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  First edition

  
  The Autobiography of Malcolm X is anautobiography written byMuslim American minister and activistMalcolm X in collaboration with American journalistAlex Haley. It was released posthumously on October 29, 1965, nine months after hisassassination. Haleycoauthored the book based on a series of in-depth interviews he conducted between 1963 and 1965. TheAutobiography is areligious conversion narrative which outlines Malcolm X's philosophy ofBlack pride,Black nationalism, andpan-Africanism. After Malcolm X was killed, Haley wrote the book's epilogue, which describes their collaborative process and the events at the end of Malcolm's life.
  
  While Malcolm X and scholars contemporary to its publication regarded Haley as the book'sghostwriter, modern scholars tend to regard him as an essential collaborator who intentionally muted his authorial voice in order to create the effect of Malcolm X speaking directly to readers. Haley influenced some of Malcolm X's stylistic choices. For example, Malcolm X left theNation of Islam during the period when he was working on the book with Haley. Rather than rewriting earlier chapters as apolemic against the Nation, which Malcolm X had rejected, Haley persuaded him to favor a style of "suspense and drama". According to biographerManning Marable, "Haley was particularly worried about what he viewed as Malcolm X'santi-Semitism" and rewrote material to eliminate it. (Full article...)
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  TheSt Cuthbert Gospel, also known as theStonyhurst Gospel or theSt Cuthbert Gospel of St John, is an early 8th-century pocketgospel book, written inLatin. Its finely decorated leather binding is the earliest known Westernbookbinding to survive, and both the 94vellumfolios and the binding are in outstanding condition for a book of this age. With a page size of only 138 by 92 millimetres (5.4 in × 3.6 in), the St Cuthbert Gospel is one of the smallest surviving Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The essentially undecorated text is theGospel of John in Latin, written in a script that has been regarded as a model of elegant simplicity.
  
  The book takes its name fromSaint Cuthbert ofLindisfarne,North East England, in whose tomb it was placed, probably a few years after his death in 687. Although it was long regarded as Cuthbert's personal copy of the Gospel, to which there are early references, and so arelic of the saint, the book is now thought to date from shortly after Cuthbert's death. It was probably a gift fromMonkwearmouth–Jarrow Abbey, where it was written, intended to be placed inSt Cuthbert's coffin in the few decades after this was placed behind the altar at Lindisfarne in 698. It presumably remained in the coffin through its long travels after 875, forced by Viking invasions, ending atDurham Cathedral. The book was found inside the coffin and removed in 1104 when the burial was once again moved within the cathedral. It was kept there with other relics, and important visitors were able to wear the book in a leather bag around their necks. It is thought that after theDissolution of the Monasteries in England byHenry VIII between 1536 and 1541, the book passed to collectors. It was eventually given toStonyhurst College, theJesuit school inLancashire. (Full article...)
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  Jack the Ripper: The Final Solution is a book written byStephen Knight first published in 1976. It proposed a solution to five murders in VictorianLondon that were blamed on an unidentifiedserial killer known as "Jack the Ripper".
  
  Knight presented an elaborateconspiracy theory involving theBritish royal family,freemasonry and the painterWalter Sickert. He concluded that the victims were murdered to cover up a secret marriage between the second-in-line to the throne,Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, andworking class girl Annie Elizabeth Crook, and that the killer was physicianWilliam Gull, aided by coachmanJohn Netley. There are many facts that contradict Knight's theory, and his main source, Joseph Gorman (also known as Joseph Sickert), later retracted the story and admitted to the press that it was a hoax. (Full article...)
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  Madman's Drum is awordless novel by American artistLynd Ward (1905–1985), published in 1930. It is the second of Ward's six wordless novels. The 118wood-engraved images ofMadman's Drum tell the story of a slave trader who steals a demon-faced drum from an African he murders, and the consequences for him and his family.
  
  Ward's first wordless novel wasGods' Man of 1929. Ward was more ambitious with his second work in the medium: the characters are more nuanced, the plot more developed and complicated, and the outrage at social injustice more explicit. Ward used a wider variety of carving tools to achieve a finer degree of detail in the artwork, and was expressive in his use of symbolism and exaggerated emotional facial expressions. (Full article...)
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  Thewordless novel is a narrative genre that uses sequences of captionless pictures to tell a story. As artists have often made such books usingwoodcut and otherrelief printing techniques, the termswoodcut novel ornovel in woodcuts are also used. The genre flourished primarily in the 1920s and 1930s and was most popular in Germany.
  
  The wordless novel has its origin in theGerman Expressionist movement of the early 20th century. The typicallysocialist work drew inspiration from medieval woodcuts and used the awkward look of that medium to expressangst and frustration atsocial injustice. The first such book was the BelgianFrans Masereel's25 Images of a Man's Passion, published in 1918. The GermanOtto Nückel and other artists followed Masereel's example.Lynd Ward brought the genre to the United States in 1929 when he producedGods' Man, which inspired other American wordless novels and a parody in 1930 by cartoonistMilt Gross withHe Done Her Wrong. Following an early-1930s peak in production and popularity, the genre waned in the face of competition fromsound films and anti-socialistcensorship in Nazi Germany and the US. (Full article...)
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  Original Stories from Real Life; with Conversations Calculated to Regulate the Affections, and Form the Mind to Truth and Goodness is the only complete work ofchildren's literature by the 18th-century Englishfeminist authorMary Wollstonecraft.Original Stories begins with aframe story that sketches out the education of two young girls by their maternal teacher Mrs. Mason, followed by a series ofdidactic tales. The book was first published byJoseph Johnson in1788; a second, illustrated edition, with engravings byWilliam Blake, was released in 1791 and remained in print for around a quarter of a century.
  
  InOriginal Stories, Wollstonecraft employed the then-burgeoning genre of children's literature to promote the education of women and an emergingmiddle-class ideology. She argued that women would be able to become rational adults if they were educated properly as children, which was not a widely held belief in the 18th century, and contended that the nascent middle-class ethos was superior to the court culture represented byfairy tales and to the values of chance and luck found inchapbook stories for the poor. Wollstonecraft, in developing her own pedagogy, also responded to the works of the two most important educational theorists of the 18th century:John Locke andJean-Jacques Rousseau. (Full article...)
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  The title page of the 1877 edition
  ofFertilisation of Orchids

  
  Fertilisation of Orchids is a book by English naturalistCharles Darwin published on 15 May 1862 under the full explanatory titleOn the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilised by Insects, and On the Good Effects of Intercrossing. Darwin's previous book,On the Origin of Species, had briefly mentionedevolutionary interactions between insects and the plants they fertilised, and this new idea was explored in detail. Field studies and practical scientific investigations that were initially a recreation for Darwin—a relief from the drudgery of writing—developed into enjoyable and challenging experiments. Aided in his work by his family, friends, and a wide circle of correspondents across Britain and worldwide, Darwin tapped into the contemporary vogue for growing exoticorchids.
  
  The book was his first detailed demonstration of the power ofnatural selection, and explained how complex ecological relationships resulted in thecoevolution of orchids and insects. The view has been expressed that the book led directly or indirectly to all modern work on coevolution and the evolution of extreme specialisation. It influencedbotanists, and revived interest in the neglected idea that insects played a part inpollinating flowers. It opened up the new study areas of pollination research and reproductive ecology, directly related to Darwin's ideas on evolution, and supported his view that natural selection led to a variety of forms through the important benefits achieved bycross-fertilisation. Although the general public showed less interest and sales of the book were low, it established Darwin as a leading botanist.Orchids was the first in a series of books on his innovative investigations into plants. (Full article...)
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  Harris's List of Covent Garden Ladies, published from 1760 to 1794, was an annual directory ofprostitutes then working inGeorgianLondon. A small pocketbook, it was printed and published inCovent Garden, and sold for twoshillings andsixpence. A contemporary report of 1791 estimates its circulation at about 8,000 copies annually.
  
  Each edition contains entries describing the physical appearance and sexual specialities of about120–190 prostitutes who worked in and around Covent Garden. Through their erotic prose, the list's entries review some of these women in lurid detail. While most compliment their subjects, some are critical of bad habits, and a few women are even treated aspariahs, perhaps having fallen out of favour with the list's authors, who are never revealed. (Full article...)
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  All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, published in 1986, is the fifth book inAfrican-American writer and poetMaya Angelou's seven-volume autobiography series. Set between 1962 and 1965, the book begins when Angelou is 33 years old, and recounts the years she lived inAccra,Ghana. The book, deriving its title from aNegro spiritual, begins where Angelou's previous memoir,The Heart of a Woman, ends — with the traumatic car accident involving her son Guy — and closes with Angelou returning to America.
  
  As she had started to do in her first autobiography,I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and continued throughout her series, Angelou upholds the long tradition of African-American autobiography. At the same time she makes a deliberate attempt to challenge the usual structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Angelou had matured as a writer by the time she wroteTraveling Shoes, to the point that she was able to play with the form and structure of the work. As in her previous books, it consists of a series of anecdotes connected by theme. She depicts her struggle with being the mother of a grown son, and with her place in her new home. (Full article...)
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  Page fromHemming's Cartulary, folio 121 of the manuscript

  
  Hemming's Cartulary is a manuscriptcartulary, or collection ofcharters and other land records, collected by a monk namedHemming around the time of theNorman Conquest of England. The manuscript comprises two separate cartularies, made at different times and later bound together; it is in theBritish Library as MS Cotton Tiberius A xiii. The first was composed at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century. The second section was compiled by Hemming and was written around the end of the 11th or the beginning of the 12th century. The first section, traditionally titled theLiber Wigorniensis, is a collection ofAnglo-Saxon charters and other land records, most of which are organized geographically. The second section,Hemming's Cartulary proper, combines charters and other land records with a narrative of deprivation of property owned by the church of Worcester.
  
  The two works are bound together in one surviving manuscript, the earliest surviving cartulary from medieval England. A central theme is the losses Worcester suffered at the hands of royal officials and local landowners. Included amongst the despoilers are kings such asCnut andWilliam the Conqueror, and nobles such asEadric Streona andUrse d'Abetot. Also included are accounts of lawsuits brought by the Worcester monks to regain their lost lands. The two sections of the cartulary were first printed in 1723. The original manuscript was slightly damaged by fire in 1731 and required rebinding. (Full article...)
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  Political Animals and Animal Politics is a 2014edited collection published byPalgrave Macmillan and edited by thegreenpolitical theoristsMarcel Wissenburg andDavid Schlosberg. The work addresses the emergence of academicanimal ethics informed bypolitical philosophy as opposed tomoral philosophy. It was the first edited collection to be published on the topic, and the first book-length attempt to explore the breadth and boundaries of the literature. As well as a substantial introduction by the editors, it features ten sole-authored chapters split over three parts, respectively concerninginstitutional change for animals, the relationship between animal ethics andecologism, and real-world laws made for the benefit of animals. The book's contributors were Wissenburg, Schlosberg, Manuel Arias-Maldonado, Chad Flanders, Christie Smith, Clemens Driessen, Simon Otjes, Kurtis Boyer, Per-Anders Svärd, and Mihnea Tanasescu. The focus of their individual chapters varies, but recurring features include discussions ofhuman exceptionalism, exploration of ways that animal issues are or could be present in political discourse, and reflections on the relationship between theory and practice in politics.
  
  In part,Political Animals and Animal Politics arose from aworkshop that Wissenburg and Schlosberg organised at the 2012European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessionsconference, though not all attendees contributed to the volume and not all contributors presented at the workshop. Footage of the workshop appeared inDe Haas in de Marathon (The Pacer in the Marathon), a 2012 documentary about the DutchParty for the Animals.Political Animals and Animal Politics was published as part of thePalgrave Macmillan Animal Ethics Series, edited byAndrew Linzey andPriscilla Cohn. (Full article...)
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  TheAnglo-Saxon Chronicle (alsoASC and theChronicle) is the term used by historians to describe a set ofannals inOld English, chronicling the history of theAnglo-Saxons.
  
  The lost first version of theChronicle was created in the late ninth century, probably inWessex, during the reign of KingAlfred the Great (r. 871–899). Its content, which incorporated sources now otherwise lost dating from as early as the seventh century, is known as the "Common Stock" of theChronicle. Multiple copies were made of that one original and then distributed to monasteries across England, where they were updated, partly independently. These manuscripts collectively are known as theAnglo-Saxon Chronicle. Almost all of the material in theChronicle is in the form of annals, by year. The earliest is dated at 60 BC, the annals' date forJulius Caesar's invasions of Britain. In one case, theChronicle was still being actively updated in 1154. (Full article...)
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  Getting It: The Psychology of est is anon-fiction book by Americanclinical psychologist Sheridan Fenwick first published in 1976 which analysesWerner Erhard'sErhard Seminars Training orest. Fenwick based the book on her own experience of attending a four-day session of the est training, an intensive 60-hourpersonal-development course in theself-help genre. Large groups of up to 250 people took the est training at one time.
  
  In the first section of Fenwick's book, she recounts the est training process and the methods used during the course. Fenwick details the rules or "agreements" laid out by the trainers to the attendees, which include not talking to others or leaving the session to go to the bathroom unless during an announced break period. The second section is analytic: Fenwick analyzes the methods used by the est trainers, evaluates the course's potential effects, and discusses Erhard's background. Fenwick concludes that the program's long-term effects are unknown, the est training may not be appropriate for certain groups of people, and that a large proportion of participants report perceived positive effects. (Full article...)
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  Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa is a non-fiction book written byStephen Lewis for theMassey Lectures. Lewis wrote it in early to mid-2005 andHouse of Anansi Press released it as a corresponding lecture series began in October 2005. Each of the book's chapters were delivered as a different lecture in a different Canadian city, beginning in Vancouver on October 18 and ending in Toronto on October 28. The speeches were aired onCBC Radio One between November 7 and 11. The author and orator, Stephen Lewis, was at that time theUnited Nations Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa and formerCanadian ambassador to the United Nations. Although he wrote the book and lectures in his role as a concerned Canadian citizen, his criticism of theUnited Nations (UN), international organizations, and other diplomats, including naming specific people, was called undiplomatic and led several reviewers to speculate whether he would be removed from his UN position.
  
  In the book and the lectures, Lewis argues that significant changes are required to meet theMillennium Development Goals in Africa by their 2015 deadline. Lewis explains the historical context of Africa since the 1980s, citing a succession of disastrous economic policies byinternational financial institutions that contributed to, rather than reduced, poverty. He connects thestructural adjustment loans, withconditions of limited public spending on health and education infrastructure, to the uncontrolledspread of AIDS and subsequent food shortages as the disease infected much of the working-age population. Lewis also addresses such issues as discrimination against women and primary education for children. To help alleviate problems, he ends with potential solutions which mainly require increased funding byG8 countries to levels beyond what they promise. (Full article...)
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  I Never Liked You is agraphic novel by Canadian cartoonistChester Brown. The story first ran between 1991 and 1993 under the titleFuck, in issues#26–30 of Brown's comic bookYummy Fur; published in book form byDrawn & Quarterly in 1994. It deals with the teenage Brown'sintroversion and difficulty talking to others, especially members of the opposite sex—including his mother. The story has minimal dialogue and is sparsely narrated. The artwork is amongst the simplest in Brown's body of work—some pages consist only of a single small panel.
  
  Brown established his reputation in the earlyalternative comics scene of the 1980s with the surreal, taboo-breakingEd the Happy Clown. He brought that story to an abrupt end in 1989 when, excited by theautobiographical comics ofJoe Matt andJulie Doucet, he turned towards personal stories. The uncomplicated artwork of his friend and fellow Toronto cartoonistSeth inspired him to simplify his own. Brown intendedI Never Liked You as part of a longer work with what became his previous book,The Playboy (1992), but found the larger story too complex to handle at once.I Never Liked You was the last work ofBrown's early autobiographical period. (Full article...)

Credit:Anonymous

• Bibliophilia
• Book burning
• Book collecting
• Book review
• Pulitzer Prize winners

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  Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming is a 2010 non-fiction book by Americanhistorians of scienceNaomi Oreskes andErik M. Conway. It identifies parallels between theglobal warming controversy and earlier controversies overtobacco smoking,acid rain,DDT, and thehole in the ozone layer.
  
  Oreskes and Conway write that, in each case, the overall strategy of those opposing action is to "keep the controversy alive" bycontinuing to spread doubt and confusion long after ascientific consensus has been reached. In particular, they show thatFred Seitz,Fred Singer, and a few othercontrarian scientists joined forces with conservativethink tanks and private corporations to challenge the scientific consensus on a wide variety of contemporary issues. (Full article...)
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  Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs is an autobiography by American author Elissa Wall detailing her childhood in theFundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) and subsequent later life outside of the church. It was first published byWilliam Morrow and Company in 2008.
  
  Wall was born into a polygamous family inSalt Lake City and grew up attending the FLDS-run Alta Academy. She describes her living situation as tense; familial relations were further complicated when her mother was reassigned to marry another man inHildale, Utah. FLDS leaders orchestrated a marriage between Wall, then 14, and her 19-year-old cousin, Allen Steed, an arrangement she vehemently opposed. During their four-year marriage, Steed abused her sexually and psychologically, and Wall eventually began an affair with Lamont Barlow, a 25-year-old former member of the FLDS. Barlow later persuaded her to leave the church and to press charges against Steed andWarren Jeffs, the FLDS "prophet" who performed the wedding ceremony. (Full article...)
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  The Diamond Smugglers is a non-fiction book byIan Fleming that was first published in the United Kingdom byJonathan Cape on 29 November 1957. The book is based on two weeks of interviews Fleming undertook with John Collard, a member of the International Diamond Security Organisation (IDSO) and a former member ofMI5; the IDSO was headed bySir Percy Sillitoe, the ex-head of MI5 who worked for the diamond companyDe Beers.
  
  The IDSO was formed by Sillitoe to combat the smuggling of diamonds from Africa, where it was estimated that £10 million worth of gems were being smuggled every year out of South Africa alone. The book expands upon a series of articles Fleming wrote forThe Sunday Times in 1957. (Full article...)
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  The Fate of Fausto: A Painted Fable is a 2019 children'spicture book written and illustrated byOliver Jeffers. Inspired by the German legend ofFaust, the book follows the arrogant titular character Fausto, who wants to own every natural worldly possession. It addresses themes of greed,colonialism, power, andenvironmentalism.
  
  The pages were illustrated using traditionallithographic printmaking techniques, making use of coloured-pencil style figures and saturated shades over expanses of white spaces. Reviewers praised the book for its sparse narrative, illustrations and appeal to the audience. The book featured on the year-end lists by publications such asThe Guardian andTime. (Full article...)
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  The Ingenuity Gap is a non-fiction book by Canadian academicThomas Homer-Dixon. It was written over the course of eight years from 1992 to 2000, and was published byKnopf. The book argues that the nature of problems faced by our society are becoming more complex and that our ability to implement solutions is not keeping pace. Homer-Dixon focuses uponcomplexities, unexpectednon-linear results, andemergent properties. He takes an inter-disciplinary approach connecting political science with sociology, economics, history, and ecology.
  
  AfterRobert D. Kaplan referenced Homer-Dixon's work in the 1994The Atlantic Monthly article, "The Coming Anarchy", Homer-Dixon was offered a book deal. He spent the next half decade preparing until it was finally published in 2000 in North America and the United Kingdom. (Full article...)
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  The Bacon Cookbook: More than 150 Recipes from Around the World for Everyone's Favorite Food is acookbook onbacon by James Villas. It was published byWiley in 2007. Villas is a former food editor forTown & Country magazine, andThe Bacon Cookbook is his 15th book on food. He notes on the book's jacket that he was "beguiled by bacon since he was a boy." He describes the appeal of bacon in the book's preface, and in the introduction recounts the history of the product, as well as its variations from different locations internationally. Chapters are structured by type of recipe and food course, and in total the book includes 168 recipes.
  
  The book received generally positive reception in book reviews and media sources, receiving praise inPublishers Weekly andLibrary Journal. In 2009 theNational Pork Board highlighted recipes from the book for International Bacon Day. ChefBobby Flay highlighted one recipe fromThe Bacon Cookbook, for "Bacon-Wrapped Figs Stuffed With Almonds In Port", as one of his favorites.AM New York,The Baltimore Sun, and theStar Tribune, recommended the book in articles on suggested gift-giving ideas.The Independent highlighted the book as number 11 on a list of "The 50 Best Cookbooks". (Full article...)
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  The cover of the original version from 1845.

  
  Civilization and Barbarism: Life of Juan Facundo Quiroga (original Spanish title:Civilización i Barbarie: Vida de Juan Facundo Quiroga), later published and better known asFacundo, is a book written in 1845 byDomingo Faustino Sarmiento, a writer and journalist who became the seventhpresident of Argentina. It is a cornerstone ofLatin American literature: a work ofcreative non-fiction that helped to define the parameters for thinking about the region's development, modernization, power, and culture. SubtitledCivilization and Barbarism,Facundo contrastscivilization andbarbarism as seen in early 19th-century Argentina. Literary criticRoberto González Echevarría calls the work "the most important book written by a Latin American in any discipline or genre".
  
  Facundo describes the life ofJuan Facundo Quiroga, acaudillo who had terrorized provincial Argentina in the 1820s and 1830s. Kathleen Ross, one ofFacundos English translators, points out that the author also publishedFacundo to "denounce the tyranny of the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas".Juan Manuel de Rosas ruled Argentina from 1829 to 1832 and again from 1835 to 1852; it was because of Rosas that Sarmiento was in exile in Chile, where he wrote the book. Sarmiento sees Rosas as heir to Facundo: both arecaudillos and representatives of a barbarism that derives from the nature of the Argentine countryside. As Ross explains, Sarmiento's book is therefore engaged in describing the "Argentine national character, explaining the effects of Argentina's geographical conditions on personality, the 'barbaric' nature of the countryside versus the 'civilizing' influence of the city, and the great future awaiting Argentina when it opened its doors wide to European immigration". ('Full article...)
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  Title Page of the first American edition

  
  Natural Theology: Or, Evidences of the Existence and Attributes of the Deity is an 1802 work ofChristian apologetics andphilosophy of religion by the English clergymanWilliam Paley (1743–1805). The book expounds his arguments fromnatural theology, making ateleological argument for theexistence of God, notably beginning with thewatchmaker analogy.
  
  The book was written in the context of the natural theology tradition. In earlier centuries, theologians such asJohn Ray andWilliam Derham, as well as philosophers of classical times such asCicero, argued for the existence and goodness of God from the general well-being of living things and the physical world. (Full article...)
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  Title page of first edition

  
  TheOrnithological Dictionary; or Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds was written by the Englishnaturalist and army officerGeorge Montagu, and first published by J. White of Fleet Street, London in 1802.
  
  It was one of the texts, along withThomas Bewick's contemporaneousA History of British Birds (2 volumes, 1797 and 1804) that madeornithology popular in Britain, and, with the 1676Ornithologia libri tres ofFrancis Willughby andJohn Ray, helped to make it the object of serious study. The book includes a description of thecirl bunting, discovered by Montagu in 1800 near his home inKingsbridge, Devon. (Full article...)
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  The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II is abestselling 1997non-fiction book written byIris Chang about the 1937–1938Nanjing Massacre—themass murder andmass rape of Chinese civilians committed by theImperial Japanese Army inNanjing (Nanking), the capital of theRepublic of China, immediately after theBattle of Nanjing during theSecond Sino-Japanese War. It describes the events leading up to the Nanjing Massacre, provides a graphic detail of the war crimes and atrocities committed by Japanese troops, and lambasts theJapanese government for its refusal to rectify the atrocities. It also criticizes the Japanese people for their ignorance about the massacre. It is one of the first major English-language books to introduce the Nanjing Massacre toWestern andEastern readers alike, and has been translated into several languages. The book significantly renewed public interest in Japanese wartime conduct inChina,Korea,Southeast Asia (including thePhilippines) and thePacific.
  
  The book received both acclaim and criticism by the public and by academics. It has been praised as a work that "shows more clearly than any previous account" the extent and brutality of the episode, while elements of Chang's analysis of the motivations for the events, Japanese culture, and her calculation of the total numbers killed and raped were criticized as inaccurate because of her lack of training as a historian. Chang's research on the book was credited with the finding of the diaries ofJohn Rabe andMinnie Vautrin, both of whom played important roles in theNanking Safety Zone, a designated area in Nanjing that protected Chinese civilians during the Nanjing Massacre. (Full article...)
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  Madonna: Like an Icon is abiography by English authorLucy O'Brien, chronicling the life of American singerMadonna. The book was released on 27 August 2007, byBantam Press in the United Kingdom, and on 18 October 2007, byHarperCollins in the United States.Madonna: Like an Icon chronicles the life of the singer from her birth, up to the release of her eleventh studio album,Hard Candy, in 2008. Initially critical of her work, O'Brien had become a fan of Madonna after seeing her perform on television forThe Virgin Tour in 1985. From that point of time, the author followed Madonna's career closely, attending her concerts, and collecting interviews, magazines, and albums.
  
  When O'Brien finally decided to write a biography on Madonna in 2005, she wanted the book to be more about the singer's contribution to her music, rather than delving too much into her personal life, unlike other Madonna biographers. The author then interviewed dancers, choreographers, musicians, and producers who worked with Madonna. After its release, the book received a mixed response from critics. They were unanimous that the over-emphasis given on the singer's discography was unnecessary, instead more thought should have been given on exploring her personal life, which would have made the biography compelling. (Full article...)
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  My Opposition (German:Mein Widerstand) is adiary secretly written by the Germansocial democratFriedrich Kellner (1885–1970) duringWorld War II to describe life underNazi Germany and to expose thepropaganda and the crimes of the Nazi dictatorship. Comprising ten notebooks, it is considered by leading historians as "an important piece of historical literature." The editors of the German magazineDer Spiegel called it "an image of Nazi Germany that has never existed before in such a vivid, concise and challenging form." Kellner began his 861-page diary on September 1, 1939, and wrote his last entry on May 17, 1945.
  
  In 1968, Kellner gave the diary to his American grandson, Robert Scott Kellner, to translate into English and to bring it to the attention of the public. Kellner's diary is voluminous, and all the entries were handwritten in theSütterlin script. The amount of material and possible transcription efforts dissuaded publishers from the project for many years, until in 2005 when former US presidentGeorge H. W. Bush, who had been a combat pilot in World War II, arranged for the diary to be exhibited in hispresidential library, which brought the diary to the public. (Full article...)
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  Rihanna (originally titled and alternatively known asRihanna: The Last Girl on Earth) is acoffee tablephoto-book by Barbadian singerRihanna and British artistSimon Henwood. Henwood envisioned the project as the depiction of a "journey", as it includes professional and candid photos by him, that show the singer's fourth studio album,Rated R's (2009) promotional campaign, alongside pictures from other live appearances. The publication features a preface written by French designer Alexandre Vauthier.
  
  It was first issued in the United States as ahardcover edition including aCD, on October 15, 2010; also being released inpaperback formats and a deluxe hardcover edition including a crystal monogrammed clamshell and a signed image print. To promote the book, Rihanna appeared at aBarnes & Noble store where she signed copies of it. Editors commented on the book positively, favoring Rihanna's looks and Henwood's photography. (Full article...)
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  Yoga the Iyengar Way is a 1990 guide toIyengar Yoga, a style of modernyoga as exercise, by the yoga teachersSilva Mehta and her childrenMira Mehta andShyam Mehta. They were among the first teachers to be trained byB. K. S. Iyengar outside India.
  
  The main part of the book is onasanas, yoga postures. This is accompanied by an introduction to yoga, and sections onpranayama (yoga breathing), the philosophy of yoga, the surrender of the self includingmeditation, and recommended courses of asanas for different conditions. The book presents the asanas with a combination of a brief text and photographs of Mira and Shyam on a single page or a double-page spread. (Full article...)
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  Anya's Ghost is acoming-of-ageghost story ingraphic novel format. The first book by cartoonistVera Brosgol,Anya's Ghost was published on June 7, 2011.
  
  In the novel, unpopular Anya befriends the ghost of Emily, a girl around Anya's age who died 90 years earlier. After failing to make Anya popular and happy, Emily becomes manipulative and controlling, leading Anya to discover the truth about Emily's death. (Full article...)

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  Image 1Thespine of the book is an important aspect in book design, especially in the cover design. When the books are stacked up or stored in a shelf, the details on the spine is the only visible surface that contains the information about the book. In a book store, it is often the details on the spine that attract the attention first. (fromBook design)
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  Image 2A 15th-centuryincunable. Notice the blind-tooled cover, corner bosses, and clasps. (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 3Hardbound book with half leather binding (spine and corners) and marbled boards (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 4Three books with different titling orientations:
  ascending (left); descending (middle); upright (right) (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 5Bookbinder's type holder (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 6The scene inBotticelli'sMadonna of the Book (1480) reflects the presence of books in the houses of richer people in his time. (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 7Marbled book board from a book published in London in 1872 (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 8Design byHans Holbein the Younger for a metalwork book cover (ortreasure binding) (fromBook design)
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  Image 9ASumerianclay tablet, currently housed in theOriental Institute at theUniversity of Chicago, inscribed with the text of the poemInanna and Ebih by the priestessEnheduanna, the first author whose name is known
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  Image 10A twentieth-century copyright imprint from McLoughlin Bros that features three rams and the copyright year, 1903 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 11TheBook of the Dead ofHunefer, c. 1275 BCE, ink and pigments on papyrus, in theBritish Museum (London) (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 12Page 49 of theDresden Codex (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 13Page from a Jain manuscript depicting the birth ofMahavira, c. 1400 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 14Scheme of commonbook design

  1. Belly band
  2. Flap
  3. Endpaper
  4. Book cover
  5. Head
  6. Fore edge
  7. Tail
  8. Right page, recto
  9. Left page, verso
  10. Gutter

  (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 15Detailed blind tooling of a book binding (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 16Cloth book cover with attached paper panel, mimicking half leather binding (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 17Hardbound book spine stitching (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 1812-metre-high (40 ft) sculpture of a stack of books at the BerlinWalk of Ideas, commemorating theinvention of modern book printing (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 19Chinese Bookseller, illustration, c. 1824 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 20Illustration from theCodex Manesse, a German book from the Middle Ages (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 219th-century Qur'an inReza Abbasi Museum (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 22Sammelband of three alchemical treatises, bound in Strasbourg by Samuel Emmelc. 1568, showing metal clasps and leather covering of boards (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 23Woman holding wax tablets in the form of thecodex. Wall painting fromPompeii, before 79 CE. (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 24The intricate frontispiece of theDiamond Sutra fromTang dynasty China, i.e. 868 CE, the oldest known dated printed book in the world (British Library) (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 25Three books with different titling orientations:
  ascending (left); descending (middle); upright (right) (fromBook design)
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  Image 26An author portrait ofJean Miélot writing his compilation of theMiracles of Our Lady, one of his many popular works. (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 27Initial on the opening page of a book printed by theKelmscott Press (fromBook design)
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  Image 28A traditional bookbinder at work (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 29Gilt front cover adorned withwalrus ivory on theHorne Book, Denmark, 13th century (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 30Decorative binding with figurehead of the 12th century manuscriptLiber Landavensis (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 31Traditionally sewn book opened flat (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 32A Chinese bamboo book,The Art of War, commissioned by theQianlong Emperor in 18th-century China (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 33Modern book spine designs (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 34Modernpaperback spines (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 35European output of manuscripts 500–1500 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 36European output of printed books c. 1450–1800 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 37Rebacking saving original spine, showing one volume finished and one untouched (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 38Folio from theShah Jahan Album, c. 1620, depicting the Mughal EmperorShah Jahan (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 39Early medievalbookcase containing about ten codices depicted in theCodex Amiatinus (c. 700) (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 40Book conservators at the State Library of New South Wales, 1943 (fromBookbinding)
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  Image 41European output of books 500–1800 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 42Photograph of a printing press in Egypt, c. 1922 (fromHistory of books)
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  Image 43Page spread withJ. A. van de Graaf's construction of classical text area (print space) and margin proportions (fromBook design)
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  Image 44Jikji,Selected Teachings of Buddhist Sages and Seon Masters, the earliest known book printed with movable metal type, 1377.Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. (fromHistory of books)