The classic Art of Human-Computer Interface Design is one book that isn't filled with code samples but is nonetheless a thought-provoking resource for developers. The book is a collection of essays from industry luminaries such as Alan Kay, Nicholas Negroponte, and Ted Nelson. Don't expect to read it for hard-and-fast advice on solving your programming problems, but do expect to gain new perspectives on how your users view your applications and what they expect from a computer.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a more comprehensive, engrossing, and just plain fun-to-read guidebook than the Eyewitness Travel Guide: Great Britain. Spilling over with all sorts of useful information for the traveler, you'll find three-dimensional drawings, floor plans, and detailed neighborhood maps, as well as timelines, charts, and even popular bus routes. Broken into several sections——"Introducing Great Britain," "Region by Region" (including London and environs, Scotland, and Wales), "Traveler's Needs," and "Survival Guide"—the guide paints a complete picture of the country. Readers will especially appreciate the hundreds of color photos of everything from London's double-decker buses to the ancient formations at Stonehenge. You'll also find street-by-street illustrated city walks (Covent Garden, Westminster), as well as scenic hikes in the Scottish highlands and the Lake District, with plenty of listings for inns and fish-and-chip taverns along the way. —Jill Fergus

Introduction

In a tamed and heavily populated continent, Norway remains a wilderness outpost. Everything here is on the grand scale, with some of Europe's finest and wildest land- and seascapes. From the Skagerrak - the choppy channel that separates the country from Denmark - Norway stretches north in a long, narrow band along the Atlantic seaboard, up across the Arctic Circle to the Barents Sea and the Russian border. Behind this rough and rocky coast are great mountain ranges, harsh upland plateaux, plunging river valleys, rippling glaciers, deep forests and, most famously, the mighty fjords which gash deep inland.

The fjords are the apple of the tourist industry's eye, and they are indeed magnificent, but except for the lively capital, Oslo, and perhaps historic Bergen, the rest of the country might as well be blank for all that many visitors know. Few seem aware of the sheer variety of the landscape or the lovely little towns that are sprinkled over it. Neither are the Norwegians given nearly enough credit for their careful construction of one of the most civilized, educated and tolerant societies in the world - one whose even-handed internationalism has set standards that few other European nations can approach. With every justification, the bulk of the population have a deep loyalty for - and pride in - their country, partly at least because independence was so long in coming: after the heady days of the Vikings, Norway was governed by the Danes for four centuries and was then passed to the Swedes, who only left in 1905.

It is the Vikings who continue to grab the historical headlines, prompting book after book and film upon film. These formidable warriors burst upon an unsuspecting Europe from the remoteness of Scandinavia in the ninth century. The Norwegian Vikings sailed west, raiding every seaboard from the Shetlands to Sicily, even venturing as far as Greenland and Newfoundland. Wherever they settled, the speed of their assimilation into the indigenous population was extraordinary - William the Conqueror, the archetypal Norman baron, was only a few generations removed from his Viking ancestors - and in the unpopulated Faroes and Iceland, the settlers could begin from scratch, creating societies which then developed in a similar fashion to that of their original homeland.

Norway's so-called "period of greatness" came to an abrupt end: in 1349, an English ship unwittingly brought the Black Death to the country, and in the next two years somewhere between half and two-thirds of the population was wiped out. The enfeebled country was easy meat for the Danes, who took control at the end of the fourteenth century and remained in command until 1814. As colonial powers go, the Danes were comparatively benign, but everything specifically "Norwegian" - from language to dress - became associated with the primitive and uncouth. To redress this state of affairs, Norway's bourgeois nationalists of the mid- and late nineteenth century sought to rediscover - and sometimes to reinvent - a national identity. This ambitious enterprise, enthusiastically undertaken, fuelled a cultural renaissance which formed the backdrop to the work of acclaimed painters, writers and musicians, most notably Munch, Ibsen and Grieg, and the endeavours of explorers like Amundsen and Nansen. Its reverberations can be felt to this day, for example in Norway's "No" vote on EU membership.

With over 1300 pages and 150 maps, the Rough Guide to China is the essential handbook to this vast and extraordinary country. In-depth coverage of the entire country, from buzzing Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai to the ethnic minority regions of the southwest and Tibet. The authors give expert practical advice for every budget on where to stay, where to find the best local cuisine and getting round by public transport. There are also invaluable translations into Chinese script of place names, accomodation and restaurants. The guide also gives a detailed background on China''s history, politics, cultures and peoples. "Best guidebook" Sunday Times "Historical and cultural erudition combined with down-to-earth practical advice puts this guide streets ahead of the competition" Watersone''s Books Quarterly.

A selection of 100 masterpieces in the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.

How exquisite is exquisite? Photographer Christopher Baker and Willem Lemmers, one of the world's foremost tulip experts, set out to find the answers. The result is Tulipa, where, in 350 stunning full-color plates, perfection in nature meets perfection in art.

Each specimen was chosen for its importance as a superb example of the flower's form and characteristics, and each photograph, taken at the peak of the flower's beauty, becomes a stunning portrait. The "story" behind 500 tulips is told as well, from a tulip's parentage to the history of its cultivation and discovery.

This fully revised and updated second edition of Understanding Digital Libraries focuses on the challenges faced by both librarians and computer scientists in a field that has been dramatically altered by the growth of the Web.

At every turn, the goal is practical: to show you how things you might need to do are already being done, or how they can be done. The first part of the book is devoted to technology and examines issues such as varying media requirements, indexing and classification, networks and distribution, and presentation. The second part of the book is concerned with the human contexts in which digital libraries function. Here you'll find specific and useful information on usability, preservation, scientific applications, and thorny legal and economic questions.

. Useful for digital library projects in all kinds of settings, including commercial and community ventures, museums, research institutions, and schools.
. Covers the entire spectrum of media, including text, all kinds of images, audio, and video.
. Provides practical advice on achieving the best of what is possible while avoiding common pitfalls.
. Filled with case studies and references to valuable outside resources.

A unique and special gift pack which contains a hardback picture book plus an audio cassette, featuring a full production of the story with specially composed music. When Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent to stay in the countryside, they can hardly imagine the extraordinary adventure that awaits them. It all begins when Lucy opens the wrdrobe and finds herself standing in a snowy wood. She has discovered Narnia, a amagical land of fauns and centaurs, nymphs and talking animals. But Narnia is under the enchantment of the evil White Witch and has become a land of eternal winter...C S Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has enchanted readers for 50 years. Now the critically aclaimed picture book illustarted by Christian Birmingham has been brought to life on tape.

HTRC: SPORT CLIMBING
HOW TO CLIMB

A beautiful and memorable look at some of the most gorgeous endangered places on the planet.

Machu Picchu is a mesmerizing, ancient Incan city tucked away in the mountains of Peru, but it is rapidly being worn down by the thousands of feet treading across its stones. Glacier National Park is a destination long known for the stunning beauty of its ice floes, but in our lifetimes it will have no glaciers due to global warming. In the biobays of Puerto Rico swimmers can float in a sea shimmering with bioluminescent life, but sediment being churned up by development is killing the dinoflagellates that produce the eerie and beautiful glow. And in the Congo Basin of Africa, where great apes roam freely in lush, verdant rainforests, logging is quickly destroying the vast life-giving canopies. These places-along with many others across the globe-are changing as we speak due to global warming, environmental degradation, overuse, and natural causes.

From the Boreal Forests in Finland to the Yangtze River Valley in China, 37 Places to See Before They Disappear is a treasure trove of geographic wonder, and a guide to these threatened destinations and what is being done to save them.

THE CALL OF THE WILD delves into the mind, relationships and adventures of Buck, the dog, in the wilds of Alaska. In WHITE FANG, an orphaned half dog-half wolf struggles to survive in the Yukon wilderness.