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Best Pop Culture Encyclopedias

On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio
Now long out of print, John Dunning's Tune in Yesterday was the definitive one-volume reference on old-time radio broadcasting. Now, in On the Air , Dunning has completely rethought this classic work, reorganizing the material and doubling its coverage, to provide a richer and more informative account of radio's golden age. As he did in Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Prentice Hall, 1976), Dunning here provides a storehouse of information about the people and programs of radio's Golden Age (1930s, 1940s, 1950s). Devotees of classic television shows may be surprised to find out that such programs as Father Knows Best , Our Miss Brooks , Queen for a Day , and Sky-King all started as radio programs. Another recent publication, the Historical Dictionary of American Radio [RBB Ag 98], covers a wider range of topics related to radio but has far less coverage of individual programs.
Reviews
"Rather than replace "Tune in Yesterday" with this volume (or not buy "Tune in Tomorrow" at all), I'd advise people who are really into old-time radio to own both as companion pieces."
"There is no article in the book on any of the three (later four) broadcast companies - NBC (with its Red and Blue separate networks), CBS, Mutual and after 1943, ABC (which was the former Blue Network of NBC, forced to sell by anti trust legal action)."
"Very happy with my purchase."
"Very nostalgic for an old timer."
"John Dunning's book is amazingly comprehensive, but so are many other such assemblages of old-time radio data."
"I discovered this book while evaluating encyclopedic resources for my MLIS class; I could not put it down and bought it for my home library and as a gift for an avid radio enthusiast I knew would enjoy it!"
"For most of us today, it's hard to realize just how much good radio programming was available in the 1930s and 1940s, some of which has been preserved, and is available in places like archive.org because a small percentage of the old program records have survived."
"Interesting to find out that child voices were played by adults and black characters were played by whites."
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Inspire Me! A Father-Daughter Book of Quotations to Motivate, Teach and Inspire
From world leaders and philosophers, to farmers and young bloggers, this collection of inspirational quotes is organized along 12 guiding principles of life to help readers find quotes to inspire at the flip of a page. A graduate of Brown University and Boston College Law School, Paul currently serves as the Chair of the national Board of Directors of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.
Reviews
"This is an excellent collection of quotations, organized in themes, and the wide variety of historical and present day representation in the quotes is a nice touch."
"This is a beautiful little book."
"I have taken to reading this inspirational book after a particularly tough day or when I need a little extra oomph to embark on a new adventure...it's a great companion and like a best friend, gives me that extra piece of confidence and support when I need it."
"A terrific read."
"My favorite, by Ghandi - "live your life as if you will die tomorrow, learn as if you will live forever.""
"a great collection of quotes, a great story line about the creation of this book, and a great cause in terms of the proceeds of the book."
"I love this book!"
"If you find yourself searching for quotes on occasion, I suggest buying this book and enjoy the thoughtful curation of both Paul and Lizzie."
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The Star Trek Encyclopedia
Covers the three television series and the first six films. Even the nonfan will enjoy the endless cross-references and the secret, cohesive universe exposed in this volume, which reads like the realization of Jorge Luis Borges 's dream of a fictive encyclopedia merging with the real world.
Reviews
"Put together by the Graphics masters of all the 1990s Star Trek, "the Okudas!" I know it is currently $88, but if you like anything Star Trek at all, or have a loved one that does, GET THIS, you and they will LOVE IT!!!..."
"Includes overviews of clothing, uniforms, ranks, ships and the like."
"None the less with the existence of the internet and the online "Star Trek Encyclopedia" wiki/a known as "Memory Alpha" which has incredible sources of information, recaps of episodes, and BTS info a book-set like this seems quaint. Nice, glossy, pages with easily readable text and high-quality images comprised of both screen caps from the episodes/movies, illustrations of the ships, aliens, clothing, technology and such and large reference tables for the planets, species and numerous other things that make up all of the Star Trek universe."
"Great gift for any Star Trek fan."
"396 pages of reference that every Star Trek fan NEEDS!"
"It keeps me up to date on my favorites episodes and series."
"Super book for Trekkies and Trekkers alike."
"These two books have it all covers all five Star Trek shows plus all movies up to Into Darkness,"
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Best Pop Culture Art

Go the F**k to Sleep
" Go the F*** to Sleep challenges stereotypes, opens up prototypes, and acknowledges that shared sense of failure that comes to all parents who weary of ever getting their darling(s) to sleep and briefly resuming the illusion of a life of their own." Seriously, Just Go to Sleep, a children's book inspired by Go the F*** to Sleep and appropriate for kids of all ages, is also available, as well as Seriously, You Have to Eat for finicky ones everywhere! Adam Mansbach's novels include The End of the Jews, winner of the California Book Award, and the best-selling Angry Black White Boy, a San Francisco Chronicle Best Book of 2005.
Reviews
"I was shocked to find that some reviewers, apparently completely forgot to read the title of the book before purchasing. For those parents who do have a sense of humor and who may not find profanity particularly offensive and who live in the real world. It's real, overworked, frustrated beyond belief, about to loose your mind at 3am, inner parent monologue. Samuel L. Jackson should narrate a book for every single stage of life, from being born to the grave. This book is one that will be shared from one exhausted, fed up, delusional, red eyed, sleep deprived parent to another."
"I purchased this book as a 21st birthday gift for my best friend."
"A great shower or first baby gift for those parents with a sense of humor."
"If you have a child that fights sleep, this book may be for you."
"Then they said their baby wouldn't need it - that they knew how to make babies sleep really well."
"This book is clever and funny and says what as a parent I have wanted to say countless times - just go the F to sleep already!"
"Nor should you purchase this book if you do not have a sense of humor."
"I gave this book to my best friend who is due any day now and she could not stop laughing."
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Best Pop Culture Magazines

Pulp Culture: The Art of Fiction Magazines
An illustrated collection of magazine covers from pulp fiction magazines looks at cover styles of westerns, erotic stories, mysteries, and horror. The covers became more and more garish, and promised ever greater excitement. Western covers went from an illustration of an Indian gently paddling his canoe to furious cattle stampedes, a huge gang of obviously ferocious savages attacking a defenseless family, and depictions of shootouts in every conceivable locale. Mystery covers went from showing a cop on the beat to villainous thugs tearing the clothes off a helpless young woman (most frequently a generously endowed young blonde) or any other sort of action that promised the reader endless excitement. Pulps became more and more specialized as their numbers increased, soon appealing to fans of jungle stories, science fiction, fantasy, railroad stories, romances, Westerns, Western romances, aviation, the Foreign Legion, engineering, the outdoors, courtrooms, Wall Street, newspapers, firefighters, and so on.
Reviews
"More than a simple coffee table book, this tome is worth repeated perusals.With original pulps rapidly rising in costs, the images in this book make nice stand-ins."
"Must have for any illustrator or writer."
"Great history of pulp fiction and wonderful pictures of cover art, illustrations, etc."
"What a wonderfull book."
"excellent collection of illustrations."
"Unlike other books I've seen, this one strives to cover the entire range of genres, subgenres, and specialized subjects, so that along with more familiar genres such as SF, horror, adventure, romance (love story and romance pulps had the highest circulation of any genre, we are told, but are the least likely to survive), detective, western, war, hero (the Shadow knows!"
"I also wanted a book which would represent the various genres of pulp covers, from adventure covers to science fiction to sexy damsels and risque covers, and this book delivered."
"Hard-boiled Detectives, mysterious heroes, shadowy villains, evil oriental masterminds, and dames in distress...they are the stuff of the pulp magazines and the subject of this wonderful book by Frank Robinson which traces the history of pulp magazines and provides covers to hundreds of these great pulp magazines, so many lost in the antiquity of time...not to mention paper drives of the 1940's war years. Argosy would premiere as the first true pulp back in 1896 and before long dozens of competitors would emerge such as Popular Magazine, All-Story Weekly, New Story and so many more. In the 1930's, detective pulps became the most popular as there were literally dozens of detective pulps being published. From there it's on to the hero pulps and the birth of the most famous pulp characters of all including "The Shadow", "Doc Savage", and "The Spider". But the genre that gave us the most outrageous and grisly covers of the pulp era belongs to the "shudder pulps". Robinson closes his book by providing an appendix to a handful of pulp dealers and notes on pulp values."
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Best Popular Culture in Social Sciences

A Feast of Ice and Fire: The Official Game of Thrones Companion Cookbook
George R. R. Martin’s bestselling saga A Song of Ice and Fire and the runaway hit HBO series Game of Thrones are renowned for bringing Westeros’s sights and sounds to vivid life. A passion project from superfans and amateur chefs Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer—and endorsed by George R. R. Martin himself— A Feast of Ice and Fire lovingly replicates a stunning range of cuisines from across the Seven Kingdoms and beyond. In all, A Feast of Ice and Fire contains more than 100 recipes, divided by region: • The Wall: Rack of Lamb and Herbs; Pork Pie; Mutton in Onion-Ale Broth; Mulled Wine; Pease Porridge • The North: Beef and Bacon Pie; Honeyed Chicken; Aurochs with Roasted Leeks; Baked Apples • The South: Cream Swans; Trout Wrapped in Bacon; Stewed Rabbit; Sister’s Stew; Blueberry Tarts • King’s Landing: Lemon Cakes; Quails Drowned in Butter; Almond Crusted Trout; Bowls of Brown; Iced Milk with Honey • Dorne: Stuffed Grape Leaves; Duck with Lemons; Chickpea Paste • Across the Narrow Sea: Biscuits and Bacon; Tyroshi Honeyfingers; Wintercakes; Honey-Spiced Locusts. There’s even a guide to dining and entertaining in the style of the Seven Kingdoms. Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer co-run Inn at the Crossroads, a popular food blog based on A Song of Ice and Fire.
Reviews
"I unfortunately ordered The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook: From Direwolf Ale to Auroch Stew - More Than 150 Recipes from Westeros and Beyond before this one (my incessant need to buy anything asoiaf-related), and it was a disappointent. There's the Wall, the north, the south, King's Landing, Dorne, and across the Narrow Sea. They do this for a LOT of recipes and I think it's a really neat idea, since medieval dishes can be too unusual for some people's palates or too complex to make. With its beautiful, glossy pictures and pages, varieties of recipes, and best of all - GRRM's stamp of approval, you can't go wrong with this."
"My Boss loved it and if you read an earlier review then you know we are going to cook some of the dishes for the series finale."
"The recipes are wonderful with excerpts from the SoIaF books and historical recipes they are well documented and also suggest dish and beverage pairings. The next meal was 'Summer Green Salad' which was my first time working with Fennel and daresay I was amazed by the ingredient. The crumbled cheese gave a sharpness that paired with the tart grapes and the sunflower seeds gave it a crunch without being obtrusive to the crisp salad and to top it off the mint fennel fronds gave the entire salad a refreshing delicate palate reminiscent of mint and onion. Dinner was Corn Fritters, Honeyed Chicken, Onions in Gravy, berries in Cream custard. Berries in cream custard is a simple sweet recipe. the berries are chilled then the cream custard is a simple sauce which is thick, creamy and sweet but not overly sweet to overpower the tart sweetness in the berries."
"I love the description of the GoT series."
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Best The Beatles

All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release (9/22/13)
Every album and every song ever released by the Beatles - from "Please Please Me" (U.S. 1963) to "The Long and Winding Road" (U.S. 1970) - is dissected, discussed, and analyzed by two music historians in this lively, fully illustrated work. *Starred Review* This hefty gem of a book catalogs every recording released by the Beatles, in chronological order of album release. They know their stuff (Guesdon is a musician; Margotin, a music critic), and it shows—especially in the Production and Technical Details sections, where the type of equipment is named and described, recording speeds are discussed, and there is much talk of the number of takes each song required and why.
Reviews
"book takes the "greatest bits of info" from the Lewisohn, Babiuk, Ryan/Kehew books, as well as previously published interviews by the Beatles and associates, recording anomalies (readily available on several internet sites) and puts them together under one cover (primary songwriter, instrument/vocal credit, dates/mixing/studio location and personnel, specific instruments used, the Anthology series audio material and additional background info). You will not see photos of the EMI recording boxes nor photos of every single instrument used, however there is certainly enough visual material to make the book a valuable tool covering the studio career of the Beatles."
"This is the book for it!"
"I received this great book for Christmas.....wow....exactly what I wanted."
"I was amazed how many instruments George Martin played on some later albums."
"Beatles 4 ever!"
"Bought this as a Christmas present for my Dad and he’s obsessed!"
"Loved it all, the pictures, instruments used on each song, the history and background."
"If you fell in love with the print version, as I did, but were waiting for the Kindle version so you wouldn't have to lug around that giant physical book be warned that the Kindle version has NONE of the great photos found in the print version."
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