Totem Poles of the Pacific Northwest Coast

Mary Catherine Bateson

Peripheral Visions: Learning Along the Way

Mary Catherine Bateson, author of Composing a Life, is our guide on a fascinating intellectual exploration of lifetime learning from experience and encountering the unfamiliar. Peripheral Visions begins with a sacrifice in a Persian garden, moving on to a Philippine village and then to the Sinai desert, and concludes with a description of a tour bus full of Tibetan monks. Bateson's reflections bring theses narratives homes, proposing surprising new vision of our own diverse and changing society and offering us the courage to participate even as we are still learning.

Donald P. Ryan

Beneath the Sands of Egypt: Adventures of an Unconventional Archaeologist

In 1989, Ryan discovered a lost tomb in the Valley of the Kings using a simple broomstick. Now the archeologist recounts his adventures retrieving the remains of Egypt's past, including the breakthrough rediscovery of Egypt's famous female pharaoh, Hatshepsut.

Claude Levi-Strauss

Tristes Tropiques

First published in 1955, Claude Levi-Strauss's accounts of his researches among the peoples of the Amazon is a fascinating study and influential in understanding the organization of human society. He writes of myths and superstitions, modern cities and ancient villages, and each page is packed with anecdotes and observations. Photos & illus. throughout.