Bestsellers
Fiction Hardcover
Trade Paperback
Nonfiction Hardcover
Mass Market
Audio Fiction
Audio Nonfiction
Children's Picture Books
Children's Fiction
Book Lists by Program
The World
Favorite Subjects
Home & Garden
Cooking
Travel
NPR Music Guides
Travel Books & Guides
Ideas in Reading
About Us
|
|
Starry, Starry Night...
Ancient Sumerian astronomers climbed the steps of their observation platforms in the belief that the effort was placing them appreciably closer to the celestial sphere. In 1775 the philosopher Emmanuel Kant introduced the idea that we may reside in an "island universe" of stars floating in an endless and incomprehensible void. It was not until the early decades of this century that Edwin Hubble established that the Milky Way was not alone, being one of countless galaxies in the universe, and just to spice up the mix, announced that the whole shebang was expanding at nearly the speed of light.
Stranger Than Fiction: Documentary Film
In the beginning all movies were documentaries. In the early 1890's the flickering image of a train coming into the station had frantic Parisians scurrying for the door. From the Russian master Dziga Vertov (Man With A Movie Camera, 1929) and the WPA films of Pare Lorentz (The Plow That Broke The Pains, 1936 and The River, 1937) through Hollywood’s wartime "Why We Fight" propaganda series to Frederick Wiseman's "High School", "Basic Training" and the often over-looked "Meat", documentary films tell the stories of our lives, warts and all.
Martha, Martha, how does your garden grow?
As any home gardener will tell you, growing your own is the only way to go. The vegetables are shockingly more tasty than store bought produce and fresh cut flowers will brighten any decor. Front yards, back yards and window boxes in bloom satisfy the soul and give good reason to get a little dirt under the fingernails.
Ink to Celluloid
In 1902, a Parisian stage conjurer named Georges Melies combined elements from Jules Vernes' "From the Earth to the Moon" and H.G. Wells’ "The First Men in the Moon" and shortly thereafter offered the early movie going public "Le Voyage das la Lune" (A Trip to the Moon). The rest, as they say, is film history.
What's that you say?
With language we communicate grand ideas and concepts quickly and efficiently, and everyday matters like instructions to pick up the dry cleaning are dispatched with simplicity - if not always recognized. What is this thing we call language? Where did it come from? John McWhorter lays out the full spectacle, and Robert McCrum focuses on our own familiar English language.
Sit quietly, clear your mind...Zen what?
Meditation and the Zen way of life. How can anything so simple be so complicated? Maybe it's not. Shunryu Suzuki and Thich Nhat Hanh present the basic concepts and practices of Buddhism in a manner that can bring peace of mind and a bit of serenity to everyone.
Just Wild About Hurry
What's the rush? James Gleick considers society's obssesion with time. Where did it come from? The Renaissance, of all places...and times. Willam Manchester offers a superb look at the medieval mind and the era that gave us the phrase "time is money".
What and How to Read
Harold Bloom discovered the pleasures of "deep reading" as a teenager. Several decades of excellence in academia and literary criticism later, Professor Bloom shares his literary experience and expertise with some ideas about what to read and how to do it.
|
Have you joined the Book Club?
Welcome
Fiction
Mystery
Cooking
Biography
Children's Books
Travel
Home & Garden
The Arts
Health & Healing
Current Events
Science & Nature
History
The Classics
|
|
