Popular Culture Books - Page 8

Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume III

Danzig Baldaev

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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This final volume of previously unpublished drawings and photographs completes the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia trilogy. Danzig Baldaev's unparallelled ethnographic achievement, documenting more than 3,000 tattoo drawings, was made during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB, who unexpectedly supported him, realizing the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. A medieval knight is surrounded by the severed heads of his enemies, a naked woman simultaneously services a man and two dwarfs, a crying President Gorbachev grips a human bone between sabre-like fangs, a group of angels drink vodka with God on a cloud--the meanings of these arresting images are explained to the uninitiated eye. Sergei Vasiliev's graphic photographs show the grim reality of the Russian prison system and some of the alarming characters that inhabit it, while the illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society. This last volume in the trilogy includes an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov exploring the origins of the Russian criminal tattoo and their various meanings today.

The Sorcerer's Companion: A Guide to the Magical World of Harry Potter

Allan Zola Kronzek, Elizabeth Kronzek

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Total reviews: 76 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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Who was the real Nicholas Flamel? How did the Sorcerer’s Stone get its power? Did J. K. Rowling dream up the terrifying basilisk, the seductive veela, or the vicious grindylow? And if she didn’t, who did?

Millions of readers around the world have been enchanted by the magical world of wizardry, spells, and mythical beasts inhabited by Harry Potter and his friends. But what most readers don’t know is that there is a centuries-old trove of true history, folklore, and mythology behind Harry’s fantastic universe. Now, with The Sorcerer’s Companion, those without access to the Hogwarts library can school themselves in the fascinating reality behind J.K. Rowling’s world of magic.

The Sorcerer’s Companion allows curious readers to look up anything magical from the Harry Potter books and discover a wealth of entertaining, unexpected information. Wands and wizards, boggarts and broomsticks, hippogriffs and herbology, all have astonishing histories rooted in legend, literature, or real-life events dating back hundreds or even thousands of years. Magic wands, like those sold in Rowling’s Diagon Alley, were once fashioned by Druid sorcerers out of their sacred yew trees. Love potions were first concocted in ancient Greece and Egypt. And books of spells and curses were highly popular during the Middle Ages. From Amulets to Zombies, you’ll also learn:

• how to read tea leaves
• where to find a basilisk today
• how King Frederick II of Denmark financed a war with a unicorn horn
• who the real Merlin was
• how to safely harvest mandrake root
• who wore the first invisibility cloak
• how to get rid of a goblin
• why owls were feared in the ancient world
• the origins of our modern-day “bogeyman,” and more.

A spellbinding tour of Harry’s captivating world, The Sorcerer’s Companion is a must for every Potter aficionado’s bookshelf.

The Sorcerer's Companion has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by any person or entity that created, published, or produced the Harry Potter books or related properties.

Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fry-Oil-Powered Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future

Greg Melville

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Total reviews: 7 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, this green-thinking guy—who's in love with the idea of free fuel—sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease Dumpsters along the way? More important, can two guys survive 192 consecutive hours together?

Their expedition on and off the road includes visits to the solar-powered Google headquarters; the National Ethanol Council; the wind turbines of southwestern Minnesota; the National Renewable Energy Lab; a visit to one of the first houses to receive platinum certification for leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED); an "eco-friendly" Wal-Mart; and the world's largest geothermal heating system.

Part adventure and part investigation of what we're doing (or not doing) to preserve the planet, Greasy Rider is upbeat, funny, and full of surprising information about sustainable measures that are within our reach.

Let Freedom Ring CD: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism

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Total reviews: 649 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

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Devoting special attention to 9/11, the war on terror, and the continuing threat we face at home and abroad, Sean Hannity makes clear that the greatest challenge Americans have to overcome may not be an attack from overseas, but the slow compromising of our national character. And he asks why, particularly in this time of war, should we entrust our future to the voices of the Left -- the very people who have spent decades ravaging so many of our core values and traditions?

Our nation, as Hannity reminds us, was founded on the idea of freedom. And in order to protect our freedoms, he argues, we must stand vigilant against liberal attempts to compromise our strengths. From our military and intelligence forces to our borders and airports to our unified commitment to root out terrorists at home and abroad, he reveals how our strongest lines of defense have come under attack -- by left-wing voices within our government, media, schools, and elsewhere. And he shows how even domestic issues like taxation, education, patriotism, and the family have been exploited by liberals with their own agendas -- with potentially disatrous results.

10 Conversations You Need to Have with Your Children

Shmuley Boteach

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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Why do I have to repeat everything? Why does every conversation end in an argument?

Communicating with our children. Conversing. Connecting. When did it become so difficult? And how do we begin to change it for the better?

This book was designed to help parents answer these important questions, and it is based on two fundamental ideas: The first is that there are no bad children, and no deliberately bad parents -- but that sometimes, despite the best of intentions on both sides, there can be bad relationships between parents and children. The second is that, as parents, we must do everything we can to save those relationships, to reach out and really communicate with our children, because it is only through talking to them that we can create an environment for inspiration and change.

In this compelling book, Shmuley Boteach, passionate social commentator and outspoken relationship guru, walks you through the critical conversations, including: cherishing childhood; developing intellectual curiosity; knowing who you are and what you want to become; learning to forgive; realizing the importance of family and tradition; being fearless and courageous. As a father of eight, Rabbi Shmuley speaks from a wealth of experience. He has written a book for parents of children of all ages, from toddlers, who are just beginning to become aware of the world around them, to adolescents, who must learn to navigate all sorts of tricky social and academic pressures.

10 Conversations will help you stay connected to your children so that they develop the kind of strong moral character that leads to rich, meaningful lives.

The Medical Science of House, M.D.

Andrew Holtz

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Total reviews: 20 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

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The facts behind the addictive medical drama starring Golden Globe winner Hugh Laurie.

Week after week, House, M.D. has held viewers' attention with brilliant cast performances and intriguing diagnostic mysteries often solved with daring treatments. But how much of the medical detail is real and how much is fabricated? In The Medical Science of House, M.D., Andrew Holtz, a well-known medical journalist, reveals how medical detectives work-how they follow symptoms to their source. He examines each case in detail and provides answers to such questions as:

- How can a teenager adopted at birth nearly die because his biological mother didn't get a vaccine?
- How can a husband's faith in his wife's fidelity determine whether radical treatment will cure her or kill her?
- How can a missed eye-doctor appointment reveal a genetic disease?
- How can doctors choose the right course for a pregnant woman when one may kill her and the other would abort her fetus

Under the Tree: The Toys and Treats that Made Christmas Special, 1930-1970

Susan Waggoner

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Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

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Filled with more than 100 illustrations—nostalgic art, vintage photographs, and evocative advertisements

When? Can’t I open just one? Please? The minutes, the hours, the eons of waiting—and wondering. What’s underneath the shiny silver paper? Behind the enormous red bow? Under the tree?

Who doesn’t remember what it was like to be a kid at Christmas? And who hasn’t yearned to go back in time to recapture that special feeling? Well, we can’t turn back the clock, but we can do the next best thing. We can bring a bit of the past into the present. In Under the Tree, Susan Waggoner, author of Stewart, Tabori and Chang’s It’s a Wonderful Christmas, takes a loving, nostalgic look at the toys and gifts that made the postwar American Christmas the big deal it was.

Under the Tree revisits gifts both large and small, from Mr. Machine and the Kenner Easy-Bake Oven to Moon Rocks, Silly Putty, Sea Monkeys, and other delights that stuffed our stockings. In addition to the fascinating stories behind each toy, the book is bursting with cultural history, quotes, and lore—all wrapped up with more than 100 full-color vintage illustrations. For anyone who’s ever been a kid at Christmas, Under the Tree will be as irresistible as a kiss under the mistletoe.

Shout!: The Beatles in Their Generation

Philip Norman

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Total reviews: 42 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

THE CLASSIC CHRONICLE OF THE BEATLES -- THEIR MUSIC, THEIR LIVES, THEIR TIMES

From their primitive first chords to the huge success of the Beatles Anthology, the Beatles have been an integral part of our culture and our consciousness for over thirty-five years. Shout! The Beatles in Their Generation tells the extraordinary story of the rise of four scruffy boys from Liverpool to beings more adored, more influential -- and in many ways more troubled --than any in the history of popular entertainment. It is also a penetrating social history of our time, based on an incredible wealth of material -- eyewitness accounts, interviews, stories withheld from the press and public -- that was available exclusively to the author.

Rich in detail, anecdotes, and background, with 100 stunning photographs, Shout! takes us from the wild, often comical days at the beginning in Liverpool to the life and death of Stu Sutcliffe, the brilliant boy known as the "fifth Beatle"; from the psychedelic triumph of Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to the band's embrace of Indian music and spirituality; from the brilliantly unified sounds of Abbey Road to Paul's desperate attempts to form a final comeback concert.

Riveting, Enlightening, Heartbreaking, Shout! Is A True Epic.

Unlocking Harry Potter: Five Keys for the Serious Reader

John Granger

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER gives you five essential keys for understanding the HARRY POTTER series. Not just who will live or die in DEATHLY HOLLOWS, but how J.K. Rowling created the most successful books of our times. To understand the story behind the stories, John Granger, author of THE HIDDEN KEY TO HARRY POTTER and editor of WHO KILLED ALBUS DUMBLEDORE?, introduces the themes and patterns Rowling uses to write books that resonate with readers of all ages. This book is for "serious readers" but Granger writes in a very entertaining style. If you never understood the term "postmodernism" or how "literary alchemy" is used by great authors from Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling, then this is a fun way to learn. UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER is the only book to examine in depth the importance of what Rowling said in an interview from 1998, that "to invent this wizard world" she had to learn about alchemy "in order to set the parameters and establish the stories' internal logic." - . - . - . - . - Here's what other HARRY POTTER authors and experts have to say about UNLOCKING HARRY POTTER: - . - . - . - . - "I got so hooked I had to stop everything else and just read, read, read. I carried it around the house, read it while using the excercycle, I hid in rooms away from the action of daily life so I could take it all in. I haven't had that reaction to a book since, well, THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE. A spectacular read for all serious fans of Rowling's works. Compelling, well-argued, fun and funny. Engaging. Thought provoking. Erudite." - Tom Morris, author of IF HARRY POTTER RAN GENERAL ELECTRIC and PHILOSOPHY FOR DUMMIES. - . - . - . - . - "John Granger peels back the layers of Rowling's stories and sees patterns the rest of us miss - and he never forgets to be a fan, engaging in fun speculation about what will come in the finale. Once more Granger has shown himself to be second to none among Potter commentators and literary sleuths. Some books are meant to be ingested quickly. Not this one. Serious fans of HARRY POTTER will relish it." - David Baggett, editor of HARRY POTTER AND PHILOSOPHY.

The Physics of Superheroes

James Kakalios

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Total reviews: 16 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

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The Physics of Superheroesapplies the reality of physics to the fantasy of comic books. James Kakalios explores the scientific plausibility of the powers and feats of the most famous superheroes—and discovers that in many cases the comic writers got their science surprisingly right. Along the way he provides an engaging and witty commentary while introducing the lay reader to both classic and cutting-edge concepts in physics, including:

• What Superman’s strength can tell us about the Newtonian physics of force, mass, and acceleration
• How Iceman’s and Storm’s powers illustrate the principles of thermal dynamics
• The physics behind the death of Spider-Man’s girlfriend Gwen Stacy
• Why physics professors gone bad are the most dangerous evil geniuses! BACKCOVER: Praise for The Physics of Superheroes

“Surprisingly enough, according to Kakalios, comic books get their physics right more often than you’d think.”
—The Boston Globe

“Writing with tongue firmly planted in cheek, Kakalios looks at classic comics with a physicist’s eye. . . . Outstanding.”
—The Orlando Sentinel

“Kakalios, a University of Minnesota physicist and unrepentant comics nerd, offers up jovial, largely equation-free deconstructions of Ant-Man’s shrinking ability, the centripetal acceleration of Spider-Man’s swing, and the strength of his silk web.”
—Discover

“Wildly entertaining, yet scientifically accurate… Comprises a fairly solid introductory education in physics, sweetened with a history lesson in classic comic book superheroes.”
—Metro

“Offers a droll but sincere look at what Superman and Spider-Man can teach about physics. . . . Entertaining. . . . His explanations are lucid and smooth.”
—Science magazine