Best-selling Tolkien expert Brian Sibley (The Lord of theRings: The Making of the Movie Trilogy and The Lord of the RingsOfficial Movie Guide) presents a slipcased collection of fourfull-color, large-format maps of Tolkien's imaginary realmillustrated by John Howe, a conceptual designer for the blockbusterfilms directed by Peter Jackson. The set includes a hardcover bookdescribing in detail the importance and evolution of geographywithin Tolkien's epic fiction and four color maps presented withminimal folds, including two (Beleriand and Numenor) never beforepublished in this country.

In the entire universe, there seems to be one constant that most everyone shares: the notion of beauty. This fact is not scientific, it is not logical, and the value of this knowledge is hard to assess. But the certainty is absolute as every one of us looks into a meadow of waving flowers, gazes at the surf and the sea, or looks deep into the night sky at the stars and beyond. God's Art explores the grace, the texture and the colors of this beautiful universe, and asks a lot of questions along the way: Why isn't the universe gray instead of such a rich incredible range of colors; Why is there so much variety in all things from snowflakes to galaxies; Why are we blessed with an appreciation for all this wonder if it does not contribute to our survival? Questions are more fun than answers, and a well-phrased quandary will keep us occupied longer than a stark fact. This is a beautifully illustrated book of questions.

standing work almost from the moment of publication.Beginningwith a groundbreaking interpretation of the ori-gin and nature ofthe city Lewis Mumford follows the city's developmentfrom Egypt andMesopotamia through Greece Rome and the MiddleAges to the modernworld. Instead of accepting the destiny of the city asthetendencies to metropolitan congestion suburban sprawl andsocialdisintegration, Mumford outlines an order integratingtechnical facilitieswith biological needs and social norms. Ascompelling as it is compre-hensive Mumfords award-winning work "isfar more than the study ofurban culture through the ages. It is arevitalization of civilizations( Kirkus Reviews).

This stunning volume was the gift book of the year when it firstpublished, and the images that grace its pages remain iconic. Fromthe famous Afghan girl whose haunting green eyes stare out from thebook’s cover, and her poignant story that captured the world’sinterest, to award-winning photography culled from the Society’svast archives, The Photographs offers readers an inside look atNational Geographic and a sharp-eyed view of the world. The bookshowcases the skill and imagination of such notable Geographicphotographers as David Doubilet, William Albert Allard, Sam Abell,Jim Stanfield, Jodi Cobb, Jim Brandenburg, David Alan Harvey, andmany more. They share their techniques, as well as personal andcolorful anecdotes about individual images and their adventures inthe field—sometimes humorous, sometimes terrifying, always vividlycompelling. Author Leah Bendavid-Val writes about thephotographers’ achievements from technical, journalistic, andartistic perspectives. Five chapters cover core Nationa

Experience the best of Hungary with Lonely Planet's 6thedition. Discover the quiet beauty and fascinating culture of thischarming country - relax in Art Nouveau splendour at a thermalbath, treat your palate to the excellent local wines or watchhistory unfold as you drift down the Danube. Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to theheart of every destination they visit. This fully updated editionis packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed togive you the information you need to make the most of yourtrip. In This Guide: Essential color section illustrating Hungary'shighlights Unique interviews with a potter, Klezmer band and a cyclingspecialist Activities chapter includes horse riding, hiking, caving andmore

In 1912, six months after Robert Falcon Scott and four of hismen came to grief in Antarctica, a thirty-two-year-old Russiannavigator named Valerian Albanov embarked on an expedition thatwould prove even more disastrous. In search of new Arctic huntinggrounds, Albanov's ship, the Saint Anna, was frozen fast in thepack ice of the treacherous Kara Sea-a misfortune grievouslycompounded by an incompetent commander, the absence of crucialnautical charts, insufficient fuel, and inadequate provisions thatleft the crew weak and debilitated by scurvy. For nearly a year and a half, the twenty-five men and onewoman aboard the Saint Anna endured terrible hardships and dangeras the icebound ship drifted helplessly north. Convinced that theSaint Anna would never free herself from the ice, Albanov andthirteen crewmen left the ship in January 1914, hauling makeshiftsledges and kayaks behind them across the frozen sea, hoping toreach the distant coast of Franz Josef Land. With only a shockinglyinaccurate map to g

In January 2003 Nicholas Sparks and his brother Micah set offon a three-week trip around the world. An adventure by any measure,this trip was especially meaningful as it marked another milestonein the life journey of two brothers who, by their early thirties,were the only surviving members of their family. As Nicholas andMicah travel the globe, from the Taj Mahal to Machu Picchu, thestory of their family slowly unfolds. Just before Nicholas'marriage he and Micah lost their mother in a horseriding accident;a week short of Nicholas' triumphant debut as a novelist with THENOTEBOOK, the brothers lost their father to a car crash, and just afew short years later they were forced to say goodbye to theirsister who died of brain cancer at the young age of 36. Against thebackdrop of the main wonders of the world the brothers cometogether to heal the wounds of this tragic legacy and maintaintheir determination to live life to its fullest.

From Fouad Ajami, an acclaimed author and chronicler of Arabpolitics, comes a compelling account of how a generation of Arabintellectuals tried to introduce cultural renewals in theirhomelands through the forces of modernity and secularism.Ultimately, they came to face disappointment, exile, and, onoccasion, death. Brilliantly weaving together the strands of atumultuous century in Arab political thought, history, and poetry,Ajami takes us from the ruins of Beirut's once glitteringmetropolis to the land of Egypt, where struggle rages between amodernist impulse and an Islamist insurgency, from Nasser'span-Arab nationalist ambitions to the emergence of an uneasy PaxAmericana in Arab lands, from the triumphalism of the Gulf War tothe continuing anguished debate over the Israeli-Palestinian peaceaccords. For anyone who seeks to understand the Middle East, here isan insider's unflinching analysis of the collision betweenintellectual life and political realities in the Arab worldtoday.