Notable: Worth a thousand words

Three lavish new photography books collect memorable images.

The Classic Collection (Life Books), compiled from Life magazine, gathers images beautiful, poignant and exuberant from the magazine's golden era, with 25 prints removable for framing.

Performance (Abrams), edited by Norma Stevens, features hundreds of magnificent photos of famous faces by Richard Avedon, from a high-kicking Audrey Hepburn and the iconic Beatles shots to a smokin' Rufus Sewell.

Wisdom (Abrams) by Andrew Zuckerman, refreshingly recognizing the value of age, offers insightful words from and striking portraits of wise folk ranging from Jane Goodall to Willie Nelson, from Henry Kissinger to Jacques Pepin.

Colette Bancroft, Times book editor