Natural History of the Senses

A naturalist guides readers on an odyssey through the human senses, discussing such topics as the evolution of the kiss, the sadistic cuisine of eighteenth-century England, the chemistry of pain, and the melodies of Earth. Reissue. TV tie-in. 35,000 first printing. $20,000 ad/promo.

Health, Fitness & Dieting

DIANE ACKERMAN

Psychology & Counseling

Vintage, 1995

Best-selling author (A Natural History of the Senses) and naturalist Diane Ackerman takes a beguiling look at the complex world of the bat--one of the most varied and mysterious of animals. Ackerman describes a visit, with distinguished photographer and bat expert Merlin Tuttle, to the Big Bend national park area of Texas where she observes the nightly emergence of over 20 million bats from Bracken Cave and helps track them for study. In addition to conveying the experience of observing, handling, and studying bats firsthand, Ackerman relates information on a variety of bat species, as well as feeding and reproduction habits, the remarkable sonar they use to navigate and hunt, their migration and hibernation patterns, and their role in the ecosystems they inhabit. More than 50 spectacular color photographs enliven this distinctive, informative, and accessible addition to the natural history shelf.

Bats - Shadows In The Night

Children's Books

Animals

Knopf Books for Young Readers

Science & Math

Nature & Ecology

Vintage Books USA

Wife of light: [poems]

Back in 1977 Diane Ackerman wrote to Albert Mitchell to ask if she might visit his cattle ranch in New Mexico to experience what branding season was like. She asked not to be pampered and to be allowed to ride with the cowboys and live the lifestyle authentically. He agreed and a long visit ensued. Ackerman is an east coast Cornell grad student when she sets off on this journey. She's a poet and this was her first prose book. It's a memoir of her three seasons at the ranch (branding, shipping and calving season). As always, Ackerman's writing is strong and poetic and full of wonder and heart. There are hilarious moments of pranking by the cowboys. Ackerman with her wild hair, bright lipstick and purple chaps must have seemed an easy target to these young men and they must have been surprised at her ability to keep up with them. Ackerman describes the terrain,climate and bone-aching work intimately and well. The Tequesquite Ranch was (is?) a ranch run by a family with strong values and big hearts.

Twilight of the Tenderfoot

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Fulcrum

The Zookeeper's Wife

W.W.Norton&Company

With A Natural History of the Senses, Diane Ackerman let her free-ranging intellect loose on the natural world. Now in Deep Play she tackles the realm of creativity, by exploring one of the most essential aspects of our characters: the ability to play. "Deep play" is that more intensified form of play that puts us in a rapturous mood and awakens the most creative, sentient, and joyful aspects of our inner selves. As Ackerman ranges over a panoply of artistic, spiritual, and athletic activities, from spiritual rapture through extreme sports, we gain a greater sense of what it means to be "in the moment" and totally, transcendentally human. Keenly perceived and written with poetic exuberance, Deep Play enlightens us by revealing the manifold ways we can enhance our lives.

Deep Play

Self-Help

Creativity

Random House]

More than 400 years after they were first written, Shakespeare's plays still offer a stunning glimpse into the motivations, desires, and deviancies of man. His characters are caught in situations modern readers can sympathize with, and his themes—love, family relations, adultery, power, treachery—are as relevant now as they were then. Surprisingly, another aspect of the Bard's work that has withstood the test of time is his understanding of the brain. The Bard on the Brain is a marvelous combination of close readings of Shakespeare and the most current neurological research that together demonstrate how impulses and actions originate in the brain. Paul Matthews here shows us the center-stage role of the brain in famous scenes from Shakespeare's plays. With stunning color brain scans and clear English, Matthews demonstrates how uncannily Shakespeare perceived the brain at work in his characters' ideas and deeds, and how the living brain mirrors human experiences created centuries ago by the Bard. Matthews's science is beautifully interwoven with Jeffrey McQuain's interpretations of many of the most significant soliloquies in all of Shakespeare's plays. The Bard on the Brain is also illustrated throughout with performance photos of acclaimed British and American actors—such as Morgan Freeman as Petruchio, Sir Ian McKellen as Prospero, Alfre Woodard as Paulina, and Anthony Hopkins as King Lear—from celebrated Shakespeare companies. The result of this partnership between scientist and scholar is a unique view of Shakespeare's characters, a dissection of his language, and a wonderfully oblique perspective on the human brain.

The Bard on the Brain: Understanding the Mind Through the Art of Shakespeare and the Science of Brain Imaging

Literature & Fiction

Matthews, Paul M.

McQuain, Jeffrey

Dramas & Plays

Dana Press

The Zookeeper's Wife: A War Story

History

Europe

Baker & Taylor, CATS

One Hundred Names for Love

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Books by DIANE ACKERMAN