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From Leonardo da Vinci's recipe for imitation pearls to the derring-do of deep-sea pearl divers, Pearls: A Natural History delves into virtually every aspect of the gemstones that have been prized since ancient times for their luster and purity. The fascination of this book--which accompanies an exhibition at the American Museum of Natural History in New York through April 14, 2002--is the way it effortlessly combines scientific, historical, cultural, and practical information. Key topics include different species of marine and freshwater mollusks, the history of perliculture and ecological issues affecting pearl production. The more than 200 photographs include reproductions of spectacular objects ranging from a 16th-century Russian icon of the Madonna and child encrusted in freshwater pearls to an early-20th-century brooch in which lozenge-shaped Mississippi River pearls create the opulent blossoms of a diamond-stemmed flower. Solid information, intriguing trivia, and inviting design give this book a broad appeal. --Cathy Curtis
Book Description
A book with the luster and allure of its subject, Pearls is the most spectacular volume ever produced on this prized gem. Blending history, science, and the jeweler's art to celebrate these natural treasures-as in Abrams' hugely successful Amber-this lavishly illustrated volume, shimmering with new color photography and archival images, traces the natural and cultural history of pearls around the world.
Published to accompany an exhibition organized by the American Museum of Natural History in New York and the Field Museum in Chicago, Pearls begins with the earliest pearl artifacts found in Mesopotamia and discusses how pearls are formed, in nature and by humans, the ways different cultures have used pearls in literature, paintings, religious objects, and sculptures, and, of course, pearls as personal adornment.
225 illustrations, 150 in full color, 232 pages, 9 x 11"
Customer Reviews:
Pearls: A Natural History.......2006-07-19
A beautiful book with great information and many gorgeous pictures. The history and pearl formation information was very helpful.
Most excellent information, but..........2003-05-26
This book is quite thorough, as mentioned in the other reviews. The "but" is major, though.... The type font is VERY DIFFICULT on the eyes. I absolutely love pearls, drool over them, even. I gobble up any information on them. If the GIA offers a specialization in them, I will get it. But the lines in this font are so thin, and the size is so tight and small, I haven't been able to finish a fourth of the book, and I've had it over a year!
Every time I try to read it, I have to put it down after only a few pages. By the way, my vision is great, corrected to better than 20/20. Perhaps my copy (bought at the Metropolitan Museum of Art store) was printed when the ink source was running low...
contains everything you could want to know.......2002-03-22
This is an excellent, well illustrated book with everything you could want to know about pearls - how they occur naturally, the biology of this, how they are induced artificially ( cultured pearls), how they are faked, the optics of their appearance and how they have shaped history and , of course, pearl jewellery.
The hard bits are explained without jargon, in intelligeable words but without losing detail.
Pearls before swine..........2002-02-08
This truly is a history book, written in a very accessable style with lots of great photos and illustrations. If there's anything else to know about pearls then I suspect it might just about fill up the back of a postage stamp with room to spare. A great resource for amateurs and professionals alike; I thoroughly enjoyed it and it's well worth the money.
Average customer rating:
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1001 Questions Answered About the Mineral Kingdom
Richard M. Pearl
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0486287114 |
Book Description
Fascinating compendium of information about ever-present but lesser known realm of nature: minerals, crystals, rocks, precious metals, radioactive minerals, gems, fossil fuels, mining and milling, water resources, mineral collecting as a hobby and more. Easy-to-follow question-and-answer format. Over 30 illus. Bibliography. Index.
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Coast of coral and pearl
Peter Lancaster Brown
Manufacturer: Hale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0709133294 |
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Pearls and Pebbles: Catharine Parr Traill
Manufacturer: Natural Heritage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1896219594 |
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Journal of Shellfish Research, published by Thomson Gale on April 1, 2006. The length of the article is 5435 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: Growth, mortality, recruitment and sex-ratio in wild stocks of silver-lipped pearl oyster Pinctada maxima (Jameson) (mollusca: pteriidae), in western Australia.
Author: Anthony M. Hart
Publication:
Journal of Shellfish Research (Magazine/Journal)
Date: April 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 25
Issue: 1
Page: 201(10)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Semana, published by Thomson Gale on October 12, 2003. The length of the article is 552 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: Museum district double header.
Publication:
Semana (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 12, 2003
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 9
Issue: 554
Page: S4(1)
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
Kinky Friedman, the original Texas Jewboy, takes us on a rollicking, rock-and-rolling tour of his favorite city: Austin.
Maybe you want to know which restaurant President Bush rates as his favorite Austin burger joint. Or maybe you want a glimpse of Willie Nelson’s home life (hint: Willie plays a lot of golf). Perhaps you want to get the best view of the Mexican free-tail bats as they make their nightly flights to and from the Congress Avenue Bridge. Or maybe you’re itching to learn the history of a city that birthed Janis Joplin, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and countless other music legends. It’s all here in The Great Psychedelic Armadillo Picnic, the slightly insane, amazingly practical, and totally kick-ass guide to the coolest city in Texas by none other than Kinky Friedman.
This ain’t no ordinary travel guide, neither. “Like most other busy cities these days, Austin is not very effectively traversed by foot,” Kinky explains. “You must understand that ‘a walk in Austin’ is primarily a spiritual sort of thing.” As might be expected from this politically incorrect country-singer-turned-bestselling-mystery-author, the Kinkster’s tour includes a bunch of stuff you won’t ?nd in a Frommer’s guide, from descriptions of Austin’s notable trees and directions to skinny-dipping sites to lists of haunted places and quizzes and puzzles. So put on your cowboy hat and your brontosaurus-foreskin boots and head down south with the only book you need to get to the big heart of this great city.
Customer Reviews:
Make sure you get the version that Kinky reads.......2006-08-10
there are a few versions of this book. Don't get one that isn't read by the author. Otherwise, it isn't remotely funny!
An original .......2005-10-16
At least this guy's an original. This is my first trip in Kinkyland and I was repaid by getting a few laughs. I especially liked his frank no- nonsense tone in telling us for instance, that he goes around giving advice to people happier than himself.
He is deeply at home in the world of Austin and gives the reader a lot of local color, and a lot of advice as to where and what to visit and see.
On the Jewish side it seems to me that that part of his identity is a lot like the Jewish star on Max Baer's trunks, more for crowd power effect than anything else.
But who knows? This guy may be a genuine Longhorn Yid.
However the Kink should be aware that his love of the four- letter word will not give him an A in the big cheder upstairs which I suspect he is more likely to get to than to what he says he wishes to in this book, the Governor's Chair in Austin.
Delightful tour of a fantastic city.......2005-10-10
The Kinkster (Texas' next governor?) takes readers on a whirlwind tour of Austin. Anyone who has lived in Austin for a significant period of time will not find much new here. Those who have only visited might get some inkling of what makes this city unique and why millions of people all over the country consider Austin home even though the population is 600,000. This is an extremely funny journey. I can't think of a better tour guide than a man who refers to Garth Brooks as the anti-Hank
The road to better living passes through this town........2005-01-24
Any traveller worth their salt knows what a big mistake just showing up at a foriegn city empty minded can be; we also know an even bigger mistake exists: showing up with a mass-produced, banal "city guide." Of course, if you have never awoken on an airplane with a throbbing hangover and without any idea what you are doing there, or where 'there' is, maybe this book isn't for you. I once woke up in Toronto, the city hosting the International Conference for Progressive Psychology (ICPP) in 1968 -- before Dr. Shoozenschaurts' breakthrough work on depression was publicized. Sure his work was edgy, and progressive, but I knew it was dangerous. I tried to warn my colleagues of the inherint dangers in thinking such thoughts, after all, what we don't know can't hurt us. My fellow scientists ignored my warnings and embraced Dr. Shoozenschaurts' revolutionary concepts. After the conference of '68 I found myself and my ignorance is bliss theories discredited. Now I live on a couch. You live in a nation of depressed sociopaths. You could say I'm having the last laugh, but I'm not; because I live on a couch, and I am too depressed for laughter.
"With her countless clubs, bars, and dance halls, Austin is a whore with a heart of gold flaunting her gaudy necklace in the Texas night."
Naturally I am unemployed. This is important because this book along with the other Crown Journey books are, I believe, written for the unemployed. These books are written for the traveler with True Grit, whose idea of vacation is drinking coffee in a foriegn city and reading about one human's experience of a city that stands out from the pack; The kind of person that no longer finds excitement in visiting New York, London, Paris, or Los Angeles. The Crown Journey series captures real, unique culture in the most pleasantly unexpected places (Like Austin, Nantucket, Portland) and then combines it with real, unique personality in equally pleasant form (Kinkster, Pahlaniuk).
This book will make you laugh. This book will give you good ideas on where to go, and what to do in Austin. Perhaps most importantly, this book will give you the background perspective you need to enjoy your Austin vacation to the MAX~!
Riding with the Kinkster.......2005-01-07
Kinky for Governor!
Ok, so this review will be online forever and 50 years from now lots of people will probably be saying "Who the hell is Kinky Friedman?" (People in Buffalo probably already are saying it, but that's another story.)
If you want to get a quick look at who Kinky is, you can't go wrong with this slim volume. Its essentially a travelogue for the city of Austin, Texas, but the Kinkster's wit shines through. Kinky covers a lot of ground in short order to tell you where the best sites in Austin are: for music and nightlife (like The Broken Spoke), for food (like Threadgill's), for sightseeing (like Willie Nelson's house, where else?).
Along the way, we get bits and pieces of Texas and specifically Austin history. Whether you are new to Texas or have been, as I have, a lifelong resident, you're sure to find something you didn't already know. If you get through this and are dying to read more, the next step of course, is to get cracking at his mysteries (i.e. Greenwich Killing Time). In the mean time, sit back and enjoy. The Kinkster is at the wheel, and the cigar smoke is filling up the car. I can't see where we are going, but the trip is sure to be fun.
Average customer rating:
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Before the Storm: American Indians Before the Europeans (Library of American Indian History)
Allison Lassieur
Manufacturer: Facts on File
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0816036519 |
Book Description
Dr. Pommerville's Guide to Infectious Diseases by Body System offers readers an excellent tool for learning about microbial diseases. Each of the fifteen body system units presents a brief introduction to the anatomical system and the bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic organisms infecting the system. Anatomical illustrations are captioned with the diseases' signs and symptoms. Each unit also provides the names and brief descriptions of each disease, and their causes and treatments. This book makes an excellent infectious disease primer and quick reference for any microbiology, anatomy and physiology, or allied health student.
Customer Reviews:
nice pamphlet.......2006-10-17
When I received my package I was disappointed that I only received advertising material. Imagine my disappointment when I realized the shiny pamphlet was actually the BOOK I ordered! Nowhere in the description does it hint that all you get is 32 pages. They're nice enough pages, hence the 2 stars, but certainly not what I was expecting.
Great Review.......2005-08-22
Great quick review for classes that involve the study of infectious diseases...a sort of crib notes or spark notes for ID's. Loved it although would have like some more material in the book for the price. Overall, a handy guide to have, though.
Average customer rating:
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Modern approach to inorganic chemistry
Colin Frank Bell
Manufacturer: Butterworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Inorganic
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General & Reference
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| Professional Science
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ASIN: 0408703717 |
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Digital Computer Arithmetic: Design and Implementation (Computer Science)
Joseph Cavanagh
Manufacturer: Mcgraw-Hill College
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Probability & Statistics
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ASIN: 0070102821 |
Customer Reviews:
The best on the subject.......2002-01-24
This book containts a complete description of the most common techniques of computer arithmetic. It makes no assumptions about the readers foreknowledge of the subject. However, it also has no more words than are needed to describe the algorithms completely.
An understanding of digital logic fundamentals is advised. This is not a book on modern high-speed circuit design techniques. It is best used as a (RTL level) logic design reference.
Book Description
The only comprehensive hardcover edition of Tolstoy's shorter fiction--57 stories and novellas, including two that have never before appeared in English.
In these two handsome volumes, every aspect of Tolstoy's art and personality is reflected: his experiences as a soldier in the Caucasus, his married life, his passionate interest in the peasantry, his belief in truth and simplicity, and above all, his growing preoccupation with religion. Ranging in scope from the short novels Hadj Murad and The Kreutzer Sonata to folktales only a few pages long, they bring us intimately into the world of the great Russian novelist.
Customer Reviews:
Tolstoy's Collected Shorter Fiction-Vol. 2.......2006-02-23
This is an excellent translation of some of Tolstoy's shorter fiction. The binding is also excellent, which makes this particular collection a wonderful gift to someone who enjoys Tolstoy, or a delicious treasure to savor for oneself. For those who can be intimidated by the longer (much longer) works, this is a fine introduction to Tolstoy's voice and worldview. I recommend this edition unreservedly.
TOLSTOY, THE IMMORTAL STORYTELLER!!!!!.......2005-09-05
What a beautiful set of volumes!! All of Leo Tolstoy's great, great shorter works all in one two volume set! Leo Tolstoy was a perfect storyteller. When you look at a photo or portrait of Tolstoy in his later years, you see that lovable, wise old man who, when he is not helping others, sits on an old chair in the corner of the tavern, attracting all that pass by with his beautiful tales. He has touched many with his two great novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), he has touched even more with his wonderful short stories. When you start reading these lovely short stories, you can just see that lovable image of the wise old Tolstoy telling a story, with his shaggy, long white beard, and his friendly eyes with a laughing fire in them burning out from beneath the bushy eyebrows smiling down at you, a small child, laughing on his knee.
He was the perfect novelist, reveared by many, equally great and legendary. In his time, Dostoyevsky called him, "The greatest living novelist." Virginia Woolf referred to Tolstoy as follows, "There remains the greatest of all novelists, for what else can we call the author of War and Peace?!"
Tolstoy's short stories usually have a moral in it such as the lovely short story, "Where Love is, God is." In that, there is a lonely old cobbler named Martin who finds God in the good deeds he does and is reminded of God's love for man.
This two volume set is not perfect as it does not have Tolstoy's early 1862 masterpiece, The Cossacks. I guess that was just too big to fit into the Collected SHORTER Fiction.
That is only a minor quibble. The beauty and marvel frothing and bubbling from the other stories in this precious set dwarf that complaint and make this reviewer forget of having even thought about mentioning it at all.
Buy this set. You will treasure it for the rest of your days and will always look forward to pulling out one of these two volumes off your shelf, blowing off the dust and partaking in the magic of Tolstoy, the wise old storyteller.
A NICE ACCESSIBLE EDITION OF TOLSTOY'S SHORT FICTION.......2001-10-03
This is a really handsome book and with it's companion (vol. 2) makes a great addition to world lit. on your bookshelf. Some stories are novellas and some are only a page or two long but they're all artfully written and come from old established translations from late 19th century/early 20th. For anyone who wants to tackle WAR AND PEACE or ANNA KARENINA they should read a little of Tolstoy's more accessible short works and they can't go wrong here. My only complaint (and this goes for all Everyman series books) is that the text printed on the other side is annoyingly visible making reading a bit of a chore. This is a major blunder for any series of books purporting to capture the world's best literature but if you can ignore this (or at least get used to it) this would be a smart purchase because the price is right (if you buy it here).
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- Primate Anatomy, Second Edition: An Introduction
- Principles of Population Genetics, Fourth Edition
- Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert
- Road Ecology: Science And Solutions
- Rock, Gem, and Mineral Collecting Sites in Western North Carolina
- Sassafras: The True Confessions of a Poodle Princess
- Seashore Life Illustrations (Dover Electronic Clip Art Series) (Book and CD-ROM)
- Silent World (NG Adventure Classics)
- Simon & Schuster Children's Guide to Insects and Spiders
- Simon & Schuster's Guide to Trees
Books Index
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Pearls (Fred Ward Gem Book)
Pearl Buying Guide: How to Evaluate, Identify and Select Pearls & Pearl Jewelry
The Pearl Book, 3rd Edition: The Definitive Buying Guide: How to Select, Buy Care for & Enjoy Pearls
People And Pearls: The Magic Endures
Tiffany Pearls
