Corals of Hawaii: A Field Guide to the Hard, Black and Soft Corals of Hawaii and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Including Midway

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Fabulous!!

This is a great book !

Corals of Hawaii: A Field Guide to the Hard, Black and Soft Corals of Hawaii and the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, Including Midway
Douglas Fenner
Manufacturer: Mutual Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1566476739

Book Description

Many of the corals in Hawaiian waters are found nowhere else in the world. This field guide helps novice snorkelers as well as experienced divers to recognize and identify these corals. It is the first guidebook exclusively devoted to Hawaiian corals, presenting nearly 90 species in glowing color of which over 23 species have never been reported before. Corals of Hawai'i presents the latest information based on the most recent scientific work on Hawaiian corals.

Customer Reviews:

Fabulous!!.......2005-08-01

Finally, a comprehensive guidebook to the corals of Hawai'i. This book provides a fantastic resource for everyone from coral taxonomists to marine biology students to tourists. It provides excellent background material in the first few sections, a user-friendly Coral Directory, species photos and descriptions, and 15 pages of taxonomic notes. Together these features provide a great educational tool and clear, informative reading for everyone regardless of expertise level. No longer does the student of Hawaiian corals need to pick through obscure scientific reports and invertebrate tomes to cobble together information. Plus the research reflected in the taxonomic notes appears to contribute important advances in classification of corals in Hawai'i. Of equal importance, the text and photos are entertaining. Very nicely done.

This is a great book !.......2005-06-22

What a pleasure it is to see this book. This must be THE definitive guide to the corals of Hawai'i. Clearly laid out, with lucid descriptions of the corals that are as valuable scientifically to the expert coral taxonomist as they are accessible to the novice enthusiast, this book is set to become the handbook that all divers and snorkellers in Hawai'ian waters will want to carry with them. Hawai'i is special : it is "far enough north and east to only have about sixty-six species of hard corals, compared to over five hundred in the Philippines, Indonesia and New Guinea", so the book is laid out to help divers learn the most commonly seen corals first. Learn the five corals you are most likely to meet and the rest becomes easier. The Coral Directory sets out the dominant and common species so that divers can get to grips with those first, progressing to the uncommon and rare. The photographs are clear and page references in the Coral Directory lead you straight to the detailed information about that coral in the body of the book. It just couldn't be easier!

This book is a reflection of the enthusiasm that Dr Fenner has for his subject and his talent as a teacher to convey that enthusiasm to his students.

Book Description

If you really want to get to know the island of Oahu, this is the only book you'll need. Author Robert Nilsen provides detailed coverage of beaches, diving, hiking, paddling, and camping, as well as information on history, people, culture, customs, and art. Enjoy an authentic luau or try gourmet Pacific Rim Cuisine, stay in the elegant Royal Hawaiian Hotel, or tent in primitive campgrounds. But whatever you do, don't go without this book. "The best general guidebooks available." -- Hawaii Magazine

Customer Reviews:

High quality, durable format.......2005-06-23

This is a high quality guidebook from respected company Moon Handbooks. I love the smaller format, medium-small type, and thin pages, so when you tote this along, it is very lightweight. It's also very durable for a paperback--it's meant to be carried around in your backpack during your journeys.

This covers just the island of Oahu, which is home to Waikiki and Honolulu. It's broken up into chapters on the land, the ecology, the history, arts & music, sporting & recreation, and so on. All of this makes great plane ride reading. The bulk of the book is a geographically-divided tour around the island, listing beaches, attractions, accomodations, food & drink, etc. I used this to get around Waikiki and found all the info to be up to date and very useful.

Not your average tourist book.......2005-04-08

This book contains a lot of information about the island and its many beaches.

I bought this book from AAA before my first visit to Hawaii. What really surprised me about this book was how the first few chapters were about the Land, Flora&Fauna, History, Government & Economy, and People of the island. From these pages I learned more about the island and its people than your average Hawaiian sun-worshipping tourist.

The book also offers lots of ideas and information for Sports & Entertainment, Shopping, Food and Drinks. Each different area of the island is detailed with a map and minute details about the beaches.

The book lacks the colorful touristy postcard pictures but makes up for it through the sheer amount of information (and good organization) for everyone, be they young or old, jocks or bums, artists or history-buffs, food-connoisseurs or Hawaiian-drink enthusiasts.

Overall a great buy, and will use it on all future trips to O'ahu.

NOTE: This book covers O'ahu island exclusively (and not any of the other 6 Hawaiian islands). There is information on how to reach the other islands though, but nothing beyond that.

Book Description

Jordan is going to join a gang. But just as he's about to start his future with the Cobras, his past calls him back. Way back-to the nineteenth-century, where he meets his ancestors and gets a bitter taste of what life was like for them as slaves. Jordan must live with the constant threat of the whip's lash. His journey back in time will strike a chord with any young person who has felt trapped by hard times and difficult choices.

Awards:

An ALA Best Book for Young Adults
A Child Study Children's Book Committee Children's Book of the Year

Customer Reviews:

Educational-entertaining-a book you can't put down............2007-07-04

Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun is a story about a young man about to join a gang. As part of the initiation into the gang, this African-American youth has to buy a gun. To get money for this gun, he steals his grandfather's watch - a prized family heirloom which has been passed down through his family since the days of slavery.

As he walks to the pawn shop with the watch in his hand, he is suddenly transported back to the days of slavery in the old South. Not knowing how to survive this brutal time period, not knowing the rules of survival as a slave, he must learn to survive long enough to get back to the present.

I have taught this novel in my eighth grade language arts class for several years. It has been accorded the highest honor as my students ask - "Can we read Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun" again, today?
What a joy to teach a book that students eagerly read and enjoy.

In the process, this book teaches that gang-life and slavery are one and the same. They both operate on the basis of fear and brutality while binding one to a system where there is no escape.

Twisted in Time.......2006-02-10

A boy by the name of Jordan Scott has got himself in big trouble. Jordan's friends are bad news, and his family does not know about them. Jordan has a little sister by the name of Tachelle, and Jordan's mom is always on his case. Jordan's dad had left a while ago, and Jordan is mostly on his own. Jordan hangs out with a gang called the "Cobras." Jordan needed to get money fast for a gun, and he did not have any. Jordan went to visit his grandpa, and he remembered that he always talked about a watch that he had. Jordan's grandpa said it was passed down through generations from the slave years. Jordan figured that it would be worth a lot of money.
Jordan went to his grandpa's house, and stole the watch. Jordan didn't want to, but he had to. If Jordan didn't, he would probably die. Jordan had to hurry up and take it, so he wouldn't be late. While walking down the street in the dark, he heard a loud clicking noise coming from the watch. All of a sudden, Jordan was light headed, and felt like he was going to pass out. Jordan was all of a sudden in the middle of nowhere. Jordan went back to the slave years some how.
Will Jordan survive as a slave, and will he be able to go back to his own world, or will he be stuck there forever?
What I liked about this book was that it was very adventurous. There was no dull moment throughout the whole book. What I didn't like was how the story was set up, because some parts did not make since.
The people who would like this book would be anybody. There are mixes of boy and girl characters, so either boys or girls would be eligible to read this book. Any boy or girl, twelve and up can read this book.
I have not read any other books by this author, but I am looking forward to it.

Great Book!.......2001-06-13

Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun was a great book! I really liked the way the author mixed history with the present in a realistic way. There was a lot of excitement in the book, and I could never put it down. I would definitely recommend reading it!

A good story involving gangs, slavery, and time travel.......1999-09-08

Arvella has written a wonderful novel about a modern day teen trying to cope without his daddy by joining a gang of cobras. With a time travelling watch, he goes back to the days of slavery and lives a rough life. This "slave life" teaches him that being with family and learning are the 2 most positive experiences in life. The characters of Jordan and Uriah are well written. Many teens should read this book.

Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun: A Boy's Journey

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Trapped Between the Lash and the Gun: A Boy's Journey
Arvella Whitmore
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ5JX0

Book Description

The production of a vast array of chemicals, especially petroleum compounds during the last century, has caused a serious deterioration in environmental quality. In this context, one major threat is posed by the continually expanding areas of contaminated soils and sediments.

Biotechnological methods based on the biodegradation of environmental pollutants or phytoremediation of persistent organic contaminants and metals are being developed. Bioremediation has been used successfully to remediate many petroleum-contaminated sites. However, there are as yet no commercial technologies commonly used to remediate the most recalcitrant contaminants, such as explosives, pesticides and metallic pollutants. Nevertheless, bioremediation is a rapidly advancing field and new bio-based remedial technologies are continuing to emerge. For this volume, a number of experts from universities, government laboratories and industry, have contributed chapters on innovative methods in bioremediation and phytoremediation.

Applied Bioremediation and Phytoremediation

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Applied Bioremediation and Phytoremediation
Ajay (EDT)/ Ward, Owen P. (EDT) Singh
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6EZ52

Book Description

This work confronts the question of geometric processes of derivation, specifically the derivation of affine planes - keying in on construction techniques and types of transformations in which lines of a newly-created plane can be understood as subplanes of the original plane. The book provides a theory of subplane covered nets without restriction to the finite case or imposing commutativity conditions.

Book Description

These twenty pieces address the politics, culture, and literature of Russia with both flair and erudition. Passionate and opinionated, often funny, and using ample material from daily life to underline their ideas and observations, Tatyana Tolstaya's essays range across a variety of subjects. They move in one unique voice from Soviet women, classical Russian cooking, and the bliss of snow to the effect of Pushkin and freedom on Russia writers; from the death of the czar and the Great Terror to the changes brought by Gorbachev, Yeltsin, and Putin in the last decade. Throughout this engaging volume, the Russian temperament comes into high relief. Whether addressing literature or reporting on politics, Tolstaya's writing conveys a deep knowledge of her country and countrymen. Pushkin's Children is a book for anyone interested in the Russian soul.

Customer Reviews:

Self loathing Russian.......2004-06-19

There is a certain kind of well-educated, privileged Russian who loathes his country's Orthodox, monarchist past
but is also embarassed and ashamed of its brutal, murderous foray into communism. Tatyana Tolstaya seems just one
more cynical, ironic "nihilist lite" voice from Russia who offers nothing really interesting or insightful into her
country's plight or future. Her observations on cultural matters are neither original nor particularly thought provoking accept
for an occasional criticism of the duplicitious nature of Russian politics. However, she does herself a great dis-service in
her shameful and rather shallow criticisms of Solzhenitsyn. Whatever one may think of Solzhenitsyn's criticisms of modernity, he
is a decorated soldier who was then persecuted in some of Stalin's worse gulags, who even survived cancer while living in
their deprivation and squalor. He also had the courage to openly criticize the worse demonic, blood drenched regime history
has seen, placing his life on the line with each thing he wrote under the watchful eye of the KGB and soviet state. And Ms. Tolstaya?
Due to the respect afforded the Tolstoy name, her family lived in comparatively luxurious surroundings in Moscow,
relatively untouched by the brutal repression of the Soviet state. When one reads her criticisms of Solzhenitsyn, it becomes
clear that his biggest offense in Tolstaya's eyes is that he eventually discovered what it means to be Russian: Orthodox and
Monarchist. Nothing offends the sensibilities of Russian liberals like Tolstaya, fermented in so much Soviet nonsense during
their formative years, as someone opposed to modern liberalism. In one of the most ridiculous essays in the collection, Tolstaya
even goes so far as to place some of the blame for the Yelstin coup, and subsequent chaos, on Solzhenitsyn: apparently, the wily
old unrepentent Orthodox monarchist fomented an anti-soviet, anti-modern sentiment that resonated with enough folks to cause
impatience with the pace of reform. It seems to slip right by the benighted Tolstaya that Solzhenitsyn, perhaps more than any
other public figure, did more to bring down the oppresive, totalitarian soviet system than any one else. One last note of irony:
Tolstaya belittles Solzhenitsyn's short-lived broadcasts that were aired during the 90s and his campaign to encourage
Russians not to import too many foreign words into their language. When Tolstaya and her husband decided to return to
Russia, part of her stated reason was so that she could return to and be enriched by her mother tongue which, she feared, she
was beginning to lose a sense of while living in the West. In the end, Tolstaya has nothing to really offer -- she curses the darkness
but does not try to light a candle. In fact, it isn't clear that she believes in anything in any case. Ms. Tolstaya, if you happen
to read this, take some advice and return to the faith of your forefathers. Vigil is every Saturday evening, followed by the
Divine Liturgy on Sundays. Check for times at the church nearest to you.

In search of the Russian soul.......2003-11-26

Tolstaya demonstrates just how hard it is to size Russians up in a collection of book reviews and essays on the Russian character. These stories sparkle with many telling anecdotes, drifting back and forth over time. Pushkin has long held a dear place in the Russian heart because of his "inner freedom," Tolstaya noted. The unconquerable spirit that managed to survive one regime after another over the centuries.

Book reviews dominate this collection, from her appreciation of Robert Conquest's The Great Terror to her witty dismissal of Gail Sheehy's book on Gorbachev. She also takes aim at Russian authors, in particular the cult that formed around Solzhenitsyn. The Russian soul is something that continually eludes authors. Exceedingly hard to pin down as is the Russian language.

Jamey Gambrell worked with Tolstaya on this translation, giving it the character of her voice. Although most of the pieces were written during the death throes of the Soviet Union, her observations are still timely and present a compelling portrait of Russia in transition. She takes a stab at the enigmatic Vladimir Putin and the events that led up to his ascension to power. She packs into these essays more meat than many scholars do in their massive tomes on Russia. It is a voice that is both fresh and enlightening.

Not stupid, but really funny.......2003-06-03

Intellectuals have problems fitting in with the big buddies in the world. This might be more true in Russia during the last few centuries than elsewhere, but PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN by Tatyana Tolstaya does not have an index, in which to look up Lenin, for his opinion on the intelligentsia, to illustrate the point. The intellectual freedoms which literary people in Russia had been seeking since the time of Herzen were finally granted by Gorbachev. But then the Partocracy, "accustomed to doing nothing concrete, to producing a lot of empty talk, they were shaken from their usual rut by the very mystery of what was happening. They were so baffled that it was easy to sweep them from their posts. When someone has fainted, you can quickly throw them out the door." (p. 44). People who live in democracies should recognize the ability of voters to do this to rulers on a regular basis, if the voters have enough reason and are given the opportunity.

In the case of Gorbachev, the larger question of how he managed to preside over the collapse of an empire and an economic system is of unusual interest for people in democracies whose outlooks for wealth are not stable. Tolstaya pictures the intelligentsia as being too moral to grasp the downside of what would happen when "Gorbachev made his first, and perhaps his most serious, mistake. He forbade the people to drink.
"The intelligentsia forgave him for this (they were `moved by their own perdition'). The Partocracy was happy. Here was a concrete task, and a familiar one: to fight, to root out, to fire people from their jobs. They set to tearing out grape vines, paving over rare vinyards in the Crimea, uprooting muscat so fine and expensive that `the people' couldn't get near it. They only counted the monstrous losses when the campaign was over. During the campaign, however, people cursed Gorbachev, bought up all the sugar, perfected their knowledge of moonshine manufacture, and most important of all, grasped that they could do everything their own way and not get caught or punished. An epidemic of hoarding began. Sugar, soap, matches, and lightbulbs disappeared, and then sheets and pillows, and then clothes, shoes, eggs, and finally bread." (p. 45).

Most of the people in the world live in countries where they do not need to depend on their government to supply them with such items, and even the United States, rich as it is in so many ways, might expect to be able to conquer anyplace it chooses without having to furnish such items to everybody. Even the current road map might appear to create a state for the Palestinians in an area in which Jewish settlements are the hoarders of anything they might really want. Long before, this book, PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN, starts with a book review of SOVIET WOMEN: WALKING THE TIGHTROPE, by Francine du Plessix Gray, in which reality conforms to the old maxim, "Women can do everything, and men do all the rest." (p. 3). War and prison camps kept men away from homes and jobs in the first half of the twentieth century. "An honest person tried his or her best not to participate in this `official' life. Those who did get involved in the hellish machine were broken: either it destroyed all traces of individuality and compromised them morally and ethically, or--if a person rebelled--it threw him out of society, sometimes sending him as far as Siberia." (p. 11).

Things change as the essays in this book were written. "In January 1994, no one talks about politics and no one explains anything, no matter how much I ask. No one understands anything. No one believes in anyone or anything." (pp. 127-128). With incredibly high prices, "But there are happy surprises, too: a medicine that I bought in America for $50 turned out to be so cheap in Russia that I bought fifteen jars and paid only five cents for it. (I should have bought thirty jars.)" (p. 128).

Another explanation for the collapse of the Soviet Union was in the personality conflict between its primary leaders. "In February 1991, Yeltsin was dying to speak on television and Gorbachev wouldn't let him. . . . Many people understood that the conflict between these two strong personalities did in fact threaten the country with collapse--and with unforeseen consequences." (p. 147). Then, "Having rushed to `seize' Russia, he didn't know what to do with it." (p. 151). Yeltsin is pictured as dreaming that things would be better for him if he were in America. "(I wonder whether, somewhere in the depths of Yeltsin's subconscious, he is remembering the last house of the last Russian tsar, given to Nikolai II by the Bolsheviks, which Yeltsin himself had blown up on orders from Moscow.) In any event, I rather think that if an American president willfully decided to get rid of California, Nevada, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, the two Virginias, both Carolinas, Maryland, and Pennsylvania, the grateful American people wouldn't build him anything more than a hut in Alaska, at best, and wouldn't give him any sled dogs either." (pp. 151-152).

This book is really too good. Even if you know a lot of what this book covers, the point of view is unusual and witty enough to make it entertaining. But in our times, even PUSHKIN'S CHILDREN has to admit, "Recently Americans have not shown much interest in what is going on in Russia." (pp. 185-186). The final paragraph, dated 2000, includes the kind of things that feed current fears. "Russians began to remove everything they possibly could from institutes and factories, and to sell everything they stole, including state secrets--actual, not imagined ones. They stole poisons, mercury, uranium, cesium, and vaccines. Even, in one instance, smallpox virus." (p. 242). Take it from an author who "used to buy meat patties at some tank factory. No one ever stopped me." (p. 242).

wonderful.......2003-01-11

This is a wonderful collection of essays. Tolstaya is sharp, opinionated, and savvy. Full of insight into contemporary Russia -- its leaders and its people.

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