So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped By Surroundings and Events

Customer Reviews:

Profound, subtle.......2006-09-05

Another reader reviewed this as "old news". I disagree. In academic geographic, architectural, and sociological circles the content of this book may be old news, but as a layman in all of those studies, I found this to be a profound introducton to the subtleties of human development. I know I'm not alone - there are plenty of people out there who have no real understanding of the underlying principles of heredity, childhood development, human environment, and physiology. Dubos covers these topics with amazing sensetivity and wisdom. This book's illuminating treatment of the issue of race alone should be enough to keep it relevant and important 40 years after it was written.

It does read like a self-help book in a few places, but the surrounding context is penetrating enough to compensate for those few sentences.

news so old, more trees could've been saved.......2005-05-29

the biggest thing to remember is that the book is written in 1968, and it well supported Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1970) to a T. today. Dubos makes his points well, tho spends about half a chapter to illustrate the evidence, i feel such explanations are not always needed. almost feels like he's writing to an audience of complete non-believers; as a geographer i find it dummyfying.

still not a total failure for human geographists of 2005, there are some interesting tid-bits. Some high points are why there are different races (previously mentioned by National Geographic founder in 1899 in his observations of Alaskans), and why Southeast Asians are so short and Norwegians so tall, and how archetecture affects human life and well being. Also, the significance of human life chapter is interesting (if you havent found it yet, look at any self-help book).

if you're really interested, concentrate on beginnings of paragraphs and last few pages of each chapter.

Most Excellent.......1999-04-03

NOTE it was written in 1968 - and Dubos was right on about all our problems...

A wonderful, astonishing book........1998-07-07

A wonderful, astonishing book. If you are interested in how we, as a species forever in a state of subtle evolution, are unwittingly influenced by our environment, this is a book to read.

A wonderful, astonishing book........1998-07-07

A wonderful, astonishing book. If you are interested in how we, as a species forever in a state of subtle evolution, are unwittingly influenced by our environment, this is a book to read.

SO HUMAN AN ANIMAL, How We are Shaped By Surroundings & Events

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SO HUMAN AN ANIMAL, How We are Shaped By Surroundings & Events

Manufacturer: Scribners
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000G3LLSQ

So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events

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So Human an Animal: How We Are Shaped by Surroundings and Events
Rene Dubos
Manufacturer: CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLBYEQ

So Human an Animal - How We Are Shaped By Our Surroundings and Events

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So Human an Animal - How We Are Shaped By Our Surroundings and Events
Rene Dubos
Manufacturer: Rupert Hart Davis
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KL79IA

Book Description

A complete blueprint for all types of restaurant development—from concept through construction

Whether you are planning a small neighborhood bistro or an expansive hotel eatery, Restaurant Planning, Design, and Construction provides you with the specific information and in-depth guidance you need to navigate the restaurant development process effectively. With easy-to-use worksheets, checklists, review procedures, and guidelines, this comprehensive manual can help you to avoid the pitfalls of miscommunication, omission, and faulty execution that can mean the difference between your success and failure. Taking you step by step through each phase of the development process, the book shows you how to:

Assemble and manage your restaurant development team
Prepare a marketable business plan to use when seeking financial backing
Approach site evaluation, budgets, scheduling, and more
Write a detailed operational plan of how the restaurant will function
Prepare an effective design program to fulfill your operational requirements
Coordinate key elements of planning and design
Manage the construction phase, pre-opening activities, and follow-up

No matter what your business background—catering, marketing, management, or finance—this self-contained guide is one resource you will not want to be without.

Customer Reviews:

Clear and Precise.......2002-02-06

The manual has been helpful to me in figuring out where to start and the best order in which to proceed. Although it can be a bit dry at times, being a textbook manual, I have very little complaints. Very useful just for the start-up cost list alone. Katz really leaves no stone unturned, I have been carrying this around and making notes left and right. Also, has been helpful in bolstering my confidence before heading into the foray of contractors, plumbers and designers. I will be curious to see how I feel about this book in a year from now, but at this time in the planning stages, it is very reassuring and insightful.

Excellent Reference for a Zero start-up !.......2000-02-24

I strongly recommend this book for those who tend to open up a restaurant with a little Food & Beverage / Administration experience and have many ideas but has difficulties in putting things together and most importantly; who are under the influence of friends, family, etc.

This book theoratically teaches you how you should plan and who you should really listen to and take into consideration of what they are saying ! As a Food & Beverage person in the industry, I have made many Restaurant openings and in some parts of the book, I reminisced those typical mistakes we all face when we were amateurs. Despite it has a high purchase price, it is value for the money.

Book Description

Volume 1 & 2 of the “Handbook of Metalloproteins”, focuses on a number of metals, including iron, nickel, manganese, cobalt, copper and vanadium. Now volume 3 extends the wealth of knowledge to focus on proteins found in the redox-inactive ions of zinc and calcium.

While there are more than two hundred known 3D structures of zinc enzymes, the handbook focuses on contributions for those enzymes most relevant in research today. Also covered extensively, is the role of calcium ions as secondary messengers in controlling the many biological processes.

Each metalloprotein included is supported by extensive detail, including;

Colour graphical representations of the 3D structure
Functional class
Occurrence
Spectroscopic data

Reviews from Volumes 1 & 2

"it is a pleasure just to read this handsome and carefully produced work" (Angewandte Chemie, Vol.41, 2002)

“…it is a pleasure to use ...this excellent, authoritative, and valuable text... I regard this work as essential for library purchase..." (Natural Products Report, Vol.19, No.4, 2002)

Book Description

This Handbook on Metalloproteins focuses on the available structural information of proteins and their metal ion coordination spheres. It centers on the metal ions indispensable for life but also considers metal ions used as substitution probes in studies of metalloproteins. Emphasizing the structure-function relationship, the book covers the common and distinct characterstics of metallo- enzymes, proteins, and amino acids bonded to copper, zinc, iron, and more.

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Handbook of Metalloproteins
Albrecht Messerschmidt , Wolfram Bode , and Mirek Cygler
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Biochemistry | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This is an accessible introduction to some of the fundamental connections among differential geometry, Lie groups, and integrable Hamiltonian systems. The text demonstrates how the theory of loop groups can be used to study harmonic maps. By concentrating on the main ideas and examples, the author leads up to topics of current research. The book is suitable for students who are beginning to study manifolds and Lie groups, and should be of interest both to mathematicians and to theoretical physicists as well.

Book Description

In 1925, while on vacation with his family on the Yorkshire coast, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his favorite toy, a little lead dog he was reluctant to put down even to dig in the sand. To console and distract him, his father, J. R. R. Tolkien, improvised a story - the story of Rover, a real dog magically transformed into a toy, who, after many fantastic adventures in search of the wizard who wronged him, at last wins back his life. This charming tale, peopled by a wise old whale and a terrible dragon, by the king of the sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, was a Tolkien family favorite, going through several typewritten drafts over many years. In 1936, Tolkien submitted it to his British publishers as a possible follow-up to The Hobbit. What his publishers really wanted, however, was another story about Middle-earth, and so he set aside this little book to begin his masterwork, The Lord of the Rings.

Customer Reviews:

it was a change from his usual stuff.......2007-06-14

very relaxing read. aND also not as confusing as some of his other works. if your a tolkien fan its worth buying and reading!

For younger Tolkien lovers.......2007-05-17

After the hobbit, our younger children who love Tolkien had very little to read. We did get farmer Giles of Ham, but Roverandom was liked much better. Tolkien's imagination and word play are really delightful.

A child's dream.......2005-01-17

This story is utterly sweet and endearing. I can't hepl but read it over and over, especially when I've had one of "those days" because this book always picks up my mood.
I especially love the drawing that are put in for certain parts in the book. My favorite one of of "The Man on the Moon" as he looks like Gandalf with the pointed hat!
This is a story that anyone of any age can love and enjoy.

Return of the Old Prof.......2004-05-19

Up until relatively recently, Roverandom existed in the minds of Tolkien fans as a mysterious open secret: an unpublished work. For a man whose notes to the milkman and getting-the-pen-to-work scribbles on the inside cover of the Yellow Pages were trumpeted by publishers and family alike as 'masterpieces', this was remarkable. Look the old professor up on Amazon and it's not long before the list of works begins to look significantly desperate (Tales from the Perilous Realm, Finn and Hengest: The Fragment and the Episode, Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-Earth, etc.). Did he mean for all this stuff to be plundered for public consumption? So, finding a complete and illustrated work that hasn't seen the light of day in almost 70 years is odd to say the least. The five illustrations were seen in a couple of academic books, and also at the Bodleian Library's centenary exhibition, but the text was unknown until 1997/1998.

The story is based upon an incident that occurred when the Tolkiens were on holiday in the Yorkshire seaside town of Filey, in 1925. Tolkien's four-year-old son lost a small toy dog and became distraught. To console him, his father created a story about a real dog that is magically transformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him to be returned to normal. In the course of his search he goes to the Moon and the bottom of the sea and being a mischievous little tyke, gets up to all sorts of adventures. Much like The Hobbit, there are wizards and dragons and huge flesh eating spiders, told here in the singy-songy voice of a good-humoured children's tale. But unlike The Lord of the Rings, this time there is none of the thunder and bombast of, for instance:
"...for answer Gandalf cried aloud to his horse. 'On Shadowfax! We must hasten. Time is short. See! The beacons of Gondor are alight, calling for aid. War is kindled. See, there is the fire on Amon Dîn, and flame on Eilenach; and there they go speeding west: Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad and the Halifirien on the borders of Rohan...'

Instead, we get:
"Once upon a time there was a little dog, and his name was Rover. He was very small, and very young, or he would have known better; and he was very happy playing in the garden in the sunshine with a yellow ball, or he would never have done what he did."

Which, frankly, is much better.

Tolkien was only in his early thirties when the first draft was written, and it's full of the sort of easy jokes and casual references a well-read young academic might throw in for his little boy's amusement. Old Mother Hubbard's dog has a walk on part, there's a gentle and affectionate explanation of what happens when we dream, there are sly nods towards his work at Oxford, carrots dangled perhaps to entice his youngsters into enjoying the things he himself loved? Well, possibly.

What we have ultimately is a slight tale - it's only 80 pages long - clearly created for reading aloud at bedtime for young children eager to believe that their toys can become animated and exciting (it'll come as no surprise that Rover can only become 'alive' at night when his owner is asleep) if they allow their imaginations to run riot. And that can't be a bad thing. I also can't find the phrase 'a fairy tale for all ages' in the notes or press blurbs and that's surely a boon. More importantly, it happens to be a handy stopgap when you leave your grown-up book on the bus.

So will I be reading any more JRRT? Has this fired me up to try LotR again after a twenty-year break? Amon Dîn, Eilenach, Nardol, Erelas, Min-Rimmon, Calenhad and the Halifirien?! What do you think?

Ode to a lost toy.......2004-02-12

For a little kid, losing a favorite toy is downright traumatic. So in 1925, when four-year-old Michael lost his little toy dog on the beach, fantasy author J.R.R. Tolkien made up a story to comfort his son. It explained away the loss of the toy, and wove a magical story around a little dog named Rover.

Rover is an ordinary little puppy near the seaside in England, until he runs into a grumpy old man and ends up biting off part of his pants. The old man happens to be a wizard (Artaxerxes by name), and promptly transforms Rover into a toy dog (and no, I don't mean a tiny dog -- I mean a real toy). Rover subsequently gets picked up and sold to some little boys (presumably the Tolkien kids).

Fortunately, Rover encounters another magical being, a crusty, kindly sand-wizard named Psamathos. That wizard, in turn, gets Rover (who is renamed Roverandom) flown to the moon, where he spends time with the Man in the Moon and his winged dog Rover. And then he's heading off to encounter a talking whale, a mer-dog, a sea serpent -- and a dragon.

Like the vastly underrated "Farmer Giles of Ham," "Roverandom" is a charming little bit of whimsy. No deep themes, no epic clashes, not even really a villain. The writing is charming and magical, with phrases like "There was a cold wind blowing off the North Star" sprinkled through it. It almost gives the feeling of being in another world. Best of all, in the middle of the book are Tolkien's own illustrations, cute little drawings and ethereal paintings.

Rover is well-named, since his adventures are all over the map and don't really progress from one to the other. It's merely a cute little dog roaming over the moon, the ocean, and the land, conversing with shrimps and bothering wizards. He's an outspoken little guy, but likeable. The grumpy wizards are also excellently done, reminiscent of Gandalf.

While "Roverandom" is a book aimed at children, adults may enjoy the whimsical humor and beautiful writing. A charming and timeless story.

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Roverandom
J. R. R. Tolkien
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQW512

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Roverandom (Lyubimoe chtenie)
D. Tolkin
Manufacturer: AST
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All Russian Books | Russian | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 5170206186

Product Description

Dorogie rebyata, a takzhe ikh roditeli!Vmeste s geroyami samykh populyarnykh detskikh knig my predlagaem vam perenestis' v mir neveroyatnykh priklyuchenij, uvlekatel'nykh istorij i veselykh skazok.Dzhon R.R.Tolkin - avtor znamenitykh knig `Khobbit`, `Vlastelin Kolets` imnogikh drugikh - napisal takzhe zamechatel'nuyu skazku o priklyucheniyakh malen'koj zakoldovannoj sobachki po klichke Roverandom.

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Roverandom, 1998 (IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE)
John Tolkien , John R. R. Tolkien , and John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Manufacturer: AST
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

All Russian Books | Russian | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 5170182031

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Roverandom, 1998 (In Russian) ()
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien , John R. R. Tolkien , and
Manufacturer: AST
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

All Russian Books | Russian | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 5170153449

Roverandom.(Brief Article): An article from: The Horn Book Magazine

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Roverandom.(Brief Article): An article from: The Horn Book Magazine
Ann A. Flowers
Manufacturer: Horn Book, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Horn Book Magazine, published by Horn Book, Inc. on March 1, 1998. The length of the article is 760 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: Roverandom.(Brief Article)
Author: Ann A. Flowers
Publication: The Horn Book Magazine (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 1, 1998
Publisher: Horn Book, Inc.
Volume: v74 Issue: n2 Page: p240(1)

Article Type: Book Review, Brief Article

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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ROVERANDOM PB
J R R Tolkien
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8UG20

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ROVERANDOM UNABRIDGED
J.R.R. TOLKIEN
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8IJXI

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