General Books

Guinness: World Records 2009 (Guinness World Records)

Guinness World Records

Amazon Price: $17.37 List Price: $28.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Guinness Amazon Marketplace: 46 new & used starting at $14.00

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Puzzles & Games -> Video & Electronic Games
Subjects -> Reference -> Almanacs & Yearbooks -> Yearbooks & Annuals
Subjects -> Reference -> Fun Facts -> Curiosities & Wonders

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 14 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Cool! 4 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

This is a cool book. Not only do you get the up-to-date list of the latest world records, but 3D photos as well (always loved that 3D glasses stuff when I was a kid). Some of the bizarre things people do to set world records never ceases to amaze (or amuse) me.

I must admit I'm a bit of an adict when it comes to records and statistics of any kind, and I've always loved this series of books. I buy a copy every few years and I'd rate this one (especially with the 3D glasses) the best edition yet. Have fun and have a read. Good stuff.

Editorial Review:

Guinness World Records 2009 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.

This year, we've created a revolutionary new design and filled it with more records than ever before. And the 2009 edition will have two gatefold spreads and over 20 pages of special records all with 3-D photos, which can be viewed with enclosed 3-D glasses!!

Combined with a new, research-tested, eye-catching cover, over 1,000 new records and 100% new photos, this year's edition once again sets out to be the best Guinness World Records book ever!!

The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009 (World Almanac and Book of Facts)

World Almanac Books

Amazon Price: $7.79 List Price: $12.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: World Almanac Amazon Marketplace: 19 new & used starting at $7.50

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Subjects -> Reference -> Almanacs & Yearbooks -> Almanacs
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

New for 2009—The World Almanac and Book of Facts includes the complete 2008 U.S. election results, and World Series statistics. Every family needs this New York Times best-selling reference book.

The World Almanac is the #1 best-selling American reference book of all time. It is the source for essential and authoritative facts for entertainment, reference and learning. The book contains thousands of facts and statistics that aren’t publicly available which are sourced and double-checked by the staff of World Almanac experts.

The 2008 Edition spent 12 weeks on the NYT Bestseller list reaching #2; 10 weeks on the USA Today Bestseller List reaching #51; and 9 weeks on the Book Sense List reaching a high of #11.

Features in The World Almanac and Book of Facts 2009:

· The World at a Glance: The most fascinating facts of the past year in science, economics, sports, arts and media, and more

· World Almanac 2008 News Quiz: For news junkies and snorers alike

· Election 2008 Coverage and Results: Twenty-four pages dedicated to the complete coverage of key issues, pivotal primaries, memorable moments, and election results from the presidential campaign.

· Beijing Olympics Recap: faces, Places and records from the Summer 2008 games.

· World Series: For the first time in 5 years, the World Almanac will contain facts covering the World Series.

· Celebrity Picks: notable names serve up their very own lists of Favorite People, Places, and Things

· Year in Pictures: 16 page color photo section of the top stories of 2008, as well as 16 pages of world maps and flags and easy-to-use side abs.

· Plus thousands of facts and statistics that aren’t publicly available; sourced and double-checked by our full-time editorial staff who are reference experts by category

World Almanac Online: www.WorldAlmanac.com

2009 will feature the third year of Bonus Content Online, extended reading to the printed edition for the same combined price of $12.99. This year will feature the Election Results from 2008, plus lots more free information available year-round at worldalmanac.com: historical presidential information, health news and features, and early access to WA09 info.

Once online, look for The World Almanac Blog, launched in 2006 and every weekday featuring

· New original entries, including provocative postings such as Unbreakable Sports Records; fascinating scientific and historical trivia; and new links to online tools and archives for almanac fans · This Day in History, Notable Birthdays and unusual anniversaries such as when Nixon met Elvis Presley in the Oval Office (1970)

· More useful links and tags to essential reads

The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages: 1851-2008

CC The New York Times

Amazon Price: $36.00 List Price: $60.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 34 new & used starting at $36.00

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Subjects -> History -> Americas -> United States -> State & Local -> Mid-Atlantic
Subjects -> History -> General AAS
Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Politics -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

This stunning and cutting-edge package provides access to the world as reflected in its most influential and respected newspaper. From wars and political assassinations to social movements and space exploration, all the news that is fit to print—or download—can be found in this extraordinary book-and-DVD set.

More than 300 of the most significant New York Times front pages have been carefully selected and beautifully reproduced in the book. Read the headlines and stories covering such world-changing events as Abraham Lincoln's assassination, Charles Lindbergh's transatlantic flight, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech, and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Ten foldouts present twenty key front pages at their magnificent full size. News summaries throughout highlight the most significant events of each era and put the front pages into a historical context. Seventeen insightful essays by prominent Times writers comment on pivotal moments, including "The End of Slavery" by William Safire, "Women’s Suffrage" by Gail Collins, and "The Age of Television" by Frank Rich.

The 3 DVDs include each of the 54,266 front pages printed by the Times over the past 157 years. Completely searchable and user-friendly, the disks are designed to provide access to the full stories that made front-page news each day since the paper’s founding in 1851. Click on a page—the day you were born, for example—and you're instantly transported to the Times' online archive.

The New York Times: The Complete Front Pages is the ultimate gift for history buffs, news junkies, students, and anyone who strives to be well-informed.

DVD-ROMs run on a PC (Windows 2000/XP or later) or Mac (OSX I0.4.8 or later) with Adobe 8.o or later. Free download available on the DVD-ROMs.

Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, ... With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory

Roy Blount Jr.

Amazon Price: $16.50 List Price: $25.00 Usually ships in 9 to 13 days By: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $15.86

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Subjects -> Literature & Fiction -> World Literature -> United States -> History & Criticism -> General
Subjects -> Reference -> Words & Language -> Etymology
Subjects -> Reference -> Words & Language -> Linguistics

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Ali G: How many words does you know?

Noam Chomsky: Normally, humans, by maturity, have tens of thousands of them.

Ali G: What is some of 'em?

—Da Ali G Show Did you know that both mammal and matter derive from baby talk? Have you noticed how wince makes you wince? Ever wonder why so many h-words have to do with breath? Roy Blount Jr. certainly has, and after forty years of making a living using words in every medium, print or electronic, except greeting cards, he still can’t get over his ABCs. In Alphabet Juice, he celebrates the electricity, the juju, the sonic and kinetic energies, of letters and their combinations. Blount does not prescribe proper English. The franchise he claims is “over the counter.”

Three and a half centuries ago, Thomas Blount produced Blount’s Glossographia, the first dictionary to explore derivations of English words. This Blount’s Glossographia takes that pursuit to other levels, from Proto-Indo-European roots to your epiglottis. It rejects the standard linguistic notion that the connection between words and their meanings is “arbitrary.” Even the word arbitrary is shown to be no more arbitrary, at its root, than go-to guy or crackerjack. From sources as venerable as the OED (in which Blount finds an inconsistency, at whisk) and as fresh as Urbandictionary.com (to which Blount has contributed the number-one definition of “alligator arm”), and especially from the author’s own wide-ranging experience, Alphabet Juice derives an organic take on language that is unlike, and more fun than, any other.

An Incomplete Education: 3,684 Things You Should Have Learned but Probably Didn't

Judy Jones, William Wilson

Amazon Price: $23.10 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Ballantine Books Amazon Marketplace: 41 new & used starting at $20.99

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 91 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Not Accurate 2 out of 5 stars.
3 of 7 people found this review helpful.

There are things in this book that are inaccurate. I can only speak to the religious section because it is a subject I know well but I know others who have complained about the inaccuracies in the science section. For example, the author mentions that the Hadith (written traditions of the Prophet Muhammad) are widely accepted to be unauthentic. In fact, there is a whole science of deciphering whether or not a hadith is authentic, with many books rating thousands of Hadith. These books are so detailed as to include the character, education, public opinion, etc. of all the people who have transmitted a particular hadith. Needless to say, the subject isn's as simple as the author would have the reader believe. There were also some problems in the Zorastrian section that I don't really want to go into now. I think that with a book of this nature, accuracy is paramount so I would consider such mistakes unacceptable. I would venture a guess and say that perhaps the authors themselves have an incomplete education.

Editorial Review:

You'll find everything you forgot from school--as well as plenty you never even learned--in this all-purpose reference book, an instant classic when it first appeared in 1987. The updated version takes a whirlwind tour through 12 different disciplines, from American studies to philosophy to world history. Along the way, Judy Jones and William Wilson provide a plethora of useful information, from the plot of Othello to the difference between fission and fusion. It's not a shortcut to cultural literacy, the authors write in their introduction, but it's an excellent "way in" to the building blocks of Western civilization: the "books, music, art, philosophy, and discoveries that have, for one reason or another, managed to endure." Think of it as finishing school for your brain; study up and you'll gain a lifetime's worth of cocktail conversation--as well as a new list of books you simply must read.

The Atlas of the Real World

Daniel Dorling, Mark Newman, Anna Barford

Amazon Price: $31.50 List Price: $50.00 Usually ships in 9 to 12 days By: Thames & Hudson Amazon Marketplace: 12 new & used starting at $31.25

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Subjects -> Nonfiction -> Social Sciences -> Human Geography
Subjects -> Reference -> Atlases & Maps -> Atlases
Subjects -> Reference -> Atlases & Maps -> World

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

366 cartograms cover a vast array of subjects, providing a definitive reference on how regions and countries compare in resources, production, consumption, and more.

Advances in technology have made widespread and detailed data gathering easier, resulting in a deluge of statistics on subjects as diverse as literacy rates, military spending, overweight children, television viewing figures, and endangered species. But how do we represent and compare data from one part of the world to another in a useful way?

Here, sophisticated software combined with comprehensive analysis of every aspect of life represents the world as it really is. Digitally modified maps depict the areas and countries of the world not by their physical size but by their demographic importance on a vast range of topics.

The rainforests of South America, with thirty percent of the world's fresh water, make the continent balloon in an analysis of water resources, whereas Kuwait, dependent on desalinated seawater, disappears from the map. Fuel use, alcohol consumption, population, malaria: here are hundreds of key indicators to the way we live.

This innovative and exceptionally accessible reference work will be an indispensable tool for journalists, economists, marketers, politicians, financiers, environmentalists, and scholars. Its cartograms are augmented by graphs, tables, and full commentaries. 366 color maps.

SAS Survival Handbook: How to Survive in the Wild, in Any Climate, on Land or at Sea

John Lofty Wiseman

Amazon Price: $13.57 List Price: $19.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Collins Amazon Marketplace: 58 new & used starting at $10.50

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 114 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Do you want to be a Mountain Man? 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

Very good book, packed with detail. Good bathroom read. I can't wait to put some new lessons to use.

Fantastic survival book 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.

You know the saying when you stop looking for something you then find what you are looking for. I purchased this book with the mangnesium firestarter. I thought what the heck another surival book but at least i get a deal on the firestarter. After i opened this book i quickly forgot all about the firestarter. I was amazed at the greatness of this book. I can't say enough here about it you have to see it to believe it. I own about a dozen survival book and this is the best of the best. Actuall colored photos on edible and not edible plant, color photos on posinious snakes as well. The section on traps and shelters is top notch. Knot tying is also a great section. This book has rekindled my desire to grab my knife and go test myself in the wilds.
simply superb

Editorial Review:

The SAS Survival Handbook is the Special Air Service's complete course in being prepared for any type of emergency. John 'Lofty' Wiseman presents real strategies for surviving in any type of situation, from accidents and escape procedures, including chemical and nuclear to successfully adapting to various climates (polar, tropical, desert), to identifying edible plants and creating fire. The book is extremely practical and is illustrated throughout with easy-to-understand line art and diagrams.

Ansel Adams 2009 Wall Calendar

Amazon Price: $12.91 List Price: $18.99 Usually ships in 24 hours By: ART - Model: BAKER-BT9780316008334 Amazon Marketplace: 36 new & used starting at $11.35

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Features:

• Size: 15 1/2" x 12 1/2"
• Art

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Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Artists, A-Z -> ( A-C ) -> Adams, Ansel
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Nature & Wildlife
Subjects -> Arts & Photography -> Photography -> Photographers, A-Z -> General

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Forever Beautiful 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

I purchase this wall calendar every year. Ansel Adams is my favorite black/white photographer and I enjoy photography myself, as a hobby- The photos are stunning. I look forward to the beginning of each month so I can see what the next masterpiece will look like. There is plenty of room to fill in all your apppointments-All-around great calendar!

A favorite in our family 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Every year at Christmas time we give an Adams wall calendar to a daughter who is a wonderful photographer and a nature lover. One year we decided maybe it was time to stop doing that, and we heard about it! I'm glad you carry it, because it is not as easily available elsewhere as it used to be.

1st class product & service 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

This is an outstandong calendar that my daughter asks for and gets from us at Christmas. Over the past two years our UK book stores stopped stocking it. That's where Amazon comes in..........ordered, and delivered well before estimated delivery time from America via Germany AND even with post & packing charges it was cheaper than walking into a book store in the UK. This is where buying on the web with reputable companies score....door to door service.

Editorial Review:

This fabled wall calendar, perhaps the most popular and long-lived calendar ever published, continues to please its audiences with its handsome reproductions of Ansel Adams' most famous images.

The New Way Things Work

David Macaulay

Amazon Price: $21.98 List Price: $35.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: Houghton Mifflin/Walter Lorraine Books Amazon Marketplace: 71 new & used starting at $15.04

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Subjects -> Children's Books -> Ages 9-12 -> Staff Favorites
Subjects -> Children's Books -> Authors & Illustrators, A-Z -> ( M ) -> Macaulay, David
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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 37 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

"Is it a fact--or have I dreamt it--that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?" If you, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, are kept up at night wondering about how things work--from electricity to can openers--then you and your favorite kids shouldn't be a moment longer without David Macaulay's The New Way Things Work. The award-winning author-illustrator--a former architect and junior high school teacher--is perfectly poised to be the Great Explainer of the whirrings and whizzings of the world of machines, a talent that landed the 1988 version of The Way Things Work on the New York Times bestsellers list for 50 weeks. Grouping machines together by the principles that govern their actions rather than by their uses, Macaulay helps us understand in a heavily visual, humorous, unerringly precise way what gadgets such as a toilet, a carburetor, and a fire extinguisher have in common.

The New Way Things Work boasts a richly illustrated 80-page section that wrenches us all (including the curious, bumbling wooly mammoth who ambles along with the reader) into the digital age of modems, digital cameras, compact disks, bits, and bytes. Readers can glory in gears in "The Mechanics of Movement," investigate flying in "Harnessing the Elements," demystify the sound of music in "Working with Waves," marvel at magnetism in "Electricity & Automation," and examine e-mail in "The Digital Domain." An illustrated survey of significant inventions closes the book, along with a glossary of technical terms, and an index. What possible link could there be between zippers and plows, dentist drills and windmills? Parking meters and meat grinders, jumbo jets and jackhammers, remote control and rockets, electric guitars and egg beaters? Macaulay demystifies them all. (Click to see a sample spread of this book, illustrations and text copyright 1998 David Macaulay, Neil Ardley, published by Houghton Mifflin Co.) (All ages) --Karin Snelson

The Old Farmer's Almanac 2009 (Old Farmer's Almanac)

Old Farmer's Almanac

Amazon Price: $6.95 List Price: $6.95 Usually ships in 24 hours By: The Old Farmer's Almanac Amazon Marketplace: 51 new & used starting at $2.64

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The Old Farmer's Almanac 2009 (Old Farmer's Almanac) 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

The Farmers Almanac is one of my favorite books to read. I don't read the whole book at once, but parcel it out over the year. I make family calendars for Christmas presents, and each year I use the quotes for each month as written in Almanac. My son looks forward to receiving the Farmers Almanac every one year for his birthday.
Thank you.

Pretty accurate 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I have bought the Old Farmers Almanac for over 20 years and always have fun with the information and the almost always on track weather predictions. I at least know what to expect. Our local weatherman said they aren't accurate but I disagree. They follow all the natural ways that people have predicted weather for years and are usually really close. They always have interesting articles too.

My father loved this gift 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

I purchased this to add to my father's birthday gift. He absolutely loved it. I haven't seen him that excited over a gift (especially considering it was an "add-on" gift) in a long time. He is obsessed with the weather, so I figured this was something he would like. I was right.