Buddhism is on the rise in Brazil, and West Tisbury journalist Perry Garfinkel has some ideas on why.

Before Tuesday’s book launch at the Bunch of Grapes, the audience was issued an unusual instruction for such an event. They were asked not to seek to get their copies of the book The Coldest Winter, signed by the man launching it, Ward Just.

The reason was obvious, but sad. Mr. Just did not write the book. His good friend David Halberstam did, but he died in a car accident in April this year.

Elizabeth Germain will teach a super foods cooking class at the FARM Institute at Katama Farm in Edgartown on Sunday, Oct. 7 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The class will begin in the FARM’s friendship garden, rain or shine, where participants will pick vegetables and herbs for lunch and some to preserve. The focus will be foods dramatically better for health and longevity and basic cooking techniques. You’ll learn how to clean, store and prepare powerhouse foods like kale, cabbage, parsley, leeks, pumpkin seeds and millet — a gluten-free whole grain.

Court TV debuted> a show last year called Murder By the Book. They invited five crime novelists to choose a true crime case that fascinated them, and present it in the series — full of interviews with witnesses and detectives and prosecutors. Linda Fairstein, pictured above, was selected for the second series.