New Releases by Diane Ackerman

The national bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses tackles the realm of creativity, by exploring one of the most essential aspects of our characters: the ability to play. "Deep play" is that more intensified form of play that puts us in a rapturous mood and awakens the most creative, sentient, and joyful aspects of our inner selves. As Diane Ackerman ranges over a panoply of artistic, spiritual, and athletic activities, from spiritual rapture through extreme sports, we gain a greater sense of what it means to be "in the moment" and totally, transcendentally human. Keenly perceived and written with poetic exuberance, Deep Play enlightens us by revealing the manifold ways we can enhance our lives.

Tout a été dit sur l''amour, depuis que l''homme parle, rêve et philosophe... Tout, et le contraire de tout. C''est donc un extraordinaire défi que relève l''auteur d''un remarqué - et remarquable - Livre des sens, en nous conviant à ce voyage sur la planète Amour. Du temps des pyramides à celui des " Eros centers ", du banquet platonicien aux divans de la psychanalyse, de Roméo à Casanova, d''Orphée à Love Story, de l''amour courtois à l''augmentation des divorces, du libertinage au crime passionnel, Diane Ackerman brasse avec autant d''humour que l''érudition la poésie, l''histoire, les mythologies, les coutumes de cinq continents. Et c''est avec la même jubilation que le lecteur se retrouve ou s''égare dans ce labyrinthe d''effrois et de délices.

The bestselling author of A Natural History of the Senses now explores the allure of adultery, the appeal of aphrodisiacs, and the cult of the kiss. Enchantingly written and stunningly informed, this "audaciously brilliant romp through the world of romantic love" (Washington Post Book World) is the next best thing to love itself.

Diane Ackerman''s lusciously written grand tour of the realm of the senses includes conversations with an iceberg in Antarctica and a professional nose in New York, along with dissertations on kisses and tattoos, sadistic cuisine and the music played by the planet Earth. "Delightful . . . gives the reader the richest possible feeling of the worlds the senses take in".--The New York Times.

A dramatization of the passion of Sor Juana In�s de la Cruz, a Mexican nun regarded as one of her country''s greatest poets.

"Wife of Light is the second book of poems by Diane Ackerman, author of The Planets. Wife of Light is a more general collection of Diane Ackerman''s work, and it marvelously displays the gifts of a poet for whom, as she says, "the usual realm of poetic passion and contemplation feels too small." Although the poems in this book do not experiment with form as much as do those in The Planets, there are traditional odes, dramatic monologues, full-rhyming love sonnets, and freer verse forms" --