In Time, Out of Place
You Jin
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2014
ISBN: 9789814615044

To read a You Jin travel essay is to journey to a specific time and location, and to encounter individual people there who bring the place near, making it more tangible for the reader than it could otherwise be.

You Jin brings to her travel writing the same wit and storytelling ability evident in her fiction, adept at capturing a whimsical incident and weaving it into a narrative that is both compelling and amusing, such as her travels in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, when the region was undergoing dramatic change. Nearly every continent is represented in this volume, beautifully captured with her trademark spirited good humour, bringing to life the vastness of the globe we inhabit, as well as more intimate encounters with the people she meets along the way, be they fellow travellers or residents of the places she visits.

Sandstorms and Sorrow
You Jin
Singapore: Epigram Books, 2014
ISBN: 9789814615020

How will a young Singaporean writer with an infant son cope with life in this strange, often hostile, environment, in a time before the Internet and cheap air travel? With her trademark chatty style and wry humour, You Jin chronicles her encounters with viciously bored expat wives, mistreated migrant workers, and foreigners who unwittingly fall foul of draconian local laws, as well as her many misadventures negotiating an unfamiliar culture. What strategies will she need to survive life in the desert?

Priest in Geylang: The Untold Story of the Geylang Catholic Centre
Fr. Guillaume Arotçarena
Singapore: Ethos Books, 2015
ISBN: 9789810936785

Cosmopolitan Singapore -- emblematic of globalised capitalism -- usually calls to mind a number of clichés: orderly, clean and green, a shopping and business paradise, and a model of sound economic management. Tourists, journalists and passing businessmen cast an absent-minded glance at the local society, noting that the food is excellent, e-communication works well and armoured tanks are absent on street corners.

But after 17 years living here, the author shows a different side of Singapore: looking at her from the grassroots. Beyond his personal atypical story, he draws with light strokes of the brush, a picture of a warm and generous people, much less passive than one os often given to think. He also describes the difficulties faced by civil society, and tracks the rapid social evolution in the city-state as it is confronted with major challenges: a nose-diving demography, cramped territory with an infrastructure which cannot be extended indefinitely, and massive immigration which in increasingly resented by the local population.

Most of all, Fr. Arotçarena places on record the work and significance of the Geylang Catholic Centre, which makes this priest in Geylang himself a legend.

Visualising Space: Maps of Singapore and the Region: Collections From the National Library and National Archives of Singapore
National Library Board, Singapore
Singapore: National Library Board, 2015
ISBN: 9789814634083

Visualising Space: Maps of Singapore and the Region details the rich cartographical history of Southeast Asia from the 15th century to the present day.

An essay by award-winning historian, Peter Borschberg, explains how early European cartographers -- inspired by the exotic lands of Southeast Asia -- came to conceive, perceive and map the region before the arrival of Stamford Raffles in Singapore, while heritage and maps expert Mok Ly Yng provides a fascinating study on the history of modern mapping in Singapore since 1819.

Essays by librarian Makeswary Periasamy and archivist Kevin Khoo offer detailed overviews of the rare map collections of the National Library and the National Archives of Singapore respectively. Visualising Space also includes a comprehensive appendix of local map resources.

Sustainable Luxury: The New Singapore House, Solutions for a Livable Future
Paul McGillick
US: Tuttle Publishing, 2015
ISBN: 9780804844758

Singapore is celebrated as one of the most livable cities in Asia, and Sustainable Luxury shows how the prosperous, forward-looking nation is pioneering innovative solutions for environmental, economic, social, and cultural issues faced the world over. Dr. Paul McGillick, the author of The Sustainable Asian House (Tuttle, 2013), presents twenty-seven recent residential projects created by Singapore's most talented architects to address the many complex and interconnected aspects of sustainability.

Some of the homes featured here emphasize environmental needs, while others are concerned with preserving cultural traditions or supporting societal and interpersonal needs -- such as extended family dwellings. Each residence, however, exhibits solutions developed from a holistic point of view. These homes typically embrace the tropical climate rather than fight it, and illustrate how smart manipulation of air flows, light, shade, water, and landscaping sustain higher levels of comfort without resorting to air-conditioning.

In addition to profiling individual residences, Sustainable Luxury looks at the big picture, canvassing the most pressing issues -- including changing demographics and lifestyles -- and examining the available solutions. Anyone concerned with the future of our world will be fascinated by the houses presented here and the ways in which Singapore is leading the way in the development of residential architecture that is as luxurious as it is sustainable.

Education, Culture and the Singapore Developmental State: "World-Soul" Lost and Regained?
Yeow Tong Chia
London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015
ISBN: 9781137374592

This book explores the role of education in the formation of the Singapore developmental state, through a study of education for citizenship in Singapore from 1955 to present day. The book provides a historical study of citizenship education in Singapore, whereby a comparative study of history, civics and social studies curricula, and the politics and policies that underpin them are examined. The book demonstrates how the state maintained its hegemony and legitimacy through the culture of crisis management through education. It is essentially the history of how Singapore's developmental state managed crises (imagined, real or engineered), and how changes in history, civics and social studies curricula, served to legitimize the state, through educating and moulding the desired 'good citizen' in the interest of nation building. Underpinning these changes has been the state's use of cultural constructs such as Confucianism and Asian values to shore up its legitimacy.

Who is Magic Babe Ning?
Ning Cai
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2015
ISBN: 9789814561266

Asia’s top female celebrity magician 'Magic Babe' Ning talks about her 10 years in the tough world of magic showbiz; an age-old industry traditionally dominated by men.

Experience the real life adventures of this multi award-winning, world magic record-breaking, jet-setting illusionist as she unmasks the Magic Babe. Ning reveals how the shy teenage girl transformed herself into magic’s wild child and became a 2-time FHM cover girl, embraced by international media and respected by professional peers worldwide.

Ning shares for the first time her journey of quirks and struggles, betrayals and disappointments, fears and personal demons. She speaks candidly of her cancer scare at 21, which physically scarred her face but also changed the entire course of her life.

Be prepared to laugh, cry, laugh again, and be inspired after reading the true life story of the real woman behind Magic Babe.

Gardens of Perpetual Summer: The Singapore Botanic Gardens
Bonnie Tinsley
Singapore: National Parks Board, 2014
ISBN: 9789810700263

Gardens of Perpetual Summer celebrates the Singapore Botanic Gardens: the legacy of accumulated achievements of one hundred and fifty years, and the amazing evolution into modern context of one of the world's most valued cultural treasures. For many generations now the Gardens has provided a reservoir of beauty, knowledge and pleasure from which Singaporeans, foreign residents and visitors have drawn great benefit and inspiration.Today the Gardens enjoys many distinctions. Among them is a five-hectare garden containing the world's most extensive and comprehensive exposition of orchid culture, one of Asia's largest collections of rare palms, the first Cool House in the tropics to recreate the climatic conditions of equatorial forests, an irreplaceable library and herbarium collection, and a six-hectare tract of primeval forest in the heart of one of the world's busiest port cities. Located since 1859 at its present matchless site in the city's Tanglin district, the Gardens' land mass has grown from its original 19 hectare site to reach 63.7 hectares at Bukit Timah Road.

Evolution Garden: Time Travel Through the Plant Kingdom
Ian Turner & Ilsa Sharp
Singapore: National Parks Board, 2014
ISBN: 9789810512682

The Evolution Garden, located at one end of the northern sector, or Discovery Core, of the Botanic Gardens, is a unique concept in garden design. Visitors are taken upon an exciting educational journey that is visually and mentally stimulating.The message that our fragile planet has changed, and is still changing, is boldly illustrated in this Evolution Garden. Its message is that plants are not only beautiful but also crucial to the survival of all life: they make the planet liveable for creatures large and small, and continue to provide for human and environmental sustenance.

This beautiful book goes beyond complementing the displays and guiding visitors through the Evolution Garden. It contains enough information to serve as a stand-alone reference on the exciting journey that our planet has taken, from its primeval misty beginnings to the extraordinary flowering paradise that the blue planet has become.

The Best of Singapore Cooking
Leong Yee Soo
Singapore: Marshall Cavendish International, 2015
ISBN: 9789814561662

The unique quality of Singapore cuisine makes it among the most favoured in the world. It gleans the best culinary styles from neighbouring countries to produce a distinctive Singaporean flavour.

The Best of Singapore Cooking, with more than 300 time-tested recipes ranging from Chicken Rice and Char Kway Teow to Roti Jala, was compiled by Mrs. Leong Yee Soo, acknowledged culinary matriarch who enjoyed the formidable reputation of being the foremost authority on Singapore food.

Published in response to overwhelming demand for her recipes, this book is a fine testimony to her culinary skills. Twenty sections highlight, among others, top choices of home staples, sumptuous desserts, hawker favourites, Nonya kuih and specialties. In addition, "Special Combinations" provides a guide to menus of dishes traditionally served together, as in Nasi Padang.

The Best of Singapore Cooking features easy to follow recipes with clearly written step-by-step instructions, helpful hints and useful guidelines to cooking. This book makes an ideal gift and is an absolute must-have for lovers of Singapore food.

Jacques de Coutre's Singapore and Johor, 1594 - c.1625
Peter Borschberg (ed.)
Singapore: NUS Press, 2014
ISBN: 9789971698522

The Flemish gem trader Jacques de Coutre visited Southeast Asia in the early 17th century, and his lengthy account of his experiences provides a glimpse of Singapore, Johor and the Straits of Melaka during an era for which little written material has survived. This special edition, which presents highlights from the full translation, is designed to provide students, teachers and the wider public with a glimpse of this tumultuous region when it was still controlled by local rulers, and Western colonialism was just gaining a foothold. The author describes dangerous intrigues involving fortune hunters and schemers, as well as local rulers and couriers, adventures that on several occasions nearly cost him his life.

The manuscripts come from a bundle of documents preserved at the National Library of Spain in Madrid that includes de Coutre's autobiography and several memorials to the Crowns of Spain and Portugal. Chapters from the autobiography have been excerpted from book I, which covers the writer's life in Southeast Asia between 1593 and 1603. A glossary and list of place names provide information about officials, goods and places mentioned in the text that will be unfamiliar to readers of English.