Children, wearing red neckerchiefs, a symbol of the Pioneer Organization, salute during a ceremony for the inauguration of 18 new members at a local school in the southern settlement of Kazminskoye in Stavropol region, Russia, November 19, 2015. Early pro-communist youth movements, which appeared in Russia after the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, were reformed into the Pioneer Organization of the Soviet Union. While the organization lost its dominance among students in post-Soviet Russia, some educational institutions and families still carry on this tradition. (Photo by Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters)

A stunning photographic collection featuring portraits of people from 30 countries and the food they eat in one day. In this fascinating study of people and their diets, 80 profiles are organized by the total number of calories each person puts away in a day. Featuring a Japanese sumo wrestler, a Massai herdswoman, world-renowned Spanish chef Ferran Adria, an American competitive eater, and more, these compulsively readable personal stories also include demographic particulars, including age, activity level, height, and weight. Essays from Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham, journalist Michael Pollan, and others discuss the implications of our modern diets for our health and for the planet. This compelling blend of photography and investigative reportage expands our understanding of the complex relationships among individuals, culture, and food.

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

“Snowflake (c. 1964 – November 24, 2003) was an albino gorilla. He was the only known albino gorilla so far, and the most popular resident of the Barcelona Zoo in Catalonia, Spain. Originally named Nfumu Ngui in Fang language ("white gorilla") by his captor, he was then nicknamed Floquet de Neu (Catalan for little snowflake) by his keeper Jordi Sabater Pi. On his arrival to Barcelona where he was given an official reception by the then Mayor of Barcelona, Josep Maria de Porcioles, in November 1966, he was called Blancanieves (“Snow White”) in the newspaper Tele/Exprés. But he became famous with the name given to him by Sabater when National Geographic Magazine featured him on the main page in March 1967, with the English name Snowflake. This name spread among the press (Stern, Life, Paris-Match) and was later translated to Spanish as Copito de Nieve. Sabater himself called the gorilla Floquet or Copi, and in the later years Nfumu. The asteroid 95962 Copito, discovered by Catalan astronomer J. Manteca, is named in his honour”.

Revellers take part in the “Canto a la Tierra” parade on January 3, 2018, during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto, Colombia, the largest festivity in the south- western region of the country. More than 10,000 people among artists, craftsmen and revellers take part in the Blacks and Whites Carnival, which has its origins in the mix of the multiple Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions. It is celebrated every year from January 2 to 6 in the city of Pasto and is part of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity since 2009. (Photo by Luis Robayo/AFP Photo)

Water is seen on part of the glacial ice sheet that covers about 80 percent of the country is seen on July 17, 2013 on the Glacial Ice Sheet, Greenland. As the sea levels around the globe rise, researchers affilitated with the National Science Foundation and other organizations are studying the phenomena of the melting glaciers and its long-term ramifications. The warmer temperatures that have had an effect on the glaciers in Greenland also have altered the ways in which the local populace farm, fish, hunt and even travel across land. In recent years, sea level rise in places such as Miami Beach has led to increased street flooding and prompted leaders such as New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to propose a $19.5 billion plan to boost the citys capacity to withstand future extreme weather events by, among other things, devising mechanisms to withstand flooding. (Photo by Joe Raedle)

“Dog fighting is a form of blood sport in which game dogs are made to fight, sometimes to the death. It is illegal in most developed countries. Dog fighting is used for entertainment and may also generate revenue from stud fees, admission fees and gambling”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A bloody Afghan dog is bleeding with many wounds after he lost a dog fight November 24, 2006 in Kabul, Afghanistan. While the Afghan government is trying to ban the violent use of dogs for fighting, the unofficial sport remains a regular weekly event. Afghan dog fighting is popular among Afghan men who gamble on the dogs making upwards of 15,000 Afghanie (300 USD). (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)

BERLIN, GERMANY - NOVEMBER 11: Sculptor Oleg Bessonov creates a rosette from clay at the Schlossbauhuette studio where a team of sculptors is creating decorative elements for the facade of the Berliner Schloss city palace on November 11, 2011 in Berlin, Germany. The Berliner Schloss was the residence of the Prussian Kaiser and was among the major architectural landmarks of Berlin until it was heavily damaged by Allied bombing in 1945. The communist authorities of East Berlin demolished the building in the 1950s, and today's Berlin government is pursuing an ambitious project to rebuild the palace according to a design by Italian architect Franco Stella, which will recreate the facade of the building but with a modern interior at a cost of approximately EUR 590 million. The Humboldt Forum, the foundation leading the project, has given the Schlossbauhuette sculptors the formidable task of recreating the hundreds of architectural elements that decorated the facade, and though some original pieces were saved, more often the sculptors have only old black and white photos as reference. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)