Orchids of Greece

Book Description

From moonshine runners tearing down Appalachian backroads to high-tech, high-dollar teams racing for millions at gleaming new tracks in Dallas and Chicago, NASCAR is a uniquely American rags-to-riches success story. While other big-league motorsports series have seen declining attendance and television ratings, NASCAR continues to soar, pulling standing-room-only crowds to the track every weekend and millions more on TV. And there's a reason for that phenomenal growth: These guys are like folks you know, driving cars that look like the ones you see every day. So each weekend, hundreds of thousands of fans pack up their coolers and cameras, their sunscreen and scanner radios, and head for the high-banked tracks that stretch from California to New Hampshire. Sure, they can watch the races in the comfort of their living rooms, but hardcore race fans know that there's nothing like the visceral thrill of live racing.

This terrific guide profiles each track, including opinions on

· Where to stay
· Where to eat
· Where to sit
· What to watch for
· The camping alternative
· Getting there and out again without a helicopter
· Historical anecdotes and memorable events at each racing facility
· The best seats in the house
· The best bargain seats
· Tips from various drivers on what to watch for at each track
· And More!

Customer Reviews:

It Happened At a Hanging.......2003-06-12

This book is an extraordinarily well crafted historical teen fantasy/drama. It has excellent plot development, and the main characters are well developed along with the rest of the story. Having previously read a less than glowing review of this book, I did not have the most positive expectations when I was presented this book for consideration by a colleague. I was reading it with an extremely critical viewpoint and wondering when it was going to fall apart. What I got was a story that kept me wondering what the following pages were going to bring, and I was compelled to read on. I found the author's ability to end a chapter in such a way that leaves the reader with questions that can only be answered in the pages that followed exceptional. This book is a page turner, and I couln't wait. I finished this book in one day. I not only own this book, I cherish it. Hattie Clark may not be a household name, but she will get my endorsement for this work. This book is absolutely on my "gift to give" list.

Book Description

Gaal Shepherd's pastel interpretations of Vermont's peaceful and verdant landscape are beautiful, luminous, and by her own admission and intent, just a bit mysterious.

This new book contains twenty-six handsome full-color reproductions of Gaal's artwork, revealing Vermont in every season of the year. Woven among the reproductions is the artist's essay detailing why she finds the hills, fields, forests, and people of her adopted state so compelling, and why she wants to share her appreciation of them.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Paintings of Vermont.......2004-02-14

As a frequent visitor to Vermont I was amazed at how beautifully this book captured the essence of the Vermont hills and scenary. Gaal Shepherd's pastels are excuisite and I share her love for the Green Mountain State. If you have ever been to Vermont you should get a copy of this book for your home. If you haven't been to Vermont then this book will make you want to go, and soon.

Average customer rating:
Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals
George Gaylord Simpson
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Mammals | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
Mammals | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0300024347

Average customer rating:
Splendid Isolation: The Curious History of South American Mammals
George Gaylord Simpson
Manufacturer: Yale Univ. Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V2LQL4

Average customer rating:
SPLENDID ISOLATION: The Curious History of South American Mammals.
George Gaylord. Simpson
Manufacturer: Yale Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OROCDA

Customer Reviews:

a trip down memory lane!.......2001-08-06

what can i say!?! lyndi's book on plastic collectibles remains the definitive work on the subject, even after all these years. it is thorough and very well presented and is truly an invaluable guide for anyone with an interest in such items, from the serious collector to the weekend thrift-store explorer! particularly informative are her discussions of the characteristics and histories of the many varieties of plastics, as well as the appendices listing trademarks and references. recent cable programs concerning the role plastics have played in modern society should spark a renewed fascination in these timeless items with very specific origins!

i must add that i write this not only because it is true, but also because i am the proud owner of a first edition, inscribed by the author! this volume has resided in my library through many journeys on the road of life, and has always been an unfailing source of smiles and fond recollections of my dear friend lyndi...i can only hope that she has enjoyed good health, happiness, and success since the time when our paths crossed...

one final recommendation...for a totally satisfying reading experience, try Mozart violin concertos in the background...trust me...profound!!

Average customer rating:
M.e. American Country Gardens
Mary Emmerling
Manufacturer: Clarkson Potter
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Mary Emmerling | Expert Advice | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Landscape | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Mary Emmerling's American Country Cottages

Mary Emmerling's American Country Classics: The New American Country Look

Mary Emmerling's Romantic Country: Style That's Straight from the Heart

ASIN: 051758364X
Release Date: 1991-04-16

Book Description

Alive with the pleasures of the country garden, Mary Emmerling's newest treat for gift-givers is a wonderous bouquet of pictures and verse. 100 full-color photographs.

Average customer rating:

Interesting subject, thin prose.

Galileo imprisoned for furthering a truth that disagreed with biblical writings and Christian teachings: a daughter's view

FAMILY PORTRAIT

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love

THE EARTH ALSO RISES:

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
Dava Sobel
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Italy | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time

The Planets

The Illustrated Longitude

Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture

Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling

ASIN: 0140280553
Release Date: 2000-10-31

Amazon.com

Everyone knows that Galileo Galilei dropped cannonballs off the leaning tower of Pisa, developed the first reliable telescope, and was convicted by the Inquisition for holding a heretical belief--that the earth revolved around the sun. But did you know he had a daughter? In Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel (author of the bestselling Longitude) tells the story of the famous scientist and his illegitimate daughter, Sister Maria Celeste. Sobel bases her book on 124 surviving letters to the scientist from the nun, whom Galileo described as "a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and tenderly attached to me." Their loving correspondence revealed much about their world: the agonies of the bubonic plague, the hardships of monastic life, even Galileo's occasional forgetfulness ("The little basket, which I sent you recently with several pastries, is not mine, and therefore I wish you to return it to me").

While Galileo tangled with the Church, Maria Celeste--whose adopted name was a tribute to her father's fascination with the heavens--provided moral and emotional support with her frequent letters, approving of his work because she knew the depth of his faith. As Sobel notes, "It is difficult today ... to see the Earth at the center of the Universe. Yet that is where Galileo found it." With her fluid prose and graceful turn of phrase, Sobel breathes life into Galileo, his daughter, and the earth-centered world in which they lived. --Sunny Delaney

Book Description

Galileo Galilei's telescopes allowed him to discover a new reality in the heavens. But for publicly declaring his astounding argument--that the earth revolves around the sun--he was accused of heresy and put under house arrest by the Holy Office of the Inquisition. Living a far different life, Galileo's daughter Virginia, a cloistered nun, proved to be her father's greatest source of strength through the difficult years of his trial and persecution.

Drawing upon the remarkable surviving letters that Virginia wrote to her father, Dava Sobel has written a fascinating history of Medici--era Italy, a mesmerizing account of Galileo's scientific discoveries and his trial by Church authorities, and a touching portrayal of a father--daughter relationship. Galileo's Daughter is a profoundly moving portrait of the man who forever changed the way we see the universe.

• Winner of the Christopher Award and a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Award

• Named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, and the American Library Association

Customer Reviews:

Interesting subject, thin prose........2007-09-29

My real issue with this book is that Sobel's writing leaves me cold. I had avoided reading this for a long time because I had not really enjoyed Longitude. But countless critical raves and the response from friends caused me to decide to give Galileo's Daughter a try.

The subject matter is interesting enough. The book is very little about Galileo's daughter and is more a book about the man himself. That is not really a bad thing, since there is sadly not very much to know about Suor Maria Celeste. The episodes Sobel chooses to highlight are interesting, and I believe she succeeds in making Galileo human to the readers.

I would be hard pressed to say what exactly it is that I do not like about Sobel as a writer. It is not something that I can easily articulate. I think that it has something to do with the fact that her prose feels like an overextended magazine article. Both in Longitude and in this book, I felt as though the material were too thin for the weight that she was trying to hang on the pages. I am not sure that this is true, and suspect it may have something to do with the structure. In any case, with both books I had the experience that I was quite impatient with the prose even as I was interested in the material.

If you are interested in scientific history and in the mood for some reasonably light reading, then my review should not discourage you from picking up Galileo's Daughter. Myself, I am probably going to avoid Sobel in the future.

Galileo imprisoned for furthering a truth that disagreed with biblical writings and Christian teachings: a daughter's view.......2007-09-29

At sixty-eight years of age, Galileo, a Catholic, was sentenced to three years imprisonment for writing a philosophical story in support of the Copernican sun-centered universe theory. Unfortunately for him (and the truth), it was in conflict with the wording of the bible (p 62):

"O lord my God, Thou art great indeed....Thou fixed the Earth upon its foundation, not to be moved forever.[103:1,5]

The actions leading up to that event make up the majority of the book, which distinguishes itself from other biographies by its inclusion of the content of letters written by his elder daughter, Virginia, who was born in 1600 and "adopted the name Maria Celeste when she became a nun" at age thirteen. Because Galileo's letters were destroyed, the majority of what we learn about him is through her writings, which is both the book's strength and its weakness. In fact, it might more aptly be titled, Galileo's Daughter's Letters: a view of his life from behind the walls of the nunnery. Because there are no letters before she became a teenager, little is known about that part of her life. And although it is reader friendly, even for the non-scientifically minded, it could have been shortened by a fourth to a half of its 420 pages without losing much in readability and coverage of the most important aspects of Galileo's life.

FAMILY PORTRAIT.......2007-07-11

A violent and unruly age is the setting for this story of the relationship between Galileo and his illegitimate daughter Maria Celestes (born Virginia). Placed in a convent at the age of thirteen, she spent her remaining years loyal to the hard life of her order, the Poor Clares, and to her infamous father. While not engaged in a "typical" father daughter relationship, the 124 letters written by Marie Celestes to her father offers the reader an insight into the intense personal devotion that developed between the two........ as well as a retelling of Galileo's notorious clash with the Inquisition and his subsequent trial for heresy as seen through his daughters eyes.

Along the way, we are exposed to the horrors of the bubonic plague as it rampages through Italy, the problems with travel and communication, the loss and damage caused by the 30 years war, and a vicarious trip into the garish lifestyle of Galileo's patrons, the Medicis.

This is truly more a story of Galileo than his daughter, but nevertheless interesting. Reading this story brings to the forefront the several interesting situations and provokes the reader to examine and compare life in the 17th century with our lives today. For example: (1) the reaction of the populace to bubonic plague versus our initial reaction to the AIDS epidemic, (2) the continuing tenuous and conflicted relationship between science and religion (stem cell research, etc.), (3) the opposition to the acceptance of revolutionary new discoveries over established methods, (4) the curtailment of freedom to pursue thought and speech that is contradictory to what is considered acceptable (attempted censorship of the conservative media).

Ms. Sobel's love for her subject matter is obvious in every word she put to paper.

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love.......2007-05-20

The Seventeenth century was the most significant period after the fall of the Roman Empire. When the Roman Empire fell apart, all knowledge of the Romans was lost. However, all this knowledge slowly recovered when the Reformations, Renaissance, and Science Revolution were initiated. People brought back the Classic Age that had been lost. Art, music, and literature were not difficult to revive, but science was. When the Classic Age ended, and after the Black Plague, people believed all the teachings of the church were right. People against the Church's teachings were considered heretics.
This book, Galileo's Daughter: A historical memoir of science, faith, and love by Dava Sobel, starts with a letter from Galileo's daughter, Maria. In her letters, the readers can learn many details of the 1600's. Even though she is a nun, she supports his father and does not consider him as heretic because she knew that his theory was the truth. When Galileo saw that the Copernicus's ideas were more likely to be true than Ptolemy's established philosophy, he began the teaching it in defiance of the Catholic Church. However, he was forced to recant his theory. Despite opposition of the Catholic Church, Galileo publishes Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican. Because of that, his book was banned, and he encountered peril. He was put on trial for heresy and convicted. Maria Celeste was insightful, grandiloquent, and loved her father as he loved her. Regardless of her occupation, she supported her father through the trials. Although Galileo and Maria sent letters back and forth, Galileo's letters to Maria are nowhere to be found.
At first, I thought this book was about the story of Sour Maria Celeste and her relationship with her father, Galileo. However, this book manifested the struggles Galileo went through externally and internally. Because he was a religious man, he had a hard time fighting for what was right, his theory over the teachings of the Church. At the end of the book is very poignant moment, when Galileo's body was finally allowed to be placed in the monument.
I recommend this book to other students completing this assignment because it shows Galileo's accomplishments, and much more. This book is profound to the extension that as a daughter, I could see the father and daughter relationship, and how that relationship has effected Galileo I become one of the most extolled scientists in the world.

THE EARTH ALSO RISES:.......2007-03-20

It is a fascinating tale of a father, a devout Catholic, obedient son and above all a scientist, astronomer, and a philosopher, decades ahead of his time. He paved the way for all future discoveries and revelations in Physics and Astronomy. Newton, who was born the year Galileo died, did stand squarely on Galileo's shoulders to go where no man had gone before .

It is Galileo's courage and conviction that we so admire in facing Pope Urban's ire and ridicule in the 17th century Italy. Popes come and go but the name of Galileo would shine for ever as long as the Jovian moons would orbit their planet. His brilliant "dialogues" on astronomy, wave theory, motion and scores of other subjects were the foundation of everything we know today about anything.

Even today, it is sad to say, there are remnants of Urban's ilk all over the world that cling to creation theory and even believe that Ptolemy was right.

Galileo had two daughters and a son. Tradition forced him to enroll the girls in the convent hoping to find suitable husbands if not marry them to Christ and spend rest of their lives as nuns. Sister Maria Celeste, the older daughter, a paragon of virtue, devotes her entire life in serving others and above all to take care of her dear father. Her letters are down to earth, personal, articulate and at times with a touch of humor.

The book narrates Galileo's epic journey from early childhood, as a medical student even contemplating on becoming a priest. He eventually gets his degree in physics and engineering, his true calling, and then becomes a professor at prestigious university at Padua. Medici's hire him as their court advisor. His experiments from the leaning tower of Pisa are known to all of us who took any science in school. His books promote Sun being the center of the universe confirming Copernicus's theory. The church clinging to Bible's version of a stationary Earth is outraged and begins its ignominious inquisition, sentencing the aged scientist to house arrest where he dies, blind and heart broken.

The book's other protagonist, the ever loving daughter, whose letters to her father are interspersed throughout the book, makes a interesting and noble contrast to the dogmatic, self centered pious hypocrites of Church in Rome.

It is MUST read.

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER. A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love.

Average customer rating:

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER. A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love.
Dava. Sobel
Manufacturer: Walker & Co.,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MZ7CG8

Average customer rating:

Galileo's Daughter - A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith and Love
Dava Sobbel
Manufacturer: Walker Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0965032159

Average customer rating:

Galileo's Daughter
Dava Sobel
Manufacturer: Walker & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000BLMQ5K

Average customer rating:

Galileo's Daughter. A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love

Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000I3BH9M

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (Audio Cassettes Edition: 7 Tapes) (Audio Cassettes Edition: 7.5 Hour Cassettes, Book Number 5151)

Average customer rating:

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love (Audio Cassettes Edition: 7 Tapes) (Audio Cassettes Edition: 7.5 Hour Cassettes, Book Number 5151)

Manufacturer: Dell Audio/Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000IFK2B4

Product Description

7 tapes. Audio Cassettes edition. Random House, Batnam, Dell Publishing, 1999.

Average customer rating:

Galileo's Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love
Dava Sobel
Manufacturer: Tandem Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

General | Historical | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Religious | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Scientists | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 141770389X

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER: A HISTORICAL MEMOIR OF SCIENCE, FAITH, AND LOVE.(Review) (book review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life

Average customer rating:

GALILEO'S DAUGHTER: A HISTORICAL MEMOIR OF SCIENCE, FAITH, AND LOVE.(Review) (book review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Elizabeth Powers
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 1253 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: GALILEO'S DAUGHTER: A HISTORICAL MEMOIR OF SCIENCE, FAITH, AND LOVE.(Review) (book review)
Author: Elizabeth Powers
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 76

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Renaissance Nun, Over Newton's Shoulder, Chesapeake Dent.(Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article): An article from: American Scientist

Average customer rating:

Renaissance Nun, Over Newton's Shoulder, Chesapeake Dent.(Review)(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article): An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Comets, Meteors & Asteroids | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Science & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0008GWOIW
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

Self-serving lackey, self-deceiving puppet, Swiss Protestant partisan, or sensible Erasmian humanist: which, if any, was Thomas Cranmer? For centuries historians have offered often bitterly contradictory answers. Although Cranmer was a key participant in the changes to English life brought about by the Reformation, his reticent nature and lack of extensive personal writings have left a vacuum that in the past has too often been filled by scholarly prejudice or presumption. For the first time, however, this book examines in-depth little used manuscript sources to reconstruct Cranmer's theological development on the crucial Protestant doctrine of justification. The author explores Cranmer's cultural heritage, why he would have been attracted to Luther's thought, and then provides convincing evidence for the Reformed Protestant Augustinianism which Cranmer enshrined in the formularies of the Church of England. For Cranmer the glory of God was his love for the unworthy; the heart of theology was proclaiming this truth through word and sacrament. Hence, the focus of both was on the life of on-going repentance, remembering God's gracious love inspired grateful human love.

Customer Reviews:

The Heart Of The Gospel Unfolded In The Liturgy of 1552.......2003-06-06

If the cost weren't so high, this could be called a "Tract
for the Times"! Because of the price, I have given it only
4 stars, despite the 5 star content.

Here is what attracted me in this study. In this day of
much liturgical revision, nobody seems to ask *what message
our liturgy conveys?*

Indeed, modern revisions seem to produce liturgies hardly
worthy of the name. Dumbed Down or theologically neutered,
today's modern revisions often leave something to be desired.

Worse, those who claim to "have to liturgy" and "follow
the bible alone" often end up going to a meeting called a
"worship service" in name, only to experience a
Contemporary Christian Music concert without the Mosh Pit.
Then, at best, the Word of God, the Thanksgiving of the
People through the Lord's Supper, and the Gospel of
Christ become incidental to the "performance".

Such muddy thinking and spirituality was not always the case.

Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance is unfolded in Cranmer's Liturgy of 1552.

Yet Cranmer's doctrine and liturgy were not really *his* at
all. Instead he simply sought to be faithful to the
Holy Scriptures and what he considered to be the
faithful teaching of the Holy Catholic Church before the
corruptions that had so plagued his day.

Specifically, Cranmer's Liturgy attacked the heretical view
of Christ's atonement which stated that our Lord's passion
was sufficient to wash away the stain of original sin, but
little more. Our works, the indulgence peddlers stated to
their profit, are required expiate post baptismal sins.

To this Cranmer, having studied the scriptures
and the fathers of the Church answered a resounding
"NO"! His liturgy is the unfolding of the biblical
doctrine repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Read it and you'll agree that we need to re-establish
godly worship along these lines whether one uses
Cranmer's ancient liturgy or a modern - but faithful
- rendition of it. The point is not to return,
necessarily, to the Thee's, Thou's, and Vouchsafe's
of Cranmer's day. Rather, the point is for us to
RETURN TO CRANMER'S GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST
in regular worship that humbles us and exalts
the salvation that Jesus Christ gives to the world!

Read this book, and I believe you'll agree with Cranmer.

May God move someone at Oxford Press to put
this out in a reasonably priced paperback!

Fr. Chuck Huckaby -

Average customer rating:
Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance: Renewing the Power to Love. .(Book Review): An article from: Albion
Dewey D., Jr. Wallace
Manufacturer: North American Conference on British Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008DGR1A
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on December 22, 2002. The length of the article is 821 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: Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance: Renewing the Power to Love. .(Book Review)
Author: Dewey D., Jr. Wallace
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2002
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 34 Issue: 4 Page: 634(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance : Renewing the Power to Love

Average customer rating:

Thomas Cranmer's Doctrine of Repentance : Renewing the Power to Love
Ashley Null
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press(UK)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKSW4C

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books