Womanless weddings and keypals If you need help selecting a gift for any occasion, you’ve come to the right place. What gift is always the right color, the right size, and the right price? Why, books of course! Before Faith, before Garth, before Suzanne, Tammy, George, Joan, Woody, and even Hank there were Agnes Thompson, Mattie Boner, prison gangs, the W.

O.

W. String Band, and womanless weddings. Yes, womanless weddings. No, it’s not a Tim Burton/ Quentin Tarantino collaboration, it’s Southern Exposure: The Story of Southern Music in Pictures and Words by Richard and Bob Carlin (Billboard Books/Watson-Guptill, $24.95, ISBN 0823084264). For anyone who has read Donald Davidson’s Big Ballad Jamboree, this is proof positive that the roots of folk, blues, and gospel music (among others) are varied and rich. The photos and text cover the period from 1850 to World War II, and readers will travel from homes to churches to workplaces and festivals as they “listen” to early strains of banjos, mandolins, accordions, etc.

Can anyone pick Bill Monroe and Muddy Waters out of the photographs? In this collection, they’re young enough to barely sport beards. Taken from the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Country Music Hall of Fame, and various private collections, the images in Southern Exposure include both well known and anonymous musicians from the South who contributed to what eventually evolved into spliced and diced genres of music. In addition, readers will also learn these musicians’ influences as well (for example, how did Hawaii factor into this hodgepodge?). Both Carlins have respectable credentials for such an undertaking; Richard has already authored previous books on country and classical music, and Bob is a folklorist/performer who documents traditional North Carolina music. Southern Exposure is a careful, deliberate array of information that any music enthusiast would relish. Just in time for midterms, the latest edition of Random House Webster’s College Dictionary ($24.95, ISBN 0375425608) is ready for the taking. Updated for the millennium, entries include fashionista, keypal, and arm candy. Featuring over 207,000 definitions, the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary also covers slang, grammar, spelling, foreign terms, abbreviations, symbols, and 27 pages of maps and tables. With all the updates and new features, however, this dictionary still excels at one thing: providing clear, convenient access to words and their meanings.

As always, you can count on clear definitions and pronunciations, extensive advice on avoiding offensive language, and hundreds of illustrations. Celebrating 60 years of new words, these folks aren’t resting on millennial laurels; included is a website address to submit new words. Random House Webster’s College Dictionary is an obvious gift choice for students returning to school, struggling writers, wordsmiths, and Scrabble players.

A way of life In Gift of the Whale: The Inupiat Bowhead Hunt, Alaska photographer Bill Hess offers a moving portrait of a remote and unforgiving region, a community, and the sacred traditions of the bowhead whale hunt that continues to sustain its people to this day. With this elegant and poignant book, we come to know the Inupiat community high in the Arctic region of Alaska. We find powerful images of harpooning. We cheer when hunters help rescue three whales caught in the ice. We worry as a friend is lost in the snow. We learn to understand and appreciate the whaling tradition and its importance to a people who have survived for 5,000 years and we can only hope will survive for 5,000 more.

For new moms and dads It would take a very cold heart indeed to not at some time have been touched, amused, or fascinated by the precious, highly creative baby portraits of famed photographer Anne Geddes. Her unique art can be seen on greeting cards and novelty items everywhere, and is beloved the world over.

To the delight of her many fans and admirers, Geddes has hand-selected a sizable new collection of some of her favorite shots from 1991 to 1997 and compiled them into a large volume entitled Until Now . In addition to over 100 enchanting color and black-and-white photographs, Geddes includes short explanations on how each photo was taken, the circumstances surrounding the photo session, and, in some cases, how the children have grown up since the shoot.

Until Now is guaranteed to bring a sentimental tear to the eye of even the most teenager-jaded parent.

Give ’til it hurts You’ve made big travel plans for the summer, and then you receive the call: Aunt Agnes, Cousin Curtis, and the rest of the family have rented a big house near the beach, and everyone is expected to be there for the month of July. Sigh . . . Guess where you’ll be spending your summer vacation? You need a little pick-me-up gift for yourself, under the circumstances. What gift doesn’t require a security deposit, seven-day advance purchase, or a Saturday night stay? Why, books, of course! Photographer Jeffrey Kraft’s exquisite photographs of Parisian cubbyholes and artifacts are not intended to entice one to visit the city; rather, his Literary Paris is meant for those who have already been. The images are meant to inspire a memory from a time that has passed; this is not a fancy collection of tourists’ snapshots. Kraft has arranged his remembrances alongside excerpts from literary works by authors who stayed in Paris for extended periods of time. Kraft has captured the glimpse, the detail, the moment, rather than structures and sites. He offers an idea of what remains in the mind and heart, even years after the visit itself has ended. A wonderful gift for the Francophile in your life.

Ben Jonson said, He was not of an age, but for all time. He was, of course, speaking of his friend William Shakespeare. Children’s book author Aliki has written and illustrated William Shakespeare and the Globe (HarperCollins, $15.95, 006027820X), which describes not only Shakespeare’s life, work, and times, but even acknowledges visionary Sam Wannamaker, who spent years resurrecting the Globe. The book is designed much like a script, with acts and scenes and characters. An interesting add-on is the list of words and expressions, complete with illustrations, credited to Shakespeare; for example, sweets to the sweet and hush were apparently invented by the Bard himself. Seems we’ve been quoting Shakespeare without realizing it! Cities like Paris and London must make use of every tidbit of soil that can be found; as acreage diminishes in our growing world, green thumbs everywhere are striving to be more and more creative with their craft. Artisan has published Window Boxes: Indoors and Out ($27.50, 1579651240) with this in mind. Authors James Cramer and Dean Johnson offer fragrant, beautiful, and useful options for the, uh, land-challenged. Cramer and Johnson offer optional locations (who says a window-box is limited to being wooden, square, and outside?) and year-round planting options (a thriving garden in January?) With this book, the decision is no longer how to create a miniature garden, but rather how many miniature gardens you can create. Soil sold separately! Of course, if we’re talking land for land’s sake, Antarctica has land to spare. It’s been 85 years since Ernest Shackleton and the 27-member crew of the Endurance set out to cross the Antarctic on foot. Less than 100 miles from its destination, the Endurance was caught in an ice pack and was badly damaged. For over 20 months, the crew (along with 69 sled dogs) was marooned, but no lives were lost. Two books commemorate this remarkable true story of adventure and perseverance. First, there’s Knopf’s The Endurance: Shackleton’s Legendary Antarctic Expedition ($29.95, 0375404031), a sophisticated account of the expedition. There’s also Ice Story: Shackleton’s Lost Expedition (Clarion, $18, 0395915244), which may be better-suited to younger explorers. Both books feature expedition photographer Frank Hurley’s photographs and offer a chronological summary of this death-defying journey. Hurley started the expedition with professional equipment, but his final shots were taken with a pocket camera. Endurance author Caroline Alexander, in association with the American Museum of Natural History, carefully researched this volume, complete with some of Hurley’s photographs that had not been published previously. Ice Story author Elizabeth Cody Kimmel presents the journey in storybook format, but the information is accurate and anecdotal. Both books would make great gifts for anyone who has a taste for adventure and hopeful endings.

Agnes and Curtis decide that the grown-ups need to take the children to the waterpark which happens to be 50 miles away for the day. Fifty miles can seem like 500 without Fun on the Run: Travel Games and Songs (Morrow Junior Books, $17, 0688146600). Brimming with silly stories, limericks, brain teasers, and songs, this book helps to fill travel time without batteries or messy cleanup. Familiar songs and games such as The Ants Go Marching and Hangman are included, but Fun on the Run contains nearly 125 pages of other games and songs that can be a part of any trip. If you still confuse Darth Vader with Darth Maul, fear not; Dorling Kindersley has published two books that will help you keep the prequel and the original trilogy straight: Star Wars Episode I: the Visual Dictionary ($19.95, 0789447010) and Star Wars Episode I: Incredible Cross Sections ($19.95, 078943962X). Like their predecessors (or would it be their descendants?), these books are designed to keep facts, characters, and plots straight. Archaeologist David West Reynolds, an obvious choice for the author, approaches this much like he did his previous Star Wars works. One feels as if he is on an archaeological dig or scientific study of another world. May the source be with you!

Once there were heroes who rode on flame-roaring rockets to another world. Full Moon celebrates the 30th anniversary of the first human flight to the Moon.

Artist/photographer Michael Light spent five years sorting through some 32,000 photographs taken by the astronauts themselves most of them never published and has selected 129 images that depict our journeys to the magnificent desolation of the Moon.

And they are our journeys, not merely the missions undertaken by 21 astronauts, not merely the program in which nearly half a million men and women worked for almost ten years. All of us participated in the Apollo missions, all of us were thrilled by the sights and sounds of men from Earth exploring a world that is a quarter million miles away.

The book is a treasure, the photographs a monument to humankind’s ability to dream vast dreams and then make them come true. And, as Andrew Chaikin’s thoughtful essay points out, once we began to see the Earth from the distant shores of the barren and alien Moon, none of us could ever think of our home world as anything but a beautiful, fragile, precious island of life set in a cold and utterly indifferent infinity. By reaching the Moon, we finally began to appreciate our own Earth. The Apollo astronauts’ photographs of the big blue marble were an enormous stimulus to the environmental movement.

Two of the photographs from the Moon hit me especially hard. Both come from the final lunar mission, Apollo 17. The first shows the lunar landing module on the ground near the base of a mountain system called the North Massif. Taken from two miles’ distance, the image captures the loneliness, the distance, the realization that the Moon is totally different from any place where humans have planted their footprints before. The second shows astronaut Gene Cernan, tired and grimy with lunar dust, after a long hard day of exploring on the Moon.

They were heroes, sent to the Moon by politicians who have not seen fit to carry on the brave endeavor they began. But there are other heroes waiting here on Earth, in schools, in cradles, even unborn as yet. They will return to the Moon and begin a new chapter of human exploration and adventure. Full Moon will help to inspire them to heroic futures. ¦ Ben Bova’s latest novel is Return to Mars, the long-awaited sequel to his 1992 best-selling Mars.

Photographers and nature lovers will be captivated by Chased by the Light (NorthWord Press, $35, 1559716711), a new book of photographs from world-renowned nature photographer Jim Brandenburg. The book grew out of a self-assigned challenge: to take just one picture a day for the 90 days of fall. Each photograph would be a true original, like a painting, and would capture a scene in Brandenburg’s beloved home, the boreal forest of northern Minnesota.

Through 90 stunning color photographs ranging from 350-year-old cedars to the aurora borealis to the bloody pawprint of an injured wolf and insightful journal entries, Brandenburg evokes the spirit of this wild and isolated place. In the process, he captures something more as well.

As National Geographic editor William Allen observes in his foreword, with every frame we see the breadth of nature in a single shot.

Lifestyles of the musical and famous Your friend Fred must make a speech at his company’s annual convention, and he hasn’t a clue where to begin collecting his information. You want to help Fred with his fact-finding mission, but private detectives are pricey, and your Web search returned hundreds of thousands of sites. What gift doesn’t require bloodhounds, a modem, or a fingerprint kit? Why books, of course! Ê ÊAt some point, everyone must write a report, an article, or speech. Reference books are imperative for research and documentation, and the handier, the better. Random House’s Famous Name Finder ($14, 037570602X) is the perfect tool when you can remember a name but can’t quite place the person. This book will eliminate the need to ask, who’s that person you know, the one who was married to . . . because it cross-references 10,000 people from various fields, including sports, entertainment, the arts, and history. Can’t remember the first name? Can’t remember the last name? Can’t remember the real name? The Famous Name Finder is indexed by first name, last name, nickname, and spouse’s name; each entry also includes biographical information. How many times have you watched a movie based on a favorite book, and walked away thinking about the differences between the two? Novels into Film: The Encyclopedia of Movies Adapted from Books (Checkmark Books, $16.95, 0816039615) is a book that identifies and examines how a book is translated to the big screen. Each entry includes a brief synopsis of the novel, and the film or films that adapted its story. The differences between the two, as well as differences in themes, characters, etc., are studied. Brief bibliographies are listed at the end of each passage, and various photographs are included. There is some critique involved, but the major emphasis here is not to determine the success or failure of film adaptations, but rather to inform the reader of the unique and specific process that goes into the translation of print to film. With a foreword by director Robert Wise, Novels into Film is a great choice for folks who love books, movies, or both. Everyone is familiar with dictionaries and encyclopedias, but references books are taking different and exciting paths that extend beyond mere alphabetizing. The Oxford Children’s Book of Famous People (Oxford University Press, $37.50, 0195215176) examines the lives of 1,000 well-known figures. From Aesop to Pele to William I, this is an ideal resource for short writing assignments, or a springboard for larger, more detailed amounts of research. Updated for the millennium, The Oxford Children’s Book of Famous People also includes entries about more recent notables, such as Tom Cruise, Tony Blair, Bill Gates, and Diana, Princess of Wales, to name a few. Readers will find extra guidance from the directories in the back, organized by theme and period. This is a wonderful quick-reference addition to any workspace.

Picture this: a gorgeous volume of album covers. DK Publishing’s 100 Best Album Covers: The Stories Behind the Sleeves ($19.95, 078944951X) provides music lovers with the inside scoop on the most artistically innovative album covers of all time. Learn about the visual artists behind the works, the labor-intense production schedules, the concepts behind the finished products and the alternative plans for jackets that were banned in certain countries. What makes this book particularly interesting is that authors Storm Thorgerson and Aubrey Powell do not focus on the recording artists themselves; while certain Elvis, Beatles, and Prince albums are included, you’ll also find The Popinjays, System 7, and Happy Mondays receive equal page time. There’s plenty of insider information provided, but the focus is not on who topped the charts, but who had the eye-catching album covers. 100 Best Album Covers is a refreshing alternative for both music and art lovers. Cajun music is as flavorful as its food, and thanks to University Press of Mississippi, readers may sample it once again. Cajun and Creole Music Makers (Musiciens cadiens et creoles) ($35, 1578061709) has been re-issued and updated, thanks to author Barry Jean Ancelet and photographer Elemore Morgan Jr. Originally published in 1984, Cajun and Creole Music Makers is the definitive volume of Louisiana culture. To update the book for its re-issue, Ancelet and Morgan returned to the original material and added more recent musicians like Steve Riley and Dirk Powell. In some cases, such as Christine Balfa’s, it is a then and now perspective of Louisiana life. The text is featured in both English and French, and over 100 photographs show these musicians in various surroundings. The result is an intimate look at the inner workings and sustaining power behind the music. Who says information has to come in black and white text? Seaports of the South: A Journey is very informative and also beautiful enough to display. Author Louis D. Rubin Jr. and photographer John F. Harrington look at 13 seaports found in South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, Texas, Georgia, and Florida. Readers will travel with these two men, who have been friends since age 16, and marvel at the history and distinct personality that distinguish each seaport. Rubin and Harrington recount the development each port has undergone, particularly after the Civil War, and the unique commercial role that each seaport plays in our nation’s economy. Climb aboard and enjoy this spectacular journey through time and this region.

Your thank-you to Fred is from the bottom of your heart, so how about a book about the bottom of the ocean? Underwater photographer Roger Steene has assembled over 300 full-color photographs into one stunning volume titled Coral Seas (Firefly Books, $50, 1552092909). Steene spent five years traveling worldwide to capture the colorful world of the coral reefs, and the oversized photographs provide up-close detail of the rainbow of creatures that inhabit the deep. A paragraph or two provides just enough information about these inhabitants, but the real focus here (and rightfully so) is Steene’s work. Subjects range from a great white humpback whale to the microscopic hard coral’s first 14 days (Steene is the only underwater photographer who delves into the microscopic). A great chance to go scuba diving without even getting your toes wet!