I am a fan of coffee table books. In general, these books not only include an interesting text, but they are, of course, beautifully illustrated. Here are some with which to begin the new year.

One of the most impressive large format books I’ve seen is Art of War by Col. H. Avery Chenoweth, USMCR Ret. ($50.00, Friedman/Fairfax. Distributed by Sterling Publishing Co.) As America readies for combat to rid Iraq of its dictator, this book is filled with page after page of art that traces three centuries of armed conflicts in which America has engaged, from its Revolution to Desert Storm. Here you find paintings, drawings and sketches, both in color, and black and white, often by eyewitnesses. This is an unparalleled collection from each branch of the American armed forces that includes noted artists such as Frederic Remington and John Singer Sargent, as well as military artists commissioned to capture the action. The art is augmented by an excellent text and, in just about very way possible, this book demands the highest praise.

The homes in which we live shape our lives in subtle ways. Some of the hottest real estate in California are the homes that were begun to be built in the 1940s by Joseph Eichler, a man who hired progressive architects to design creative and affordable homes for the growing middle class. Eichler built nearly 11,000 single-family homes in the San Francisco Bay area and in Southern California. In the process, his firm introduced what were then new concepts, streamlined kitchens, atriums that melded interiors with the outdoors. The aesthetics he introduced are part of the American scene today and a splendid, definitive volume by Paul Adamson, Eichler: Modernism Rebuilds the American Dream, ($50.00, Gibbs Smith, Publisher) will prove irresistible to anyone who loves architecture. Filled with photos, many by Ernie Braun, it is a slice of history.

I am old enough to recall when Sir Edmund Hillary and his Sherpa climbing partner, Tenzing Norgay, conquered Mt. Everest on May 29, 1953. To celebrate that historic event and to chronicle Hillary’s lifelong relationship with the Sherpas, writer Cynthia Russ Ramsay and photographer Anne B. Keiser have authored Sir Edmund Hillary and the People of Everest ($29.95, Andrews McMeel Publishing). This coffee table book, beautifully illustrated and written, tells the story of Hillary’s humanitarian and environmental efforts over the last half century to help the Sherpas. With a foreword by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, this is an unusual book that surprisingly and instantly captures one’s interest.

If you are smitten with wanderlust, but can’t get away to far-off places, you can always do the next best thing and read about them. Two books fill this description. They are Easter Island by Carlos Mordo ($29.95, Firefly Books Ltd.) and Antarctica: An Encyclopedia from Abbott Ice Shelf to Zooplankton, edited by Mary Trewby ($35.00, Firefly Books Ltd.) Easter Island, Rapa Nui, is more than 2,000 miles from the nearest inhabited land and is about 46 square miles in size. At its peak, its population was more than 7,000 and they were a thriving civilization. It is still a mystery how they created their famed monuments, some weighing 200 tons and a mystery, too, why their creators disappeared. Filled with full color photos, the history of the island is told in five chapters. If Antarctica fascinates you, then you’re in for a real treat from its encyclopedia’s 1,000 entries and 250 photographs that cover climate, geology, natural history, exploration, science, and tourism. This is a superb piece of scholarship.

America’s war on terrorism or, more specifically, nations that fund terrorism, did not begin on 9-11. It began much earlier. When Ronald Reagan took his first oath as President, Iran released US diplomats it had held hostage for 444 days. It is doubtful they did so voluntarily. It is more likely they did so because Reagan promised severe retribution. Likewise, Reagan went after Libya’s dictator, Muammar Quddafi, in 1986 after a commercial jet was bombed, killing all on board when it crashed in Scotland. Now, a book by Joseph T. Stanik, El Dorado Canyon: Reagan’s Undeclared War with Qaddafi (Naval Institute Press) tells the story of the military action that caused Qaddafi to scale back on his terrorism and it stands as an example of what a pre-emptive military action can achieve in thwarting terrorist acts aimed at the United States. It is well worth reading!

An interesting book exposes the fallacies of "conserving" energy. It is a fundamental fact that energy unused is not "conserved." Why Energy Conservation Fails by Dr. Herbert Inhaber, Ph.D. (Quorum Books paperback), an economist, explains why in an interesting book that why artificial and coercive policies aimed at conserving anything simply do not work. Supplemented with detailed illustrations and calculations, he demonstrates this truth that is as certain as the law of gravity. The decades of government mandates, instituted by so-called "environmentalists", to require "saving" energy and other natural resources demonstrates that the failure to use energy is the failure to grow the economy and provide for our national needs to provide the electricity and heat for our expanding population and the creation of new jobs through industry and small businesses. The bottom line is that our improved technology provides ways to both find and use all forms of energy and natural resources. Just one example will suffice. The use of fiberglass, made from the most abundant mineral in the Earth's surface, has transformed communications and reduced the dependence on copper. Americans are beginning to reexamine the claims made by environmentalists, discovering they do not stand the test of scientific or economic facts.

I met Dr. Emma S. Etuk last month at a holiday party of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and we got to talking. The Nigerian born author and motivational speaker has written Listen Africans: Freedom Is Under Fire ($19.95, Emida International Publishers, PO Box 50317, Washington, DC 20091) whose audience is Africans, but Americans and others can greatly benefit from reading his book, filled with hard truths about the appalling lack of freedom in the many nations of the African continent. Just as the Arabs are obsessed with blaming the Jews and America for all their troubles, so too do Africans who blame their former European colonial powers. Dr. Etuk, however, provides the true history of Africa and the foreign powers that plundered its riches and its people. Indeed, long before the Europeans showed up, the Arabs had introduced Islam and developed a flourishing slave trade. Today, Africa’s natural resources are still be extracted at prices that do not reflect their true value and its peoples remain the victims of a new class of African despots of every description. The independence that many African nations achieved in the 1960s has done nothing to improve the life of Africans in general. Everyone who wonders why the headlines out of Africa remain so horrifying should read this book.

It took decades of effort to get a law enacted in New Jersey that would permit journalists and citizens to have access to public records. In theory there should have been no problem, but in reality, municipalities and the state through up all kinds of obstacles. With the advent of the Internet, however, that process has been eased everywhere and, if you want to know how, you need to have the 4^th edition of Public Records Online: The National Guide to Private & Government Online Sources of Public Records ($20.95, Facts on Demand Press, an imprint of BRB Publications, Inc., Tempe, Arizona.) You get a 75-page public record primer that will turn you into an online pro and nearly 6,500 direct government sources that will let you quickly locate public records at the county, state and federal level. Plus there are 220 direct private sources, specialists who have the public record data you want. Knowledge is power and this is the book that will give you access to vast storehouses of public information.

Aspiring writers are always asking me how to find a publisher. The answer is, first find a literary agent. The first place to look is the 2003 Guide to Literary Agents ($23.99, Writer’s Digest Books) that lists more than 600 of them, along with information on 80 conferences agents attend, a guide on how best to pitch your manuscript, plus lots of other excellent advice. Another book of interest to writers is Wallace Stegner: On Teaching and Writing Fiction ($13.00, Plume). Stegner was a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist and historian. In addition, he was one of the finest teachers of writing, founder of the famed Stanford Writing Program from whom many fine writers graduated. The book is eight essays on the subject of which he was the master.

Some books fit no category whatever but stand out on their own merit. That’s the case with SAT Vocabulary Flashcards: Flip-O-Matic ($10.00, Kaplan, a division of Simon & Schuster). If there’s a young person in your family preparing for the SATs, this low-tech flashcard book features 500 essential words and their meanings. It’s a fun way to learn. The next SAT tests are on January 25, April 5, May 3 and June 7. Kaplan is a premier provider of educational and career services with 1,200 classroom locations around the US.

If you love movies, make sure to pick up Roger Ebert’s Movie Yearbook 2002 ($18.95, Andrews McMeel Publishing) with more than 600 reviews and lots of other features such as interviews with Steve Martin and Halle Berry.

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Julie Daube has written a novel that is torn from today’s headlines, The Shadows of Babylon ($34.95, AmErica House, www.PublishAmerica.com) is the story of a terrorist attack on New York City, economic collapse, and political intrigue that sets the stage for world government. The only thing that stands in the way is the U.S. Constitution. Told through the lives of Matt Lanyon and his wife, Gina, we are taken into their world as Gina, a newspaper reporter, discovers an official pattern of lies, cover-ups, and murder, all calculated to destroy American sovereignty. Many Americans share the fears this book explores and they will find many reflections of current events to the story.

The editors at Plume, the trade paperback division of Penguin Putnam, have been busy and seven new softcover editions of books by noted novelists are now available for $13 and $14 each. The titles include William Kennedy’s Roscoe. Famed for his novel, Ironweed, this novel chronicle’s Albany’s netherworld and its spheres of power among the Irish Americans who dominated the city from the mid-nineteenth to mid-twentieth century. The Lonely Girl by Edna O’Brien tells the story of childhood friends in Dublin through their romances and aspirations. Charles Dickens’s London is the setting for The Rag & Bone Shop by Jeff Rackham; a teeming, bawdy novel based on Dickens’s life and his secret affair with a young actress over a dozen years.

Continuing with Plume novels, I loved the movie, Legally Blonde, and now you can read the novel by Amanda Brown that inspired it. It’s just hilarious. Emily Barr tells a very different story in Baggage. It is an intriguing tale of woman who has found a new life in Craggy Rock, a remote hamlet in Australia. A decade earlier, she had been vilified in the British tabloids as a murderer. She’s been on the run from the law ever since. Her new life comes undone when her best friend comes to the Outback and recognizes her. For those who love a good vampire story, there’s Bitten: Women of the Otherworld, Book 1 by Elena Michaels. The main character has a happy, predictable life, but once a week, in the dead of night, she streaks through a downtown ravine, naked and furred, tearing at the throats of her animal prey. It’s soon to be a movie.

Other softcover novels include Colored Sugar Water by Venise Berry ($13.95, New American Library) tells the story of two women dealing with mid-life issues. One is 35, single, a fitness manager for a string of Texas Health clubs and the other a vice president for human resources at American Oil, pulling down big bucks, but neither is happy. This is an exploration of how they discover the power of their unique spiritual gifts, told with humor, passion, and the pathos of modern relationships. John A. Roynesdal is back with a new novel, The Curse, a mystery (1stBooks Library) about the theft of a priceless family document, a corpse that drives a car, and a confessed killer who cannot be guilty, all of which conspire to challenge detective Phillip Michael Carnegie, a Honolulu cop, that will keep you reading cover to cover. Also in softcover, Rita Mae Brown’s Alma Mater ($13.95, Ballantine Books) tells a story of sexual awakening at a small Virginia college in 1980. Since her debut in 1973, a story of coming of age as a lesbian, Brown has been ranked among our top novelists. A passionate love affair lies at the heart of this novel.

If you like historical novels, there’s Under the Eagle by Simon Scarrow ($13.95, Griffin Trade paperback, Thomas Dunne Books, a division of St. Martin’s Press). Set in 42BC, Centurion Macro is based in the heart of Germany with the Second Roman Legion. Joined by a young recruit, they and the legion set off a special mission in Britain that thrusts them both into a conspiracy that threatens to topple the Emperor. Intricately plotted and with a great cast of characters, this is a very entertaining novel. I recommended The Company of Strangers by Robert Wilson when it was first published and now it’s a softcover novel ($14.00, Harcourt) that will intrigue you with its story of spies and informers during World War II. Ranging from Lisbon to London and finally cold war Berlin, this fast-paced, exciting story will keep you turning the pages.

Drawing on his own life, Eddie Little has penned Steel Toes ($$13.95, St. Martin’s Press) about an 18-year-old who is already a hardened criminal. This is a gritty look at life in prison who escapes, taking a winding journey through the Midwest that lands him finally in Boston, looking for his next hit of heroin. He begins, though, to try to make sense of his life and therein lies the heart of the story. Little’s first novel, Another Day in Paradise, won critical praise and was made into a movie starring James Woods and Melanie Griffith. This tough, heart-pounding novel will further his literary career and entertain you.

Famed novelist Donald E. Westlake occasionally writes under the pen name of Richard Stark and his latest also uses a prison as its setting. When Parker, who starred in a crime novel forty years ago, returns in Breakout ($23.95, Mysterious Press) he plots his escape when he hooks up with a couple of guys who need his talents to pull off a jewelry heist. He gets out only to face a whole new set of problems when everything seems to go wrong. He’s not the brightest crook and his travails will prove very entertaining.

Every so often a first-time novelist sends me his book, published by a small publisher or by himself. Few are as good as Chris Sorensen’s The Greatest Discovery ($15.95, Pond Publishing, 9947 Hull St., #197, Richmond, VA 23236). A native Virginian, Sorensen has drawn on his experiences to fashion a story that reflects, in many ways, everyone’s journey of self-discovery through love, heartache, and the occasion miracle of friendship that proves to be transforming. I have read this book in softcover and am pleased to see it available in hardcover.

For those who like collected stories, there’s Nothing That Meets the Eye by the late Patricia Highsmith ($27.95, W.W. Norton) whose first novel, Strangers on the Train, established her as a writer of great talent. A Hitchcock movie was based on that novel and she went on to publish twenty novels and story collections. These are her uncollected stories, finally in print. She died in 1995 and this book will renew interest in her body of work with twenty-eight stories, eighteen of which have never been in print before. Saul Bellow: Collected Stories ($15.00, Penguin Books) will surely please the many fans of this Nobel Prize winning author, celebrated as one of America’s greatest living writers. It’s also a great introduction for a new generation of readers. Lastly, there’s Jenny and the Jaws of Life by Jincy Willet ($12.95, a Thomas Dunne book, St. Martin’s Press). It is one of the funniest collection of stories you will read this year. Originally published in 1987, the critics loved it then and you will love it now.

Coming next month, Wonderlust by Chris Dyer features a beguiling redheaded heroine who will remind you of Katherine Hepburn whose name is Kate Bogart. A travel writer constantly on the go, she tells her life in a series of emails to her cardsharp mother, sarcastic best friend, and ex-husband. It’s a real romp.

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I was raised in a time when good manners were considered very important and have lived to a time in which they often seem to have never been taught. Anyone who has received a rude email knows this. Good manners, however, are still important and I was delighted to receive Mary Mitchell’s Class Act: How Good Manners Create Good Relationships and Good Relationships Create Good Business ($21.95, M. Evans). It is an excellent guide to handling sticky situations, embarrassing questions, rude encounters, and faux pas with both grace and style. The book contains advice on basic values of personal accountability, good conduct in meetings, ways of disagreeing without being disagreeable, and how courtesy really does builds good relationships.

If you are starting out the year looking for a new job, pick up a copy of Nail The Job by the editors of MBA Jungle and JD Jungle magazines ($16.95, Perseus Publishing). It is filled with advice on how to write a cover letter that will get an interview, how to write a great resume, how to leave perfect voicemail and email messages, how to work with a headhunter, and all the other things you need to know to get back into the workplace with the job you want.

Technology has utterly transformed our lives as well as the conduct of business. Microchip: An Idea, Its Genesis, and the Revolution it Created by Jeffrey Zygmont ($25.00, Perseus Publishing) debuts this month and provides a fascinating look at its invention and the way it spread its use to the point where it is an integral part of all of our lives. Beginning during the Cold War years of the late 1950s, it moves forward through the decades that followed. The inventor-heroes include Jack Kilby who won a Nobel Prize and the others who refined its development and use. The microchip is in everything from the space shuttle to talking Barbie dolls. Published this month, this book deserves bestseller success.

Winning the Wireless War by Dan Steinbock ($32.95, Amacom) is a thick volume of advice to those engaged in the complex and competitive global market for the uses of this remarkable technology. The author explores the factors that have allowed some companies to succeed and others fail. For anyone involved in these industries, this is required reading. Similarly, The Alignment Effect: How to Get Real Business Value out of Technology ($41.99, Financial times, a division of Prentice Hall) addresses the way businesses have wasted billions on unneeded software and other technologies in recent years and what they need to do to avoid repeating their mistakes. Faisal Hoque, the author, provides a step-by-step approach to deciding how to select and apply technology to business before committing money, time and resources. This book will be required reading this fall at Chicago’s Stuart Graduate School of Business at the Illinois Institute of Technology and I suspect will be adopted by other schools as well.

Everybody wants to know how to market and sell their goods and services better and three new books offer some excellent recommendations. The Marketing Toolkit for Growing Businesses by Jay B. Lipe ($19.95, Chammerson Press, 4315 Aldrich Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55409-1810, can be purchased directly from them if you add a $4.00 shipping charge.) The book is a good place to begin if you are unfamiliar with marketing, providing a wealth of tips and techniques to insure one's plan gets implemented. It comes with a glossary of more than 200 marketing terms and their definitions. Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service is now in its third edition ($18.95, Amacom softcover). It is a straightforward approach to exceptional customer care that has won great praise. It has helped companies nationwide understand and develop outstanding customer service, a value not only for them, but in providing a real competitive edge, plus job satisfaction for employees. Lastly, Bruce Kasanoff has written Making It Personal: How to Profit from Personalization Without Invading Privacy ($16.50, Perseus Publishing) as a guide to personalization technologies that provide a competitive edge. For example, if you buy anything from Amazon.Com, they develop a profile of your tastes in music or anything else they sell. Then they offer you comparable items when you log in. This information, if used with discretion and respect for individual privacy, argues the author, can pay big dividends. This is one of the more interesting business books to have been published of late.

Shirley Fulton and Al Guyant address the question of how to respond to the press and other media when they want your opinion, particularly if you and your company are caught in a media siege for some reason. Beat the Press ($24.95, Capital Communicators Group, 833 Northland, Madison, WI 53704) provides hundreds of good answers to reporter’s tough questions. As someone who has made his living as a Public Relations Counselor (www.caruba.com), I can tell you that, if you fear facing the media, this is the book to read for its excellent advice. We have witnessed what happens to a company, even the largest, when something goes wrong and the press coverage worsens the situation. Likewise, the media remains a powerful instrument for advancing a company’s recognition and building a positive reputation.

Corporate America relies on lots of consultants and Steve Romaine has written Soldier of Fortune 500: A Management Survival Guide for the Consulting Wars ($30.00, Prometheus Books). Available since it was published last September, the author offers a view never before shared with management or stockholders as he takes a hired gun’s journey beginning at the outside looking in, and ending at the pinnacle of a corporation’s power. As both a manager and a consultant who has played a critical role in some of the largest corporations, he provides real-world insights. His advice: "Manage them or they will manage you."

Finally, I recommend The Detective and The Investor by Robert G. Hagstrom ($24.95, Texare), a particularly timely book in an era when we see CEOs and other executives bringing shown handcuffed and indicted for corporate crimes. As corporate America and Wall Street addresses the problems that have arisen from cozy relationships, the author discusses investigated methods that will gather the kind of information that will keep you from being fleeced when you make your next investment. It is an entertaining book as well, drawing on fictional detectives as way of demonstrating how to avoid the pitfalls. Both Wall Street professionals and novice investors will benefit from its insights.

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Encouraging children and young people to learn about the world is the wish of many parents and the folks at McGraw-Hill Children’s Publishing make this very easy by producing series that are a delight to the eye and stimulate the mind with their excellent texts. One series, Art and Civilization, has just added two new books, Ancient Rome and Medieval Times ($16.95) by Giovanni Di Pasquale and Matilde Bardi, ideal for grades five through nine. Here the young reader can experience the major works of Roman art from its Etruscan roots to the height of its glory days. The fall of the Roman Empire was followed by the Middle Ages and, here again, key works of art are used to explain the European world of that time. The Renaissance marked the rebirth of learning and led to an explosion of new art. It is captured in The Atlas of the Renaissance World, another handsomely illustrated book. For more information about these and other comparable titles, visit www.Mhkids.com.

For the very earliest reading experience, ideal for those aged two to five years of age, there’s two books from the Dalmatian Press by Don Hoffman and illustrated by Todd Dakins. They are Abigail is a Big Girl and Billy is a Big Boy ($2.99, paperback) in which children will instantly recognize themselves and the landmarks of the accomplishments that mark growing up. Kids love rhyming texts and Thad Box, along with artist Marie Dwyer, have published Bud’s Adobe Dog House ($13.99, Xlibris). It tells the story of the problems of building Bud’s new house from mud and is sure to amuse the pre-schooler.

Another dog has his day in a book by Karen Johnson, Mr. Bob’s Magic Ride in the Sky ($14.95, Whitecap Books, distributed by Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company). No ordinary dog, Mr. Bob dreams that one day he will fly and one day he does with help from some feathered friends. Another book from White Cap is Dianna Bonder’s Accidental Alphabet ($16.95) due next month. It is a splendid way to learn the alphabet, beautifully illustrated with a wonderful rhyming text based on zany characters by a very talented writer-artist. Alaska Northwest Books are distributed by Graphic Arts Center as well and who better to tell us what Winter Is ($15.95/$8.95 hard and soft bound) perfect for ages 3 through 6. Written by Ann Dixon and illustrated by Mindy Dwyer, the book tells the story of winter as it glides, slides, shimmers and shines, through its frigid months.

Over the years, Kane/Miller Book Publishers have established a well-deserved reputation for their excellent children’s books. Their new titles for 2003 will continue that reputation with books written by an international cast of authors from France, Australia, Denmark, Israel, South Korea and the Netherlands. In Little School, Australian author Beth Norling answers the questions that all children have before beginning school. Another Australian, author and illustrator, Elizabeth Stanley, has gifted us with The Deliverance of Dancing Bears, an animal rights tale. Animals, pets actually, are the subject of South Korea’s Ho Baek Lee, While You Were Out, that teaches us that our pets miss us when we go away. Dutch author and illustrator, Sieb Posthma has written Benny about a dog that has lost his sense of smell, but it’s really just a common cold, an experience which children do survive. Israelis, Hira Harel author, and Yossi Abulafia, illustrator, provide The Key to My Heart, a lovely story of how a problem gets solved when a set of keys is lost. Check out these and other new books at www.kanemiller.com.

From the talented folks at Bay Light Publishing (PO Box 3032, Moorestown, North Carolina 28117), comes two books to start off the year. The first is Charlotte Lundy’s Thank You, Jesus, illustrated by Heather Claremont ($15.95). Written for those between four and eight years of age, it is the eighth book in a "Thank You, God" series of twelve such stories for Christian youth. In this story, a little girl named Madison is afraid of a lame kitten, but her grandmother teaches her a lesson of love through the story of Jesus. The other is the Spanish language version, Gracias Noe (Thank you, Noah) a bestseller ($15.95) in which a girl thanks him for saving the horses from the great flood.

Finally, I found What If? A Kid’s Guide to Surviving Just About Everything a terrific idea and excellent book for older youngsters ($6.95, McGraw-Hill Children’s Publishing) because it is filled with advice on what to do in threatening situations from a shark attack to being trapped in a burning building. There’s advice on how to survive in the wilderness and even how to cope with an earthquake or tornado. It includes helpful first aid information and a section on being "street-smart." I think every parent should give this book to their children.