Well, another vernal equinox has come and gone. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we tried to test the theory that the first day of spring is the one day of the year when an egg can be balanced on its end. It took eighteen and a half hours, six pots of coffee, and twelve changes of clothes before we discovered... it's true! The egg stood on its end! Sadly, a friend informs us that an egg can be balanced on any day of the year, with enough patience (and eggs, of course). We think that's a myth.

POWELLS.COM INTERVIEWS: DANIEL GILBERT
Perhaps no one knows better than Daniel Gilbert that when Stumbling on
Happiness achieves bestseller status across the country — and it will, just wait — he won't feel quite as ecstatic about the accomplishment as he might have hoped. But the irony goes deeper: Gilbert will take real pleasure from his own lackluster response. See, the Harvard psychologist has pioneered a field of research he calls "affective forecasting," which is a fancy way of saying that he wants to know why people consistently overestimate the emotional impact of events. "This is a brilliant book," Seth Godin raved, "a useful book, and a book that could quite possibly change the way you look at just about everything. And as a bonus, Gilbert writes like a cross between Malcolm Gladwell and David Sedaris."

PREORDER SIGNED BOOKS!
Don't you hate it when you get the Powells.com newsletter and go to buy a signed first edition of a highly praised new book from a beloved author... and they're already sold out? Well, now you can preorder signed copies from authors who are visiting our stores! Check out what is currently on offer here.

INK Q&A: JULIA ALVAREZ
Julia Alvarez describes her latest novel, Saving the World: "[A]s the Seamus Heaney poem says, hope and history can sometimes be made to 'rhyme.' This novel is about two women, one contemporary and one historical, who want desperately for this rhyme to happen." Read the INK Q&A to find out which fictional character Alvarez would like to date, her favorite passage from another writer, the last good book she read, and other juicy tidbits. And save 30% now when you buy Saving the World.

INK Q&A: CHRISTOPHER MOORE
Just as unexpected as you would expect from the author of The Stupidest Angel, Christopher Moore's INK Q&A reveals his crush on Jasper Fford's Thursday Next, explains why he'd like to live inside The Three Little Pigs (hint: chinny-chin-chin sizzles oh so deliciously in a frying pan), and describes his latest novel, A Dirty Job, as "the story of what happens when a beta male, a single father who owns a thrift store in San Francisco, gets the job of being Death. High jinks ensue." Read the rest of the Q&A and save 30% on A Dirty Job.

SEBASTIAN JUNGER CONTEST
Win an evening of food and conversation with Sebastian Junger, the critically acclaimed author of The Perfect Storm. If your name is selected, you and a guest will join Mr. Junger after his reading for coffee, dessert, and conversation. The contest winner and guest will each also receive a copy of Junger's latest, A Death in Belmont. Enter by April 20 for your chance to win!

This edition of PowellsBooks.news is brought to you in part by the ellipsis, also known as the ellipse, or the colloquial "dot-dot-dot." Friends, are you having trouble making those pesky quotations fit your needs? Why settle for the truth when you can use the ellipsis to turn "the year's best reason not to read a book" into "the year's best...book"? And if your dialogue needs a little time to rest, insert a convenient pause... with three taps of a plastic key! The ellipsis turns an ordinary sentence... into... a great sentence!

GIANT MICROBES
We can't decide which is cuter, Bad Breath or Gonorrhea... but nothing is as cuddly and adorable as Mad Cow! We're referring, of course, to the new Giant Microbes: stuffed animals that look like tiny microbes — a million times their actual size! Each plush doll comes with an image of the real microbe it represents, as well as information about the microbe, so kids (and, um, adults) won't even realize they're learning as they're having fun. Best of all, each is under $8! Share the gift of Sleeping Sickness, Polio, E. coli, Athlete's Foot, or Flesh Eating Disease with someone you love.

LIVE WIRE BROADCAST
Head honcho Michael Powell appeared on the second anniversary episode of Live Wire, the public radio show performed live right here in Portland. In case you missed seeing it at the Aladdin Theatre, the show — which also features author Whitney Otto (How to Make an American Quilt), musician M. Ward, and more — will air on OPB on March 31 at 8:00 p.m., and will also be available as a podcast on the Live Wire website.

SPRINGER PHYSICS AND STATISTICS SALE
Looking for statistics and physics books? Well, who isn't? Enjoy big savings on over 170 excellent titles covering all areas of statistics and physics from one of the most respected names in science publishing. Order such titles as Probability Models for DNA Sequence Evolution, Short Course in General Relativity, and Applied Mathematical Demography before June 30 (or while supplies last) to take advantage of this blowout bonanza.

GUEST BLOGGERS: DANIELLE TRUSSONI AND SAM WALKER
Right now, at this very moment, you are not reading today's entry on the Powell's blog by guest blogger Danielle Trussoni, author of the acclaimed memoir Falling through the Earth. That's okay, because there's a lot more newsletter to read... but as soon as you're finished here, make sure you check out what Danielle has to say. Next week, we're pleased to welcome Sam Walker, author of Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball's Lunatic Fringe.

NEW IN STORES
With The Da Vinci Code finally coming to paperback (in both trade paper and mass market editions) on March 28, we want to remind our readers that Dan Brown's blockbuster isn't the only new book to hit our stores. In Abide with Me, Elizabeth Strout welcomes readers back to the archetypal, lovely landscape of northern New England, where the events of her first novel, Amy and Isabelle, unfolded. The author of American Dynasty, Kevin Phillips, returns with American Theocracy, an explosive examination of the axis of religion, politics, and borrowed money that threatens to destroy the United States.

DVDs
Two of the holiday season's biggest blockbusters make their way to DVD. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire brings J. K. Rowling's immortal creation to the big screen in a film the Hollywood Reporter calls "the best one yet." Peter Jackson's astonishing remake of King Kong ("One of the year's best films," according to Roger Ebert) is available in both a slimmed-down DVD that offers the film and a handful of extras, and in a two-disc special edition that includes Peter Jackson's production diaries, an examination of 1930s New York, and a featurette that explores Skull Island. These and all other DVDs ship for free!

In our next edition:
An interview with Sarah Waters; an original essay by Lori Leibovich (Maybe Baby); and INK Q&As from June Casagrande (Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies) and David James Duncan (God Laughs and Plays).

eBOOKS
New in eBook: legendary comedy writer Carl Reiner, who created The Dick Van Dyke Show and went on to direct Steve Martin's The Jerk, ventures into novel-writing with NNNNN, a "humorous romp through the psyche of an endearingly kooky author" (Booklist, starred review). If that's not enough to slake your thirst for laughter, gulp down Monty Python alum (and winner of the Tony Award for Spamalot) Eric Idle's The Greedy Bastard Diary: A Comic Tour of America — "a very funny book," assures the Washington Post.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Current guest blogger Danielle Trussoni appears at Powell's to promote her memoir, Falling through the Earth, which Kirkus says "flows like the best fiction but...has the punch of real life." Temple Grandin merges a lifetime of study with her extraordinary perceptions as an autistic person in Animals in Translation, a groundbreaking book that revolutionizes the understanding of how animals think and feel. In Field Notes from a Catastrophe, recent guest blogger Elizabeth Kolbert presents an argument for the urgent danger of global warming in a book that has earned comparisons to Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Christopher Moore offers his hilarious latest, A Dirty Job. And, Mark Kurlansky, the bestselling author of Salt and Cod, returns with The Big Oyster, the fascinating history of the oyster's influence on four centuries of cultural, economic, and culinary trends — with recipes throughout. For these and other events, consult our calendar.

FUP. STORE CAT.
They call her ambitious. Fup doesn't see it that way.

"You walked to Kahani."

"I wanted to go. And friends helped."

"But you did it. You did!"

People, cats, dogs... you could probably say the same for ostriches, Fup suspects, though she's never met one so can't be sure — often the only thing keeping them from their dreams is fear. Which makes sense. It's what scares them that she doesn't understand: change, surprise, failure. How do you grow without change? Surprise is good! You can't fail at what you never try, but where's the solace in that?

"You're famous!"

"Because of where I live."

"No, because of who you are."

Who is she? Who exactly do they think?

And what do ostriches dream of, anyway? Flying, Fup bets.

POWELLS.COM BESTSELLERS (UPDATED HOURLY)

1. The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher (Art) 2. The Music of Silence by Andrea Bocelli (Music) 3. American Theocracy by Kevin Phillips (Politics) 4. The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery (Environmental Studies) 5. Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen by Deborah Madison (Cooking and Food) 6. Ugly's Electrical Reference by George Hart (Electricity) 7. Permaculture: A Designers' Manual by Bill Mollison (Gardening) 8. Dark Dreams by Roy Hazelwood (Crime) 9. The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman (Economics) 10. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Biography)