Average customer rating:
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First Facts About Giant Sea Creatures (First Facts About)
Gina Phillips
Manufacturer: Kidsbooks.com
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Science & Nature
| Bargain Books
| Stores
| Books
Zoology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ages 4-8
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Zoology
| Biological Sciences
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1561560847 |
Customer Reviews:
It Would Have Been Better If You Had Been There........2005-09-19
It would have been better if the author had checked out the Sacramento Bee archives and been more accurate and complete about the Sacramento Solons. Much of what he did write brought back memories of the 1920s and 1930s. I was there.
Classic minor league story to make the heart Zingg.......2002-12-26
It's hard to go wrong when you write a book about old-time baseball, and the Pacific Coast League might have been the best of the best.
Paul Zingg's and Mark Medeiros's book is in much the same vein as the equally classic Dick Dobbins books on this subject. However, "Runs, Hits and an Era" is a little more fortified with statistics. The names of Jigger Statz and Buzz Arlett are hardly household words today, but they truly must have been the Henry Aaron and Barry Bonds of their league and era.
And the authors rely less on interviews with the participants and more on traditional written sources - newspaper articles and other books written on the subject. In this book, there is perhaps slightly more emphasis on the Pacific Coast League's relationship to the other professional baseball leagues, major and minor, and on its relationship to the world at large.
This book has the usual collection of wonderful baseball photos from that era but also some photographs from the historical period in general. On page 3, there's a photograph from 1869 of the meeting of the rails of the Transcontinental Railroad that joined the eastern and western parts of the country. This enabled professional eastern teams to compete on the West Coast. The barnstorming tour of the first Cincinnati Reds baseball team took them to the West Coast, and while they bowled over the local teams with the same regularity that they bowled over everyone else during their incredible 130 game win streak, their visit did help set into motion the forces that would promote professional baseball on the West Coast.
Zingg and Medeiros also provide more information on the "color line", which was practiced by the PCL as unjustly and almost as rigidly as that practiced by the majors. Its existence was also just as predictably doomed, as the influx of "colored" talent would prove to be too overwhelming to be denied. Names such as Luke Easter, Minnie Minoso, and Artie Wilson might be familiar to many, but I was surprised to see the name of Piper Davis alongside these others.
A mainstay of the old Negro Leagues that played in the shadows of the white major league teams in the east, Piper Davis is largely known for having first signed Willie Mays to a Birmingham Black Baron contract in the 1940`s. I had not known that he made his way to the Pacific Coast afterwards and established himself as a PCL pioneer.
Who hit the longest home run in the history of professional baseball in the San Francisco Bay Area? The first five names that likely came to your mind were Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Reggie Jackson and Willie McCovey. The name Roy Carlyle of the Oakland Oaks probably wouldn't have ranked high on your list, but with the immortal Buzz Arlett waiting his turn on-deck, Carlyle's 618-foot Fourth of July blast in 1929 off of the San Francisco Missions' Ernie Nevers (yes, the old football star) probably traveled farther than any "splash down". Carlyle looks like an ordinary-sized chap in his picture, and presumably, he accomplished this without the assistance of andro.
The description of radio recreations of PCL games sounds a little too familiar: if the telegraph or telephone became temporarily inoperative, the "recreater" would have to have the hitter foul off pitches endlessly until the problem was fixed. That sounds a lot like the legend of how "Dutch" Reagan prolonged Billy Jurges's trip to home plate for a half hour. Did these things really happen or are the stories apocryphal? A delay in transmission sounds more like an excuse for giving the advertisers their money's worth than for a succession of foul balls.
Interestingly enough, these authors seem to disagree with Dobbins on the attitude of the major leagues toward PCL absorption. The PCL made a strong bid for major league membership after World War II, and Dobbins seems to feel that the major league owners thwarted this with an intent of possibly themselves relocating or expanding to the Pacific Coast some day. But Zingg and Medeiros argue that skepticism about the West Coast as a major league locale and about the adequacy of the PCL ballparks was genuine and that relocation to the West Coast really was initially regarded as prohibitively expensive, noting that the marginal teams that did relocate first chose locations in the Midwest such as Milwaukee and Kansas City.
Notwithstanding the title, this book has a brief recapitulation of the league's post-1958 history. It yet exists today as a wholly-controlled minor league adjunct to the majors and even has expanded INTO the Pacific Ocean by adding a team in Hawaii. Even Little Rock has a team - Little Rock, Alaska, that is. But it seems universally agreed that when the Giants and the Dodgers arrived in San Francisco and Los Angeles, respectively, in 1958, this was the end of the PCL as traditionally conceived, as the original franchises moved and changed their names.
Still, books like this whet the reader's appetite for more. Surely it isn't too late to ship the Dodgers back to Brooklyn, the Giants to a city like Montreal that might deserve a perennial non-champion, the A's back to Philly or Kansas City, and the other major league West Coast expansion upstarts to oblivion. When the shopping center on 16th and Bryant in San Francisco is torn down to rebuild Seals Stadium and when the studio on Beverly and Fairfax is torn down to rebuild Gilmore Field and when the community center on 42nd and Avalon is torn down to rebuild Wrigley Field and when Oaks Park is rebuilt even alongside the plaque in Emeryville that STILL commemorates the Roy Carlyle blast, the Pacific Coast League can be reborn, and West Coast baseball can awake from its prolonged slumber and begin again in earnest.
Book Description
Now learning non-Roman-alphabet languages is as easy as A-B-C!
Readers wanting to learn the basics of reading and writing a new language that employs script will find all they need in the Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series. Each book includes a step-by-step introduction to reading and writing in a new language as well as tips and practice exercises to build learners' skills. Thanks to the experts at Teach Yourself, script will no longer be all "Greek" to language learners--unless of course, it is Greek script! Teach Yourself Beginner's Script series books feature:
- Origins of the language
- A systematic approach to mastering the script
- Lots of "hands-on" exercises and activities
- Practical examples from real-life situations
Customer Reviews:
Waste of money.......2006-01-03
This book is not very useful, since it introduces the script's characters but contains only a minimum of texts to exercise them. For those who already know Chinese script, the chapters about Kanji are absolutely not interesting, and for those who have never seen a Kanji before, it is almost equally useless with all the effort to present everything in nice pictures. Advanced learners will find that linking characters to pictures is an absolutely ridiculous method once you want to learn a few thousands of them. Furthermore, I expected that this book would in some way relate to the volume "Teach yourself Japanese", but that is not the case.
Everyone who really wants to learn Japanese, better find something else.
A Good Start........2004-11-28
For it's price this book is a good find. There were some problems regarding pronouncation. Since the book is written by a British author American readers may be confused by the sounds of the hiragana.
Example:
あ= a, as in hat
え= e, as in end
い= i, as in hit
う= u, as in blue
お= o, as in hot
the two confusing ones are い and お. They should be pronounced like "ee" and "oh", respectively. The examples given, hit and hot make american readers give い the "eh" sound and お the "aw" sound, which is wrong. But if you can get past that, its actually a well written book.
excellent reference, although flawed........2003-09-10
this isn't as much of a review as a warning; the pronunciations throughout the book are botched for the most part. so if you are first learning your hiragana / katakana, i would not recommend beginning with this book or else you will end up quite confused later on when you learn the actual pronunciations.
for example, on page 21:
(kanji) bamboo = take. (pronounced a of "mat", and e of "end").
my knowledge of japanese is about as basic as it gets, and yet even i know this is wrong. it should be in fact pronounced a bit more similarly to "tah-kay".
other than that, it's been quite helpful resource. just do your best not to commit the erroneous pronunciations to memory, because they are an integral building block to japanese.
Good Start--Not the best.......2001-05-27
If you want to learn Kanji, this is a very good choice to start with. The book is written simply, by and established author, and leads you well through many simple kanji, including a nice set of general rules for stroke order.
There are only a single real problem I found with this book. For one thing, the author does not always introduce the names of the kanji when she presents them--given, there is an index in the back, but I would like to not have to flip back and forth quite so often. This was my major concern with the book; if you want to have speaking ability with these new kanji you must learn how to say their names.
Other than this, I believe this is a good choice of book if you are looking to learn kanji; even some of the pictoral mnemonics (I need a way to help me remember how to spell that! *grins*) were helpful, though some didn't seem to be very well-linked unless you looked them over quite carefully.
So to you I say--nihongo gambatte!
~KeViN!
Good Introduction To The Kanji and Kana.......2000-09-18
It is difficult to think of a better introduction to learning Kanji. First lessons start with pictures on which certain charasters are based. Then the real characters are presented. The student is offered to establish a link between a picture and the corresponding character. It is a good stimulating exercise which makes the student pay attention to the elements of a certain character on one hand and prerares him to discover its meaning on the other. The lessons are supplied with exercises that help remember the material and also refresh what was learnt in the previous lesson. The exercises are very practical and present real language situations, e.g. to work with Japanese calendar, ads, warnings, notices, etc. The inroduction to kana is built on associations as well. However, I think it is slightly condensed. For those who are interested in learning Kana using picture mnemonics I would recommend Kana Pictographics by M.Rowley. Ohterwise, H. Gilhooly did a great job on creating this book. I just regret that the number of the Kanji introduced is only about fifty. This book is defenitely designed to maintain the student's interest to the language and gives sufficient knowledge to continue studying Japanese.
Average customer rating:
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Beginner's Japanese Script (Teach Yourself)
Helen Gilhooly
Manufacturer: Teach Yourself Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Grammar
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Reading Skills
| Words & Language
| Reference
| Subjects
| Books
Writing Skills
| Writing
| Reference
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General
| Foreign Languages
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ASIN: 0340737697 |
Book Description
These dramatic Native American designs will add eye-catching appeal to any project. Adapted from the native art of the American Southwest, they form a rich variety of images, including traditional designs from Hopi ceremonial costumes, Zuni shields, Anasazi pottery, Navajo jewelry, and other authentic sources. 250 black-and-white illustrations.
Customer Reviews:
Indian Designs.......2007-05-09
The book is great and very helpful. I do segmented woodturning and was interested in designs that fit this style of work. As a descendant of the Choctaw tribe, I was very pleased to find Choctaw designs included.
I was not thrilled to see it called "Indian" as I am not now and never have been a descendant of anyone from India. Native American is more acceptable.
Customer Reviews:
Bernese Mountain Dogs.......2006-08-09
Extremely specific to the Bernese Mountain Dog, I will recommend this book to ALL Berner owners, breeders, and pet lovers. Explains everything and anything you would like to know about the Berner Breed from puppy to adults and also health, dental, travel as well as what to expect from the Berner.
Well detailed, and excellent photo's.
Gary & Misun DeGraff
Newton, NJ
Cookie Cutter Book - NOT one I recommend.......2005-03-29
I bought this book in the hope that it could help a pet Bernese puppy buyer with good information.
When reading this book, I felt as if the writer just 'filled in the blanks' of some generic puppy buyer information. This book did not deliver anything I'd hoped for. I consider this book to be a waste of my money and time investment.
I feel there is a much better pet puppy buyer book on the market by Julia Crawford (a longtime Bernese breeder and prior BMDCA President) and the cost is about the same. This better book is called "Bernese Mountain Dog: An Owners Guide to a Happy, Healthy Pet".
I was very disappointed in this book by Amy Christensen. And I hope she'll try again and do a better job next time.
Customer Reviews:
Hey! Great Games that don't plug in!.......2001-12-11
In this day and age of everything electronic it is great to look back to a simpler era when you didn't need to worry about "batteries included" or if a particular game could only be played on a specific gaming system. Here, in this book you can learn about the board game versions of Monopoly, Risk, and 100s of other "acoustic" games. Written by an acknowledged expert in the field of collectibles Malloy has authored books on comicbooks, toys, fast food collectibles, and even ancient coins. So you know he has a real handle on this stuff.
The Most Comprehensive Guide To American Games.......2000-07-31
A super 352 page softbound volume with more than 400 large, full color, sharp photos and over 500 black and white pix. The comprehensive work lists and values 9,000 + games. The back of the book has over 100 pages of color shots of the games. Dates range from 1744 to the present! Major topics range from Games Thru The Ages, to Golden Age, Silver Age, Modern Age, Simulation Games, Role Playing Games, Card Collecting Games and much more. There is a most comprehensive listing of games by category, making it easy to locate items. Prices are year 2000. An outstanding work. Add it to your collectibles library. Toy and game, or Americana enthusiasts will refer to it often.
Book Description
Whether you already own a greenhouse or you're thinking about buying or building one, here's the vital information in full color you need to get the most from your money, effort and time. "The Greenhouse Expert offers data on structure and equipment (including installation instructions on floors, gutters, doors, lighting, ventilators, blinds, shelving, insulation, glazing, and heating); greenhouse plants (a list covering 58 pages); and care (of both structure and plants). There is a chapter dealing with pests and diseases and a month-by-month calendar on when to do what."--Booklist.
Average customer rating:
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Invernadero: Manual de cultivo y conservacion (Expert series)
Dr. D. G. Hessayon
Manufacturer: Blume
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Greenhouses
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| By Climate
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Spanish
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Jardinería y Horticultura
| Hogar y jardinería
| Libros en español
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| Diseño de Jardín
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| General
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| Por Tipo de Planta
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No-Ficción
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| Automotriz
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| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
| Política
| Sucesos de Actualidad
| Transportación
ASIN: 8480764066 |
Book Description
For the year-round green thumb, this guide provides information about which structures and what equipment is best for building and maintaining a successful greenhouse. Filled with recommendations for selecting plants, administering plant care, and finding solutions to plant problems, this guide also includes a calendar for greenhouse gardening during any season.
Los invernaderos ofrecen la oportunidad de disfrutar de la jardinería durante todo el año. Esta guía incluye información sobre la estructura y el equipo necesarios para establecer un invernadero, que especies cultivar, que formas de cuidado precisa, que problemas pueden surgir y que soluciones dar a ellos, así como un práctico calendario para el cultivo en cada época del año.
Average customer rating:
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Be Your Own Greenhouse Expert (Expert Series)
D. G. Hessayon
Manufacturer: Sterling Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Greenhouses
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
House Plants
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Techniques
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0903505320 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Planning, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2007. The length of the article is 2689 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Greenhouse gurus: a conversion with two experts on the topic of the day.(slow it down)(Interview)
Author: Gale Reference Team
Publication:
Planning (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 73
Issue: 8
Page: 24(4)
Article Type: Interview
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is a journal article from Environmental Modelling and Software, published by Elsevier in 2006. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Description:
This pilot project determines the potential for growing Cool Climate Grapes, high yield pasture and blue gum across Gippsland (Victoria, Australia), and the likely shift in that potential as projected climate change occurs in the region. It provides an indication of the information that can be generated combining Land Suitability Analysis and climate change scenarios. By considering the changing suitability of a few key agricultural enterprises in this region, the project offers an important direction for the agricultural elements of the Victorian Greenhouse Strategy. This pilot project utilises Land Suitability Analysis (LSA) developed by the former Victorian Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE) under the National Land and Water Resources Audit of Australia and further enhanced with Local Government and Catchment Management Authorities across Victoria. This modelling technique allows for an assessment of impacts on a wide range of commodities beyond the historic focus of cropping and pasture models. Following a series of workshops with agronomists, soil scientists, climate scientists, strategic planners and growers, a series of maps/overlays were prepared for Gippsland showing potential suitability of blue gum plantations, Cool Climate Grapes and high yield pasture, as an initial illustration of the methodology. This potential suitability has since been adjusted/modified using a variety of climate change scenarios developed by CSIRO Climate Impacts Group, resulting in an assessment of the change in potential suitability for each enterprise at years 2020 and 2050. The resultant work can be analysed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to consider change over time and space in the region. Combined with changes in water availability, this may act as an innovative and powerful decision support tool for policy makers in government and industry.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from University of Pennsylvania Law Review, published by Thomson Gale on June 1, 2007. The length of the article is 18735 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Scientific challenges in the attribution of harm to human influence on climate.
Author: Myles Allen
Publication:
University of Pennsylvania Law Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 155
Issue: 6
Page: 1353(48)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR), published by Thomson Gale on February 6, 2006. The length of the article is 521 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Silencing science.(Editorials)(NASA clamps down on climate expert)(Editorial)
Publication:
The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR) (Newspaper)
Date: February 6, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: A8
Article Type: Editorial
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Average customer rating:
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Dreams and Dream Reports in the Writings of Josephus: A Traditio-Historical Analysis (Arbeiten Zur Geschichte Des Antiken Judentums Und Des Urchristentums, Bd. 36)
Robert Karl Gnuse
Manufacturer: Brill Academic Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Interior Design
| Architecture
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
Dreams
| Mental Health
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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Consciousness
| By Topic
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
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Dreams
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Asia
| History
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Old Testament
| Commentaries
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ASIN: 9004106162 |
Book Description
This volume analyzes the understanding of dreams and the corresponding literary forms used by Josephus in his writings. Josephus reports dreams as either auditory message dreams, symbolic visual dreams, or dream image appearances. In this regard he uses the format for auditory and visual dreams found in ancient Near Eastern and biblical texts, while his dream image appearance reports show familiarity with traditional Greek modes of reporting dreams. Close attention is given to the following topics: 1) the development of dream reports in the ancient Near East, the Bible, and the Hellenistic world; 2) Josephus' views on dreams and prophecy; 3) a form-critical assessment of Josephus' dream reports; and 4) an evaluation of Josephan dream reports which exhibit a more complex traditio-historical development.
Average customer rating:
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Adobe Illustrator 5.0 (4th ed): The Official Handbook for Designers
Tony Bove
Manufacturer: Random House Information Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Adobe Illustrator
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Graphic Design
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
Desktop Publishing
| Apple
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Software
| Computers & Internet
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0679791639
Release Date: 1993-12-21 |
Customer Reviews:
Disappointing for the price.......2006-07-15
I read this book hoping for an insightful biographical account; for the presentation, the length, and the price, I was expecting a penetrating look into this remarkable figure's life.
Instead, there was a great deal of fluff. No nonsense involved, but I got the impression that for the list price, I should have been getting a well-researched, highly-documented and -footnoted hardcover.
The author cannot seem to decide whether he is aiming for a dramatic narrative or serious-minded historical account, and his ambivalence between the two styles and the general pace tends to lend a disappointing cast to the book overall.
Awful Book.......2004-01-04
I had to read Slave and Citizen for a class in college and I was very disappointed in the book. I couldn't wait to finish the book just so I would be done with it. It dragged on and on. I would not have finished it had I not had to. I would not recommend it unless you are very interested in this subject.
A slow-moving book, full of repetative information........1998-12-12
I did not at all enjoy "Slave and Citizen." Nathan Irvin Huggins' writing dragged, and information seemed to be frequently repeated. I was disappointed that the vast majority of the book was political in nature. Douglass' personal life was focused upon very little. His time spent as a slave and in childhood was touched upon only very lightly. Likewise, his marriages and children were only briefly mentioned. The rest of the book, which could have been adequately summarized in just a few pages, drug on and on. I was disappointed, and will be searching for a more personal biography of Douglass to read.
Average customer rating:
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The Life of Frederick Douglas
Frederick Douglass
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| United States
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
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General
| Civil War
| United States
| Historical
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
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Douglass, Frederick
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
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General
| Civil War
| United States
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
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General
| Books on Cassette
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ASIN: 0786106344 |
Customer Reviews:
Freedom for all.......2000-07-17
Fredrick Douglas was literally one of the greatest minds of all time. As a slave he wanted to be a free man. He was illiterate and learned to be literate. In the end, he shared his thoughts and his life with us all so that all men could be free and have freedom not only the slave. The greatest lesson this man could teach anyone is that the key to freedom is through education and learning. Any form of slavery can be freedom if you simply learn and educate yourself. If you choose to be a slave to what you are a slave of then you are a slave. If you wish to be free,learn and be free.
Product Description
An autobiography.
Customer Reviews:
The Fossils of the Burgess Shale.......2004-08-01
"The Fossils of the Burgess Shale" written by Derek E.G. Briggs, Douglas H. Erwin, and Frederick J. Collier and photographs by Chip Clark is simply a marvelous book about early Cambrian life some 540 million years ago. We get a rare look into life's past and what makes the Burgess Shale such a significant part of life's mystery is that these fossils, in most cases, are soft- bodied fauna and flora.
"The Fossils of the Burgess Shale" is a snapshot into life's past and there are only a few locations (30) left that can afford such a look ( China, Central America, Greenland, Spain, Poland, and Southern Australia). Found in 1909 by Charles D. Walcott, high in the Rocky Mountains of Canada, now part of Yoho Park in British Columbia, who had a huge collection of these remarkable fossils shipped back to the Smithsonian Institution where he was Secretary. Today the Cambrian is among the most intensively studied intervals in the history of life, and the debate rages over what triggered the rapid appearance of most major groups of animals.
The photographs in this book are a major accomplishment as it affords the reader with an example of the fossil in question along with a line drawing of what this particular flora of fauna looked like. Thus, making the reader aware of what the authors are talking about.
If you've ever read "It's a Wonderful Life" by Stephen Jay Gould or "The Crucible of Creation" by Simon Conway-Morris "The Fossils of the Burgess Shale" will make a great companion book that explains some of the personalized conclusions that are found in these books and it makes it very clear as to what they are discussing. The preservation of soft-bodied animals is not evenly distributed through the fossil record. Thus, making this book all the more important concerning about what life was like.
The first few pages of the book explains where the Burgess Shale is and its significance and the major players in which have played an important part in the furthering the knowledge of these fossil remains, how fossilization probably occured.
The remainder of the book is devoted to the fossils of the Burgess Shale, with illustrations, discussions, full page photographs and reconstructions of 85 out of 125 recognized genra. The text accompanying the illustrations aims to provide an outline of the morphology, mode of life, and the affinities of the organism. There is ample identification of the sample fossils so the specialist can search for further data.
"The Fossils of the Burgess Shale" is rated a solid 5 stars and is one of the best books that I've found for life in the Cambrian. You will not be dissapointed with this book as it delivers in spades.
Images of our ancient ancestors.......2002-02-21
If you've ever kept a scrapbook of old photographs, you'll understand the fascination of this collection. Instead of grandmothers, aged aunts or toddler cousins, this book reveals life from the dimmest past. With photographs and drawings, Briggs and his colleagues have restored to view rare animals that lived in ancient seas. These are our earliest forebears, and for that reason alone, this book is worth repeated scrutiny. The images, with their stories of discovery and restoration, are offered in a spirit of shared discovery. These are very special creatures and it behooves us all to understand their value.
Although the book is targeted for professional paleontologists, the authors give us text nearly as illustrative as the images. They are part of the team who personally enticed many of these fossils from their lithic prison. Beginning with an account of Charles Woolcott's trek into the mountains of British Columbia, they go on to describe the environment in which these creatures lived. The significance of the Burgess Shale fossils, of course, is that they are images of soft body parts, usually lost as fossilization proceeds. At the time of the original find in 1909, such artifacts, especially ones of such ancient deposition were pricelessly rare. Woolcott himself understood their value to science, but never dedicated the necessary time to tease out their full secrets. It took Briggs and others, particularly Simon Conway Morris to apply the painstaking effort to recreate the body forms locked in the shale. In so doing, they overthrew a number of blithe assumptions made by a number of commentators, in particular Stephen J. Gould who had popularized the Shale finds, but sadly misinterpreted what they represent.
As you slowly turn over the pages of this book, reflect on the vast ages separating you from these creatures. The sea has always kept some bizarre secrets, but few can match the multi-spined Hallucegenia or mud-burrowing Ottoia. Haplophrentis might be mistaken for a Roman dagger lost in the sea until you read that its maximum length was but 30 millimetres long. A more formidable denizen of these waters is the Anomalocaris, with its hooked feelers and rasping mouth. Swimming in a sea with this half-meter long predator might not have been dangerous, but observing it might best be done from the beach.
This book is a clearly valuable contribution to our understanding of life's history and the process of evolution. It belongs on the shelf next to the other albums of family history. Take it down from time to time and simply open it at random. With half-closed eyes it isn't difficult to see these creatures in their daily lives, clutching rocks, swimming through the water, or burrowing into the bottom. They are your forebears, and deserve as much of your respect as does Aunt Matilda.
An excellent book.......2001-10-11
This is a wonderful book. It is chock-full of photographs of Burgess shale fossils. The photographs are full page photographs and are accompanied by drawings that illustrate what the plant or animal probably looked like. The text is informative and easy to follow for a layperson.
Richard F........2001-08-01
"The Fossils of the Burgess Shale," the non-geologist will find this book fascinating and understandable - yet the author did not "water down" the facts for those of us who have the technical background in the fields of geology and paleontology. The only drawback of the book was that some of the species listed in the back were not included in the pictorial portion of the book. I do understand that if Briggs had placed them all in the book the volume would have been over a 1,000 pages in length; however, several of the species not included are equally spectacular!
The first third of the book provides a brief history of the site and it's significance within Cambrian paleontology; the remaining two-third portion of the book provides clear photographs and line drawings of the animals entombed in this special location. I have used this book in teaching about the Cambrian explosion. Students were awed by the content of the book. If you are interested in invertebrate paleontology; this book is a must!
Burgess Shale - treasure trove of Cambrian explosion.......2000-11-26
The Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rockies contains rarely preserved fossils of the soft body parts of animals, including many from the Cambrian. This reference provides good quality black and white photographs and illustrations of 85 of the 125 recognized genera of the Burgess Shale. Of interest, the proportion of the total Burgess Shale fossils a given specimen represents, is given.
Average customer rating:
- life and times of frederick douglas
- A powerful book, on many levels.
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Life and Times of Frederick Douglas
Frederick Douglass
Manufacturer: Peter Smith Pub Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Douglass, Frederick
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0844619922 |
Customer Reviews:
life and times of frederick douglas.......2004-05-16
This is a historical account of how inhumane the system of slavery was in the united states. It tells of the brutality and the sheer meanness of europeans who had everyday contact with African people. But the most poignant aspect of this account is that African people were put through this brutal treatment and still came out of the other end with more Humanity than the Oppressor. This is a must read for every person of African descent and for the last four generations of europeans who benefit from the privileges they enjoy as a result of that system.
A powerful book, on many levels........1998-11-10
This book, written in Douglass' later years, not only lifted my spirits but did a great deal to reestablish my faith in humanity. This was a man who had every opportunity, and reason, to be bitter and/or vengeful. He, instead, chose to fight, with his intellect and his golden tongue, for what he, and others chained in slavery and social subservience, rightfully disserved as a member of our human race. He was a man of conviction and inner strength who taught himself to write with an elegance that I have never seen equaled. I strongly recommend this book.
Average customer rating:
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Confessions of Frederick the Great and the Life of Frederick the Great
Heinrich Von Treitschke
Manufacturer: University Press of the Pacific
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
Political
| Leaders & Notable People
| Biographies & Memoirs
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General
| Royalty
| Leaders & Notable People
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General
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Life & Institutions
| Military
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Leaders & Leadership
| Political Science
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| Nonfiction
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ASIN: 0898755360 |
Average customer rating:
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Library of Freedom: Life & Times of Frederick Douglas (Library of Freedom)
Frederick Douglass
Manufacturer: Gramercy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
African-American & Black
| Ethnic & National
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Biographies & Memoirs
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| Books
United States
| Americas
| History
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| Books
| 19th Century
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| African Americans
| Civil War
| Colonial Period
| General
| Revolution & Founding
| State & Local
Slavery & Emancipation
| World
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Douglass, Frederick
| African American
| United States
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0517093448
Release Date: 1993-09-26 |
Books:
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- Foxes: Living on the Edge (Wildlife Series (Minocqua, Wisc))
- Freshwater ostracods (Crustacea) from the Lateglacial site at Miesenheim, Germany, and temperature reconstruction during the Meiendorf Interstadial [An ... Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]
- Gentle giants: The past, present and future of the heavy horse
- Giant Jungle Pop Up Book
- Great Lakes Nature: An Outdoor Year, Revised and in Color
- Handbook of Enzyme Inhibitors, 1965-77
- Harnessing the earthworm;: A practical inquiry into soil-building, soil-conditioning and plant nutrition through the action of earthworms,
- Homeostasis In Desert Reptiles (Adaptions of Desert Organisms)
- Human- Livestock Interactions: The Stockperson and the Productivity and Welfare of Intensively Farmed Animals (Cabi Publishing)
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