New Releases by Pico Iyer

Chef d''État en exil, défenseur de la cause tibétaine, prix Nobel de la Paix, voix majeure du bouddhisme contemporain, le Dalaï-Lama est une personnalité singulière aux facettes multiples : un homme qui médite quatre heures chaque matin mais enchaîne les déplacements dans le monde entier ; un grand philosophe et théologien mais qui sait rester simple et accessible ; un intellectuel qui débat avec des scientifiques mais consulte les oracles à Dharamsala, la ville indienne où il vit. Pico Iyer, journaliste et écrivain, possède une vision et une clarté intellectuelle qui élève son livre au-delà des clichés qui abondent autour du chef spirituel tibétain. Fruit d''une amitié longue de trente ans entre les deux hommes, ce portrait dévoile la réalité profonde d''un homme d''exception.

In Tropical Classical the author of Video Nights in Katmandu and The Lady and the Monk visits a holy city in Ethiopia, where hooded worshippers practice a Christianity that has remained unchanged since the Middle Ages. He follows the bewilderingly complex route of Bombay''s dabbawallahs, who each day ferry 100,000 different lunches to 100,000 different workers. Iyer chats with the Dalai Lama and assesses the books of Salman Rushdie and Cormac McCarthy. And he brings his perceptive eye and unflappable wit to bear on the postmodern vogues for literary puffery, sexual gamesmanship, and frequent-flier miles. Glittering with aphorisms, overflowing with insight, and often hilarious, Tropical Classical represents some of Iyer''s finest work.

Pico Iyer has for many years described with keen perception and exacting wit the shifting textures of faraway lands anchored on a spinning globe that mixes and matches East and West. Now he casts a philosophical eye upon this curious state of floatingness. In the transnational village that our world has become, travel and technology fuel each other and us. As Iyer points out, "everywhere is so made up of everywhere else," and our very souls have been put into circulation. Yet even global beings need a home. Using his own multicultural upbringing (Indian, American, British) as a point of departure, Iyer sets out on a quest, both physical and psychological, to find what remains constant in a world gone mobile. He begins in Los Angeles International Airport, where town life — shops, services, sociability — is available without a town, and in Hong Kong, where people actually live in self-contained hotels. He moves on to Toronto, which has been given new life and a new literature by its immigrant population, and to Atlanta, where the Olympic Village inadvertently commemorates the corporate universalism that is the Olympics'' secret face. And, finally, he returns to England, where the effects of empire-as-global-village are still being sorted out, and to Japan, where in the midst of alien surfaces, Iyer unexpectedly finds a home. "As a guide to far-flung places, Pico Iyer can hardly be surpassed," The New Yorker has written. In The Global Soul, he extends the meaning of far-flung to places within and all around us.

When Pico Iyer decided to go to Kyoto and live in a monastery, he did so to learn about Zen Buddhism from the inside, to get to know Kyoto, one of the loveliest old cities in the world, and to find out something about Japanese culture today -- not the world of businessmen and production lines, but the traditional world of changing seasons and the silence of temples, of the images woven through literature, of the lunar Japan that still lives on behind the rising sun of geopolitical power. All this he did. And then he met Sachiko. Vivacious, attractive, thoroughly educated, speaking English enthusiastically if eccentrically, the wife of a Japanese "salaryman" who seldom left the office before 10 P.M., Sachiko was as conversant with tea ceremony and classical Japanese literature as with rock music, Goethe, and Vivaldi. With the lightness of touch that made Video Night in Kathmandu so captivating, Pico Iyer fashions from their relationship a marvelously ironic yet heartfelt book that is at once a portrait of cross-cultural infatuation -- and misunderstanding -- and a delightfully fresh way of seeing both the old Japan and the very new.

Mohawk hair-cuts in Bali, yuppies in Hong Kong and Rambo rip-offs in the movie houses of Bombay are just a few of the jarring images that Iyer brings back from the Far East.

Pico Iyer has been engaged in conversation with the Dalai Lama (a friend of his father''s) for the last three decades-a continuing exploration of his message and its effectiveness. Now, in this insightful, impassioned book, Iyer captures the paradoxes of the Dalai Lama''s position- though he has brought the ideas of Tibet to world attention, Tibet itself is being remade as a Chinese province; though he was born in one of the most remote, least developed places on earth, he has become a champion of globalism and technology. He is a religious leader who warns against being needlessly distracted by religion; a Tibetan head of state who suggests that exile from Tibet can be an opportunity; an incarnation of a Tibetan god who stresses his everyday humanity. Moving from Dharamsala, India-the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile-to Lhasa, Tibet, to venues in the West where the Dalai Lama''s pragmatism, rigour, and scholarship are sometimes lost on an audience yearning for mystical visions, The Open Road illuminates the hidden life, the transforming ideas, and the daily challenges of a global icon.

A collection of 26 inspiring tales.

From the national bestselling author of The Half-Known Life comes an intoxicating novel that''s at once a stylish intellectual mystery and a pulse-quickening love story—the love in question being at once sacred and profane. John Macmillan, a classically reticent Englishman who has moved to California to study the poems of the Sufi mystic Rumi, unexpectedly becomes involved in two equally absorbing quests. The first is for a mysterious Rumi manuscript that may have been smuggled out of Iran; the second for the elusive Camilla Jensen, who continually offers herself to him only to repeatedly slip from his grasp. Are these quests somehow related? And can Macmillan give himself over to them without losing his career and identity? Moving deftly from California academia to the mosques of Iran, filled with insights into the minds of Islam and the modern West, Abandon is a magic carpet-ride of a book.

One of the best travel writers now at work in the English language brings back the sights and sounds from a dozen different frontiers. A cryptic encounter in the perfumed darkness of Bali; a tour of a Bolivian prison, conducted by an enterprising inmate; a nightmarish taxi ride across southern Yemen, where the men with guns may be customs inspectors or revolutionaries–these are just three of the stops on Pico Iyer’s latest itinerary. But the true subject of Sun After Dark is the dislocations of the mind in transit. And so Iyer takes us along to meditate with Leonard Cohen and talk geopolitics with the Dalai Lama. He navigates the Magritte-like landscape of jet lag, “a place that no human had ever been until forty or so years ago.” And on every page of this poetic and provocative book, he compels us to redraw our map of the world.

A Beautifully Written Book About Someone Looking For Ancient Dreams In A Strange Modern Place'' Los Angeles Times Book Review When Pico Iyer Decided To Go To Kyoto And Live In A Monastery, He Did So To Learn About Zen Buddhism From The Inside, To Get To Know Kyoto, One Of The Loveliest Old Cities In The World, And To Find Out Something About Japanese Culture Not The World Of Businessmen And Production Lines, But The Traditional World Of Changing Seasons And The Silence Of Temples, Of The Images Woven Through Literature, Of The Lunar Japan That Still Lives On Behind The Rising Sun Of Geopolitical Power. All This He Did. And Then He Met Sachiko. Vivacious, Attractive, Thoroughly Educated, Speaking English Enthusiastically If Eccentrically, The Wife Of A Japanese `Salaryman'', Who Seldom Left The Office Before 10 P.M., Sachiko Was As Conversant With Tea Ceremony And Classical Japanese Literature As With Rock Music, Goethe And Vivaldi. With The Lightness Of Touch That Made Video Night In Kathmandu So Captivating, Pico Iyer Fashions From Their Relationship A Marvelously Ironic Yet Heartfelt Book That Is At Once A Portrait Of Cross-Cultural Infatuation And Misunderstanding And A Delightfully Fresh Way Of Seeing Both The Old Japan And The Very New.

The ultimate challenge for the young quizzer - Over the last two years, the Puffin inter-school quiz competitions, held in India''s major metros, have proved hot favourites with young quiz aficionados. The first Puffin Quiz Book, containing questions from these popular quizzes, was published last year to great acclaim. Here at last is the long-awaited second volume of the Puffin Quiz Book, featuring questions from the recent Puffin quizzes, supplemented by hundreds of all-new questions from quizmaster Srinjoy Chowdhury''s veritable quiz bank which have never been asked in a quiz. As in the first quiz book, the questions in The Puffin Quiz Book 2 are arranged in sets of eight, making it easy for the book to be used for an impromptu quiz among friends. For the individual reader dipping into the book, the actual atmosphere of a quiz is suitably replicated by an array of intriguing questions. There are 800 questions in all, and some of them will stump even the most avid of quizzers. There are also special sets of questions on key topics like Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, the 2003 Cricket World Cup, James Bond, Sherlock Holmes, Sourav Ganguly and Indian achievers in the Olympics. A delight for any young quiz enthusiast, the fun- and information-packed Puffin Quiz Book 2 will enthrall and entertain readers for days on end.

After the immense success of the four previous volumes of Mastermind India, which has become something of an institution among quiz enthusiasts in India, comes the latest volume in the series, containing all the questions from Mastermind India''s fifth and final series. Mastermind India, India''s premier television quiz show hosted by Siddhartha Basu, is the Indian incarnation of Mastermind, the most respected television quiz show in the world. For several years now, the show has kept viewers of BBC World glued to their screens with its depth and range of questions. The book contains eighty-eight formidable sets of general knowledge questions, and over 1800 questions on interesting areas of specialization, ranging from the Nuremberg trials to Fermat''s last theorem, from the history of Intel to the life of Dhirubhai Ambani, and from the film career of Aamir Khan and the cricketing career of the Amarnaths to the Woodstock concert and recipients of the Bharat Ratna. Also included are all the questions from the special Champion of Champions round conducted in the final series of Mastermind India. This is a treasure trove of questions that will test the mettle of the most dedicated quiz enthusiast.

The stunning photographs in Living Faith are the result of over a decade and a half of travel and observation. From the cities, small towns and villages of India -- a country of almost unparalleled diversity where every major religion of the world has found a home -- Dinesh Khanna brings us images of faith as it endures in everyday life. Priests light up the night on the ghats of Varanasi in honor of Shiva; Sufis sing ecstatic love songs to Allah at the tomb of Nizamuddin Auliya; young boys in Ladakh prepare for the austere life of a Buddhist Lama; and devotees offer wax models of what they desire to Mary at her church in Mumbai. Meanwhile, on the highways and lanes of India, taxi and truck drivers carry on their dashboards little shrines to their gods; Jain nuns walk barefoot for miles on an eternal pilgrimage; and people stop along busy roads to offer prayers at modest temples and tombs. Living Faith is an intimate, revealing record of a deeply spiritual way of life. It acknowledges the strength of private worship and shared faith, which ultimately transcends the more visible but short-lived realities of discord.

In this sumptuous photographic journey into the heart of Buddhist practice, noted essayist, novelist, and travel writer Pico Iyer may well have written the best contemporary short introduction to Buddhism and its mysteries. 200 color photos.

Having captivated readers with such gems of travel writing as Video Night in Kathmandu, Pico Iyer now presents a novel whose central character is another place: the melancholy, ebullient, and dazzlingly inconsistent island that is Castro''s Cuba. "On almost every page you can smell the dust, the cheap perfume and the rum of Havana today, or better still, tonight."--Los Angeles Times.

An illustrated historical tour of twelve of the world''s greatest residences.

Een Amerikaanse schrijver woont een jaar in de grote Japanse stad Kyoto en observeert het leven van de Japanner.

Een Engelstalig journalist van Indiase afkomst beschrijft aan de hand van zijn ervaringen in Azië de culturele invloed van het Westen op de mensen daar.