Cameron and Kristina entered Baghdad in April of 2003, nine days after the entry of the US Marines. Mission: to honor Iraqi citizens and culture by singing popular Iraqi music on the streets. "Singing in Baghdad" is the story of Cameron and Kristina's adventures with ordinary Arab-world citizens in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan and the West Bank during two different trips since 9/11.

Singing in Baghdad: A Musical Mission of Peace

Travel

Cameron Powers

Middle East

G. L. Design

Profiles of Northwest Fungi presents a composite of mushrooms previously described as 'Mushrooms of the Month' in the newsletter of the Northwest Mushroomers' Association, based in Bellingham, Washington. It is the only guide that has colored photos of look-alikes accompanying each featured mushroom. Near the end of the book there is an Index of the Fungi and an Index of the People. This latter feature mentions all those who either found the collections described or helped in other ways besides being mentioned from scientific journals. A plethora of ink sketches of fungi by local artist Dan Digerness fill in the empty spots between species descriptions. 
For beginning mushroomers, this guide can be intimidating since so much information is packed into each description. However, a pleasing narrative style can ease you over the technical rough spots. And for easy referencing, each mushroom story has its own bibliography. The author also maintains a herbarium so most of the specimens can be sent forth for sequencing or morphological verification by experts upon request. 
Following the descriptions of the featured mushrooms there is a section called 'The Fungi Less Known'. These are rare or seldom seen fungi the author has encountered over the years. Below each photo there is a small paragraph pertaining to each, some of which are almost certainly new species. This is followed by the April Fool's Mushrooms. These are a handful of fictionalized mushrooms that our newsletter published on April Fool's days. 
Some of the names and places are real, but the stories are not. 
With the inclusion of DNA sequencing results becoming required for each new species published, the field of mycology has become far more technical, separating itself from the Common Man even more. There is a different set of skills involved and a whole new language of terms. This guide offers a more populist approach without denigrating the academic contributions. There should be room for both the reportage of outstanding mycology and a pleasing writing style to accompany it.

Profiles of Northwest Fungi

Science & Math

McAdoo, Buck

Biological Sciences

From Here To Here is a guidebook for the spiritual seeker. It invites you to look at your spiritual path from a perspective that few consider and gives you the keys to understanding what few will ever realize. Its underlying message is that enlightenment's only complication is its devastating simplicity. Rich with metaphors, examples, and teaching stories, the book also offers important, easy-to-understand concepts from psychology, brain science, and common sense.

From Here to Here: Turning Toward Enlightenment

Politics & Social Sciences

Crowley, Gary

Philosophy

The underlying harmonic structure of the musical scales, or "maqams," of the Arabic music of the Indigenous Middle East is revealed to be at one with "Just Intonation" and the Perfect Harmony of the universal laws of physics. This structure is revealed for the benefit of both the serious student of Arabic music and for the musician seeking to move into microtonal compositions in perfect harmony. Moving from the modern Western equally-tempered scales back to the perfection of ancient musical traditions can be the ultimate musical reward. This book is the guide for those who are drawn to this path. Eighty maqamat are taught and another closely-related sixty maqamat are mentioned and categorized. This book moves beyond the use of the "quartertone" concept. Study of the writings and comments made by musicians raised and trained in the indigenous Middle Eastern music traditions makes it clear that justly intonated harmonic ratios or fractions underly the intervals within maqams. This revelation about Middle Eastern harmonic truths makes refreshing material for study and once understood in its basic principles allows us to admire maqam music for its richness of perfect harmony. It is truly ironic that Westerners characterize Arabic music as being "monophonic" and "disinterested in harmony" when in fact it is filled, unlike the equal-tempered Western scale, with physically perfect harmonic intervals, performed in lively intertwining counterpoints. Students of Indian, Persian, Chinese and other ancient music traditions will also find the conceptual frameworks presented in this book highly useful for their learning process. The concepts of just intonation and perfect harmony are carefully explained in the first pages of this book. Everything needed for a clear and comprehensive understanding is included in its 180 pages.

Lost Secrets of Perfect Harmony: Ancient Music of the Indigenous Middle East

Arts & Photography

Powers, Cameron

Music

Learn to play the ancient Middle Eastern reed flute known as the nay. Famous in Sufi poetry for its wailing soulful sound, it is not hard to fall totally in love with this instrument. However, it is not so easy to play. Musicians who are flautists already will also have difficulty as the nay requires its own special method or embouchure to make a sound. The notes generated by the nay form primary scales known in the Middle East and Orient as maqams. This book provides instruction, very rare in the West or in English language, on how to generate the complex haunting sounds and also provides finger charts for numerous traditional music scales popular in the East.

Middle Eastern Flute Magic: Play the Nay: Finger Charts for Arabic Music Scales

Our Musical Ambassador in Uganda, Abaho Gift Conrad, was raised in the local refugee camps. He was able to see how people who sing, drum and dance together are less likely to fight with one another so he joined Musical Ambassadors of Peace. This autobiography contains the true story of Abaho's escape from the Rwanda genocide at age one and a half. His mother had hidden him in a vegetable garden just before being hacked to death along with the rest of his family and neighbors. He was found and rescued by a woman whom he thought for years to be his mother. She carried him and herself to safety in Uganda where they made a life in a camp. Eventually she revealed to him that she was an aunt, not a mother. Abaho succeeded in becoming multi-lingual and has written this autobiography in English so that a wider audience can know of the efforts being made on behalf of underprivileged refugees. Abaho describes many of these efforts and re-affirms his personal desire to devote his life to the well-being of fellow refugees.

A Refugee For Life: Memoirs of Rwanda Genocide Survivor

Biographies & Memoirs

Conrad, Abaho Gift

Community & Culture

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Books by G. L. Design