title: The Buddha: The Story of an Awakened Life
author:  David Kherdian 
description: Kherdian, who has written for both children and adults, pens a simple, lyrical biography of Buddha suited for all ages. Episodes from the life of the Indian prince born around the fifth century B.C.E. are narrated in chronological order to present an unfolding life history that engages and also teaches some central Buddhist tenets. The Buddha's life is the stuff of legends, and this telling is mythopoeic rather than dully historical or biographical. In a narrative with a well-marked beginning, middle and end, the Buddha finds the middle way at mid-life after pursuing youthful extremes of sensual indulgence and mortifying asceticism. Post-Enlightenment stories then show how the Buddha's spiritual authority and community grew over the course of 40 years of teaching, and the Buddha's resonant and honored final words ("Work out your salvation with diligence") close the narrative. Some well-known Buddhist parables, such as the story of the mustard seed, are included. If the goal is to humanize an eminent spiritual leader from another time and place, the book succeeds. Buddha has a mother and dad, an envious cousin, quarrelsome followers and a son who challenges him. Buddhist students may not want something quite this elementary, but it is an accessible introduction to the life of the Buddha for general readers wanting a taste of a legendary life story.<BR>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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  **The Wishing Game**
  
  
  **by Larry Niven**
  
  
  Crunching and grinding sounds brought him half-awake. He was being pulled
  upward through gritty sand, in jerks. Then the stopper jerked free, sudden
  sunlight flamed into his refuge, and the highly compressed substance that was
  Kreezerast the Frightener exploded into the open air.
  
  
  Kreezerast attempted to gather his senses and his thoughts. He had slept for a
  long time…
  
  
  A long time. A human male, an older man not in the best of shape, was standing
  above the bottle. There was desert all about. Kreezerast, tall as the tallest
  of trees and still expanding, had a good view of scores of miles of yellow
  sand blazing with heat and light. Far south he saw a lone pond ringed by
  stunted trees, the only sign of life. And this had been forest when he entered
  his refuge!
  
  
  What of the man? He was looking up at Kreezerast, probably perceiving him as a
  cloud of thinning smoke.
  
  
  His aura was that of a magic user, though much faded from d