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  The Map Thief - The Gripping...

  Michael Blanding

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  Maps have long exerted a special fascination on viewers—both as beautiful works of art and as practical tools to navigate the world. But to those who collect them, the map trade can be a cutthroat business, inhabited by quirky and sometimes disreputable characters in search of a finite number of extremely rare objects.Once considered a respectable antiquarian map dealer, E. Forbes Smiley spent years doubling as a map thief—until he was finally arrested slipping maps out of books in the Yale University library. The Map Thief delves into the untold history of this fascinating high-stakes criminal and the inside story of the industry that consumed him. 
  Acclaimed reporter Michael Blanding has interviewed all the key players in this stranger-than-fiction story, and shares the fascinating histories of maps that charted the New World, and how they went from being practical instruments to quirky heirlooms to highly coveted objects. Though pieces of the map theft story have been written before, Blanding is the first reporter to explore the story in full—and had the rare privilege of having access to Smiley himself after he'd gone silent in the wake of his crimes. Moreover, although Smiley swears he has admitted to all of the maps he stole, libraries claim he stole hundreds more—and offer intriguing clues to prove it. Now, through a series of exclusive interviews with Smiley and other key individuals, Blanding teases out an astonishing tale of destruction and redemption. 
  The Map Thief interweaves Smiley's escapades with the stories of the explorers and mapmakers he knew better than anyone. Tracking a series of thefts as brazen as the art heists in Provenance and a subculture as obsessive as the oenophiles in The Billionaire's Vinegar, Blanding has pieced together an unforgettable story of high-stakes crime.

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  South Pole; an account of the...

  Roald Amundsen

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  In contrast to Scott's South Pole expedition, Amundsen's expedition benefited from good equipment, appropriate clothing, and a fundamentally different primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs). Amundsen had a better understanding of dogs and their handling, and he used of skis more effectively. He pioneered an entirely new route to the Pole, and they returned. In Amundsen's own words: "Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck." Short accounts by other members of the party are appended. (Summary adapted from Wikipedia by Karen Merline.)

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  Tales of a Louisiana Duck Hunter

  Fielding Lewis

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  Duck hunters from Cajun South Louisiana share their stories, plus hunting tips and observations, in this collection of essays.Tales of a Louisiana Duck Hunter, by Fielding Lewis, is a delightful collection of anecdotes and stories set in Cajun South Louisiana. The author, a hunter for over forty years, has garnered an extensive knowledge of the geography and fauna and flora of his home state. Interspersed throughout the book are hunting tips and observations that will be of use to any current or burgeoning duck hunter. Advice on how to build a blind, use a pirogue, or even modify a push pole is included in this compendium of the sport of duck hunting.  Over the years, Mr. Lewis has become associated with many “characters” of beguiling charm and eccentricity, who will entertain the reader through the author’s candid storytelling. We meet those who have super-refined sensibility to the ways of nature. There are also separate sections on retrievers, exotic reptiles and birds, including the ivory-billed woodpecker, and even duck calling. Tales of a Louisiana Duck Hunter is both a book filled with pertinent information for the enjoyment of outdoor sport and a heartwarming memoir of the author’s good friends.

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  Tornado Over the Tigris -...

  Michael Napier

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  A Royal Air Force pilot recounts his service flying Tornados over Cold War-era Germany and post-Gulf War Iraq in this thrilling military memoir.After achieving a boyhood ambition to qualify as an RAF pilot, Michael Napier was posted to RAF Bruggen in Germany where he spent five years flying Tornado GR1s at the height of the Cold War. Always exhilarating and often dangerous, Michael Napier’s Tornado flying ranged from ‘routine’ low-flying in continental Europe and the UK to air combat maneuvering in Sardinia and the ultra-realistic Red Flag exercises in the United States. From a struggling first-tourist to a respected four-ship leader, Napier became an instructor at the Tactical Weapons Unit at RAF Chivenor. He later returned to flying the Tornado at Bruggen as a Flight Commander shortly after the Gulf War, flying a number of operational sorties over Iraq, which included leading air-strikes against Iraqi air defense installations as part of major Coalition operations. With candor and vivid detail, Napier offers an insider’s look at one of the RAF’s legendary, now retired, Torando aircraft.

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  But What I Really Want to Do Is...

  Ken Kwapis

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  For over three decades, director Ken Kwapis has charted a career full of exceptional movies and television, from seminal shows like The Office to beloved films like He’s Just Not That Into You. He is among the most respected directors in show business, but getting there wasn’t easy. He struggled just like everyone else. With each triumph came the occasional faceplant. Using his background and inside knowledge, But What I Really Want to Do is Direct tackles Hollywood myths through Ken’s highly entertaining experiences. It’s a rollercoaster ride fueled by brawls with the top brass, clashes over budgets, and the passion that makes it all worthwhile. This humorous and refreshingly personal memoir is filled with inspiring instruction, behind-the-scenes hilarity, and unabashed joy. It’s a celebration of the director’s craft, and what it takes to succeed in show business on your own terms.

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  The Last Englishman - The Life...

  Byron Rogers

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  A biography of the English educator, dictionary writer, and celebrated author of A Month in the Country. 
   
  J.L. Carr was the most English of Englishmen: headmaster of a Northamptonshire school, cricket enthusiast and campaigner for the conservation of country churches. But he was also the author of half a dozen utterly unique novels, including his masterpiece, A Month in the Country, and a publisher of some of the most eccentric—and smallest—books ever printed. 
   
  Byron Roger’s acclaimed biography reveals an elusive, quixotic and civic-minded individual with an unswerving sympathy for the underdog, who led his schoolchildren through the streets to hymn the beauty of the cherry trees and paved his garden path with the printing plates for his hand-drawn maps, and whose fiction is quite remarkably autobiographical. Much more than the life of a thoroughly decent man, The Last Englishman is a comic and touching anatomy of the best kind of Englishness. 
   
  Praise for The Last Englishman 
   
  “A miniature masterpiece of social history.” —Simon Jenkins, The Times (UK) 
   
  “A fine biography. . . . Rogers has done a wonderful job.” —Daily Telegraph (UK) 
   
  “Conveying the significance of the author of Carr’s Dictionary of Extraordinary Cricketers to anyone unfamiliar with his books, or what may now fairly be called his myth, was always going to be difficult. Somehow, Roger’s has managed it.” —D. J. Taylor, Sunday Times (UK) 
   
  “A great success, and more life-affirming than F. R. Leavis’s entire output.” —Independent on Sunday (UK)

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