Buyers' Choice

This issue - May 2004.

The title-underlined links will take you directly to our catalogue.
Some featured items are linked via a book cover to enable you to read more reviews.

	Extreme ironing, by Phil Shaw. (2003) "In 2003, extreme ironing is the world's newest adrenalin sport, combining the thrill of extreme outdoor activity ... with the satisfaction of well-pressed clothing. Participants of the sport are known as ironists and pride themselves on returning to work on Monday morning in a shirt which was ironed at the weekend whilst dangling from a rock face or riding the rapids." (Amazon synopsis) "Guaranteed to cheer up anyone struggling through the weekend ironing mountain - if you think your ironing is difficult, it's nothing compared to what these guys go through with theirs!" (Amazon reader review)
	If the universe is teeming with aliens... where is everybody? Fifty solutions to Fermi's paradox and the problem of extraterrestrial life, by Stephen Webb. (2002) "During a lunchtime conversation at Los Alamos more than 50 years ago, four world-class scientists agreed, given the size and age of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations simply had to exist. The sheer numbers demanded it. But one of the four, the renowned physicist and back-of-the-envelope calculator Enrico Fermi, asked the telling question: If the extraterrestrial life proposition is true, he wondered, "Where is everybody?" In this lively and thought-provoking book, Stephen Webb presents a detailed discussion of the 50 most cognent and intriguing answers to Fermi's famous question." (Book jacket)
	The art of Maurice Sendak : 1980 to present, by Tony Kushner & Selma G. Lanes. (2004) "Maurice Sendak ranks as one of the best known and loved children's book artists in the USA, and has been awarded both the Hans Christian Andersen Medal and the Caldecott Medal. This volume picks up where Selma Lanes' monograph of his work "The Art of Maurice Sendak", published in 1980, leaves off, tracing Sendak's life and work from 1980 to 2003. An extended essay by playwright Tony Kushner, a long-time friend of Sendak's provides an intimate view of the artist." (Amazon)
	Gardens of Persia, by Penelope Hobhouse. (2003) "Chronicling the evolution of the Persian garden, this book explores its profound and virtually unacknowledged influence on the development of Western garden design. Penelope Hobhouse follows the origins and history of the Persian garden from the fifth century BC, to 19th-century paradise gardens and the modern Islamic designs of the 21st century. She links its development to Persia's great history and religious and secular architecture, showing how buildings, water and plants combine to give the Persian garden a spiritual dimension." (Amazon)

Mascotte!, selected by Delicatessan. (2004)
"Mascotte! is a spectacular new book showcasing a line-up of the cutest most charismatic characters, mascots and puppets ever created. Whether sculpted from clay or plastic, knitted, sewn or rendered in digital form, these colourful mascots are unforgettable. Twenty-six different studios and artists from around the world push the limits of their respective mediums to the limit! The boundless colours and shapes are truly inspiring." (Amazon)

Sync : the emerging science of spontaneous order, by Stephen Strogatz. (2003)
"Strogatz is a Cornell mathematician and pioneer of the science of synchrony, which brings mathematics, physics and biology to bear on the mystery of how spontaneous order occurs at every level of the cosmos, from the nucleus on up. In this eminently accessible and entertaining book, Strogatz explores the mysterious synchrony achieved by fireflies that flash in unison by the thousands, and the question of what makes our own body clocks synchronize with night and day and even with one another.... The author traces how the isolated and often accidental discoveries of researchers are beginning to gel into the science of synchrony, and he amply illustrates how the laws of mathematics underlie the universe's uncanny capacity for spontaneous order." (Amazon)

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