Book Reviews

Visiting New Guinea Cannibals, Corpse-Eating Hindus (Update1) Australian-born adventure writer Paul Raffaele doesn't let a little danger stand in the way of a good story. In the course of his career, he has reported on modern-day slavery, dived with great white sharks and accompanied Afghan police into illegal poppy fields.

Thigh-High Stockings, X-Rated Toys Aid Couple's Sex Marathon A middle-aged, overworked father of two looking to spice up his sex life could turn to Viagra and pornography. But there are more unorthodox methods available, according to journalist Douglas Brown, among them hot yoga, Chinese herbs, abstaining from heavy foods and a ring not sized for fingers or toes.

Hitler's Bodyguard Recalls `Deathly Silence' in Bunker Finale Rochus Misch, Hitler's bodyguard, telephonist and messenger, was the last person to escape alive from the bunker where the Nazi leader spent his final days.

Furst's Debonair Spy Finds Intrigue, Love in 1930s Warsaw: Book Alan Furst specializes in debonair and melancholy heroes. His latest World War II-era thriller, ``The Spies of Warsaw,'' features Colonel Jean-Francois Mercier, a French veteran who greets the prospect of another conflict with a mixture of alarm and weary resignation.

How a Dutch Faker Suckered Goering, Experts With Inept Vermeers Dutch painter Han van Meegeren skipped the starving artist routine, making $3 million worth of sales in the 1930s and '40s (that would be $30 million today) despite art critics' consensus that he was a no-talent fop, a maker of cloying and derivative images.

Confucius TV Spin-Off Leads China's Non-Fiction: Top 10 Books A book applying the 2,500-year-old teachings of philosopher Confucius to today's problems was China's best-selling non-fiction title last month, reflecting a desire for order in a rapidly changing nation.

Mugabe Shuns Tents, Innocence Dies in Egeland's UN Aid Memoirs When Jan Egeland arrived in Zimbabwe as the United Nations's emergency-relief coordinator in December 2005, he offered tents to shelter thousands of slum dwellers whose homes President Robert Mugabe had ordered destroyed.

Kate Summerscale Wins U.K.'s 30,000-Pound Samuel Johnson Prize Kate Summerscale's ``The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher'' won Britain's Samuel Johnson Prize for Non- Fiction, overcoming competition from five other finalists for the award, valued at 30,000 pounds ($60,190).