The Galapagos Islands: The Essential Handbook for Exploring, Enjoying and Understanding Darwin's Enchanted Islands

Book Description

What to see and what to expect at each site in the Galapagos—revised with the latest details on park conditions and the visitor's experience.

·Meticulously updated in consultation with senior staff at Charles Darwin Research Station and expert island guides
·Human and natural history of the islands—now updated
·Tips for planning and making the most of your visit—now expanded
·Bonus chapter on travel in mainland Ecuador (rainforest and Andean Highlands)—now revised

Marylee Stephenson is besotted with passion-flowers, daisy trees, giant tortoises, marine iguanas, and blue-footed boobies. Traveling in tiny, hand-hewn converted fishing boats and on luxurious sailing vessels, she has explored the Galapagos Islands numerous times over the past two decades. In her engagingly written guide, she takes you to all the important sites, describing the plant and animal life to be seen and the experiences to be had in each area. Includes maps and color photography.

Marylee Stephenson is brilliantly equipped to act as both armchair and practical guide to the Galapagos Islands, one of the world's best remaining magic places. If you're going or thinking of it, or just want a vicarious experience, this book is required reading.--Margaret Atwood, author of Oryx and Crake and Moving Targets

Customer Reviews:

More of a checklist than an explication.......2003-01-27

The subtitle gives you an indication that this is not exactly a reading experience, but a guidebook during your actually sojourn. While it contains some useful pre-trip information, Stephenson concentrates on detailing the flora and fauna that are on each island, and their approximate locations, in a format that is almost like a checklist (or, for the birders out there, a lifelist). Stephenson is knowledgeable, and her information accurate as far as I can tell, but there's really no savoir faire here, and there's the rub. If I had only this to base my foreknowledge of the islands, I'm not so sure I'd be so excited about going. Luckily, there's other books that are better at capturing the uniqueness of the islands and their place in history and our world today.

Book Description

This copiously illustrated book is a unique guide that helps both amateur naturalists and serious field botanists identify nonwoody plants-herbaceous weeds (including grasses and sedges) and wildflowers-as they are found in fall and winter in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

Customer Reviews:

Beautifully organized and illustrated.......2002-06-08

This book is very intelligently organized. Ms. Levine chose to order the identification keys in a manner that would be most helpful, rather than strictly by botanical taxonomy. This makes sense given that the winter remains of plants do not track their taxonomy. The illustrations are also a joy just to look at.

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Wildflowers and Winter Weeds
Lauren Brown
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0393316785

Book Description

This charming guide identifies over 135 of the common species of wildflowers and weeds found in the northeastern United States. Each plant is superbly illustrated with a full-page drawing accompanied by an elegant description of the plant's key characteristics. In addition, a step-by-step key to plant identifications and an illustrated glossary of common plant parts and botanical terms has been included to make this a splendid and valuable resource in identifying the dormant but various vestiges of spring and summer.

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Weeds in Winter
Lauren Brown
Manufacturer: W W Norton & Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Flowers | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

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Winter Botany

ASIN: 0393303489

Flowers & Fruits from the Wilderness: Or Thirty-Six Years in Texas & Two Winters in Honduras

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Flowers & Fruits from the Wilderness: Or Thirty-Six Years in Texas & Two Winters in Honduras
Z. N. Morrell
Manufacturer: Baylor University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0918954177

A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter: Herbaceous Plants of Northeastern North America

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A Guide to Wildflowers in Winter: Herbaceous Plants of Northeastern North America
Carol Levine
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ORRJ94

Wildflower Designs for Needlework: Charts, Histories, and Watercolors of 29 Wildflowers

Average customer rating:

The title says it all

Wildflower Designs for Needlework: Charts, Histories, and Watercolors of 29 Wildflowers
Adalee Winter
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

Textile Arts | Crafts & Hobbies | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0848704983

Customer Reviews:

The title says it all.......2006-01-23

The only thing the title can not say is that this is an excellent selection by Adalee Winter. The water colors are from her personal notebooks.

This book written before scanners and needlework soft ware offers a suggestion that you can use the chars and a stitch finder to do counting. There is also a conversion to cross-stitch.

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Winter Wildflowers
Helen V. Smith
Manufacturer: Michigan Botanical Club.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NUIWM0

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Winter wildflowers
Helen Vandervort Smith
Manufacturer: Michigan Botanical Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Nasionale Boomlys / National List of Trees

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Nasionale Boomlys / National List of Trees
B. De Winter
Manufacturer: Van Schaik Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Afrikaans | More Languages | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books
ASIN: 0627015344

Wildflower Designs for Needlework (Family Guidebook Ser. )

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Wildflower Designs for Needlework (Family Guidebook Ser. )
Adalee Winter
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HFJHNO

Book Description

INTRODUCTION

California is America squared. It's the place you go to find more America than you ever thought possible.

What's Wrong with America by Scott Bradfield

Perhaps no region of the world has been as idealized as California, and few, if any, actually manage to live up to the hype to the same degree. Justly celebrated for its sun, sand, surf, and sea, it has a whole lot more besides, such as high mountain ranges, Gold Rush ghost towns, glitzy cities, deep primeval forests, and hot, dry deserts.

California doesn't dwell too much on the past, and, in some ways, represents the ultimate "now" society, with all that entails. Urban life is very much lived in the fast lane, and conspicuous consumption is often emphasized to the exclusion of almost everything else. But this is only one side of the coin, and the deeper sense of age here often gets skimmed over. Once you get out of the cities, however, it is readily apparent in the landscape: dense groves of ancient trees, primitive rock carvings left by the aboriginal Native American culture, and the eerie ghost towns of the Gold Rush pioneers. A land of superlatives, California really is full of the oldest, the tallest, the largest, the most spectacular - all of which go far beyond local bravura.

It's important to bear in mind, too, that the supposed "superficiality" of California and Californians is largely a myth, one grounded in LA's position as entertainment, theme park, and beach culture capital of America, as well as the perception that San Francisco - or, just as much, nearby cities like Berkeley and Santa Cruz - serves as some sort of bastion of the lunatic fringe. But this is an image promoted as much by Americans on the East Coast as visitors to the state, even if the area's endeavors to gain cultural credibility can sometimes seem brash.

Politically, California's probably the USA's most schizophrenic state, home to some of its most reactionary figures - Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon to name but two - yet also the source of some of the country's most progressive political movements. Some of the fiercest protests of the Sixties emanated from here, and in many ways this is still the heart of liberal America. Consider the level of environmental awareness, which puts the smoky East to shame, and the fact that California has helped set the standard for the rest of the US (if not the world) regarding gay pride and social permissiveness. The region is economically crucial as well, with the cash-flush entertainment field dominated by California's film industry and ascendant music business; even in the increasingly important financial markets, Los Angeles has become a major player.

Average customer rating:

Harding to Pearl Harbor - quite an era

A good book for a history major

balanced view

balanced view

continued

Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression 1920-1941 (Norton Twentieth Century America Series)
Michael E. Parrish
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | 20th Century | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
Social History | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books
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Pivotal Decades: The United States, 1900-1920

Major Problems in American History, 1920-1945: Documents and Essays (Major Problems in American History)

Daily Life in the United States, 1920-1940: How Americans Lived Through the Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression

The American People in the Great Depression: Freedom from Fear, Part One (The Oxford History of the United States, V. 9)

Discontented America: The United States in the 1920s (The American Moment)

ASIN: 0393311341

Customer Reviews:

Harding to Pearl Harbor - quite an era.......2006-07-09

Anxious Decades is a volume in the Norton Twentieth Century America Series that addresses the decades of the twenties and the thirties. Michael E. Parrish has taken on the challenging task of giving us a consice volume addressing all of the societal, political, and economic trends that occured during these vastly different decades.

The 1920's, known as the "roaring twenties" were indeed years of Prosperity and good times - the era of the flappers, the rising stock markets, the rebirth of the KKK, and rising hemlines. Parrish devotes the first half of his tome to these years. He does an admirable job of describing the societal changes that America encountered during the decade, and a good job of describing the economic progression through between the end of the Wilson administration and the great crash of 1929. He does not address the political scene quite as much as the other two, but that can be easily blamed on the administrations that were in force during the years - Harding & "Silent Cal" Coolidge, who once famously quipped that the business of America is business.

The second half of the volume focuses on the years between the Stock Market crash and the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. I found this portion of the book to be much more enjoyable than the first (probably because I am very interested in the era of Roosevelt). I feel that Parrish does an outstanding job in describing the economic devasation felt by Americans of most classes (except, of course, some of the super rich), and how that translated into the social ills that befell the nation in the 1930's. He also delves much more into the political realm in this portion of his work, since Roosevelt's new deal directly impacted so many Americans during these years. His chapter on the Intellectuals and the Depression was most fascinating, and a valuable addition to my knowledge about this class of people during these years.

Overall, Parrish has provided us with a pretty good volume describing these years; he does not go into great detail for most individual items, since this is really a work that is supposed to be a high level overview of these two crucial decades in American History.

A good book for a history major.......2006-05-17

Parrish does a solid job of covering the years leading up to the Great Depression including the Presidencies of Harding, Coolidge and Hoover. He also notes the 1920s and the growing income differences between the wealthy and the growing number of poor in the nation.
He focuses a lot of the text on FDR and the New Deal and does an admirable job on at least highlighting some of the main points of the New Deal and the successes and failures of some of the programs.
It's a good book for a history class or to just learn more about the years leading up to the Great Depression and FDR's attempts at dragging America out of the economic disaster of the 1930s.

balanced view.......2002-02-25

...Parrish's focus on individuals is the book's strength. Parrish is a true synthesis historian. For example, Parrish had a balanced approached of synthesizing the traditional views of the Great Depression with more non-traditional issues. He discussed the traditional topics of poverty, lost fortunes, and food lines. Yet he also had sections of neglected topics like the disruption on family life, the popularity of sex in the film industry, and how many had positive views of the Great Depression. He concluded: "The Great Depression drove some Americans apart and simultaneously brought others together in a common cause. For some the Depression confirmed the rottenness of capitalism and the need for revolution. For others it would be the best of times, when people reached out to help others, and when the government took the side of the underdog to battle injustice."

balanced view.......2002-02-25

Parrish's focus on individuals is the book's strength. Parrish is a true synthesis historian. For example, Parrish had a balanced approached of synthesizing the traditional views of the Great Depression with more non-traditional issues. He discussed the traditional topics of poverty, lost fortunes, and food lines. Yet he also had sections of neglected topics like the disruption on family life, the popularity of sex in the film industry, and how many had positive views of the Great Depression. He concluded: "The Great Depression drove some Americans apart and simultaneously brought others together in a common cause. For some the Depression confirmed the rottenness of capitalism and the need for revolution. For others it would be the best of times, when people reached out to help others, and when the government took the side of the underdog to battle injustice."

continued.......2002-02-25

Parrish did an admirable job of balancing traditional topics and
non-traditional topics. For example, in chapter one and two he focused upon two influential white males, President Harding and Henry Ford. Yet in chapter 7 he talked about the struggles by women for equality in the workplace and politics. He had extensive comments on poor farmers and other laborers in chapter four. Part two in his book sways mainly to legislations and influential white politicians in the 1930's. While revisionists may argue that he failed to include more stories on influential women and minorities, one may argue that Parrish exposed the lack of important women and minorities in the 1930's.

Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal (Access to History)

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Prosperity, Depression and the New Deal (Access to History)
Peter Clements
Manufacturer: Hodder Headline
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Study & Teaching | Historical Study | History | Subjects | Books

20th Century | World | History | Subjects | Books

General | World | History | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0340888970

Book Description

This accessible narrative charts the tensions of the 1920s through to the apparent economic stability and prosperity of the decade, the onset of the Depression, and the political policy of the New Deal. Crucial issues such as the urban-rural divide, the extent to which prosperity was "real" in the 1920s, the factors which led to the Wall Street Crash, and the purpose and significance of New Deal are analysed in depth. Throughout the book key dates, terms and issues are highlighted, and historical interpretations of key debates are outlined.

Prosperity, Great Depression and New Deal. A Bibliography of American Economy during the Interwar Period

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Prosperity, Great Depression and New Deal. A Bibliography of American Economy during the Interwar Period
Yoshihiko Hirata
Manufacturer: Yushodo Booksellers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NUQZYM

Prosperity, Great Depression and the New Deal

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Prosperity, Great Depression and the New Deal
Yoshihiko Hirata
Manufacturer: Da Capo Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0306711958

Book Description

Though many separation processes are available for use in todays analytical laboratory, chromatographic methods are the most widely used. The applications of chromatography have grown explosively in the last four decades, owing to the development of new techniques and to the expanding need of scientists for better methods of separating complex mixtures. With its comprehensive, unified approach, this book will greatly assist the novice in need of a reference to chromatographic techniques, as well as the specialist suddenly faced with the need to switch from one technique to another.

Principles and Practice of Modern Chromatographic Methods

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Principles and Practice of Modern Chromatographic Methods
Kevin Robards
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHTBGI

Book Description

Ample instruction on vector and tensor manipulations in general coordinate systems, plus specific examples and applications. Although the text emphasizes crystallographic applications, the methods developed are essential in any problems pertaining to nonorthogonal systems. "Heartily recommended to every crystallographer, students of crystallography and other solid-state scientists." —Acta Crystallographica. 1982 edition.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent introduction for new crystallographers.......2000-05-11

This Dover reprint of "Vectors and Tensors in Crystallography" by Donald Sands is a wonderful single volume introduction to basic vector and tensor methods as applied to crystallography. All the basics of vector operations are clearly explained in chapter 1. Chapter two moves on to vector descriptions of lines, planes and projections. Three moves on to transformations, especially rotations and coordinate transformations. The first three chapters lay a solid foundation for chapter 4, a concise vector & tensor based development of symmetry, working up to the derivation of space groups. Chapter 6 has the most practical & useful information: the various geometries used in diffraction experiments. This text is an excellent resource for those new to crystallography or wanting to more detail than the absolute basics. In particular, this text would be ideal for a crystallographer moving into the field from a biology undergraduate background who may need a little review of the basics of vector operations before moving on to more advanced topics covered later in the text or dealing with the level of detail in The International Tables for x-ray Crystallography. Worked exercises are provided for most sections to aid self-study.

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Vectors and Tensors in Crystallography.
Donald E. Sands
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UYIKBC

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Vectors and Tensors in Crystallography.
Donald E. Sands
Manufacturer: Addison-Wesley Pub (Sd)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKTZMA

Book Description

Recent work by Cuntz and Quillen on bivariant periodic cyclic homology has caused quite a revolution in the subject. In this self-contained exposition, the author's purpose is to understand the functorial properties of the Cuntz-Quillen theory, which motivaties his explorations of what he calls cyclic pro-homology. Simply stated, the cyclic pro-homology of an (associative) algebra A is short for the Z/2 Z-graded inverse system of cyclic homology groups of A, considered as a pro-vector space. The author finds that this functor, taking algebras over a field k of characteristic zero into the category of pro-k-vector spaces, is remarkable. He presents a proof that it is excisive and that it satisfies a Künneth isomorphism for the tensor product of algebras. He explains the relation to the Cuntz-Quillen groups in a Universal Coefficient Theorem and in a Milnor lim1-sequence. This enables the lifting - to some extent- of the nice properties of cyclic pro-homology properties to the Cuntz Quillen theory itself. It is interesting to note that for the excision result, this lifting procedure goes through without constraints. For those new to cyclic homology, Dr. Grønbaek takes care to provide an introduction to the subject, including the motivation for the theory, definitions, and fundamental results, and establishes the homological machinery needed for application to the Cuntz-Quillen theory. Mathematicians interested in cyclic homology-especially ring theorists using homological methods-will find this work original, enlightening, and thought-provoking. The author leaves the door open for deeper study into excision for the Cuntz-Quillen theory for a class of topological algebras, such as the category of m-algebras considered by Cuntz.

Book Description

B> Tracing African American literary and artistic contributions from the 1700s to the 1990s, this anthology presents a diverse collection that includes fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, speeches, songs, paintings and photography. Readers learn about historical context, literary content, and rhetorical strategies while exploring sections on The Colonial Period (1746-1800), The Reconstruction Period (1865-1900), The Harlem Renaissance Period (1900-1940), The Protest Movement (1940-1959), The Black Aesthetics Movement (1960-1969), The Neo-Realism Movement (1970-Present), and Literary Criticism. For those interested in African American literature, art, and history.

Customer Reviews:

Great resource.......2005-08-28

Excellent anthology. Very good for teachers who want to take a thematic approach to teaching African American Literature. The introduction to each period gives a nice look into what the period focused on. Excellent companion CD.

Prentice Hall Anthology of African American Literature with Audio CD, The

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Prentice Hall Anthology of African American Literature with Audio CD, The
RochelleJones, Sharon L. Smith
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OIRSQW

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