本书是原外经贸部副部长张祥博士数十年国际谈判的经验结晶。通过多年工作，张部长意识到，谈判是最直接的文化角力。作者作为各种国际谈判的参与者及一些项目的领军人物，从国人极少领略的舒缓角度给国际谈判的规则、进退、成效与感悟，使读者从中领略国际谈判中文化因素的重要作用，并进而领悟到文化立国的意图，这是我国有关著作很少涉及的，也是本书的亮点。 文化是国家软实力的重要内容，国际谈判深受其影响。在两国的谈判竞争中，军事等硬实力与文化软实力是很重要的两个方面。中国为什么在国际谈判桌上很多时候不占优势？作者认为原因有二：一是对文化的差异性认识不够。冲突的基本根源不再是意识形态，而常常是文化方面的差异。主宰全球的将是“文明的冲突”。二是对新闻媒体的作用不够重视。仅仅依靠经济的高速发展，并不足以显示国家实力。为此，近年来，文化软实力问题越来越受到中央和各地方政府的重视，文化发展战略已经上升为国家发展战略。

The shocking story of one of the few people born in a North Korean political prison to have escaped and survived. North Korea is isolated and hungry, bankrupt and belligerent. It is also armed with nuclear weapons. Between 150,000 and 200,000 people are being held in its political prison camps, which have existed twice as long as Stalin's Soviet gulags and twelve times as long as the Nazi concentration camps. Very few born and raised in these camps have escaped. But Shin Donghyuk did. In Escape from Camp 14, acclaimed journalist Blaine Harden tells the story of Shin Dong-hyuk and through the lens of Shin's life unlocks the secrets of the world's most repressive totalitarian state. Shin knew nothing of civilized existence-he saw his mother as a competitor for food, guards raised him to be a snitch, and he witnessed the execution of his own family. Through Harden's harrowing narrative of Shin's life and remarkable escape, he offers an unequaled inside account of one of the world's darkest nations and a riveting tale of endurance, courage, and survival.

The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture--so massive that it comes in its own plastic carrying case--is one of the rare publishing events that lives up to its hype. The book showcases 1,052 buildings completed since January 1998 with thousands of well-chosen color photographs plans, elevations, and cross-sections. Major elements of each project are described in elegantly succinct texts. Rather than simply pay lip service to the concept of "world" architecture, this book ranges throughout 75 countries on six continents. And although the big names in the field are here--Rafael Moneo and Herzog & De Meuron are each represented by nine projects; Tadeo Ando with eight, Frank Gehry with six--the focus is on the ingenuity and diversity of contemporary architecture, regardless of the fame of its creator.The book's global view embraces many approaches, including experimental construction, neo-modernism, postmodernism, reinterpreted vernacular architecture and lingering traces of the International Style. While virtually every building type is included, from factories to museums, from lookout towers to train stations, the largest and most creative category is single family housing. Selected (as were all the projects) by a panel of leading architects, critics, scholars and others, these homes offer a tantalizing sense of what is possible, even on a modest budget. Grouped by country, the residences establish a sense of local context--from the elegant use of Scandinavian wood to the imaginative use of narrow plots of land in Tokyo. Fully indexed, with an array of maps and world data charts, The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary World Architecture is destined to serve as a unique reference tool. But the geographic organization encourages you to just open the book anywhere and make a discovery--perhaps the surreal vision of Ake Larsson's Icehotel (carved from ice and snow), or the forest of Cor-ten steel pipes Jose ABP Forjaz used in the Mbuzini Memorial, or the startling shed forms of Rick Joy's Tubac House. --Cathy Curtis