An Engineer Imagines

Book Description

Now in paperback, this is Peter Rice's autobiography. Rice was widely acclaimed as the greatest structural engineer of his generation, a man whom, in Renzo Piano's words, could design structures 'like a pianist who can play with his eyes shut'. Working with many of the world's greatest architects on buildings that became icons of contemporary architecture, he brought a uniquely poetic feeling to his work.

Customer Reviews:

Engineering Intersects Design.......2004-05-03

As an engineer in other media (software) who enjoys civil engineering and architecture done well, this book entertained and inspired me as few others in the last five years. Peter Rice appears to enjoy a risk, a change, a challenge. He listens to the materials to find solutions to problems, creating the practical engineering resolution to an abstract design. The newest tools, materials, techniques, talents are marshalled into the cause. But so is a spark of inspiration, an angle of attack.

The interaction of these words - risk, change, challenge, materials, engineering, design, problems, solutions - is described in a mostly auto-biographical tale. Each chapter centers on a project or two in which Rice was involved. Particularly fun was how working with the different people and cultures sometimes added to the challenge, and the result.

There is little doubt in my mind that any creative, design-centered profession can draw inspiration from this book.

Structural.......2003-11-12

This book is wonderful for insight into one of the most brilliant engineering minds of our time. It should also serve as an inspiration and motivator for structural engineers (AND ARCHITECTS) to think beyond the comforts of the norm. It does a splendid job of showcasing some of Mr. Rice's work.

A hard to reach star, but one of the brightest........2001-03-19

Peter Rice was a genius behind modern landmarks like the Sydney Opera, the Centre Pompidou, and Lloyd's Bank in London. This british structural engineer gave our world a mighty heave to the future. He humbly sings throughout this book to his love of his work, to the greatness of human mind, and to the evolution of our understanding of materials and tools.

A Great Structural Engineer.......1999-11-29

Peter Rice is arguably the greatest structural engineer of our time. Loved by Architects like Renzo Piano for his innovation and consequently his ability to make their dreams come true. An inspirational book, parts of which reads almost like poetry. A very rare breed indeed for a book on engineering.

Book Description

"Did Rudolf Steiner dream these things? Did he dream them as they once occurred, at the beginning of all time? They are, for sure, far more astonishing than the demiurges and serpents and bulls found in other cosmogonies." --Jorge Luis Borges

Rudolf Steiner recorded his view of the world in numerous books. He also gave more than 5,000 lectures, in which he explained his ideas, using only minimal notes. When describing especially difficult subjects, Steiner frequently resorted to illustrating what he was saying with colored chalk on a large blackboard. After his earlier lectures, the drawings were erased and irretrievably lost. After the autumn of 1919, however, thick black paper was used to cover the blackboards so that the drawings could be rolled up and saved.

The Trustees of Rudolf Steiner's Estate in Dornach, Switzerland, possess more than a thousand such drawings. A selection of these drawings was first shown to the general public in 1992, and since then, exhibitions in Europe, America, and Japan have generated much interest in Steiner's works.

Contains 120 color plates.

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RUDOLF STEINER: KOLMINKERTAINEN LUOMINEN: LUENTOPIIRUSTUSKIA 1919-1924 / THE TRIPLE CREATION: BLACKBOARD DRAWINGS 1919-1924
RUDOLF). Steiner, Rudolf & Walter Kugler (STEINER
Manufacturer: Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9515321654

Book Description

Death and the way society comes to terms with it have become a major area of scholarly and popular interest, as evidenced in the work of such well-known figures as Philippe Ariès and Elisabeth Kübler Ross. Photographs and other forms of pictorial imagery play an important role in these investigations. Secure the Shadow is an original contribution that lies at the intersection of cultural anthropology and visual analysis, a field that Jay Ruby's previous writings have helped to define. It explores the photographic representation of death in the United States from 1840 to the present, focusing on the ways in which people have taken and used photographs of deceased loved ones and their funerals to mitigate the finality of death.

Sometimes thought to be a bizarre Victorian custom, photographing corpses has been and continues to be an important, if not recognized, occurrence in American life. It is a photographic activity, like the erotica produced in middle-class homes by married couples, that many privately practice but seldom circulate outside the trusted circle of close friends and relatives. Along with tombstones, funeral cards, and other images of death, these photographs represent one way in which Americans have attempted to secure their shadows.

Ruby employs newspaper accounts, advertisements, letters, photographers' account books, interviews, and other material to determine why and how photography and death became intertwined in the nineteenth century. He traces this century's struggle between America's public denial of death and a deeply felt private need to use pictures of those we love to mourn their loss. Americans take and use photographs of dead relatives and friends in spite of and not because of society's expectation about the propriety of these means. Ruby compares photographs and other pictorial media of death, founding his interpretations on the discovery of patterns in the appearance of the images and a reconstruction of the conditions of their production and utilization.

Customer Reviews:

Fascinating!.......2006-12-03

If you saw the wonderful film "The Others" you were doubtlessly exposed to one of those gloriously macabre Victorian traditions: the Mortuary Photograph. Yes, those images featured in that splendid little "Book Of The Dead" were real images of deceased individuals taken in the 19th century by bereaved relatives. The images in the film were from the collection of Stanley Burns, whose long out-of-print collection, Sleeping Beauty (and its recently re-issued sister Sleeping Beauty II), is considered the masterpiece of Mortuary Photography. However, if you can't seem to locate a copy of Sleeping Beauty, there is an alternative: Jay Ruby's Secure The Shadow. This excellent book may not pack the same photographic punch as Sleeping Beauty but the excellent text makes up for it. For many people in current times, the idea of photographing corpses and displaying them around the house seems unbearably morbid. However, Ruby does a good job of explaining the underlying philosophies of the time that made mortuary photography so popular. He uses newspaper clippings, old funerary photography advertisements, letters, and photographer's account books to explain the how the connection between photography and death developed and continues to this day, in a somewhat altered form. This book has made me want to start perusing Ebay on a regular basis looking for vintage mortuary pics. It's a tremendous hobby, really - and this is a very good book!

Secure the shadow, Ere the substance fade, Let nature imitate what nature made........2006-01-10

This quote was an early photography advertising slogan and is the thesis sentence for this outstanding analysis. Not as assuming or stylized as Sleeping Beauty, it has a wonderful perspective. I just love it. Makes you wish other authors would persue the subject. Having worked in the death care industry, and I think folks are just too removed from death. We are born ,live and die..and how we feel about death should be as contemplated as birth. This book allows us to do this, if you were raised removed from death, this book as well as Sleeping Beauty I&II are a good place to start feeling more comfortable with death as part of life.

great book for those interested in memorial portraiture!.......2003-06-01

this book not only provides information on post- mortem memorial photography,but early paintings as well.makes an excellent edition to sleeping beauty 1&2,as they do not cover paintings.take it from a long time hard core collector of this subject matter,sleeping beauty 1 and 2,and secure the shadow.great conceptual text as well.this is not only a book with pictures of dead people.all photos are blk&white,but there are a good number of realy fine ones.if you are interested in the subject or a collector,get it!

Pictures Of Dead People.......2000-05-27

Interesting picture book of dead people and funerals. In the mid to late 1800s, it was popular for people to take pictures of dead loved ones (almost like that person was still alive) as a rememberance of that person. No gore, or accident scenes.

This book explains why people did, and still do, take pictures of dead people and their funerals and use those pictures of those they love to mourn their loss.

Chilling.......1998-06-12

It's unfathomable to me how a young mother could pose for hours in front of a camera holding her dead child. Equally disturbing is the image of one's mantle strewn with photographs of the dearly departed in all their slack-jawed, glaze-eyed post-mortal glory. Nevertheless, this was the custom during the turn of the century, a time when those who could not afford photography in life secured in death. Photographing the deceased was an integral part of the grieving process and, especially in the case of children, often the only proof one had of ever existing. The delicate antique photos reproduced in this book are disturbing, sad and lovely, in that order. Customs may have changed--I don't suppose many of us carry snapshots from our grandparent's graves--but reverence for the dead is still evident in more recent pictures of modern, frilly, floral funeral decorations. Secure the Shadow is a well-researched, stunning volume of great interest to social historians, the morbidly obsessed, and the just plain curious.

Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography In America

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Secure the Shadow: Death and Photography In America
Jay Ruby
Manufacturer: MIT PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OJQKTC

Book Description

OUT OF PRINT

Customer Reviews:

great cover, great contents, but. . ........2000-05-13

. . . both the cover image And the contents have been widely available in alternate formats for over ten years now. how annoying that redundant repackagings of stuff every moebius collector already has, such as this, arzach, airtight garage, blueberry, exotics etc, continue being churned out, while at the same time there's tons of moebius work from the last decade which has Yet to see english-language release :( economic feasibility be damned! Quit Wasting Our Time with these rehashes and give us some ALL NEW stuff already! vt

Book Description

Summary

The fifth volume in the Advances in Developing Human Resources series.

The book starts by looking at human capital from a theoretical perspective and finishes from a perspective of application. The first and second chapters support the development of a foundational understanding of the elements of human capital management. The third and fourth chapters examine the two theoretical components of intellectual capital and knowledge management. The fifth and sixth chapters discuss applications of human capital management theory from two different theoretical perspectives. The seventh and final chapter pulls all the concepts together as it examines organizational knowledge, competence and expertise from the context of strategic planning and discusses some of the implications this holds for organizations.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Description

"This book represents a mere dipping of toes into the ocean that metaphorically represents the little that is known and the much that is unknown about organizational knowledge, competence and expertise. It provides a glimpse into a much larger world that is waiting to be explored-a world where organizational strategy represents a process focused on the creation and flow of valuable information, developing the core competencies that make the organization unique, and keeping the entire organization expertise-rich.

The book starts by looking at human capital from a theoretical perspective and finishes from a perspective of application. The first and second chapters support the development of a foundational understanding of the elements of human capital management. Chapter 1 examines the roles and relationships that knowledge, competence, and expertise take on when human capital management is seen as part of an organization's strategic positioning. Chapter 2 specifically looks at the nature and characteristics of human expertise.

The third and fourth chapters examine the two theoretical components of intellectual capital and knowledge management. The existing theories and concepts of intellectual capital are presented in Chapter 3, which focuses on the dynamic impact that intellectual capital can have on the organization. Springboarding off this, Chapter 4 begins with the premise that knowledge is a complex and intangible asset with unique cultural and technical dimensions. It then draws on existing theory and recent empirical studies to develop a theory of knowledge management.

The fifth and sixth chapters discuss applications of human capital management theory from two different perspectives. Chapter 5 takes the training and development perspective in demonstrating how the economic theories of gaming and human capital provide a conceptual model for forecasting the strategic potential of a training initiative. Chapter 6, presenting an organization development perspective, highlights the shortcomings of financial-based techniques for assessing the value of human capital and outlines a new, strategic approach to human resource management.

The seventh and final chapter pulls all the concepts together as it examines organizational knowledge, competence, and expertise from the context of strategic planning and discusses some ofthe implications this holds for the organization." - from the Preface

Book Description

Information for the inspector, investor, appraiser, home buyer, home owner and handyman regarding plumbing

A Practical Guide to Inspecting Plumbing (American Home Inspectors Training Institute How-to Library and Guide, Volume 4)

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A Practical Guide to Inspecting Plumbing (American Home Inspectors Training Institute How-to Library and Guide, Volume 4)

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000EET7JM

Product Description

Publisher: American Home Inspectors Training Institute, 2002 revised edition

A Practical Guide to Inspecting Plumbing (Revised)

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A Practical Guide to Inspecting Plumbing (Revised)
Roy Newcomer
Manufacturer: American Home Inspectors Training Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VFSXSK

Book Description

"Congrats on another year of You!" is a fully illustrated mini-book celebrating a special birthday. Written by Marianne Richmond.

Book Description

Warton in Wartime discusses the airfield near Warton's vital part in the Second World War, including tragic accidents, morale boosting visits by Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller, and record-breaking production figures.

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Excellent, comprehensive overview

Not very good and way too much money!

The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates: The Islamic Near East from the Sixth to the Eleventh Century (History of the Near East)
Hugh Kennedy
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

When Baghdad Ruled The Muslim World: The Rise and Fall of Islam's Greatest Dynasty

A History of Islamic Societies

The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800 (Themes in Islamic History)

The Venture of Islam, Volume 1: The Classical Age of Islam (Venture of Islam)

The Ottoman Empire, 1300-1650: The Structure of Power (European History in Perspective)

ASIN: 0582493137

Book Description

Dr Kennedy gives a full and clear account of the Near East in the formative period of Islamic society. Beginning with the life of Muhammad and the birth of Islam, he goes on to examine the great Arab conquests and the golden age of Islam from the eighth to the tenth centuries. The book closes with the period of political fragmentation in the tenth and eleventh centuries when the early unity was lost, never to be recovered.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent, comprehensive overview.......2005-07-01

Kennedy's work is a great introduction to the early history of the Middle East. I felt compelled to write this after I saw the other review, which complained of too many names being thrown around. It is a history book, and Arabic names are very different than English ones, so this is to be expected. It would be impossible and rather pointless to write a history book with no difficulty involved.

Kennedy examines Arabia before Muhammad, Muhammad's life and preaching, the early Islamic conquests, and the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates up to the time of the Mongol invasions. This time period is well researched, and I cannot honestly say that Kennedy brings anything new to the table with his work. What he does, however, is concisely reconstruct the history in a readable and flowing prose. I was slightly disapppointed that he spent so little time discussing the Islamic conquests, but his overview of the Abbasid state is better than most I have read.

Overall, this is a great introduction for students looking to study the early history of Islam and the Middle East. It does not have everything though, and should not be taken as the be-all end-all source. Other books along the same line as this which are worthwhile are F.E. Peter's Muhammad and the Origins of Islam, William Ochsenwald's The Middle East, and Wilfred Madelung's The Succession to Muhammad.

Not very good and way too much money!.......2001-10-31

This book is supposed to be a basic overview of Islamic history from the sixth century to the eleventh century. The problem is that if you are a beginning student of Islam it throws way to many names in rapid succession at you with not enough in depth discussion for you to remember any of them. On the other hand if you are an expert in the field you probably know you all these people are and there is not enough analysis to make it worth your time. Compounding the problem is the ridiculous price of fifty dollars for a paperback!

Product Description

Learn to identify the birds in your state by sound. This set of two audio CDs offers the highest quality digital recordings, featuring approximately 120 minutes of bird calls. It's a must-have for any bird lover!

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic birding resource........2007-06-04

I bought the cd set after I purchased it's companion book (same title). It is very helpful tool to identify birds that you cannot see i.e. camoflouged by plant/tree foliage by matching the calls to the birds.

Great companion to the book.......2006-06-13

I have dozens of different kinds of birds in my woods behind my home and the chorus is overwhelming. These 2 CD's are well indexed and Stan even has comments on the different songs many of the birds have. Example some are to mark an area, some are for mating and others are to warn of danger.

Birds of Minnesota CD.......2005-07-21

I gave this item as a gift. She absolutely loved it. It is nice to find a CD of bird calls so one can know the sight as well as the sound of different birds.

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Vittorio Gregotti, buildings and projects (Architectural documents)
Manfredo Tafuri
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Architecture | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 084780450X

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Vittorio Gregotti: Buildings and Projects
Vittorio] Tafuri, Manfredo [Gregotti
Manufacturer: Electa/Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KV718S

Average customer rating:
Saint-Memin and the Neoclassical Profile Portrait in America
Charles Balthazar Julien Fevret de] Miles, Ellen G. [Saint-Menin
Manufacturer: National Port Gallery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KVO6WW

Book Description

Many industrialized countries will start the process of ratifying the Kyoto Protocol on the basis of the outcome of the negotiations at the Sixth Conference of Parties in The Hague, in November 2000. Policy-makers in most of these countries will face domestic hurdles including the trade-off between political commitments and economic realities. The Japanese government (host to the Kyoto negotiations) is facing a serious problem in meeting its targets, because of the Tokaimura nuclear disaster and resulting unwillingness to expand nuclear capacity. This report analyses the specific conditions for Japan, covering various scenarios for additional policies such as fuel switching, carbon taxation and emissions trading, within the context of a liberalizing energy market. It also speculates on the future of the Kyoto regime itself.

Customer Reviews:

Too much dissertation-style survey of the literature.......2006-04-25

I bought this book looking for some information on the economic policies of Hamilton and the early US republic. While the book does cover this issue, it is only tangential. Essentially, the book reads like Mr. McNamara's doctoral dissertation. The first two sections of the book review Adam Smith and his economic theories. The last section applies them (very briefly) to Hamilton and his ideas for the early financial organization of the US. That is really all that is here. There is no greater thesis at work; there is little synthesis that might make you see Smith, Hamilton or both in a new way. It would be unfair to say that this is a bad book, it just was not what I was looking for, and I am finding that there are better books on the subject of the initial economic policies of the new US nation, and Hamilton's influence on them.

Book Description

Since the US stock market crashed on October 19, 1987, many studies have been conducted to learn from this experience in the hopes of avoiding a similarly adverse future fall. The book, originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Financial Services Research, considers some of the important policy adjustments that have been implemented in the wake of the 1987 crash. Taken separately and together, these five papers offer a synthesis and summary of the most important policy innovations that have evolved since the largest single-day decline in stock market history.

Book Description

This series covers the federal, state, and local regulations imposed on small businesses, with concise, friendly and up-to-the-minute advice on each critical step of starting your own business.

Customer Reviews:

A wonderful primer on starting a business with contact information for locating startup funds if necessary........2007-03-18

This is a valuable book (resource) for budding entrepreneurs. It seems to try to cover all the bases for starting a small business, but it can't do them all well in the space available between its covers. The book is only 288 pages long. If you are in the planning stages of starting a small business, then I highly recommend you get a copy of this book. Read it, study it, and outline it. There are helpful checklists to help you grasp the subjects. You will come up with a plethora of keywords and terms that you will want to google to find Web pages giving more detailed (and maybe more current) information.

I am a SCORE counselor (Senior Corps of Retired Executives) who typically does face-to-face counseling sessions three nights a month. It would really be neat if my clients would read this book BEFORE they came to their session with me because they would pretty much be "educated customers" ready to ask educated questions. Our sessions would be so much more beneficial.

My favorite chapters were:

1. Initial business concerns
2. Your business' structure
3. Business start-up details
5. Sources of business assistance (SCORE is mentioned here)
7. Your smart business plan (and a good sample plan is included)
8. Obtaining the financing you need

The book is weak when it comes to how the Internet can be used in corresponding, hiring, and marketing. But this is just one example of how googling keywords and concepts found in the book will make the book more complete. Don't treat the book as authoritative on the law. It isn't. Nor was it ever intended to be. It is light on tax information as it relates to small business.

I was particularly impressed with the material presented in Chapter 2: Choice of Legal Entity. That subject is sorely ignored in most small business books, and it is critically important. It is a subject I regularly must spend a great deal of time discussing at my SCORE sessions. This book does a pretty good job on the topic.

Chapters 4 and 9 through 12 are easy to find fault with. The topic of each could fill a book. But having these topics covered definitely will help a budding entrepreneur know some of the issues they raise.

I would have liked the book more if Chapter 6 (marketing) had been less superficial. When I read it I got the impression that the author was more a public relations expert than a marketing expert. I generally categorize public relations as a subset of marketing. Marketing includes advertising, public relations, and a whole host of other promotion techniques. I did not get this message when I read the book. I also would have liked the book better if the Internet, email, and Web sites had been discussed more. But there are many books on those subjects. Therefore, I can't complain too much about the limited discussion of computers.

When you read this book it may feel a little like it was produced on an assembly line. Maybe it was? There are 51 versions of this book sold; one for each state and the District of Columbia. Content is king, and this book has it. 5 stars!

Customer Reviews:

I Wish I'd Read This Book Sooner!.......2001-02-20

I found Planning Ahead for Pregnancy informative, supportive, and helpful. I wish that I hadn't waited until I wanted to try having a baby to read it. Dr. Cherry's advice is basic and sound, and not as overwhelming as some of the other nutrition books I've read. Give it a try if you can get your hands on it!

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Inside Spetsnaz Soviet Special Operations A Critical Analysis
Maj. William H. III (Editor) (Gen. Robert C. Kingston USA (Ret.), Foreword) Burgess
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000J0NGOI

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Inside Spetsnaz: Soviet Special Operations : A Critical Analysis
Kirsten Amundsen
Manufacturer: Presidio Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
Russia | History | Subjects | Books
Military Science | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0891413391

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INSIDE SPETSNAZ: SOVIET SPECIAL OPERATIONS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS
William H. (ed.) Burgess
Manufacturer: Presidio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FMMGLO

Book Description

Great landmark of ornithology covers 69 species of albatross, petrel, pelican, fulmar, shearwater, booby, cormorant, gannet, cahow and many more. Detailed information on nesting habits, plumage, egg form, distribution, range, food, behavior, courtship, every other aspect of avian life. 128 black-and-white photographs. Index. Bibliography.

Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies

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Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies
Arthur Cleveland Bent
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000QYKB36

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Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies
Arthur Cleveland Bent
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000M463B4

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LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS AND THEIR ALLIES.
A. C. Bent
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WP9JKU

Life histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and their allies. Order Tubinares and order Steganopodes

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Life histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and their allies. Order Tubinares and order Steganopodes
Arthur Cleveland Bent
Manufacturer: Government Printing Office
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KYR5OA

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Life Histories of North American Petrels and Pelicans and Their Allies
Arthur Cleveland Bent
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OM66ES

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LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN PETRELS AND PELICANS AND THEIR ALLIES: ORDER TUBINARES AND ORDER STEGANOPODES

Manufacturer: Government Printing Office Washington DC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000IAK5B6

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