Preorder Special: Man Gave Names to All the Animals

Publishers Weekly:

Arnosky offers a Peaceable Kingdom approach--minus humans--to the song from Dylan’s 1979 album Slow Train Running. The self-consciously majestic acrylic and pencil tableaus feature “different animals and plants from around the world on each and every page” (according to the introduction). While Dylan references only six animals in his song, Arnosky notes on the penultimate page that the book includes more than 170 creatures (readers are invited to identify them all, or check out the illustrator’s Web site for clues). However, the spreads and portraits feel detached from the gently funky mood of Dylan’s performance on the accompanying CD, as well as the laidback, down-home humor of the lyrics: “He saw an animal up on a hill/ Chewing up so much grass until she was filled./ He saw milk comin’ out but he didn’t know how/ Ah, think I’ll call it a COW.” Arnosky deserves props for not reaching for the most common examples of the animals from the song’s verse (using a bristly wild pig and mountain sheep), but even animal fanatics may find these compositions overwhelming. Ages 3-up.

Preorder Special: hull Three Zero

Publishers Weekly:

Multiple Hugo and Nebula winner Bear (City at the End of Time) sets this difficult but rewarding short novel on an interstellar colony ship gone astray. Teacher was supposed to be awakened just before landfall. What he finds when he gains some semblance of consciousness, however, is a dangerous and chaotic environment, with monsters roaming the ship's corridors and no one in charge. As he and a small band of equally ignorant crew members attempt to reach the gigantic ship's control center, they travel through a series of labyrinthine spaces, uncovering a variety of clues to the disaster that has destroyed large parts of the starship and damaged the controlling AIs. Not for those who prefer their space opera simpleminded, this beautifully written tale where nothing is as it seems will please readers with a well-developed sense of wonder.

Preorder Special: Fun Inc. : Why Gaming Will Dominate the Twenty-First Century

From the Publisher:

Despite the recession, video games continue to break records—and command unprecedented amounts of media coverage. The U.S. is the world’s biggest video games market and manufacturer, with a market now worth over $20 billion annually in software and hardware sales—more than quadruple its size in the mid 1990s. World of Warcraft now boasts over 11 million players worldwide, and over $1 billion per year in revenues. Gaming is flourishing as a career and a creative industry as well. 254 U.S. colleges and universities in 37 states now offer courses and degrees in computer and video game design, programming and art. Video games are increasingly for everyone: 68% of American households now play computer or video games, while the average game player is 35 years old and has been playing games for twelve years.
Against the popular image, too, 43% of online U.S. game players are female. The U.S. military alone now spends around $6 billion a year on virtual and simulated training programs, based around video games and virtual worlds. The budgets for developing the biggest games can now top the $100
million mark and are snapping up some of the biggest names in film—from Stephen Spielberg to Peter Jackson.

Preorder Special: America the Edible: A Hungry History From Sea to Dining Sea

Synopsis:


The host of Travel Channel’s most popular show explains how iconic American foods have captured our culinary imaginations—you won't look at a bagel the same way again!
In America the Edible, Travel Channel host Adam Richman tackles the ins and outs of American cuisine, demonstrating his own unique brand of culinary anthropology. Believing that regional cuisine reveals far more than just our taste for chicken fried steak or 3-way chili, Richman explores the ethnic, economic, and cultural factors that shape the way we eat—and how food, in turn, reflects who we are as a nation. Richman uses his signature wit and casual charm to take youon a tour around the country,explaining such curiosities as why bagels are shaped like circles, why fried chicken is so popular in the South, and how some of the most iconic American food—hot dogs, fries, and soda—are not really American at all. Writing with passion, curiosity, and a desire to share his knowledge, he includes recipes, secret addresses for fun and tasty finds, and tips on how to eat like a local from coast to coast.
Part travelogue, part fun fact book, part serious culinary journalism, Richman’s America the Edible illuminates the food map in a way nobody has before.