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It's the holiday season, whoop-di-doo! Nowadays you've barely blown out the candle in the jack-o-lantern before it's time to throw up a tree and hang lights everywhere. Not to worry — we've got our handy holiday catalog to help you with your shopping needs, with something for every book lover on your list! And if you aren't ready to face another onslaught of those holiday jingles, we've got a free Putamayo world music download to play while stringing up tinsel. We also have a cornucopia of great reading and amazing deals in this newsletter, beginning with our interview with Steven Pinker ( The Stuff of Thought); a trio of signed editions; essays by Daniel Walker Howe ( What Hath God Wrought), Yannick Murphy ( Signed, Mata Hari), and Daniel Lord Smail ( On Deep History and the Brain); INK Q&As by Steve Erickson ( Zeroville) and Cesar "The Dog Whisperer" Millan ( Be the Pack Leader); and much more!
signed editions
 Pick up a signed first edition of New York Times columnist Paul Krugman's latest book, The Conscience of a Liberal, which weaves together a nuanced account of three generations of history with sharp political, social, and economic analysis.
 Get a signed first edition of Ha Jin's A Free Life — "Jin takes his writing to a new level as he skillfully crafts an ambitiously angst-filled yet masterly tale of assimilation overflowing with both heart and culture" (Library Journal).
 Preorder your signed copy of To-Do List, Quirkyalone author Sasha Cagen's celebration of the humble list, exploring the ways these scribbled agendas reflect idiosyncrasies, personalities, and passions.
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Sale $11.20 | Trade Paper
List Price: $16.00 (You Save: $4.80) |
 more signed editions
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FEATURED INTERVIEW
 An evolutionary psychologist with a focus on language, Steven Pinker is the author of several bestselling books, including The Language Instinct, How the Mind Works, Words and Rules, and The Blank Slate. No stranger to controversy, in The Blank Slate Pinker challenged the view that all people are born equal, instead arguing that genetics shapes much of personality and predisposes people towards processing information certain ways. He teaches at Harvard and is an active researcher as well as a popular public lecturer. Pinker's latest book is The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window into Human Nature, which Wired calls "a fascinating look at how language provides a window into the deepest functioning of the human brain." On a rainy day in September 2007, Dr. Pinker discussed causality, the concept of concepts, how to swear in several languages, and how irregular verbs can lead to romance.
more author interviews |
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HARDCOVER
 Elliott
Smith by Autumn de Wilde
Elliott Smith's intensely intimate music and open-hearted, Beatles-esque pop songs have left a deep mark on a generation of fans and musicians in the wake of his tragic death. Elliott Smith chronicles the life of the beloved and troubled singer-songwriter through Autumn de Wilde's photographs and interviews with those closest to him. Pledges our own Hank: "Fans and newcomers alike will be mesmerized by the ache and beauty of this remembrance of Portland's indelible songsmith."
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Sale $20.96 | Hardcover
List Price: $29.95 (You Save: $8.99) |
 Proust
Was a Neuroscientist by Jonah Lehrer
In Proust Was a Neuroscientist, rising journalist Jonah Lehrer argues that science is not the only path to knowledge. In fact, where the brain is concerned, art got there first. Focusing on a group of artists, Lehrer shows how each one discovered an essential truth about the human mind that science is only now rediscovering. "Solid science journalism with an essayist's flair," hails Kirkus Reviews.
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Sale $16.80 | Hardcover
List Price: $24.00 (You Save: $7.20) |
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PAPERBACK
 The
Meaning of Night by Michael Cox
Michael Cox's "masterful first novel" (Booklist), The Meaning of Night, combines the atmosphere of Bleak House, the sensuous thrill of Perfume, and the mystery of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell in a story of murder, deceit, love, and revenge set in Victorian England. "Cox is an engaging writer," swears Powells.com's Beth, who calls The Meaning of Night a "page-turner filled with betrayal and intrigue."
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Sale $10.46 | Trade Paper
List Price: $14.95 (You Save: $4.49) |
 Blood
and Thunder: The Epic Story of Kit Carson and the Conquest of the
American West by Hampton Sides
Critics have called Blood and Thunder everything from "beautifully written" (USA Today) and "fascinating" (Entertainment Weekly) to "engaging and exciting" (the Oregonian) and "a brilliantly realized portrait on an epic scale" (Washington Post). Read Hampton Sides's magnificent, sprawling tale of how the West was really won and come up with your own glowing superlatives!
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Sale $11.16 | Trade Paper
List Price: $15.95 (You Save: $4.79) |
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NEW ARRIVALS
 Ratatouille
From the creators of Finding Nemo and The Incredibles comes Ratatouille, an animated comedy with something for everyone. The story of a determined young rat who dreams of becoming a renowned French chef — and finds his chance in an unlikely alliance with a human who can't cook to save his life — Ratatouille is breathtaking and will satisfy film lovers, foodies, and viewers of all ages! Savor Ratatouille on DVD — and remember, all DVDs ship free from Powells.com.
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Sale $26.28 | Hardcover
List Price: $29.99 (You Save: $3.71) |
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 New
Orleans Brass by Putumayo
Download a free MP3 from Putumayo: "I'll Fly Away" by John Boutte, called "New Orleans' best-kept secret" by the Village Voice. It's part of the new Putumayo Presents compliation New Orleans Brass, a veritable who's who of contemporary New Orleans musicians and vocalists who demonstrate why the city continues to be one of the world's most vibrant musical centers. Visit our Putumayo aisle for your free download!
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Recent guest blogger Lauren Weedman, author of A Woman Trapped in a Woman's Body, offers some hilarious final thoughts in her last post for Powells.com.
November 5, 2007
Noooooo. Is this the last day of my blogging for Powell's? I hate that.
I may have to start my own website called "Blogging for Powell's" just because I've loved the mere idea of waking up and the first image in my mind is a bookstore in Portland. It replaces the image of me naked and sobbing on a scale. I guess that one's not an "image"... more a memory.
At the hair salon place yesterday I was lying back to get my hair washed by my hair lady Sashiko, and I heard the lady next to me say, "My brother died in March and this November is his birthday. And it's the first birthday without him. And with the holidays coming right after that... it's going to be so—" And the lady who was washing her hair chimed in — loudly and with a crazy cheerful voice — "Isn't Emily's birthday in December?"
Apparently she didn't want to hear this sad news as she deep-conditioned. So she just chirped her way past it. I should have leaned over and chirped in a, "Hey! Did I hear March? MY birthday is in March!" That's the way they do it in the Midwest.
Read the rest of Lauren's post and check out other guests on our Powell's blog!
From the Authors: SAVE 30%
DANIEL
WALKER HOWE: ORIGINAL ESSAY
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In What Hath God Wrought, historian Daniel Walker Howe illuminates the period of American history from the Battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican-American War, an era when the United States expanded to the Pacific and won control over the richest part of the North American continent. In his original essay for Powells.com, Howe explains why he focused on the years between 1815 and 1848, and how the U.S. changed from "a third world country" into a "transcontinental major power." Read the essay and save 30% on What Hath God Wrought. |
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What
Hath God Wrought: The
Transformation of America, 1815-1848
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Sale $24.50 |
Hardcover
List Price: $35.00
You Save: $10.50
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YANNICK
MURPHY: ORIGINAL ESSAY
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"If you want to be a good author," writes Yannick Murphy, "respond to the request for an essay that you receive in order to promote your book." Which is precisely what she does in this original essay for Powells.com. In Murphy's new novel Signed, Mata Hari, the infamous Mata Hari narrates her own story while awaiting the verdict of her trial for espionage. Booklist calls it "a mesmerizing novel that creatively reimagines the life of one of the most notorious, and perhaps overvilified, women of all time." Read Murphy's essay and save 30% off the cover price of Signed, Mata Hari. |
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Signed,
Mata Hari
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Sale $16.79 |
Hardcover
List Price: $23.99
You Save: $7.20
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DANIEL
LORD SMAIL: ORIGINAL ESSAY
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"Back when I was in grade school...it was pretty clear that history began in 1492," writes Daniel Lord Smail. In his provocative original essay for Powells.com, Smail explores how our modern ideas about the history of humanity have changed — mainly for the better. In his new book, On Deep History and the Brain, Smail dissolves the logic of a beginning based on writing, civilization, or historical consciousness and offers a model for a history of humankind that escapes the continuing grip of the Judeo-Christian time frame. Read Smail's essay and save 30% when you buy On Deep History and the Brain from Powells.com. |
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On
Deep History and the Brain
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Sale $15.36 |
Hardcover
List Price: $21.95
You Save: $6.59
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STEVE
ERICKSON: INK Q&A
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In Steve Erickson's latest novel, Zeroville, a film-obsessed ex-seminarian with images of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift tattooed on his head arrives on Hollywood Boulevard in 1969 — and discovers the secret that lies in every movie ever made. In this INK Q&A, Erickson describes the best breakfast of his life in the midst of a military uprising, discusses the artists who inspire him, and more! Save 30% off the cover price of Zeroville, a novel whose "effect is much like that of a strange but very beautiful art film" (Booklist). |
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Zeroville
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Sale $10.46 |
Trade Paper
List Price: $14.95
You Save: $4.49
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in our stores
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"Neurologist Sacks...charmingly argues that music is essential to being human in ways that have only begun to be understood....His customary erudition and fellow-feeling ensure that, no matter how clinical the discussion becomes, it remains, like the music of Mozart, accessible and congenial." Booklist
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7. Collapse by Jared Diamond (Anthropogy)
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NOVEMBER 16: Norman
Solomon
 In Made Love, Got War, author, activist, and columnist Norman Solomon traces five decades of American politics and culture to dramatize a set of disturbing trends in American public life — most notably warfare abroad and acquiescence at home. Hails Phil Donahue, "One of America's most respected progressive voices gets personal in this account of living through the age of Vietnam, Nixon, tie-dye T-shirts, and even the music that will forever waft through the minds of those of us who were there." |
NOVEMBER 20: Jamie
S. Rich
Acclaimed comics writer Jamie S. Rich, whose previous novels include cult favorite Cut My Hair, returns to prose with Have You Seen the Horizon Lately?, an incisive look at interpersonal relationships in a world where entertainment and technology push us farther and farther apart. It's been almost a decade since world-famous author Percival Mendelssohn vanished from the public eye and Julia Jimenez is determined to find him, even if it means traveling halfway around the world to do it. Can she draw him out of his life of isolation and loneliness? Or has he become so broken by the failure of his romantic ideals that he can never be at peace again? |
view all events
preorder signed editions by authors coming to Powell's |
IN OUR NEXT EDITION:
An INK Q&A by George R. R. Martin ( Dreamsongs, Volumes 1 and 2) 
Chester is straining the cats' nerves. Circling, albeit slowly, paroling the living room's outskirts. Rounding them up.
Bear looks at Zooey. "Please tell him to stop."
Zooey barks. Chester stops.
"He's worried about losing us," Bagheera whispers. "It's kind of sweet, really."
Bear sighs.
"Someone named Marina posted a haiku on the blog," Zooey announces. Zooey recites Marina's poem: "Quintessential cat / You guarded all the tech books / And our hearts, from rats."
Quietly, Chester rises. With a few modest steps, he disappears behind the sofa.
"I'll scratch you," Oreo warns. "Zooey, tell Chester I'll scratch him if he doesn't quit herding." Chester peeks around the end table. Oreo does not appear to be joking.
But Oreo can be hard to read sometimes, he can be one sarcastic cat. Maybe in fact Oreo wants to play. Teasing this way. Provoking play!
With his nose, Chester pokes the top of Oreo's head.
Nope. Not joking.
÷ ÷ ÷
Thank you sincerely to all our friends for your outpouring of thoughts and good wishes, and for the many generous donations to the Oregon Humane Society in memory of our beloved Fup.
Send questions, comments, suggestions, and favorite pumpkin pie recipes to newsletter@powells.com.
PowellsBooks.news
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