Rose's remarkable account follows the journey of Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, who was deployed by the British East India Company to steal China's tea secrets in 1848. This thrilling narrative combines history, geography, and old-fashioned adventure.

“I was twenty-three and I had set off for Asia to become a writer, intrigued by lurid tales of booms, busts, drugs, sex, violence, magic. There was a wicked sorcery in Asia, in the economic profligacy of the early nineties, in the way financiers and businessmen took a rapidly wiring and developing continent and looted billions, like a titanic parlor trick converting all that wealth into abandoned office complexes and half-completed shopping malls. . . . I wanted it all—the money, the sex, the drugs. And to this day I believe that if I am honest with myself, despite all I have learned the hard way over the past decade, I would still want it all again, the fucking and the getting loaded and the scheming to get enough money to pay for that life.” In the late 1980s, not long out of college, Karl Taro Greenfeld found himself stranded in New York, a failed writer before his career had even begun. His Jewish-American father angrily cut off support; his Japanese mother suggested he go to Japan to teach English. He did, accepting a job with no more promise than he’d had before. But he stayed in Asia for the next several years, working his way through a series of journalistic posts, watching a culture erupt before his eyes and facing his own demons. Through a series of vividly imagistic stories that range from the rigidly journalistic to the deeply intimate, Standard Deviations recounts Greenfeld’s experiences—both professional and personal—during Asia’s wild ride at the end of the twentieth century. Whether drinking Japanese cough syrup to get high with other Western expatriates, visiting a free-sex ashram in Bombay, or watching a former high school pal self-destruct as an equity analyst in Jakarta, Greenfeld evokes the spirit of a continent in flux at an explosive “bubble” economy’s end—and a man confronting his own identity and aspirations. Raunchy, insightful, eloquent and moving, Standard Deviations is an uncompromising work of cultural observation and self-exploration.

Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, scholar Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. Treading back across the paths of her ancestors, she travels from Baltimore to the Baltic to London in order to find and understand an immigrant world profoundly affected by modern German culture, from the Enlightenment through the Holocaust. Deeply ambitious in its narrative sweep, Jacob's Cane captures the rich texture of life on several continents as New's family searches to establish itself in the tobacco trade. A fascinating history of one family's story of progress, innovation, and struggle, Jacob's Cane will change the way we think about the Jewish American experience.

Calvin Trillin, the celebrated New Yorker writer, offers a rich and engaging biography of his father, as well as a literate and entertaining fanfare for the common (and decent, and hard-working) man. Abe Trillin had the western Missouri accent of someone who had grown up in St. Joseph and the dreams of America of someone who had been born is Russia. In Kansas City, he was a grocer, at least until he swore off the grocery business. He was given to swearing off things—coffee, tobacco, alcohol, all neckties that were not yellow in color. Presumably he had also sworn off swearing, although he was a collector of curses, such as "May you have an injury that is not covered by workman's compensation." Although he had a strong vision of the sort of person he wanted his son to be, his explicit advice about how to behave didn't go beyond an almost lackadaisical "You might as well be a mensch." Somehow, though, Abe Trillin's messages got through clearly. The author's unerring sense of the American character is everywhere apparent in this quietly powerful memoir, Messages from My Father .

A round, luminescent pearl is the simplest and most perfect gem. Columbus sought—and found—this precious jewel coveted by his Spanish sovereigns, sparking popularity throughout Europe. Fashion icons Jacqueline Kennedy, Princess Grace, and Michelle Obama cherished them, making them iconic. And designer Coco Chanel raised them to new heights, bringing pearls— fake and real—to women everywhere. In Tears of Mermaids , Stephen G. Bloom travels 30,000 miles in an effort to trace a single pearl—from the moment a diver off the coast of Australia scoops an oyster containing a single luminescent pearl from the ocean floor to the instant a woman fastens the clasp of a strand containing the same orb. Bloom chronicles the never-before-told saga of the global pearl trade by gaining access to clandestine outposts in China, the Philippines, French Polynesia and Australia. He infiltrates high-tech pearl farms guarded by gun-toting sentries, farms for pearls in rural China, and even goes backstage at Christie's for a fast and furious auction of the most expensive pearl ever sold. Teeming with rogue humor and uncanny intelligence, Tears of Mermaids weaves a nonstop detective story whose main character is the world's most enduring jewel.

"The difference between Gordon Ramsay and a talking pig is that Gordon Ramsay never shuts up." —From Kitchen Con Our consumer culture can’t help but get wrapped up in designer crazes— these days our collective attention is focused on the designer food frenzy. Chefs are our newest celebrities and their restaurants are their stages, but hidden behind the elegant façade of fine dining exists the stark and sometimes shocking reality of the food industry. Renowned food critic Trevor White exposes what goes on behind the scenes in the high-stakes world of the restaurateur. Diners, be forewarned: this biting critique of restaurant culture shows today’s most celebrated restaurants for what they really are: greedy, ostentatious businesses solely dedicated to the fame of their owners. Kitchen Con pays tribute to the history of dining out, starting with the first restaurants and moving on to the most fashionable and well-known kitchens in New York, Paris and London. Witty, humourous and polished, White takes his reader on a whirlwind trip through the restaurant racket, sparing no one!

The office of tomorrow is already with us. You can see it in coffee shops, airport lounges and hotel lobbies across the world. It's called the mobile office and in some instances consists of only a laptop and a wireless broadband card. Even now mobile office options are evolving rapidly and the bewildering range of add-ons is growing every day. Ironically, the choices meant to make your life simpler and more productive are in fact becoming more and more complex. Arthur Goldstuck has once again come to the rescue. This vital roadmap guides you through the jungle of competing products and connectivity options, and helps you to decipher the hard-sell you are bombarded with daily. Should you upgrade now? Should you wait for the next version? Are you being led down an electronic dead-end? This book answers such questions with insights into older technologies that are still viable, practical advice on current office options and predictions on what will arrive in the near future. Whether you are self-employed, an entrepreneur looking to start up a small business or a corporate looking to become more efficient, this book could hold the key to your streamlined success.

A unique perspective on 21st century Irish cultural identity, delivered in a style rich with his typical sardonic wit. Ukrainian-born Vitali Vitaliev, an award-winning travel writer and journalist, uses his outsider's perspective to recount his Irish adventures. A renowned cultural observer, he muses on the nation's quirks and stereotypes, whilst his reference to mid-19th century guide books provides an insightful historical comparison. The result is an affectionate if slightly perplexed portrait of a nation in transition.Vitali's time in Ireland coincided with the period of the now dead and buried 'Celtic Tiger' yet the author saw no sign of it. At times, he recounts, "I was ready to believe that its very existence was a myth, a creation of the lazy journalists' and inept economists' imagination." Daily life in the Republic of Ireland, he observed, was more reminiscent of that in a third world country, rather than of a modern industrial and financial 'mini-giant' - as it was at that time being described by the world media. "During my travels, I developed a chronic dislike for the elusive and intrusive Tiger. It simply did not fit with Ireland's pristine landscape and even less so - with the nation's poetic soul."Ukrainian-born Vitali Vitaliev, an award-winning travel writer and journalist, uses his outsider's perspective to recount his Irish adventures. A renowned cultural observer, he muses on the nation's quirks and stereotypes, whilst his reference to mid-19th century guide books provides an insightful historical comparison. The result is an affectionate if slightly perplexed portrait of a nation in transition.Reviews of Vitali's Ireland: "This is a book that will perplex and infuriate some but appear quite humorous to others . . . Eccentric guide to a land of contradictions . . . A rather eclectic mixture of farce, travel guide and personal observation . . . This book should be required reading for those executives who run our tourist authorities."Colin Lenihan, Minister for Integration, in The Irish Times"Slightly eccentric and highly enjoyable . . . Slightly cranky, sometimes bewildered, often meandering back across his life and generally highly entertaining, Vitali's Ireland is very much an outsider's look into our country. If he doesn't know what to make of us, it is maybe because he is viewing us at a junction where we don't know what to make of ourselves."Dermot Bolger, in Sunday Business"Vitali is big hearted, broad minded and smart as a whip . . . A Ukranian-born Russian exile whose worldwide perambulations have produced a string of fine, intelligent works of idiosyncratic reportage, this somewhat unusual visitor offers a valuable gift to us Irish readers: The outside perspective . . . Vitaliev wanders the 32 counties like some kind of gormless, amiable pilgrim, half-Mr Bean, half-Socrates. . . . (His) observations on the folly of the Northern conflict are heartbreaking in their simplicity and world-weary resignation . . . I could fill this paper with quotable extracts"Hugh Tynan, in the Irish Examiner Weekend