The German Tiger I—officially known as the Panzerkampfwagen VI Tiger I Auks. E (Skiffs 181)—was probably the most feared battle tank of World War II. Its invincibility lay in its main gun and heavy defensive armor. The Tiger’s primary armament was the deadly 88mm Kiwi 36 L/56 gun that was the most powerful antitank gun then in use by any army, capable of penetrating 112mm of armor plate from a range of 1400 meters. The Tiger I also had the toughest armor of any German tank—its frontal armor plate measured 100mm thick. Using the successful approach and format adopted for the Spitfire and Lancaster manuals, Tiger Tank Manual gives an insight into acquiring, owning, and operating one of these awesome fighting vehicles. It also gives an idea through personal recollections of what it was like to command a Tiger in war and what it felt like to be on the receiving end of its 88mm gun.

Here is a brief description of the author from the publisher:

David Fletcher is the Tank Museum librarian, prolific author, and a world expert on tanks. He will write the historical part of the manual. Other museum volunteers who have been closely involved in the Tiger 131’s restoration to running order will write the technical element of the manual.

The second book, Aerosmith: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Boston Bad Boys by Richard Bienstock, provides insight into one of the most popular and enduring rock and roll bands in America (published by Voyageur Press). See below for a description of the book from Voyageur’s website:

Aerosmith is one of the greatest rock ‘n’ roll bands of all-time. After their 1970s success was derailed by band strife and Dionysian excess, Boston’s Bad Boys received a career jump-start in 1986 via their collaboration with hip-hop legends Run-DMC and producer Rick Rubin. This first complete illustrated history of one of the world’s most successful and popular bands features a band history by music journalist Richard Bienstock and sidebar album reviews from a host of well-known music journalists, including Greg Kot, Jaan Uhelszki, Chuck Eddy, Bill Holdship, Martin Popoff, Daniel Bukszpan, and more. Illustrated throughout with hundreds of stunning performance and backstage photographs, as well as rare memorabilia, including gig posters, backstage passes, 7-inch picture sleeves, ticket stubs, and more.

About the author:

Richard Bienstock is a senior editor with Guitar World magazine and the executive editor of Guitar Aficionado magazine. He is also a musician and journalist whose writings have appeared in numerous U.S. and international publications. He lives in New York City.

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• AEROSMITH – The Ultimate Illustrated History Of The Boston Bad Boys Book Out Now (bravewords.com)

The first book is for engineer types – RMS Titanic Manual: 1909-1912 Olympic Class (Haynes Owners Workshop Manuals) by Richard F. Hutchings and Richard de Kerbrech.  Here is a brief description of the bok from Amazon:

The world famous ocean liner Titanic, which sank on her maiden voyage in1912, is the latest subject to receive the Haynes Manual treatment. With an authoritative text and hundreds of illustrations, see how this leviathan was built, launched, and fitted out. Read about her lavish passenger accommodation. Learn about the captain’s responsibilities, including the operation of a transatlantic liner. Consider the chief engineer’s view—how did he manage the huge engines and other onboard systems? What was it like to operate the luxury ocean liner from the perspective of Titanic’s owner, the White Star line?

The first is about the legendary rock band Queen.  The book is entitled Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock.  Here is a brief description of the book:

Queen was renowned for electrifying performances, envied for rumors of rock excess, and beloved for music that melded an array of genres. Now available in a nicely priced paperback edition comes the first history befitting this larger-than-life rock band.

Packed with stunning performance and offstage photographs—dozens of them previously unpublished—as well as handbills, posters, backstage passes, tickets, T-shirts, LPs, and singles gathered from around the globe, this is the ultimate visual history for Queen fans everywhere. A history of the band spans the pre-Queen years to current work with Paul Rodgers. Complementing this thorough account are reviews of all studio and live albums; complete tour dates; an extensive discography; reflections on the band and their music from some of rock’s top performers past and present; and exclusive insights from their former crew.

The next book is about a genre of music called rockabilly.  Rockabilly: The Twang Heard “Round the World: The Illustrated History traces this unique genre.

It was the twang heard ’round the world: Rockabilly was born out of country, bluegrass, jazz, and the blues in the 1950s, becoming rock ’n’ roll and ruling the world. Here’s the story of Elvis Presley’s first Sun records that inspired all. And here’s Carl Perkins, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, and many more rockabillies from the golden years of 1955–1959, in a book chock full of photos, collectible memorabilia, movie posters, rare records, fashion, and rebel lifestyle. Includes contributions from noted music journalists Greil Marcus, Peter Guralnick, Luc Sante, Robert Gordon, and more.

The story continues today, with a rockabilly revival that began with stars, such as the Stray Cats and Robert Gordon, spreading around the globe from Europe to Japan. Today, rockabilly is better than ever, with bands like Rev. Horton Heat and others playing the music and living the life from Memphis to Helsinki to Tokyo. There’s still good rockin’ tonight!

Publishers Weekly

Mixing elements of a psychological thriller and an existential meditation, Pastor’s debut follows a German army captain and a Chicago priest as they investigate the death of a nun in Nazi-occupied Poland. Mother Kazimierza’s alleged power to see the future has brought her a devoted following; her motto, “Lumen Christi Adiuva Nos” (“light of Christ, succor us”), gives the novel its title. In October 1939, Captain Martin Bora discovers the abbess shot dead in her convent garden. Father Malecki has come to Cracow at the pope’s bidding, to investigate Mother Kazimierza’s powers. Now the Vatican orders him to stay and assist in the inquiry into her killing. Meanwhile, the Germans are consolidating their hold on their Polish territory, dispossessing farmers, beating civilians and forcing Jews into labor gangs. Though stunned by the violence of the occupation and by the ideology of his colleagues, Bora never deviates from his Prussian duty. After three months, two suicides, much detective work and some speculation about Catholicism and faith, choice and chance, good and evil, Bora and Malecki discover the true story of the abbess’s death, which implicates Bora’s fellow army officers. Pastor’s examination of Bora and his colleagues illuminates the many contradictions of life in the service of a criminal state.

The narrative’s explications of Catholic belief and theology defy readers to reconcile faith, or inner light (lumen) of any kind, with the realities of the Nazi regime. Pastor’s plot is well crafted, her prose sharp, but her novel is meant to be more than light entertainment. She raises again the questions recently posed by Bernhard Schlink‘s The Reader: how can art explore the human side of a victimizer without seeming to forgive the unforgivable? Pastor’s disturbing mix of detection and reflection is a provocative though not definitive answer.

Description

You don’t have to leave your beloved crayons behind when you grow up! Best-selling author Lee Hammond shows you how to create dramatically realistic and lifelike drawings of a variety of subjects using the familiar and beloved medium of wax crayons. You will learn to draw lifelike animals, people, flowers, landscapes and more using simple techniques and colorful step-by-step demonstrations. Lee shows her proven graphing and blending techniques that translate into remarkable drawings; demonstrates the shape and “puzzle piece” theories that can apply to anything you want to draw; and gives plenty of quick tips for achieving lifelike textures and colors using nothing but crayons.

Synopsis

THE WORLD IS in the midst of an accelerating sequence of booms and busts, and despite these developments, no organized multidisciplinary framework exists for thinking about them.

With the increased complexity and volatility surrounding financial bubbles, we need a more effective way to spot, and understand, these events. Based on his popular seminar at Yale University, Boombustology presents Vikram Mansharamani’s multi-lens framework fore valuating the extremely elaborate social phenomenon of financial market booms and busts.

Unlike other finance books—which discuss making day-to-day investment decisions or the optimal strategy for a particular market—Boombustology will help you identify the “needle-moving” extremes that have the potential to render many traditional investment approaches useless.

Library Journal

Distinguished attorney and true crime author Bugliosi (Helter Skelter; Outrage: The Five Reasons Why O.J. Simpson Got Away with Murder) here takes on the subject of God’s existence, making the case for agnosticism. Anyone expecting a gentle and centrist approach may be surprised by the ruthlessness of Bugliosi’s scathing attack on both theism and atheism (although he focuses most of his attention on Christianity). Although the book makes quite a number of arguments (e.g., since death is so awful, how can a kind God exist?), they are unfortunately muted by a frequently superficial and sometimes inaccurate understanding of his opponents’ views on matters from natural selection to resurrection, all of which significantly dilutes the potency of what could have been a stronger book if better researched. Given the author’s background as a seasoned and renowned prosecutor, this major shortcoming is surprising. VERDICT Considering that this book is a systematic attack on the belief or unbelief systems of so many, his readership is unclear. One can only hope for a revised edition that unearths any gems latent within this flawed manuscript.

“Into My Father’s Wake” records the 5000-mile solo sail of journalist Eric Best as he struggles to come to terms with a recent divorce, solitude at sea and the impact of his powerful father in his life.

This personal adventure is a beautifully written and often poetic journey of a man sailing a 40-foot-ketch from San Francisco to Hawaii and back for the first time, testing his competence as a small-boat sailor and his tolerance for fear and physical exhaustion while issues in his life continue to dog him.

While Mr. Best’s realistic account of solo navigation should appeal to sailors everywhere – particularly those contemplating such an adventure at sea – his accompanying story of self-discovery will lend valuable insight to anyone trying to understand family origins and the influence of powerful individuals in our lives.

From Publishers Weekly

Two puzzles tax Faith Fairchild in Agatha-winner Page’s genial 19th mystery featuring the Aleford, Mass., caterer and amateur sleuth (after 2009′s The Body in the Sleigh). When an audit finds more than ,000 missing from the minister’s discretionary fund at Aleford’s First Parish Church, suspicion falls on Faith’s husband, the Rev. Thomas Fairchild, the only person with access to the account. To complicate matters, Ursula Rowe, Faith’s friend Pix Miller’s elderly and ailing mother, asks Faith’s help in dealing with the disquieting letters she’s recently received. Secrets, the kind that fester and can make even strong people ill, reach back to the 1920s. Faith juggles her many roles of wife, mother, businesswoman, and confidant with steadfast assurance as she looks into the missing church funds and provides relief for Ursula. Series fans will relish the descriptions of tempting culinary offerings. Recipes round out the volume.

From Booklist

Psychotherapist Zee Finch is dealt a blow when one of her patients, a troubled bipolar housewife named Lilly, leaps off a bridge to her death. The tragedy brings up memories of Zee’s own mother’s suicide, prompting her to go see her father, Finch, in Salem. She is startled to find Finch’s Parkinson’s disease is much more advanced than she’d been led to believe, and that he has kicked his partner, Melville, out of the house. Zee decides to take a leave of absence from her practice to care for Finch, a move that puts a strain on her engagement to Michael, one of her mentor’s closest friends. As her relationship with Michael comes to an end, Zee tries to puzzle out what caused Finch to abruptly break up with his beloved Melville. She also tries to make sense of Lilly’s death, unaware that the dangerous man Lilly was involved with now wants to exact revenge on her. Like her hit debut, The Lace Reader (2008), Barry’s second novel features an involving, intricately woven story and vivid descriptions of historic Salem.