Trees of Pennsylvania: The Atlantic States and the Lake States

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Your Outta Control Ferret
Bobbye Land
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0793829313

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Your Outta Control Ferret

Manufacturer: TFH PUBLICATIONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H9A6KS

Book Description

Did you know that the smell of sassafras blowing offshore convinced Columbus he was near land? Or that the American sycamore, which has the largest tree trunk in the eastern forest, can live for 500 to 600 years? Or that in the period before the American Revolution, patriots designated a sycamore tree in each colony as a "Liberty Tree" -- a meeting place for plotting against the British?

These facts are just a few of thousands you'll find inBotanica North America, an encyclopedia of the wonderfully diverse North American native plants by noted Canadian garden writer Marjorie Harris. This charming compendium is filled with more than 420 entries that provide essential information on each plant's physical attributes, natural history, common uses, and ethnobotany. There are also fascinating, often surprising anecdotes about plants you won't find anywhere else. From the Eastern forest to the desert, this beautifully written volume roves across the continent exploring how climate and plant life have affected, aided, and inspired us, from the first Native Americans to North Americans living in the twenty-first century: "The lonely majesty of a wind-swept jack pine has inspired generations of poets and painters," Harris writes. "These trees endure in spite of terrible weather . . . a jack pine forest has a dense, closed canopy with an understory of cherry, blueberry, hazels, bracken, and sweet fern along with trailing arbutus."

Comprehensive and engaging, Botanica North America is also filled with lush photographs of plants in their natural habitat and insightful quotes from a variety of gardening experts and amateurs, from naturalist Rachel Carson to famed conservationist John Muir.

Here is a reference no gardener or environmentalist should be without.

Customer Reviews:

A Delight in Every Way!.......2007-01-25

I am usually not impressed by "coffee table" books, but a few are much more than just pretty pictures. "Botanica North America" is just such a book. Well written by Canadian horticulturalist Marjorie Harris and lavishly illustrated with color photographs this is a delightful compendium of North American plant science and lore. The chapters are arranged primarily by region (with a few digressions) and a final chapter on the "Three Sisters"- Corn, beans and squash, plus a few other North American food plants. Each entry is readable independently of the others and each has some gems of information, plus occasional informed opinion by the author. None of the entries are dull in any way! In my examination I could find no major typos and almost every statement I checked out seemed to be accurate.

This is not in any way a guide for identification, but it is a delight to read and peruse! I recommend it to all people interested in botany and/or gardening. It is well worth the price.

A Delight for the Natural Historian.......2005-08-24

This book is a delightful ramble through a selection from the world of economically, historically, and medicinally important plants. As does a preceding reviewer, I dip into it frequently just for pleasure and to increase my general knowledge of how these plants have been useful to others, especially the indigenous population. It is NOT a guide to cultivation (William Cullina's wonderful pair of books on native plants offer that), or identification (Britton and Brown remains supreme), but a well-written survey of carefully chosen plants with interesting attributes other than their beauty, ease of cultivation or commercial availability. It's a book written by a plant lover for other plant lovers.

A Fitting Tribute to Our Native Plants.......2003-12-19

Botanica North America is a hefty tome at a little over 650 pages (and I?m guessing over 5 pounds), but the necessity of such a length is explained by the subtitle. Indeed, it would seem an overwhelming task to encapsulate in a book the history, botany, and traditional uses of North America?s native plants. Who would even dare try? We can thank Marjorie Harris.

For this comprehensive volume, this prolific and admired Canadian author sought information and opinions from hundreds of experts throughout North America. The acknowledgments alone are over three, packed pages long, so we know that Harris consulted thousands of knowledgeable individuals, and she collected photographs from among the most talented artists on the continent.

Throughout the book, Harris conveys a reverence for our natural world and the plants that inhabit it. She writes with an ecologist?s view, noting that ?If the point of this book is to honor native plants, it is also to honor their history, the secrets they have shared, the role they have played and must continue to play in the survival of our species. . . . We are the stewards of this land and if we do our best . . . to save as much of their habitat as possible, then we will be giving these plants the respect they deserve.?

To organize such a daunting task, Harris divided North America into the following regions: the Eastern Forests (covering the Northeast and Southeast); Swamps and Wetlands; Florida; The Boreal Forest; The Prairie; The Desert; California; Montane; The Tall Trees; and The Tundra.

The profile of each region begins with several pages of overview that introduce each area and capture its essence. Then Harris concentrates on the plants that are critical to the region and have been historically important to the human inhabitants. She organizes the plants by family, and each species she highlights is described through its botanical structure, ethnobotany, and natural history.

One feature I especially appreciate is this book?s ?browsability.? I can pick it up just to admire the photos if I wish. Or I can thumb through, picking up captivating quotes by nature writers and early explorers, from William Bartram to Walt Whitman. Or I can browse the plant descriptions, learning fascinating tidbits of information. I have always wondered why the blooms of bluebells turn from pink to blue as they mature ? now I know. And I learned that Native Americans used the dogwood as an ?indicator plant,? timing their planting of corn to the blooming of the tree.

I look forward to learning more about the secrets and history of our native plants as I continue to explore this extensively researched book. Botanica North America will not get stored on my bookshelf; rather it will stay at my fingertips, always ready to supply me with information or inspiration.

Botanica... Beautiful but not the most comprehensive.......2003-12-18

I bought Marjorie Harris' Botanica after reading gardening magazine reviews that this was the most comprehensive volume on native plants ever assembled. However I've already found about 6 native plants that I have that aren't listed and I'm sure there will be more as I make my way through the huge volume. That aside, the photography is very nice and the plant descriptions are thorough and informative. I especially liked how each of these plants were used by native peoples was included. This is definitely a keeper on my shelf but will be used as a companion with other books, rather than being the complete, one and only volume on native plants it claims to be.

Native plants in their glory.......2003-11-24

This book is a departure for Canada?s best-known garden writer. The reviews I?ve read tend to give the impression that it is a gardening book, but it?s more of a venture into history, geography, botany and enthobotany, than horticulture. Information that gardeners depend on, such as hardiness zones of plants, isn?t there, but that doesn?t mean gardeners won?t be fascinated by this extensive exploration of North American native plants.

The book offers photos and the stories of more than 420 plants?trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants?that grew in North America before Europeans arrived. The plants were selected because they are or were in some way valuable or important to people, whether native peoples or European settlers. At more than 650 pages, the book is extensive (it would have taken several volumes to encompass all the important plants). Still, there are some surprising omissions, for example, hickory, bitternut and pecan are included in the juglandaceae, but the ubiquitous black walnut isn?t.

Organized geographically, the book ranges from the eastern forests to Florida, from the boreal forest to the prairies, the southern deserts to California and the Pacific Northwest. The northern tundra is included, as well as a chapter on the ?three sisters?, the agricultural plants aboriginal peoples cultivated, corn, squash and beans.

Lush photographs accompany many of the entries, which provide essential information on each plant?s attributes and historical uses. Harris includes stories and quotations from early European plant enthusiasts who often courted hardship and danger to learn as much as they could about the new plants they were encountering. Many compelling stories come from these early observers and amateur botanists. Unfortunately, the publisher chose only to index plant names (common and botanical), and not the names of people. For example, I was hoping to find reference to Catharine Parr Traill, the sister of Susanna Moody (of Roughing it in the Bush fame), and the author of Canadian Wild Flowers (1868). As early as the mid-nineteenth century, Parr Traill regretted the almost wholesale destruction of the Canadian wilderness and its plants due to the onslaught of farmers clearing the land for crops and loggers harvesting timbers to ship to eager markets in Europe. Parr Traill is, in fact, quoted several times, but you won?t find her name in the index. Notes for each chapter do detail sources, but an alphabetical index would have made these names so much easier to find.

Botanica North America isn?t a book you can read from cover to cover quickly?instead it?s one to keep on the coffee table or at the bedside table to savor and dip into over many weeks. Harris brings to our attention the enormous variability and richness of the North American landscape. One can?t help but come away with a sense of regret over how much was destroyed, both deliberately and by accident (and still is being ruined today as suburban sprawl continues to eat up the landscape). Fortunately, awareness of native plants is on the upswing, and this book certainly marks a welcome contribution to the current revival of interest in these magnificent and under appreciated plants. Bravo, Marjorie Harris!

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Botanica North America : An Illustrated Guide to Native Plants: Their Botany, Their History, and the Way They Have Shaped Our World
Marjorie Harris
Manufacturer: Collins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OEXGQW

Book Description

His talent was unbounded, a raw force that commanded attention and respect.

His death was tragic -- a violent homage to the power of his voice.

His legacy is indomitable -- remaining vibrant and alive.

Here now, newly discovered, are Tupac's most honest and intimate thoughts conveyed through the pure art of poetry -- a mirror into his enigmatic life and its many contradictions.

Written in his own hand at the age of nineteen, they embrace his spirit, his energy...and his ultimate message of hope.

Customer Reviews:

Alive In More Ways Than One!!!.......2007-10-11

Your Chance to Hear The Last Panther Speak

Through music and acting, Tupac will be with us always. But leaving something behind for remembrance is the reason so many poets capture their thoughts, so that their words will live long after they are gone. That is the case here and something he was able to for see captured in the poem, "In The Event Of My Demise." What I was most struck by is, so many of the poems in this book show a side of Tupac that wasn't his public persona. Making it a must for his true fans. He's philosophical, sensitive, at times angry but what perhaps a lot of us didn't see, loving and caring in a romantic way. I was struck by some of the things he chose to write about. Marilyn Monroe receives a very touching tribute relating to her rise and demise. Nelson Mandela's imprisonment, and later release and one he called, "Sometimes I Cry." Which ends with lines that we should all be able to relate to;

The world moves fast and it would rather pass u by
than 2 stop and c what makes u cry
It's painful and sad and sometimes I cry
and no one cares about why.

I've seen a few negative reviews here that seem to think this wasn't a great book, but I am looking at it perhaps from a different perspective... He wrote all this in a life span of 25 years... (19 years if I understand where these writings came from). And for me not only did I "Get" a lot of the things he was addressing, but it came across in a conversational tone. Not the first time, but the most recent time I read it. Which is another thing about poetry. Read it, walk away, read the same thing again, and you might see something completely different than what you saw initially. Some of his messages are straight forward, some are subtle but it is clear to me, with these earlier writings why he was able to eventually receive such world wide adoration. Some of what he wasn't really showing publicly must have been coming through in ways not readily visible to most initially. But that you will see in this revealing book of who Tupac really was.

A young heart with an old soul (A line from his poem), "In the Depths of Solitude"

He really felt he was two people as he refers to it in the same poem;

"This Duo within me causes
the perfect opportunity
2 learn and live twice as fast
as those who accept simplicity"

Highly recommend, both for content and a deeper glimpse into the man he was and the legend he managed to become.

WOW!!! WOW!!!.......2007-05-31

"The Rose That Grew From Concrete" by Tupac Shakur is simply a superb book. This book of poetry gave an insight to the intelligence and understanding that the late Tupac Shakur possessed. Most people who did not follow his music or know anything about him in general, like myself, would not think that Tupac Shakur would actually sit and write poetry that is meaningful or write about what is included in the world or in the government. But I was so wrong to think that way when I did not even know the man. This just goes to show that people should never under estimate others. "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" had me wanting more each and every time I turned a page. This book covers many subjects that will have an effect on you from the beginning to the end. I strongly recommend this book for others to read, because you will most definitely learn a thing or two from "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" by Tupac Shakur. I would give this book 10 stars* if I could. Again, "The Rose That Grew From Concrete" is magnificent.

Tupac is alive.......2007-05-09

Tupac's book of poems is important in considering his life. My favorite poem is "a rose that grew out of concrete". Why, you may ask? Well, I'll tell you...it has a great metaphor about a rose and the way it is able to grow and flourish even in the worst conditions. The concrete represents Pac's experience in jail and regardless of being in jail he was able to grow as a poet. I highly recommend this book because I think especially young people growing up the way he did will be able to see the life lessons and morals he has to teach.

Beautiful Poetry.......2007-03-19

This book is so inspiring. I bought this book about 3 years ago and I read it at least once a month it's that good! I even got a tattoo that says "The rose that grew from concrete'. Definitely check this one out!!

Great condition.......2007-01-13

I bought this as a gift. It was brand new and my friend loved the book. Would definitely do business with this seller.

Kʻonkʻŭritʻŭ esŏ pʻin changmi =: [Rose that grew from concrete]

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KÊ»onkÊ»uÌ†ritÊ»uÌ† esoÌ† pÊ»in changmi =: [Rose that grew from concrete]
Tupac Shakur
Manufacturer: In PuksuÌ†
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Rose That Grew from Concrete
2 Pac Cs069 4908134
Manufacturer: A&M/GEFFEN/INTERSCOPE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books
ASIN: 630611713X

Book Description

Adrian Smith rediscovers Britain's most successful fighter pilot of the First World War. He traces the myth of "an ace with one eye," examining how Mannock has been represented in both biography and in fiction, and asks why he is still commemorated today. The author suggests Mannock's tactics drew on his socialist beliefs, and argues that older, more experienced pilots were comfortable with the new technology and thus best equipped to fight the war in the air.

Mick Mannock, Fighter Pilot: Myth, Life and Politics.(Book Review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal

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Mick Mannock, Fighter Pilot: Myth, Life and Politics.(Book Review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal
Eric Ash
Manufacturer: U.S. Air Force
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Air & Space Power Journal, published by U.S. Air Force on December 22, 2003. The length of the article is 667 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: Mick Mannock, Fighter Pilot: Myth, Life and Politics.(Book Review)
Author: Eric Ash
Publication: Air & Space Power Journal (Refereed)
Date: December 22, 2003
Publisher: U.S. Air Force
Volume: 17 Issue: 4 Page: 107(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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