New Releases by Pico Iyer

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.

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.

Pico Iyer&Mdash;One Of The Most Compelling And Profoundly Provocative Travel Writers&Mdash;Invites Us To Accompany Him On An Array Of Exotic Explorations, From L.A. To Yemen To Haiti And Ethiopia, From A Bolivian Prison To A Hidden Monastery In Tibet. He Goes To Cambodia, Where The Main Tourist Attraction Is A Collection Of Skulls From The Khmer Rouge Killing Fields, And Travels Through Southern Arabia In The Weeks Before September 11, 2001. He Practices Meditation With Leonard Cohen And Discusses Geopolitics With The Dalai Lama, Travels To Easter Island And Through The Imaginative Terrains Of W.G. Sebald And Kazuo Ishiguro, Weaving Physical And Psychological Challenges Together Into A Seamless Narrative. Throughout His Travels, The Familiar Thrill Of Adventure Is Haunted By The Unsettling Questions That Arise For Iyer Everywhere He Goes: How Do We Reconcile Suffering With The Sunlight Often Found Around It? How Does The Foreign Instruct The Traveler, Precisely By Discomfiting Him? And, How Does Travel Take Us More Deeply Into Reality, Both Within Us And Without? Intensely Affecting, Iyer&Rsquo;S Explorations Are A Road Map Of Thinking In New Ways About Our Changing World. &Nbsp;

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.

To travel with Pico Iyer is to be constantly awakened, to be introduced to a rich variety of individuals and to discover through their memorable acquaintance the seductions and ironies of today''s global experience.

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

"Mathematics is the art of arranging patterns, literature the science of applying them."--Page [3].