Indiana University Press blog

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 28

The answer to yesterday's trivia question was A. Classical Studies. Metamorphoses (#1), The Golden Ass (#2), and The Art of Love (#4) are the three classics on our top five bestseller list. Today's question focuses on these enduring titles:

Who acquired these three classics for the IU Press list?

A. John Gallman
B. John Dessauer
C. Rolfe Humphries
D. Bernard Perry

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win Logic. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 27

The answer to yesterday's trivia question was B. 20+. While we've published a great deal of Heidegger, only 20+ titles remain in print. However, after some deliberation, I think yesterday's question was ambiguous. I only factored in the works by Heidegger or ones where he was the sole focus. But we've published several other philosophy books where Heidegger was a subject of at least one (or more) of the chapters. So if you take all those books into account, then we have whole lotta Heidegger going on! :) Therefore, I decided that anyone who played the game yesterday should be entered in the book drawing (and I'll try to ask unambiguous questions from now on!).

Today's question focuses on the subject matter of our top five bestsellers of all time:

Three of our five bestsellers are published in the area of

A. Classical Studies
B. Indiana and the Midwest
C. Philosophy
D. Sports

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win Logic. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 26

The answer to Friday's trivia question was C. Big Hound. We've had a request to give away some Heidegger books, so all this week you'll be playing for a chance to win Logic. Heidegger is also the focus of today's trivia question:

How many titles written by or about Heidegger do we currently have in print?

A. 10+
B. 20+
C. 30+
D. 40+

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win Logic. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

Book award: The Grace of Four Moons wins Coomaraswamy Book Prize

Congratulations to Pravina Shukla whose book The Grace of Four Moons was awarded the Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize for the best English-language work in South Asian studies.

The award was presented yesterday at the Association for Asian Studies annual meeting.

To see past winners of the Coomaraswamy Book Prize, please visit the AAS list.

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 25

The answer to yesterday's trivia question was D. E.B. White. This is my last question about Henry Mitchell for the week:

In the preface to Any Day, John Gallman refers to Henry Mitchell by this nickname:

A. Big Chief
B. Big Papa
C. Big Hound
D. Big Bad Gardener

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win The Essential Earthman. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

Four IU Press books named ForeWord Book of the Year Award finalists

We are delighted to announce that four IU Press titles have been selected by ForeWord Reviews as finalists for its 2009 Book of the Year Awards!

IU Press nominees include:

FARMfood by Daniel Orr (cooking)
Johnny Cash and the Paradox of American Identity by Leigh H. Edwards (music)
Stillness and Light: The Silent Eloquence of Shaker Architecture by Henry Plummer  (architecture)
The Year's Work in Lebowski Studies edited by Edward P. Comentale and Aaron Jaffe (popular culture)

The winners, which are selected by a panel of librarians and booksellers from ForeWord's readership, will be announced at BookExpo America in New York City on May 26.

To see a complete list of finalists, visit www.bookoftheyearawards.com.

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 24

The answer to yesterday's trivia question was B. Wouldn't look inside because he thought the book wasn't right for the IU Press list. However, once Gallman did take the manuscript out of the box, he became hooked on Mitchell's essays and decided to publish them after all. Like John Gallman, I can't get enough of Henry Mitchell, so today's question is about him again:

In the same NPR interview (mentioned in yesterday's trivia question), Gallman compared Henry Mitchell to:

A. Mark Twain
B. Will Rogers
C. Erma Bombeck
D. E.B. White

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win The Essential Earthman. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

Printing a Book, Old School

Thanks to our assistant sales manager (aka @metakatea) for sharing this on her Twitter page:

60 Days of Giveaways: Day 23

The answer to yesterday's trivia question was D. Nothing. Bulbs are heartier than you think. Surprised? I know I was! I thought gardeners should go to all lengths to preserve their precious plants from the cold. But Henry Mitchell emphatically declares (and the following capitalization is his own): "DON'T DO ANYTHING AT ALL." 

I'm having a lot of fun reading Henry Mitchell, so today's question deals with the other book he published with us, entitled Any Day.

In an NPR interview with Alex Chadwick, former IU Press director John Gallman said that when he first got the box with the Any Day manuscript he:

A. Immediately opened it and stayed up all night reading the book.
B. Wouldn't look inside because he thought the book wasn't right for the IU Press list.
C. Sent it to former IU Press director Bernard Perry to get his opinion on the book.
D. Accidentally put it in the recycling bin, but luckily his assistant caught the mistake and fished it out.

Post your answer (one entry per person, please!) in the comments section of our blog. Entries must be received by 11:59 p.m. EDT tonight for a chance to win The Essential Earthman. Please review the rest of the contest rules here. Good luck!

Choice reviews - March 2010

The following titles have been reviewed in the March issue of Choice (requires subscription):

Bonhoeffer and Continental Thought

"This collection is insightful and its essays largely careful explorations. ...Recommended." —A.W. Klink, Duke University

Giving Circles

"In sum, this book uses original data and presents a novel approach to group politics that should be explored further by scholars from various disciplines. ...Recommended. General readers, upper-division undergraduate students, and above." —R.M. Alexander, Ohio Northern University

A History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

"Of the numerous books devoted to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Univ. of Michigan political science professor Tessler's contribution certainly ranks among the most extensive and thorough. Given the highly polemical nature of the discourse over Israel/Palestine, Tessler's ability to provide a balanced account should be commended. ...Recommended." —M. Gershovich, University of Nebraska, Omaha

Indiana's Weather and Climate

"...[T]his detailed, glossy reference work is an excellent source of information on the weather and climate of Indiana. ... The text is written in simple, straightforward prose and is profusely illustrated with informative color pictures, maps, graphs, and charts. ... Hopefully there will be similar studies for other states or regions of the US. An essential work for libraries in Indiana and the contiguous midwestern states. ...Highly recommended." —J.C. Stachacz, Wilkes University

Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans

"Turner has written an outstanding study of jazz religion and the second line in New Orleans, the 'most African city' in the US. This study is both personal and academic, reflecting the path chosen by previous scholars of vodou such as Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Deren, and Karen McCarthy Brown. ...Highly recommended." —L.H. Mamiya, Vassar College

Just Love

"The appendix contains case studies showing how the book's argument functions in real politics, allowing Mongoven to ground her case in a way that is too rare in contemporary political theory. This interesting ... book makes important contributions to the debates about the tensions between love and justice, particularity, and impartiality. ...Recommended." —A.W. Klink, Duke University

Musical Cultures in Seventeenth-Century Russia

"Jensen focuses on a very specific—and little researched and written about—topic and period: the music of the court and church in Muscovite Russia. ... This is a book for music scholars and for those pursuing study of Russian history. ...Recommended." —B.L. Eden, University of California, Santa Barbara

Understanding Climate Change

"The 23 chapters focus on local, statewide, or regional aspects of climate variability and change and on prediction of near-future trends in these states. ... Pryor has woven the complex threads of these research areas into a state-of-the-art volume. The book is illustrated with detailed, though small, colored graphics. ...Recommended." —L.S. Zipp, formerly, State University of New York College at Geneseo.