Jim Fowler's Wildest Places on Earth

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely beautiful !.......2000-04-02

This book is full of wonderful pictures and descriptions of some of the more remote regions of our world. The pictures are absolutely gorgeous and really allow the reader to "see" the location/animal as if they were there. The book is divided into sections by location and includes a three page foldout map showing where each location is. The text describes each location, each picture, and often sites when the plant/animal/location was "discovered". If you love wildlife magazines, you will love this book ! Also great for kids due to the wonderfully vivid pictures.

Average customer rating:

Jim Fowlers Wildest Places on Earth
Jim Fowler
Manufacturer: TIME LIFE BOOKS @
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000SHKX0W

Average customer rating:

JIM FOWLER'S WILDEST PLACES ON EARTH

Manufacturer: Time-Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GLS0SC

Book Description

Renowned author Tony Hillerman's original essays written for "New Mexico" and "Rio Grande, " plus two new essays, are complemented by the extraordinary images of Muench and Reynolds.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful writing, great photos, bad print job........2001-01-26

If Only!

If only this book had been printed by the National Geographic Society, or Arizona Highways, or somebody who specializes in scenic calendars. The fabulous photos in here deserve top quality printing, and they didn't get it.

However, I heartily recommend this book to all my fellow Hillerman fans, *anyway*, because the essays are great, and the background information on some of the events that inspired scenes in certain of the novels is priceless. If you loved 'A Thief of Time' as much as I did, you'll very much enjoy the descriptions of the actual site that inspired it. Hillerman's 'travelogue' down the Rio Grande is also wonderful.

If you love New Mexico, buy this book.......1998-09-15

If you ever read books of Tony Hillerman, be sure to take a look at this book. His love of the state of New Mexico is well known by readers of the Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn Mysteries, but this book is about the overwhelming beauty of the state. The vast open spaces, the silence and the history. This collection of essays together with the outstanding photographs is a must.

Average customer rating:

NEW MEXICO, RIO GRANDE AND OTHER ESSAYS
Tony (photos by David Muench & Robert Reynolds) Hillerman
Manufacturer: Graphic Arts Center Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NWMM7Y

Average customer rating:

NEW MEXICO, RIO GRANDE AND OTHER ESSAYS

Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQ7TW0

Average customer rating:

New Mexico, Rio Grande and other Essays
Tony HILLERMAN
Manufacturer: HarpePerennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPME2S

Average customer rating:

New Mexico, Rio Grande and other Essays
Tony HILLERMAN
Manufacturer: Graphic Arts Center Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OPIKV2

Book Description

When she is five, Young Ju Park and her family move from Korea to California. During the flight, they climb so far into the sky she concludes they are on their way to Heaven, that Heaven must be in America. Heaven is also where her grandfather is. When she learns the distinction, she is so disappointed she wants to go home to her grandmother. Trying to console his niece, Uncle Tim suggests that maybe America can be "a step from Heaven." Life in America, however, presents problems for Young Ju's family. Her father becomes depressed, angry, and violent. Jobs are scarce and money is even scarcer. When her brother is born, Young Ju experiences firsthand her father's sexism as he confers favored status upon the boy who will continue to carry the Park name. In a wrenching climactic scene, her father beats her mother so severely that Young Ju calls the police. Soon afterward, her father goes away and the family begins to heal.

Customer Reviews:

Heart-breakingly beautiful.......2007-08-28

What an incredible fresh new voice... I want to find An Na and urge her to write more. I felt this book broke my heart open in the most beautiful of ways... She made me think deeply about the experience of coming to the US as a young child and acclimating, along with one's parents, perhaps more quickly than one's parents, to a brand new language and culture. Her language is clean, clear, pure, beautiful, precise, sparing... this is a must read, hands down.

Between Cultures.......2007-05-31

Young Ju was born in Korea and lived the first four years of her life there. Then she and her parents move to America to start a new life. Young does not speak any English, and she has trouble understanding this new world around her. When her younger brother, Joon, is born, Young feels like she is second best. Sons are treasured. Her fahter changes the baby's diaper and talks of how great he will be when he grows up. This baby gets attention and special priveleges, and Young feels like she is ignored and unloved.

As she grows up and becomes more Americanized, Young begins to realize that her father is abusive. Their lives in the United States are a struggle, rather than the dream they had expected them to be. Young is trying to fit in with her peers in this country, while her parents expect her to follow the stricter rules of a Korean society. She is torn between two countries, and is afraid of her father. Can their lives really work out for the better here in the United States?

I found the mother in this story frustratingly weak. I understand that different cultures have different roles and expectations for women, but I was still horrified at the idea that a woman would allow her husband to abuse her and her children. I liked that this story made clear to me some of the reasons why people would come to this country from other countries. I liked reading about first impressions of the United States. The narrator tells interesting stories of her first day of school and the misunderstandings she had because she didn't speak the language.

A Step From Heaven.......2007-05-10

This award-winning book uses the growth of the character to tell the story through her eyes. The writer uses the language in the book to illustrate the young girl maturing and grasping the English language. Many children in today's educational system are from other countries, but are thrown into American society. They are faced with the struggle to preserve their culture, yet yearn to "fit into" American culture. Other children who do not have this struggle may know people like the main character or they may feel sympathetic to her hardships. The violent behavior displayed by the father is another aspect of the story that children from any culture could relate to. Abusive, alcoholic fathers and husbands are not only found in one particular race. The author does illustrate the negative affects of abusive behavior through both the victims and the perpetrator. The stereotyping in the book is minimal. There is discussion about the author's experiences in America, but they are utilized to illustrate the cultural differences, not a stereotype. The book depicts the story of one Korean immigrant and her family, but all immigrants will not live these same experiences. Readers should keep an open mind and read knowing this is the journey of only one girl. Although her story may be similar to others, not all Korean immigrants will have the same experiences. Overall, the book allows the reader to celebrate how the character overcame numerous obstacles in her life without turning her back on her culture, family, or herself. She remained true, and that is an inspiring message to send to readers.

A Step from Heaven Evaluation.......2007-05-07

A Step from Heaven is an affecting story full of personal challenges and eventual triumph. The reality of Young Ju's life can be easily related to many teenagers trying to conceal their truths to ensure popularity and acceptance among their peers. In addition to Young Ju's battle to hide the truths of her family and home lifestyle, the reader is deeply affected by the hardships that Young Ju encounters within her home. Young Ju's ability to overcome her father's abusive behaviors is uplifting, but more affecting is Young Ju's mother, Uhmma's, triumph over her role as the quiet, compliant, and abused Korean wife to a fearless, strong, independent woman. The stereotypes that An Na includes in her book are evident; however, these stereotypes provide significance to the story being told. In particular, the defined roles that An Na creates for each member of the family are necessary for the impact of Young Ju and Uhmma's triumph over their abusive father and husband. Also, the poverty the family endures in their move to America from Korea is again necessary to provide a realistic view of the hardships that many families encounter when they leave their native country for a better life in the United States. In addition, the struggling home life, multiple jobs by parents, the small, unappealing home, and the monotonous meals of rice clearly illustrate the embarrassments Young Ju feels compared to the lifestyles her friend have. An Na's A Step from Heaven realistically depicts the challenges a young girl faces while trying to find her own voice and place in this world.

Step Up To This Heavenly Novel.......2007-05-06

Na, A. (2001). A step from heaven. New York: Speak.

Synopsis: From the eyes, ears, mind and heart of Young Ju, you are carried from Korea to Mi Gook. In actuality, Mi Gook is America, which Young Ju feels is literally a step from heaven. You will experience the journey, pain, sorrows, and joys as Young Ju matures and grows into a brave, brilliant, and caring young woman. She struggles to balance her new American life with her rich cultural Korea background. Written in almost a free verse format, this story is told through the mind and experiences of Young Ju. This young girl endures many challenges in her life, but the hardest challenge of all is to stop the physical abuse that her father has brought upon the family. Can Young Ju put an end to her family's suffering?

Evaluation: Readers will clearly get the sense of how American life can prove to be challenging for immigrants. An Na presents the strong cultural clash that must be felt by any immigrant. For Young Ju, it is the clash of her rich Korean heritage with the strange new customs of America. While preparing to leave Korea, Young Ju's mother takes her to get "curly American hair". Yet, once they arrive in America, Young Ju's parents do not approve of her new American friends. While Young Ju struggles to learn the language, as she is forced to speak only Korean at home and only English at school. In her mind, words flow smoothly and naturally. When quoted, Young Ju's English is choppy and sometimes mixed up. She goes to the dictionary to find out why boys and girls "go" with each other. Written in a series of vignettes, readers are transported into Young Ju's world. Not all the events are clearly linked through out the story. However, the author's fluid language gives an accurate portrayal of immigrants struggling in America. High school level teachers can use this text with students to create an understanding and appreciation for the challenges faced by young immigrants. Readers can also feel the pain and sorrow that Young Ju must endure. Battling her father's alcoholism, abuse, unfair and sexist treatment is at times brutal. The author presents a strong heroic and triumphant young woman in the end. Young adults ages 14-18 are likely to find this story remarkable. Adults will likely enjoy this light, yet heavy hearted novel as well!

From Heaven to Earth: Soft Landing Your Family Budget:14 Steps to Manage Downsizing Family Finances in Downsizing Times

Average customer rating:

Thoughtful, lot of good material, simple language

From Heaven to Earth: Soft Landing Your Family Budget:14 Steps to Manage Downsizing Family Finances in Downsizing Times
Michelle Eagles
Manufacturer: Writers Club Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Budgeting & Money Management | Personal Finance | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0595654312

Book Description

In 1999, according to IRS data, my family got into the first 5% of American households by income. Surprisingly, we were not rich. We still were uncomfortable about the time when our kids will go to a college, and our retirement plans were far from clear, but it was not too bad either. We were able to have what we need, keep accounting loose, and the balance on the checking account was still slowly but persistently coming up. In 2001, with the dot-Com melt, my company had downsized and I lost my job as a software developer. We started to live on my husband’s salary and every month became a struggle. Sounds familiar?

Today many families find themselves in a complicated financial situation. Families who lived on two salaries, have to adjust to only one. Families who counted on stock options, now have to live on salary. But salaries don’t grow today as they used to, if they grow at all. And despite all the money you still bring home, and all the efforts you apply, you are still slowly, but consistently going down. These are the families that this book is written for.

Customer Reviews:

Thoughtful, lot of good material, simple language.......2003-02-18

When I first started to look through this book, I decided that it's all trivial. Then I looked again, hm-m-m... I actually never thought about most of this "trivial" stuff before. The language was simple, true, but it's amazing how many good hints are there. I regularly read books on personal finance, and this book does not repeat them. Say, did you ever wonder how banks make money on those "0% APR introductory offers"? And did you even thought why it is important to know? Yes, good question contains most of the answer. Because that's what you pay, if you use this "free" credit. And this book is good with both questions and answers. Another example: if your income is $100 short from your expenses, how much expenses you should cut? $100, right? Now, if you cannot cut expenses, how much you have to earn? $100? Not keeping in mind income tax! Assume your effective federal income tax rate last year was 15% and your tax bracket was 33%, then how much? $115? $133? $150? Wrong, quite a bit more!

The cover says, it's good for teenagers, and that's true. I'll try to make my teenager kids read it. In a few years they are going to a college, and I want them to be smart about their money. The cover says that it's also good for everybody who has come to this country and tries to make sense of our financial life. I suppose that's true too. But it's also definitely good for a lot of other folk. It was good for me, and I am not a teenager.

Average customer rating:
God steps down from heaven: The divine visitor
Wayne Patton
Manufacturer: Fairway Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1556734654

Average customer rating:
A Step From Heaven
K. L. Bye
Manufacturer: Turtle Run Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

20th Century | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Poetry | United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
United States | Single Authors | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0964194503

Book Description

Vietnam + Soldier + Combat + Emotions = staccato pieces of history one won't find in the history books.

Average customer rating:

Step from Heaven
an Na
Manufacturer: Turtleback Books Distributed by Demco Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Turtleback

The Steps : Stories from Heaven & Inferno| Los Pasos cuentos del cielo y del infierno (Coleccion La cueva de la sibila)

Average customer rating:

The Steps : Stories from Heaven & Inferno| Los Pasos cuentos del cielo y del infierno (Coleccion La cueva de la sibila)
Luz E Macias
Manufacturer: Casa del Hada Editores
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 9583315184

Book Description

The Steps has Seven short stories in English and Spanish.

Average customer rating:

A Step From Heaven
An Na
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OJ5O0I

Steps in the pathway from youth to heaven

Average customer rating:

Steps in the pathway from youth to heaven
Franklin Samuel Bliss
Manufacturer: Eli Ballou
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Book Description

The authors explore an intersection of number theory, digital signal processing and coding theory. Focusing on the design of number theory based on computationally efficient digital signal processing algorithms, error control techniques and their relationships over a ring of integers, this is the first book to focus on algorithms for processing of data sequences defined over finite integer rings, rather than defined over a field. The authors have developed a deep understanding of the fundamental role that number theory plays in the design of fast algorithms for performing computationally intensive tasks in digital signal processing. This understanding led them to derive a significant body of new research results in number theory, digital signal processing, residue number systems, and error control coding techniques. They present these results-with necessary background theory-for mathematicians, computer scientists, and engineers working in number theory, computer arithmetic, fault-tolerant computing, digital signal processing, VLSI design, and coding theory.

Book Description

For all their permeability, the borders snaking across the world have never been of greater importance. This is the dance of history in our age: slow, slow, quick, quick, slow, back and forth and from side to side, we step across these fixed and shifting lines. —from Part IV

With astonishing range and depth, the essays, speeches, and opinion pieces assembled in this book chronicle a ten-year intellectual odyssey by one of the most important, creative, and respected minds of our time. Step Across This Line concentrates in one volume Salman Rushdie’s fierce intelligence, uncanny social commentary, and irrepressible wit—about soccer, The Wizard of Oz, and writing, about fighting the Iranian fatwa and turning with the millennium, and about September 11, 2001. Ending with the eponymous, never-before-published speeches, this collection is, in Rushdie’s words, a “wake-up call” about the way we live, and think, now.

Customer Reviews:

An enjoyable but uneven collection.......2007-09-22

Like most essay collections, this one is hit or miss.

When Rushdie hits, the results are sublime. His essay about being sports fan, namely of Tottenham Hotspurs of the English Premiership, is one of the most compelling and true accounts of what it is to be a sports fan. Rushdie traces the origins of his fandom as a young boy fresh from Bombay to the present day. He accurately captures the ups and downs a fan feels as his team's fortunes rise and fall with the years, the 180 degree turn in feelings about a player from a former rival who suddenly joins his team, and the energy felt on game days. This essay is an excellent primer on sports journalism. I also loved Rushdie's essay on Alice in Wonderland. It was like reading one of Chuck Klosterman's essays, minus the snark.

Of course, there are also essays that come off as self-indulgent. These essays are mostly about Rushdie, the man and the star. Two essays I did not particularly enjoy were the one about the making of a miniseries of Midnight's Children and the one about Rushdie's return to Bombay.

All of the Rushdie traits are present here: humor, intelligence, wit, verbosity, and fresh insights into each topic. I found this collection to be more accessible and easier to read than Rushdie's fiction because he has had to tone down his verbose style to appeal to magazine readers. It is this verbosity that makes it impossible for me to read his fiction.

Wizard Of OZ Influence.......2006-05-25

I bought this book new, but cheap, on the street from a book vendor. I had not read anything by Rushdie before and assumed these short stories would be mostly about India. The author opens up this collection of essays and short stories with the influence the film The Wizard Of Oz had upon him. It is quite an intriguing read. There is a lot about India here and the affects that country has on the author. His perceptions and opinions are open for debate which he acknowledges and thats why reading him is invaluable.

wonderful.......2005-07-06

for all of those who wish to step across the line of a reader to an experiencer, this book allows such a request. I was priveleged to step into the mind of Salman Rushdie, one of the best writers of our day.

Formidable intellectual firepower.......2005-03-28

This collection of Salman Rushdie's non-fiction spanning the early years of the Iranian Fatwa to the immediate post September 11th aftermath displays all the characteristic intellectual pyrotechnics that Rushdie is famous for. There is much in this book for readers who engage with global culture and politics to enjoy. The first essay is an extended piece of film criticism on Rushdie's first acknowledged literary influence - the Wizard of Oz, a movie which reflect's his accustomed condition of a person uprooted from his homeland and adjusting to a strange and, at times, unnerving new world. In 1989, Rushdie fell victim to one aspect of these turbulent modern times - Islamic Fundamentalism. Many of the essays focus on the terrorist threat that hung over Rushdie following the publication of the Satanic Verses, a satirical riff on the birth of Islam. Before that time, Rushdie was a staunch advocate of an approach to life that was founded on the principles of secularism, freedom of expression and liberty of thought, and his experience under the Fatwa strongly redoubled this conviction. The final essays entitled 'Step Across this Time' were written in the massively uncertain September 11th aftermath and discuss the nature of frontiers and their significance. Rushdie argues that we are all living in a frontier time in which great changes are thrust upon us all the time. We must develop a frontier spirit of humanistic liberalism, become custodians of freedom and justice in order to thrive in this current climate. This is the central thread of Rushdie's argument that he returns through repeatedly in these essays and he musters all his considerable intellectual powers to state a formidably powerful case for liberty.

Step Across this Line is not just about the critical political issues of this era however. Also included are an exquisitely tounge in cheek autobiographical piece about Rushdie's experiences as a twenty year old living above a boutique in West London called Granny Takes a Trip. This was my favourite essay in the book and I hope Rushdie decides to write more autobiographical descriptions of his youth in the future. Essays on football and rock music link sublimely with more intellectual subjects such as post colonial Indian literature - a subject on which Rushdie is extremely knowledgable and a secular cry to the world's six billionth person to eschew the restrictive power structures of religion and embark on his or her own ethical development.

Rushdie is a controversial writer who doesn't shy away from stating his opinions bluntly and forcefully, and his views on subjects such as religion are fiercely contested by those who reject his secular view of the world. But I would strongly recommend this collection of writing to intellectual readers who will appreciate these outpourings from a man who is a genuine global thinker, assiduously well read and a first rate writer.

Astonishing curiosity and analysis with a contradiction.......2004-06-23

This is a collection of essays and opinion columns encompassing Salman Rushdie's arrival in New York and his continuing work as a novelist and critic.

His essay on THE WIZARD OF OZ is a beautiful piece, written as a migrant and a father, in which he explores "one final, unexpected rite of passage," when we must inevitably disappoint the expectations of our child and be exposed - like the wizard as portrayed by Frank Morgan - as humbugs.

At times, Rushdie's thought seems constrained by double standards. Although the long section relating the story of the campaign to defend him from Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence is valuable, I was disappointed it did not include his own infamous public embrace and then disavowal of Islam. Perhaps it is a moment he would rather forget, even though he could submit this as evidence of the fact that scripts were continually being forced upon him by various parties during his years in hiding. There is even a darkly amusing echo here of Muhammad's disavowal of the so-called "Satanic" verses mentioned in a certain famous novel. It is, however, an event that belongs in the record.

Rushdie's views on the September 11 attacks and the war on terrorism (which is to some extent a war on violence wrought in the name of Islam) is surely of interest given his personal experience with radical Islamists. Yet a contradiction in his moral reason appears over the course of his writing. He upholds, as a basic principle of morality, the view that an individual is responsible for his murders no matter what his rationale is. Hence, it is unacceptable to excuse terrorism on the basis of anti-Americanism. On the other hand, Rushdie is willing to relieve individuals of personal blame in order to blame religion itself for murder. He writes, "...religion is the poison in the blood... What happened in India, happened in God's name. The problem's name is God."

If an individual kills for the sake of a totem, why is that God's fault rather than the individual's? Why is it okay to blame a person's religion, but not their politics?

Average customer rating:
Step Across This Line : Collected Nonfiction, 1992-2002
Salman Rushdie
Manufacturer: Random House, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PDYETA

Average customer rating:
Postmodern chutney.(Salman Rushdie, Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction, 1992-2002)(Book Review): An article from: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life
Randy Boyagoda
Manufacturer: Institute on Religion and Public Life
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
General | Nonfiction | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
Philosophy | Nonfiction | HTML | Formats | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0008G5YUM
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on February 1, 2003. The length of the article is 1834 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Postmodern chutney.(Salman Rushdie, Step Across This Line: Collected Nonfiction, 1992-2002)(Book Review)
Author: Randy Boyagoda
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2003
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 47(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books