Gift Ideas

The Secret Language of Animals

A Guide to Remarkable Behavior

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Janine M. Benyus
Black Dog & Levanthal
Softcover $22.95 (512pp)
978-1-57912-968-2
Buy: Amazon

I want to look at a cow without my mind saying cow, haiku’d Jim Harrison. And we should all be so lucky in the presence of a zebra, panda, or peacock. Fresh eyes are required to get an accurate idea of what an animal is doing when it lifts its tail, does a headstand, or flaunts its fancy tail feathers. Herein, we come to better understand twenty majestic creatures—gorilla, lion, elephant, rhinoceros, giraffe, flamingo, crocodile, komodo monitor, gray wolf, sandhill crane, polar bear, penguin, amongst others—and should we cross paths with one on a trail, this newfound knowledge might save us from being fresh meat.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Japan’s World Heritage Sites

Unique Culture, Unique Nature

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John Dougill
Tuttle Publishing
Hardcover $34.95 (192pp)
978-4-80531285-8
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Japan is civilization personified. Art, design, food, health, infrastructure, civility—name a societal / cultural benchmark and you can make a compelling case that the rising sunners lead the world. So when the United Nations came looking for extraordinary gardens, temples, castles, and natural wonders to designate as World Heritage sites, their envoys must have looked around wide-eyed and said, “where do we start?”

From Mt. Fuji to ancient Kyoto to the Peace Memorial at Hiroshima, UNESCO tagged seventeen sites with their highest honor and the 350 color photographs and masterful descriptions will certainly solidify Japan’s standing as a tourist destination.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Memories and Scenes

Shtetl, Childhood, Writers

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Jacob Dinezon
Tina Lunson, translator
Jewish Storyteller Press
Softcover $19.95 (242pp)
978-0-9798156-1-4
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Der zhargon, the jargon—that’s how Yiddish was dismissed in the mid-nineteenth century in Eastern Europe, and the few who authored books in the language of the Jewish street caused peals of cynical laughter to rattle the university halls and coffee shop walls. All that changed toward the turn of the century. Several Jewish writers achieved great fame for their Yiddish books, including Jacob Dinezon, but this autobiographical collection of his short stories, exposing the injustices of shtetl society, never earned an English translation. Warm, funny, compassionate, Dinezon is considered the beloved uncle of modern Yiddish literature.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Afghanistan on the Bounce

Boots on the Ground with the U.S. Military and the International Security Assistance Force

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Robert L. Cunningham
Steven Hartov
Insight Editions
Hardcover $40.00 (162pp)
978-1-60887-218-3
Buy: Amazon

The US military presence in nomadic Afghanistan represents the world’s most advanced weaponry and technology, placed in the hands of highly trained volunteer soldiers from every corner of hyperindustrialized America—it’s an absurdly asymmetrical, discomforting experience for both Afghans and Americans.

This searing collection of photos was culled from the 55,000 that Robert Cunningham shot during the 132 missions he took part in. Beyond the high tension of combat, it’s the day-to-day trivialities of troop life—chow lines, religious services, kicking around a soccer ball—that lift this book to rare heights.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Rolling Stones Gear

All the Stones’ Instruments from Stage to Studio

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Andy Babiuk
Greg Prevost
Backbeat Books
Hardcover $60.00 (672pp)
978-1-61713-092-2
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Angie, if you can’t get no satisfaction with the current crop of Stones books, here’s your emotional rescue. Yes, it’s only rock and roll, but if you know some Puerto Rican girls that are just dying for a 672-page book that documents all of the musical gear ever used by Mick, Keith, and the boys, alongside hundreds of photographs and detailed descriptions of the instruments used in every song they ever recorded, hang fire because the clouds will now disappear. Brown sugar aside, this project is so impressively researched, extensively referenced, and professionally photographed, we can’t help feel some sympathy for the devil-may-care authors, Andy Babiuk and Greg Prevost.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Recovering Place

Reflections on Stone Hill

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Mark C. Taylor
Columbia University Press
Hardcover $35.00 (176pp)
978-0-231-16498-6
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Indescribable—except to mention the author’s position as professor of religion at Columbia, and that it contains some of the finest prose and photography you’ll find anywhere—consequently, we will now commit the unpardonable sin of stealing a line from the publisher’s press materials: “This timely meditation gives pause in the midst of harried lives and turns attention toward what we usually overlook: night, silence, touch, grace, ghosts, water, earth, stones, bones, idleness, infinity, slowness, and contentment.”

A weird, wonderful, wallop-packing work of untethered spirituality.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Tupelo Honey Cafe

New Southern Flavors from the Blue Ridge Mountains

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Elizabeth Sims
Chef Brian Sonoskus
Andrews McMeel Publishing
Hardcover $29.99 (240pp)
978-1-4494-4614-7
Buy: Local Bookstore (Bookshop), Amazon

Certain regions do comfort food better than others. Just ask fans of home cooking from Mexico, Italy, and the American South—Rib Eye Steak and Mushroom Pot Pie with Sweet Potato Biscuit Crust. That’s what we’re talking about!

An ultrafamous eatery in Asheville, North Carolina, Tupelo Honey Cafe represents the “mountain South,” and this latest collection of 125 recipes, beautifully photographed and packaged, is surprisingly vegetable driven. Even so, southern cooks just know how to make things extra appealing: Deep-Fried Macaroni and Cheese with Tomato Jam and Red Onion Marmalade … c’mon!

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Vikings

Life and Legend

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Gareth Williams, editor
Peter Pentz, editor
Matthias Wemhoff, editor
Cornell University Press
Softcover $35.00 (288pp)
978-0-8014-7942-7
Buy: Amazon

For a civilization that ended nearly one thousand years ago, there seems to be a great deal new to know about the Vikings since we last checked. That the Viking world extended to four continents, for example, and some of their ships were 120 feet long, and Viking marauders did not rape and pillage every town and convent they stumbled across, nor did they wear horned helmets.

Developed in conjunction with national museums in London, Denmark, and Berlin, through flawless photography and contextual narrative, this book brings to light an astounding hoard of Viking loot collected from hundreds of archaeological sites, from Greenland to the Ukraine.

MATT SUTHERLAND (May 27, 2014)

Matt Sutherland

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