Tropic: The Nature of Colombia

Book Description

Everything in this book invites us to marvel at the Colombian tropics. As the point of convergence of the tectonic plates, flora and fauna of three American continents, the world's two largest oceans and its most variegated mountains, it is a territory of excess. The restless lens of Aldo Brando focuses on this natural setting, furnishing us with a panoply of images that excite both the eye and the imagination. As he eminent Colombian writer Germán Arciniegas points out, this book is "a vertical exploration of a country which is the synthesis of the Americas." Novel and unique, it is a summary of fifteen years work by a photojournalist whose documentation of wild life goes beyond capturing the physical contours of the seas, islands, jungles, savannahs, mountains and inhabitants of Colombia. "It penetrates into the beauty and soul" of natural wonders, as one of the world's leading professionals in the field-- the American wildlife photographer Art Wolfe-- recognizes in his prologue. The book's five chapters are accompanied by an essay written by the Colombian journalist, Arturo Guerrero, who invites us to share in the astonishment and poetry found in nature and science. The dazzling photographs of this book evoke the magic of the tropical ecosystems of the new world, and draw near to the intimacy of nature. It also allows us to reflect upon mankind's contradictory relationship with the natural world. Professor Sir Ghillean Prance, director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew, writes in his introduction: "It is my hope that this book helps to encourage the conservation of Colombian ecosystems, which are a valuable resource, not only for inhabitants of that nation but also for the world." The book concludes with a heartfelt message by the Colombian poet William Ospina.

Customer Reviews:

absolutly wonderful.......2002-10-24

What a beautiful book. I got it for my husband and I am truly happy that that means it will not leave the house.
The fotografs are super, half pages, full or often double. The first chapter is about the sea and underwater animals, later come mountains and people. And to remind us that the world as beautiful as Aldo Brando can show it to us is not save at all the last chapter shows the destruction people can do to our poor planet.
The black background pages give the book a special look, paper and print are perfect.
I am really happy with this, a wonderful view of the tropics!

Colombia is much more than a land of war...........2002-06-27

Well, I must say I bought this book based on reviews I`d read here. And I do not regret it.
"Tropic" is absolutely wonderfull. At 12 x 9½ inches and 4 pounds, it`s a huge book which isn`t appropriate for long journeys but it makes an excellent coffee table book.
In fact, I think it`s the most incredible achievement ever done to portray the nature of one country. Printed on black, very fine paper, it`s a nice book looking through.
The book is divided into the following sections : Seas, Islands & Littorals, Forests & Savannahs, Mountains & Inhabitants(which are actually a vertical journey through the land, from the bottom of the sea to the tops of the Andes). The vertical views of the colombian coast are absolutely gorgeous and awe-inspiring. There are also many majestic, almost poster-like pictures of pelicans flying towards the sky, inside caves and above the surface of the water. The closeups of many fishes are also a feast for the eyes, as are the beautifull flowers of the rainforest. The fantastic views of the Andes makes anyone wish they were there. And the first picture of the book on bromelias with the blue clouds and the sun melting down in the horizon will open more "wow" and "aahh"`s than fireworks of the millenium.
This book may be expensive, but if you come across a copy, do not hesitate to take it - it`s worth the money, I promise you that.

This is a wonderful book........1999-12-18

I purchased this book for someone else, but I'm going to keep it and get him another copy. Set on black pages with white writing, this book covers mountains, oceans, forests, valleys, and some very ethnic, old-world inhabitants of Columbia. It's large and very heavy; a definite coffee table kind of book. I'm very happy with my purchase; my only regret is that I didn't pick one with Columbia's cities in it also.

Book Description

Scale 1:300,000. With inset map of Stanley. Printed on one side.

Map of the islands. With topographical contours; elevations indicated by color changes.

Legend locates roads from main roads to tracks; points of interest. Specific highlights ("Seal Preserve"; "Waterfall"; "Gentoo Penguins"; "Sea Lion Colony"; etc.) indicated on map.

With information about history and wildlife. Captioned photos.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent when originally produced.......2007-03-13

The detailed topography shown on the map, and especially the information about wildlife and history, are very good. However, the map is seriously out of date regarding roads and tracks. These features are ones which users of the map are bound to depend on, and it should be a simple matter for the publisher to update them.

Book Description

Since Darwin's time, the natural selection of adult features has been emphasized as the dominant factor directing human evolution. In recent years, however, evolutionary scientists have recognized variations in the growth and development of individuals as an indispensable ingredient of evolutionary change.

The chapters in Human Evolution through Developmental Change reflect two major strands of research in the study of human heterochrony, the change in the timing and rate of development of individuals. First, paleoanthropological evidence culled from the remains of infant and juvenile hominid fossils held in the world's museums has provided valuable new insights into the way naturally selected traits come about. Second, remarkable strides in molecular biology over the past twenty years have allowed scientists to confirm evolutionary relationships between species and test the relationships of new evolutionary patterns to changes in the rate of development at a variety of levels, from molecules to organ systems.

Editors Nancy Minugh-Purvis and Kenneth J. McNamara have organized the chapters of the book into three sections. The first section considers theoretical applications of heterochronic methods to the hominid fossil record. The second section considers the relationship of developmental change to various aspects of hominid life history, including cognitive, sexual, and structural developments. The third section provides a chronological survey of heterochronic change in the hominid fossil record from the Pliocene to late Pleistocene eras. Human Evolution through Developmental Change will be a valuable resource for scientists and students of developmental biology, physical and social anthropology, and paleontology who wish to understand current views on the underlying mechanisms of human evolution.

Contributors:

David M. Alba, Institut de Paleontologia M. Crusafont, Spain • Robert L. Anemone, Western Michigan University • Susan C. Antón, Rutgers University • Christine Berge, Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle, France • José Braga, Université Bordeaux I, France • George Chaplin, California Academy of Sciences • Susan J. Crockford, Pacific Identifications, Canada • Gunther J. Eble, Smithsonian Institution and Santa Fe Institute • Rebecca Z. German, University of Cincinnati • Laurie R. Godfrey, University of Massachusetts • Brian K. Hall, Dalhousie University, Canada • F. Clark Howell, University of California, Berkeley • Nina G. Jablonski, California Academy of Sciences • Jay Kelley, University of Illinois • Kevin K. Kuykendall, University of the Witswatersrand, South Africa • Bruno Maureille, Université Bordeaux I, France • Michael L. McKinney, University of Tennessee • Kenneth J. McNamara, Western Australian Museum, Australia • Nancy Minugh-Purvis, MCP Hahnemann University • Andrew J. Nelson, University of Western Ontario, Canada • Sue Taylor Parker, Sonoma State University • Fernando Ramirez Rozzi, Meudon la Forêt, France • Sean H. Rice, Yale University • Brian T. Shea, Northwestern University • Scott A. Stewart, University of Cincinnati • Michael R. Sutherland, University of Massachusetts • Jennifer L. Thompson, University of Nevada, Las Vegas • Frank L'Engle Williams, Pennsylvania State University

Human evolution through developmental change. (L'evolution humaine a travers les changements du developpement) [A book review from: L'Anthropologie]

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Human evolution through developmental change. (L'evolution humaine a travers les changements du developpement) [A book review from: L'Anthropologie]
A. Balzeau
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000RR3K2Q

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from L'Anthropologie, published by Elsevier in 2005. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Book Description

This monograph, which is the outcome of the ASI on High Pressure Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Materials Science, illustrates new developments in the field of high pressure science. In fact, for chemists, biochemists, and materials scientists, pressure as an experimental variable represents a tool which provides unique information about systems of materials.
The main contributions to this volume present overview of the different subfields or applications of high pressure studies. In contrast, contributed papers offer more specialized aspects of various high pressure studies. The various contributions to this volume make clear the impressive range of fundamental and applied problems that can be studied by high pressure techniques, and also point towards a major growth of high pressure science and technology in the near future. The book focuses mainly on advances achieved in the six years since the previous ASI devoted to the high pressure field. The organization of this volume is as follows. The main lectures covering the three main areas of high pressure applications to chemistry, biochemistry, and materials science are followed by contributed papers. A summary of a panel discussion on the future of high pressure science and technology concludes this volume.

High Pressure Molecular Science (NATO Science Series E: (closed))

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High Pressure Molecular Science (NATO Science Series E: (closed))
Roland Winter
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0792358074

Book Description

For chemists, biochemists, physicists and materials scientists, pressure as an experimental variable represents a tool that provides unique information about the microscopic properties of the materials being studied. In addition to its use as a research tool for investigating the energetics, structure, dynamics and kinetics of molecular transformations of materials, pressure is also being used to modify the properties of materials to preserve or improve their properties.
The contributions collected here cover the main areas of high pressure research, including applications in materials science, condensed matter physics, chemistry and biochemistry. In addition, some papers offer more specialised aspects of high pressure studies. The book makes clear the impressive range of fundamental and applied problems that can be studied by high pressure techniques and also points towards a major growth of high pressure science and technology in the near future.

Book Description

Mathematics Mechanization and Applications provides a uniform presentation of major developments, carried out mostly in Wu's extended Chinese group, on algorithms and software tools for mechanizing algebraic equations solving and geometric theorem proving together with their applications to problems in science and engineering. It is distinguished by its uniform presentation with all-Chinese contributors and a 40-page list of references. There are 20 chapters written by experienced researchers. The book is divided into four parts: polynomial system solving, automated geometric reasoning, algebraic computation, and implementations and applications. Each chapter is devoted to surveying and expounding the main results achieved from one selected subject. The book contains surveys for diverse applications of the theories and methods to real world problems, ranging from the analysis of robotics and mechanisms to nonlinear programming and chemical equilibrium computation. Part of the theoretical and practical work reviewed in the book has been either unpublished or published only in Chinese journals or even only in the Chinese language. This book therefore provides Western readers working in symbolic and algebraic computation, geometric reasoning and modeling, algorithmic mathematics, robotics, CAGD, and other relevant areas with an easily accessible source of references for what the Chinese researchers have been doing under the banner of mathematics mechanization.

* Addresses the frontiers of research with original ideas and results
* Includes sophisticated, successful applications to scientific and engineering problems
* Covers polynomial system solving, geometric reasoning, computer algebra, and mathematical software
* Is comprehensive and focused
* Contains an extensive bibliography--of high reference value--particularly for western readers

Mathematics Mechanization: Mechanical Geometry Theorem-Proving, Mechanical Geometry Problem-Solving and Polynomial Equations-Solving (Mathematics and Its Applications)

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Mathematics Mechanization: Mechanical Geometry Theorem-Proving, Mechanical Geometry Problem-Solving and Polynomial Equations-Solving (Mathematics and Its Applications)
Wu Wen-tsun
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 079235835X

Book Description

This book is a collection of essays centred around the subject of mathematical mechanization. It tries to deal with mathematics in a constructive and algorithmic manner so that reasoning becomes mechanical, automated and less laborious.
The book is divided into three parts. Part I concerns historical developments of mathematics mechanization, especially in ancient China. Part II describes the underlying principles of polynomial equation-solving, with polynomial coefficients in fields restricted to the case of characteristic 0. Based on the general principle, some methods of solving such arbitrary polynomial systems may be found. This part also goes back to classical Chinese mathematics as well as treating modern works in this field. Finally, Part III contains applications and examples.
Audience: This volume will be of interest to research and applied mathematicians, computer scientists and historians in mathematics.

The Technology Applications Gap: Overcoming Constraints to Small Farm Development (Fao Research and Technical Paper, No 1/F2964)

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The Technology Applications Gap: Overcoming Constraints to Small Farm Development (Fao Research and Technical Paper, No 1/F2964)
Deborah Merril Sands
Manufacturer: Food & Agriculture Org
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

Anthony Di Renzo makes available for the first time since their original publication some eighty years ago a collection of fifteen of Sinclair Lewis’s early business stories.

Among Lewis’s funniest satires, these stories introduce the characters, themes, and techniques that would evolve into Babbitt. Each selection reflects the commercial culture of Lewis’s day, particularly Reason Why advertising, self-help manuals, and the business fiction of the Saturday Evening Post. The stories were published between October 1915 and May 1921 (nine in the Saturday Evening Post, four in Metropolitan Magazine, one in Harper’s Magazine, and one in American Magazine).

Because some things have not changed in the American workplace since Lewis’s day, these highly entertaining and unflinchingly accurate office satires will appeal to the fans of Dilbert and The Drew Carey Show. In a sense, they provide lay readers with an archaeology of white-collar angst and regimentation. The horror and absurdities of contemporary corporate downsizing already existed in the office of the Progressive Era. For an audience contemplating the death of the American middle class, Lewis’s stories provide an important retrospective on earlier times and a preliminary autopsy on the American dream.

Appearing just in time to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the publication of Babbitt, this collection rescues Lewis’s best early short fiction from obscurity, provides extensive information about his formative years in advertising and public relations, and analyzes both his genius for marketing and his carefully cultivated persona as the Great Salesman of American letters.

Customer Reviews:

Thank you, Sinclair Lewis.......2004-07-30

If you made a short list of notable literary efforts from America's first Nobel Prize in Literature winner, the inestimable Sinclair Lewis, titles such as "Main Street," "Babbitt," and "Elmer Gantry" would probably sit near the top. More discerning fans of the master satirist might throw in "Dodsworth," "It Can't Happen Here," and "Kingsblood Royal." What you wouldn't find anywhere on this speculative list are the short stories between the pages of "If I Were Boss: The Early Business Stories of Sinclair Lewis." Why? According to the intricate yet astoundingly informative introduction by Anthony Di Renzo, none of the fifteen stories contained in the anthology have been republished since their original appearance between the years 1915-1921 in magazines like "The Saturday Evening Post." If you stagger under the knowledge that works of a Nobel Prize winner have been out of print that long, you'll really have a fit once you read this collection. Every one of the tales in this book is wonderful. Everything you know about Lewis-his scathing wit, his boundless cynicism tempered with a secret hope for the triumph of humanity, his spot on ability to recreate the American vernacular-infuses every page of every story.

If I had to pick a specific story as my personal favorite, I would pick the four stories that make up what is the Lancelot Todd cycle. Lewis spent many years of his life working in advertising, loathed the profession, and promptly took his revenge with stories like "Snappy Display," "Slip It to 'Em," "Getting His Bit," and "Jazz." These four tales document the unsavory career of Lancelot Todd, America's premier advertising guru and an unbridled charlatan. Always on the lookout for the perfect con, Todd spends his days writing peppy newsletters for large business concerns and spewing out self-help books designed to teach the workingman how to get ahead. He devotes his free time to seeking a higher position in society and cultivating a cirrhotic liver. Lewis scathingly paints a picture of Todd's machinations only to bring him down in the end as his latest caper falls apart. The best example is "Slip It to 'Em," where Todd runs a car company into the ground only to find he must transport his latest wealthy conquest to an important meeting in one of the lemons his company foisted on the public. You haven't laughed until you have read a Lancelot Todd story. The only thing I could think of after these four stories was where I could get my hands on more of them.

All of the stories in the collection pertain to issues still relevant today. In "If I Were Boss," salesman Charley McClure strives to make a name for himself at his firm only to discover the same issues he excoriated his own boss for come back to haunt him years later when he runs the show. "Honestly-If Possible" explores the sometimes painful relationship between men and women in the office place. So does "A Story with a Happy Ending," but in a different way. Leonard Price eventually undergoes the humiliating experience of working for a woman he initially hired years before. The confusing experience of workplace conflicts finds expression in "Way I See It," where Lewis uses a shifting perspective to examine the contentious relationship between a rental agent and his boss. Even corporate takeovers and office backstabbing get a spotlight in "The Whisperer," an unnerving tale about a fast buck quack obliterating his internal opposition in his bid for the top spot at an unprofitable pharmaceutical company. Repeatedly, I was amazed at how the many issues Lewis raises in these stories continue to have importance in today's corporate world. It would seem we haven't advanced very far since the 1910s and 1920s, at least regarding gender roles and business ethics.

Don't think for a minute that Lewis completely despises his subjects. In "The Good Sport," the author brings one of those fly by night, wiseacre salesman who run from job to job down to earth in a particularly humbling yet ennobling way. "A Matter of Business" finds a businessman agonizing over whether to remain loyal to a local supplier or whether to buy trendy yet shoddy products from a national concern. The last story, "Number Seven to Sagapoose," is a truly beautiful heart wrencher about a traveling shoe salesman's ability to make a huge difference in the lives of certain individuals and, by extension, humanity as a whole. It is in these stories that we see Lewis's caustic barbs and deep cynicism stripped away to reveal a man who fervently hoped that mankind could overcome its ridiculous social constructions and petty trappings in order to achieve a higher, nobler purpose.

As I closed the cover to "If I Were Boss" for the final time, I felt a deep kinship with Sinclair Lewis, realizing that he and I share many of the same thought processes and beliefs. I couldn't help but think that I would have gotten along just fine with Lewis if I had personally known him. I think I understand him as a person, however misguided that assumption might be, and now realize how difficult his life must have been. When one sees humanity in the way Lewis sees it, when one recognizes the pettiness and banalities we surround ourselves with, one quickly understands how difficult it is to function in life. That's why I think Lewis relied so heavily on humor in his stories: if you cannot laugh at the utter ridiculousness of modern life, you will quickly find yourself screaming with rage. These insights on my part hint at the powerful qualities of the author's stories and his writing ability. If you're the eternal cynic who can still laugh, pick this book up right away.

Marvelous Stories Display a Little-Known Side of Lewis.......2004-04-21

While I have enjoyed Lewis's novels, I have also found them to be somewhat angry and bitter. These stories are a different matter. Several of them are uproariously funny, in many ways reminiscent of Ring Lardner's best, where the outrage is hidden behind a mask of humor.

The introduction provides an interesting background in terms of both America's history and the events of Lewis's own life.

Excellent Collection of Short Stories.......1998-11-12

I was surprised at how relevant the stories were to the current times. Despite being written between 1915 and the early 1920's, workers ( and employers ) were faced with problems of sexual harrasment, boredom, stealing employees, and office politics.

Definately, you can detect parts of Babbit in many of the characters in the book.

All of the stories were worth reading. Some are amusing, some sad, and a few happy. All of them, however are thought provoking.

Overall, a great book to get a hold of, especially if you are a Sinclair Lewis fan.

I hope we are entering a Sinclair renaisance..........1998-06-29

"Honestly, if Possible" may quite possibly be the most wonderful short story I've ever read. Like other newer Sinclair readers, I'm amazed with the currency of all his work, and even more amazed that he isn't more widely known. I'm doing my best to get the story out-I've got a lot of PEP!

Surprisingly timely........1998-03-04

Lewis' early magazine pieces, printed here for the first time since their original publication in 1915-23, unmistakably contain the seeds of his later Pulitzer Prize-winning satirical novels and are irresistible in their own right.
The language is dated, and the modern reader may find some usage jarring (e.g., "love-making" for what we might call "flirting"), but it is remarkable in this postmodern age of Dilbert and e-mail that so little has changed in human nature, especially as expressed in office romances and politics. Look closely and you may see in some of Lewis' hucksters someone looking back at you; someone uncomfortably familiar.
(P) (The "score" rating is an ineradicable feature of the page. This reviewer does not "score" books.)

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