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        AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A ZEN MONK

        by Taisen Deshimaru

        A story of bravery and false starts, Autobiography of a Zen Monk candidly recounts the author’s development from a highly mischievous Japanese boy into a world-renowned Sensei (Teacher) of Zen. While countless memoirs exist written by Zen students and teachers, few are as engaging and as tantalizing as Taisen Deshimaru’s. Looking back at his early life, growing up in Japan, from the viewpoint of his status as a Zen teacher in Paris, the author reflects on his earliest misadventures—from defacing a valuable painting of Bodhidharma as a child, to turning the “Zen stick” on a young monk during a retreat. Adventures abound with stories about alcohol and women, during his student years, and his activities during World War II in working for the arms industry in Malaysia, where he was sympathetic to the underground freedom movement. This first English-language translation of Taisen Deshimaru’s autobiography will be prized for its clear and honest documentation of this great master’s life. Many people all over the world have been influenced by Deshimaru’s Zen teachings, especially his book on Zen and the martial arts. This memoir fills an important gap in our knowledge of his teacher, Kodo Sawaki’s influence on the world of Zen. The story of how Deshimaru met Sawaki as a boy, even slept in the same room with him, and later received monastic ordination is the story of a lifelong friendship of two extraordinary characters in the history of modern Zen. Deshimaru’s influence extends beyond Zen practitioners, though, especially in those interested in the martial arts, as he touches on his martial arts experience as a young man and offers a look into the master’s early training. Additional interest extends to historians who recount the supposed “scandals” of Zen masters’ participation in the war effort. Although Deshimaru’s viewpoint is decidedly subjective, he was intimately acquainted with priests and generals alike, and approaches the difficult subject with a refreshing lack of judgmental disdain which counterbalances many other more lopsided works. Translator, Richard Collins, a longtime Zen practitioner, and currently the Abbot of the New Orleans Zen Temple, is a literature scholar and author of several books including No Fear Zen, Hohm Press, 2014. His knowledge of the subject matter and his finesse with language combine to make this book a delightful read for those who appreciate wellwritten memoir.

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        Fiction
        May 2020

        The Guys of Rangoon 1930

        by Khet Zaw

        The Guys of Rangoon , 1930 is a record breaking bestseller book from Myanmar . It sold 16000 copies within one day during the pre order period. More than one hundred thousand copies have been sold so far. Film rights, several merchandise rights, comic rights already sold.It was based in Yangon , Myanmar during the colonial period. The main character is Pho Thoke who was a gangster and managed a lot of business by himself and his gang. He is very close with politicians as well and he is involved in several dirty political movements in Myanmar . This story is based on real characters and events.

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        Children's & young adult: general non-fiction
        2021

        A Cool History of UkraineFrom Dinosaurs Till Now

        by Inna Kovalyshena

        Do you really think that history is boring and hard to under- stand? The heroes of this book thought so, too, at first. But just one interesting discovery pushed them to get to know history better — and to see that it can be fascinating, vibrant and so close to each of them. Four friends decide to explore the Ukrainian history and learn the truth: what kind of dino- saurs lived on our lands, who fought for Ukraine’s independ- ence, and why Ukrainians are the way they are. It turns out that history can be exciting and very important, even if it was back in the days of the dinosaurs. The subject of the book is the history of Ukraine from dinosaurs to today, which is interestingly and directly revealed. The main characters are children, in whom readers can recognize themselves. The text is written with humor and simple words, which makes the perception of information interactive. The book touches on important points of Ukraine's struggle for independence over many years.

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        Children's & YA
        June 2016

        The Story of Birth

        by CAI Gao

        The Story of Birth is quite unique among Cai Gao’s works. This is the latest picture book of Ms. Cai, both its words and illustrations were created by herself. In this book, she describes the process of a baby' s birth by wax crayon, depicting the joy of life’s birth and expressing a high tribute to all mothers.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        2014

        History of Ukraine from KGB Secret Files

        by Volodymyr Viatrovych

        The unknown and classified KGB history of the largest country in Europe - Ukraine is the history of people, events, documents and files. The files have answers to many questions. The most important of which - why did a war begin again in Europe? Why is it so important for Russia to conquer Ukraine? Why are Ukrainians putting up such a powerful resistance? Historian Volodymyr Viatrovych, who declassified the secret archives of the Soviet special services from the Cheka to the KGB, talks about the history of Ukraine, the USSR and Eastern Europe from 1918 to 1991. The reader, is offered, along with various heroes and traitors, those who thought they were in control of events, and those who thought they had no power over them, to recreate the nearly century-old chess game between the Ukrainian liberation movement and the creators of the "prison of nations." Described in reports and recreated by a historian, this work looks at the cunning “special operations”, deadly moves, information wars and complex games among several players that are all an attempt to find an answer to the question: what creates our destiny - human will or circumstances?

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        Children's & young adult: general non-fiction
        2021

        A Delicious History of Ukraine

        by Masha Serdiuk

        What is Ukrainian cuisine? Who invented borscht? Where did the holubtsi (cabbage rolls) come from? And why are Ukrainian varenyky (dumplings) called relatives of Chinese dim sums? Answers to these questions can be found in this book. In an interesting accessible form, we tell children the history of the Ukrainian gastronomy. They will find out what famous Ukrainians loved to eat. We will explain in a plain way how the cuisine of Halychyna differs from that of Volyn and Polissya regions. We will also map all the “delicious” places in the country. Furthermore, of course, young readers will learn how to cook cult Ukrainian dishes.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2025

        An unorthodox history

        British Jews since 1945

        by Gavin Schaffer

        A bold, new history of British Jewish life since the Second World War. Historian Gavin Schaffer wrestles Jewish history away from the question of what others have thought about Jews, focusing instead on the experiences of Jewish people themselves. Exploring the complexities of inclusion and exclusion, he shines a light on groups that have been marginalised within Jewish history and culture, such as queer Jews, Jews married to non-Jews, Israel-critical Jews and even Messianic Jews, while offering a fresh look at Jewish activism, Jewish religiosity and Zionism. Weaving these stories together, Schaffer argues that there are good reasons to consider Jewish Britons as a unitary whole, even as debates rage about who is entitled to call themselves a Jew. Challenging the idea that British Jewish life is in terminal decline. An unorthodox history demonstrates that Jewish Britain is thriving and that Jewishness is deeply embedded in the country's history and culture.

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        August 2016

        A Study of Ryukyu/Okinawa: Exploring the history and ownership of Diaoyu Islands

        by Huang Tian

        To address the Sino-Japanese dispute of Diaoyu Islands (referred to as Ryukyu Islands by the Japanese), it is necessary to study the history of Ryukyu. In this book, the author collects abundant documents and makes some breakthrough on the unsettled history of Diaoyu Islands. In recent years, Japan has argued that Diaoyu Islands is an outlying island of Okinawa Prefecture, thus should belong to Japan. This book demonstrates that Diaoyu Islands never belongs to Okinawa, supported by suffcient historical facts, effectively refuting the absurdity of Japan’s argument. This book was written in the historical order from Sui Dynasty (581-618) with the earliest records on Ryukyu to the end of the World War II when Ryukyu was eventually included into Japan. Having studied Sino-Japanese relations for many years, the author notes down how Ming and Qing Dynasties of China protected and helped Ryukyu, and how Ryukyu paid tributes to China for fve centuries.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2024

        The history of emotions

        by Rob Boddice

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        Fiction
        November 2020

        The Guys from Mandalay , 1950

        by Khet Zaw

        The Guys of Manday ,1950s is based in the years just after independence . After Myanmar became independent from English , there were several armed conflicts in Ethnic Areas all over the world. Sein Da Myone ( Golden Dagger) was a leader of a robber gang base in Mandalay ,upper Myanmar . Nobody knows the real life of Mr Golden Dagger and he lived under the face of a gentleman . This book is related to The Guys of Rangoon 1930 as well and they have some links in stories.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        October 2007

        Introduction to the history

        by Natalia Yakovenko

        The new book by the well-known Ukrainian historian, chief of the Department of history of National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, professor Natalia Yakovenko, despite being a university textbook and a propaedeutic course on a professional subject, is written in a simple and easy to read manner which is far from academic cliché and embodies high academic style in its best meaning. However, the word 'textbook' even in its most positive meaning applies to this book only as a kind of mask that hides much more complex structure, not only stylistically but by its content and pragmatism as well. As the professor herself admits, this book does not belong to any classic genres. This is not a history of historiography, not a methodology of history and this is not an introduction to history as well.

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        Children's & YA

        Yangon and Englithed Puppets

        by Jeff Perce

        Base in Yangon. A girl met with a puppet and sharing the experience each other. A heart warm charming stories with beautiful collage illustrations.

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2020

        A history of humanitarianism, 1755–1989

        In the name of others

        by Silvia Salvatici

        The book traces the history of international humanitarianism from the anti-slavery movement to the end of the cold war. It is based on an extensive survey of the international literature and is retold in an original narrative that relies on a close examination of the sources. The reconstruction of humanitarianism's long history unfolds around some crucial moments and events: the colonial expansion of European countries, the two world wars and their aftermaths, the emergence of a new postcolonial order. In terms of its contents, narrative style, interpretative approach the book is aimed at a large and diverse public including: scholars who are studying and teaching humanitarianism; students who need to learn about humanitarianism as part of their training or research; operators and volunteers who are engaged in the field; non-specialist readers who are interested in the topic because of its relevance to current events.

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        Children's & YA
        June 2016

        The Legend of Qin Hou

        by Cai Gao

        Ethnic Tujia, one of Chinese minorities, has a hero named Qin Hou, who was born supernaturally and gifted with amazing power. When Qin Hou grew up, he assassinated the emperor with three magic arrows in order to revenge for his parents, but failed. The angry emperor sent a troop to catch him. For protecting his fellows from being besieged, Qin Hou surrendered voluntarily. At the moment when Qin Hou was killed, three golden dragons flew out from his body, and then the heaven and earth changed their colors. The emperor was scared and covered Qin Hou’s body with his dragon robe and sent it back to Tujia. The people of Tujia kept that dragon robe all the time.

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