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This page lists selected new nonfiction books -- pertaining directly to science fiction, fantasy, and horror, as well as books of associational interest -- seen published this month, mostly via bookstores sightings (though all books received for review will be listed). For a comprehensive listing of new books pertaining to SF/F/H published each month, see Locus Magazine. Its Books Received listings are accumulated as the online Locus Index.
Key: * = first edition, + = first US edition. Date with publisher info is official publication month; date in parentheses at paragraph end is date seen or received.
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Seen in January
+ Barbour, Julian The End of Time: The Next Revolution in Physics
(Oxford 0-19-511729-8, $30, 371pp, hc, January 2000)
First US edition (UK: Weidenfeld & Nicolson September 1999). Maybe time doesn't exist, says Barbour. (Tue 25 Jan 2000)
* Brockman, John, ed The Greatest Inventions of the Past 2,000 Years (Simon & Schuster 0-684-85998-x, $22, 192pp, hc, January 2000) Anthology of over 100 short essays by various writers, from Stewart Brand and Daniel Dennett to Freeman Dyson and Howard Gardner, on inventions of all sorts (Gardner picks Western classical music). (Tue 11 Jan 2000)
* Bunch, Bryan The Kingdom of Infinite Number: A Field Guide
(Freeman 0-7167-3388-9, $23.95, 12+388pp, hc, January 2000)
A tour of the different kinds of numbers: rational, real, irrational, imaginary, perfect; describing each number in terms of "field marks", "similar species", "personality", and "associations", just as a field guide to birds would categorize by songs and color. (Fri 28 Jan 2000)
* Kaplan, Robert The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero (Oxford 0-19-512842-7, $22, 225pp, hc, October 1999) A history of the mathematical idea of zero (which is not such an abstract concern as it might seem, in this year of confusion about when one 'millennium' ends and the next one begins). Amazon has reviews from Booklist, Wall Street Journal, etc. (Sat 22 Jan 2000)
* Moore, Sharon We Love Harry Potter! (St. Martin's Griffin 0-312-26481-x, $5.99, 117pp, tpb, December 1999) The first Harry tie-in: a collection of children's letters on what they like about the Harry Potter books. (Sat 8 Jan 2000)
+ Rees, Martin Just Six Numbers (Basic Books 0-465-03672-4, $22, 11+173pp, hc, January 2000) First US edition (UK: Widenfeld & Nicolson October 1999). ''The Deep Forces That Shape the Universe'': About six physical constants that, if any one of them were slightly different, would preclude the existence of our universe. With notes and index. (Tue 4 Jan 2000)
+ Ridley, Matt Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters
(HarperCollins 0-06-019497-9, $26, 344pp, hc, February 2000)
First US edition (UK: Fourth Estate September 1999). Author of The Red Queen and The Origins of Virtue tours the human genome, using discoveries from the human genome project to describe the principal human characteristics found on each of the 23 genes. Amazon has blurbs from James Watson and Sarah Hrdy. (Fri 28 Jan 2000)
* Walker, Alexander, Sybil Taylor, & Ulrich Ruchti Stanley Kubrick, Director: A Visual Analysis (Norton 0-393-04601-x, $35, 376pp, hc, September 1999) Analysis of Kubrick's films, with photos, revised and expanded from an earlier edition, with a final chapter on Eyes Wide Shut. (Sat 8 Jan 2000)
* Wright, Robert Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny (Pantheon 0-679-44252-9, $27.5, 435pp, hc, January 2000) New book, only his third, by one of Locus Online's favorite writers, author of The Moral Animal (1994), Slate columnist, etc. Wright applies game theory to the history of life, and human society. With extensive notes, bibliography, and index. Wright's website nonzero.org has some samples. (Wed 5 Jan 2000)
* Young, R.G. The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film (Applause 1-55783-269-2, $39.95, 1016pp, tpb, December 1999) ''Ali Baba to Zombies'', enormous bibliography of 9000 films through 1997. Listings include director, writers, cast, but not descriptions or evaluations. Appendices include indexes to literary sources and songs. (Sat 22 Jan 2000)
