The fungi;: A description of their morphological features and evolutionary development

Average customer rating:

rather unbalanced

By No Means Uninteresting

Not for Professional Women.....

Not for Professional Women.....

I definately recommend this book

Culture Shock! Pakistan (Culture Shock!)
Zafar Ihsan , and Karin Mittmann
Manufacturer: Kuperard
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Pakistan | Asia | Travel | Subjects | Books
Guidebooks | Reference & Tips | Travel | Subjects | Books
Culture Shock! | Guidebook Series | Travel | Subjects | Books
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Insight Guide Pakistan (Insight Guides)

The Dancing Girls of Lahore : Selling Love and Saving Dreams in Pakistan's Ancient Pleasure District

Lonely Planet Pakistan & the Karakoram Highway (Lonely Planet Pakistan)

Culture Shock! China: A Guide to Customs & Etiquette

Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time

ASIN: 1870668782

Book Description

You'll never feel intimidated and awkward about the customs and etiquette of another country again. With the insights provided in this CULTURE SHOCK! Guide, you'll learn to see beyond the stereotypes and misinformation that often precede a visit to a foreign land. Whether you plan to stay for a week or for a year, you'll benefit from such topics as understanding the rules of driving and monetary systems, religious practices and making friends. There are tips on political traditions, building business relationships, and the particular intricacies of setting up a home or office. Great for the business traveler, the foreign exchange student, or the tourist who makes a sincere attempt to cross the bridge into a new and exciting culture.

Customer Reviews:

rather unbalanced.......2002-07-26

althought this book is relativly well written and candid it seems as though the author does to full understand the culture and often misrepresents it. the pictures (although black and white) are quite nice and the descriptions of the elite in the major cities such as karachi and lahore are close to true but not always agreeable. I visited pakistan for my friends wedding a few months ago and this book contradicts most of what i learned about their culture and ceremonies. what i found most misrepresented was the issue of sexism in pakistan. the author mentions how women have less authority than men but conveniently forgets to mention the respect and facilities they are awarded as mothers,sisters, and wives. all in all i felt this book isnt the best way to go if you really want to understand the country and the people of pakistan, this book isnt the best way to go.

By No Means Uninteresting.......2001-08-07

Having never been to Pakistan myself, I am perhaps not a fair judge of how accurate this book actually is. However, I am familiar with the Pakistani culture and I can comment on the style in which this book was written.

The book is very informative and detailed. Every aspect of life imaginable: villages, cities, business, weddings, hosting parties, buying houses, what is/isn't safe to eat--it even gives a break-down of which foreigners will be liked and/or disliked by Pakistanis. She does a very good job, ostensibly, of giving a description adequate for more than just a two week vacation in an exotic country. This book is also, considering that it is a nonfiction travel guide, quite interesting and able to keep your attention--with appealing photography (although in black-and-white) and hilarious sketches by Zafar Ihsan, it will not fail to keep your attention.

As negatives for the book, they unfortunately come across rather distinctly. Ms. Mittmann comes from a failed marriage to a Pakistani, so perhaps this explains her viewpoint. The book is very dour and rather pessimistic. Although Mittmann claims to love Pakistan and cherish it as a country, you can hardly believe that given her criticism of it. While it is true that Pakistan's Islamic culture does strike Westerners as rather sexist, she lacks the compassion to explain that some of this restriction stems from an ancient desire to protect women and keep them out of harm's way. There is also a quality in this book which is bereft of light-hearted excitement. Perhaps this is because the thrill of living abroad wears off in expatriates all-too-soon.

This is a fair book. I would consider it worth reading for somebody already familiar with Pakistani culture, but would warn away any newcomers. Its style is mildly patronizing and there is a stoic, almost-depressing air about it, which would frighten anyone curious about Islamic cultures away.

Not for Professional Women............2001-05-22

I work in foreign assistance and am very much looking forward to moving to Pakistan for my next job. I bought this book, as I have bought others in the "culture shock" series when I have worked/traveled in other developing countries for extended periods.

Unfortunately, this book seems to be written for men. At first I thought it was just poor editing and choice of words (i.e. using masculine he/his/him pronouns without it being clear if the advice was meant to apply to men or to men AND women) then it became obvious that I was just being left out. The sectiions about women are preoccupied with clothes and shopping, and in a few sections -- most notably the one on the workplace -- it actually starts refers to a few things for "your wife" (i.e, playing hostess) to do to "help". As a single woman professional, I'm pretty disgusted that this section made NO reference to issues or etiquette that I must consider if I am to succeed at my next job.

And, just to add appalling icing on the cake....... the "sex" section consists solely of how I can find a prosititute despite the banning of brothels and how not to get conned by their pimps.

ARGH!!!!!!!

Not for Professional Women............2001-05-22

And, just to add appalling icing on the cake....... the "sex" section consists solely of how I can find a prosititute despite the banning of brothels and how not to get conned by their pimps.

ARGH!

I definately recommend this book.......1998-06-15

I think most people are smart enough to take things in context. Not everywhere and every situation will match cultural norms, but this book is the best place to start on Pakistan. I look forward to reading others in this series as I travel elsewhere. I read the travel books on Pakistan but this one gave the most preparation to the culture and what to expect while most books tell you places or events of interest.

Book Description

In Reflections on Canadian Character: From Monarch Park to Monarch Mountain, Bob Couchman offers a critical examination of Canada's social-welfare state and its evolution. The story begins in the 1940s in Monarch Park, a working-class neighbourhood where the community provided assistance and care when people were in need, and government programs were viewed as a temporary helping hand for those who were destitute or suffering. In the 1950s and 1960s, government expanded its social-welfare agenda and Canadian attitudes began to change. Social programs that were intended to provide short-term aid came to be viewed as a universal right, something all Canadians were entitled to, regardless of need or financial situation. Couchman witnessed first-hand the effects of this shift away from collective responsibility and toward individual entitlement. While Canadians increasingly depend on government for aid, many programs fail to provide adequate support. Such failures, combined with the fundamental change in the character of Canadians, threaten our very future as a caring society.

Book Description

Hold onto your bootstraps folks! If you liked Erin Brockovich, you'll be thoroughly intrigued with the adventures of these two sisters, their knack for investigative work and their fascinating family in Texas. This is a stirring, humorous and unconventional "true story" about their epics and the Texas Justice System.

Sydney and her sister Heather will take you on a gut wrenching, nerve racking, emotional roller coaster ride that occurs after their father dies and their stepmother produces a suspicious Last Will and Testament that leaves the stepmother the entire estate. As they face their father's death, an evil stepmother, and a tainted legal system, they introduce themselves to many people along the way while searching for missing pieces of the family puzzle. What they discover makes them question everything they once thought was real.

Is their father the man they think he is? How was he able to buy all the guns, diamonds, land and mineral rights that he owned? How involved was he in the gambling and prostitution rings along the Galveston Bay? Were his connections to George Bush, Lyndon Johnson, Lady Bird and Joe Bonanno much deeper than they seemed? Was he truly involved in the JFK assassination?

What they learn about their stepmother Betty is devastating. How did the town whore come to marry their father the Police Chief? Did she kill her only brother and forge her own father's Will too? Just how many accomplices does she have? Are some of them their own brothers and sister? What their forensic document expert, Mrs. Higgins, discovers will send chills up and down your spine.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent storyline, but.........2006-03-02

for me, the story is marred by grammatical errors, over use of commas and exclamation points, and numerous mispelled words. I found it difficult to read for any length of time, but made my way through it.
The story itself is excellent, full of twists and turns and the angst that only family can provide. Despite the drawbacks mentioned above, I highly recommend this book.

Unfocused meandering through Texas via Fone & Fax.......2004-11-22

Maybe this vanity self-published (1st Books) memoir "couldda been a contender" in the True Crime book genre. But there's more rotten in the State of Texas and this book than just the allegations that Stepmomma forged Daddy's will. Daddy had six kids with wife #1. When he dies, married to wife #2, the kids in Family #1 are unhappy that Daddy didn't leave them the proverbial farm and all the underlying Texas mineral rights thereto. So, two of the Family #1 daughters waltz across, zig zagging back and forth around, Texas trying to prove that Wicked Stepmomma forged a Will not giving them what they feel to be their due.

This saga is all relayed to the reader in screenplay fashion - via expository cell phone conversations and faxes in the present (so she goes to Betty's and like, opens the door and goes...) Valley Girl lingo tense as the amateur sister sleuths try to grab the Texas gold. The author (Sister Sleuth # 1) writes of herself in the 3rd person. There is totally too much extraneous information and conversation in this 553 page tome that would have greatly benefited from an experienced editor and proof reader at a "real" publishing house. Grammatical and syntactical errors abound. And buried in the middle of it all, warranting only scant mention, is the bomb that maybe Daddy was involved as an assassin of JFK (!)

At the end of all the traversing of Texas, the reader knows little more than she did at the start of the journey about who did what to whom - except that those Newman girls think all attorneys are idiots.
And, Owen, there are no pictures here.
/TundraVision esq Amazon Reviewer

True thriller.......2004-10-06

This book needs to be read when you have the time because you will not want to put it down. My husband is not a "reader" and he couldn't put it aside either. I could not wait to find out if justice prevailed. It's really hard to comprehend that people can be so evil and deceptive, but Sydney Newsome Dodson did a terrific job of telling her, and her siblings horrific experiences. Her documentation and attention to detail is superb. I can't wait to read her follow-up book!!! Read and enjoy, we really did.

Very Interesting book! You evil stepmoms better watch out........2004-10-05

I bought and finished this book in two days. I can't wait to find out how this winds up. I hope Sydney and her family get their rightful share of their dad's inheritance. This kind of thing happens way to often.

I hope the sequel comes out soon. Hopefully pictures will be in the next one. It makes it more real to know what each person looks like.

Pretty Good Read.......2004-07-19

I read this book in only a couple of days. It was pretty good for a first-time author. I got a little confused with all the characters. However, I could visualize the story coming to life in my mind's eye. Hopefully there will be a sequel.

Product Description

This price is valid only online at Petco.com. Not available in stores at this price. For local in-store prices, please call your favorite Petco Store.For well over a century rats have been popular pets. They make great pets for just about anyone; they can even help children develop a sense of responsibility. The Guide to Owning a Rat is an outstanding source for everybody from the beginning rat owner to the experienced rat fancier. Full-color photographs throughout this book guide the reader in choosing a rat, breeding, feeding, and exhibiting the many varieties of this fascinating and intelligent creature.Contents include:IntroductionRats in GeneralHousingFeedingTamingTrainingBreedingHealthTravel and Vacation

Customer Reviews:

Inaccurate.......2006-03-04

This book is full of information but unfortunately gives some very poor advice for any rat owner. Pine and cedar will both cause respiratory problems in rats, which can lead to ill health and secondary infections. Also, many of the pictures in this book are of mice.

If you buy this book, please keep in mind - no pine or cedar bedding for rats! Much better is The Rat (An Owner's Guide to a Happy Healthy Pet) by Ginger Cardinal (Howell Book House) or Rats! (A Fun & Care Book) by Debbie Ducommun (Bowtie Press) .

great advice!!!.......2003-06-05

The author knows what she is talking about. You can tell that she has had a lot of experience with her own rats, has done the necessary research, has talked with other experts in the care and breeding of rats, and presents the information so that everyone can understand it. For the reviewer who commented on the "suggestion" that pine shavings be used, it should be understood that there is a lot of controversy about the use of cedar/pine shavings and when the book was published in 1996, the "experts" were still having their discussions about the subject. As far as the few photos of mice, it is unfortunate that the publishers did include them but that does not lessen the impact of the valuable information in the book. I learned a lot about rats from this book, which has more information in it than many other books on the subject. It's a great book, and people just starting out with pet rats will find it to be a great reference, one they will refer to many times.

BAD ADVICE!.......2003-03-18

This book is full of bad advice. She recommends using Pine which is almost as bad for rats as Cedar is! And some of the pictures in the book are of mice, not rats. ...

gREAT INFO FOR RAT newbies.......2001-12-12

I found this great for me when I got my rats since i knew little or nothing about them. Now that i have had them a few years and have gone online for info. I can tell you, it's a great guide for NEWBIES but I also found there to be as much info online.
If i read it now, i would say tell me something I dont know. But, if you have never owned one of the cutties..this is the bible of rats

good for newbies.......2001-12-12

If you know nothing about owning a rattie then this is the book for you. I knew essentially nothing so this was a great book. I must say, If you already have read up on owning a rat on the internet then you already know everything in this book.
I feel the internet had as much if not more info.
But the price was right and incase my computer goes down, it's helpful

Average customer rating:

GUIDE TO OWNING A RAT
FOX
Manufacturer: TFH
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000S4LO0S

Average customer rating:

Guide to Owning a Rat -
Susan Fox -
Manufacturer: T.F.H. Publishing-
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O05448

Average customer rating:

Great book, test your interest in making "real" jewelry

Pretty Pictures, Not Much Usable Advice

Great reference book for anyone who is not yet up to Master level

Good review

VERY THOROUGH

The Encyclopedia of Jewelry-Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques
Jinks McGrath
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sculpture | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
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The Jeweler's Directory Of Decorative Finishes

ASIN: 1561385263

Customer Reviews:

Great book, test your interest in making "real" jewelry.......2007-07-20

If you just want to buy pieces and put them together- this is not the book for you. If you honestly want to learn jewelers skills then you will be pleased with this book. I have really enjoyed this book and it has led to many new ideas. This one will stay in my library.

Pretty Pictures, Not Much Usable Advice.......2007-05-23

I purchased this book in the hopes that it would help me expand my technique with jewelry making and design. Almost all of the techniques covered in the books would take thousands and thousands of dollars in equipment and supplies to actually impliment. It's only really useful for professional jewelers working for big companies with big bucks. It is however interesting and pretty. If you are curious about various techniques such as enameling, reticulation, oxidization and mokume gane, than this is a good book. Even though I am a jeweler and an artist, this will just be a "coffee table book" for me.

Great reference book for anyone who is not yet up to Master level.......2007-03-13

This is a perfect book that combines text and plenty of images to demonstrate both bare bones beginning jewelry making technique as well as more advanced technique (including making some of your own tools!).
I bought a copy of this after taking it out of our local library and I am very pleased with it...Very thorough. Very easy to understand. For those who are really just starting out it's almost like the "idiot's guide" to the Complete Metalsmith...Not that this is dumbed down but there is alot of terminology in Metalsmith that requires one to know the foreign language first...This book assumes almost no knowledge from the reader, but doesn't babytalk or oversimplify either.

Good review.......2007-02-23

Kept me busy for a couple of hours. Describes the principles of jewelry making without the in-depth technique descriptions I am looking for.

VERY THOROUGH.......2007-01-12

This is like a textbook. Everything you want to
know about jewelry and how it is made. Whether
you want to make it yourself or just learn about
the techniques this is a great book. No need
for others...

Jewelry-Making Techniques : A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques (Encyclopedia of Art Ser.)

Average customer rating:

Jewelry-Making Techniques : A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques (Encyclopedia of Art Ser.)
Jinks McGrath
Manufacturer: Running Press Book Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Art | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000KW28TO

Amazon.com

Much has changed since the previous turn of the century, but our appreciation of the restrained and peaceful beauty of Cornish, New Hampshire has remained. In the early 1900s, Cornish was renowned as an artist's colony filled with magical gardens that appeared in the work of many resident artists like Frances Houston, William Hyde, Maria Oakey Dewing, and Stephen and Maxfield Parrish. In many cases, the fame of the gardens outlasted the reputation of the artist, but in A Place of Beauty, the art and the gardens that provided inspiration are seen as inseparable.

Garden admirers will enjoy this book as much as any art historian. Twelve different houses are discussed in detail--the owners, architects, gardeners, and their stylistic goals are revealed through fascinating text, historical photographs, and reproductions of the works of art that were created by the talented residents. Between painting, sculpting, and writing, Cornish's residents also found time to be surprisingly competitive in the realm of gardening. While each house maintained a clear style, the overall beauty was discussed and judged with a fairly critical eye, and professional designers such as Ellen Shipman were brought in for expert consultations. As one visitor said, "They bore me to death with their houses and their poor little flower beds." The text is filled with personal notes, diary entries, and letters--the Cornish residents were a prolific lot. And while the community was described by one female citizen as "a place where men are acknowledged to be more important than the women," the numerous photos and reproductions of paintings that fill the book show a world filled with an astonishing beauty rarely seen in our modern world. --Jill Lightner

Average customer rating:
Becoming Orgasmic: A Sexual and Personal Growth Program for Women

Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000FZRQTI

Book Description

The Snowflake Man is a biography of Wilson Alwyn Bentley, the farmer from Jericho, Vermont, who took more than five thousand photomicrographs of ice, dew, frost, and - especially - snow crystals. Although his photographs were taken between 1885 and 1931, they have never been equaled and are in great demand today.

Bentley's story is one of courage and persistence against tremendous odds. He taught himself how to photograph snow crystals through a microscope while still in his teens and then pursued his obsession for years before having the beauty and scientific value of his work recognized by others. The Snowflake Man lays open the life of a simple, self-educated, sensitive man who pursued natural beauty with microscope and camera for nearly fifty years. The book contains 30 black and white photographs.

Customer Reviews:

To Preserve Nature's Designs for all the World to See. .......2006-11-05

Wilson A. Bentley rarely left Jericho, Vermont, but his contributions to meteorology and his extraordinary photomicrographs of snow crystals reach far and wide. In 1885, at the age of 19, Bentley became the first person to successfully photograph a snowflake. A lifetime of dedication -not to say obsession- to preserving the beauty of ephemeral snow crystals produced over 5,000 impressive snowflake images. Even now, Bentley's images are found on textiles, paper products, jewelry, and every sort of graphic art. Atmospheric scientist and author Duncan Blanchard has pieced together Bentley's story as best as possible with relatively little surviving documentation of his personal life. Of course, to Bentley, photographing snowflakes and studying atmospheric phenomena was his personal life. He was passionately devoted to it.

"The Snowflake Man" begins with a little Bentley family history, then follows Wilson's life and work from his birth in 1865 to his death in 1931 at age 66, shortly after the publication of his wonderful "Snow Crystals", which brought the best of his vast collection of snow crystal photos to book form. Bentley lived his entire life on his family's 4-generational farm and made his photographs in the barn, washing his glass plates in a brook, making copy negative with an oil lantern and contact prints by sunlight. He applied the same methodical perfectionism to recording the weather and studying the formation of raindrops and frost, among other atmospheric water phenomenon. Many of Bentley's contributions to meteorology were recognized at the time, but science took a few decades to catch up with his pioneering work in cloud physics.

Duncan Blanchard has written a sympathetic biography of Wilson Bentley, a man who suffered constant derision for his scientific obsession that was simply unproductive and out of place in a farming community. His spectacular photomicrographs opened the door to professional respect and, eventually, popular fame. This biography is more straightforward than eloquent, and Blanchard jumps to too many conclusions about Bentley's thoughts and his family. But the book is very readable and contains as much information on Wilson Bentley as anyone is going to find. There is an index in the back as well as a list of all of the known articles that Bentley authored in his lifetime.

A fitting tribute for one man's life long obsession .......2005-02-18

It is said that no two snowflakes are alike; the same holds true for the obsessions that drive the human spirit. Some we control, others control us. Wilson A. Bentley, an eccentric Vermont farmer, gave in to his fascination with snowflakes and spent his entire life documenting their myriad forms. His unprecedented and starkly beautiful collection of literally thousands of photographs of snowflakes taught the world just how unique these ice crystals really are, and how one man could stubbornly pursue one microscopic slice of knowledge over the entire course of his life.

Bentley lived and died bewitched by atmospheric process. As a teenager, he built by hand the photographic equipment that would later gain him some measure of fame, often incorporating found materials - such as straws from a broom - into the rigors of his study. Dismissed by most as a harmless crank, his work was groundbreaking, leading to a revolution in understanding.

In The Snowflake Man, author Duncan S. Blanchard uses his professional training as a meteorologist and physicist to commemorate the labor of love that drove Bentley. The writing is, at best, of limited merit but in some odd way that only serves to make the images of Bentley - a confirmed bachelor - hunched over his photographic equipment all the more poignant. What is clear is that Mr. Blanchard knows his subject matter well and was no doubt inspired in his own career by the unwavering dedication, or obsession, of the odd and all but forgotten researcher.

Like Bentley's favorite subject matter, the book itself will quickly melt away - it is a slim effort that can be read in one sitting. The photographs, now almost a century old, are still remarkable though. Most compelling, however, is the insight it offers into obsession which will linger long after the last page. It is a worthy and recommended read if only to honor the fierce, undying commitment of the snow flake man.

Unique Education.......2000-04-06

This book, as is snowflakes, is very unique. Illustrations are fantastic and tell a story of their own!

Warmest possible treatment of a delightfully chilly subject.......1999-02-03

Author Blanchard brings humor, life, and compelling energy to an eccentric and an era previously hidden under a thick layer of (snow)dust. Bentley, generally considered an eccentric -- when considered at all -- was actually a dedicated scientist with an artist's eye and heart. What could have been dull scientific treatise actually reads with the smooth pull of a good novel.

My Brother Loved Snowflakes: The Story of Wilson a Bentley, the Snowflake Man

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My Brother Loved Snowflakes: The Story of Wilson a Bentley, the Snowflake Man
Mary Bahr Fritts , and Mary Bahr
Manufacturer: Boyds Mills Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Fiction | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1563976897

Snowflake Bentley Man of Science Man of God

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Snowflake Bentley Man of Science Man of God
Gloria May Stoddard
Manufacturer: New England Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Physics | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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Snowflakes in Photographs

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