Yu Qiuyu is one of China's greatest modern essayists. Sometimes a prickly commentator, he is above all a storyteller. In this volume he takes his inspiration from China's geography, both human and physical, and brings the culture of his country to life with human characters and historical narrative. The forests of Hainan, the Three Gorges, classical pagodas, ancient remains under modern Shanghai, even the open skies... all have their stories and cultural connections, traced with erudition and wit by an inquisitive mind. "I sought a path across mountains and rivers, plastering my brief life across a rugged corner of this planet," explains Yu Qiuyu. The Book of Rivers and Mountains is another in a series of meditative essays about Chinese culture and history. In this book he returns to the Chinese mainland in contemplation of its people and the natural landscape that has shaped their way of life. He refers to mountains and rivers as the "facial expressions of the land" and the only true way of understanding the history of the country and its people.

Mountains are Mountains and Rivers are Rivers deals with such subjects as achieving peace of mind, coping with stress, accepting lifes disappointments, enhancing creativity,finding meaningful work, and improving relationships with your family members. There is also a useful dictionary of the terms, such as zazen, dharma, and sartori, used in the readings, along with concepts such as attentiveness, simplicity, and acceptance. This is an excellent and accessible guide for anyone wishing to slow down lifes frantic pace and develop a more peaceful lifestyle.

Theodore Levin takes readers on a journey through the rich sonic world of inner Asia, where the elemental energies of wind, water, and echo; the ubiquitous presence of birds and animals; and the legendary feats of heroes have inspired a remarkable art and technology of sound-making among nomadic pastoralists. As performers from Tuva and other parts of inner Asia have responded to the growing worldwide popularity of their music, Levin follows them to the West, detailing their efforts to nourish global connections while preserving the power and poignancy of their music traditions.

Rivers and mountains are both critical parts of Earth’s geography. This accessible text discusses how rivers and mountains form, how they interact with the weather, how they change over time, and how civilizations benefit from them. Informative fact boxes, simple diagrams, and vibrant, full-color photographs support the compelling main text. This introduction to rivers and mountains is sure to expand young learners’ minds, as they enhance their knowledge of Earth science and other crucial parts of science curricula.

From one of our most important modern poets comes an essential early collection, including the famous long poems “The Skaters” and “Clepsydra” When Rivers and Mountains was published in 1966, American poetry was in a state of radical redefinition, with John Ashbery recognized as one of the leading voices in the New York School of poets. Ashbery himself had just returned to America from ten years abroad working as an art critic in France, and Rivers and Mountains, his third published collection of poems, is now considered by many critics to represent a pivotal transition point in his artistic career. The poet who would gain widespread acclaim with his multiple-award-winning Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror (1975) is, in this collection, still very much engaged in the intimate, personal project of taking his poetry apart and putting it back together again, interrogating not just the act of writing but poetry itself—its purpose, its composition, its fundamental parts. Nominated for a National Book Award by a panel of judges that included W. H. Auden and James Dickey, Rivers and Mountains includes two of Ashbery’s most studied and admired works. “Clepsydra,” which takes its name from an ancient device for measuring the passage of time, echoes both the physical form and the philosophical weight of a water clock in its contemplation of the experience of time as it passes. “The Skaters,” the long poem that closes the collection, was immediately praised as a masterpiece of modern American poetry, and is the work that perhaps most clearly introduces the voice for which Ashbery is now well known and loved: generous, restless, wide-ranging, and human.

Lourie completed his trip. It took him three weeks and marked the first time anyone has traveled from the source of the Hudson to the mouth in a single vessel. The Hudson proved to be a very changeable river. It includes seven locks and nine power dams. The northern half is a true river with strong current, but the lower half is tidal, a sunken river from the days of glaciers. In its first 165 miles, it drops more than 4,000 feet to Albany. The second half falls no more than a foot. Lourie's account of his trip is a fresh look at one of America's great and complex waterways, one of the few, in fact, that still contains its his­torical and biological species of fish. It is also the longest inland estuary in the world. Henry Hudson called it the "great river of the moun­tains." Nowadays, too often the Hudson is stereotyped as a ruined, polluted industrial river. Its glorious past is compared to its present neglect. In River of Mountains, Peter Lourie combines the Hudson's rich history and descriptions of some of the region's most impressive landscape with the residents of its mill towns, the loggers, commercial fishermen, and barge pilots-all of whom are proof that the river is still a thriving, vital waterway. So, come with Peter Lourie on his trip, come explore with him from a canoe one of this coun­try's great rivers, join him in his wonderful adventure.