• The Complete book of vegetables herbs and fruit: the definitive book on edible gardening / Biggs, Mathew.--London: Kyle Cathie, 2002 (Reference)
  

  This book serves as a comprehensive guide to selecting, cultivating, harvesting and cooking vegetables, herbs and fruit. Its coverage is phenomenal—from the care of asparagus through the seasons to the huge numbers of species of apples that can be cultivated and the herbs that can be grown even in the smallest of spaces. The uses of the many different plants are also extensively discussed. It covers well over 100 different herbs, 70 vegetables and 100 fruits, and more than 800 photographs and illustrations.

• Asia's old dwellings: tradition, resilience, and change / Knapp, Ronald G., ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003
  

  This book reviews the architectural heritage of common dwellings throughout Asia. Much of Asia’s inherited past has been vanishing rapidly, disappearing under the effects of economic growth, yet most of Asia’s people continue to live in simple, largely rural dwellings that are the product of building practices and forms rooted in tradition. This collection of eighteen essays focusing on seventeen Asian countries explores house-building practices across Asia, discussing the common building materials, characteristics layouts, and environmental adaptations employed both today and in times past. It surveys the architectural, environmental, historical and social factors that influence housing for three-fifths of the world’s population, and discuss the resilience of traditional housing patterns, historic preservation, and the ways in which architects and planners rethink and reinvent the past to meet contemporary needs.

• The New city home: smart solutions for metro living / Clagett, Leslie Plummer.
  Newtown: Taunton Press, 2003 (Reference)
  
  

  This book provides a celebration of urban living with a full menu of high-rise apartments, town houses, and lofts, as well as some more offbeat abodes, such as a converted parking garage and a former stable. From design tips on the fine art of maximizing storage space to dealing with the ever-present noise, each chapter has a special section that focuses on a real-life aspect of metro living. The homes featured in the book—some new, many remodeled—are from all over North America.

• Urban housing forms / Zhou, Jingmin. --Oxford: Architectural Press, 2005 (Reference)
  
  

  This book brings together many significant grouped housing schemes from around the world. Most are located in cities, are high density in form and illustrate a wide range of design solutions. They are all innovative and many push out the boundaries of experimentation. They share a common theme in being designed with some form of courtyard or green space. Many projects illustrated are strongly influenced by aims and ambitions that go beyond the housing itself-urban regeneration (embracing both new development and refurbishment), experimentation with building form and materials, creating new forms of social grouping, new types of tenure / occupant, etc.

• The Ananda-Vana of Indian art: Anand Krishna felicitation volume / Krishna, Naval, ed. Varanasi: Indica, 2004 (Reference)
  

  Professor Rai Anand Krishna (known to his intimates as Raja Bhaiya) is a well-known art and museum expert. This felicitation volume is in honor of this great personality and it brings together the eminent intellectuals who at some course of time or the other have interacted with him. It compiles articles contributed by these intellectuals—all Indian art specialists from the length and breadth of the world. Covering a time span from centuries prior to the beginning of Christian Era to the modern times, i.e. almost 2000 years, this book embraces almost every facet of Indian Art, such as architecture, sculpture, textile, decorative arts, folk and modern art, sociology and culture.

• Big bang: the origin of the universe / Simon Singh. --New York: Fourth Estate, 2004
  

  This book tells the story of the many brilliant, often eccentric scientists who fought against the establishment idea of an eternal and unchanging cosmos. From such early Greek cosmologists as Anaximander to recent satellite measurements taken deep in space, the book is a narrative full of anecdotes and personal histories. It provides the centuries-long story of mankind’s attempt to understand how the universe came to be, a story which itself begins some 14 billion years ago.

• The Vision of Ray: cine posters and beyond: a Parimal Ray presentation of posters and other film graphics / Ray, Satyajit. --Kolkata: Pratikshan, 2005 (Reference)
  

  This book is virtually an album of Satyajit Ray’s cine-posters and other artworks exclusively related to his films. Ray made 28 feature films, five documentaries and two short films. He is perhaps the only film director in the world who designed all the promotional materials of his films. All these materials, that are presented in this book—posters, pre-shooting sketches, billboards, drawings, lobby cards, leaflets, handbills, glass slides, logos, memorabilia—are from the rare collection of Parimal Ray who was close to Ray.

• World economics and social survey 2004: international migration / United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. --New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2004 (Reference)
  

  This survey examines recent developments in and prospects for the world economy and addresses their implications for the developing countries in the struggle against poverty. In 2004, the world economy continued the recovery that had started in 2003 and the indications are that this progress will be sustained into 2005. The survey analyzes the various issues in depth and also includes statistical tables, which give standardized data on international trade and finance, incorporating current data and forecasts.

• World economics and social survey 2004: trends and policies in the world economy / United Nations. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. --New Delhi: Academic Foundation, 2004 (Reference)
  

  This survey deals with a subject that profoundly affects the economic and social fabric of all nations—international migration. Today, more people live outside their country than at any other time in history, and the number of people who are crossing international borders in search of a new home seems bound to increase. As a result, there is growing awareness in many countries of the impact of migration—which has, as was expected, become a matter of intense policy debate. This volume provides a comprehensive review of developments in international migration, and of the diverse issues involved.

• Earth: portrait of a planet / Marshak, Stephen. --New York: W. W. Norton, 2005 (Reference)
  

  This book weaves the theory of plate tectonics and the concept of Earth System science into its narrative form the first page to the last. The book strives to create a modern, coherent image—a portrait—of the very special sphere on which we all live. The book helps readers understand the origin of the Earth and its internal structure, the nature of plate movement, the diversity of Earth’s landscapes, the character of materials that make up the Earth, the distribution of resources, the structure of the air and water that surround our planet, the evolution of continents during the Earth’s long history, and the nature of global change through time.

• Tsunami / National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources. New Delhi: NISCAIR, 2005
  

  This book elaborates the ways a Tsunami is generated and propagated and how coastal residents may forestall an avoidable tragedy by being alert to nature’s warning signals. It details the scientific monitoring systems that are already in place and the Indian initiatives in this direction. The highlight of this publication is the incorporation of alternate systems of Indian medicines, viz. Yoga, Ayurveda, and Unani to combat post-tsunami stress and to lend the possible healing touch.

• Color for interior design / Rompilla, Ethel. --New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2005 (Reference)
  

  From the earth-toned halls of the palaces of ancient Crete to the silvery pastels of French eighteenth century salons to the bright surfaces of modern houses, color has always played an important role in interior design. This book is a comprehensive introduction to everything readers need to know to understand how color shapes their experience of the spaces they live in, and how they can work effectively with color to beautify their environment. Starting with a history of interiors from the point of view of their color systems, the book offers a comprehensive introduction to the use of color in interior design.

• An introduction to art, craft, technique, science and profession of interior design / Kasu, Ahmed Abdullah.--Mumbai: Ashish Book, 2005 (Reference)
  

  This book comprises various aspects on an approach to designing interiors. It begins with making to understand elemental geometry developing from points and lines turning into complex patterns through permutations and combinations finally leading to design solutions. It then proceeds qualifying and quantifying problems arising out of designing the interiors. Defining interior designers’ proper role for the benefits of the general public wishing to engage an interior designer (distinct form the interior decorator), is another highlight of the book.

• Handbook on Indian wetland birds and their conservation / Arun Kumar.. Kolkata: Zoological Survey of India, 2005
  

  The birds which inhabit wetlands for nesting, feeding and roosting are broadly defined as waterbirds. This includes groups popularly known as the waterfowl, waders / shorebirds and seabirds. In addition, there are numbers of other birds, such as kingfishers, raptors and some passerines, which also ecologically depend on wetlands and are known as wetland dependent and associated birds. In this handbook, these three have been termed together as ‘wetland birds’. It provides extensive information on 310 wetland bird species, including 243 waterbirds and 67 wetland dependent and associated birds listed from India; of these 51 species are globally threatened.

• Everest: 50 years on top of the world / Band, George. --London: HarperCollins, 2003 (Reference)
  

  This book provides the gripping story of the first successful ascent of Mount Everest in 1953, the early failed attempts that made it possible, and the successful expeditions that followed. Led by John Hunt, the first expedition team included George Band, the author of this awe inspiring account. With over 300 breathtaking photographs this beautifully illustrated book provides a privileged insight into the splendid and treacherous landscape of the Himalayas.

• Materials, methods and symbolism in the Pichhvai painting tradition of Rajasthan / Lazaro, Desmond Peter. --Ahmedabad: Mapin, 2005 (Reference)
  

  This book documents the entire process of learning the craft, the significance of various colours, positions adopted while preparing them, alchemical changes, myths with which the process is associated, and, not least, the link with Hindu philosophy and Tantrik practice. It carefully documents a craft: the elaborate and marvellous nature of which may easily bypass the casual observer who gazes at Pichhvais with little sense of its amazing attention to detail and combination of colours.

• The Life and times of La Meri: the queen of ethnic dance / Venkateswaran, Usha. New Delhi: Aryan Books, 2005 (Reference)
  

  Russel Meriwether Hughes, later came to be known as ‘La Meri’, was a dancer, poet, writer, ethnic dance teacher and choreographer of repute. This monograph is a precise and insightful attempt to look into the life and times of La Meri. The 6 chapters of the book illustrate different facets of her colourful personality. The text, supplemented by excellent and rare photographs, bears testimony to the versatility of La Meri, the artist and La Meri, the woman.

For more information, please contact:

Habitat Library & Resource Centre,
India Habitat Centre, Lodhi Road,
New Delhi - 110 003.

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