Because time isn’t always kind: economic reviews in a world full of waste!

With CLASH OF THE TITANS too lo-fi for today’s CGI-weaned audiences, introduce your kids to mythology with THE MIGHTY 12: SUPERHEROES OF GREEK MYTH. This children’s book puts the spotlight on a dozen key figures — Zeus, Apollo, Poseidon, with bonus looks beyond the 12 at Cerebrus and Medusa — from the Greek tales. Charles R. Smith Jr. provides a non-pretentious, easily digestible poem for each, while P. Craig Russell illustrates with rich color and the same fantastic-fantasy detail which made his THE SANDMAN: ENDLESS NIGHTS work stand out. It’s not a comic book as the title may lead you to believe, but grade schoolers will enjoy it all the same.

Even those of us who don’t care about baseball can recite the lyrics to Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer’s “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.” No wonder it’s the third most-sung song in the country, according to Andy Strasberg, Bob Thompson and Tim Wiles, authors of BASEBALL’S GREATEST HIT: THE STORY OF TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME. This colorful coffee-table book is filled with nuggets of trivia surrounding the all-American tune’s inception, influence and lasting legacy. Crammed with more photos and illustratons than a Cracker Jack box has popcorn, the book details everything you could imagine relating to the song: timelines, parodies, even a complete discography. But making it a home run is the inclusion of a CD featuring several versions, including one from Carly Simon, who also provides HIT’s foreword. This is the perfect gift for any summertime sports fan.

Any book that pokes a big, fat hole in the self-important, self-help BS that is the CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL franchise automatically lands on my good side. Brian M. Thomsen’s parody PASTA FAZOOL FOR THE WISEGUY’S SOUL: HEARTWARMING STORIES OF “FAMILY” LIFE may be a few years too late, but at least it shows up its source material as the feel-good false sentiment that it is. The humor anthology imagines the life lessons within were imparted to Thomsen by wiseguy Don Minestrone, such as waiting for the love of a good woman (one other than your wife, of course) and why Pacino beats De Niro, noquestionaboutit. Those who enjoy mafia stereotypes will find it amusing, but I think it works better simply as kind of a memoir for a mob man in his twilight years. So what if he doesn’t really exist?

Des Wilson takes a long look at the history of one of the most popular card games of present day in GHOSTS AT THE TABLE: RIVERBOAT GAMBLERS, TEXAS ROUNDERS, INTERNET GAMERS, AND THE LIVING LEGENDS WHO MAKE POKER WHAT IT IS TODAY. Obviously this will appeal mostly to poker players, yet even not being part of that group, I still took a shine to some of the stories he tells, like finding out what history never was able to: what hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was fatally shot mid-game in Deadwood. The Las Vegas anecdotes are interesting, but the cyberspace ones even more so. For instance, did you know that Internet poker spending has hit $100 million a day? You do the math. For those whose eyes have ever stayed glued to a cable poker tourney, this book’s a sure bet. —Rod Lott

Buy it at Amazon.