VENTURING ONWARD

Author: Date: SUNDAY, July 27, 1997

Page: N17

Section: Books

The USS Constitution's visit to Marblehead Harbor was fact, but the town and its fleet have a fictional life as well. In his novel ``White Wings'' (Dutton, $24), Marblehead author Dan Montague writes of three generations of women and of the eponymous White Wings, a sailboat at the center of their story.

Cambridge writer David Roberts has published a collection of essays, ``Escape Routes: Further Adventure Writings of David Roberts'' (The Mountaineers, $22.95), with an introduction by Jon Krakauer. Author of several books, including a biography of novelist Jean Stafford, here Roberts offers 20 essays about archeology, mountain climbing, trips to remote sites in Asia and Africa, and profiles of several explorers.

In ``The Inflationary Universe: The Quest for a New Theory of Cosmic Origins'' (Addison-Wesley, $25), MIT physicist Alan W. Guth tells the dramatic tale of how he came to his revolutionary theory about what made the Big Bang possible.

There is no shortage of reportage on China these days, to be sure, but Northampton resident Mike Chinoy, CNN's Hong Kong bureau chief, has put his experience and research into ``China Live: Two Decades in the Heart of the Dragon'' (Turner, $23.95). Chinoy writes about a nation he viewed first idealistically, then cynically, finally maturely. ``The long personal journey recounted in this book,'' he writes, ``has left me with a sobering awareness of how hard it is to discern truth from lies and to separate fact from fiction.''