COOKING Tom Shipley (electrical engineering '50) has published For the Good Times...The Best of Fifty Years in memory of his late wife Virginia. The book includes the couple's favorite recipes from bygone decades, including a 1948 recipe for a one-dish meal from Virginia Tech. The food editor for the Boston Herald wrote of the cookbook: "It is a vivid snapshot of a certain post-war American life; you can almost see the martinis and neighborhood barbecues and golf clubs." Shipley has included colorful stories about the people and places associated with the recipes. The book is published by the Shipleys' Publishing Co., P.O. Box 71, Birmingham, MI 48012.

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES Bruce Wallace, University Distinguished Professor of Biology Emeritus, has written The Environment: As I See It, Science Is Not Enough. The underlying theme is that the issues that threaten the world's environment are much too complex to be solved by a single discipline. Intended for high school students and their parents, the book may be freely reproduced in any form (with proper acknowledgments). Topics include "the inadequacy of the professions and their ethics," "science, the glorious entertainment," and "environmentally kind activities." The book is published by Elkhorn Press, P.O. Box 5, Elkhorn, WV 24831.

ESSAYS "Open this book and 47 grandfathers come into your life through stories photos, poems, recipes, and deeds" promises Grand Fathers, a collection of essays edited by Virginia Tech University Distinguished Professor of English Nikki Giovanni. "We came together in this gaggle of grandfathers to take a look at how fathers matured," writes Giovanni. "Grandfathers are a good vintage wine, an excellent aged steak, single-malt scotch that is all golden in the bottle. Open a father and a grandfather whiffs his way into our lives." Alumni Shannon Cotter (psychology '94), Matt Lichtel (English '99), and Jonathan Patton (psychology '99), as well as staff member Lois Berg and retired faculty members Hilbert Campbell and John Murray, are included in this multicultural and intergenerational collection. The book is published by Henry Holt and Company, 115 West 18th St., New York, N.Y. 10011. 231-7431.

HISTORY Did millennial cults begin with Jonestown, Waco, or Heaven's Gate? Not by a long shot. Small groups of people who believe in the imminent and violent destruction of the world--and the ascendance of a new, superior world in its place--have come and gone within Western cultures for nearly 2,000 years. Frederic Baumgartner, professor of history at Virginia Tech, offers a crisp and fascinating history of western civilization's obsession with the end of the world in Longing for the End. "Not confined to cults," says the book jacket, "millennialism has also been part of the motivation behind the Crusades, Columbus' voyages, Marxism, and the Third Reich." The book is published by St. Martin's Press, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010.

PERSONAL FINANCE Barbara O'Neill (housing, interior design, and resource management Ph.D. '95) has written Investing on a Shoestring, which has been praised by the National Coalition for Consumer Education as "the only book you'll need to start investing." Filled with easy-to-follow worksheets to help you assess your financial situation and plan your investment strategy, the book clearly explains critical concepts such as the "rule of 72" and compound interest. The appendix includes an invaluable list of investment resources: books, nonprofit organizations, software, and Web sites. The book is published by Dearborne Financial Publishing, 155 North Wacker Dr., Chicago, IL 60606-1719, 800/621-9621.

POPULAR CULTURE The "global village." McDonald's Golden Arches. Elvis. In Popular Culture: From Cavespace to Cyberspace, Marshall Fishwick examines pop culture icons, rituals, phrases, and modes of thought. To explain his objective, Fishwick writes: "We come neither to praise nor to bury popular culture--instead, to try to understand its history, function, and role." Thoughtfully and playfully, the book draws upon western civilization's forefathers of critical thinking to grasp meaning in the modern media; Plato's cave, for example, becomes today's television set or computer screen. The book is published by Haworth Press, 10 Alice St., Binghamton, NY 13904-1580.

SPIRITUALITY Rosemary Blieszner, professor of family and child development at Virginia Tech, is co-author with Janet L. Ramsey (family and child development Ph.D. '95) of Spiritual Resiliency in Older Women. The book profiles Lutheran women from Southwest Virginia and from northwest Germany who show remarkable spiritual strength in their elder years. One key to the women's strength seems to be their ability to converse openly. The German women, for example, speak unflinchingly about their memories of World War II and the Holocaust, while the American women work around the southern code of humility by freely praising each other. The book concludes with the study's implications for gerontology, therapy, and feminism. The book is published by Sage Publications, 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320.

CHILDREN'S BOOKS My First Golf Book is a charming book about golf for children between the ages of one and seven. Written by James and Lauren Smith (physical education '88), the book introduces children to fun activities like teeing off and playing in sand traps. The book's illustrations represent boys and girls of varied ethnic groups. A blue bird named "Chipper" appears on every page; young readers are encouraged to make a game of finding him. The book is published by CTL Publishing, 12210 Fairfax Towne Center, Suite 18, Fairfax, VA 22033. For ordering information, call 800/507-BOOK.