* Berry, Wendell Life Is a Miracle: An Essay Against Modern Superstition
(Counterpoint 1-58243-058-6, $21, 153pp, hc, May 2000)
A essay in response to E.O. Wilson's Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, which called for a reconciliation of science, religion, and arts; to Berry, the ''superstition'' is science. Amazon has a review by Gregory McNamee, and a reader review from Terry Bisson which, despite, or because of, its low rating, prompted Locus Online to check this out (i.e. LO is an E.O. Wilson fan). (Fri 22 Sep 2000)

* Delany, Samuel R. 1984: Selected Letters
(Voyant Publishing 0-9665998-1-0, $17.95, 30+351pp, tpb, May 2000, jacket design Sang Y. Lee)
Introduction by Kenneth R. James. Over 300 pages of 57 letters (and a few other documents, including one Locus review) from 1983 to 1985. Amazon has a brief review by Neil Gaiman, and reader reviews. (Sat 2 Sep 2000)

* Devlin, Keith The Math Gene
(Basic Books 0-465-01618-9, $25, 17+328pp, hc, August 2000, cover design Tom Stvan)
Subtitle: How Mathematical Thinking Evolved and Why Numbers are Like Gossip. A genetic propensity for math is related to that for language, argues Devlin, who goes on to explain why nevertheless many people loathe mathematics. Amazon has a review by Robert Matthews. (Tue 26 Sep 2000)

+ Jones, Stephen The Essential Monster Movie Guide
(Billboard Books 0-8230-7936-8, $19.95, 448pp, tpb, 2000)
First US edition (UK: Titan Books October 1999). Guide to horror films and TV, with an alphabetical index of titles, numerous black and white photos, biographies of filmmakers and actors, indexes of personalities and alternates titles, bibliography, and a long introduction by Forrest J Ackerman. (Fri 22 Sep 2000)

* Schafer, Elizabeth D. Exploring Harry Potter
(Beacham Publishing 0-933833-57-1, $24.95, 479pp, hc, August 2000, jacket design Jill Dible)
Nonfiction guide to the first three Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling, with a summary of Pottermania, a biography of Rowling, summaries of characters, themes, plots of the books, etc., not to mention a 30-page timeline of world history as related to Harry Potter. There's also 10 pages of SF and fantasy 'related titles', checklists of characters, animals, creatures, plants, etc. etc. 'Not Approved by J.K. Rowling', it says right on the cover. (Mon 18 Sep 2000)

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 SFFH 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.