A Visit to Galapagos

Book Description

This book is a reprint of an archaeological report by, among others, the great Norwegian archaeologist Thor Heyerdahl, that was originally published in 1956 in American Antiquity. It deals with material, mostly potsherds, that was found during the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to the
Galapagos Islands in 1953, and which may be correlated with the Costal Tiahuanaco (Tomaval), Chimu (La Plata), and Inca (Estero) periods of the Peruvian coastal sequence. A fascinating account of an expedition that changed the face of New World archaeology, this new edition includes Spanish
translations of the principal sections of the book.

Archaeological evidence of pre-Spanish visits to the Galápagos Islands,: By Thor Heyerdahl and Arne Skjölsvold (Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology)

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Archaeological evidence of pre-Spanish visits to the GalaÌpagos Islands,: By Thor Heyerdahl and Arne SkjoÌˆlsvold (Memoirs of the Society for American Archaeology)
Thor Heyerdahl
Manufacturer: Kraus Reprint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006W4508

A visit to the Cocos and Galapagos Islands on board the "Blue Dolphin", 1933

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A visit to the Cocos and Galapagos Islands on board the "Blue Dolphin", 1933
Amory Coolidge
Manufacturer: s.n
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go. In this completely up-to-date guide our experts who live in Japan give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do -- from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun. Fodor's Japan shows you hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges -- from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special. The Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice -- from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency. Your personal supply of Post-it? flags makes it easy to mark your favorite listings. Plus, web links, costs, and mix-and-match itineraries make planning a snap.

Customer Reviews:

Nice $$ Hotels; Restaurant Reviews; Shopping.......2004-10-24

I have this guide but I don't take it to Japan. It probably has the best descriptions of all the temples and sights, but practical information, such as "Where is this hotel?" seems to be left out. For example, there is an entire page devoted to a description of Nijo-jo in Kyoto. However, if you're staying at the "starred" (recommended) Yachiya Ryokan in Kyoto, all you have to go on to get there is its address: 34 Nanzen-ji fukuchi-cho, etc. At least the Kyoto hotel map will give a general location. Only the hotel map has hotel locations and you have to find it among the other sightseeing maps. On many maps, such as that of Nagasaki, not one hotel is placed. Luckily, the hotels listed are large enough that a taxi driver should be able to find them.

Especially in the major destinations, each chapter has an "A to Z" listing that gives practical information about transportation, car rentals, sightseeing tours, and shopping, such as listing the department stores and craft shops.

There is usually a comprehensive hotel listing, but most seem to be in Y20,000 ($200) and up categories. There is sometimes one "token" inexpensive place listed, such as the Hiraiwa Ryokan in Kyoto.

This guide has the best listing of good restaurants, if your trip includes dining out at top-notch restaurants. Restaurants of all ethnicities are covered, from Middle Eastern and French to Indian and Japanese. The decor is commented on as well as the food and service.

I think this guide is for people with a large budget and little time, who can take taxis to find destinations, and once there, would like to read about it. It's also for those who will be spending 99% of their time between Tokyo and Hiroshima. Once the core area is left, the listings get thin for Tohoku, Hokkaido, Shikoku, and Kyushu. Many places are listed but the practical information is missing (choice of hotels and restaurants).

Itineraries in locale chapters are suggested under subheadings such as "If you have 2 days," to help you decide where you'd like to go. Entire Japan trip itineraries at the beginning are suggested if you have 14-16 days, 9 days, or 8 days. These are helpful in planning if you haven't been before.

Some of the information provided wasn't checked and is incorrect. It is nothing major though. For example, the author of the Sado Island sections states that "10,000 tons of silver and gold are mined annually." It's not even a typo; Mitsubishi Mining Co. sold off the mine in 1973 when it stopped producing. The Sado Gold Mine, Co. worked it until 1989 and then shut down. Another place is in Kushiro, Hokkaido where an arriving ferry is mentioned. There is no longer any ferry to Kushiro from Tokyo. These are minor errors but you can find them throughout.

If you plan to do Japan in 2 weeks, enjoy staying in $150-$200 per night hotels or ryokan, can rent a car at several destinations, and take taxis to get to your hotel, restaurant, or sightseeing destination, then this guide is a good choice. It is not for the budget traveller who is concerned with saving money to stay longer. It has more historic and cultural information about each place than other guides except maybe Kodansha or Eye Witness. It also lists more top-end hotels than even the JNTO brochures.

I have it, I take notes from it, but I don't carry it with me.

Very good, but there may be stronger contenders.......2004-06-22

Fodor's was the fourth guide that I bought for Japan. It did not disappoint, but competition is tough and others do a better job in some areas.

My biggest complaint would be a poor map of Tokyo subway (black and white, coding of lines difficult to follow even for someone who is not a complete newcomer), even poorer street map of Tokyo itself and no subway map for Kyoto. True, you can get free subway maps; and decent maps of Tokyo are available separately, but after investing money into a good guide you should not have to worry about this.

The guide sounds inspired and cheerful, sections about dining, culture and the language are better than adequate. It can be quite prescriptive at times, but it does not really stand in the way of enjoyment.

The guide does a good job countering small-minded myths about "expensive Japan". To all those whining about $10 cups of coffee and $100 melons I say this: if coffee and melons and other comforts are so crucial to you, maybe you should stay at home to make sure you have cheap supply of these commodities. One recalls certain Lonely Planet writers who dedicate half of their time spent in Scandinavia to a search for cheap booze; they get very disappointed when they cannot find any and then they go on for pages and pages about it. Well, Fodor's guide does not get its foot into the same trap: when in Japan, do not try to recreate home experiences and you'll be fine. Still, I think the guide worries too much about Italian and Mexican restaurants in Japan: I do not think there are many people so strange that they would go half-way around the world and then try to get something that is available back home for a fraction of a price. Anyway, looking for an italian place in Japan is a bit like shopping for a computer in Ghana - yes, it is available, but why would you do it?

The guide is strong on directions to the attractions and descriptions are brief but accurate. I liked Hokkaido section which not all guides cover adequately (DK Eyewitness, for example, only managed to cough up a few pages - definitely not sufficient for the exciting land that is the north of Japan).

It is disappointing that Fodor decided not to cover Okinawa at all: many of travellers to Japan would want to go there. I understand this was done because they needed more space for Tokyo and Kyoto.

It is evident that the writers do not have the same fascination with Tokyo as they have with Kyoto. It is not a shortcoming because no-one really loves both the same way, yet you may find that Rough Guide does a more spirited coverage of the main city.

Overall, DK Eyewitness has much better maps (not so strong on anything else, unfortunately), Lonely Planet has solid descriptions and practical info of some more remote places and also covers kanji versions of placenames in a very convenient way, but overall Rough Guide Japan is still the strongest book for the destination (and I am not a natural fan of Rough Guide, but in Japan they really surpassed themselves and all others).

Fodor's Japan is good but not ideal unless you like their writing style and their indexing system (admittedly quite good, and goes some way towards compensating for less-than-adequate mapping) so much that you are prepared to ignore the shortcomings.

Gaijin friendly.......2004-04-03

I used this book on a one week visit to Japan with my 15-year old daughter. While I had been to Japan many times on business, I had always been accompanied by Japan-based associates who delivered me from one destination to another, and refused to let me get lost. I had also not had the opportunity to do any genuine sightseeing. Using this book as our only guide we were able to: 1) Walk from our hotel in Akasaka to the Imperial Palace, seeing the Diet and a couple of shrines on the way; 2) Take the subway and trains to Kamakura for a tour of the temples; 3) Take the subway to Ryogoku to check out the Sumo stables; 4) Buy tickets and ride the shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto for a tour of the temples, and return; 5) Take an ikebana (flower arranging) lesson at the Sogetsu Kaikan; And 6) shop in the Ginza and other areas. In all cases, the directions and advice were on target. I highly recommend this book.

One of the best guide books on Japan.......2003-11-30

I brought an earlier edition of "Fodor's Japan" in the mid 90ies, before my first trip to Japan. Since than, I have been back in Japan several times and read several other travel guides, including the Lonely planet guides.
I found Fodor's really outstanding. The walking tours by district are really helpful when you don't prepare for hours in advance. If you do them, you have really covered 80-90% of the important sites. This is especially helpful for day trips to Hakone, Nikko or Nara. Longer tours include good restaurant and take out tips and the descriptions are short enough to read up on while walking while still offering interesting details. I think the sections on Kyoto and Tokyo are even better than the once in guide books focused only on these cities. The book features a good range of hotels as well, organized by area and prize, but I found the dinning part really outstanding. For example, the Kanda's hidden soba shops, the collection of stylish bars or world class tempura restaurants I found in no other guide. So, I would really recommend the guide book.

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best travel guide to Japan

Japan: A Budget Travel Guide
Ian L. McQueen
Manufacturer: Kodansha International (JPN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Rough Guide to Japan, Third Edition

ASIN: 4770020473

Customer Reviews:

best travel guide to Japan.......2002-08-12

Ian McQueen's book is by far the best travel guide to Japan, even if you're not on a budget. He describes both the well known places and the out-of-the-way ones. He doesn't make up your mind for you, but leaves it up to the reader whether what's being described is a place the reader would like to go.

What amazed me most, of all the advice, was when he said that a certain beach in Hokkaido had washed-up fishing floats (those beautiful big glass balls) on it that people could take home (free) as souvenirs. I went there, and he was right!

When I first came to Japan, I tried various guidebooks. This one was the best for me. Now that I've lived here 18 years, I still refer to it occasionally before a trip, and I always recommend it to new visitors.

Book Description

This book focuses on an emerging, central issue in molecular genetics and the development of eukaryotes: the control of gene expression by small species of RNA. As an exciting new field of endeavor, it is the first book by a single author to deal comprehensively with RNA silencing.

The book provides the historical background of the field preceding the seminal work by Fire and associates in 1998 on the impact of small double-stranded RNA on the expression of nematode genes, which is considered the beginning of RNA silencing research. RNA silencing is described in a wide range of plants and animals including protozoa, simple metazoa, insects, non-mammalian vertebrates, and mammals. In each case the experimental results are provided with the accompanying background and with illustrations. There is also an appendix on the prospective use of RNA silencing in gene therapy, which is intended as a guide for investigators wishing to explore this possibility.

Customer Reviews:

Good literature survey.......2006-03-29

The discovery of RNA interference in molecular biology has resulted in an explosion of interest in recent years. This interest is both academic and practical, and shows promise in drug discovery as well as in gene therapy and genetic engineering. This book gives essentially a literature survey of the latest research in RNA interference or RNA silencing as it is called in the book. Readers will need a substantial background in molecular biology to follow the contents, but anyone, including non-experts (such as this reviewer) can gain much from the book if it is read carefully and with attention paid to detail. Since it is a literature survey, readers will need ready access to the references that are quoted in the book. This reviewer only read the first six chapters so only these will be subject of the commentary here.

The author begins the book by an historical summary and then in chapter 2 begins discussing RNA silencing in plants. He points to three viewpoints for studying gene silencing by nucleotide sequences, namely the silencing of invading pathogens by viruses, the co-suppression of an inserted transgene, and homology-dependent gene silencing. The chapter emphasizes the first viewpoint, wherein small RNA sequences are used to defend against invading viruses. One example discussed is the use of mutated replicase of potato virus X (PVX) to induce resistance to the wild-type virus. Other examples include the correlation of virus resistance with post transcriptional suppression of transgene mRNA accumulation in tobacco etch virus and potato virus Y. Also interesting in this chapter is the discussion on the mobility of the post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) signal in plants.

The author takes a look at gene silencing in fungi in chapter 3, with emphasis on the role of repeat-induced point (RIP) mutations and `quelling'. The latter is a posttranscriptional mechanism that was discovered in Neurospora crassa. The quelling involved taking part of a gene involved in carotene synthesis and transforming the fungus with the result that the transgene caused the silencing of the endogenous gene.

The nematode C. elegans is one of the most widely studied organisms in functional genomics and molecular biology and so it is not surprising to see that RNA interference was investigated in it. The author discusses this research in chapter 4 of the book. The phenomenon of RNA interference is well supported in C. elegans as a reading of this chapter will reveal. One fascinating fact that is brought out by the author regarding C. elegans is that one half of its 600 somatic cells are neurons. The author reveals that partial resistance to RNA interference occurs in the nervous system of C. elegans, particularly in its head which had full resistance to RNA interference. He reports that some researchers have found techniques to circumvent this resistance.

Chapter 5 considers RNA silencing in insects, namely in Drosophila melanogaster and in mosquitoes. The molecular biology and genetics of Drosophila is of course well known, and the author discusses in fair detail RNA interference in this organism. The double stranded RNA that represents a certain gene in Drosophila can silence this gene and in fact is more efficient than single stranded RNA. The author includes a detailed model for RNA interference in Drosophila with accompanying diagrams. For mosquitoes, the author argues that an ideal situation would be one where the double stranded RNA is used successfully namely to suppress their own pathogens but also to abolish the replication of human viruses. He does not report too many of the details of research in RNA interference in mosquitoes. The genetic engineering of mosquitoes is very exciting via the possibility of releasing transgenic mosquitoes in the wild

In chapter 6 the author discusses RNA silencing in protozoa, and reports the surprising fact that it does not occur in some protozoa. In particular there is no RNA silencing in some Trypanosoma species and species in the genus Leishmania. The lack of RNA silencing in these organisms is a counterexample to the belief that RNA silencing evolved as a mechanism for the defense against retrotransposons, argues the author. For those eukaryotes that do not have RNA silencing, it thus becomes imperative to find the mechanisms they use for coping with transposons. The discussion of RNA silencing in Trypanosomatids is interesting also in that it points to the existence of the `kinetoplast', which is a unique organelle in the mitochondrion consisting of a large DNA network embedded in which they are minicircles and macrocircles. The minicircles apparently play a role in RNA editing. Also discussed and very interesting is the phenomenon of `transsplicing' in some protozoa, and wherein alternative exons can be spliced in the same pre-mRNA. This results in different mRNA as final product. The author gives a thorough discussion of transsplicing along with accompanying diagrams.

Book Description

Hardbound. The overall theme of the 3rd World Congress is "Atom Efficient Catalytic Oxidations for Global Technologies". This theme was chosen to stimulate the participants to report their findings with an emphasis on conserving valuable material in their catalytic transformations, as well as conserving energy, in an environmentally responsible manner. Progress towards this stated goal is substantial as evidenced by the tremendous response of the community in their participation of quality publications complied in these Proceedings of the Congress.

The subjects presented span a wide range of oxidation reactions and catalysts. These include the currently important area of lower alkane oxidation to the corresponding olefins, unsaturated aldehydes, acids and nitriles.

The four featured lectures and seven plenary lectures constitute the general background and overview of the subject matter at hand. The 104 contributed papers and 13 poster manuscripts, sum

Book Description

Balancing the "cookbook" approach of some texts with the more mathematical approach of others, Nonparametric Statistical Methods for Complete and Censored Data introduces commonly used non-parametric methods for complete data and extends those methods to right censored data analysis. Whenever possible, the authors derive their methodology from the general theory of statistical inference and introduce the concepts intuitively for students with minimal backgrounds. Derivations and mathematical details are relegated to appendices at the end of each chapter, which allows students to easily proceed through each chapter without becoming bogged down in a lot of mathematics. In addition to the nonparametric methods for analyzing complete and censored data, the book covers optimal linear rank statistics, clinical equivalence, analysis of block designs, and precedence tests. To make the material more accessible and practical, the authors use SAS programs to illustrate the various methods included. These programs are provided both in the book and on the CRC Web site. Exercises in each chapter, SAS code, and a clear, accessible presentation make this an outstanding text for a one-semester senior or graduate- level course in nonparametric statistics for students in a variety of disciplines, from statistics and biostatistics to business, psychology, and the social scientists. Prerequisites: Students will need a solid background in calculus and a two-semester course in mathematical statistics.

Book Description

This book offers a radically new reading of Don Quijote, understanding it as a whole much greater than the sum of its famous parts. David Quint discovers a unified narrative and deliberate thematic design in a novel long taught as the very definition of the picaresque and as a rambling succession of individual episodes. Quint shows how repeated motifs and verbal details link the episodes, often in surprising and heretofore unnoticed ways. Don Quijote emerges as a work that charts and reflects upon the historical transition from feudalism to the modern times of a moneyed, commercial society. In Part One of the novel, this change is measured in a shift in the nature of erotic desire, and we find Don Quijote torn between his love for Dulcinea and his hopes to wed for wealth and social advancement. In Part Two, Don Quijote himself changes from anarchic madman to a gentler, wiser hero--a member of a middle class in the making. Throughout, Cervantes meditates on the literary form that he is inventing as a response to modernity, questioning the novel's relationship to other genres and the place of heroism and imagination within stories of everyday life.

A new and coherent guide through the maze-like structure of Don Quijote, this book invites readers to appreciate the perennial modernity of Cervantes's masterpiece---a novel that confronts times not so distant from our own.

Customer Reviews:

Dull pedantry.......2004-04-08

Alas, another example of the mindless, and dull, and fa la la la, of academic offal.

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