Showing results by publisher "Phoenix Books" in All Categories

Some sources say that the Buddha was born on or around April 8, 563 B.C. How many years have you been around without discovering his wisdom? According to tradition, the words of The Dhammapada come directly from the mouth of Buddha. This translation in particular is among the most poetic and spiritually insightful.

Deep within the Vietnamese jungle lies Floating City, a secret empire run on riches and murder. At its heart is Rock, an American Vietnam vet - a killing machine raised on war and rock and roll. Ruthless and bloodthirsty, he rules like a god supreme over his legendary dominion. And at his command is the Torch - the tool of ultimate evil that only one man can destroy: Nicholas Linnear. But to penetrate Floating City, Nicholas must first confront his own inner demons.

When Dave Barry writes funny, you write back. And when you write funny, Dave Barry talks back! Pulitzer Prize-winning author and columnist Dave Barry gets more response from readers than any other writer in the United States. And now the absolute best of Dave Barry is available, complete with those items sent in by Dave's legion of Alert Readers all across the country. But Dave Barry doesn't only talk back to readers. He talks back to traffic cops, dentists, doctors, Congress, and his very dumb dogs.

Hanson died quickly - with a knife in his back. Carole was next - covered with acid and tortured to death. Now it's Judd's turn - a New York pschoanalyst, he'd known them both. Two faceless executioners on a murderous mission, searching for a secret which is unknown to Judd. Not safe at home or at work, Judd feels his professional grip slipping while he faces constant threat of imminent attack. To whom can he ultimately turn?

Two friends in 1950s San Francisco Bohemia explore Buddhism Zen - hipster style. On the road to finding Dharma, or truth, the story's narrator, Raymond Smith comes to a spiritual roadblock. Smith, based on Kerouac himself, discovers a role model in his friend Japhy Ryder, modeled after the real poet-Buddhist Gary Snyder. This autobiographical novel is one of Kerouac's most popular, and has served as an inspiration to the beat culture, hippies, and dharma seekers since the 1950s.

Nancia's vision of human nature was shattered on her first voyage. Now she's bound for NX-928, and the last thing she needs is a "brawn" partner like Forister - he's the epitome of cynicism. Nevertheless, the idealistic Nancia and the worldly-wise Forister must band together to save the galaxy. This tale is narrated by television and stage actress Constance Towers ( Capitol).

Ever since Debbie Reynolds won a Miss Burbank beauty contest and a Warner Brothers screen test, her fans have identified with her and called her "the kid"—the kid sister, the kid with personality, the kid with guts. Throughout her career she has embodied fresh-faced American grace and gumption in such classic films as Singing' in the Rain, How the West Was Won, Tammy and the Bachelor, and The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Charles Bowden writes, “this book is not about how the world ends but how a new world is being born.” Murder City explores this new world, focusing on the idea that Mexico is collapsing into a permanent culture of violence. Bowden focuses on Ciudad Juarez, which lies just across the Rio Grande from El Paso. Infamously known as the place where women disappear, last year alone 1,607 people were murdered, a number that is set to accelerate in 2009.

Strange things are happening on the icy planet of Petaybee. Unauthorized, genetically engineered species have been spotted, and the locals may be deliberately hiding something—perhaps even plotting rebellion. As a combat veteran and a medical retiree, Yana is the ideal person to get close to the natives. She is quickly adopted by the people of Petaybee, who feed her a home remedy that soothes her ragged lungs. Her strength and health return, and she becomes determined to protect her new home and her people from a greedy and increasingly ruthless corporation.

Millions of American baseball fans know, with absolute certainty, that umpires are simply overpaid galoots who are doing an easy job badly. Millions of American baseball fans are wrong. As They See 'Em is an insider's look at the largely unknown world of professional umpires, the small group of men (and the very occasional woman) who make sure America's favorite pastime is conducted in a manner that is clean, crisp, and true.

This is the only authorized biography of the charismatic superstar, Frank Sinatra. Told by his daughter, Nancy Sinatra, with unabashed love and surprising candor, this memoir captures the understanding and depth of feeling that could only come from someone so closely linked. Accounts of her father's rise to fame as a hit singer, movie star, and international celebrity are as detailed as the stories of scandalous divorces, her brother's kidnapping, the false rumors of Mafia connections, and more.

Richard Nixon said he wanted administration to be "the best chronicled in history". But when Alexander Butterfield disclosed the existence of a voice-activated tapind system to a Senate committee in July 1973, Nixon's White House and its recordings quickly became the most infamous in American history. Only 60 hours were actually made public in the 1970s. Many thousands of hours remained secret and Nixon's hands, and he fought fiercely to keep them that way right up to his death.

The Thirteen Clocks is James Thurber's enduring story of life in a castle where time stands still on every clock at 10 minutes to five. The Duke of the castle ignores time and pays no attention to temperature either. He is a wicked Duke who has hands cold enough to choke a bull. The only warmth he understands is the warm hands of Princess Saralinda, his fair niece, whom he cherishes and protects from suitors.

Washington Irving's tales of romance, travel, biographical discourse, and literary musing introduced such classic fictional figures as Rip Van Winkle, Ichabod Crane, and the Headless Horsemen of Sleepy Hollow. A sage, storyteller, and wit, Irving earned his preeminence in early American literature with these masterpieces in miniature.

"...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats." So says Rat, as he welcomes the lonely Mole to the community of the River. Whether messing about in boats, touring in Toad's motorcar, or simply relaxing at home, Mole, Rat, Otter, Toad, and Badger demonstrate the honorable human characteristics of kindness, patience, and tolerance toward all that have made this classic tale beloved by generations since it was first published in 1908.

The victim of a painful past and a fatherless childhood, Dinah Kaufman is searching for love that will last - or at least, a reasonable facsimile that comes with a warranty. She nearly found it in her marriage to hugely successful playwright Rudy Gendler. But when she fights to hold on to that now-extinct romance - or at least prevent Rudy from falling for someone new - Dinah finds herself in a variety of wild situations.

Burt Reynolds reads three of Robert B. Parker's finest Spenser novels: Chance, Hush Money, and Small Vices.

Young Alvin was born the seventh son of a seventh son. By his birthright, he possesses magical powers and is destined to become something great, perhaps even a Maker. Indeed, Alvin is special. But the boy remains vulnerable to dark forces who reach out to destroy him and are willing to do anything to keep him from growing up. Carefully weaving the lore and the folk-magic of the men and women who settled a continent—as well as the beliefs of the tribes who were there before them—Orson Scott Card has created a fascinating alternate frontier America.

The former chief of the Los Angeles Police Department describes his life and career as head of one of the world's largest police forces. He looks back at the headline-making events in which he played a pivotal role: the Watts riots, shootouts with the Black Panthers and the SLA, the investigations into the death of Marilyn Monroe and the assassination of Robert Kennedy, and the infamous video-taped beating of Rodney King.

Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal which takes place in the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, and questions the morals and assumptions of the elite New York society set in the 1870s when "scandal was more dreaded than disease."