By Douglas Atkin
(Portfolio, $24.95)

Douglas Atkins has researched cults for seven years and come to the conclusion that people become addicted to "cult brands" like Apple or Harley Davidson for the same reasons that people become committed to cults like Hare Krishna: they’re looking community and meaning.

By Paul Graham
(O’Reilly, $22.95)

Hackers & Painters examines the world of hackers and the motivations of the people who occupy it. In clear and thoughtful prose, Paul Graham takes readers on a tour of what he calls "an intellectual Wild West."

Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter
By Lloyd Kahn
(Shelter Publications, $26.95)

This unique book of homes, buildings, dreamers, and doers is the result of a thirty-year, world odyssey. From multi-level tree houses, to shelters of indigenous people, to a Nevada house built from bottles, Home Work summarizes the best of Lloyd Kahn’s discoveries, focusing on the art and craft of building.

Code Complete, 2nd Edition
By Steve McConnell
(Microsoft, $49.99)

Widely considered one of the best practical guides to programming, Code Complete is now fully updated and revised with leading edge practices and hundreds of new samples. No matter what your experience level, development environment, or project size, this book will inform and stimulate your thinking.

Microsoft Rebooted
By Robert Slater
(Portfolio, $24.95)

The media and business world questioned if Microsoft would be able to weather their massive antitrust trial and the worldwide recession. Bestselling author Robert Slater explains how the company adapted and pulled off a business miracle.



Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!: Writers on Comics
Edited by Sean Howe
(Pantheon, $24.95)

In Give Our Regards to the Atomsmashers!, some of the most intriguing and creative contemporary writers weigh in on the world of comics: likes and dislikes, ones they can’t live without, and the comics that have influenced them in their work and lives.

The Second Bill of Rights
By Cass R. Sunstein
(Basic, $25.00)

In The Second Bill of Rights, Cass R. Sunstein analyzes one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s greatest speeches and brings back from obscurity. By giving form and specificity to the idea that human beings have inherent economic rights, it embodied a new ideal and aspiration for modern government.

The Big Horse
By Joe McGinnis
(Simon & Schuster, $22.95)

In racing vernacular, the "big horse" is the animal that brings fame and fortune to a stable. Joe McGinnis’s The Big Horse tells the tale of P.G. Johnson, a hardscrabble guy who became a leading trainer without ever having a "big horse" to his credit. In 2002, weakened by surgery and radiation treatment for cancer, a Johnson horse finally hit the big leagues.

Vanilla: Travels in Search of the Ice Cream Orchid
By Tim Ecott
(Grove Atlantic, $24.00)

Vanilla is the fascinating story of nature’s most exotic and sensual plant and how it produces the world’s most popular flavor. From Mexico to Madagascar, the islands of Tahiti to the gardens of Paris, Tim Ecott traces the story of the vanilla plant and its secretive trade.

The Meaning of Sports
By Michael Mandelbaum
(Public Affairs, $26.00)

In The Meaning of Sports, Michael Mandelbaum examines America’s love affair with baseball, football, and basketball. He shows how each of these games experienced a golden age when the values it embodies were most prized by our culture.


Schott’s Food & Drink Miscellany
By Ben Schott
(Bloomsbury, $14.95)

Schott’s Original Miscellany was a critical and commercial success. With Schott’s Food & Drink Miscellany, Ben Schott offers up another installment of vital irrelevance and uncommon knowledge. It’s a brilliant juxtaposition of delectable tidbits offering food for thought, as well as thoughts on food.

American Soldier
By General Tommy Franks
(Regan, $27.95)

General Tommy Franks was Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003. In American Soldier General Franks retraces his journey from a small-town boyhood in Oklahoma and Texas to the position of senior American military officer in the most dangerous region on earth.

A Matter of Character
By Ronald Kessler
(Sentinel, $24.95)

Honesty, integrity, and clarity of purpose are the qualities Ronald Kessler found while investigating our current president who is so scrutinized—and criticized—at home and around the world.




The (Mis)Behavior of Markets
By Benoit Mandelbrot and Richard L. Hudson
(Basic, $27.50)

With the invention of fractal geometry, mathematical superstar Benoit Mandelbrot forever changed the way we understand the mysteries of nature, and influenced a host of modern fields. In The (Mis)Behavior of Markets, Mandelbrot turns a fractal eye to the behavior of financial markets and overturns the "random walk" theory.

An Invitation to Poetry
Edited by Robert Pinsky and Maggie Dietz
(Norton, $29.95)

An Invitation to Poetry is a collection of 200 poems chosen by American readers, some of the selections appearing on the accompanying DVD, with a video introduction by Robert Pinsky, Poet Laureate emeritus and founder of the Favorite Poem Project.

The Little White Car
By Danuta De Rhodes
(Canongate, $21.00)

One night Veronique decides she’s had enough of her pompous boyfriend and takes off in her little white car. The next day she wakes up to find the whole of Paris looking for her after a shocking international incident. The Little White Car is a hip buddy novel with plot zigzags that would make Quentin Tarantino weep with gratitude.