vision will win out? Or will a new addition to the Heffley family change everything?

Product Details
# Reading level: Ages 9-12
# Hardcover: 224 pages
# Publisher: Amulet Books (October 12, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days

I also flipped through it before he came home and chuckled at the parts, the boy reminds me of my own and is probably why he loves this series so much. It is very relatable to kids without being a bad influence. I love the humor and that it keeps my son reading!

First of all the whole series of Wimpy Kid books deserves its success. My kids love the books and I also read all of them myself. I think it is a great series of books not only for the children but for their parents as well. And if you pay some attention to the reading you will actually realize that the books are also in a way educational. Greg is actually a very smart kid and the simple drawings are just perfect for demonstrating humour.

An Autobiography - Andre Agassi

Open: An Autobiography [DECKLE EDGE] (Hardcover)







Authors Andre Agassi

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Product Description
From The Washington Post
From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Pro tennis could teach the mafia about omertà. Although dozens of champions have chattered away to ghostwriters, their memoirs have generally remained silent about the game's seamy realities. Presented to the public as clean family fun, an upscale entertainment for the country-club set, top-level tennis is actually played by the physical and emotional mutants of a misery machine that leaves them too ill-educated or psychically damaged to understand what has happened to their lives. Like most victims of abuse, they'd rather not talk about it. So it's both astonishing and a pleasure to report that Andre Agassi, who was castigated for an ad campaign saying "Image is everything," has produced an honest, substantive, insightful autobiography. True to the genre of jock hagiography, it has its share of stock footage -- total recall of famous matches, the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat and an upbeat ending. But the bulk of this extraordinary book vividly recounts a lost childhood, a Dickensian adolescence and a chaotic struggle in adulthood to establish an identity that doesn't depend on alcohol, drugs or the machinations of PR. Agassi was born in Las Vegas to a brutal Iranian immigrant, a former Olympic boxer, who forced his four children to play tennis. As a pre-schooler, Andre began hitting balls on the backyard court for hours every day. School, friends, social life and especially thinking were considered distractions by his father, who terrified the entire family. But while his sisters rebelled and his older brother, Philly, finally lacked the killer instinct, Andre became his father's obsession and whipping boy -- one who was expected to whip other boys and unsuspecting men on court. His father pitted him at age 8 against suckers, including football great Jim Brown, who foolishly bet $500 that he could beat the kid. Before junior tournaments, Mr. Agassi fed his son caffeine-laced pills. Later, he tried to turn Andre on to speed. At the age of 12, Andre traveled to Australia with a team of elite young players. For each tournament he won, he got a beer as a reward. Then in the seventh grade he was shipped off to the Bollettieri Academy in Florida, where his tennis flourished, but his life turned feral. Drinking hard liquor and smoking dope, he wore an earring, eyeliner and a Mohawk. Nobody objected as long as he won matches. The academy, in Agassi's words, was "Lord of the Flies with forehands." Since the press and the tennis community still regard Nick Bollettieri as a seer and an innovator whose academy spawned dozens of similar training facilities, Agassi's critical opinion of him may shock the ill-informed. But in fact, Bollettieri is the paradigmatic tennis coach: that is, a man of no particular aptitude or experience and no training at all to deal with children. With no time and certainly no encouragement to get an education, Andre stopped school in the ninth grade, which is about average on the circuit. With the possible exception of boxers, tennis players have less formal schooling than any other pro athletes. In addition to blighting their lives and leaving them vulnerable to agents and hangers-on, this severely limits their options. Again and again, Agassi laments that he hated tennis from the start -- he claims he hates it still -- but felt he had no alternative and no talent to do anything else except turn pro at 16. Judging by the record books and his tax returns, this decision seemed to make sense; Agassi went on to win eight Grand Slam titles and tens of millions of dollars. But the personal cost, as he makes clear, was catastrophic. With no idea who he was, he found himself defined by publicity campaigns and articles by sportswriters who couldn't have guessed what he was actually up to and probably wouldn't have reported it even if they had. Lonely and depressed, he drank a lot, just as he'd been doing since adolescence. In a stranger effort to relax, he lit fires in hotel rooms. Nothing apocalyptic, just a bit of pyromania between matches. Petrified that his hair was falling out, he took to wearing a hairpiece, which gave him yet another thing to worry about during big points. What if his rug fell off? He drifted into a relationship with Brooke Shields but knew the marriage was doomed when she made him wear lifts in his shoes so she could wear high heels on their wedding day. Not surprisingly, he began to lose focus, lose the capacity to care and finally lose tennis matches. He played the game like a man with a plane to catch, and spectators and even the Davis Cup coach publicly accused him of tanking. Now that drinking and lighting fires no longer dulled the pain, he turned to snorting crystal meth. Of all the admissions Agassi makes, this may be the one that causes the most controversy. People will debate whether the drug ruined his game or was in fact what allowed him to come back when his ranking fell out of the top 100. But whatever the doping reveals about Agassi, it says far more about the Association of Tennis Professionals and its drug program. When Agassi tested positive at a tournament, the result was never made public; he was never suspended; and the ATP ultimately accepted his bogus claim, sent by letter and supported by no evidence, that he accidentally drank a spiked soda. While not without excitement, Agassi's comeback to No. 1 is less uplifting than his sheer survival, his emotional resilience and his good humor in the face of the luckless cards he was often dealt. In the end he made some inspired choices, not simply by marrying Steffi Graf, starting a charitable foundation for the education of poor children and finding a terrific ghostwriter in J.R. Moehringer, a Pulitzer Prize winner, but also by refusing to put pressure on his kids to play tennis. bookworld@washpost.com
Copyright 2009, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 400 pages
# Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (November 9, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews An Autobiography - Andre Agassi


Well, this is certainly not that book. "Open" is a journey that I predict will stay with you for a very long time. It's a completely unexpected trip to places you've never been. I'm not one of those quasi-professional reviewers you see on Amazon. But this book practically made me write about it.

Interestingly, Open starts not at the beginning and not quite at the end. Second round, US Open, 2006.

Not the final match of Andre's career--but the one right before that.
Against a competitor you'd never heard of before or since.
The battle was against the guy across the net, and also Andre's hatred of tennis, his failing body, the demons that he harnessed to get through the unending heroic contest that seemed destined to continue until both just fell into a heap on the court. And it is so well told.

After 20 pages, I knew that this was unlike any other biography I had ever read. Couldn't put it down. Couldn't stop thinking about it. Agassi dug deeper inside than most of us ever will have to, to get to core of what made him so powerful as a player and so conflicted as a person. It is all conspicuously real: The small moments, the outlandish triumphs and the friendships that sustained him and/or corrupted him. The gauntlet he had to run through to arrive at the balance and joy he has today. It's transformative.

The Help - Kathryn Stockett

The Help (Hardcover)







Authors Kathryn Stockett

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Product Description
Starred Review. What perfect timing for this optimistic, uplifting debut novel (and maiden publication of Amy Einhorn's new imprint) set during the nascent civil rights movement in Jackson, Miss., where black women were trusted to raise white children but not to polish the household silver. Eugenia Skeeter Phelan is just home from college in 1962, and, anxious to become a writer, is advised to hone her chops by writing about what disturbs you. The budding social activist begins to collect the stories of the black women on whom the country club sets relies and mistrusts enlisting the help of Aibileen, a maid who's raised 17 children, and Aibileen's best friend Minny, who's found herself unemployed more than a few times after mouthing off to her white employers. The book Skeeter puts together based on their stories is scathing and shocking, bringing pride and hope to the black community, while giving Skeeter the courage to break down her personal boundaries and pursue her dreams. Assured and layered, full of heart and history, this one has bestseller written all over it. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 464 pages
# Publisher: Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam; 1 edition (February 10, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews The Help - Kathryn Stockett

This is the best book I have read in years! I can't recommend it enough! It is fabulous and I think they will make a movie out of it. I would compare it to the writings of Carson McCullers, Harper Lee, Truman Capote and even Margaret Mitchell. The story grabs you and doesn't let you go. You can smell the melted tar on the Mississippi roads, the toil in the cotton fields, the grits burning on the stove. The theme is the indomitable will of human beings to survive against all odds - because of the color of their skin. It is a heart-wrenching account and you will never fondly remember the times of the Jim Crow laws (if you ever did). The pure, down and out bitchery of the white ladies who become dissatisfied with their maids and proceed to ruin their lives is portrayed vividly. The desperation of the maids' circumstances is truly touching. I have laughed and cried my way through this book and plan to re-read it. I highly recommend this book because it is going to be talked about as the best book of the year.

The NBA According to The Sports Guy

Save up to 45% on The Book of Basketball: The NBA According to The Sports Guy (Hardcover)






Authors Bill Simmons

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Product Description
There is only one writer on the planet who possesses enough basketball knowledge and passion to write the definitive book on the NBA.* Bill Simmons, the from-the-womb hoops addict known to millions as ESPN.com’s Sports Guy, is that writer. And The Book of Basketball is that book.

Nowhere in the roundball universe will you find another single volume that covers as much in such depth as this wildly opinionated and thoroughly entertaining look at the past, present, and future of pro basketball.

From the age-old question of who actually won the rivalry between Bill Russell and Wilt Chamberlain to the one about which team was truly the best of all time, Simmons opens–and then closes, once and for all–every major pro basketball debate. Then he takes it further by completely reevaluating not only how NBA Hall of Fame inductees should be chosen but how the institution must be reshaped from the ground up, the result being the Pyramid: Simmons’s one-of-a-kind, five-level shrine to the ninety-six greatest players in the history of pro basketball. And ultimately he takes fans to the heart of it all, as he uses a conversation with one NBA great to uncover that coveted thing: The Secret of Basketball.

Comprehensive, authoritative, controversial, hilarious, and impossible to put down (even for Celtic-haters), The Book of Basketball offers every hardwood fan a courtside seat beside the game’s finest, funniest, and fiercest chronicler.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 736 pages
# Publisher: ESPN; First Printing edition (October 27, 2009)
# Language: English

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Reviews The NBA According to The Sports Guy

My personal favorites are his ABA pieces. Not nearly enough has been written about this crazy league, and Simmons did a very good job looking at just how things broke down, at what could have been, and how the ABA led to many fundamental changes in the NBA itself. It's very clear that Simmons put everything he had into the book. There aren't a lot of loose words around. Even the genitalia jokes are well-constructed. Yes, it's pretty good.

Finally, this is definitely a book for the NBA junkie. It's comic style and easy-to-read writing style does make it accessible to those with only mild-to-intermediate interest in the NBA, but at its core, it's for the junkies who want to fill up with as much NBA knowledge as possible. It's a great book, and for its price (as of October 27, 2009), a great deal.

Under the Dome A Novel

Sale up to 72% on Under the Dome: A Novel (Hardcover)



Authors Stephen King

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Product Description
On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when--or if--it will go away.

Product Details
# Hardcover: 1088 pages
# Publisher: Scribner (November 10, 2009)
# Language: English

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