Everyone wants to be an action hero—as smooth as James Bond, as clever as Captain Kirk, as tough as Charlie's Angels. And now you can: The Action Hero's Handbookis the ultimate guide to an action-packed lifestyle, with genuine step-by-step instructions on interrogating a suspect, catching a great white shark, performing the Vulcan Nerve Pinch, stopping a wedding, navigating a ventilation shaft, and much more. All information is reality-based and comes from a host of experts (including FBI agents, marine biologists, karate champions, wedding planners, and air duct cleaners). With more than 35 illustrations throughout, this dynamic little handbook will teach us all how to keep up with the Indiana Joneses.

Paperback: 1008 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 1.95 x 7.69 x 6.09 Publisher: Laurel Glen; (August 2000) ISBN: 1571456619 The rose is one of the most, if not the most, recognized and best loved flowers in the world. No other plant or flower brings such crowning glory to a garden as the rose. Now all the species and varieties of roses are carefully and lovingly categorized in this comprehensive guide. This inexhaustible reference is compiled by Botanica's expert editors and stands alongside the equally impressive Annuals & Perennials and Trees & Shrubs. Over 2,500 color photographs capture the beauty of the over 2,000 varieties listed. You are sure to find the perfect rose for any site, season, or soil condition. Complete with a reference table and glossary, this compendium is both easy to use and portable."

Fresh on the heels of his New York Timesbestselling and National Book Award- nominated novel, Drop City, T.C. Boyle has spun an even more dazzling tale that will delight both his longtime devotees and a legion of new fans. Boyle's tenth novel, The Inner Circlehas it all: fabulous characters, a rollicking plot, and more sex than pioneering researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey ever dreamed of documenting . . . well, almost.

A love story, The Inner Circleis narrated by John Milk, a virginal young man who in 1940 accepts a job as an assistant to Dr. Alfred Kinsey, an extraordinarily charming professor of zoology at Indiana University who has just discovered his life's true calling: sex. As a member of Kinsey's “inner circle” of researchers, Milk (and his beautiful new wife) is called on to participate in sexual experiments that become increasingly uninhibited—and problematic for his marriage. For in his later years Kinsey (who behind closed doors is a sexual enthusiast of the first order) ever more recklessly pushed the boundaries both personally and professionally.

While Boyle doesn't resist making the most of this delicious material, The Inner Circleis at heart a very moving and very loving look at sex, marriage, and jealousy that will have readers everywhere reassessing their own relationships—because, in the end, “love is all there is.”

In Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury's classic, frightening vision of the future, firemen don't put out fires—they start them in order to burn books. Bradbury's vividly painted society holds up the appearance of happiness as the highest goal—a place where trivial information is good, and knowledge and ideas are bad. Fire Captain Beatty explains it this way, "Give the people contests they win by remembering the words to more popular songs.... Don't give them slippery stuff like philosophy or sociology to tie things up with. That way lies melancholy."

Guy Montag is a book-burning fireman undergoing a crisis of faith. His wife spends all day with her television "family," imploring Montag to work harder so that they can afford a fourth TV wall. Their dull, empty life sharply contrasts with that of his next-door neighbor Clarisse, a young girl thrilled by the ideas in books, and more interested in what she can see in the world around her than in the mindless chatter of the tube. When Clarisse disappears mysteriously, Montag is moved to make some changes, and starts hiding books in his home. Eventually, his wife turns him in, and he must answer the call to burn his secret cache of books. After fleeing to avoid arrest, Montag winds up joining an outlaw band of scholars who keep the contents of books in their heads, waiting for the time society will once again need the wisdom of literature.

Bradbury—the author of more than 500 short stories, novels, plays, and poems, including The Martian Chroniclesand The Illustrated Man—is the winner of many awards, including the Grand Master Award from the Science Fiction Writers of America. Readers ages 13 to 93 will be swept up in the harrowing suspense of Fahrenheit 451, and no doubt will join the hordes of Bradbury fans worldwide. —Neil Roseman

Gina Spadafori, Universal Press Syndicate pet care columnist and host of AOL's "Gina Spadafori's Pet Connection," follows her educational and entertaining book Dogs for Dummieswith Cats for Dummies, which she co-authors with Paul Pion, D.V.M., D.A.C.V.I.M., president of the Veterinary Information Network.

If you own a cat or are considering cat ownership, Cats for Dummiesis the one book you really must have. This educational, comprehensive, and entertaining book is probably the closest you'll get to a cat "owners' manual."

Beginning with a foreword by Lilian Jackson Braun, the cat-owned author of The Cat Who...mystery novels, the book quickly moves into a brief history of cats, cat psychology, and their recent amazing growth in popularity.

Spadafori and Pion spend a considerable amount of time on the selection of a cat breed. While size and in-bred behaviors don't vary in cats as much as they do in dogs, different breeds of cats do have distinctive traits and temperaments that should be considered when deciding on a purebred animal. Physical characteristics, such as coat type, should also be considered. Some cats require a great deal more grooming than others do. The authors are frank in their discussion of the fate of poorly chosen cats who wind up in shelters because they were too much work and not right for the person who had selected them.

For readers considering a purebred cat, Spadafori and Pion provide tips and resources, including magazines, Web sites and Cat Fanciers Association breed clubs. They also give information on screening breeders to weed out the "truly evil" and the simply ignorant. They strongly encourage adoption of shelter cats, though, pointing out that many of these animals are young, healthy, and affectionate and may have been given up through no fault of their own. Adult shelter cats, Spadafori says, can be a particularly good choice, especially for an older person, since they are past their kitten craziness. Because the adoption rates for adult cats are lower than for kittens, thousands of wonderful animals who would make great pets are euthanized each year.

Spadafori recommends proceeding with caution when shopping pet stores for kittens due to the high percentage of pet store kittens that come from kitten mills where animals are bred indiscriminately and often kept in horrifying conditions. And while some pet stores offer space to sell "oops" litters, she believes the practice, while well-intentioned, sends the message that kittens are easy to place and encourages cat owners to continue allowing their pets to breed.

Once the breed or type of cat has been selected, Cat for Dummiesmoves on to cover aspects of cat ownership, including kitten-proofing your house, bringing home a new cat or kitten, care, feeding and grooming, and veterinary care. The chapter on medical care and common illnesses is particularly strong, spending much more time on the subject than in Dogs for Dummies,due, most likely, to the fact that the co-author is a veterinarian. This section provides important information without excruciating clinical detail that might lose the reader and is a great addition to the book.

As in Dogs for Dummies, Spadafori includes the entertaining "Part of Tens" section in which she debunks 10 common cat myths, offers 10 things the cat owner needs to do to be prepared for a disaster, suggests 10 sets of questions to ask when choosing a kitten, lists 10 household dangers to cats, and provides 10 cat-related sites on the World Wide Web. Also included is "Ten of the best things ever said about cats." This book is highly recommended for anyone who is owned by a cat or aspires to be.

"Living in the peaceful city of Pickax may be restful, but it certainly isn't dull. At least not for one of the most eligible bachelors in town, veteran newspaperman Jim Qwilleran. Having inherited millions, Qwilleran and his two feline companions, Koko and Yum Yum, are preparing to settle down into a life of purrfect luxury. That is, until the son of a rich banker and his wife are found murdered. To the police, it looks like a robbery gone awry. But then Koko develops an odd appetite for glue. Qwilleran doesn't spot the clue until his beloved Siamese's taste for paste tangles them in a web of love, danger, and their stickiest case yet! "

Hugo and Nebula award-winning author David Brin is one of the most eloquent, imaginative voices in science fiction.  Now he returns with a new novel rich in texture, universal in theme, monumental in scope—pushing the genre to new heights.

Young Maia is fast approaching a turning point in her life.  As a half-caste var, she must leave the clan home of her privileged half sisters and seek her fortune in the world.  With her twin sister, Leie, she searches the docks of Port Sanger for an apprenticeship aboard the vessels that sail the trade routes of the Stratoin oceans.

On her far-reaching, perilous journey of discovery, Maia will endure hardship and hunger, imprisonment and loneliness, bloody battles with pirates and separation from her twin.  And along the way, she will meet a traveler who has come an unimaginable distance—and who threatens the delicate balance of the Stratoins' carefully maintained, perfect society....

Both exciting and insightful, Glory Seasonis a major novel, a transcendent saga of the human spirit.

Did you know:

That Woodstock was initially proposed as “Three Days of Peace, Love, and Monster Trucks”?

That Dr. Seuss experimented with numerous titles before settling on The Cat in the Hat, including The Manatee

Who Uses Profanity and The Horse Going Through a Painful Divorce?

That before settling for a zip-up cardigan, Mr. Rogers insisted on starting each show in his Dallas Cowboys half-shirt?

That James Bond’s famous self-introduction was originally, “Bond. James Bond. James Susan Bond.”?

Or that John Gray’s bestseller was originally titled Men Are from Mars, Women Won’t Shut Up?

Illustrated with album covers, book jackets, scripts, photographs, everyday objects, and other artifacts, Rough Draft is a visually stunning, hilariously funny parody of pop culture from the writers whom Timemagazine calls “wildly inventive.”

Brontë's romantic heroine Lucy Snowe, a penniless governess attempting to begin life anew in France, is an exceptional example of a great writer transforming her life into art.

"My greatest thought in living is Heathcliff. If all else perished, and he remained, I should still continue to be... Nelly, I amHeathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure... but as my own being."Wuthering Heightsis the only novel of Emily Bronte, who died a year after its publication, at the age of thirty. A brooding Yorkshire tale of a love that is stronger than death, it is also a fierce vision of metaphysical passion, in which heaven and hell, nature and society, are powerfully juxtaposed. Unique, mystical, with a timeless appeal, it has become a classic of English literature.

The Zombie Survival Guideis your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now. Fully illustrated and exhaustively comprehensive, this book covers everything you need to know, including how to understand zombie physiology and behavior, the most effective defense tactics and weaponry, ways to outfit your home for a long siege, and how to survive and adapt in any territory or terrain.

Top 10 Lessons for Surviving a Zombie Attack 

1. Organize before they rise! 

2. They feel no fear, why should you?

3. Use your head: cut off theirs.

4. Blades don’t need reloading.

5. Ideal protection = tight clothes, short hair.

6. Get up the staircase, then destroy it. 

7. Get out of the car, get onto the bike.

8. Keep moving, keep low, keep quiet, keep alert!

9. No place is safe, only safer. 

10. The zombie may be gone, but the threat lives on. 

Don’t be carefree and foolish with your most precious asset—life. This book is your key to survival against the hordes of undead who may be stalking you right now without your even knowing it. The Zombie Survival Guide offers complete protection through trusted, proven tips for safeguarding yourself and your loved ones against the living dead. It is a book that can save your life.

When casting about for an author to novelize the script for The Phantom Menace—the first in a series of three prequels to the eternally popular Star Warssaga—it—it's no surprise that creator George Lucas called on Terry Brooks to novelize the biggest science fiction movie of all time. After all, Brooks is a perennially bestselling epic fantasy author whose Sword of Shannarais a classic adventure story, not far removed from the swashbuckling exploits of our favorite Star Warsheroes.

Brooks handles the job of modern mythmaker well. He deftly juggles a hodgepodge of characters: a young stately queen (Amidala) and her handmaidens; a pair of Jedi knights (Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn); a bumbling amphibious sidekick (Jar Jar Binks); two Sith Lords (Darths Maul and Sidious) who add more than enough menace to the mix; a couple of familiar robots (C-3P0 and R2-D2); a teeming host of Senators, Chancellors, diplomats, warrior droids, and spies; and one young slave boy who aspires to be a Jedi knight (Anakin Skywalker). With cinematic prose, Brooks brings to life a number of epic battles, skirmishes, and dogfights in space—all the elements that we've come to expect from a rousing Star Warsinstallment. The Phantom Menacedoesn't stray far from those expectations: there is a clear division between the good guys and the bad; good things come in small (and surprising) packages; and heroes lose battles only to emerge victorious on another day. But Phantomdoes illuminate in ways the other installments didn't. For the first time, we get a glimpse at the whys and wherefores behind the curtain; at times the book reads almost like a sociopolitical thriller as the emerging Federation shuffles for power with the waning democracy of the Republic. The Force is also further illuminated. Turns out it has something to do with "midi-chlorians"—microscopic life forms that live in the cells of all creatures.

The Phantom Menaceis a fun read, sure to satisfy Star Warsjunkies young and old. And don't forget: turn your light saber off beforeyou enter the swamp or you'll fry your energy pack. —Tod Nelson

A shocking scientific discovery.

A conspiracy of staggering brilliance.

A thriller unlike any you've ever read....

When a NASA satellite discovers an astonishingly rare object buried deep in the Arctic ice, the floundering space agency proclaims a much-needed victory — a victory with profound implications for NASA policy and the impending presidential election. To verify the authenticity of the find, the White House calls upon the skills of intelligence analyst Rachel Sexton. Accompanied by a team of experts, including the charismatic scholar Michael Tolland, Rachel travels to the Arctic and uncovers the unthinkable: evidence of scientific trickery — a bold deception that threatens to plunge the world into controversy. But before she can warn the President, Rachel and Michael are ambushed by a deadly team of assassins. Fleeing for their lives across a desolate and lethal landscape, their only hope for survival is to discover who is behind this masterful plot. The truth, they will learn, is the most shocking deception of all.