McNally Robinson NYC

by Sylvia Plath
(Harper Collins, $12.00)
Every poem in this book makes me feel like the top of my head is going to come off. No matter how often I read it. A burning, burning book..

by Jonathan Trouern-Trend
(Sierra Club Books, $9.95)
Trouern-Trend, an avid birdwatcher, went to Iraq as part of the US invasion and took his binoculars with him. This fascinating little book blends birding, war, and sociological observations with sharp little illustrations. Birds and war. A bee-eater on barbed wire. It’s both unsettling and hopeful..

by Les Beletsky
(Chronicle, $45.00)
Spring is here, and the birds are - ahem - bonking. This book lets you listen to recordings of them singing. It’s like a feathered World Music compilation. Find your nearest immigrant, play her a birdsong from her native land, and watch her swoon with nostalgia. The racket-tailed drongo had that effect on me. With this book, you get to look
at great pictures, listen to the sounds of the planet, and push nifty buttons. It’s perfect..

by Adam Mansbach
(Spiegel & Grau, $23.95)
This book made me antisocial keeping me breathless at home in my pajamas for days. I don’t know if it was the energy of a Jewish kid from the Bronx in the 1930s; the master-class descriptions of hip hop, photography and Harlem jazz; the drama and suspense of 1990s Eastern Europe; the compassionate depiction of an overshadowed female artist as well as her Great Man husband; or the best party scene I’ve ever read (start on page 19). Adam Mansbach is a whirlwind, epic talent, not perfect, but full of a cross-pollinated American energy that is well-nigh irresistible..

by Ballistic Publishing
(Ballistic, $45.00)
This most recent edition in the Exotique series features today’s top 2D/3D digital artists. Among them is Marta Dahlig whose cover art is indicative of the quality of beautiful images displayed inside Exotique 3. This is a valuable book for fans and artists of digital paintings rendered in Photoshop or Painter. It is also worth having for those who enjoy digital sculpting using Maya, 3dsMax, Zbrush and Lightwave. Other titles in the Ballistic series are for 3D artists and include Essence: The Face and D’Artiste: Digital Sculpting..

by Mischa Berlinski
(Holtzbrink, $14.00)
In which a hipster-ish young American goes to Thailand and gets sucked into the worlds of anthropologists and missionaries with the most remote villages and obscure tribes as backdrop. There’s a murder mystery, many entertaining anthropological digressions, even more entertaining insights into the minds of white missionaries among the heathens, and, beneath it all, some really good writing that makes you think even as you’re laughing..

by Michael Chabon
(HarperCollins, $12.95)
Rejoice, fellow Sherlock Holmes aficionados–he’s back. This tightly-written novella is a complete pleasure for the writing and story alone–who wouldn’t love a tale of a loquacious parrot, a bloody murder and a mysterious, little Holocaust survivor? As an added bonus, it involves the Great Man himself, grown old and decrepit but still up to his brilliant deductive tricks..

by David Graeber
(University of Chicago Press, $12.95)
This is one of the greatest pieces of radical thought that I have ever come across. I can’t get over how much amazing stuff is in this little read. If anarchy, anthropology, egalitarianism, or direct democracy have any interest to you, then you’ll love this..

by Richard Wolin
(Routledge, $24.95)
While useful as an introduction to and critique of the work of the Frankfurt school of thinkers, Wolin’s true project over the course of these essays is an examination of the continuing validity of the social-democratic project, post-Enlightenment thought and, by extension, an indictment of many un-reflexively radicalized trends in current philosophy. A deft and engaging treatment of difficult and divisive topics..

by Richard Scarry
(Random House, $5.99)
With a raised fist, Nicholas makes an ontological claim that sets him apart from other species. Like Nietszche’s Zarathustra, the protagonist of this tale takes on the roughest conditions Mother Nature has to offer and keeps his inner strength and sanctity throughout. Apparently orphaned, Nicholas blasts through this setback while making the best of out anything. All other bunny tales pale in comparison (all apologies to Pat)..