Dr. Boli’s Lives of the Eminent Biographers, 2nd Edition. In this revised edition of what has already become the standard work on the subject, Dr. Boli has rectified what some readers considered an unfortunate omission in the first edition by adding a chapter on himself. Quarto, 638 pp.

How to Do Anything Worth Doing. A complete household reference in which Dr. Boli explains how to bake potatoes, polish brass, organize your closet, create striking kirigami, make potholders, discover new continents, engrave the likenesses of saints on plastic laminate, turn lead into gold, compute your income tax without a calculator, run a mile in four minutes or less, build a simple hovercraft, navigate the Northwest Passage, arrange flowers for weddings & funerals, talk like a pirate, insulate a three-bedroom house, grow mushrooms in your basement, paint in a Victorian academic style, make Roquefort cheese from things you probably have lying around the house, record sound, take out the trash, weave rugs in the Tabriz style, walk like a duck, find the square root of 4, eat with chopsticks, climb the Cathedral of Learning, brush out a keeshond, carve wooden replicas of famous prothonotaries, and swim to Greece. 8vo, 352 pp.