California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History (California Natural History Guides , No 58)

Book Description

From majestic Redwoods to ancient Western Bristlecone Pines, California's trees have long inspired artists, poets, naturalists--and real estate developers. Verna Johnston's splendid book, illustrated with her superb color photographs and Carla Simmons's detailed black-and-white drawings, now offers an unparalleled view of the Golden State's world-renowned forests and woodlands.
In clear, vivid prose, Johnston introduces each of the state's dominant forest types. She describes the unique characteristics of the trees and the interrelationships of the plants and animals living among them, and she analyzes how fire, flood, fungi, weather, soil, and humans have affected the forest ecology. The world of forest and woodland animals comes alive in these pages--the mating games, predation patterns, communal life, and the microscopic environment of invertebrates and fungi are all here.
Johnston also presents a sobering view of the environmental hazards that threaten the state's trees: acid snow, ozone, blister rust, over-logging. Noting the interconnectedness of the diverse life forms within tree regions, she suggests possible answers to the problems currently plaguing these areas. Enriched by the observations of early naturalists and Johnston's many years of fieldwork, this is a book that will be welcomed by all who care about California's treasured forests and woodlands.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent, well-written guide to California forests.......1997-12-17

This book serves as a helpful and approachable guide to anyone wishing to become more familiar with the flora and fauna of California. The state's different biomes are represented in separate chapters, each of which includes detailed descriptions of common vegetation and animals, rare sights of the area, and spotting tips.

California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History

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California Forests and Woodlands: A Natural History
Verna R. JOHNSTON
Manufacturer: Un. of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GT42FY

The Ohlone and the oak woodlands: Cultural adaptation in the Santa Clara Valley (Research manuscript series)

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The Ohlone and the oak woodlands: Cultural adaptation in the Santa Clara Valley (Research manuscript series)
Grant William Schick
Manufacturer: Santa Clara University, Department of Anthropology and Sociology
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This book presents a broad outline of the development of architectural styles and movements in Britain. Designed to encourage readers to go out and explore, a concise but extremely readable text provides the cultural and historical contexts necessary to understand the place of a building in architectural development, with the author's own line drawings illustrating important examples. Chapters cover the Anglo-Norman Romanesque style and the transition to Gothic, medieval parish churches, castles and houses, Tudor architecture, Jacobean domestic building, and two seminal figures in architectural history, Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren. The story continues with Mannerism, the Baroque, Palladianism, early examples of town planning, including Bath, Cheltenham and Edinburgh New Town, neo-Classicism and the Gothic revival, and finishes with the movements and styles that have characterized this century. Both a pocket guidebook and a compact history of architecture, Britain, A Guide To Architectural Styles will enable anyone interested in our built heritage to see it with more knowledgeable eyes.

Book Description

Frederick is the shy new boy, and Xio is the bubbly chica who lends him a pen on the first day of class. They become fast friends -- but when Xio decides she wants to be more than friends, Frederick isn't so sure. He loves hanging out with Xio and her crew, but he doesn't like her that way. Instead he finds himself thinking more and more about Victor, the captain of the soccer team. But does that mean Frederick's gay? He hopes not -- he sees how everyone makes fun of Iggy, a boy all the other kids think is gay. Frederick has to deal with some tough choices: Even though he is curious about Iggy, he's just started fitting in at his new school, and he doesn't want to lose Xio, his best friend.

In So Hard to Say, Alex Sanchez, acclaimed author of the groundbreaking novels Rainbow High and Rainbow Boys, of which School Library Journal said, "It can open eyes and change lives," helps younger readers look at self-discovery, come to terms with being gay, and accept people who are different from them.

Customer Reviews:

Life as we know it...............2006-01-31

Frederick has just moved to California from Wisconsin. His first day of school he meets Xio. They immediately become fast friends and she introduces him to her friends called "the sexies". As they become closer it is obvious that Xio wants to be more than friends. Frederick likes her but for some reason he is not feeling the same attraction. So starts this book where one of the main characters (Frederick) battles back and forth wondering why I am not attracted to this young lady but yet when he sees one of his classmates Victor he daydreams about him. It is a coming of age book where each individuals have to face grown up facts. Frederick that this feeling he has makes him a strong candidate of being homosexual, and Xio who has to come to terms with her father leaving the family and her father too possibly being gay. Great read.

Not Hard to Read.......2005-09-10

A well-hewn story illuminating the subtle gradations involved in coming out, So Hard to Say takes on the challenging task of one 13-year-old boy's progress from childhood to manhood.

Frederick is a typical middle-school student dealing with the maze of finding friends, wanting a girlfriend (maybe Xio, a forward classmate who adores him) and trying to understand his role in a rapidly-changing role.

As he explores his feeling for Xio's friend Victor, a confident, handsome, fair-minded athlete, he slowly comes to realize it's not Xio he loves. On the scene is Iggy, an outwardly gay youth who is tormented at school.

While it might sound like a typical young-adult novel, it certainly is not. Author Alex Sanchez thought this through throughly before writing. The evolution of emotions blossoms perfectly, revealing growth and its counterbalancing immaturity at the same time. Most writers wouldn't take on the story of such a young teen's coming out. But Sanchez does it with incredible skill and inimitable grace.

Funny, Revealing and Tender.......2004-12-01

I just can't say enough good things about Alex Sanchez. I have had the opportunity to meet the author on a few occasions as he swings through Orlando and I must say that getting to know his books is truly getting to know him.

Although his previous books have been about gay youth, this story moves back to junior high, reminding me of all the wonderfully painful moments and realizations made during that time. Fredrick and Xio are two brilliantly written characters who could walk right out of the book they seem so real. There is some very subtle humor written into the plot as Fredrick realizes he is gay and his friend Xio becomes more and more frustrated until the realization hits her as well. A story many of us know all too well. Although the book is written for a much younger audience, I have thoroughly enjoyed reading the story, remembering my perspective as a 13 year old. I suspect there will be a follow up to this book as there are just too many possibilities for the transition of this cast as they move into high school.

I don't think I got as involved with this book as I did Rainbow Boys and Rainbow High, but again, it wasn't written with me in mind. I am looking forward to the follow up in the Rainbow series sometime next year.

Tongues Untied.......2004-11-03

Ye who has not written a children's book raise your right hand!

In the age of saturation-and shameless saturation at that-there appears to be not a soul left on planet Earth who has not penned a book for children or young adults. From television show hosts to pop music queens, and from B-movie actors to rowdy political pundits, everyone (particularly the celebrity circuit) has something to say, a lesson to impart, an age to memorialize. Can the success of J.K. Rowling and her Harry Potter books have been so effortlessly winning as to inspire an onslaught of dollars-grabbing children's literature on self-acceptance, acceptance of others, stealing, envy, greed, and lying, among other topics?

With much to vie for the attention of consumers these day, and especially young adults (videos and video games, the Internet, the fickle fashion industry, the even more fickle music industry), children's lit has turned into a money chomping machine of its own by turning books into films, and films into a sea of endless merchandising. It is of no amazement if one is left wondering if there really are any substantive lessons being imparted in all these books.

Then there arrives a work like Alex Sanchez's So Hard to Say, and all suspicions are immediately pushed aside. Infectious from the very first paragraph, the author of the highly successful books Rainbow Boys and Rainbow High has again struck gold with a story that is as original and heartwarming as it is insightful and heartbreaking.

At the plot's center are two likeable protagonists. Maria Xiomara Iris Juarez Hidalgo, nicknamed Xio (pronounced C.O.), who is a Leo (like Madonna), is also a plucky, feisty, and funny thirteen year old Mexican-American. Uniquely constructed, chatty Xio is a strong and opinionated chica, who is also by turns insecure and doubtful about the direction of her future. She lives with her mother and younger brother, and feels abandoned by a father who has left the family under mysterious circumstances. On the first day of class, she befriends-and immediately develops a crush on-new student Frederick (not Fred or Freddy or Rick or Ricky), who is a recent Wisconsin transplant to California. They strike up a fast friendship that has deeper implications for Xio. Frederick, on the other hand, is a thoughtful and deliberate fourteen year old, and by turns himself insecure and trepidatious regarding his choices in life. After all, he is experiencing waves of strong emotions that leads him to question his sexuality; he believes he's gay.

While this may sound like a simplistic story (girl meets boy who wants boy), its masterful, sensitive, and intricate execution delivers an admirably satisfying book. Sanchez, a naturally gifted writer who has been twice nominated for a Lambda Book Award, has also created impressive characters who hold up mirrors to the reader, yet are well drawn enough to be individualistic.

Nearly everyone in So Hard to Say, particularly the teen characters, act and react to everything on two levels: intellectually and emotionally, making them the most balanced constructions in recent memory. Case in point: when heartthrob Victor-Frederick's soccer buddy-is confronted with a rumor regarding Frederick's sexuality, he strokes his chin and insightfully ponders the situation, despite his sometimes rowdy and machismo behavior. When Xio is faced with hard truths about her father, she acts out forcefully, but then is adult enough to later sit and discuss her feelings openly with her mother. Frederick's evolution is never more apparent than when faced with a test: should he openly befriend the handsomely dimpled Iggy, who everyone believes is gay, and who gets very little respect from anyone. Even family.

The skillful shifting between thought and emotion, adolescence and maturity, light and heavy moments, and even English and Spanish, makes So Hard to Say easy to digest. Sanchez's ability to move the story along and tighten its dramatic tension without resorting to sensationalism is also remarkable. Everything-and everyone-remains in the realm of plausibility, even as the book moves through character and plot development, and introduces Xio and Frederick's variously colored circle of friends and family.

Poignant and brave at its conclusion, So Hard to Say will leave audiences with warm, lasting impressions of both its subtle lessons and its characters, of whom one can't wait to meet again. Which is saying much, because in the age of saturation-and shameless saturation at that-readers young and old will probably be left cheering three little words to Alex Sanchez: más, más, más. Which in English means more, more, more.

An eighth-grader's odyssey of self-discovery.......2004-10-09

This novel fills an important niche in young-adult literature, telling the story of one boy's coming out experience through his own eyes and from the perspective of one of his close friends at school. Frederick is just starting the eighth grade as a new student at a California middle school. During his first week he meets Xio, a girl of Mexican descent who is immediately attracted to his "kick-butt blue eyes and sandy blond hair spiked in front." Xio and her girlfriends welcome Frederick into their circle, with Xio clearly thinking of him as boyfriend material. But what does Frederick himself want? At first even he is not sure.

Alex Sanchez writes "So Hard To Say" using the alternating viewpoints of his two main characters, Xio and Frederick. Their individual voices are distinct and go a long way toward establishing them as vivid, identifiable people. Xio is outgoing, sometimes brash. Frederick is circumspect, more shy around boys than he is with girls. He also becomes confused as he realizes that Xio is gradually turning up the heat, trying to nudge him into becoming a proper boyfriend for her.

Someone who causes a different kind of confusion for Frederick is Victor, the charismatic boyfriend of one of the girls in Xio's circle. Frederick doesn't quite know what to make of the easygoing attention he gets from Victor, who like many of the boys at Frederick's new school is not afraid to be physically affectionate with another guy. Victor regularly throws his arm around Frederick, nudges into him when they're walking together, puts him into playful headlocks, and at one point even picks him up to throw him onto a bed. As time passes, Frederick finds himself thinking more and more about Victor. He is fascinated by how the other boy's muscular build contrasts with his own, slighter one, and he frames a photograph of the two of them togther and places it at his bedside. He even allows Victor to call him by a nickname ("Rico"), something that nobody else is allowed to do. At first Frederick rationalizes his interest in Victor by noting that other boys at the school also defer to him. It is not until later that Frederick comes to realize that his own feelings go to different depths than theirs.

A peripheral character for most of the story is Iggy, another boy at Frederick's school who is rumored to be gay. Frederick overhears how others talk about Iggy and watches as they treat him like an outcast, so his own initial reaction is one of keeping a wary distance. All the same, he is fascinated by Iggy's dimpled smile and feels mysteriously drawn to him. What keeps him from acting on those feelings is mainly the fear of being thought of as gay himself.

Of course, with pressure from Xio to be her boyfriend and his feelings for Victor only becoming stronger, something in Frederick has to give. During the last part of the book he finally gets a chance to be honest with Xio and to come to terms with Iggy. The book ends on a hopeful note.

In the story teen readers will recognize many familiar artifacts from their own world -- computers, MTV, Playstation 2, instant messaging, email -- although, curiously, cell phones don't enter into the mix. Teens will also recognize many of the issues they themselves deal with in their everyday lives -- unrequited attraction, divorce, the challenge of how to balance the desire to be popular with your sense of what's right and wrong.

At times the character of Frederick tilts perilously close to that of the stereotypical weak, effeminate gay kid (he has "milky white skin", a "pouty mouth", suffers from asthema, and dabbles in interior design) but at the same time he is not afraid of sports and does quite well playing the goalie position in his first soccer game with Victor. I also like how the author takes the reader on a vivid tour of Mexican-American culture, making it a key part of the characters' lives. I think it is great that Wisconsin native Frederick is the odd man out, yet eagerly embraces the new experiences that his California friends offer as they welcome him into their lives.

Sexual content is limited to a scene of necking at the movies, some kissing between various boys and girls, and a kiss between two boys. Parents or teachers may want to discuss the book with very young readers as they make their way through, but I think most teens will be able to handle the material.

Book Description

Classic examination of the three major subjects at the heart of science: cosmogony, atomic theory, and evolution. Each area features readings that present a continuous story, conveying the excitement of the process of scientific discovery and growth of knowledge from earliest to modern times. 1959 edition. 36 figures. 7 tables.

Customer Reviews:

classic documents in foundations of science.......2003-12-15

This Dover reprint of a collection of founding documents in the history of science is unusual in that it treats in parallel the three sciences of astronomy, structure of matter, and life. Brief commentaries help put the original writings of men such as Copernicus, Newton, Lavoisider, and Darwin in context. Reading these original papers gives one a sense of the struggles involved in forging modern natural science that is impossible to get from reading modern textbooks, or even histories of science. For example, the article by Lavoisier in which he describes experiments showing that combustion involves combination with oxidation, not release of the supposed substance "phlogiston", is even more revealing than the account in his later textbook of chemistry. The readings are likely to be more rewarding, however, with the aid of later works on the history of science. For example, the readings on chemistry are much easier to appreciate with the aid of Ihde's classic history, also available as a Dover reprint.

Book Description

This is the first modern book to treat inorganic and organometallic mass spectrometry simultaneously. It is textbook and handbook in one; as a textbook it introduces the techniques and gives hints on how to apply the various techniques, as a handbook it lists all available ionization techniques for just about any given compound. The book also includes non-mathematical explanations of how modern MS instruments work

Book Description

Mass Spectrometry of Inorganic and Organometallic Compounds will inspire the synthetic inorganic and organometallic chemist with the confidence to apply some of the new techniques to their characterization problems.

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Mass Spectrometry Of Inorganic, Coordination And Organometallic Compounds
William/ McIndoe, J. Scott Henderson
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6CF3G

Book Description

This work is based on a set of lectures and invited papers presented at a meeting in Murcia, Spain, organized by the European Commission's Training and Mobility of Researchers (TMR) Programme. It contains information on the structure of representation theory of groups and algebras and on general ring theoretic methods related to the theory.

Book Description

The complete historical play-revised and expanded

The rise and fall of a British king-from his crowning and confrontation with Joan of Arc's French legions through the War of the Roses to his exile and return-the immortal Bard reveals the loves, conflicts, and intrigues that defined the reign of Henry the Sixth.

Henry VI, Parts, I, II, and III (Signet Classics)

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The Lesser Known Shakespeare

Henry VI, Parts, I, II, and III (Signet Classics)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Signet Classics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Drama | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0451523121

Customer Reviews:

The Lesser Known Shakespeare.......2001-01-14

I don't understand why more people don't read Shakespeare's history plays because they are some of his best work, especially the Henry VI trilogy. Shakespeare's interpretation and manipulation of history drive this trilogy forward and create unique opportunities to judge his skill against the "facts." I loved this trilogy! Not only is it an expert study in human nature (which is Shakespeare's trademark), it is action-packed with never a boring moment. Read it!

Histories II: Henry Vi, Part I; Henry Vi, Part Ii; Henry Vi, Part Iii.

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Histories II: Henry Vi, Part I; Henry Vi, Part Ii; Henry Vi, Part Iii.
William, Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Dodd Mead
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The Plays of William Shakspeare with Notes by Johnson and Steevens-Vol X - King Henry VI, Part I, Part II, Part III

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The Plays of William Shakspeare with Notes by Johnson and Steevens-Vol X - King Henry VI, Part I, Part II, Part III
William Shakspeare (Shakespeare)
Manufacturer: C. and A. Conrad (others)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000K7QGS8

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Henry Vi, Parts I, Ii, and III

Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9993282723

Histories II: Henry VI, part I;: Henry VI, part II; Henry VI, part III (Great illustrated classics)

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Histories II: Henry VI, part I;: Henry VI, part II; Henry VI, part III (Great illustrated classics)
William Shakespeare
Manufacturer: Dodd, Mead
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Old Vic five-year first folio plan. 5th season

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Old Vic five-year first folio plan. 5th season
Mary Clarke
Manufacturer: Published for Old Vic Trust. 1td. by H. Hamilton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

On "Henry VI - Parts I, II and III" as the Work of Shakespeare (SHAKESPEARE , ELIZABETHAN THEATER)

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On "Henry VI - Parts I, II and III" as the Work of Shakespeare (SHAKESPEARE , ELIZABETHAN THEATER)
Samuel Johnson
Manufacturer: AREPRINT SERVICE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000H4RK9I

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