Harvard Book Store
News from Harvard Book Store
February 2, 2013



Happy February! The month of love is a great time to indulge in a love of reading. We have perfect gifts for partners of all kinds, including The Letters of John and Abigail Adams (for the historically inclined), My Life in France by Julia Child (for the lover of food), or maybe How to Think More About Sex by Alain de Botton (for the cheeky armchair philosopher). Pick up a perfect book, along with a perfect card, for your loved one today!

We have lots of options for Valentine's Day cards in the store, so pick one up for someone you love!

Don't forget to show your local businesses some love this month too! Fill out ballots for the Wicked Local Readers Choice Award and the Boston Phoenix Best of Boston Award by February 13 to show your favorite local indies how much you care.

We were excited to hear that we got a shout-out in today's Here and Now on WBUR. Dennis Johnson, co-founder of indie publishing house Melville House talked with Robin Young about the future of publishing and the importance of independent bookstores to publishers. Listen to the whole interview here.

The Brattle Theatre has made it to about 25% of their fundraising goal for a new digital projector and HVAC unit, with four weeks to go, but they still need your help! Visit their Kickstarter page here to donate. There are lots of great rewards, including a night out for two, a year-long membership, a chance to meet Matt Damon and John Lithgow, and naming rights for the new HVAC!

'Til Next Week,
Rachel 

The Weekly Bestsellers already Discounted 20%

New on Our Shelves: The Latest in Fiction, Nonfiction, Scholarly Books & In Store Book Printing
Fiction
 
Exercises in Style
by Raymond Gueneau

$15.95

New Directions, paperback

A new edition of a French modernist classic with new material written in homage by the likes of Jonathan Lethem, Rivka Galchen, and many more. On a crowded bus at midday, Raymond Queneau observes one man accusing another of jostling him deliberately. When a seat is vacated, the first man appropriates it. Exercises in Style--Queneau's experimental masterpiece and a hallmark book of the Oulipo literary group--retells this unexceptional tale again and again, employing the sonnet and the alexandrine, onomatopoeia and Cockney.

Nonfiction
 
Artful
by Ali Smith  
 
$25.95
Penguin Press, hardcover
Order
In February 2012, the novelist Ali Smith delivered the Weidenfeld lectures on European comparative literature at St. Anne's College, Oxford. Her lectures took the shape of this set of discursive stories. Refusing to be tied down to either fiction or the essay form, Artful is narrated by a character who is haunted--literally--by a former lover, the writer of a series of lectures about art and literature. "These brief, acrobatic lectures . . . perform spectacular feats of criticism. Each is as playful as it is powerful, as buoyant as it is brilliant." --NPR Books
Learn More
Scholarly
 Anthropology Confronts the Problems of the Modern World
by Claude Lévi-Strauss

$22.95
Belknap Press,
hardcover
Order

Anthropology Confronts the Problems of the Modern World is the first English translation of a series of lectures Claude Lévi-Strauss delivered in Tokyo in 1986. Written with an eye toward the future as his own distinguished career was drawing to a close, this volume presents a synthesis of the author's major ideas about structural anthropology, a field he helped establish. Critiquing insights of his earlier writings on the relationship between race, history, and civilization, Lévi-Strauss revisits the social issues that never ceased to fascinate him.

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Printed on Paige
Each week, we'll feature a book printed in Harvard Book Store on Paige, our book-making machine. Featured books will range from fresh works from local authors to near-forgotten titles discovered in our extensive print-on-demand database.  
 
Boston Poetry Slam:
Twenty Years at the Cantab Lounge 
edited by Adam Stone

$20

Print on Demand, paperback
Order

This 350 page collection provides a unique glimpse into The Boston Poetry Slam community, as each poet is introduced via anecdote by other poets in the anthology. Edited by Adam Stone, it contains poems by fifty-eight poets including Patricia Smith, Jack McCarthy, and Michael Brown, with dozens of photographs by Marshall Goff and Rich Beaubien. 

Learn More
Bargain Books
Bargain Books are new books at used-book prices. We have a limited number of copies of these titles, so if you see something that you're interested in, come in and check it out soon. To see more of our Bargain Books section, visit our Bargain Books page.
A Country Doctor's Notebook
by Mikhail Bulgakov

$5.99, paperback (originally £9.99)
With the ink still wet on his diploma, the twenty-five-year-old Dr. Mikhail Bulgakov was flung into the depths of rural Russia which, in 1916-17, was still largely unaffected by such novelties as the motor car, the telephone, or electric light. How his alter-ego copes (or fails to cope) with the new and often appalling responsibilities of a lone doctor in a vast country practice--on the eve of Revolution--is described in Bulgakov's delightful blend of candid realism and imaginative exuberance.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
by John le Carré
$3.99, hardcover 
When the government finds out that a Russian mole has managed to infiltrate the innermost spheres of the British secret service, former spy master George Smiley is called out of retirement. He leads an underground investigation to smoke out and neutralize the mole. Smiley's contacts are impressive. His secret inquiries last several months, by the end of which he is able to shortlist four suspects. The probables are codenamed Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, and Spy. 
The Search for God at Harvard
by Ari L. Goldman

$5.99 paperback (originally $15)  

The Scandalous Gospel of Jesus  
by Peter J. Gomes
$5.99 paperback (originally $14.99)  
Ari L. Goldman took a year off from his job as a religion journalist to enroll at Harvard Divinity School. Peter J. Gomes served as minister of Harvard's Memorial Church for four decades. Their books highlight the diverse and vibrant roles that religion can play in modern life.
Recent Finds Downstairs in the Used Book Department

 

Featured used books go fast, so if any titles interest you, stop in to check them out soon. We will hold the book if you are the first caller to reserve it. To reserve a book, call (617) 661-1515 and ask for our Used Department. We're also always looking for books to buy. Learn about selling your used books, including textbooks, here.
I Seem to Be a Verb
by R. Buckminster Fuller
with Jerome Agel and Quentin Fiore

Originally published by Bantam in 1970
$25 (paperback) in Very Good Condition
"I live on Earth at present, and I don't know what I am. I know that I am not a category. I am not a thing--a noun. I seem to be a verb, an evolutionary process--an integral function of the universe." So begins R. Buckminster Fuller's I Seem to Be a Verb, a unique book that explores the many different interests of the author, who was also a designer and inventor.
The Heuristics Debate
by Mark Kelman
Originally published by Oxford University Press in 2011
$26 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition
All of us use heuristics--we reach conclusions using shorthand cues without using or analyzing all of the available information. Heuristics pervade all aspects of life, from the most mundane practices to very important ones. In The Heuristics Debate, Mark Kelman considers what we have learned (and still need to learn) about the way people actually make decisions.
Gorey Games
by Larry Evans
Originally published by Troubador Press in 1979
$50 (hardcover) in Very Good Condition 
Based on Edward Gorey's macabre writings and illustrations, this book includes over fifty games and puzzles. Gorey's dark and sometimes twisted pen-and-ink drawings lend themselves well to the mind-bending that such puzzles require, and the intricate detail of the illustrations will keep you engaged long after you've solved all the puzzles in the book.

Author Events

   

On sale now:

Daniel H. Pink (2/5)  

 

On sale Thurs, Feb. 7:

Jamaica Kincaid (3/1) 

 

Subscribe to the Harvard Book Store Google Event Calendar here.

All Upcoming Events 


Scott Haas
Mon, Feb 4, 7PM   

James Beard Award-winning food reporter and psychologist Scott Haas discusses Back of the House: The Secret Life of a Restaurant.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Daniel H. Pink
Tues, Feb 5, 6PM  

Journalist and bestselling author Daniel H. Pink discusses To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others.
At the Brattle Theatre Learn More

Christoph Irmscher
Tues, Feb 5, 7PM    

English professor Christoph Irmscher discusses Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science.
A Cambridge Forum event.
At First Parish Church
Learn More

Graywolf Poetry Tour
Wed, Feb 6, 7PM    

As part of the first Graywolf Press Poetry Tour, poets Nick Flynn, Dobby Gibson, and Mary Szybist read from their most recent work.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Susan Cain
Thurs, Feb 7, 7PM    

Bestselling author Susan Cain discusses Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, newly out in paperback.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Amy Richards and Judith Resnik with Anita Hill
Fri, Feb 8, 3PM    

Editor Amy Richards and contributors Judith Resnik and Anita Hill discuss I Still Believe Anita Hill: Three Generations Discuss the Legacies of Speaking Truth to Power.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Maria Konnikova
Fri, Feb 8, 7PM    

Maria Konnikova, who writes the "Literally Psyched" column for Scientific American, discusses Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes.
At Harvard Book Store
Learn More

Things to know about our $5 tickets...

 

$5 tickets are also coupons good for $5 off a purchase at events or at Harvard Book Store. Coupons expire 30 days after the event, and cannot be used for online purchases, event tickets, or gift certificates. Please note that your ticket only guarantees you a seat until 5 minutes before an event begins.


Find it here. Buy it here. Keep us here.

We appreciate the feedback we get from readers of this e-newsletter.

 

Please send your comments and suggestions to Rachel at rcass@harvard.com. Thanks for reading, and we hope to see you in the store!

 

Rachel Cass
Marketing Manager
rcass@harvard.com 

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