The Dumpling: A Seasonal Guide by Wai Hon Chu and Connie Lovatt is the most comprehensive collection of dumpling recipes ever produced.Discovering that dumplings—as a category of food—have never been properly defined, Chu and Lovatt developed a definition that takes into account the ingredients, cooking methods, and shapes that most commonly define dumplings, not just in a particular region or culture, but around the world. "A dumpling is a portion of dough, batter, or starchy plant fare, solid or filled, that is cooked through wet heat, and is not a strand or a ribbon"This exciting collection shows us that not only are pot stickers, pierogis, and shao mai dumplings but so too are tamales, steamed cakes, and steamed breads. From Chickpea Dumplings in a Tomato Sauce (India) to Leaf-Wrapped Rice Packages Stuffed with Peanuts and Sausage (China), from Chocolate Tamales (Mexico) to a "Napkin" Bread Dumpling with Cherries (Austria), from Cloud-Shaped Bread Buns (Tibet) to Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers (Hungary), dumplings, whether steamed or simmered, are as fun to make as they are to eat. A truly passionate exploration of every dumpling type imaginable, The Dumpling contains dessert varieties, dumplings for gifts or entertaining, dozens of vegetarian and vegan options, fast and easy dumplings, as well as 21 pages of step-by-step dumpling making-illustrations. Arranged by month so as to encourage all of us to cook dumplings seasonally and year round, The Dumpling contains a recipe for every taste bud, table, and occasion. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 October No-Fuss Potato Dumplings Spiced Carrot Pudding Collard Greens with Corn Dumplings Chicken Paprika with Dumplings Bean Soup with Tiny Dumplings Chickpea "Fish" in a Spicy Onion Sauce Bacon and Sage Roly Poly Daikon Cake Cheddar Cheese and Potato Pierogi Lentil and Onion Pierogi Potato "Tamales" Stuffed with Chicken and Jalapeno Beef-Stuffed Plantain Balls in a Cassava-Corn Soup November Dumplings and Cocky’s Joy "Napkin" Bread Dumpling Turkey Stew with Stuffing Dumplings Cranberry Pudding Lord Randall’s Pudding, An Apricot Dessert Sticky Toffee Pudding Potato Dumplings with Crouton Centers Country Cabbage Soup with Large Cornmeal Dumplings Philadelphia Pepperpot Soup with Dumplings Large Beef- and Spinach-Filled Dumplings in Beef Broth Dumplings Stuffed with Pears, Figs, and Chocolate Pumpkin and Lentil Ravioli with Browned Butter and Rosemary "Little Ear" Dumplings Stuffed with Mushrooms in a Beet Soup December Root Vegetable Bread Dumplings Clootie Dumpling Starchy Coconut Stew with Slippery Rice Balls Guava Duff Potato Dumplings with Cabbage Layers John in the Sack Classic Christmas Pudding Chocolate Tamales Siberian Meat Dumplings Chestnut Ravioli with Sage Butter Sauce Chicken-Filled Dumplings in an Escarole Soup Dumplings Stuffed with "Stewed" Breadcrumbs

A fully illustrated collection of more than one hundred recipes from Bergdorf Goodman's renowned BG Restaurant, with contributions by fashion industry tastemakersBG Restaurant, located on the seventh floor of Bergdorf Goodman, with its sublime pale-blue and cool green interior and sweeping view of Central Park, is a legendary destination—a ritual part of the shopping experience at this singular luxury emporium for many, a regular gathering spot for members of the fashion community, and a coveted dining experience for visitors to New York City who want to sample its splendid afternoon tea service or addictive Gotham Salad.The Bergdorf Goodman Cookbook publishes for the first time a full range of the restaurant's renowned offerings, from the sparkling Passionista cocktail to the irresistible Lobster Mac and Cheese to The BG, its luscious signature chocolate-hazelnut dessert. Accompanying these perennial favorites from the BG menu and seasonal specialties are recipes contributed by fashion insiders. Designers, editors, writers, stylists, and Bergdorf Goodman's own Linda Fargo and Betty Halbreich all share personally beloved dishes. With a foreword by Hal Rubenstein and illustrations by Konstantin Kakanias, The Bergdorf Goodman Cookbook is a carefully curated and charmingly presented collection of recipes that will delight both discerning fashion and food lovers alike.40 full-color illustrations throughout

The Inspired Home: Interiors of Deep Beauty opens the door to twenty-five of the most beautiful homes in the world ones owned by top interior designers, fashion designers, artists, and stylists to reveal how simple principles borrowed from nature can inspire gorgeous, innovative interiors that both calm and embolden us.To create this unique volume, Karen Lehrman Bloch interviewed renowned aesthetes with homes all over the world, including interior designers Juan Montoya, Darryl Carter, and Vicente Wolf; fashion designers Donna Karan, Alberta Ferretti, and Consuelo Castiglioni; stylist Lori Goldstein; and artist Michele Oka Doner.The direct and practical advice featured inside, along with a wealth of extraordinary photographs of the homes, teaches us how to feel visually, understand color and texture, and find objects, new and used, with a sense of life. An inspired home, Bloch reveals, fulfills our physical and spiritual needs, provides an enduring sense of rejuvenation and pleasure, and is both easily attainable and timeless.

More than a cookbook, this is the story of how a little girl, born in the South of Yankee parents, fell in love with southern cooking at the age of five. And a bite of brown sugar pie was all it took."I shamelessly wangled supper invitations from my playmates," Anderson admits. "But I was on a voyage of discovery, and back then iron-skillet corn bread seemed more exotic than my mom's Boston brown bread and yellow squash pudding more appealing than mashed parsnips."After college up north, Anderson worked in rural North Carolina as an assistant home demonstration agent, scarfing good country cooking seven days a week: crispy "battered" chicken, salt-rising bread, wild persimmon pudding, Jerusalem artichoke pickles, Japanese fruitcake. Later, as a New York City magazine editor, then a freelancer, Anderson covered the South, interviewing cooks and chefs, sampling local specialties, and scribbling notebooks full of recipes.Now, at long last, Anderson shares her lifelong exploration of the South's culinary heritage and not only introduces the characters she met en route but also those men and women who helped shape America's most distinctive regional cuisine—people like Thomas Jefferson, Mary Randolph, George Washington Carver, Eugenia Duke, and Colonel Harlan Sanders.Anderson gives us the backstories on such beloved Southern brands as Pepsi-Cola, Jack Daniel's, Krispy Kreme doughnuts, MoonPies, Maxwell House coffee, White Lily flour, and Tabasco sauce. She builds a time line of important southern food firsts—from Ponce de León's reconnaissance in the "Island of Florida" (1513) to the reactivation of George Washington's still at Mount Vernon (2007). For those who don't know a Chincoteague from a chinquapin, she adds a glossary of southern food terms and in a handy address book lists the best sources for stone-ground grits, country ham, sweet sorghum, boiled peanuts, and other hard-to-find southern foods.RecipesThere are two hundred classic and contemporary, plain and fancy, familiar and unfamiliar, many appearing here for the first time. Each recipe carries a headnote—to introduce the cook whence it came, occasionally to share snippets of lore or back-stairs gossip, and often to explain such colorful recipe names as Pine Bark Stew, Chicken Bog, and Surry County Sonker.Add them all up and what have you gotOne lip-smackin' southern feast!A Love Affair with Southern Cooking is the winner of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Book Award, in the Americana category.

Andrew Carmellini, two-time James Beard Award winner, acclaimed author of Urban Italian, and executive chef–owner of the hit New York City restaurants Locanda Verde and The Dutch, takes readers on a wonderfully rich and diverse tour through the ingredients and cuisines that constitute American flavorFor most of his life, Andrew Carmellini has been hitting the road, tasting the best of American flavors. Whether on childhood trips escaping from the hard-bitten winters of Ohio to sunny Florida and its fresh citrus fruit, cross-country trips in pursuit of the Great American Breakfast, or five-meal-a-day swings through barbecue country, he absorbed everything he could about regional cooking, American-style, at every stop.In American Flavor, Carmellini shares the lessons of his culinary life on the road in recipes and stories that get at the soul of how we eat today. Using the traditional regional foodways and the multicultural neighborhoods, global eateries, and ethnic groceries that dot the American landscape as his inspiration, he introduces delectable, enticing dishes that deliver maximum impact yet are surprisingly simple to make. In the book, you’ll find cheese pierogies inspired by the Polish church ladies of Carmellini’s native Cleveland right next to his take on savory-sweet barbecued beef short ribs from L.A.’s Korea Town; seriously smoky southwestern mole alongside savory lamb stew that takes its flavors from Astoria, the historically Greek neighborhood in Queens, New York. Every recipe reflects Carmellini’s laid-back style, midwestern roots, big-city palate, and dedication to great ingredients and serious flavor.Along with the recipes are true-life tales of Carmellini’s crazy culinary travels across America, into Canada, and even to Europe. Whether he’s hunting ramps with the locals during an extern summer at a Virginia mountain resort or sampling some of the surprising off-menu specials at a hippie café in Vancouver, British Columbia, these hilarious, engaging stories tell the tale of the education of an American chef inside the kitchen—and out. Entertaining and inspiring, American Flavor is a book that readers will turn to again and again, not only for special occasions and everyday meals, but also as a portrait of real American food in the twenty-first century: sophisticated but down-to-earth, rustic but refined, and always deeply flavored and delicious.

Arthur Avenue winds its way through the heart of theBronx. Known to many as the "real Little Italy," the storiedArthur Avenue neighborhood has been home to a vibrantcommunity of Italian-Americans for over a hundred years.Today, this area continues to thrive as visitors and residents stopto buy a fresh, crusty loaf of bread; to enjoy a meal at Mario'sRestaurant; to dawdle for a while at Randazzo's raw bar on a warmsummer afternoon; or to hear Mike's Deli owner Michele Grecobelt out an aria from Rigoletto and spellbind his customers withtales of the Avenue's past.Now, for the first time, the residents of Arthur Avenue inviteyou to experience the magic of their kitchens and share theflavors of their family tables. Passed down through generations,their delicious recipes are time-tested, tried, and true -- and readyfor any kitchen. They include:? Sicilian Baked Ziti ? Yankee Stadium Big Boy (The Grecofamily's famous grinder that was rated one of the best in the cityby the New York Times) ? Osso Buco ? Olive Ciabatta ? Italian RicottaCheesecake ? Cannoli ? and moreThe Arthur Avenue Cookbook also invites you to savor the memoriesof the neighborhood's most colorful residents, restaurateurs, andshop owners, and those of their families -- many of whom havelived in the neighborhood since it first came into being. MeetMario Borgatti, the noodle maker who has been there for morethan eighty-five years. Anthony Artuso, Sr., takes his bakerybusiness so seriously that he went seventeen years without avacation -- in part, to ensure that each bride and groom got theperfect wedding cake. And Mike Rella, president of the ArthurAvenue Retail Market, remembers learning English by workingin a butcher shop, where he's now a partner with his uncle PeterServedio.This cookbook also provides a guide to the pastry shops, delis,restaurants, and other famous and lesser-known gems that lineArthur Avenue. Gorgeous photographs, extraordinary characters,and enticing dishes make The Arthur Avenue Cookbook an irresistibleaddition to any kitchen.

Sweeping in its scope, The Legends of Hip Hop is an intimate look at the visionaries, the movers and the shakers, and the pioneers who have helped shape the world of hip hop.Groundbreaking artist Justin Bua profiles and paints fifty key figures, including everyone from Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash to President Obama and Jay-Z, providing a portrait of each legend in a style reminiscent of the great masters. The artwork is accompanied by an engaging autobiographical narrative that contextualizes the impact each icon has had on Bua's personal life and on the hip-hop culture at large. With a foreword by Chuck D, this landmark volume is more than a celebration of hip hop; it is the definitive word on the subject as told by Bua, one of hip hop's leading artists and a legend in his own right.

From one of Los Angeles's premier caterers and event planners, here is a beautifully photographed cookbook filled with more than 100 delectable recipes and brilliant party-planning tipsLulu Powers, vivacious chef to the stars, has catered parties for a cache of A-list celebrities. What her clients love most is her irrepressible spirit and ability to create elegant yet unpretentious gatherings that feature fabulous food and festive cocktails. In Lulu Powers: Food to Flowers, she dishes out her secrets to enjoyable and stress-free entertaining. From a holiday brunch to a retro party, from a classic Fourth of July celebration to a casual winter picnic, here are dozens of inspiring ways to gather with friends and loved ones.For these creative events, Lulu provides the perfect menu and lays out everything you'll need to host an unforgettable gathering—from sublime cocktails to making a memorable atmosphere with flowers, music, and budget-friendly décor. Of course, the centerpiece of any Lulu Powers party is her delicious, expertly presented food, and the book reveals her best, most crowd-pleasing recipes, including:Mini Wild Mushroom Risotto CakesBurger Bites with Lulu's Special SauceHerb-Marinated Lamb ChopsMini Double-Stuffed New Potatoes Caramel-Fudge BrowniesButterscotch Pudding with Rum SauceThe recipes can be mixed and matched, and almost every dish can be prepared ahead of time, making party planning even easier.Lulu believes that everyone's capable of throwing a great party, and breaks down her inimitable style into simple elements, with hundreds of shortcuts and money-saving tips to ease the mind of even the novice host. She guides you through the party planning process, with loads of information about entertaining and hosting in a fun, relaxed manner. Armed with Lulu's recipes, tips, and party-giving secrets, you'll soon be throwing the best bashes on the block.

Twelve-year-old Joe Stoshack is an average kid with two amazing talents: getting his hands on rare baseball cards, and traveling through time to meet the famous players they depict. Sports buffs and fans of authors like Tim Green and Jon Scieszka will love this imaginative series.Together for the first time, this collection includes:Honus & Me, featuring Honus Wagner, the greatest shortstop ever, from the turn of the century. Honus Wagner’s baseball card is the rarest and most expensive of all; one specimen sold for $2.8 million in 2007. Jackie & Me, featuring Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball, six-time All-Star, and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Babe & Me, featuring Babe Ruth, all-time great batter and seven-time World Series champion, who set records that still stand today. Shoeless Joe & Me, featuring Shoeless Joe Jackson, who was banned from baseball in the prime of his career and whose involvement in the Black Sox Scandal is still disputed.

How do great chefs make their food taste betterIs it the ingredients they useTheir cooking techniques and equipmentThat's part of the answer. But the real secret is that truly great chefs follow their instincts -- the kitchens in their heads. Now, in her first cookbook, Jody Adams, the award-winning chef/co-owner of Boston's Rialto, teaches you how to follow your own instincts and make the transition from passionate eater to passionate cook.In the Hands of a Chef shares Jody's favorite dishes, those she prepares for family and friends in her home kitchen. By teaching the basics of artisanal cooking, or making good food from scratch, she gives cooks a solid foundation for cooking like a chef. She tells readers what to look for when buying ingredients, what equipment is essential, and how a dish should look and taste while being prepared.Above all, Jody encourages readers to trust their instincts and follow them to create a cooking style that feels right, using recipes as the building blocks for their own creations.From starters, seasonal soups, salads, and main courses to desserts, Jody reinvents Mediterranean foods using unconventional ingredients, many from New England. For a boost of summer flavor, grilled tomatoes add depth to gazpacho. To vary the flavor of simple salads -- from a Minted Romaine Salad with Grapes, Ricotta Salata, and Toasted Almonds to Arugula and Portobella Mushroom Salad-one or two seasonal ingredients are added to the usual recipes. Drawing inspiration from Italian tradition, Jody offers up innovative pasta and grains dishes. Ravioli, pappardelle, gnocchi, and linguine are served up with Mediterranean flavors and ingredients -- tomatoes, olives, figs, chestnuts, fresh greens, wild mushrooms, Parmesan cheese -- for home-style meals any time of the year. Yet much of Jody's cooking is pure American in flavor. Dessert classics are reinvented with new twists, such as Super-Creamy Rice Pudding with Passion Fruit Sauce and Heather's Cranberry Chocolate Pecan Tart. Here, too, are Jody's signature dishes, including Roasted Marinated Long Island Duck with Green Olive and Balsamic Vinegar Sauce and Soupe de Poisson, which Jacques Pépin calls the best version outside of France.Intended to make you wish you had more time to spend in the kitchen, In the Hands of a Chef is an inspiration as well as an essential resource for every cook. Why be just a good cook when you can be a great onePut yourself in the hands of Jody Adams with In the Hands of a Chef.

Some time in the early 1960s, during the golden age of organized crime in America the era that would inspire The Godfather; Goodfellas, and even The Sopranos federal investigators pulled every known piece of information on more than 800 Mafia members worldwide into a thick, phone-book-sized directory. From old-school gangsters like Lucky Luciano and Mickey Cohen to young turks like Paul Castellano and Vinny "The Chin" Gigante, the guide offered at-a-glance profiles of small-time thugs and major dons alike... and was allegedly the book Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy used to investigate the mob.Recently discovered, and published for the first time in this facsimile edition, Mafia is a treasure trove of info on the underworld in mid-century America a revelatory artifact and an irresistible read.

Enter a world of adventure and indulgence in this exotic cookbook by the chef Bon Appétit has called "an anarchic artist of the last course."Renowned chef Jehangir Mehta has relentlessly immersed himself in creating inventive desserts and other dishes at his new Manhattan food and wine bar, Graffiti, and as the creator of the sumptuous confections for his online store and event-management company, Partistry. He draws endless inspiration from his Indian heritage and from ayurveda, the ancient science of health and medicine. Now, in this gorgeous book?, Mehta shares his holistic approach to refreshing the body, mind, and spirit through delicious recipes using only the purest and most beneficial ingredients. Wake up to the enticing aroma of fresh-baked Jasmine-Glazed Doughnuts or delectable Hazelnut Crêpes with Caramel-Pine Nut Sauce.Delight in one of Mehta's celebrated flavor fusions: Salty Caramel Tapioca Tarts, Green Papaya and Persimmon Salad with Pepper-Coconut Sorbet, and Lime-Brushed Melon Mille-feuille with Beet Sorbet.Enjoy Mehta's Persian Caraway Seed Cookies and Falooda with Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream, and experience the best of Mexico and India with a superlative Tres Leches Cake with Coconut-Curry Emulsion, Pears, and Almond.Whether you are preparing a spectacular feast for a dinner party or a simple dessert on a whim, you'll be inspired by the amazing range of ingredients in the book—from the most common to the rather unusual. This captivating book is perfect for anyone interested in the intersection of the culinary arts and the restorative properties of nature.

Rome is the most beloved city in Italy, if not the world. Rich in culture, art, and charm, the Eternal City is also home to some of the most delicious and accessible cooking in all of Italy. Influenced by both the earthy peasant fare of the surrounding hillsides and the fish from the nearby Mediterranean, Roman food makes the most of local ingredients and simple, age-old techniques. Yet while Italian cookbooks abound, no American book has focused on Romes unique and varied fare. In this beautifully illustrated cookbook, author David Downie and photographer Alison Harris offer a comprehensive collection of more than 125 Roman recipes, exploring the lively, uncomplicated food traditionally served in Roman homes and trattorie. From well-known dishes like Spaghetti Carbonara, to popular snack food like Pizza Bianca, to distinctive specialties like Roast Suckling Lamb, each recipe in Cooking the Roman Way is simple, authentic, and easy to make at home. With four-color photographs of landmarks, markets and food, stories about and profiles of food vendors, entertaining anecdotes, and a food lovers guide to the streets of the city, this book paints a vivid picture of Rome and the food that has sustained it for millennia.

Crushing your enemies, driving them before you, and hearing the lamentations of their womenIt doesn't get any better than this." –Eugene Robinson, ripping off John Milius That's the sentiment that surges just below the surface of Eugene Robinson's Fight – an engrossing, intimate look into the all–absorbing world of fighting. Robinson – a former body–builder, one–time bouncer, and lifelong fight connoisseur – takes readers on a no–holds–barred plunge into what fighting is all about, and what fighters live for. If George Plimpton had muscles and had been choked out one too many times––this is the book he could have written. When Robinson and his fellow fighters mix it up, they live completely for the moment: absorbed in the feel of muscles slippery with sweat; the metallic tang of blood mingling with saliva in the mouth; the sweet, firm thud of taped knuckles impacting flesh. They fight because it feels good. They fight because they want to win. And even if they get their asses kicked, they fight because they love fighting. Fight is part encyclopedia, part panegyric to fighting in all its forms and glory. Robinson's narrative – told in his trademark tough–guy, stream–of–consciousness noir voice – punctuates this explanatory compendium of the fighting world. From wrestling, jiu–jitsu, boxing and muay thai to bar fighting, hand–to–hand combat, prison fighting and hockey fights, from the greatest movie fight scenes to how to throw the perfect left hook, Fight is a scene–by–scene tour of the bloody but beautiful underworld that is the art of fighting. With his aficionado's enthusiasm and fast–paced, addictive voice, Robinson's Fight combines compelling text with beautiful photographs to create an illustrated book as edgy and interesting as it is gorgeous.

Cea mai bun antologie fantasy a anului.“ – Fantasy LiteratureVoi spune povestea, aadar… dar va trebui s fii cu bgare de seam, pentru c nici povestitoarea nsi n-o nelege pe deplin.Am s v povestesc ce mi-a prezis vrjitoarea.Am s v povestesc despre iubirea pe care am avut-o i am pierdut-o.Am s v povestesc despre…“Epic. Legende fantasy cuprinde 17 proze scrise de unii dintre cei mai faimoi autori moderni: George R. R. Martin, Terry Brooks, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin Hobb, Orson Scott Card, Tad Williams .a.O vitrin excelent a tot ce are mai bun literatura fantasy actual.“ – Publishers WeeklyAceasta nu este una dintre crile pe care s le devorezi pe nersuflate, ci dintre cele pe care le savurezi de-a lungul multor seri de lectur.“ – Locus

《荀子》是战国后期的思想家、教育家荀况的政论集。《大中华文库：荀子（汉阿对照 套装1-2册）》共32篇，涉及哲学、伦理、政治、军事和教育诸方面。荀子在《大中华文库：荀子（汉阿对照 套装1-2册）》中批判地总结了先秦诸子的学术思想。他在哲学上发展了古代朴素唯物主义，反对天命、鬼神迷信之说；他反对孟子的“性善论”，首创“性恶论”，主张熔礼法为一炉，兼重道德教化、法治刑赏；在“称先王”之外，荀子又首倡“法后王”之论，这一点与孔、孟有所不同。

●收词丰富，正文收目18000余条 ●收词，注重收录1985-2016年间出现的新词，新义，新用语 ●释义精准，例句翻译到位，文字顺畅优美 ●语料新颖，例证丰富，鲜活，实用 ●注重科学性，时代性和实用性 ●充分反映当今俄语中出现的构词热，借词热和社会言语俚俗化等现象

For years, Dana Cowin kept a dark secret: From meat to vegetables, broiling to baking, breakfast to dinner, she ruined literally every kind of dish she attempted to make. Now, in this cookbook confessional, the vaunted first lady of food and exceptional entertainer finally comes clean about her many meal mishaps. With the help of friends—all-star chefs, including Mario Batali, Alex Guarnaschelli, and Tom Colicchio, among many others—Cowin takes on 100 recipes dear to her heart. Ideal dishes for the home cook, each recipe has a high "yum" factor, a few key ingredients, and a simple trick that makes it special. With every dish, she acquires a critical new skill, learning invaluable lessons along the way from the hero chefs who help her discover exactly where she goes wrong.Hilarious and heartwarming, encouraging and instructional, Mastering My Mistakes in the Kitchen will inspire anyone who loves a good meal but fears its preparation. Featuring gorgeous full-color photography, it is an intimate, hands-on cooking guide from a fellow foodie and amateur home chef, designed to help even the biggest kitchen phobics overcome their reluctance, with delicious results.

Janet A. Wilson Poems and Prose

Who among us hasn't marveled at the diversity and beauty of shellsOr picked one up, held it to our ear, and then gazed in wonder at its shape and hueMany a lifelong shell collector has cut teeth (and toes) on the beaches of the Jersey Shore, the Outer Banks, or the coasts of Sanibel Island. Some have even dived to the depths of the ocean. But most of us are not familiar with the biological origin of shells, their role in explaining evolutionary history, and the incredible variety of forms in which they come.Shells are the external skeletons of mollusks, an ancient and diverse phylum of invertebrates that are in the earliest fossil record of multicellular life over 500 million years ago. There are over 100,000 kinds of recorded mollusks, and some estimate that there are over amillion more that have yet to be discovered. Some breathe air, others live in fresh water, but most live in the ocean. They range in size from a grain of sand to a beach ball and in weight from a few grams to several hundred pounds. And in this lavishly illustrated volume, they finally get their full due.The Book of Shells offers a visually stunning and scientifically engaging guide to six hundred of the most intriguing mollusk shells, each chosen to convey the range of shapes and sizes that occur across a range of species. Each shell is reproduced here at its actual size, in full color, and is accompanied by an explanation of the shell's range, distribution, abundance, habitat, and operculum-the piece that protects the mollusk when it's in the shell. Brief scientific and historical accounts of each shell and related species include fun-filled facts and anecdotes that broaden its portrait.The Matchless Cone, for instance, or Conus cedonulli, was one of the rarest shells collected during the eighteenth century. So much so, in fact, that a specimen in 1796 was sold for more than six times as much as a painting by Vermeer at the same auction. But since the advent of scuba diving, this shell has become far more accessible to collectors-though not without certain risks. Some species of Conus produce venom that has caused more than thirty known human deaths.The Zebra Nerite, the Heart Cockle, the Indian Babylon, the Junonia, the Atlantic Thorny Oyster-shells from habitats spanning the poles and the tropics, from the highest mountains to the ocean's deepest recesses, are all on display in this definitive work.

This collection contains the first three books in the thrilling prequel arc in Erin Hunter's #1 nationally bestselling Warriors series! Discover how the warrior Clans came to be.Dawn of the Clans #1: The Sun Trail: Long before Firestar left his kittypet home to join ThunderClan, a band of cats from the mountains set off on a dangerous journey in search of a new home.Dawn of the Clans #2: Thunder Rising: The mountain cats from the Tribe of Rushing Water followed the sun trail to a new territory, convinced that in a land with more prey, their lives would be free from strife. But while no cat has gone hungry, tensions are rising.Dawn of the Clans #3: The First Battle: The rivalry between Gray Wing and Clear Sky has driven a bitter wedge between all of the forest cats. As Thunder and Gray Wing struggle to find a peaceful path for the future, tensions are growing—and soon more blood will be shed.