Harvard Book Store
News from Harvard Book Store
March 31, 2013

One of the best things about true booklovers is that we can use any occasion as an excuse to curl up with a good book. When the weather begins to cool in the fall, we anticipate snowy evenings in front of the fire reading Russian novels and poring over scholarly tomes. Now, as the days get longer, we anticipate long, lazy summer afternoons reading the latest literary or genre fiction in the sun. Whatever kind of reading the change of seasons inspires in you, you'll find the perfect suggestion on our staff recommendations page, or by asking a bookseller next time you're in the store. Happy spring!

A reminder to writers about the Chuckanut Writers Conference, being held this summer in Bellingham, WA. Put on by a local community college and our friends at Village Books, it's a growing conference seeking to inspire an active writing life. Find schedule and registration information here.

Inventory Update: Due to a power outage, our annual inventory has been rescheduled for this Monday, April 1. The store will close at 6pm on Monday, and reopen as usual at 9am on Tuesday morning. We apologize for any inconvenience.

'Til Next Week,
Rachel 

The Weekly Bestsellers already Discounted 20%

New on Our Shelves: The Latest in Fiction, Nonfiction, Scholarly Books & In Store Book Printing
Fiction
 
The Enchanted Wanderer
by Nikolai Leskov

$35

Alfred A. Knopf, hardcover



Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky, award-winning translators of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, and Gogol, now bring us a Russian writer ripe for rediscovery. Leskov was Chekhov's favorite writer and was greatly admired by Tolstoy and Maxim Gorky. His short stories--innovative in form, richly playful in language, now tragic, now satirical, now wildly comic in subject matter--exploded the prevailing traditions of nineteenth-century Russian fiction. These seventeen stories are visionary yet always grounded in reality, peopled by outsized characters that include serfs, princes, military officers, Gypsy girls, and wayward monks.

Nonfiction
 
The Drunken Botanist:
The Plants That Create the World's Great Drinks
by Amy Stewart    
 
$19.95
Algonquin, hardcover
Order
Sake began with a grain of rice. Scotch emerged from barley, tequila from agave, rum from sugarcane, bourbon from corn. In The Drunken Botanist, Amy Stewart explores the dizzying array of herbs, flowers, trees, fruits, and fungi that humans have, through ingenuity, inspiration, and sheer desperation, contrived to transform into alcohol over the centuries. Of all the extraordinary and obscure plants that have been fermented and distilled, a few are dangerous, some are downright bizarre, and one is as ancient as dinosaurs--but each represents a unique cultural contribution to our global drinking traditions and our history. 
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Scholarly
 Contesting Nietzsche 
by Christa Davis Acampora

$35
University of Chicago Press, hardcover
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Christa Davis Acampora offers a rethinking of Friedrich Nietzsche's crucial notion of the agon. Analyzing an array of sources and synthesizing decades of Nietzsche scholarship, she shows how the agon, or contest, organized core areas of Nietzsche's philosophy. Analyzing Nietzsche's elaborations of agonism--his remarks on types of contests, qualities of contestants, and the conditions in which either may thrive or deteriorate--she demonstrates how much the agon shaped his philosophical projects, shedding light on some of this philosopher's most difficult and paradoxical ideas. 

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Printed on Paige
Each week, we'll feature a book printed in Harvard Book Store on Paige, our book-making machine. Featured books will range from fresh works from local authors to near-forgotten titles discovered in our extensive print-on-demand database.  
 
The Melted Refrigerator:
Comedy and Combat in the Life of a Woman     
by Francelia Butler

$24.95

Print on Demand, paperback
Order

Alive with extraordinary memories, The Melted Refrigerator is a delicious, magical, moveable feast. This is a personal history of one of the most innovative, and generous-spirited members of academia ever to have walked the planet. Overcoming numerous obstacles in her personal and professional life, Francelia Butler played a major role in the acceptance of children's literature as an accepted academic discipline.

Learn More
Bargain Books
Bargain Books are new books at used-book prices. We have a limited number of copies of these titles, so if you see something that you're interested in, come in and check it out soon. To see more of our Bargain Books section, visit our Bargain Books page.
Mind Awake:
An Anthology of C.S. Lewis 
by C.S. Lewis   
$4.99, paperback (originally $13.95)

C.S. Lewis believed in the absolute logic of faith; his books, letters, and essays demonstrated the immutability of religion in his life. This collection mines their pages to showcase the themes that provided the foundation for his philosophy. His preoccupations produced literature that was whimsical, provocative, and emotionally compelling.
The Price of Altruism:
George Price and the Search for the Origins of Kindness    
by Oren Harman
$5.99, paperback (originally 8.99)
When George Price died in January 1975, his funeral in London was attended by five homeless men. Alongside them were Bill Hamilton and John Maynard Smith, two distinguished British evolutionary biologists. All seven men had come to mourn an eccentric American genius who helped to unpack the riddle of how altruism, or unselfish concern for the welfare of others, could exist in a world driven by survival of the fittest and who committed suicide aged just 52.
Beyond Boundaries:
The New Neuroscience of Connecting Brains with Machines, and How It Will Change Our Lives 
by Miguel Nicolelis   
$5.99 hardcover (originally $28)
   
Imagine living in a world where people use their computers, drive their cars, and communicate with one another simply by thinking. Neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis shares his insights into how the brain creates thought and the human sense of self--and how machines might augment this, so that the entire universe will be within our reach.
Recent Finds Downstairs in the Used Book Department

 

Featured used books go fast, so if any titles interest you, stop in to check them out soon. We will hold the book if you are the first caller to reserve it. To reserve a book, call (617) 661-1515 and ask for our Used Department. We're also always looking for books to buy. Learn about selling your used books, including textbooks, here.
Hollywood and the American Historical Film
edited by J.E. Smyth
Originally published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012
$16 (paperback) in Very Good Condition
This interdisciplinary collection by leading scholars probes the theoretical and historical contexts of films made about the American past, from silent film to the present. The book offers a fresh assessment of studio era historical filmmaking and its legacy across a range of genres.
Are Muslims Distinctive? A Look at the Evidence
by M. Steven Fish
Originally published by Oxford University Press in 2011
$14 (paperback) in Very Good Condition
Are Muslims Distinctive? represents the first major scientific effort to assess how Muslims and non-Muslims differ--and do not differ--in the contemporary world. Using rigorous methods and data drawn from around the globe, M. Steven Fish's findings have vital implications for human welfare, interfaith understanding, and international relations.
No Fixed Points:
Dance in the Twentieth Century
by Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick 
Originally published by Yale University Press in 2003
$25 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition 
This book chronicles one hundred years of dramatic developments in ballet, modern, and experimental dance for stage and screen in Europe and North America. Nancy Reynolds and Malcolm McCormick set dance in broader cultural and historical contexts, examine specific dance works, and explore the contributions of outstanding choreographers, performers, and other figures.

Author Events

   

On sale now:

Elizabeth Strout (4/4)
Mary Roach (4/5)

On sale Monday, April 1:
Paul Farmer (5/2)

 

Subscribe to the Harvard Book Store Google Event Calendar here.

All Upcoming Events 


Jess Walter
Tues, April 2, 7PM 

Jess Walter reads from Beautiful Ruins, his bestselling novel now in paperback, as well as his first collection of short stories, We Live in Water.
At Harvard Book Store
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Jacqueline Winspear
Wed, April 3, 7PM    

Beloved mystery writer Jacqueline Winspear discusses Leaving Everything Most Loved, her tenth Maisie Dobbs novel.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Liza Mundy
Wed, April 3, 7PM    

Journalist Liza Mundy discusses The Richer Sex: How the New Majority of Female Breadwinners Is Transforming Our Culture.
A Cambridge Forum event.
At First Parish Church
Learn More

Elizabeth Strout
Thurs, April 4, 6PM 

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Elizabeth Strout discusses her new book, The Burgess Boys, in conversation with novelist and Ploughshares editor Ladette Randolph.
At the Brattle Theatre
Learn More

James P. Marshall
Fri, April 5, 3PM     

W.E.B. Du Bois Institute fellow and former civil rights activist James P. Marshall discusses Student Activism and Civil Rights in Mississippi: Protest Politics and the Struggle for Racial Justice, 1960-1965. Co-sponsored with the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Mary Roach
Fri, April 5, 6PM     

Bestselling science writer Mary Roach discusses Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal, in conversation with America's Test Kitchen's Chris Kimball.
At the Brattle Theatre
Learn More

Things to know about our $5 tickets...

 

$5 tickets are also coupons good for $5 off a purchase at events or at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire 30 days after the event, and cannot be used for online purchases, event tickets, or gift certificates. Please note that your ticket only guarantees you a seat until 5 minutes before an event begins.


Find it here. Buy it here. Keep us here.

We appreciate the feedback we get from readers of this e-newsletter.

 

Please send your comments and suggestions to Rachel at rcass@harvard.com. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you in the store!

 

Rachel Cass
Marketing Manager
rcass@harvard.com 

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