Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula

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Wild Flowers of the Cape Peninsula
Mary Maytham Kidd
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Botany | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 019570018X

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Cape Peninsula: South African Wild Flower Guide
M.M. Kidd
Manufacturer: Botanical Society of South Africa
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 006206746X

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Wild flowers of the Cape Peninsula,: With text and nomenclature
Mary Maytham Kidd
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Botany | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006ASNXK

Book Description

Malta & Gozo Directions gives you the best of these islands in an easy-to-use format. The "Ideas" section helps you plan your trip with full-colour spreads covering the variety of attractions Malta has to offer, from the fortified town of Valletta and neolithic temples to the best places to eat and drink. The "Places" section breaks the city down into convenient areas, each chapter exploring a particular district, with eating, drinking and shopping options along with a run-down of the sights. "Essentials" lets you know how to get around, where to change money and everything else you might need for a smooth trip, while "Language" has enough phrases and vocabulary to help you make a few local friends.

Customer Reviews:

A Thorough and Concise Guidebook.......2006-03-22

Rough Guides' "Malta & Gozo" is a very handy guidebook. Although it is only 192 pages and pretty light, it is packed with information. The thing that I like most about this book is that it contains detailed maps of all three Islands, Malta, Gozo and Comino, in addition to numerous city maps and plenty of both colour and black and white photos.

The main focus of "Malta & Gozo" is to provide the reader with detailed and up to date descriptions of the main attractions, restaurants and hotels in each community. As well, this guide contains a basic overview of practical information, relating to transportation, money, communication, festivals and language.

One very special bonus is that this book is accompanied by a mini CD, showing the book's contents in digital format. This feature is nice if you would like to take a closer look at the maps provided in the book.

If you would like an up-to-date and thorough guide of Malta, this book is for you.

Customer Reviews:

Readable, factual, & interesting.......1998-07-20

I'm not a kid but I learned a lot from Braving the North Atlantic. Our history is overly focused on Columbus and the conquest of Mexico and South America. The authors focus on the Vikings and the first 40 years of exploration of North America after Columbus.

Book Description

Two Centuries of American Drawings contains essays on landscapes, portraits, and still lifes by Thomas Hart Benton, Benjamin West, John Singleton Copley, and Charles Burchfield, among others. The essays highlight emotionally charged pieces by Jasper F. Cropsey as well as other modernist landscapes and introspective images.

Book Description

Pet owners can finally invite company over!

This must-have volume from Don Aslett gives pet owners all they need to keep their homes sparkling and their pets happy and safe-from cleaning methods to stain removers to deodorizers. Inside this engaging, easy-to-read book, readers not only learn how to clean up any pet mess, any time, but also how to prevent such mishaps in the future. Pet Cleaning Made Easy, created in consultation with a number of veterinarians, behavioral specialists, and other animal experts, helps readers transform their homes and environs in all the problem areas, including:

Fleas

Pet hair

The stinky litterbox

Stains on carpets, fabrics, bedding, and furniture

As an added bonus, Don shows owners how to retrain their pets how to eat, sleep, and play "clean"!

Customer Reviews:

A "Must Have" for pet owners!.......2007-01-11

What a great book! Anyone bringing home a new pet or having problems with an old one will benefit from this book (and I've had dogs and cats all my life)!

Stay neat with this neat book!.......2005-08-02

As a veterinarian and author (The Allergy Solution for Dogs, 8 Weeks to a Healthy Dog, and the award-winning The Natural Health Bible for Dogs & Cats) I am often asked about cleaning up after pets, especially those pets with elimination behavioral problems. This book covers this common problem in depth and has some great suggestions on keeping your house clean while living with your pets. An easy read with practical information.

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Pet Clean-up Made Easy
Don Aslett
Manufacturer: Writer's Digest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HMSH1U

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Pet Clean-Up Made Easy
Don Aslett
Manufacturer: Marsh Creek Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Cleaning, Caretaking & Relocating | How-to & Home Improvements | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Veterinary Medicine | Medicine | Subjects | Books

General | Reference | Subjects | Books

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0898792622

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Pet Clean-Up Made Easy
Don Aslett
Manufacturer: Adams Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739456857

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Pet Clean-up Made Easy

Manufacturer: Writer's Digest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HMW3ME

Book Description

Johnny Gruelle's classic Raggedy Ann and Andy stories have warmed the hearts of children for decades. Ever since the first Raggedy Ann book was published in 1918, readers have been eager to know more about the creator of these wondrous characters. Now fans can learn the story behind these two shiny-button-eyed dolls and their many friends such as Uncle Clem, Cleety the Clown, Beloved Belindy, and Quacky Doodles.

Patricia Hall, one of America's most well-known Raggedy Ann enthusiasts, has put magical pen to paper and showcased the creations of one of the country's most adored children's writers and illustrators. She explores not only the evolution of these infamous rag dolls over the last eighty-five years, but also the language and social mores that made their stories so popular. Overflowing with vibrant, full-color illustrations by the artist and intimate family photographs, this glorious celebration of Raggedy Ann and Andy is for anyone who has ever opened a book and wanted to run away to the lands of Snitznoodles and Wiggysnoops.

Come celebrate the world of Johnny Gruelle and Raggedy Ann in this beautifully rendered retrospective gift book, and discover a world where candy grows on trees, towns are made of cookies, and fairy folk and magic reign supreme.

Customer Reviews:

A retrospective celebrating Gruelle's creations.......2001-11-05

It's hard to peg the exact age range for Johnny Gruelle's Raggedy Ann readers: they require good reading skills or parental assistance but will appeal to a wide age range. Patricia Hall writes a retrospective celebrating Gruelle's creations with Raggedy Ann & Andy. Includes the traditional Gruelle illustrations and is suitable for gift-giving.

American Folk Toys; 85 American Folk Toys and How to Make Them.

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American Folk Toys

American Folk Toys; 85 American Folk Toys and How to Make Them.
Dick Schnacke
Manufacturer: Putnam Pub Group (T)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Decorative Arts | Design & Decorative Arts | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0399111255

Customer Reviews:

American Folk Toys.......2002-05-19

Excellent source for early toys with many plans included. Easy to follow and very interesting.

Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review #85 November 1999

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Lee's Action Figure News & Toy Review #85 November 1999

Manufacturer: Lee Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JM2WIM

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'85 Toys
House Of Collectibles
Manufacturer: House of Collectibles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Antiques & Collectibles | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0876374542
Release Date: 1985-06-12

Book Description

Sweeping in scope and stunning in execution, The Glory of Gardens collects the writings of more than 100 contemporary and ancient garden designers, landscape architects, poets, philosophers, statesmen, and scientists in a compendium that covers two thousand years of gardening traditions. Organized by topics such as "Principles," "Color," "Unity and Variety," "Plant Selection," and "Structure," this is the only book available in English that explores gardening customs from around the globe, including those of Western, Islamic, Japanese, and Chinese civilizations. Accompanying the essays are dazzling photographs of some of the world's most breathtaking gardens-several designed by the book's contributors. Brief quotations from writers and thinkers complement the text, making The Glory of Gardens an invaluable volume-and a perfect gift-for gardeners, architects, scholars, and cultural historians alike.

Customer Reviews:

A book to cherish.......2006-08-17

This book is worth twice what the publisher is charging! A sensitive and carefully chosen compilation of observations on everything to do with gardening from design to detailed horticulture over the last two thousand years that anyone with the faintest interest in the outdoors will treasure. The essays are just as good as the illustrations and that's saying alot!

A Consistent 2,000 years.......2006-07-15

This is a delightful book is a combination of beautiful photographs combined with writings that go back to about the time of Christ. There are all types of gardens from the formal English country manor house and the gardens surrounding a Frech Chateau that were designed in 1656. There are gardens that are almost jungles and desert landscapes with lots of rocks. There are beautiful gardens with ponds, streams and pools, and an article that says, 'Don't Build a Water Garden' (unless you have lots of money).

These gardens were beautifully designed, beautifully maintained. They come from around the world with some spectacular Japanese and Chinese gardens to go with the more traditional western designs that we see more often.

The writings convey a surprising consistancy in tone even if they cover so much history. A garden is seen as a restful, peaceful place to escape from the rigors of the rest of life.

Amazon.com

In 1966, Allan Weisbecker "made a Manhattan run from the landlocked suburbs" to take in a siren-song movie called The Endless Summer, a documentary that depicted the carefree life of two beach bums who roamed the world in quest of the perfect wave. Weisbecker was hooked, and he became a hardcore wave rider, a fixture on the Long Island surf scene. With a friend, Christopher, he also undertook illegal ways to finance his passion, transporting drugs from exotic countries, a business only briefly interrupted when Christopher went off to Vietnam. There he took fire and came home scarred; something in him changed, and one day he simply vanished.

Weisbecker's book, a sort of gonzo detective story blended with travelogue and peppered with hang-10 jargon, does many things, all of them very well indeed. It offers up a vision of innocent times brought to ruin by war and drugs; it recounts his search for his lost friend, whose life had gone from bad to worse far away from home; and it affords a look inside the strange culture of surfing, whose masters "understood, in a visceral and soulful and inexpressible way, the machinations of the sea, and, by subtle inference, the universe at large."

Full of regret and exhilaration, Weisbecker's memoir is a fine chronicle of a dream gone sour and a friendship redeemed. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

In 1996, Allan Weisbecker sold his home and his possessions, loaded his dog and surfboards into his truck, and set off in search of his long-time surfing companion, Patrick, who had vanished into the depths of Central America. In this rollicking memoir of his quest from Mexico to Costa Rica to unravel the circumstances of Patrick's disappearance, Weisbecker intimately describes the people he befriended, the bandits he evaded, the waves he caught and lost en route to finding his friend.

In Search of Captain Zero is, according to Outside magazine, "A subtly affecting tale of friendship and duty. [It] deserves a spot on the microbus dashboard as a hell of a cautionary tale about finding paradise and smoking it away."

Customer Reviews:

What an unbelievable book!.......2007-10-11

I've never enjoyed a book more than this one. I'm only a couple of years younger than the author, but I've been surfing for almost 40 years, and I devoured this book. Just the stories he tells would be enough, but in putting them all together, he accomplishes so much more.
When I went to SD in 1973 just out of HS, my roommate, an established La Jolla local, told me a story about the 1969 swell on the north shore and Jock Sutherland surfing by himself in the early AM (~1AM) on acid. Allan was there, retold the same story, and it's amazing how accurately I heard it back then. The smuggling stories were great, especially the snafu in NJ! The premise, the trip, the experiences, and the conclusions together made this an incredible reading experience. I wished that the book was twice as long. It's lucky that the person who had all of these experiences is such an outstanding thinker and writer.
My wife and I used to visit Costa Rica annually, but after reading the book I was inspired to expand my horizons. Rhoda (from Nebraska - NOT a surfer!) loved the book as much as I did. The changes in our lives that were a result of the perspectives gained from our reading Captain Zero have been profound and rewarding. I've been recommending the book since I read it in 2002. Most everyone shared my enthusiasm.
On a 26' panga with a 55 hp Yamaha headed up the coast of Nicaragua last month, a good friend who read Zero on my recommendation, favorably reviewed Allan's recently published Can't You Get Along With Anyone to the other five surfers on the boat. I look forward to reading CYGAWA as soon as Amazon delivers it.

Not much insight, but an entertaining read.......2007-10-09

Surfing is something different to all people, the author has his opinion, I have mine. I didn't find much insight into the human experience through the author's eyes, I perceived the lesson to be about karma, of which the main character shouldn't be surprised about his current state.

My opinion only, the book is entertaining. How can you go wrong with a book about surfing?

"Everybody must give something back for something they get."
-Bob Dylan

Read it over (and over and over).......2007-09-14

A wonderful book, evocative of end of the road towns and other equally compelling ideas. This could be a guidebook for various Central American hideaways, with perhaps some advice of a different nature thrown in. At one point or another, I've made nearly everyone I know read this book. And...it should be followed by "Can't You Get Along With Anyone." If at any time someone decides to put together a cannon of literature that addresses Central American surf spots, publishing, and the tricky nature of friendship, Weisbecker's "In Search of Captain Zero," and "Can't You Get Along With Anyone," must be included.

Ride the Wave.......2007-04-12

If you are at all interested in surfing, this journey of self discovery will grip you deep within its pages. You'll also gain insight on life as seen through surfing.

A profound journey.......2007-02-13

Whether or not you have ever attempted to surf, dreamt about it, or have made it a practice, I think that this book will speak to you. Should you know nothing about the culture at all, this book will make you feel as if you had been there all along. Weisbecker's style of writing draws you into the story in a very personal way, providing easy to understand epiphanes and philosophies, that seem entirely unique to Weisbecker. Yes, he has his flaws and stereotypes, but this only furthers to strengthen his character. After all how many people can claim not to have either of those things. Weisbecker presents profound views on life through surfing, and different experiences in his travel, that seem far more sophosticated than the stereotypical surfing mind, which would consist of pot, "bro", and of course, surfing.
Besides the development of Weisbecker himself during the story, and the more mental, and spiritual aspect of the book, the story is also a gripping tale, which leaves you wanting to turn the page. Each experience draws you in as you join Weisbecker in the search for his friend. I often found myself eagerly wondering what would happen next, from run-ins with bandidos, to finding a way to work a monster of a wave. What made each experience truely different however, was the reflection of each one afterwards, being able to see how Weisbecker was affected and/or changed.
So, if you are willing to look past the many drug related stories, and whatever flaws you may find, underneath is a compelling story and many valuable insights to life, which may make you want to take off on your own adventure.

In Search Of Captain Zero - A Surfer's Road Trip Beyond The End Of The Road

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In Search Of Captain Zero - A Surfer's Road Trip Beyond The End Of The Road
Allan C. Weisbecker
Manufacturer: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P8TIUU

Amazon.com

Samuel Beckett, a talent so exceptional that he created masterpieces in both French and English, shied away from the limelight for much of his life. However James Knowlson, in this amazing biography, shows Beckett wasn't entirely hesitant to talk about himself; the book relies heavily on interviews with Beckett to reconstruct the writer's dizzying career. Knowlson fills the pages with exhaustive detail--some major, some minor. In addition, he analyzes the influences on and evolution of Beckett's work. Through it all a larger picture emerges, one of the artist at work and in life. Damned to Fame is a necessary addition to any study of Beckett.

Book Description

Damned to Fame is the brilliant and insightful portrait of Nobel Prize-winning author Samuel Beckett, mysterious and reclusive master of twentieth-century literature. Professor James Knowlson, Beckett's chosen biographer and a leading authority on Beckett, vividly re-creates Beckett's life from his birth in a rural suburb of Dublin in 1906 to his death in Paris in 1989, revealing the real man behind the literary giant. Scrupulously researched and filled with previously unknown information garnered from interviews with the author and his friends, family, and contemporaries, Knowlson's unparalleled work is the definitive Beckett biography of our time.

Customer Reviews:

Detailed record of the life- journey of 'The Master of 'Less ' is 'More'.......2006-04-20

James Knowlson is both a preeminent Beckett scholar, and cherisher of Beckett's friendship and memory. There is thus in his biography a degree of caring, and perhaps too a degree of personal protection. Nonetheless it provides any student of Beckett with a wealth of new information to enhance our knowledge of a great writer, but not solve completely the mystery and meaning of his greatness.
Joyce , Beckett's boss, and great inspiration , taught him the meaning of total dedication to the craft. But Joyce also gave him the key negative example. The feary father was greedy, and always added on and made more words than any other maker could possibly contend with . So Beckett chose a contradictory technique and became the great minimizer, the great substractor, the master of 'Less is More'.
One reviewer on the Amazon site(Tepi)excoriates Knowlson for playing down the emotional and psychological drama and difficulty of Beckett's life, of underestimating the role the cold mother played on her creator son. The criticism too of the biography is that it does not come to life in providing real portraits of the real people in Beckett's life, including the companion of twenty - years Susan.
Nonetheless I believe in general we search for the good in the book, value what it gives us. And this book does give us much new detail about a master in the art of making meaning out of what is smaller.
My own reading of Beckett goes back a long way in misunderstanding and appreciation. I in reading years ago the trilogy of novels felt that Beckett comprehended a basic aspect of human experience, in old age and dying, in a way no one else had. He made into 'Literature' kinds of experience which had not been made into Literature before.
His fierce inner poetry the Irish lyric spirit was strong in him as Joyce.
A biography can provide us details and insights into the life, and even the creative process of a master, but it cannot solve the mystery of great creation which always has within it something of a ' divine gift' a ' surprise' that even the creator himself cannot fully understand.

A Thorough, Passionate, and Scholarly Work.......2006-03-05

If the scale permitted, I would give Knowlson's biography of Samuel Beckett 4 1/2 stars. It is an impressively thorough, passionate, and scholarly work by an ardent admirer. Knowlson's ardor for Beckett, the man no less than the work, is everywhere evident as a predominant strength and an odd occasional weakness. I could not help feeling, every now and then, that it pained Knowlson greatly to have to write anything negative about Beckett. As a biography, it is less emotionally detached than I usually like, but only slightly. It was a compelling read, all 618 pages, which is saying alot.

Tepi Distorts Knowlson--This Bio Is the One You Need.......2006-02-01

The review below by Tepi distorts Knowlson's accomplishment and misguides readers to Bair's biography, which relies heavily on supposition and is flat out wrong on the details of Beckett's life in almost countless cases. Tepi expects Knowlson to track Beckett's mother's effect on him throughout the entire piece, but this isn't a psycho-biography; it's a biography that considers the man as a whole, not the man as formed by his mother.

This is the standard biography of Beckett because Knowlson has access to more first-hand information than any other. Doesn't hurt to have Beckett's authorization and good graces, either. It is true that the amount of information here is overwhelming, but this makes it the piece that a student of Beckett needs to have, something that one can consult for the rest of one's life. If one wants idle and sensationalistic speculation on Beckett's complexes, then you should waste your money on Bair. The choice shouldn't be hard.

Access to the inaccessible.......2003-03-18

It is too easy, I think, to criticize an authorized biography as being hagiography. I did not find that Damned to Fame suffered from particular whitewashing, but then I was not reading it with a particular need to see SB picked apart in a personally critical way.

Knowlson was a close personal friend of Beckett's-- a fact which he does not try to hide in his treatment. And as such he has access to letters and papers of which other would-be Beckett biographers could only dream. And as a friend, I found that he left the focus in the place that Beckett would have wanted it-- on the work itself, on the vision, on the *writing*.

Which is not to say that he neglects Beckett as a person. But Beckett was a deeply private person and I found that Knowlson did an excellent job of balancing the privacy so dear to the subject with discussing what the reader needs to know to understand the artist.

For a casual reader, Damned to Fame might even be *too* exhaustive. I appreciated it, however. Particularly appreciated all the references to what Beckett was reading at various points in his life and I as well appreciated the copious notes and bibliography provided at the end of the book.

tepi............2002-02-01

for Pete's sake.... Boo Hiss. If you know so much about him that you can make the assertions that you make... why didn't you do the job? I haven't finished the book yet, but I am enjoying it. Knowlson, obviously isn;t a professional biographer per say, but he at least brings many years of critical insight into the subject. And needless to say, if you want a "psychological" study, then we'll have to turn to someone else about his mother problems. Sometimes professional biographers aren't the best to unravel all the complexities of a man like Beckett.

Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett.

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Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IC2GMK

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Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett.
Samuel]. Knowlson, James. [BECKETT
Manufacturer: NY: Simon & Schuster
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UDBEH0

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