Simon & Schuster's Guide to Climbing Plants (Nature Guide Series)

Customer Reviews:

Simon & Schuster's Guide to Shrubs and Vines and Other Small.......2000-04-03

This extremely useful and informative book was originally published in Italy in October, 1987 by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. Even though it's now year 2000, this book is not at all out- of- date. The color photos for each entry are of excellent quality, the plant descriptions are easy to read, and not only that, the book is compact enough to fit into your purse when visiting the nursery ! Additional book features are : easy to read symbols for each plant entry describing flowering period, water requirements, sun/shade requirements, etc. Each entry also contains plant family information, place of origin, other species, and generally excellent descriptions. It is truly a wonderful guide for the Sunday gardener as well as the professional landscaper.

Simon & Schuster Guide To Climbing Plants

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Simon & Schuster Guide To Climbing Plants
Francesca; Banfi, Enrico Consolino
Manufacturer: Fireside / Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N55RZK

SIMON & SCHUSTER'S GUIDE TO CLIMBING PLANTS

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SIMON & SCHUSTER'S GUIDE TO CLIMBING PLANTS
Francesca; BANFI, Enrico CONSOLINO
Manufacturer: Simon & Schuster Trade
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MZQ606

Book Description

New York is back, and it's as interesting as ever. In today's New York, you find the usual merry-go-round of artistic and cultural events, commercial ferment, music, lights, entertainment, and business. If some people have left the city since September 11, 2001, the many who stayed – and perhaps have come since – continue to create the energy that's unique to New York.

New York City For Dummies is designed to help you take a bite out of the Big Apple without getting the worm. Maybe this is your first trip to New York, or maybe you're a repeat visitor; in either case, you want to find out what you need to know, but only what you need to know. You don't have the time or the patience for those monstrous travel tomes in which you need 12 fingers to keep track of all the information.

This guide is clearly organized and segmented so you won't have to read what comes before or after any chapter. You'll uncover tips about

When to go, how to get there, and how much it's all going to cost
How to make your travel arrangements, chose the neighborhood to stay in, and make your booking
How to get around, from ground transportation into the city, to the public transit system, to getting around on foot
The culinary culture of New York, its typical foods and habits
What to see and do, from touring famous buildings to attending a taping of a TV show
Living it up after dark, from Broadway shows to night clubs, and more or less civilized forms of relaxation

Whether you're sitting in your living room trying to make a reservation or standing on the corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue wondering where to eat, New York City For Dummies is set up so that you can get the facts, analysis, and recommendations you want, quickly.

Customer Reviews:

Great book.......2007-05-21

Great book if you've never been to New York before. I found it extemely helpful in planning our trip with lots of advice and "secret" things I would never have seen or planned on. Has a lot about prices, places and pitfalls. The only thing I would have liked to see was some information on travel from the ports.

Misinformation and Missing Information.......2006-06-24

This is a terrible excuse for a guidebook. Its maps are blatantly incorrect: the subway map is a ballpark approximation, at best, and things in Central Park are not located where the map says they are, among others. Its attraction descriptions neglect crucial information about the details you actually need at the sites (the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty in particular), and the restaurant descriptions do not show the complete picture. I don't throw out books I dislike, but this one is going straight to the recycling bin.

If you buy only one book before you travel . . . .......2006-06-21

Make it this one if you are going to NY. I bought several books and this was the best laid out of all the books and it doesn't try to be a resource for ALL restaurants or ALL stores - it just gets to the best.

I loved nearly every recommendation. The only one that I had a beef with was the "Kid friendly" rating of Mickey Mantles. Not sure how a small bowl of pasta for $10 and no sides is "kid friendly."

Tremendous resource!.......2005-04-04

We loved this book! We especially liked the author's opinions. Our hotel was right on and so were the restaurants. We appreciated the fact that the author was opinionated.............who needs another book that simply lists all to see and do. We actually felt like real New Yorkers and not just tourists. Kudos Brian!

A great overview guide to the BIG APPLE.......2003-10-17

This book was very helpful. I enjoyed the brief history of NYC and the simple easy descriptions of different sections of NYC.

They have very good suggestions on Cabs, Subways, Buses, Eating, where to stay, suggested itineraries, etc. Loads and loads of contact information for museums and sights to see.

Easy to follow index to look up anything you might want to do or need info on.

Book Description

A generous selection of Rubens' best drawings, chiefly portraits and religious and mythical scenes, that fully reveal his supreme artistic gifts. Publisher's note.

Customer Reviews:

artist/ architect.......2005-06-30

Contrary to Redmund's review, this is a tidy collection of one of history's most underrated daughtsmen. For those like me, who do not like Ruben's paintings (note to Redmund: Rubens had a virtual factory of workers who did most of his painting), this book is both surprising and delightful.

A Great Collection This is Not.......2002-09-19

This book is not one of the best among those in the Dover Art Library. A handful (about a half-dozen) of pictures are good with sufficient details and/or a tight organization to be appreciated. Most are so-so. Some are definitely fillers. It does not help that Rubens himself, according to the Publisher's Note, did not think highly of his own drawings and did not even sign a single one of them. All told, this selection is not impressive.

Rubens's paintings, rather than his drawings, should rightly be his legacy.

excellent.......2001-01-16

This is an excellent book on the drawings of Rubens. The works are very diverse and a whole range of different media are used. This is a great book to study for an art student.

Book Description

It takes more than an imitation "meow" to talk with a cat. These intelligent and feisty creatures have minds of their own, so communication can become frustrating--as 77 million owners have discovered. But with this expert advice, and aided by drawings and photos, cat owners can become experts in feline psychology. They'll learn how to interpret a cat's body movements, facial expressions, and vocalizations, understand just what kitty is saying--and know the best way to respond. Find out what power touch has for cats, and how a massage or a cheek rub can forge a much closer relationship with the animal. There's also a look at felines large and small, including wild cats, because their natural life reveals many interesting facets of the domesticated version's personality.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Thomson Gale on March 7, 2003. The length of the article is 492 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: Nimat Amini, propietario de Amini Oriental Alfombras: "las Mejores alfombras son las Afganas".(Entrevista)
Author: Maria Luisa Gonzalez
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 7, 2003
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Page: 69(1)

Article Type: Entrevista

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Una inversión a sus pies. (Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, importadora de alfombras persas; España)(TT: An investment at your feet) (TA: Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, ... Spain)(Interview): An article from: Epoca

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Una inversión a sus pies. (Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, importadora de alfombras persas; España)(TT: An investment at your feet) (TA: Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, ... Spain)(Interview): An article from: Epoca
Nuria Romay
Manufacturer: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00096QT6E
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Epoca, published by Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA) on December 9, 1996. The length of the article is 605 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: Una inversión a sus pies. (Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, importadora de alfombras persas; España)(TT: An investment at your feet) (TA: Lilian Wilzig de Smirna, importer of Persian rugs; Spain)(Interview)
Author: Nuria Romay
Publication: Epoca (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 9, 1996
Publisher: Difusora de Informacion Periodica, S.A. (DINPESA)
Issue: n615 Page: p102(2)

Article Type: Interview

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

This volume publishes twenty-three papers given by invitation at the thirteenth Congress of the International Organization for the Study of the Old Testament, which was held at Leuven from 27 August until 1 September 1989 under the Presidency of C. Brekelmans. The articles cover a range of subjects relevant to the Old Testament: the Pentateuch (E.W. Nicholson, W.H. Schmidt, E. Blum, J. Van Seters, A. de Pury), the historical books (C. Brekelmans, Helga Weippert, R.D. Nelson, W. Thiel, Sara Japhet, K.-F. Pohlmann), the prophets (C. Hardmeier, D.L. Petersen, W.A.M. Beuken, R.P. Carroll, P.-M. Bogaert), the Psalms (J. Trublet, N. Fuglister), textual criticism (E. Tov), the Targums (L. Diez Merino), the development of Israelite religion (N.P. Lemche), the Babylonian New Year Festival and the Old Testament (K. van der Toorn), and the Apocryphon of Jannes and Jambres (A. Pietersma).

Customer Reviews:

Big Bluestem.......2007-02-16

This book is exceptional in so many ways. The writing is good, the photographs outstanding. Good research and intellectual honesty makes it a good source for history, ecology, and natural studies.

The approach to creating the book worked extraordinarily well but at its inception must have seemed very chancy. The author chosen to write this account of the Nature Conservancy's Tallgrass Prairie Preserve was unfamiliar with the Preserve and its surrounding area in Oklahoma. The advantage was objectivity but there are lots of hazards in such a choice. Annick Smith is from Montana's Rocky Mountains, separate from the Oklahoma grasslands in many ways. Her recognized writing skills, coupled with drawing on three years of research, getting a first-hand feel of the Preserve, and interviewing a broad cross-section of local people produced this fine addition to any library.

At first glance, the beauty and physical appearance tempts a person to call this a "coffee-table book." However, this is a book with depth. Although easy to read, it takes far longer to read than a person expects at first glance. There are several photos and illustrations per page. Harvey Payne, director of the Preserve, took the majority of current photos over the Preserve's relatively short existence. His skill with a camera is extraordinary and complements Smith's writing well. The photos are mostly well captioned, although the people responsible for writing the captions and laying out the format made a few errors - one of only two negative comments that you will find in this review.

Smith chose to organize her chapters by major subject and then present them in rough chronological order. It was the correct choice to provide smooth flow, and she avoided the trap of duplicating information from chapter to chapter.

After several tries at preserving something of the vanished tall grass prairies that covered much of the central United States, the dedication of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve was in 1993. Mostly local issues kept it from being federally administered and The Nature Conservancy stepped in to keep the drive for protection from failing. The Preserve includes over 30,000 acres carved from one of the big Oklahoma cattle ranches. To think of the Preserve as being the same as the original tall grass prairies, is incorrect. It will never be. For one thing, we don't even know for sure what that was; what plants were there, how it changed in response to climate and chance events over centuries. This bit of Oklahoma is an infinitesimal part of the original and each acre of the original differed. Obviously, the historic prairie was unmanaged except for minor burning and other efforts by the Indian tribes. The Preserve is highly managed, albeit with a goal of creating something close to the original. The administration sets fires to represent the random burning which natural forces might have caused. Cattle are gradually being replaced with buffalo to recreate historic grazing patterns as much as possible. However, tourism is a significant source of gaining funds and public support. Oil drilling and pumping continues through agreements between the Preserve and the oil companies. Fencing is required not only at the perimeter, but also in the interior.

Annick Smith first gives the history of the Preserve, and then circles back to that at the end of the book. She begins with the character, plants and animals of the Preserve. At that point, she steps back and covers the Native American history of the area, including the dismal record of broken agreements and various Indian relocations. The Osage are the predominant Native Americans in the area today. Smith's narrative then goes through a progression of white incursions of buffalo hunters, settlers, cattle ranchers, and finally oil exploration. It is necessarily a summary history but still provides a lot of detail. There is a generous amount about people in this book; those who created the Preserve and run it, the past and present inhabitants of the area.

At this point, I must interject my second negative comment. In portraying the community surrounding the Preserve, Smith adequately covers the people of lower income, as well as the large cattlemen and oilmen. Although mentioning some of the people in the middle, she goes too quickly past those who operate businesses in the towns that support the preserve. There isn't any mention of mini-ranchers running a few head of stock while holding other jobs to make ends meet. The people who attend PTA meetings, lead 4-H clubs, and cooperate in soil conservation districts are part of the core element in such a community.

Now back to the positive. The final chapter is "The Politics of Preservation," and the book ends with a delightful Epilogue, a great resource list for further reading, and a helpful index.

Thanks to those who brought the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve into being, and I wish them the best of luck. Thanks to Annick Smith and Harvey Payne for a great book.

Grass and Buffalo.......2001-03-13

I fully enjoyed this book. In her discussion of the prairie preserve, Annick Smith delved into cowboys, cattle drives, Indians, The Trail of Tears, Oklahoma land runs, buffalo, cattle, oil, the Civil War, controlled fire, prairie grasses, outlaws: all the makings of 10,000 Western movies. The book is beautiful: oversized and full of color photos. I especially enjoyed it since I was born in Oklahoma, still live here, and have spent some time on the prairie. But for anyone who likes Western history, prairie photography and preservation, this is a spiritual journey into a new home of grasses and buffalo in Oklahoma.

If you love nature photography, OR Oklahoma...........2000-07-20

....this is a book you must own. Harvey Payne is one of the greatest outdoor photographers you will ever find. If you have lived in Oklahoma or are at all interested in this area or ecosystem, you will find this book fascinating. There is so much beauty in our state that is overlooked, and this book brings it to life, along with engaging stories of the people who tamed this rough wilderness. This is a book that makes me proud to be an Okie while looking at it. If you have ever been entranced by the stoic, proud majesty of the bison who once ruled the prairie, and are now relegated to wildlife preserves, buy this book!

Book Description

This compelling account of racial identity takes a close look at the question "Who is a Latino?" and determines where persons of mixed Latino-Anglo heritage fit into the racial dynamics of the United States. The son of a Mexican American mother and an Anglo father, Kevin Johnson has spent his life in the borderlands between racial identities. In this insightful book, he uses his experiences as a mixed Latino-Anglo to examine issues of diversity, assimilation, race relations, and affirmative action in contemporary America.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting topic.......2007-04-10

This is an interesting book where the author relates his own life experience and all that he goes through growing up in a mixed Latino-Anglo Family. Through his life the author illustrates and analyzes important issues for Latinos living in the United States.

Kevin Johnson is the son of a Mexican American mother and an Anglo father. While his mom always denied her Mexican heritage and chose not to teach her kids Spanish, his dad always encouraged him to take pride on his Mexican background. Kevin Johnson's parents divorced when he was a young child and he grew up experiencing the socio economic differences between the middle class and the people on welfare. Through his experiences he narrates how he struggled developing his racial identity and how that affected his life.

Johnson says that Latinos in the United States are a diverse group in terms of race, country of origin, time living in the country, language, and immigration status. According to Johnson, some Latinos may be able to choose an identity, but finding and becoming comfortable with the racial identity is a difficult task that members of a racial minority face. They can risk rejection for refusing to assimilate and trying to benefit from affirmative action. Johnson says that the United States is a much racially mixed nation today than it was in the past, and as immigration and intermarriage increase so will the diversity in the population.

As a Latina, it was interesting for me to read this book because I was able to relate myself in some of the experiences and incidents that the author recounts. I consider that the book is an inspiring story for Latinos and people of other ethnic groups living in the United States that shows that although it may be hard at times to fit into the social dynamics of the United States, there are plenty of opportunities. With effort and self-determination individuals can find their own social accommodation without having to deny their own cultural background.

A great book!.......2006-10-19

: I loved Johnson's book and his story. I found myself saying to myself, "that happened to me too". I would say "yeah, that's totally true" and "he's right on". This book was like a breath of fresh air for me. It was a way for me to look at myself and really think about how I viewed myself. There are many sections in the book that I read and thought "that's exactly what I would have written too". Johnson put his heart into this book and put his emotions and thoughts on the table for all to read and enjoy and learn from. I think that anyone could learn a new perspective by reading the book. Anyone from a mixed heritage background could read it feel relief in that there are others in the world that have had similar experiences to that of their own. My mother is Mexican and my father is white and I could wholly relate to the author's experience. I have a white last name and always felt stuck in between the two worlds. I think that the author portrayed this feeling very well. The book gave me newfound respect for anyone who enters the legal profession. They definitely have to work very to get to where they want to be in life. Bravo to Mr. Johnson.

Thank you to the author! Such an important book to write..........2004-06-05

When I saw the title, I knew I had to check out the book for myself. Since I am a bicultural person (of Venezuelan and Polish descent) I could relate to his struggle. A lot of people doubt you based on physical characteristics, surname and mannerisms when you come from a bicultural background. The situation was the same for Mr. Johnson, a lawyer of English and Mexican background. His last name, light complexion and elementary knowledge of Spanish hindered him in integrating into Mexican culture, while his non-Caucasian features separated him from his Anglo contemporaries. He wrote sensitively about his experiences and enlightened us about his process of self-discovery (finally marrying a Mexicana, having children with her, giving them Spanish names, etc). I reccomend this book to anyone who wants an education on the bicultural experience or has been through that process themselves. I can't tell you how many times, to this day, people still deny me my Latin roots because I don't look like the caricatures they have in their heads about how all Hispanics/Latinos are supposed to look (Dark skin, black hair, black eyes), and I don't have a Spanish last name because I was raised by my mom (Martinez, Morales, Rodriguez, etc). We have to get over our assumptions about people if we want the walls to come down in our thinking. It is the only way toward liberation.

good stuff.......2004-05-31

I had to read this book for a perspectives on race and ethnicity class, contrasting it with a book of a similar theme. I won't mention the other title out of respect for that author but this book was by far much more humbly introspective than the other book. Even though I am an Asian American, I was able to see the similarities between the Latino American experience and the Asian American one, and that the issues a person of a minority background experiences are to an extent universal and maddening. I am really glad I had the opportunity to read this book because it showed me that a biography that covered deep-seated social issues could be written and presented with humility and dignity. The other book, though honest too, had such an arrogance about it that I could not stand to read it. I would recommend this book to anyone regardless of their background.

Identify This Book.......2004-04-22

This is the story of a mother who dearly wanted to assimilate but couldn't - and her son, who could have but finally wouldn't. It is the story of a man of mixed White-Latino heritage engulfed in self-doubt about his place in a society obsessed with race. It is the story of a prominent young lawyer and college professor who can never fully enjoy his success because someone always pops up to accuse him of being a "box checker," a counterfeit Latino for affirmative action purposes.

Contradictions run wild in Kevin Johnson's autobiographical account of growing up racially mixed and emotionally mixed up. On one page, he rightly laments racial pigeonholing. On the next, he paints a painfully detailed picture of someone's racial history and physical features. The book is replete with mixed heritage characters who "identify" publicly with the racial tradition of one parent over that of another.

At first this approach left me frustrated (maybe I yearned for transcendence). But soon I realized that Johnson could hardly tell his story otherwise: the contradictions are not his but society's. Such is the sad - indeed the surreal - state of America's racial politics.

However sad and surreal race relations indeed may be, books like Johnson's represent a breakthrough of sorts for diversity and understanding. For most of our nation's history, dispossessed individuals were truly silenced - either by poverty or outright discrimination. As society began to allow different voices to emerge, pure outsiders got most of the attention. Now people like Johnson, who inhabits what the book jacket calls "the borderlands between racial identities," are receiving the call to tell their stories.

Before I run on any longer, I should reveal some modest secrets of my own. Johnson and I attended the same high school in Southern California. In college, in the late 1970s, we shared two different apartments on Berkeley's Haste Street, a student ghetto just south of the University of California campus. We remained friends as he progressed through the legal profession to his current position as associate dean for academic affairs and professor of law at the University of California, Davis.

Johnson was born in 1958, the first child of a White father and a Mexican American mother. His parents divorced when he was young, and he grew up hopscotching from the barrio's poverty to the relative affluence of the beach cities near Los Angeles. Johnson's mother, a staunch assimilationist, neither taught him Spanish nor encouraged pride in his Latin roots. When she remarried, she attached herself yet another Anglo.

Following the advice of his politically savvy father, the adolescent Johnson began to ponder his Mexican American background. He began taking Spanish in high school. He continued in college. Meanwhile Berkeley introduced him - as it did us all - to heretofore unimagined diversity. Yet, to me, my roommate seemed most comfortable while slam dancing to the Dead Kennedys at the San Francisco punk club Mabuhay Gardens. White like me, I would have told anyone who bothered to ask about his racial identity (though I knew, of course, about his mother's background). Tellingly, no one raised the question.

My analysis at the time partly reflected my own lack of maturity and perception, but there's little doubt that Harvard Law School forced my friend unequivocally out of his Latino closet. Like other Harvard law students from modest economic and social backgrounds, he wondered whether he really deserved his place in the elite institution. Had the admissions committee let him in just because he'd checked the Latino box on the application? Even after he made law review, he could never convince himself.

During a tussle over affirmative action on the virtually all-white law review, Johnson took a firm pro-diversity stance. From that point on, he became increasingly outspoken about his Mexican American heritage - both personally and professionally. Though it might have been easier to blend in as white, he opted for a more rewarding, if rockier, bicultural path.

His chapter about Harvard, which opens the book, should be required reading for any undergraduate contemplating the LSAT. This isn't the first time someone has slammed Harvard Law, and it won't be the last, but Johnson's account makes the experience seem outright hellish for anyone with the slightest non-conformist streak. Pranks (probably innocuous to your average Yale man) resound with new meaning when aimed at a sensitive outsider. For his defense of affirmative action, Johnson earned a citation in a spoof yearbook as author of a volume entitled, "I Hate Whites." Nearly two decades later, the barb still stings.

After law school, Johnson plunged into pro bono work on behalf of Latin American immigrants and married a woman of Mexican American descent. Virginia helped him grow more comfortable with his identity, and together they try to provide a foundation of Mexican culture for their three children.

Policy discussions generally take a backseat in Johnson's autobiographical account. When they appear, they're grounded in personal experience - like his analysis of the "box checker" dilemma. The question is simple: what constitutes a member of an underprivileged group for the purposes of affirmative action? The answer is complex, if not insoluble. Under pressure to admit or hire individuals from certain groups, many institutions and businesses are keen to count anyone vaguely entitled to membership. Predictably, this has sparked a debate among civil rights activists over who qualifies to check the box. Individuals of mixed racial heritage, like Johnson, come under special scrutiny. The phenomenon is captured by the book's title, "How Did You Get to Be a Mexican?" A senior professor asked Johnson that very question during an interview for a position on a law faculty.

Johnson's book offers a partial answer, but no response will prove satisfactory as long as our society remains obsessed with race. Indeed, we can only put racism behind us when we no longer care about the answer.

* Bill Hinchberger is the editor of the BrazilMax website.

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