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This edition's introduction writes itself. Just watch: An interview with Barbara Kingsolver. Signed first editions of Walter Isaacson's Einstein: His Life and Universe. A contest to win a signed edition of a Jim Crace book that will never be published. Michael Chabon's first original novel since his Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay. New books by George Tenet, Marisha Pessl, and Francine Prose. Original essays by Alisa Smith (Plenty) and Josh Goldfaden (Human Resources). INK Q&As with Nathan Englander (The Ministry of Special Cases), Michelle Goldberg (Kingdom Coming), and Daniel Wilson (Where's My Jetpack?). There's so much great stuff in this newsletter, we don't even have room to be clever.
signed editions
Einstein, Signed 1st Edition by Walter Isaacson
Einstein, Signed 1st EditionFrom Walter Isaacson, the bestselling author of Benjamin Franklin, comes Einstein: His Life and Universe, the first full biography of Albert Einstein since all of his papers have become available — a fully realized portrait of this extraordinary human being and renowned genius. Get your signed first editions in time (if time truly exists...).

Add to Cart New: $32.00 | Hardcover

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FEATURED INTERVIEW
Barbara KingsolverThe typical food in an American supermarket has traveled considerably farther than some people do in a year of vacations. Consider the impact of those miles on fuel consumption, or the effect that chemical preservatives and industrial processing have on our health, not to mention what this long-haul paradigm does to local economies and to our grasp of what food really costs, what food is. For one year, Barbara Kingsolver's family pledged to eat only what it could procure from within an hour of its home. Meats, vegetables, grains, you name it. "Her tale is both classy and disarming, substantive and entertaining, earnest and funny," Publishers Weekly raved in a starred review. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is "a well-paced narrative and the apparent ease of the beautiful prose makes the pages fly."

more author interviews

Win a Signed Copy of Useless America by Jim CraceLonely Planet Europe: Free Inflatable Globe with Select Titles
NEW ARRIVALS
HARDCOVER
The Yiddish Policemen's UnionThe Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay returns with an homage to the stylish menace of 1940s noir. A novel that imagines if Alaska, not Israel, had become the homeland for the Jews after World War II, The Yiddish Policemen's Union "is bloody brilliant," raves Library Journal. Save 30% off the cover price when you buy The Yiddish Policemen's Union from Powells.com.
Add to Cart Sale $18.86 | Hardcover
List Price: $26.95 (You Save: $8.09)

At the Center of the Storm At the Center of the Storm by George Tenet

Candid and compelling, former CIA director George Tenet's memoir is a revelatory look at the inner workings of America's top intelligence agency, including a gripping insider's account of the run-up to the war in Iraq and the momentous events that led up to 9/11. Get At the Center of the Storm for 30% off the publisher's price for a limited time.

Add to Cart Sale $21.00 | Hardcover
List Price: $30.00 (You Save: $9.00)
DVD
Planet Earth: The Complete Collection Planet Earth: The Complete Collection

As seen on the Discovery Channel, the BBC's $25 million series Planet Earth presents the epic story of life on our world as you've never seen it. Five years in production, over 2,000 days in the field, using 40 camera operators filming across 200 locations, shot entirely in high definition, this is the ultimate portrait of survival in Earth's most extreme habitats — and a viewing experience you'll never forget.
Add to Cart Sale $65.99 | DVD
List Price: $79.98 (You Save: $13.99)
PAPERBACK
Reading Like a Writer Reading Like a Writer by Francine Prose

In her entertaining and edifying New York Times bestseller, acclaimed author Francine Prose invites you to sit by her side and take a guided tour of the tools and tricks of the masters to discover why their work has endured. "Prose's guide to reading and writing belongs on every writer's bookshelf," raves Publishers Weekly. Get Reading Like a Writer at 30% off the cover price.

Add to Cart Sale $9.76 | Trade Paper
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Special Topics in Calamity Physics Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

Now in paperback, last year's acclaimed bestseller Special Topics in Calamity Physics is Marisha Pessl's mesmerizing debut, uncannily uniting the trials of a postmodern upbringing with a murder mystery that heralds the arrival of a vibrant new voice in literary fiction. "The most flashily erudite first novel since Jonathan Safran Foer's Everything Is Illuminated," declared the New York Times. Find out for yourself — and get Special Topics in Calamity Physics at 30% off the listed price!

Add to Cart Sale $10.50 | Trade Paper
List Price: $15.00 (You Save: $4.50)
EBOOK
The Faithful SpyThe Faithful Spy by Alex Berenson

Winner of the Edgar Award for Best First Mystery Novel by an American Author, The Faithful Spy "offers a well-informed, often chilling look at how al-Qaeda might launch a major new attack in the United States....[A] first-rate thriller" (Washington Post).
Add to Cart Sale $15.26 | Microsoft eBook
List Price: $17.95 (You Save: $2.69)

Intermission.
The trouble with reading a good book is sooner or later you have to come back to your own life. And isn't everything just a little more disappointing after that?

Forthwith, my list of Five Reasons I Wish Real Life Were More Like a Book:

1. On your dullest day, when absolutely nothing of interest happens and every single person you meet is boring or irritating, you could still be praised for your "evocative prose."

2. If at any point in your life it's crucial that you receive an unlikely nugget of information without which you simply cannot proceed, you will always stumble upon a hushed conversation around the corner that will conveniently reveal everything you need to know.

3. Female scientists are incredibly gorgeous and sexy. Male scientists are impossibly rugged and handsome. Everyone who isn't beautiful is a villain.

4. The simplest of tasks, from searching for a match to biting into a cookie, can trigger a massive wave of vivid recollections and crisp memories that will take you over every major event of your entire life in only five or ten seconds.

5. When you say something stupid on a first date, you can always fix it with a rewrite.

Write your own list or an angry missive about why my list is completely irrational and send them to me at brockman@powells.com. I promise to make the intern who's stuck as my assistant read each and every one.

From the Authors: SAVE 30%
ALISA SMITH: ORIGINAL ESSAY
Alisa Smith Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally details the remarkable, amusing, and inspiring adventures of Canadian couple Alisa Smith and J. B. MacKinnon, who make a year-long attempt to eat foods grown and produced within a 100-mile radius of their apartment. Read Alisa Smith's original essay and save 30% off the cover price of Plenty.

Plenty: One Man, One Woman, and a Raucous Year of Eating Locally
Plenty Sale $16.80 | Hardcover
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JOSH GOLDFADEN: ORIGINAL ESSAY
Josh Goldfaden Powells.com's Jill calls Josh Goldfaden's debut book "an often hilarious, perfectly crafted, spot-on collection of inventive and moving stories which include pirates, litter removal specialists, Bruce Springsteen, and an intelligent fern." What more could you ask for? How about an original essay by Goldfaden and a 30% discount when you buy Human Resources from Powells.com!

Human Resources
Human Resources Sale $9.06 | Trade Paper
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DANIEL WILSON: INK Q&A
Daniel Wilson In Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived, roboticist Daniel Wilson takes a hilarious look at the future imagined through movies, television, and comic books. He reveals which technologies are already available and those that do not yet exist — explaining what stands in the way of making them real. Read the INK Q&A with Wilson — and, for a limited time only, choose between a free weekend trip to Mars or 30% off your very own copy of Where's My Jetpack? (depending on which is technologically possible).

Where's My Jetpack?: A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived
Where's My Jetpack? Sale $10.46 | Trade Paper
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MICHELLE GOLDBERG: INK Q&A
Michelle Goldberg In Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, an "important work of investigative journalism" (Esquire), Salon.com senior political reporter Michelle Goldberg discusses how the growing influence of dominionism — the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers — is threatening the foundations of democracy. Read our exclusive INK Q&A with Goldberg and save 30% off your copy of Kingdom Coming.

Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism
Kingdom Coming Sale $10.46 | Trade Paper
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NATHAN ENGLANDER: INK Q&A and GUEST BLOGGER
Nathan Englander The long-awaited first novel from the author of the award-winning short story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, The Ministry of Special Cases is a stunning historical tale set at the start of Argentina's Dirty War, a hallucinatory journey into a forbidden city and a world of terror. Read our INK Q&A with Nathan Englander and save 30% off The Ministry of Special Cases. And catch Englander all week long on our blog.

The Ministry of Special Cases
The Ministry of Special Cases Sale $17.50 | Hardcover
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TIM GUNN AND KATE MOLONEY: GUEST BLOGGERS
Tim Gunn and Kate Moloney If we held a Powells.com "Top Blogger" contest, we're confident next week's guest, Tim Gunn — Project Runway style mentor and co-author (with Kate Moloney) of Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style — would make the cut. Join Gunn and Moloney on our blog and save 30% on Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style.

Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style
Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste, and Style Sale $12.56 | Hardcover
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Better Books for Gardeners: Timber PressSell Us Your Books Online!
in our stores
1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy (Literature)
The Road

The Road is Cormac McCarthy's darkest, most poetic book in years. In a post-apocalyptic, razed landscape (which, though archetypal, feels frighteningly plausible), McCarthy poses questions of survival, good and evil, and what makes us human. Recommended by Jill, Powells.com (read more)

2. Suite Française by Irène Némirovsky (Literature)
3. The Sight by Erin Hunter (Children's)
4. Einstein by Walter Isaacson (Biography)
5. The Lost Warrior by Erin Hunter (Children's)
6. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert (Travel Writing)
7. The Wild Trees by Richard Preston (Nature Studies)
8. The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards (Literature)
9. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin (History and Social Science)
10. The Children of Hurin by J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien (Science Fiction and Fantasy)
MAY 2: Chuck Palahniuk
Rant Rant, the new novel from Fight Club author Chuck Palahniuk, takes the form of a (fictional) oral history of Buster "Rant" Casey, in which an assortment of friends, enemies, admirers, detractors, and relations have their say on this evil character, who may or may not be the most efficient serial killer of our time.

MAY 4: Granta's Best of Young American Novelists
Granta 97 Granta 97 is devoted to new work by the 21 writers, aged 35 and under, that Granta's judges have selected as the most interesting new young voices in American fiction. Contributors Anthony Doerr (The Shell Collector) and Maile Meloy (Liars and Saints) will be on hand for this event.

view all events
preorder signed editions by authors coming to Powell's

       
IN OUR NEXT EDITION:
An interview with Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great)
Signed first editions of Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union
An INK Q&A by Richard Flanagan (The Unknown Terrorist)
Fup.  Store Cat.
Red light. Left turn arrow. Green light, yellow light, red. Thirty-five, forty, fifty times. The better part of an afternoon.

"The better part," Fup insists.

Oreo will have none of such nonsense. He asks, "You at least went down to the sidewalk where people could pet you?"

Fup says they did not. A third time now, Bear describes their view from the balcony.

Fup suggests, "If we were pigeons, we could have left one serious mess on the sidewalk."

"Not to mention on anyone waiting to cross," Bear adds.

"Not to mention!" Fup's thoughts exactly.

They sat and watched, perched twelve feet above the pavement. In shade (clouds), and then sunshine, and then shade again once the sun ducked behind a facade, as traffic started picking up. Cars, bicycles, pedestrians. Green light, yellow light, red.

Send questions, comments, suggestions, and favorite lemonade recipes to newsletter@powells.com.

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