GUIDE TO SPIRITUAL L.A., The Irreverent, the Awake & the True by Catherine Auman (Green Tara Press) is a fascinating and enlightening look at a city many people would define as “superficial.” Not so, says Ms. Auman who leads readers on an in-depth tour of the city’s holy and spiritual places full of shakti and love. In the process her insights and discoveries have have the power to awakens and transform us. Here is sustenance and support for the spirit, all in just 252 pages.

THE iPHONE PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK by Scott Kelby is a valuable guide to getting professional-looking images using the camera you always have with you.

Imagine if someone took the same photographic techniques, principles, and tools used by high-end and professional photographers, but applied them to shooting with an iPhone. Imagine the type of images you’d be able to create using those same ideas. Well, finally, somebody has.

The world’s #1 best-selling photography techniques author is about to break all the rules as he shows you how to apply the same techniques today’s top pro photographers use to make stunning images. You’re going to learn exactly how to use these techniques to create images that people will just not believe you could actually take with a phone (but with the quality of the iPhone’s camera, you absolutely can).

Scott leaves all the techno-speak behind and, instead, treats the whole book as if it were just you and he out on a shoot with your iPhones, using his trademark casual, plain-English writing style to help you unlock the power of your iPhone to make the type of pictures you never thought could be done with a phone. You’ll learn every tool necessary to take great photos in any lighting situation; how to create stunning landscapes; proven posing techniques; how to organize and edit your photos;

Each page covers a single concept, a single tool, or a trick to take your iPhone photography from snapshots to shots that will make your friends and family say, “Wait…you took this?!” Published by Rocky Nook.

The completely updated new edition of the classic guide SCHUMANN’S WHISK(E)Y LEXICON is a must.  Stefan Gabányi, the noted whiskey expert from Charles Schumann’s famed Schumann’s Bar in Munich, has assembled a complete compendium of whiskeys of the world. Featuring over a thousand entries, this handbook discusses the world’s leading and lesser-known whiskeys, making it an ideal source for the aficionado and the budding novice alike. Every traditional type of whiskey is included in this handsome volume: Scotch single malt, blends, vatted malts, single grains, and Irish, as well as those from the new world (bourbon, rye, and Canadian). Published by Rizzoli.

BOOZE CRUISE: A TOUR OF THE WORLD’S ESSENTIAL MIXED DRINKS by award-winning beverage columnist and food critic André Darlington transports readers to the best booze destinations in the world featuring insider info, entertaining anecdotes, and food-and-drink recipes that will add thrilling new flavors and global flair to your everyday cocktail hour—and entertaining when we can have friends over again for happy hour.  

World traveler and drinks aficionado Darlington is an excellent tour guide through more than forty of the globe’s most vibrant cocktail locales. Each city stop is packed with insider intel on the current scene, local history, easy food-and-drink recipes, and tasting notes. This sloshy voyage includes: Amsterdam, Dublin, London, Madrid, Stockholm, Cape Town, Tangier, Delhi, Singapore, Beirut, Tokyo, Bogotá, Havana, New Orleans, São Paulo, Toronto, Sydney, and many more.

So, when you can’t head to Singapore for a Singapore Sling or Paris for a French 75 and a plateau de fromages, BOOZE CRUISE is the next best thing full of insider info on the world’s top cocktail destinations and food and drink recipes that will add global flair and thrills to your everyday life. Published by Running Press.