The first novel to be released in The Foreworld Saga, The Mongoliad: Book One, is an epic-within-an-epic, taking place in 13th century. In it, a small band of warriors and mystics raise their swords to save Europe from a bloodthirsty Mongol invasion. Inspired by their leader (an elder of an order of warrior monks), they embark on a perilous journey and uncover the history of hidden knowledge and conflict among powerful secret societies that had been shaping world events for millennia.

But the saga reaches the modern world via a circuitous route. In the late 19th century, Sir Richard F. Burton, an expert on exotic languages and historical swordsmanship, is approached by a mysterious group of English martial arts aficionados about translating a collection of long-lost manuscripts. Burton dies before his work is finished, and his efforts were thought lost until recently rediscovered by a team of amateur archaeologists in the ruins of a mansion in Trieste, Italy. From this collection of arcana, the incredible tale of The Mongoliad was recreated.

Full of high adventure, unforgettable characters, and unflinching battle scenes, The Mongoliad ignites a dangerous quest where willpower and blades are tested and the scope of world-building is redefined.

A note on this edition: The Mongoliad began as a social media experiment, combining serial story-telling with a unique level of interaction between authors and audience during the creative process. Since its original iteration, The Mongoliad has been restructured, edited, and rewritten under the supervision of its authors to create a more cohesive reading experience and will be published as a trilogy of novels. This edition is the definitive edition and is the authors' preferred text.

Murder in Italy: The Shocking Slaying of a British Student, the Accused American Girl, and an International Scandal by Candace Dempsey - Mass Market Paperback True Crime USED

MURDER IN ITALY (Penguin/Berkley Books) is the true story of fresh-faced Amanda Knox, the American college student convicted of killing her beautiful British roommate in an Umbrian hilltop town.  

Did Amanda stab Meredith Kercher to death during a marijuana-fueled "sex game gone wrong," as the prosecution claimed? Or could she be innocent?

*Get the real story behind the tabloid headlines and secrets that weren't revealed in court.

This is Eat, Pray, Love gone horribly wrong. Under the Tuscan Sun on the dark side.

John Grisham couldn't invent this plot or cast of characters:

Two lovely young women adore Italy and go there to study.

Only a few months into their Italian dream adventure, one roommate is stabbed to death; the other is sentenced to 26 years for that killing. The prosecutor claims Amanda killed Meredith during a drug-fueled orgy assisted by Knox's rich Italian boyfriend and a drifter she barely knew.

So who killed Meredith Kercher? How did Amanda Knox become the prime suspect? Was justice done?  

Based in Seattle, Knox's hometown, the award-winning, Italian-American journalist Candace Dempsey unravels the mystery, drawing upon trial transcripts, autopsy photos, crime scene videos, prison diaries, Facebook pages and interviews with the key players for the prosecution and the defense in Perugia, Italy, where she flew often to cover the events up close.

Dempsey covered this sensational case from the very beginning on her true crime blog, hosted by seattle pi.com, featured on Newsweek.com and CNN Anderson Cooper 360, and read around the world.

From the publisher:
The true story behind the notorious international murder

In Perugia, Italy, on November 2, 2007, police discovered the body of a British college student stabbed to death in her bedroom. The prosecutor alleged that the brutal murder had occurred during a drug-fueled sex game gone wrong. Her housemate, American honor student Amanda Knox, quickly became the prime suspect and soon found herself the star of a sensational international story, both vilified and eroticized by the tabloids and the Internet.

Award-winning Italian-American journalist Candace Dempsey gives readers a front-row seat at the trial and reveals the real story behind the media frenzy.

Nothing captures the charm of Edinburgh like the bestselling Isabel Dalhousie series of novels featuring the insatiably curious philosopher and woman detective.  Whether investigating a case or a problem of philosophy, the indefatigable Isabel Dalhousie, one of fiction’s most richly developed amateur detectives, is always ready to pursue the answers to all of life’s questions, large and small.

In this delightful second installment in Alexander McCall Smith’s best-selling new detective series, the irrepressibly curious Isabel Dalhousie, editor of the Review of Applied Ethics, gets caught up in an affair of the heart—this one a transplant.

When Isabel’s niece, Cat, asks Isabel to run her delicatessen while she attends a wedding in Italy, Isabel meets a man with a most interesting problem. He recently had a heart transplant and is suddenly plagued with memories of events that never happened to him. The situation appeals to Isabel as a philosophical question: Is the heart truly the seat of the soul? And it piques her insatiable curiosity: Could the memories be connected with the donor’s demise? Of course, Grace—Isabel’s no-nonsense housekeeper—and Isabel’s friend Jamie think it is none of Isabel’s business. Meanwhile, Cat brings home an Italian lothario, who, in accordance with all that Isabel knows about Italian lotharios, shouldn’t be trusted . . . but, goodness, he is charming.

That makes two mysteries of the heart to be solved—just the thing for Isabel Dalhousie.

It’s the height of the tourist season in Rome, and security is tight as world leaders gather for a G8 summit. While politicians bicker behind the walls of the illustrious Palazzo del Quirinale, a terrible threat is lurking outside—a threat that’s been dormant for a long time but is now very much awake. In David Hewson’s powerful new thriller, Detective Nic Costa and the men and women of the Questura must work in secret to thwart a conspiracy that reaches higher than any of them could have imagined.

In the early hours of a sultry summer evening, a government car comes under fire along the narrow Via delle Quattro Fontane. When the shots die away, one person lies dead and another—Ministry of Interior official Giovanni Batisti—has been abducted.

The terrible fate of the missing bureaucrat is soon revealed—leaving all of Italy in shock. Who would do such a thing? And why? All signs point to a mysterious terrorist group that calls itself the Blue Demon, an organization whose last campaign of violence ended two decades ago.

For Detective Nic Costa, solving this case is an all-consuming obsession. But as he and his team begin their investigation, they find themselves reduced to expensive bodyguards—and their hands tied with red tape—until tragedy strikes and claims one of their own.

Hampered at every turn by the Ministry of Interior’s meddling security chief and a cagey and powerful prime minister, Costa and the members of his team are determined to pursue their quest for justice. As one terror attack after another sends the Eternal City spiraling into panic, Nic Costa vows that nothing will stop him from catching a vengeful madman bent on tearing apart his city, its people, and its very history.

From the best-selling author of The Name of the Rose and The Prague Cemetery, a novel about the murky world of media politics, conspiracy, and murder

A newspaper committed to blackmail and mud slinging, rather than reporting the news.

A paranoid editor, walking through the streets of Milan, reconstructing fifty years of history against the backdrop of a plot involving the cadaver of Mussolini's double.

The murder of Pope John Paul I, the CIA, red terrorists handled by secret services, twenty years of bloodshed, and events that seem outlandish until the BBC proves them true.

A fragile love story between two born losers, a failed ghost writer, and a vulnerable girl, who specializes in celebrity gossip yet cries over the second movement of Beethoven’s Seventh. And then a dead body that suddenly appears in a back alley in Milan. 

Set in 1992 and foreshadowing the mysteries and follies of the following twenty years, Numero Zero is a scintillating take on our times from the best-selling author of The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum.

New York Times Paperback Row
One of Vulture's "7 Books You Need to Read this November"
Included on the Los Angeles Times's "Holiday Books Roundup"
One of Bloomberg Business's "Eight Books for Your Holiday Reading"
One of The Millions "Most Anticipated" from the Second Half of 2015
One of the Sun Herald's "Ten noteworthy fiction and nonfiction titles on the way"
December 2015 Indie Next Pick

“Witty and wry...slim in pages but plump in satire about modern Italy...it’s hard not to be charmed by the zest of the author.”—Tom Rachman, New York Times Book Review

"Frequently imitated for his amalgamation of intellect, conspiracism, and historical suspense, the author of In the Name of the Rose takes a more contemporary and satirical turn. In 1992, as Italy works to cleanse itself of corruption, a hack journalist is hired to ghostwrite a memoir about a never-to-be-published gossip rag in order to cover up the real rationale for its fakery. Eco’s warped parable is rooted in a very specific time and place, but readers of Elena Ferrante or Rachel Kushner will likely catch the barbs in his clever absurdities."—Vulture (New York), "7 Books You Need to Read this November"

"Colonna, the struggling ghostwriter at the heart of this story, is transfixed by a juicy scoop: that Mussolini was not killed by partisans in 1945, as most believe, but instead survived in hiding. This sly satire, borrowing from outrageous real-life Italian politics, features a larger-than-life leader, conspiracy theories and an almost-corrupt press."—New York Times, Paperback Row

"Numero Zero [is]...a smart puzzle and a delight."—Kirkus Reviews, starred

"Eco combines his delight in suspense with astute political satire in this brainy, funny, neatly lacerating thriller…. Eco’s caustically clever, darkly hilarious, dagger-quick tale of lies, crimes, and collusions condemns the shameless corruption and greed undermining journalism and governments everywhere. A satisfyingly scathing indictment brightened by resolute love." --Booklist

In Dream Yoga and the Practice of Natural Light, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu gives instructions for developing clarity within the sleep and dream states. He goes beyond the practices of lucid dreaming that have been popularized in the West by presenting methods for guiding dream states that are part of a broader system for enhancing self-awareness called Dzogchen. In this tradition, the development of lucidity in the dream state is understood in the context of generating greater awareness for the ultimate purpose of attaining liberation. 

This revised and expanded edition includes additional material from a profound and personal Dzogchen book, which Chögyal Namkhai Norbu wrote over many years. This material deepens the first edition's emphasis on specific exercises to develop awareness within the dream and sleep states. Also included in this book is a text written by Mipham, the nineteenth-century master of Dzogchen, which offers additional insights into this extraordinary form of meditation and awareness.

Review

"A personal and inspiring account of the higher possibilities of sleep and dreams by an acknowledged master. Must reading for dreamers in search of awakening."—Stephen LaBerge, PhD, director of the Lucidity Institute and author of Lucid Dreaming 

"Chögyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche is one of the greatest Tibetan meditation masters and scholars teaching in the West today. His luminous Dream Yoga teachings are invaluable for anyone interested in Buddhist practices and views on dreaming and the afterlife. These profound and liberating wisdom teachings from the ancient Dzogchen tradition of Tibet provide new perspectives on this life, on the nature of reality, and on the nature of consciousness and mind. I myself read this book with great interest and recommend it to my own students."—Lama Surya Das, founder of the Dzogchen Foundation and author of Awakening the Buddha 

"The new edition is sufficiently different from the already pivotal previous version to warrant purchasing it and working seriously with its contents. In the current edition, Rinpoche, who has had clear abilities in dream practices since his youth, expands his initial commentary on the 'practice of the night' with more specific explanations drawn from an intimate and detailed Dzogchen manuscript he has been writing for many years."—The Mirror 

"Provides a valuable practice to help calm the mind in lucid dreaming states so that we can truly deepen our awareness. Dream Yoga is not just about awakening in the dream state, but also bringing it together with our non-dream awareness as well."—Nate DeMontigny, Precious Metal

About the Author

Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is a Tibetan master of the Dzogchen tradition. He has been a professor at the Oriental Institute of the University of Naples, Italy, and is the author of many books, including The Crystal and the Way of Light, The Supreme Source, and Dzogchen: The Self-Perfected State.

Ray Kurzweil is the inventor of the most innovative and compelling technology of our era, an international authority on artificial intelligence, and one of our greatest living visionaries. Now he offers a framework for envisioning the twenty-first century--an age in which the marriage of human sensitivity and artificial intelligence fundamentally alters and improves the way we live. Kurzweil's prophetic blueprint for the future takes us through the advances that inexorably result in computers exceeding the memory capacity and computational ability of the human brain by the year 2020 (with human-level capabilities not far behind); in relationships with automated personalities who will be our teachers, companions, and lovers; and in information fed straight into our brains along direct neural pathways. Optimistic and challenging, thought-provoking and engaging, The Age of Spiritual Machines is the ultimate guide on our road into the next century.

Ray Kurzweil is a prize-winning author and scientist. He was named Inventor of the Year by MIT in 1988 and was awarded the Dickson Prize, Carnegie Mellon's top science prize, in 1994. He is the recipient of nine honorary doctorates and honors from two American presidents. He lives outside Boston, Massachusetts.

Has it just been one of those days? Or months? Or years? I was once in a yoga class (a rare yoga class, I’ll admit), where the teacher had us all exhale again and again and again, until—as she put it—we’d let go of today, the last month and, by the end, “the whole of last year.” We all collapsed in very non-yogic giggling. But we knew what she meant. Exhale. Let it all go.

     To exhale, I stop “doing Life” and start to wind down and engage in soothing rituals like lighting a candle.

     And then I take to my bed.

     Perhaps you need to do the same? . . .

     Gather up your pillows and a box of Kleenex, a novel and some tea . . . sink back against those soft pillows and dream. It’s time to rest, rejuvenate, and appreciate just how glorious life really is.

“Who but Sophia Stuart, creator of the delightful teamgloria.com, could make ‘taking to one’s bed’ seem like a victory instead of defeat? In her lovely book of hours, she weaves together wisdom and witticisms, slowly convincing you that you have been chasing all the wrong things in this mad, mad world. Fortunately, she instantly provides the antidote: cashmere blankets, a pot of tea, and a gentle, encouraging nudge that tells you to open your eyes and see the world anew. A necessary book. And an irresistible one, too.”

—Stacy Morrison, author of Falling Apart in One Piece and former editor in chief of Redbook magazine

About the Author

Sophia Stuart is a writer, photographer, and award-winning digital strategist and creative director with more than 17 years of experience in building digital products within the U. S. and internationally (Asia/Europe) in the publishing and Hollywood movie industries. Voted one of the “Top 21 Social Media Superstars” by Min Online in 2009, she won a Webby Award for Cosmo Mobile USA (2008) and an MVA for Cosmo International Digital Strategy (2010) while at Hearst as head of mobile (USA) and then head of digital (International) with responsibility for the digital vision and strategy for 300 international brands including Cosmo, Harper’s BAZAAR, and Esquire in countries including China, India, Italy, France, and South Africa.

Never Alone is a riveting story about author Linda Bartlett and her son's heartbreaking yet inspiring journey; it reveals the seemingly overwhelming challenges they faced and recognizes a child's powerful determination to live against all medical odds, through gut-wrenching bullying, to angelic spiritual enlightenment. This book takes you on a path from the deepest dark valleys to the highest majestic mountaintops. It is about eternal hope and never giving up.

After growing up in a North Central Texas town, Linda Bartlett boarded her first airplane at the age of nineteen and traveled to Germany, where she spent two years. A few years after returning to Texas, she again flew to Europe, where she lived for more than two years in southern Italy while traveling as often as possible to other European countries, developing a love and passion for experiencing different cultures. She also has spent time in Asia and Mexico and has traveled extensively throughout North America. Three years after returning from Italy, her son, Jeffrey, was born; three years later her family expanded with the addition of her daughter, Stephanie. A rocky transition followed, as Linda became a single mom coping with everyday fears of providing for her two children. These fears ultimately became a gift, as her love and passion for helping people led her to a very successful real estate career in both sales and management, while incorporating a positive attitude interspersed with fun and laughter. In fact, her motto was "Turning Dreams into Reality" which is the way she continues to live her life.

"Erudite and charming, Naples Declared is remarkable book; it's about place and history and survival; it's fresh, it's wise, and it's not to be missed."  -Brenda Wineapple, author of White Heat: The Friendship of Emily Dickinson and Thomas Wentworth Higginson

It is a city of seemingly irreconcilable opposites, simultaneously glorious and ghastly. And it is Ben Taylor’s remarkable ability to meld these contradictions into a whole that makes this the exciting and original book it is. He takes his stroll around the bay with the acute sensitivity of a lover, the good humor of a friend, and the wisdom of a seeker who has immersed himself in all aspects of this contrapuntal culture. His curiosity leads him to many byways, both real and metaphoric, and his passion for this ancient city and its people becomes, in his graceful prose and amusing anecdotes, irresistibly contagious.

It's time to get off the beaten path. Inspiring equal parts wonder and wanderlust, Atlas Obscura celebrates over 700 of the strangest and most curious places in the world.

Talk about a bucket list: here are natural wonders—the dazzling glowworm caves in New Zealand, or a baobob tree in South Africa that's so large it has a pub inside where 15 people can drink comfortably. Architectural marvels, including the M.C. Escher-like stepwells in India. Mind-boggling events, like the Baby Jumping Festival in Spain, where men dressed as devils literally vault over rows of squirming infants. Not to mention the Great Stalacpipe Organ in Virginia, Turkmenistan's 40-year hole of fire called the Gates of Hell, a graveyard for decommissioned ships on the coast of Bangladesh, eccentric bone museums in Italy, or a weather-forecasting invention that was powered by leeches, still on display in Devon, England.

Created by Joshua Foer, Dylan Thuras and Ella Morton, ATLAS OBSCURA revels in the weird, the unexpected, the overlooked, the hidden and the mysterious. Every page expands our sense of how strange and marvelous the world really is. And with its compelling descriptions, hundreds of photographs, surprising charts, maps for every region of the world, it is a book to enter anywhere, and will be as appealing to the armchair traveler as the die-hard adventurer.

Anyone can be a tourist. ATLAS OBSCURA is for the explorer.

An ambitious inquiry into the art of writing and an unprecedented insider’s view of the writer’s universe, from the beloved author of The Handmaid’s Tale. 

What do we mean when we say that someone is a writer? Is he or she an entertainer? An improver of readers’ minds and morals? And who, for that matter, are these mysterious readers? In this wise and irresistibly quotable book, one of the most intelligent writers working in English addresses the riddle of her art: why people pursue it, how they view their calling, and what bargains they make with their audience, both real and imagined. To these fascinating issues Booker Prize-winner Margaret Atwood brings a candid appraisal of her own experience as well as a breadth of reading that encompasses everything from Dante to Elmore Leonard.

About the Author

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in over thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid's Tale, her novels include Cat's Eye, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; and her most recent, Oryx and Crake, shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize. She lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

A boxed set (three trade paperbacks) of the internationally celebrated speculative fiction trilogy from one of the most visionary authors of our time, Margaret Atwood.

"Lights a fire from the fears of our age. . . . Miraculously balances humor, outrage, and beauty." —The New York Times Book Review

Across three stunning novels—Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and Maddaddam—the best-selling, Booker Prize-winning novelist projects us into a near future that is both all too familiar and beyond our imagining.

"Towering and intrepid. . . . Atwood does Orwell one better." —The New Yorker

In Oryx and Crake, a man struggles to survive in a world where he may be the last human. In search of answers, he embarks on a journey through the lush wilderness that was so recently a great city, until powerful corporations took mankind on an uncontrolled genetic engineering ride. In The Year of the Flood the long-feared waterless flood has occurred, altering Earth as we know it and obliterating most human life. And in Maddaddam a small group of survivors band together with the Children of Crake: the gentle, bioengineered quasi-human species who will inherit this new earth. 

"Enthralling. . . . Memorable characters, a tightly controlled pace and shockingly plausible scenes make it fly—to a mysterious, skin-prickling ending." —San Francisco Chronicle

Set in a darkly plausible future shaped by plagues, floods, and genetic engineering, these three novels take us from the end of the world to a brave new beginning. Thrilling, moving, and a triumph of imagination, the Maddaddam Trilogy confirms the ultimate endurance of humanity, community, and love.

About the Author

Margaret Atwood, whose work has been published in thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid’s Tale, her novels include Cat’s Eye, short-listed for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; Oryx and Crake, short-listed for the 2003 Man Booker Prize; The Year of the Flood; and her most recent, MaddAddam. She is the recipient of the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award, and lives in Toronto with the writer Graeme Gibson. 

What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity? The Untethered Soul—now a #1New York Times bestseller—offers simple yet profound answers to these questions.

“In the book The Untethered Soul, Michael A. Singer takes you step-by-step through the process of Gyana, the yoga of the Intellect, to the Source. Moreover, he does it with elegant simplicity. Read this book carefully, and you will get more than a glimpse of eternity.”—Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof

Whether this is your first exploration of inner space, or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this book will transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you. You’ll discover what you can do to put an end to the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consciousness. By tapping into traditions of meditation and mindfulness, author and spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving happiness and self-realization.

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being.

The Untethered Soul has already touched the lives of countless readers, and is now available in a special hardcover gift edition with ribbon bookmark—the perfect gift for yourself, a loved one, or anyone who wants a keepsake edition of this remarkable book.

Visit www.untetheredsoul.com for more information.

About the Author

Michael A. Singer is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Untethered Soul, which has also been published in Turkey, Brazil (in Portuguese), Switzerland (in German), Spain, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Poland, and Italy.

Singer received a master's degree in economics from the University of Florida in 1971. During his doctoral work, he had a deep inner awakening and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a now long-established yoga and meditation center where people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience inner peace. Through the years, Singer has made major contributions in the areas of business, the arts, education, healthcare, and environmental protection. He previously authored two books on the integration of Eastern and Western philosophy: The Search for Truth and Three Essays on Universal Law: Karma, Will and Love.

What would it be like to free yourself from limitations and soar beyond your boundaries? What can you do each day to discover inner peace and serenity? The Untethered Soul—now a #1New York Times bestseller—offers simple yet profound answers to these questions.

“In the book The Untethered Soul, Michael A. Singer takes you step-by-step through the process of Gyana, the yoga of the Intellect, to the Source. Moreover, he does it with elegant simplicity. Read this book carefully, and you will get more than a glimpse of eternity.”—Deepak Chopra, author of Life After Death: The Burden of Proof

Whether this is your first exploration of inner space, or you’ve devoted your life to the inward journey, this book will transform your relationship with yourself and the world around you. You’ll discover what you can do to put an end to the habitual thoughts and emotions that limit your consciousness. By tapping into traditions of meditation and mindfulness, author and spiritual teacher Michael A. Singer shows how the development of consciousness can enable us all to dwell in the present moment and let go of painful thoughts and memories that keep us from achieving happiness and self-realization.

Copublished with the Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS) The Untethered Soul begins by walking you through your relationship with your thoughts and emotions, helping you uncover the source and fluctuations of your inner energy. It then delves into what you can do to free yourself from the habitual thoughts, emotions, and energy patterns that limit your consciousness. Finally, with perfect clarity, this book opens the door to a life lived in the freedom of your innermost being.

Visit www.untetheredsoul.com for more information.

About the Author

Michael A. Singer is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Untethered Soul, which has also been published in Turkey, Brazil (in Portuguese), Switzerland (in German), Spain, Japan, China, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Poland, and Italy.

Singer received a master's degree in economics from the University of Florida in 1971. During his doctoral work, he had a deep inner awakening and went into seclusion to focus on yoga and meditation. In 1975, he founded Temple of the Universe, a now long-established yoga and meditation center where people of any religion or set of beliefs can come together to experience inner peace. Through the years, Singer has made major contributions in the areas of business, the arts, education, healthcare, and environmental protection. He previously authored two books on the integration of Eastern and Western philosophy: The Search for Truth and Three Essays on Universal Law: Karma, Will and Love.

As a young Florentine envoy to the courts of France and the Italian principalities, Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527) was able to observe firsthand the lives of people strongly united under one powerful ruler. His fascination with that political rarity and his intense desire to see the Medici family assume a similar role in Italy provided the foundation for his "primer for princes." In this classic guide to acquiring and maintaining political power, Machiavelli used a rational approach to advise prospective rulers, developing logical arguments and alternatives for a number of potential problems, among them governing hereditary monarchies, dealing with colonies and the treatment of conquered peoples. Refreshing in its directness, yet often disturbing in its cold practicality, The Prince sets down a frighteningly pragmatic formula for political fortune. Starkly relevant to the political upheavals of the 20th century, this calculating prescription for power remains today, nearly 500 years after it was written, a timely and startling lesson in the practice of autocratic rule that continues to be much read and studied by students, scholars and general readers as well.

Rainbow Body: The Life and Realization of a Tibetan Yogin, Togden Ugyen Tendzin, presents the remarkable life story of Togden Ugyen Tendzin (1888–1962), a Tibetan yogin who in death achieved the “rainbow body,” the release of the physical body in the essence of the five elements and one of the highest spiritual attainments of Dzogchen, recognized as the supreme level of Tibetan Buddhism. His nephew, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu, one of the greatest living masters of Dzogchen, composed the book from his own recollections of his uncle as well as direct quotes from talks with the great yogin himself and his disciple Sala Karma Samten. The book traces the yogin’s childhood struggles, the circumstances that led him to his teacher, the eminent Adzom Drugpa, and his difficult path to self-realization. Finally, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu relates the story of Ugyen Tendzin’s death during imprisonment by the Chinese, when witnesses discovered that though his sheepskin robe still sat upright, his body was gone—a testament to its having dissolved into the rainbow body.

Review

"Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is one of the greatest Tibetan meditation masters and scholars teaching in the West."
—Lama Surya Das, author of Awakening the Buddha Within and Awakening the Buddhist Heart, and the founder of the Dzogchen Foundation in Massachusetts

About the Author

Born in Eastern Tibet in 1938, Chögyal Namkhai Norbu is an internationally known Dzogchen Buddhist teacher and author. The direct descendant of the first Dzogchen Tibetan master of Tibet, Norbu spent his childhood receiving many teachings from masters of various traditions. In the 1960s he was invited to teach in Italy. During his career he wrote many books on Tibetan culture and Dzogchen Buddhism. He is the founder of two nonprofit organizations including the Shang Shung Institute, which is dedicated to the preservation of Tibetan culture.

By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City and western Istria (in Slovenia and Croatia). It used to have official status in Albania, Malta and Monaco, where it is still widely spoken, as well as in former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa regions where it plays a significant role in various sectors. Italian is also spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia. It has official minority status in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia and Romania. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages. Italian is a major European language, being one of the official languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers (13% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 14 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland and Albania) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million.--from Wikipedia

And all men kill the thing they love
By all let it be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look.
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss.
The brave man with a sword!
--from "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"

Although best known for his sparkling and witty plays, Oscar Wilde also distinguished himself as a prolific poet. From "Ravenna," a prize-winning poem he wrote in college, to "The Ballad of Reading Gaol," penned during his time in prison for homosexual acts, Wilde created a fascinating body of verse. More than 35 of his works appear in this excellent collection, and they reveal the scope and brilliance of his writing. Many were inspired by his time in Italy, including "Sonnet: On hearing the Dies Irae sung in the Sistine Chapel." Other brief pieces, called Impressions, capture the feeling of a moment: "Le Jardin" evokes a garden as winter descends. Still more honor his fellow poets, including "On the Sale of Keats' Love Letters." An enlightening anthology that Wilde lovers will treasure.

Ten years after it first appeared, the Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition returns in an updated version to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Avalon Hill brand. The Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition will feature new sculpts for four of the game pieces and the largest Axis & Allies board ever produced, measuring 24 by 46 inches. The game includes more than 650 plastic minis, packaged in six country-specific storage boxes, 14 dice, game tokens, paper money, and plastic markers. It is intended for 2 to 6 players, ages 12 and up, and takes about 6 hours to play. 

Created by Larry Harris, Axis & Allies has been a stalwart icon in the tabletop wargame community since its initial release in 1981. Using plastic models to represent various types of units, the game recreates the entirety of World War II on the tabletop. 

A hard-to-find Anniversary Edition of the game was released in 2008, featuring new units and a larger game board. Now Wizards of the Coast is re-producing this version of Harris’ masterpiece with an updated rulebook that streamlines some elements of gameplay and adds cruisers as a naval unit. The game also features a sixth playable position, with Italy joining the Axis powers as a full partner. On the Allied side, the USA takes control of the Chinese forces resisting the Japanese invasion.

With the invasion of the Low Countries and the allied evacuation from Dunkirk, the German army is poised to march on Paris.

Axis and Allies Europe 1940, designed and developed by Larry Harris, builds on the success of the acclaimed A and A Anniversary Edition. France appears for the first time in Axis and Allies and will represent a new playable ally. Italy will be included as a second Axis power along with Germany. The UK, USSR and the US find themselves vulnerable at this early and uncertain point of the war. Two new combat units that debuted in Axis & Allies Pacific 1940, Tactical Bombers and Mechanized Infantry, will also appear in this game. Axis and Allies Europe 1940 will feature an oversized board that measures 35" wide by 32" high. With over 550 combat units, deluxe game components and local storage boxes, this game will raise the standard established by A and A Anniversary Edition. All new rules for neutral nations, naval & air bases, and convoy disruption will add even more depth and historical accuracy to this giant game. Finally, this deluxe theater-level game is designed to play together with Axis and Allies Pacific 1940. Together these two games will create the greatest Axis and Allies experience to date, with a combined board measuring 5' wide by 32" high and over a thousand sculptured combat units. Both games are designed to play alone or together to offer the 2-6 player global 1940 scenario, complete with weapons development, and national objectives.

The truly classic game of skill for today's sophisticated games players.

The award winning game of political intrigue and military power in Imperial Europe, Diplomacy is the ultimate strategy game of pure skill. No dice and no luck - double dealing, deception and danger dogs every move. In the game, players represent one of the seven "Great Powers of Europe" (Great Britain, France, Austria, Germany, Italy, Russia or Turkey) in the years prior to World War I. 

Play begins in the Spring of 1901, and players make both Spring and Autumn moves each year. There are only two kinds of military units: armies and fleets. On any given turn, each of your military units has limited options: they can move into an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in an attack on an adjoining territory, support an allied unit in defending an adjoining territory, or hold their position. Players instruct each of their units by writing a set of "orders." The outcome of each turn is determined by the rules of the game. There are no dice rolls or other elements of chance. With its incredibly simplistic movement mechanics fused to a significant negotiation element, this system is highly respected by many a gamer. 

For 2-7 players age 12+ with a playing time of 3 hours+

Presents the unifying world-concept long sought by scientists, mystics, and sages: an Integral Theory of Everything 

• Explains how modern science has rediscovered the Akashic Field of perennial philosophy 

• New edition updates ongoing scientific studies, presents new research inspired by the first edition, and includes new case studies and a section on animal telepathy 

Mystics and sages have long maintained that there exists an interconnecting cosmic field at the roots of reality that conserves and conveys information, a field known as the Akashic record. Recent discoveries in vacuum physics show that this Akashic Field is real and has its equivalent in science’s zero-point field that underlies space itself. This field consists of a subtle sea of fluctuating energies from which all things arise: atoms and galaxies, stars and planets, living beings, and even consciousness. This zero-point Akashic Field is the constant and enduring memory of the universe. It holds the record of all that has happened on Earth and in the cosmos and relates it to all that is yet to happen. 

“. . . Ervin Laszlo’s brilliant new work, Science and the Akashic Field, surpasses previous explorations. . . . This is a 'make-sense-of-the-complex' opus, accessible to every reader.” (A. Harris Stone, Ed.D., founder of The Graduate Institute in Milford, Connecticut, and author of The)

“This is a solidly grounded vision of our cosmos, with perspectives that are wide and deep and have profound implications for all of us.” (Henrik B. Tschudi, chairman of the Flux Foundation, Oslo, Norway)

“If you ever wanted to hold the universe in your hand . . . . You can hardly do better than join cosmologist Ervin Laszlo in the ultimate quest: for a theory of everything.” (Christian de Quincey, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, John F. Kennedy University, editor of Institut)

“Ervin Laszlo is, arguably, the most profound thinker alive today.” (Lady Montagu of Beaulieu, First Ambassador of the Club of Budapest)

"Decoding GUTs, WIMPs, and The Big Crunch, Ervin Laszlo brings the ancient Indian concept of akasha into the new millennium and convincingly details how science is turning this metaphor into a viable scientific theory.” (Spirit of Change, March-April 2005)

". . . lends credance to our deepest intuitions of the oneness of life and the whole of creation." (Share Guide, Sept-Oct 2005, Issue #81)

In Science and the Akashic Field, philosopher and scientist Ervin Laszlo conveys the essential element of this information field in language that is accessible and clear. From the world of science he confirms our deepest intuitions of the oneness of creation in the Integral Theory of Everything. We discover that, as philosopher William James stated, “We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.”

Firsthand testimonies by 20 leaders in culture and science of their interactions with the Akashic field 

"The 20 accounts make fascinating reading, testifying to the fact that we are subtly yet effectively linked with each other, with nature, and with the cosmos. It inspires solidarity, love, empathy, and a sense of responsibility for each other and the environment. These are ineluctable elements of the mind-set we need to pull out of the global crisis that threatens our world and to create peace and sustainability on this perilously ravaged planet." (SirReadaLot.org, March 2009)

• Provides important evidence for the authenticity of nonmaterial contact that human beings have with each other and with the cosmos 

• Demonstrates that the increasing frequency and intensity of these experiences is evidence of a widespread spiritual resurgence 

• Includes contributions by Alex Grey, Stanislav Grof, Stanley Krippner, Swami Kriyananda, Edgar Mitchell, and others 

" . . . truly ground breaking in its attempt to give a measure of organization to the known and some sense of identity to the unknown. The human language, as it presently exists, simply does not have the eloquence to deal with the 'thought downloads' that we are dealing with in this sphere of experience." (Zareen Khan, New Age Journal, May 2009)

Knowing or feeling that we are all connected to each other and to the cosmos by more than our eyes and ears is not a new notion but one as old as humanity. Traditional indigenous societies were fully aware of nonmaterial connections and incorporated them into their daily life. The modern world, however, continues to dismiss and even deny these intangible links--taking as real only that which is physically manifest or proved “scientifically.” Consequently our mainstream culture is spiritually impoverished, and the world we live in has become disenchanted. 

"Laszlo sees hope in the expanding horizons of scientific research and adds a note on his own experience of the infinite Akasha." (Nexus New Times Magazine, Vol. 16, No. 4, June-July, 2009)

In The Akashic Experience, 20 leading authorities in fields such as psychiatry, physics, philosophy, anthropology, natural healing, near death experience, and spirituality offer firsthand accounts of interactions with a cosmic memory field that can transmit information to people without having to go through the senses. Their experiences with the Akashic field are now validated and supported by evidence from cutting-edge sciences that shows that there is a cosmic memory field that contains all information--past, present, and future. The increasing frequency and intensity of these Akashic experiences are an integral part of a large-scale spiritual resurgence and evolution of human consciousness that is under way today.

Angelo Pellegrini is one of America's favorite writers on the pleasures of food, wine and good company. This collection of his finest work represents the experiences of a long, full lifetime.

From Publishers Weekly

A celebrated cook, winemaker and gardener, Pellegrini ( The Food Lover's Garden ) was born in Tuscany in 1904 and immigrated with his family to the U.S. at the age of nine, settling in the small Washington town of McCleary. In this anthology of brief essays, of which several are being published for the first time, Pellegrini describes the difficult existence of his peasant family in Italy, the decision to move to America, and the beginning of a new life in the Pacific Northwest. In later essays he discusses educating his children and grandchildren in the appreciation of food and wine, and gives some favorite recipes, such as one for a fish sauce using the herb puleggio. Pellegrini's style is sincere and affectionate, whether his subject is his family or a vintage bottle of homemade wine. But he often lapses into an awkward or sentimentalized prose--Freud is "the presiding deity of the brotherhood of Shrinkers," while in another essay, he writes that "as a community working together and intent on the same ends, we are, at any moment in our history, more likely to be what we had intended to become than to be something else."
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

“Moving and profound. Hesse is a writer of suggestion, of nuance, of spiritual intimation.” ―The Christian Science Monitor

Peter Camenzind, a young man from a Swiss mountain village, leaves his home and eagerly takes to the road in search of new experience. Traveling through Italy and France, Camenzind is increasingly disillusioned by the suffering he discovers around him; after failed romances and a tragic friendship, his idealism fades into crushing hopelessness. He finds peace again only when he cares for Boppi, an invalid who renews Camenzind's love for humanity and inspires him once again to find joy in the smallest details of every life.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hermann Hesse was born in Germany in 1877 and later became a citizen of Switzerland. As a Western man profoundly affected by the mysticism of Eastern thought, he wrote novels, stories, and essays bearing a vital spiritual force that has captured the imagination and loyalty of many generations of readers. His works include Steppenwolf, Narcissus and Goldmund, and The Glass Bead Game. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1946. Hermann Hesse died in 1962.

'Love is nothing without feeling. And feeling is still less without love.'

Celebrated in its own day as the progenitor of 'a school of sentimental writers', A Sentimental Journey (1768) has outlasted its many imitators because of the humour and mischievous eroticism that inform Mr Yorick's travels. Setting out to journey to France and Italy he gets little further than Lyons but finds much to appreciate, in contrast to contemporary travel writers whom Sterne satirizes in the figures of Smelfungus and Mundungus. A master of ambiguity and double entendre, Sterne is nevertheless as concerned as his peers with exploring the nature of virtue; unlike other writers of sentimental fiction Sterne insists on the inseparability of desire and feeling.

This new edition includes a selection from The Sermons of Mr Yorick, which shed light on the concerns of the Journey, The Journal to Eliza, which records Sterne's feelings as he languishes for the company of Eliza Draper, and A Political Romance, the satire on a local ecclesiastical squabble that was the catalyst for Sterne's literary career.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

Rick Dockery is the third-string quarterback for the Cleveland Browns. In the AFC Championship game, to the surprise and dismay of virtually everyone, Rick actually gets into the game. With a seventeen-point lead and just minutes to go, Rick provides what is arguably the worst single performance in the history of the NFL. Overnight, he becomes a national laughingstock—and is immediately cut by the Browns and shunned by all other teams.

But all Rick knows is football, and he insists that his agent find a team that needs him. Against enormous odds, Rick finally gets a job—as the starting quarterback for the Mighty Panthers . . . of Parma, Italy. The Parma Panthers desperately want a former NFL player—any former NFL player—at their helm. And now they’ve got Rick, who knows nothing about Parma (not even where it is) and doesn’t speak a word of Italian. To say that Italy—the land of fine wines, extremely small cars, and football americano—holds a few surprises for Rick Dockery would be something of an understatement.

“[Grisham] is exceptionally good at what he does. . . . Indeed, right now in this country, nobody does it better.”—The Washington Post

In his final hours in the Oval Office, the outgoing President grants a controversial last-minute pardon to Joel Backman, a notorious Washington power broker who has spent the last six years hidden away in a federal prison. What no one knows is that the President issues the pardon only after receiving enormous pressure from the CIA. It seems Backman, in his power broker heyday, may have obtained secrets that compromise the world’s most sophisticated satellite surveillance system.

Backman is quietly smuggled out of the country in a military cargo plane, given a new name, a new identity, and a new home in Italy. Eventually, after he has settled into his new life, the CIA will leak his whereabouts to the Israelis, the Russians, the Chinese, and the Saudis. Then the CIA will do what it does best: sit back and watch. The question is not whether Backman will survive—there is no chance of that. The question the CIA needs answered is, who will kill him?

“Most and best of all, it’s Grisham living up to his reputation as a great storyteller.”—Entertainment Weekly

“A fast-paced, fun read with echoes of something deeper. The author’s command of pop fiction delivers crisp, sharp prose.”—TheBoston Globe
 
“Where Grisham leads, millions of readers follow.”—New York Daily News

About the Author

Since first publishing A Time to Kill in 1988, Grisham has written one novel a year (his other books are The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, The Partner, The Street Lawyer, The Testament, The Brethren, A Painted House, Skipping Christmas, The Summons, The King of Torts, Bleachers, The Last Juror, and The Broker) and all of them have become international bestsellers. The Innocent Man (October 2006) marks his first foray into non-fiction.

Grisham lives with his wife Renee and their two children Ty and Shea. The family splits their time between their Victorian home on a farm in Mississippi and a plantation near Charlottesville, VA.

Mario Batali's world now encompasses three New York City restaurants -- Babbo, Lupa, and Esca -- as well as a wine store, The Italian Wine Merchant. He is the host of Food Networks popular Molto Mario, as well as an upcoming new series, Mario Batalis Italy. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Mario Batali's world now encompasses three New York City restaurants -- Babbo, Lupa, and Esca -- as well as a wine store, The Italian Wine Merchant. He is the host of Food Networks popular Molto Mario, as well as an upcoming new series, Mario Batalis Italy. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.

Mario Batali's world now encompasses three New York City restaurants -- Babbo, Lupa, and Esca -- as well as a wine store, The Italian Wine Merchant. He is the host of Food Networks popular Molto Mario, as well as an upcoming new series, Mario Batalis Italy. He lives in New York City with his wife and two sons.