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"Templars in America" by Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins

From DavesBookNook.com:

Templars in America explodes the myth that Columbus was the first European to discover the Americas. Using archival and archaeological sources, Tim Wallace-Murphy and Marilyn Hopkins reveal the Venetian connection between the Knights Templar and pre-Columbian America and prove the continuous history of such exploration from the time of ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, through the Viking explorations.

Told in fascinating detail, this story takes as many twists and turns as a historical mystery novel. Templars in America takes readers through the many possible early explorations of America, which set the stage for the real mystery: the tale of how various dealings between Venice and Normandy resulted in the Templars coming to America.

Two leading European Templar families, nearly 100 years before Columbus, combined forces to create a new commonwealth in America. This is the story of Henry St. Clair of the Orkney Islands, then part of Normandy, and Carlo Zeno, a Venetian trader. These early explorers made peaceful and mutually beneficial contact with the Canadian Mi’kmaq people.

Although the voyage had little immediate political or commercial impact, it acts as a signpost to a centuries-long process that culminates in the beliefs and traditions of the Templars and Freemasonry, shaping the thinking of the founding fathers of the United States—and the American Constitution.

Templars in Americais a wild ride through the golden age of exploration to the founding of the United States of America.

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"The Barbed Coil" by J.V. Jones

From DavesBookNook.com:

Tessa McCamfrey, young and rootless resident of Southern California, has never found much in life that interests her. All of that changes when she stumbles upon a ring that transports her to a distant time and place. There she discovers her unexpected talent: She can create luminous, magical illustrations that have the power to influence others' lives. She becomes involved in the fate of kingdoms when her power is brought to bear against an evil king whose mind has been taken over by a golden crown called the Barbed Coil. As in The Book of Words trilogy, J. V. (Julie) Jones imbues every one of her characters with personality, from the dashing mercenary Ravis, who becomes Tessa's protector in this strange new world, to the sailors, innkeepers, soldiers, and others who populate her lush, involving story.

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"The Alloy of Law" by Brandon Sanderson

From DavesBookNook.com:

Fresh from the success of The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson, best known for completing Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time®, takes a break to return to the world of the bestselling Mistborn series.

Three hundred years after the events of the Mistborn trilogy, Scadrial is now on the verge of modernity, with railroads to supplement the canals, electric lighting in the streets and the homes of the wealthy, and the first steel-framed skyscrapers racing for the clouds.

Kelsier, Vin, Elend, Sazed, Spook, and the rest are now part of history—or religion. Yet even as science and technology are reaching new heights, the old magics of Allomancy and Feruchemy continue to play a role in this reborn world. Out in the frontier lands known as the Roughs, they are crucial tools for the brave men and women attempting to establish order and justice.

One such is Waxillium Ladrian, a rare Twinborn, who can Push on metals with his Allomancy and use Feruchemy to become lighter or heavier at will. After twenty years in the Roughs, Wax has been forced by family tragedy to return to the metropolis of Elendel. Now he must reluctantly put away his guns and assume the duties and dignity incumbent upon the head of a noble house. Or so he thinks, until he learns the hard way that the mansions and elegant tree-lined streets of the city can be even more dangerous than the dusty plains of the Roughs.

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"Master and Fool" by J.V. Jones

From DavesBookNook.com:

The Known Lands are teetering on the brink of war. Desperate to avert worldwide catastrophe, Jack, the baker's boy, must learn to harness the full strength of his magic to face his ultimate destiny--a final confrontation with the murderously evil Kylock.

(Triology of the short synopsis is complete.)

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"A Man Betrayed" by J.V. Jones

From DavesBookNook.com:

As the demented Prince Kylock prepares to wed the beautiful, mad Catherine, a war is brewing, fueled by the ambitious prince's newly unleashed Machiavellian power--placing the empire's destiny in danger.

(Another chatty synopsis, to be sure.)

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"The Baker's Boy" by J.V. Jones

From DavesBookNook.com:

Melliandra, forced into a betrothal with a sinister prince, flees Castle Harvell with Jack, a kitchen apprentice with an uncontrolled power to work miracles. The Book of Words is a new fantasy adventure series featuring lethal conspiracies.

(Detailed synopsis, I know.)

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"A Passion for Cigars" by Joel Sherman

From DavesBookNook.com:

The Shermans have been a tobacconists on New York's Fifth Avenue for almost 70 years. Here Joel Sherman gives us a book destined to become every cigar smoker's most indispensable companion. Overflowing with personal anecdotes and wisdom culled from Joel's 40 years of experience, A PASSION FOR CIGARS is the ultimate resource on the history of cigars, guides to brands and retailers, accessories, and more.

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"The Secret of the Great Pyramid" by Bob Brier and Jean-Pierre Houdin

From BarnesandNoble.com:

Nine years ago, French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin became obsessed by the centuries-old mystery of how the Great Pyramid was built. For ten hours a day, he labored at his computer to create exquisitely detailed 3-D models of the interior of the Great Pyramid. After five years of effort, the images rotating on his computer screen provided evidence of an astonishing secret. Corkscrewing up the inside of the Great Pyramid is a mile-long ramp, unseen for 4,500 years. The pyramid was built from the inside. This revelation casts a fresh light on the minds that conceived one of the wonders of the ancient world. The Secret of the Great Pyramid moves between the ancient and the modern. The ancient story chronicles, step-by-step, how a nation of farmers only recently emerged from the Stone Age could construct one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. To execute something as complex and massive as the Great Pyramid, Egypt needed architects, mathematicians, boat builders, stone masons, and metallurgists. It took twenty years to build the Great Pyramid. By the time its capstone was laid in 2560 B.C., the innovations born of the building quest had transformed agrarian Egypt into the world's most modern, most powerful nation. As we follow the progress of Hemienu, the innovative architect who planned, organized, and oversaw construction of the Great Pyramid, we also follow Houdin working to discover how and why the ancient architect designed the Pyramid...

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"The Omen Machine" by Terry Goodkind

From Barnes&Noble.com:

Hannis Arc, working on the tapestry of lines linking constellations of elements that constituted the language of Creation recorded on the ancient Cerulean scroll spread out among the clutter on his desk, was not surprised to see the seven etherial forms billow into the room like acrid smoke driven on a breath of bitter breeze. Like an otherworldly collection of spectral shapes seemingly carried on random eddies of air, they wandered in a loose clutch among the still and silent mounted bears and beasts rising up on their stands, the small forest of stone pedestals holding massive books of recorded prophecy, and the evenly spaced display cases of oddities, their glass reflecting the firelight from the massive hearth at the side of the room.

Since the seven rarely used doors, the shutters on the windows down on the ground level several stories below stood open as a fearless show of invitation. Though they frequently chose to use windows, they didn’t actually need the windows any more than they needed the doors. They could seep through any opening, any crack, like vapor rising in the early morning from the stretches of stagnant water that lay in dark swaths through the peat barrens.

The open shutters were meant to be a declaration for all to see, including the seven, that Hannis Arc feared nothing.

#1 New York Times-bestselling author Terry Goodkind returns to the lives of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell—in a compelling tale of a new and sinister threat to their world.

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"Caddie Confidential" by Greg "Piddler" Martin

From DavesBookNook.com:

"Nobody knows the game of golf like a caddie. The caddie sees it all: the unrelenting dreams, jaw-dropping victories, and soul-crushing defeats. They rarely receive credit when things go right and frequently take the blame when things go wrong, yet they are the invisible backbone of the game. Behind every top-10 finish, every Tour championship, and every missed cut there is a guy pulling clubs for his pro. "He is part-time meteorologist, part-time mathematician, and full-time therapist. He will deftly predict wind conditions; ensure that a superstitious player always has his lucky penny, nickel, or dime in his pocket before hitting the links; reserve unlucky No. 4 balls for pro-ams only; understand how the grass condition and growth pattern on a course will affect every shot; and pull the right iron on a million-dollar hole. Put simply, the Tour caddie's knowledge of the game is unsurpassed."

--Greg "Piddler" Martin, from his introduction

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"Ghost Story" by Jim Butcher

From DavesBookNook.com:

When we last left the mighty wizard detective Harry Dresden, he wasn't doing well. In fact, he had been murdered by an unknown assassin.

But being dead doesn't stop him when his friends are in danger. Except now he has nobody, and no magic to help him. And there are also several dark spirits roaming the Chicago shadows who owe Harry some payback of their own.

To save his friends-and his own soul-Harry will have to pull off the ultimate trick without any magic...

The eagerly awaited new novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files series.

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"The Closing of the Western Mind" by Charles Freeman

From DavesBookNook.com:

A radical and powerful reappraisal of the impact of Constantine’s adoption of Christianity on the later Roman world, and on the subsequent development both of Christianity and of Western civilization.

When the Emperor Contstantine converted to Christianity in 368 AD, he changed the course of European history in ways that continue to have repercussions to the present day. Adopting those aspects of the religion that suited his purposes, he turned Rome on a course from the relatively open, tolerant and pluralistic civilization of the Hellenistic world, towards a culture that was based on the rule of fixed authority, whether that of the Bible, or the writings of Ptolemy in astronomy and of Galen and Hippocrates in medicine. Only a thousand years later, with the advent of the Renaissance and the emergence of modern science, did Europe begin to free itself from the effects of Constantine's decision, yet the effects of his establishment of Christianity as a state religion remain with us, in many respects, today. Brilliantly wide-ranging and ambitious, this is a major work of history.

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"Blood Rites" by Barbara Ehrenreich

From DavesBookNook.com:

In Blood Rites, Barbara Ehrenreich confronts the mystery of the human attraction to violence: What draws our species to war and even makes us see it as a kind of sacred undertaking? Blood Rites takes us on an original journey from the elaborate human sacrifices of the ancient world to the carnage and holocaust of twentieth-century "total war." Sifting through the fragile records of prehistory, Ehrenreich discovers the wellspring of war in an unexpected place--not in a "killer instinct" unique to the males of our species but in the blood rites early humans performed to reenact their terrifying experience of predation by stronger carnivores. Brilliant in conception, rich in scope, Blood Rites is a monumental work that will transform our understanding of the greatest single threat to human life.

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"Nefertiti" by Joyce Tyldesley

From DavesBookNook.com:

For over a decade, Nefertiti, wife of the heretic king Akhenaten, was the most influential woman in the Bronze Age world; a beautiful queen blessed by the sun-god, adored by her family and worshipped by her people. Her image and her name were celebrated throughout Egypt and her future seemed golden. Suddenly Nefertiti disappeared from the royal family, vanishing so completely that it was as if she had never been. No record survives to detail her death, no monument serves to mourn her passing and to this day her end remains and enigma - her body has never been found. Joyce Tyldesley here provides a discussion of the life and times of Nefertiti, Egypt's sun queen, set against the background of the ephemeral Amarna court.

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Freemasons: Inside the World's Oldest Secret Society by H. Paul Jeffers

From Borders.com:

Jeffers delves into Masonic history to reveal the surprising and controversial truths behind this ancient and secretive order, from its mystery-shrouded origins in medieval Europe through its rise in America, where Benjamin Franklin founded the first lodge.

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"The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant" by Graham Phillips

From DavesBookNook.com:

Offers compelling evidence that the Knights Templar may have taken the Ark of the Covenant to the British Isles.

• Presents scientific evidence affirming the powers attributed to the Ark.

• Traces the Ark and the Stones of Fire from Jerusalem to Jordan and finally to central England, where the Knights Templar hid them in the 14th century.

According to legend the Ark of the Covenant was an ornate golden chest that was both a means of communicating with God and a terrible weapon used against the enemies of the ancient Israelites. In order to use it the high priest had to wear a breastplate containing twelve sacred gemstones called the Stones of Fire. These objects were kept in the Great Temple of Jerusalem until they vanished following the Babylonian invasion in 597 B.C.E.

At the ancient ruins of Petra in southern Jordan, Graham Phillips uncovered evidence that 13th-century Templars found the Ark and the Stones of Fire, and that they brought these treasures back to central England when they fled the persecution of French king Philip the Fair a century later. The author followed ciphered messages left by the Templars in church paintings, inscriptions, and stained glass windows to what may well be three of the Stones of Fire. When examined by Oxford University scientists these stones were found to possess odd physical properties that interfered with electronic equipment and produced a sphere of floating light similar to ball lightning.

The Bible asserts that the Ark had the power to destroy armies and bring down the walls of cities. Now Graham Phillips provides scientific evidence that these claims may be true and offers compelling documentation that the Ark may be located in the English countryside, not far from the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon.

Kyleigh walking...

Her first steps, last night.

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"Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus, and Golf's Greatest Rivalry" by Ian O'Connor

From DavesBookNook.com:

Surprisingly, one of sport’s most contentious, complex, and defining clashes played out not in the boxing ring or at the line of scrimmage but on the genteel green fairways of the world’s finest golf courses. Arnie and Jack. Palmer and Nicklaus. Their fifty-year duel, in both the clubhouse and the boardroom, propelled each to the status of American icon and pushed modern golf to the heights and popularity it enjoys today.

Arnie was the cowboy, with rugged good looks, Popeye-like forearms, a flailing swing, and charm enough to win fans worldwide. Jack was scientific, precise, conservative, aloof, even fat and awkward. Ultimately, Nicklaus got the better of Palmer on the course, beating him in major victories 18-7. But Palmer bested Nicklaus almost everywhere else, especially in the hearts of the public and in endorsement dollars. By the end of this page-turning narrative, we see that each man wanted what the other had: Arnold wanted the trophies. Jack wanted the love.

In the tradition of John Feinstein and Mark Frost, Ian O’Connor has written a compelling account of one of the greatest rivalries in sports history.

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The Last Days of the Renaissance by Theodore Rabb

From DavesBookNook.com:

A leading Renaissance scholar shows how the end of one of history's most fascinating eras gave rise to the modern world.

The Renaissance may have emerged out of the upheavals of the fourteenth century--but when did it end? And why? The renowned historian Theodore Rabb tackles these questions in this engaging and deeply learned book, and in so doing recasts our understanding of European history.

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Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan/Brandon Sanderson

From DavesBookNook.com:

The Last Battle has started. The seals on the Dark One’s prison are crumbling. The Pattern itself is unraveling, and the armies of the Shadow have begun to boil out of the Blight.

The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age.

Perrin Aybara is now hunted by specters from his past: Whitecloaks, a slayer of wolves, and the responsibilities of leadership. All the while, an unseen foe is slowly pulling a noose tight around his neck. To prevail, he must seek answers in Tel’aran’rhiod and find a way--at long last--to master the wolf within him or lose himself to it forever.

Meanwhile, Matrim Cauthon prepares for the most difficult challenge of his life. The creatures beyond the stone gateways--the Aelfinn and the Eelfinn--have confused him, taunted him, and left him hanged, his memory stuffed with bits and pieces of other men’s lives. He had hoped that his last confrontation with them would be the end of it, but the Wheel weaves as the Wheel wills. The time is coming when he will again have to dance with the Snakes and the Foxes, playing a game that cannot be won. The Tower of Ghenjei awaits, and its secrets will reveal the fate of a friend long lost.

This penultimate novel of Robert Jordan’s #1 New York Times bestselling series--the second of three based on materials he left behind when he died in 2007--brings dramatic and compelling developments to many threads in the Pattern. The end draws near.

Dovie’andi se tovya sagain. It’s time to toss the dice.