Books published by publisher WW Norton

Although it is possible to compare the talents of such geniuses as Shakespeare, Goethe, and Dante, or of various scientists, artists, and inventors, one man in history stands alone by virtue of the number and variety of his talents. It can be said with little argument that Leonardo da Vinci was gifted with more creative abilities than any other human being. Painter, sculptor, architect, mathematician, musician, astronomer, geologist, botanist, philosopher, and engineer - da Vinci was the prototype of the "Renaissance man." A brilliant pioneer in the field of science, he anticipated the invention of the airplane and the submarine, for example; the studies in his notebooks were so far ahead of his time that he had to write in code to avoid discovery and punishment for "heresy." His paintings and sketches alone rank him in the forefront of the world's great men. Fortunately, Leonardo lived in an age and a place - Renaissance Italy - where the intellectual was more highly honored than either the military man or the politician. His own nature antagonized many and brought him tragedy, but at the same time it carried him to such heights that even in his own era he was imitated, admired, and followed by most of his fellow artists. Today, we can only guess how much further and more quickly our civilization would have advanced had Leonardo's notebooks not been buried away, unread, for centuries. We can only marvel at the brain that conceived such ideas.

Easter Island, rising in sheer volcanic cliffs swept by Antarctic winds int he south Pacific, nearly three thousand miles from the coast of Chile and from Tahiti, dotted with giant stone statues, is one of the loneliest and strangest places in the world. The inhabitants, who live under extremely harsh conditions, call their island " The navel of the world", the beginning (or end ) of civilization , and Matakiterani- "eyes gazing at the sky".

Skinny and suffering from diabetes, Ralph Moody is ordered by a Boston doctor to seek a more healthful climate. Going west again is a delightful prospect. His childhood adventures on a Colorado ranch were described in Little Britches and Man of the Family, also Bison Books. Now nineteen years old, he strikes out into new territory hustling odd jobs, facing the problem of getting fresh milk and leafy green vegetables. He scrapes around to survive, risking his neck as a stunt rider for a movie company. With an improvident buddy named Lonnie, he camps out in an Arizona canyon and "shakes the nickel bush" by sculpting plaster of paris busts of lawyers and bankers. This is 1918, and the young men travel through the Southwest not on horses but in a Ford aptly named Shiftless. New readers and old will enjoy this entry in the continuing saga of Ralph Moody.