To read a story by Henry James is to enter a fully realized world unlike any other—a rich, perfectly crafted domain of vivid language and splendid, complex characters. Devious children, sparring lovers, capricious American girls, obtuse bachelors, sibylline spinsters, and charming Europeans populate these five fascinating nouvelles, which represent the author in both his early and late phases. From the apparitions of evil that haunt the governess in “The Turn of the Screw” to the startling self-scrutiny of an egotistical man in “The Beast in the Jungle,” the mysterious turnings of human behavior are coolly and masterfully observed—proving Henry James to be a master of psychological insight as well as one of the finest prose stylists of modern English literature.

The unabridged audio version of Sebastian Junger's The Perfect Storm, read by Richard M. Davidson, moves in the same haunting fashion as the deadly storm referenced in the title. Opening slowly, the story lulls you with a false sense of calm, behind which looms an inexorable power. Almost imperceptibly the drama begins to build and before you know what's hit you, the sheer force of the cumulative events has swept you into a maelstrom of tragic human consequence.

Junger's carefully researched and sympathetic book is a mesmerizing chronicle of man's struggle against nature. Davidson's unassuming, slightly nasal tone subtly captures the drollery of the salty New England attitude. "People often get premonitions when they do jobs that could get them killed ... the trick is knowing when to listen to them." He makes listening to The Perfect Storm seem like you're bearing witness to a natural disaster. You're powerless to help, but the awesome spectacle has such an emotional hold that it's nearly impossible to turn away. Start this tape too late in the evening and you may be in for a dark and stormy night. (Running time: nine hours, six cassettes) —George Laney

Amusing to our modern ear, the definitions of these 48 forgotten words are cause for laughter—at someone else's expense. Each Knowledge Card introduces an antiquated insult and its dusty definition, complete with descriptions of the origins of the insult and some examples of usage. Describe your nosy neighbor who is a spatherdab (chatterer, gossip, or scandle-monger) or a strange officemate who is a gongoozler (idle person who stands staring for prolonged periods at anything out of the ordinary) with glee!

Jeffrey Kacirk, author of the books Forgotten English (William Morrow, 1997) and the Word Museum (Simon and Schuster, 2000), has compiled these hilarious verbal affronts that will keep you readily armed with vocal indignities from as far back as the mid-sixteenth century. Don't miss his other Forgotten English Knowledge Card Decks published by Pomegranate.

The rapid growth of the Internet and the World Wide Web is transforming the way information is accessed and used. New models for distributing, sharing, linking, and marketing information are appearing. This volume examines emerging economic and business models for global publishing and information access, as well as the attendant transformation of international information markets, institutions, and businesses. It provides those in the public, private, and nonprofit sectors with a practical framework for dealing with the new information markets. Topics addressed include the effects of various technological factors and market environments on pricing; the relationship among classic production costs, transaction costs, and the economic value of intellectual property; the effects of different pricing practices for telecommunications and Internet services on the pricing of information; the bundling and unbundling of information services; changing cost structures and the allocation of rights among authors, publishers, and other intermediaries; the effects of markets for complementary products and services, including advertising, on the pricing and use of information; and policy implications of different pricing models.

A Publication of the Harvard Information Infrastructure Project in Collaboration with the School of Information Management and Systems at the University of California at Berkeley.

Insider recommendations on the best beaches and picnic spots.Outspoken opinions on what's worth your time and what's not.Exact prices, so you can plan the perfect trip whatever your budget.Off-the-beaten-path experiences and undiscovered gems, plus new takes on top attractions.

The author of the bestselling The Art of Innovation reveals the strategies IDEO, the world-famous design firm, uses to foster innovative thinking throughout an organization and overcome the naysayers who stifle creativity.

The role of the devil's advocate is nearly universal in business today. It allows individuals to step outside themselves and raise questions and concerns that effectively kill new projects and ideas, while claiming no personal responsibility. Nothing is more potent in stifling innovation.

Drawing on nearly 20 years of experience managing IDEO, Kelley identifies ten roles people can play in an organization to foster innovation and new ideas while offering an effective counter to naysayers. Among these approaches are the Anthropologist—the person who goes into the field to see how customers use and respond to products, to come up with new innovations; the Cross-pollinator who mixes and matches ideas, people, and technology to create new ideas that can drive growth; and the Hurdler, who instantly looks for ways to overcome the limits and challenges to any situation.

Filled with engaging stories of how companies like Kraft, Procter and Gamble, Cargill and Samsung have incorporated IDEO's thinking to transform the customer experience, THE TEN FACES OF INNOVATION is an extraordinary guide to nurturing and sustaining a culture of continuous innovation and renewal.

This is a canyon hiking guide to the Colorado Plateau, which covers the southeastern half of Utah, the northern half of Arizona, the western 1/5 of Colordo, and a small part of NW New Mexico. This new 4th Edition has been undated significantly beyond the 3rd. The author went back to almost all canyons, or at least to the trailheads, to check out the mile post markers, etc. Also, about half a dozen less-interesting canyons or hikes from the 3rd Edition were eliminated; while about a dozen new & more challenging hikes have been added, plus another 32 pages. This 4th edition contains 320 pages and 191 fotographs, about 90 of which are new.

The new canyons are from scattered locations in southern Utah, primarily in Zion National Park, and the Escalante River, San Rafael Swell & Robbers Roost country, along with major updates on slot canyons on the Navajo Nation. Other big changes to this edition are the addition of about a dozen new technical slot canyons; that is, canyons where you need ropes and rappelling gear to get through. This adds another dimension to excitement and challenge, and opens many new hiking areas previously closed to many of us. All these technical canyons are now either bolted-up, or have slings or webbing around boulders, making them ready for rappelling.

The general direction for this book, is toward slot canyons, which everybody likes; but it retains easy & fun hikes to canyons with Anasazi ruins, another favorite. So if you're looking for petroglyphs or pictographs, and cliff dwellings or ruins, which some people try their best to hide, then this is your book. In the back of this book is a section listing the Best Hikes, including for the most part Slot Canyons, then best hikes to see Indian ruins, and Native American rock arts sites. Below is the Table of Contents.

TECHNICAL SLOT CANYON GUIDE TO

Most of the book is devoted to discussions of individual tools, but throughout run the themes of combining programs and of using programs to build programs—emphasizing how they fit in the environment.

Just about every C programmer I respect learned C from this book. Unlike many of the 1,000 page doorstops stuffed with CD-ROMs that have become popular, this volume is concise and powerful (if somewhat dangerous) — like C itself. And it was written by Kernighan himself. Need we say more?

There's been a marked shift in the philosophy of developing successful Web sites. The technologies (HTML, JavaScript, JavaServer Pages) no longer occupy center stage. Rather, functional objectives and the communities that grow up around them seem to be the main ingredient in Web site success. In her carefully reasoned and well-written Community Building on the Web, Amy Jo Kim explains why communities form and grow. More importantly, she shows (with references to many examples) how you can make your site a catalyst for community growth—and profit in the process. From marketing schemes like Amazon.com's Associates program to The Motley Fool's system of rating members' bulletin-board postings, this book covers all the popular strategies for bringing people in and retaining them.

Nine core strategies form the foundation of Kim's recommendations for site builders, serving as the organizational backbone of this book. The strategies generally make sense, and they seem to apply to all kinds of communities, cyber and otherwise. (One advocates the establishment of regular events around which community life can organize itself.) Some parts of Kim's message may seem like common sense, but such a coherent discussion of what defines a community and how it can be made to thrive is still helpful.

Read this book to help crystallize your thinking about community building, and to review strategies that work for real sites already. —David Wall

Topics covered: Strategies for designing Web sites around the needs of particular groups of people, attracting those people to your site, and motivating them to return frequently. Community identification, member profiling, community leadership, and organization (of information, time, and relationships) all receive ample coverage.

Edgar Award-winning author Laurie R. King again proves her flair for tantalizing mystery in this first novel of an acclaimed series. Long since retired from his observations of criminal humanity, Sherlock Holmes is engaged in a reclusive study of honeybee behavior on the Sussex Downs. Never did he expect to meet an intellect to match his own—until he made the acquaintance of a very modern 15-year-old girl whose mental acuity is equaled only by her audacity, tenacity, and unconventional taste for trousers and cloth caps. Under the master detective's sardonic instruction, Miss Mary Russell hones her talent for deduction, disguises, and danger—in the chilling case of a landowner's mysterious fever, and in the kidnapping of an American senator's daughter in the wilds of Wales. But her ultimate challenge is yet to come. A near-fatal bomb on her doorstep—and another on Holmes's—sends the two sleuths on the trail of a villain whose machinations scatter meaningless clues and seem utterly without motive. The bomber's objective, however, is quite clear: to end Russell and Holmes's partnership...and their lives.

What would happen if Sherlock Homles, a perfect man of the Victorian age—pompous, smug, and misogynisitic—were to come face to face with a twentieth-century female? If she grew to be a partner worthy of his great talents?

Laurie R. King, whose very different first novel,. A Grave Talent (SMP, 1993), drew rave reviews, read the Conan Doyle stories and wondered about such an imaginary encounter. And following through, she has written The Beekeeper's Apprentice.

1914, a young woman named Mary Russell meets a retired beekeeper on the Sussex Downs. His name is Sherlock Holmes. And although he may have all the Victorian "flaws" listed above, the Great Detective is no fool, and can spot a fellow intellect even in a fifteen-year-old woman.

So, at first informally, then consciously, he takes Mary Russell as his apprentice. They work on a few small local cases, then on a larger and more urgent investigation, which ends successfully. All the time, Mary is developing as a detective in her own right, with the benefit of the knowledge and experience of her mentor and, increasingly, friend.

And then the sky opens on them, and they find themselves the targets of a slippery, murderous, and apparently all-knowing adversary. Together they devise a plan to trap their enemy—a plan that may save their lives but may also kill off their relationship.

This is not a "Sherlock Holmes" story. It is the story of a modern young woman who comes to know and work with Holmes, the story of young woman coming to terms with herself and with this older man who embodies the age that is past.