Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity, and Representation

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a nice & original study of animal imagery

Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity, and Representation
Steve Baker
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0252070305

Book Description

From Mickey Mouse to the teddy bear, from the Republican elephant to the use of "jackass" as an all-purpose insult, images of animals play a central role in politics, entertainment, and social interactions. In this penetrating look at how Western culture pictures the beast, Steve Baker examines how such images--sometimes affectionate, sometimes derogatory, always distorting--affect how real animals are perceived and treated.

Baker provides an animated discussion of how animals enter into the iconography of power through wartime depictions of the enemy, political cartoons, and sports symbolism. He examines a phenomenon he calls the "disnification" of animals, meaning a reduction of the animal to the trivial and stupid, and shows how books featuring talking animals underscore human superiority. He also discusses how his findings might inform the strategies of animal rights advocates seeking to call public attention to animal suffering and abuse. Until animals are extricated from the baggage of imposed images, Baker maintains, neither they nor their predicaments can be clearly seen.

For this edition, Baker provides a new introduction, specifically addressing an American audience, that touches on such topics as the Cow Parade, animal imagery in the presidential race, and animatronic animals in recent films.

Customer Reviews:

a nice & original study of animal imagery.......1997-02-24

Picturing the beast is about the way animals are depicted in the media (cartoons, photography etc.) The thesis of the book is that such depictions partly determine the way we think about and treat animals. Picturing the beast is a highly original study and is recommended for anyone interested in media & communication, or the animal rights debate

Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity, and Representation

Average customer rating:

Picturing the Beast: Animals, Identity, and Representation
Steve Baker
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPZ9CK

Book Description

Tackle the rugged Pyrenees, Picos de Europa or Sierra Nevada, tread history along the Camino de Santiago pilgrim trail or sample Spain's diverse natural and cultural beauty, from misty Galicia to Alpujarran Muslim villages.

142 days of walking, from easy coastal strolls to multiday high-level challenges
detailed route descriptions, including nine new walks
two-colour contour maps for each walk
the lowdown on accommodation, food and transport options
includes Andorra, Mallorca and walks a pebble's throw from the Costa del Sol and Costa Blanca
practical tips on buying gear, staying healthy, navigation and safety

Customer Reviews:

Good resource, but make sure to do fact-checking for hikes!.......2005-11-16

I used this book to plan a loop-hike in Sierra de Grazalema in Andalucia. Luckily, the inn keeper informed us that the book had published the hike in reverse of the intended route, due to some sort of copyright issue.

If we would have followed the book's instructions, we would have had a more difficult hike, and might have gotten lost. The inn keeper said that many hikers have complained of getting lost after following this book, since all the arrows are pointing in the opposite direction, and the cairns aren't necessarily even visible from the route, if you follow the book. Once on the hike, we could see that he was correct. I found Lonely Planet's inclusion of this "backwards route" to be extremely unethical.

But the book is the reason I even ended up on this beautiful hike, and it has a lot of good information. I don't know if there is a better guide available. But I DO recommend verifying/checking your route with someone local and NOT relying solely on the book for planning your route.

Walk Spain until it's Flat.......2005-08-19

This Guide lives up to "Lonely Planets" reputation as a publisher of well researched Travel guides. It's the only guide you really need to "Walk Spain Flat"!

All the basic info is provided, Maps, discriptions,and language in easy to read format {although now that I'm in my 60's the print/font seems smaller??}. For walking Spain the guide is a "must have" piece of equipment.

Great and lightweight.......2003-10-27

I think some of the reviewers' comments below are probably correct but none of them are serious drawbacks. True, the maps in this guide are not EXTREMELY detailed, but if you want a really detailed topographical map, you can always get one. The actual trail descriptions in this book are painstakingly detailed -- it even gets tedious. So if you can't find every tree along your route marked on the maps here, just use your imagination a little and wing it.

"Walking in Spain" describes thirty or so of the best trails in Spain, highlighting trails in Mallorca, the Alpujarras Mountains of Andalusia, the area around Valencia, Castile's Sierra de Gredos and Sierra de Guadarrama, the Spanish Pyrenees, Galicia, and the Cordillera Cantábrica. Hikes vary from longer hauls like the 23-day Pyrenean traverse and the month-long Camino de Santiago to shorter 5- and 6-day hikes and walks you can do in less than a day.

I've used the guide to get some great ideas for an upcoming hiking trip to the Alpujarras Mountains and the Sierra Nevada and have found it extremely useful. It lists numerous places to stay, ranging from 30- and 40-euro "pensiones" to dirt-cheap hikers' "albergues". You're not going to find a list of every single cheap place to crash your head here (if you did, you would have a book twice as big as this one), but you won't find yourself stranded. There's also a bunch of affordable eating places listed in this book.

A plus for hikers who want to tackle all or part of the famous St. James pilgrimage route is that the guide's recommended day-to-day itinerary drops you off at the end of each day in towns where you can get food and water. A chart also shows the distance between each official "albergue" and the next.

This book comes up a little short on cultural information, but you can always take a look at Lonely Planet's general guide to Spain. Recommended. Five stars.

For Camino de Santiago, still excellent info in 37 pages.......2003-10-22

I walked the Camino in 2001, using the 36 pages of the 2nd edition guide, in conjuction with the Confraternity of St. James Camino Frances. I found a large amount of excellent info in the 36 pages, and have been recommending it on our Camino web page ever since. The refugios change so rapidly that you shouldn't rely just on one guide. When I saw the recent negative review from a 2003 pilgrim, I went out and bought the 3rd edition, to see if there were drastic changes. The changes were few, and were all improvements - a list of refugios at the beginning, bolder print on the maps, so they are easier to read, slight rewording of some of the text. The authors of the Camino segment are still Nancy Frey and Jose Placer. Nancy has a PhD from University of California, Berkeley, and has written a well respected book on the Camino: Pilgrim Stories. The two of them own the On Foot In Spain adventure company and personally lead walks on the Camino and other treks in Spain. The history in the Lonely Planet segment is authentic, though necessarily condensed. I stand by my original recommendation. In addition to these 37 pages, get the Confraternity Camino Frances guide, and get either Davies and Cole's guide or John Brierley's guide.

You will find some errors or changes needed in all of these guides, due to conditions changing on the trail, overlooked typos, etc. When you do, help future pilgrims by sending an email to the publication's website so that they can revise the next edition.

Lonely Planet's Worst Offering.......2003-08-14

I am walking the Camino de Santiago now and can only comment on the Lonely Planet in this context. Day after day I become more convinced that Lonely Planet's researchers have never been on the Camino. They make much of the albergues or refugios but all this information is printed on the back of pilgrims' credencial (price one euro not 25 cents as LP claim). All of the other places where one might stay are hardly mentioned if at all. Punte Reina is described as a one street village, absolutely wrong! The trail leaving the same town is totally mis-described and all the trail mythology plagiarised from other sources takes up space that might be given over to hard facts. Distances are frequently misleading because of sloppy language. A typical example, is something like ¨"start from the crossroads, you'll pass x, y and z and continue for 5 kms to reach a crossroads¨." So where does the 5 kms start, at the crossroads or is it x,y and z? Whichever you choose you'll be wrong, there's no consistency. It happens time after time. An iron bridge near Estella is described as wooden. All small errors you may say but it just piles up day after day. Do not waste money on this useless book. What you need to know is what awaits you at the end of each day when you struugle into the next place after 20 or 30 kms only to read more vague errors from this.

Lonely Planet Trekking in Spain (Lonely Planet Walking Guide)

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Lonely Planet Trekking in Spain (Lonely Planet Walking Guide)
Mark Dubin
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Lonely Planet Walking in Spain

ASIN: 0864420889

Senderismo en Espana (Lonely Planet Trekking In Spain)

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Senderismo en Espana (Lonely Planet Trekking In Spain)
Lonely Planet
Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Lonely Planet: Senderismo En Espana

Manufacturer: Lonely Planet Publications - Spanish editions
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Return to the River will describe a new ecosystem-based approach to the restoration of salmon and steelhead populations in the Columbia River, once one of the most productive river basins for anadromous salmonids on the west coast of North America. The approach of this work has broad applicability to all recovery efforts throughout the northern hemisphere and general applicability to fisheries and aquatic restoration efforts throughout the world.

The Pacific Northwest is now embroiled in a major public policy debate over the management and restoration of Pacific salmon. The outcome of the debate has the potential to affect major segments of the region's economy - river transportation, hydroelectric production, irrigated agriculture, urban growth, commercial and sport fisheries, etc. This debate, centered as it is on the salmon in all the rivers, has created a huge demand for information. The book will be a powerful addition to that debate.

* A 15 year collaboration by a diverse group of scientists working on the management and recovery of salmon, steelhead trout, and wildlife populations in the Pacific Northwest
* Includes over 200 figures, with four-color throughout the book
* Discusses complex issues such as habitat degradation, juvenile survival through the hydrosystem, the role of artificial production, and harvest reform

Return To The River: Restoring Salmon Back To The Columbia River

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Return To The River: Restoring Salmon Back To The Columbia River
Richard N. Williams
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHGFJE

Book Description

Now a major motion picture from USA Films starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, and director Philip Haas (director of Angels and Insects).

In Up at the Villa, W. Somerset Maugham portrays a wealthy young English woman who finds herself confronted rather brutally by the repercussions of whimsy.

On the day her older and prosperous friend asks her to marry him, Mary Leonard demurs and decides to postpone her reply a few days. But driving into the hills above Florence alone that evening, Mary offers a ride to a handsome stranger. And suddenly, her life is utterly, irrevocably altered.

For this stranger is a refugee of war, and he harbors more than one form of passion. Before morning, Mary will witness bloodshed, she will be forced to seek advice and assistance from an unsavory man, and she will have to face the truth about her own yearnings. Erotic, haunting, and maddeningly suspenseful, Up at the Villa is a masterful tale of temptation and the capricious nature of fate.

Customer Reviews:

Good story, but not a great book.......2007-06-30

I know a lot of people who liked this book and think Somerset Maugham is a great writer and who am I to judge, but I found reading some of the sentences awful. As another reviewer commented on the "economy of language", I felt words were deliberately dropped to get the shortest sentence possible and then some sentences were 5th grade level: "Mary drove through the silent streets of Florence, along the road by which she had come, then up the hill..." (big yawn)Lastly, it seemed to me as you were reading, the subject matter just simply changed in the next sentence. Perhaps this is how they wrote back then, in the late 1930's. I have read Maugham's "Of Human Bondage" and thought it quite good.

I was also disappointed with the description of Florence. Maugham gives you a tiny flavor and description of this beautiful Italian city. This is my own flaw and assumptions. I bought the book because it took place in Florence and at a villa. So I readily admit, I had some preconceived ideas that didn't pan out. I think only fair I explain as one reads my personal review here.

I wouldn't call it `another beautiful work of art'. A good story of a crime committed and perpetrator(s) gets away with it. I would call it a suspense novel. It is indeed a quick read. The story itself is good in the fact you have "some" wrestling with a moral dilemma issues, and personally, I do not think Maugham's character, Mary, did much wrestling. Mostly, we see her struggling with her guilt, and rightly so, though it seems quickly disposed of. There was no crime to begin with, only embarrassment. How many of us would act the way Mary did? I dare say not many. And who could live with the guilt of what you did? I think most people of good character, which Mary is reported to be, would be haunted by this desperate act, and therefore it wouldn't get as far as Mary allowed it. Despite other reviewers, this is not a romance. Mary does indeed do a kindness and could be considered a romantic gesture - but it ends abruptly and the moral dilemma begins. There are some very good lines in the book that are clever and thoughtful. It is a book worth reading. It is just not my kind of story.

Beautifully written novella.......2006-04-09

This is the story of a young widow and three men, a respectable older gentlement who wants to marry her, a poor violin playing refugee, and a sexy rogue with a bad reputation. A brief affair and a death reveal the complexities of these four people. This is a beautifully crafted story.

Dramatic Novella from a master story teller.......2005-10-01

There is no writer who captures the haugtiness of Edwardian upper class culture better than Maugham and in many of his writings dramatic tension derives from cultural and class contrasts between upper class English expatriots and the local people that they become involved with.
Here the protaganist is a young unmarried and very attractive woman staying in Florence at a friends Villa who draws attention from all of the men she encounters. One of the encounters results in a tragedy and the event and it's aftermath drives the story to it's quick conclusion.
Maugham writes dialogue that is quick, witty and obviously adaptable to the stage or screen since he was primarily known as a playwrite as well as a novelist.This short work is no exception.
The action proceeds quickly and this makes Up At The Villa a short but very satisfying book to read.

slight and temporary.......2005-09-03

There is a certain sense of accomplishment when you read a book in one sitting. It is an achievement that can make you view a work more fondly than it deserves.

I spent a pleasant hour and a bit with this short novel and it was good fun but, despite the
one-sitting euphoria, I cannot pretend it was anything more than a slight diversion. Effectively an extended short story this is fairly disposable and won't be troubling my 'ones to keep' bookshelves.

A snapshot of Maugham's genius.......2005-02-21

As short as Of Human Bondage is long and as prosaic as The Razor's Edge is profound, Up at the Villa fails to inspire the way these aforementioned works of genius or other such timeless tomes as Cakes and Ale or Moon and Sixpence.

This book, however, was not all bad. It was eminently enjoyable and, as all of Maugham's efforts, was a pleasure to read. Maugham's gift with the English language is unsurpassed and vastly underrated. Unfortunately, Up at the Villa just didn't have enough Maugham. Not enough characterization or plot or theme development as I would have liked and have grown accustomed to with the genius of Maugham. I have yet to see the movie with Kristin Scott Thomas and Sean Penn, although I'm sure I will in due time. Overall, if you thoroughly enjoy Maugham as I do, check it out at the library.

"That's what life's for - to take risks."
- Rowley to Mary

Up At the Villa (A Story by W. Somerset Maugham)

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Up At the Villa (A Story by W. Somerset Maugham)
W. Somerset Maugham
Manufacturer: Penguin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000F3PUBQ

Product Description

W. Somerset Maugham: Behind him lie such classics as Of Human Bondage and On A Chinese Screen; his hand has been felt strongly on the contemporary theatre, and few writers exert a deeper impress on current literature. He is the dean of living novelists; the clarity of his style, the perfection of his form, the subtlety of his thought, veiled thinly behind a worldly cynicism, have made him an international figure.

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Cakes and Ale / Up at the Villa
W. Somerset Maugham
Manufacturer: Books On Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

General | Books on Cassette | Audiobooks | Formats | Books

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Cosmetology: The Art of Making-Up
Louise Picard Villa
Manufacturer: Gage Distribution Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0771505493

Kunst Des 19. & 20. Jahrhunderts - Schatzpreise Bis DM 5.000, - Villa Grisebach Auktionen - Berlin - 11/25/95 - 19th & 20th C. Art Priced Up to 5000 DM

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Kunst Des 19. & 20. Jahrhunderts - Schatzpreise Bis DM 5.000, - Villa Grisebach Auktionen - Berlin - 11/25/95 - 19th & 20th C. Art Priced Up to 5000 DM
Villa Grisebach Auktionen
Manufacturer: Villa Grisebach Auktionen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H4NMK4

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el mejor.

Pancho Villa, El Brazo Armado
Ernst Hoffen
Manufacturer: Editorial Diana, S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

el mejor........2000-03-19

Este libro es el mejor de todos los libros ....y que viva guanajuato..uriangato....................

Up at a villa, down in the city;: Being an Italian note-book

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Up at a villa, down in the city;: Being an Italian note-book
Nesta De Robeck
Manufacturer: Dent
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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UP AT THE VILLA
W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
Manufacturer: HEINEMANN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S5GSWQ

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Up At The Villa
W. Maugham
Manufacturer: Fair Bantam Paperback 1489 Novel A-2
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000TGGP2W

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Up at the Villa
W. Somerset Maugham
Manufacturer: Bantam Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000RHM1M6

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