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Show 3Sin2IiSZZ2niIEniZ3II For evetyone on your list For swingers Quit the job. cash in the IRA, buy an Airstream, and set out to conquer the best public golf courses in the country. Golf Magazine's Top 100 Courses You Can Play (Abrams, $49.50, 0810941341) by Brian McCallen gross s out of articles in Golf Magazine, highlighting the best 100 golf courses that are public and therefore accessible to the reader, regardless of handicap or country club credentials But these are not the publinx of old where yeoman folk in tank tops walked ragged fairways pulling their bags on carts. These are golf courses almost biblical in their creation deserts have bloomed; swamps, marshes, and prairies have flourished w ith manicured fairways and sculptured greens. Lav ishly photographed, the book encompasses all regions of the country and presents the layout and local lore of each of the courses in lov ing detail. Recognizing that comfortable accommodations, fine food and dnnk, and entertainment must sustain the golfer's daily labors the author describes hotels, resorts, and restaurants that are located near each course. Also, the author branches out and describes other courses in the area that may deserve a try. From at Pebble Beach to 100 at Cordillera, Colorado, and every place in between, you need only an adventuresome spirit and a high credit card limit to enjoy the riches spread before you in Top 100 Courses You Can Play. Fred Harrison nine-to-fi- expanding Star Trek universe and includes almost as many entries and illustrations as the Milky Way has stars. It is the most comprehensive Star Trek reference available, a mothership of a guide that no hardcore fan will want to be without. Royston Harding For laughs You know them, you love them. You send them to friends. Chances are, you have at least one on your refrigerator at this very moment. We are, of course, talking about Sew Yorker cartoons. What Oif traditions and at his own children's innocent love of Christmas. But when another holiday disaster strikes, and his own cherished young son loses his w ill to live, Michael searches deep within himself to root out the anger, fear, and pain of the past. Can he bear remembering what happened that tragic Christmas day? Will he make peace w ith this past for the sake of his own children? When Angels Sing (Algonquin, $14.95, 1565122526), by Turk Pipkin, is an inspiring tale of Christmas spirit kwt and found. This small, unassuming little book is one of the precious few guaranteed to wring a tear from even the Gnnch himself. It is spectacular. Sharon Galhgar Charg e K.HJ.'IM TOP 100 COURSES YOU CAN PLAY X5r- - Hi te d Far Star Frritfans Attention all Trekkies and those who know and love them: The Star Trek Encyclopedia: A Reference Guide to the Future (Pocket, $60. 0671034758) has landed. If you have a Star Trek fan on your list this is the book. This edition, compiled by some enterprising folk, boasts 128 new pages to reflect the ever- 4 DECEMBER 1999 Forever the kixky unde of New York City Museums, the Whitney Museum of American Art has undertaken to present, in two installments, an exhibit entitled "The American Century : .Art and Culture 19(020(10." Fortunately for us, theres also The American Century: Art and Culture 1900-195(W W. Norton. $60. 0393047237), a book that pros ides a fantastic v icanous experience of the fust part of this w ide ranging exhibition. The curtain opens with an array of elegant women immortalized in the dashing society portraits of John Singer Sargent and the gleaming bronzes of Augustus Saint Gardens. The final section begins with Norman Rockwell's legendary Freedom from Want depicting mom d delivering the turkey to a field of grins. Curator Barbara Haskell's expansive running discourse on the cultural context of these works is augmented by critical examinations of important paintings and books, creating the effect of a guided tour through this ambitious and luscious survey. Chris H Vrk I light-fille- For new moms and dads hand-select- y 0 1 It would take a very cold heart indeed to not at some time have been touched, amused, or fascinated by the precious, highly creative baby portraits of famed photographer Anne Geddes. Her unique art can be seen on greeting cards and novelty items everywhere, and is beloved the world over. To the delight of her many fans and admirers, Geddes has a sizable new collection of some of her favorite shots from 1991 to 1997 and compiled them into a large volume entitled Until Now (Cedeo, $49.95, 0768321190). In addition to over 100 enchanting color and photographs, Geddes includes short explanations on how each photo was taken, the circumstances surrounding the photo session, and. in some cases, how the children have grown up since the shoot. I'ntil Now is guaranteed to bring a sentimental tear to the eye of even the most teenager-jadeparent Sharon Galh gar Chance There is always a sensuous thnll of recognition w hen the formal of a book matches its subject This compendium of British painting is of a piece w ith so many of the art works it contains: gorgeous, oversized, singularly committed to detail, rich in scope, endlessly fascinating. and almost exhausting to ponder for any length of time. With its stunning color re product tins and Lionel Lamhoume's brilliantly orchestrated textual accompaniment. Mctorian Painting (Phaidon, $59.95, 0714837768) is a study in generosity; Here we experience how art history at its best gives back to us the immediacy and wholeness of art in its fugitive time and place. Mithael A. Rose sheer delight it is to browse through The New Yorker 75th Anniversary Cartoon Collection (Pocket, $40, 067103555X), edited and with a foreword by Sew Yorker cartoon editor Bob MankofT. No Andy Capp or Snuffy Smith here, just the biggest, funniest, most insightful bunch of cartoons ever assembled The collection spans nearly the entire 20th century and includes works by William Steig, Mary Petty, Peter Amo, and others. They are, as you would expect, cartoons that get right to the heart of the matter, and in the process tell us a little more about the world in w hich we live and laugh. Royston Harding For inspiration Michael Walker was eight on the Christmas Day he lost his brother David. For Michael, the meaning of Christmas changed forever. Thirty years later Michael is the neighborhood Gnnch. He scow Is at his neighbors' fervent holiday The latest in Phai don's senes of gorgeous oversized books is The American Art Book ($39.95, 0714838454). In alphabetical order from Berenice Abbott's 1930s gelatin silver pnnt of Manhattan at night to William Zorich's pnmitive-lookm- g 1951 stone sculpture of a sleeping woman, there are 500 artists and works in this book. The breadth permits an impressive panorama of the artistic urge in America, from the continental days to the end of the millennium. Every time you turn a page, you find something wonderful photorealistic painters Ralph Goings and Richard Estes, photographers Nan Gr idin and Cindy Sherman, landscape painters Frederick Church and Thomas Cole. The book is worth the price just for Horace Pippin's classic 1946 oil Man on a Bench. Youll also find a helpful glossary and a directory of museums and galleries, Alan Bird Art, like music and literature, is valuable to humankind because H portrays life's pathos as well as lifes joy and tells us that we are all connected, facing life together, not alone. In Sister Wendy's 1(XK) Masterpieces; Sister Wendy Beckett's Selection of the Greatest Paintings in Western Art (DK. $40, 07894460,30), this art histon-a- n offers us a magnificent collection of Western Art From the stark religious subject matter of the 15th century to the free, flowing brushstrokes of the impressionists. Sister Wendy manages to capture in one paragraph the essence of each painting. She ofiers both their historical significance and her own unique interpretations and insights. Most importantly. Sister Wendy understands that basic human need to feel a part of something greater, and she encourages us to experience that sentiment through art. Carolyn Cates For your heaRh Chinese Natural Cures: Traditional Methods for Remedies and Preventions (Blask Dog and Lrvenitul Publishers, $24.98, 1579120563) demonstrates th.it traditional Chinese medicine's 3,000 years |