Nightshades the paradoxical plants (A Series of books in biology)

Customer Reviews:

Good Resource.......2005-05-08

This book is a good resource on the Solanaceae (nightshade) family, despite its age. A must for any serious student of ethnobotany.

Book Description

Smart, contemporary and compact guide helping travellers discover more from their city visit. Covers main attractions but also gives the freedom to escape the tourist trail.

Book Description

Billie Jean King didn’t want to play Bobby Riggs. He baited and begged her for months while she ignored his catcalls and challenges. But after Margaret Court’s ignominious defeat in the so-called Mother’s Day Massacre, Billie knew what she had to do despite the personal and professional risks: take on the self-proclaimed male chauvinist pig and slay the myths about women and weakness. And so it was that King’s acquiescence led to the Battle of the Sexes, one of the most wildly surreal moments of the decadent 1970s. The worldwide event, showcasing three sets of tennis in a raucous Houston Astrodome, forever changed the social landscape for women.

In A Necessary Spectacle, Selena Roberts, one of the country’s finest sportswriters and the only female sports columnist in the New York Times’ history, has created a masterful and entertaining journey through the 1970s and beyond, capturing the color and passion, tackiness and anger, prejudice and progress of an American culture in transition. At the heart of the story lies the intersection of two complex characters: Billie Jean King, the daughter of a homemaker and a firefighter who grew up in the Norman Rockwell tradition of the 1950s; and Bobby Riggs, the gambling son of a fundamentalist minister who won everlasting fame as a card-carrying sexist—not because he believed women to be inferior, but because he craved attention.

Roberts enjoyed unprecedented access to the characters in this story, including numerous in-depth interviews with Billie Jean King and her former husband, Larry, as well as the friends and family of Bobby Riggs, who died in 1995. Essential details and insights also were provided through hours of conversation with key figures in the women’s rights movement and Title IX fight, including Gloria Steinem and Donna de Varona, and with tennis legends of the 1970s, such as Chris Evert, Margaret Court, Rosie Casals, and others. This book reveals the outsize personalities of Billie and Bobby; the intensity and intricacy of the Kings’ longtime marriage; the simmering social revolution that pitted chauvinists against feminists and tennis players against each other; and a wrenching coming-out story recounted in intimate detail by Billie Jean King for the first time. By the end of the book, Roberts has traced the cultural continuum of Billie and Bobby’s night at the Astrodome. She relates its significance to the day Richard Williams began hitting bald tennis balls to his pigtailed daughters, Venus and Serena; to the glorious afternoon when more than 90,000 fans watched as the U.S. women’s soccer team won the 1999 World Cup; and, ultimately, to the present day’s second-generation battle to keep Title IX alive. The book’s poignant last scene between Billie and Bobby serves to remind us how much of an effect that 1973 match—and the passion it fueled for change—continues to have on American society, showing how necessary it was, and how necessary it remains.

1973. The Battle of the Sexes.

It was the match that changed everything. In this riveting book by New York Times sports columnist Selena Roberts, the whole spectacle returns, larger than life and more important than ever. This story reaches beyond two outsize and utterly fascinating personalities who emerged during a simmering social revolution that pitted chauvinists against feminists. It also chronicles the complex, longtime marriage of Billie Jean and Larry King; the cavalcade of issues that rocked the 1970s, from equal pay to abortion rights; and a wrenching coming-out story recounted in intimate detail by Billie Jean King for the first time.

Customer Reviews:

the best about a great person, and tennis player.......2006-06-18

she changed the world that nite. read this to know how.

Goes A Bit Off Track.......2006-04-25

Some interesting archaeology about the now nearly forgotten King-Riggs tennis match. Roberts, of the NYT, brings to life how important this thing seemed at the time, even though it all looks decidedly quaint today. Where the author goes off is when she tries to relate this to the federal Title 9 law on equality for women in sports. It's a bit forced, even if valid. Perhaps it's the book's herky-jerky structure that is just not nuanced enough to make this work. She also includes some interesting background about the Williams sisters, the relevance being that they later reaped what Billie Jean King sowed, financially. Maybe so. In the end, Riggs comes off more sympathetic than pathetic, and King is a bit too deified. Still, this is some high quality social history about an episode whose effects still have an echo.

THE MATCH and how it changed the world.......2005-09-14

The subtitle of this book 'the Tennis Match that Leveled the Game' isn't quite strong enough. This single match, called the 'Battle of the Sexes' was far, far more than a tennis match, and the aftereffect was far, far more than levelling the tennis game.

For a tennis standpoint, before The Match womens tennis was not a serious sport. The women played, but almost by themselves. The money, the sponsors, television, the fame wasn't there. After it was all there.

From a legal standpoint, The Match put power behind Title IX that required equal funding in schools for men and womens atheletic programs. From the overall women's rights viewpoint The Match was in 1973, so was Row v. Wade.

Ms. Roberts is a sports columnist. This training gives her a newspaper like writing style that is very well suited to the subject she is covering here. The book reads almost like a novel, an excellent novel but also conveys the impact of The Match that changed women's sports forever.

GREAT BOOK ABOUT A GREAT LEGEND!.......2005-08-27

I'VE FOLLOWED BJK'S CAREER SINCE SHE WON HER 1ST WIMBLEDON TITLE IN 1961! THIS BOOK GIVES YOU A VERY CANDID LOOK INTO THE LIFE OF THIS GREAT TENNIS LEGEND, THE STUGGLES SHE FOUGHT BOTH PERSONAL & PUBLIC.
INTERSTING DETAILS ON THE BATTLE OF THE SEXES WITH BOBBY RIGGS AND HIS LIFE.
AN EASY ENJOYABLE READ FOR ANYONE, BUT ESP. FOR TENNIS FANS FROM THE 60'S70'S ON!

A necessary read!.......2005-08-27

I loved this book! I'm not a huge tennis fan so as I began reading, I was shocked at how quickly this story pulled me in and kept me fascinated. It's about so much more than tennis. The personalities and motivations of Billie Jean and Bobby were so thoroughly explored that as this spectacle of a match was becoming imminent, I could feel the pressure and the tension that must have been felt not only by them, but by many women and men in the 1970s as gender lines were being tested. This book did a great job of framing the importance of that one event, as circus-like as it was. Billie Jean and Bobby brought discussions of gender roles into people's living rooms that day and the consequences have paved the way for women and for the athletes we cheer on today. "A Necessary Spectacle" gave me new insight. Excellent!

Timelines Sport: Players, Games and Spectacle

Average customer rating:

Timelines Sport: Players, Games and Spectacle
Norman Barrett
Manufacturer: Bt Bound
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Sports & Activities | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0785762736

Book Description

That there is a tremendous overpopulation of cats in the United States is both common knowledge and a matter of grave concern. For many who would acquire a new pet, adoption is viewed as the most responsible means of finding the right cat. However, it is important to understand that if you decide to open your home to a stray or adopt from a shelter, an extra measure of patience, love and understanding is essential. Adopting Cats and Kittens: A Care and Training Guide reflects the special circumstances that surround the "recycled" cat and helps the new owner provide the cat with the secure, nurturing environment every pet deserves. This book offers sensible guidance on what your new cat needs to be happy and healthy and what to do to keep from contributing to the pet population explosion. Adopting Cats and Kittens is a book with a mission and a message of hope and concern for all who love cats and seek an end to their cruel treatment and abuse.

Customer Reviews:

my little pony.......1997-12-23

i liked this epic adventure of *Space Cat* and friends. SACK the samurai agent cat kitten. i like kittys!

Book Description

This standard reference lists 2500 American cabinetmakers from colonial times through the Industrial Revolution era with biographies, dates, and locations. To help define the development of furniture styles in America, it includes a detailed essay on the development of cabinetmaking here and numerous illustrations, photographs, line drawings, and a glossary of terms. A useful index of cabinetmakers by states and a selected bibiography are also provided.

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Cabinetmakers of America
Ethel Hall Bjerkoe
Manufacturer: DOUBLEDAY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OL1U1I

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Cabinetmakers of America
Ethel Hall Bjerkoe
Manufacturer: Bonanza Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000PHNBN6

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The Cabinetmakers of America
Ethel Hall Bjerkoe
Manufacturer: Bonanza Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000O3OASG

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Cabinetmakers of America

Manufacturer: Apollo Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The development of the desk in America: Jacobean to Federal. Illus. with examples from the Deerfield collections

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The development of the desk in America: Jacobean to Federal. Illus. with examples from the Deerfield collections
Louis Schreider
Manufacturer: Heritage Foundation [Fellowship Program]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0007HJM7S

Life in early America, Southern furniture makers

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Life in early America, Southern furniture makers
Christine C Ritter
Manufacturer: Early American Society]
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00072RPAE

Average customer rating:

purchased 5 times!

This book will have you learning about local southern plants!

PASSALONG PLANTS

Sharing God's Beauty!

The Way to Write

Passalong Plants
Steve Bender
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Ornamental Plants | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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Tough Plants for Southern Gardens

Gardening With Native Plants of the South

Gardening Southern Style

The Southern Gardener's Book of Lists: The Best Plants for All Your Needs, Wants, and Whims

The Southern Living Garden Book

ASIN: 0807844187

Book Description

Passalongs are plants that have survived in gardens for decades by being handed from one person to another. These botanical heirlooms, such as flowering almond, blackberry lily, and night-blooming cereus, usually can't be found in neighborhood garden centers; about the only way to obtain a passalong plant is to beg a cutting from the fortunate gardener who has one.

In this lively and sometimes irreverent book (don't miss the chapter on yard art), Steve Bender and Felder Rushing describe 117 such plants, giving particulars on hardiness, size, uses in the garden, and horticultural requirements. They present this information in the informal, chatty, and sometimes humorous manner that your next-door neighbor might use when giving you a cutting of her treasured Confederate rose. And, of course, because they are discussing passalong plants, they note the best method of sharing each plant with other gardeners.

Because you might not spy a banana shrub or sweet pea in your neighborhood, the authors list mail-order sources for the heirloom plants described. They also give tips on how to organize your own plant swap. Although the authors live in and write about the South, many of the plants they discuss will grow elsewhere. from the book Amid the clamor of press releases touting the newest, improved versions of this bulb or that perennial, what keeps people interested in old-fashioned plants? Nostalgia, for one thing. It's hard not to feel a special fondness for that Confederate rose, night-blooming cereus, or alstroemeria lovingly tended by your grandmother when you were a child. Such heirloom plants evoke memories of your first garden, of relatives and neighbors that have since passed on, of prized bushes you accidentally annihilated with your bicycle. Recall the time you first received a particular plant, and you'll recall the person who gave it to you.

Customer Reviews:

purchased 5 times!.......2007-03-31

This is the best gardening book I own. It's so good, I've bought it for gifts over and over and over again. All of the plants listed are fabulous, the profiles are just plain funny, and all in all, the book is inspiring. Steve Bender and Felder Rushing are a great team- their essays on the plants feel like sitting down with a good gardening friend. They teach a lot, but not in a pedantic way. I can't recommend this book enough- I'd give it ten stars if I could.

This book will have you learning about local southern plants!.......2005-11-28

Unlike other members of my family. I have not inherited the green thumb. This book is fabulous if you live in the south. This book lets you know which plants can be started from others. Propagating plants either from cuttings or seeds can help you have a good deal of money.

This book is mostly geared for those of us who live in the south. While there are other plants mentioned, I think you would be better served if you live in the south. I like that this book broke plants down into types, and areas that they typically do best in. This way your not having to play any guessing games about what may grow best in your area.

If you are fond of of heirloom plants, this book is ideal for you, as it has many plants that are of older stock. It also gives you ideas for sources as well as sources for these older variety of plants. This book also tells you how to propigate the plants and make more!

This is a great resource. My only personal drawback is that while their are pictures for 80% or more of what is mentioned in the book. I am not plant savvy and when their isn't a picture, I have no idea what plant they are talking about. Do not let that stop you though, this is a great resource, and my garden will benefit from this book greatly!

PASSALONG PLANTS.......2005-09-14

A wonderful book that I will use over and over through the years!

Sharing God's Beauty!.......2005-07-09

This book was delightful in many respects. I learned alot about plants that have been around forever and "shared" with other plant lovers! I will keep this book to read and re-read. Also liked the pictures and especially the stories.

The Way to Write.......2003-07-25

Wrote with Southern charm, Felder Rushing's and Steve Bender's "Passalong Plants" is chocked full of humor and downhome anecdotes on how and why all gardeners should "share the fun and joy" of passing along a favorite flower or plant. That boils down to mean giving to others what the soil has gave to you! A fine book that will add lots of useful and practical gardening information to any home gardener's bookshelf.

Average customer rating:

The Southern Heirloom Garden
Thomas Christopher , Nancy Volkman , Hilary Somerville Irvin , James R. Cothran , Richard Westmacott , Rudy J. Favreti , Flora Ann Vynum , William C. Welch , and Greg Grant
Manufacturer: Taylor Trade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0878338772

Book Description

This engaging, wide-ranging study in comparative social and political philosophy gives a well-argued account of how ideological and even utopian views, such as normative communication, development and justice, are sociologically rooted. It also shows how this fact has been reflected in the social history of Asian countries like India and China, as well as some Western countries during the last two centuries. To illustrate the underlying concepts, reference is made to influential thinkers, both from the East and West, from Hegel and James Mill to Marx and Maozedong, and from Gandhi to Rawls. The author, himself one of the major contemporary Indian philosophers, offers arguments to show that the right version of cultural relativism is objective and judgeable. Concrete case studies are cited indicating why even fundamental values like indivisible peace and "our own green planet" cannot be practically universalized. Yet this work is a sustained plea for improvable understanding between the East and the West and the transcultural value orientation of different cultures.

Sociology, Ideology and Utopia: Socio-Political Philosophy of East and West.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Utopian Studies

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Sociology, Ideology and Utopia: Socio-Political Philosophy of East and West.(Review) (book reviews): An article from: Utopian Studies
Michael Freeden
Manufacturer: Society for Utopian Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Utopian Studies, published by Society for Utopian Studies on January 1, 1999. The length of the article is 1017 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: Sociology, Ideology and Utopia: Socio-Political Philosophy of East and West.(Review) (book reviews)
Author: Michael Freeden
Publication: Utopian Studies (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1999
Publisher: Society for Utopian Studies
Volume: 10 Issue: 1 Page: 173

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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A book for all ages

Will next year be THE year?

Honest and Very Funny

A touching yet humorous look one's Cuban-American roots.

Very touching

NEXT YEAR IN CUBA-P348546/2 (NXT REP)
Gustavo Perez-Firmat
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Hispanic & Latino | Ethnic & National | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Sociologists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Hispanic | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Strangers Among Us: Latino Lives in a Changing America

...y no se lo tragó la tierra / ...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him

Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (Joshua Odell Editions)

Exiled Memories: A Cuban Childhood

El año que viene estamos en Cuba

ASIN: 038547296X
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Book Description

Gustavo Pérez Firmat arrived in America with his family at the age of eleven. Victims of Castro's revolution, the Pérez family put their life on hold, waiting for Castro's fall. Each Christmas, along with other Cuban families in the neighborhood, they celebrated with the cry, "Next year in Cuba." Growing up in the Dade County school system, and graduating from college in Florida, Pérez Firmat was insulated from America by the nurturing sights and sound of Little Havana. It wasn't until he left home to attend graduate school at the University of Michigan that he realized, as the Cuba of his birth receded farther into the past, he had become no longer wholly Cubano, but increasingly a man of two heritages and two countries.

Customer Reviews:

A book for all ages.......2001-02-01

As a young person who was born in the United States but whose parents were born in Cuba, identity has never been black and white for me--although it has always been blue, red, and white. This book crystallized so many emotions that I had felt my entire life but had never really examined. If you are 22 and have never been to Cuba, but still call yourself Cuban or if you are 60 and think if your childhood on that island paradise everyday--this book will make you laugh, it might make you cry, and it will certainly make you think. For over forty years now Cubans have been hoping for that "next year" to come to fruition, but we are still waiting. This book will make you long for "next year" like never before. Read it--you will never forget you did.

Will next year be THE year?.......2000-09-06

That is the question that has echoed throughout the Cuban exile community for over 40 years. As the older generation fades, the new generation continues to ask, to wonder, if the next year will finally be the year when Cuba will be free and Castro will be, and there's no other way to say it, dead.

Perez Firmat and I stand a generation apart, yet reading this book, there really was no difference. The Cuban-American experience has much to do with yearning, an emotion that this book succeeded in evoking. We yearn for the Cuba we hear our relatives talk about. We yearn for the freedom of this never-seen homeland, to see the end of the tyranny. And we also yearn for this America, for the apple pie and Coca-Cola life we see and hear all around us, yet can never fully belong to.

Being Cuban-American is not only complex, it is two extremes thrown together. Finding our identity as we straddle two nations is a challenge even now, 40 years later, and even to people like me, first-generation Cuban-Americans. You are forced to ask over and over again, What am I? I am not Cuban, I was born here in the U.S. But I am not American, my "Cuban-ness" is such a strong, obvious part of me it cannot be denied.

Next Year in Cuba does a great job of giving an eloquent, humorous voice to this complexity. It's a great read on the Cuban-American culture, sure to give a better insight and appreciation to those wanting to know more.

Honest and Very Funny.......2000-05-14

That we Cubans and Cuban-Americans can find humor in any situation--even the most tragic and overwhelming--is a testament to our strength. This book is a poignant, funny, and sometimes sad tale of one man's struggle to find his identity. It is a very personal self-examination, but one that most of us (all us "hyphenated" people) can relate to. Are you Cuban? Are you American? Are you "of Cuban descent"? Are you Cuban-American? Are you one person at home and another at work? These are difficult questions, and he walks us through the even more difficult process of trying to find an answer. Does he have an answer? Yes and no. The author also explores the Cuban community's rise from its initial status as an underprivileged, immigrant, "exile" community, to its present role as an assimilated, politically active, financially powerful ethinic force. All of this adds more depth to his own personal identity issues. The book is fascinating, thoughful, and full of relatives we can all look at and say "I have an aunt/uncle/mother/father/etc. just like that!"

In the wake of the Elian Gonzalez saga, I just hope everyone reads this and remembers how and why we got here. Thank you, Professor Firmat.

A touching yet humorous look one's Cuban-American roots........2000-03-28

This book made me come to terms with what being a Cuban born American means to me. Perez Firmat shares his own personal and sometimes painful experiences with the readers. In doing so he made it easier to define and understand my own experience as a Cuban-American who loves the United States yet has a yearning to gain a deeper understanding of his own Cuban roots.

Very touching.......1999-10-19

I am a first generation Cuban-American, and I was able to really appreciate some of the author's struggles and experiences. This book is not just for those who were born in Cuba, for for their children as well..Read it...

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