Peppa Goes to Bed

In this latest collection of adventures, P. J. O’Rourke casts his mordant eye on America’s recent foreign policy forays. He first travels to Kosovo where he meets KLA veterans, Albanian refugees and peacekeepers, and confronts the paradox of ‘the war that war-haters love to love’. He visits Egypt, Israel and Kuwait, where he witnesses citizens enjoying their newfound freedoms – namely, to shop, to eat and to sit around a lot. Following 11 September, O’Rourke examines the far-reaching changes in the US, from the absurd hassles of airport security to the dangers of anthrax. In Iraq, he witnesses both the beginning and the end of Operation Iraqi Freedom and takes a tour of a presidential palace, concluding that the war was justified for at least one reason: criminal interior decorating.

Peace Kills is an eye-opening look at a world much changed since O’Rourke wrote his bestselling Give War A Chance – a book in which he presciently declared that the most troubling aspect of war is sometimes peace itself.

In 2000, Daniel Suelo left his life savings-all thirty dollars of it-in a phone booth. He has lived without money-and with a newfound sense of freedom and security-ever since. The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn’t pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs-for shelter, food, and warmth-but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement. In retracing the surprising path and guiding philosophy that led Suelo into this way of life, Sundeen raises provocative and riveting questions about the decisions we all make, by default or by design, about how we live-and how we might live better.

This new edition includes an update on HIV disease/AIDS, recently developed HIV rapid tests to diagnose HIV infection and screen donor blood, and current information on antiretroviral drugs and the laboratory monitoring of antiretroviral therapy. Information on the epidemiology and laboratory investigation of other pathogens has also been brought up to date. Several new, rapid, simple to perform immunochromatographic tests to assist in the diagnosis of infectious diseases are described, including those for brucellosis, cholera, dengue, leptospirosis, syphilis and hepatitis. Recently developed lgM antibody tests to investigate typhoid fever are also described. The new classification of salmonellae has been introduced. Details of manufacturers and suppliers now include website information and e-mail addresses. The haematology and blood transfusion chapters have been updated, including a review of haemoglobin measurement methods in consideration of the high prevalence of anaemia in developing countries.

In this book Paul Willis, a renowned sociologist and ethnographer, aims to renew and develop the ethnographic craft across the disciplines. Drawing from numerous examples of his own past and current work, he shows that ethnographic practice and the ethnographic imagination are vital to understanding the creativity and irreducibility of experience in all aspects of social and cultural practice.

Willis argues that ethnography plays a vital role in constituting ‘sensuousness’ in textual, methodological, and substantive ways, but it can do this only through the deployment of an associated theoretical imagination which cannot be found simply there in the field. He presents a bold and incisive ethnographically oriented view of the world, emphasizing the need for a deep-running social but also aesthetic sensibility. In doing so he brings new insights to the understanding of human action and its dialectical relation to social and symbolic structures. He makes original contributions to the understanding of the contemporary human uses of objects, artefacts and communicative forms, presenting a new analysis of commodity fetishism as central to consumption and to the wider social relations of contemporary societies. He also utilizes his perspective to further the understanding of the contemporary crisis in masculinity and to cast new light on various lived everyday cultures – at school, on the dole, on the street, in the Mall, in front of TV, in the dance club.

This book will be essential reading for all those involved in planning or contemplating ethnographic fieldwork and for those interested in the contributions it can make to the social sciences and humanities.

Handbook of Agricultural Entomology by Helmut van Emden is a landmark publication for students and practitioners of entomology applied to agriculture and horticulture. It can be used as a reference and as a general textbook.

The book opens with a general introduction to entomology and includes coverage of the major insects (and mites) that cause harm to crops, livestock and humans. The important beneficial species are also included. Organisms are described in a classification of insect Orders and Families. The emphasis is on morphological characters of major taxonomic divisions, “spot characters” for the recognition of Families, and the life histories, damage symptoms and economic importance of the various pest species.

The book is beautifully illustrated in full colour with more than 400 figures showing both the organisms and the damage caused to plants with diagnostic characters indicated by arrows. Coverage is world-wide and includes much material stemming from the vast personal experience of the author.