The Granite Garden, Urban Nature and Human Design

Customer Reviews:

The Granite Garden.......2000-09-07

I am somewhat new to reading books such as this for pleasure, but I read what I think will interest me. I was thrown at first by the title thinking that the book was going to be about hard scaping. Instead this book was a real eye opener to a lot of things we take for granted every day. Chapters titled soil, water, and air open up the reader to understand all that is envolved in making a city before you get to the buildings and people. I initally borrowed the book from the library while reading it but had to purchase a copy of my own for future reference. I give this book a high recommendation to anyone in the architecture or landscape fields.

Granite Garden, The : Urban Nature and Human Design

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Granite Garden, The : Urban Nature and Human Design
Anne W. Spirn
Manufacturer: Basic Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KWEI6A

Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design.

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Granite Garden: Urban Nature and Human Design.
Anne Whiston Spirn
Manufacturer: see notes for publisher info
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M46LIE

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The Intuitive Eye : The Mendelsohn Collection
Gael Mendelsohn , and Michael Mendelsohn
Manufacturer: FotoFolio,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0966949811

Book Description

Extraordinary exhibition catalog that captures the images of the world famous collection of Self-Taught Outsider Art/ArtBrut, Tramp Art and Folk Art.

Artists represented:

W. Edmonson
E. Pierce,
M. Bartlett,
Sister G. Morgan,
J. Perates,
T. Dial,
H. Finster,
C.Black,
J. Mullet,
S. Papio,
W. Hawkins,
S. Doyle,
C/.B.White,
E. Von Bruenchenhein,
J.H. Hunley,
L.Quigg,
G.P. Ailers,
H. DaRGER,
m.oGDEN,
e. aRNING,
j. Yoakum,
Wentworth,
B. Taylor,
J. McCarthy,
DP Skyllas,
R. Coins,
M. Hirshfield,
L. McNellis,
McAdam,
M Ramirez

Customer Reviews:

Zen Fun!.......2006-03-18

If you like to draw and are having a bad day at work, this is a great calendar to take a break and make a little drawing!

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Androgenized artists can't carry a "toon"

Focuses on concerns over terrorism and political actions

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 1979
Charles Brooks
Manufacturer: Pelican Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Similar Items:

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2004 (Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year)

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2003 (Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year)

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 2001 (Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year)

Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year 2005 (Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year)

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year 2006 (Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year)

ASIN: 0882892290

Customer Reviews:

Androgenized artists can't carry a "toon".......2002-08-26

The "Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year" series has been around for at least 30 years now.

I know this because I actually remember the 1972 and 1973 editions. The differences between those editions and this one show how far the art of political satire has declined and how far the Matriarchy has progressed.

We're never told what standard is used to rate a particular cartoon as among the "best" of the year, and it's fairly safe to say that it's purely based on the subjective preference of the editor, Charles Brooks. And this much has to be said for him - he includes cartoons from a number of perspectives but leaves out left-wing heavy hitters such as Conrad, Trudeau, and the recently deceased Herblock (did they hit him in the head with a shovel to make sure?). This is important for balance, simply because there are no right-wing heavy hitters among political cartoonists to even the score.

For the most part, the cartoons included in all collections have been from relatively obscure contributors - both left and right. This is all to the good.

But this year's edition was just a lot of pap. For one thing, Gary Condit had been the big story before September 11. Where are the Condit cartoons?

Of course, the biggest story in 2001 turned out to be the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. So the "best" cartoons mostly repeat conventional sentiment - what a tragedy, but we're strong and united now so we'll get the bastards, blah blah blah.

How many cartoons were drawn which showed the Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam, and the American Eagle alternatively weeping, praying, retaliating etc. etc.? What a self-replicating show of pompous victimologistic self-assuming virtue!

Incisive masculine wit is disappearing from the modern political cartoon, and cartoons that are supposed to make you EMOTE without THINKING have become the rule.

Get a load of the contribution from Richard Wallmeyer of the Long Beach Press Telegram about "anti-bully" legislation. In the penultimate panel, one kid suggests that people just live by the Golden Rule instead of passing a law and in the last panel, his friend responds by reminding him that religion isn't allowed in public schools.

That's it. No wit; no nuance; no attempt to make the reader THINK about what the cartoonist is trying to say. No symbolism even. Wallmeyer tells you straight out what you should believe.

And Jeff Parker's post-September 11 contribution from Florida Today showing two Floridians wearing "I Love NY" paraphernalia and agreeing between themselves that "We are all New Yorkers now".

No biting masculine wit, no nuance, no intellect, no symbolism. And suck a lozenge, Jeff Parker. All of the terrorists attacks in the world won't turn the average New Yorker into a human being, any more than the 1989 earthquake could do so for the average San Franciscan. Parker is just engaging in cheap sentiment masquerading as patriotism.

The decline in quality of political cartoons stems from the fact that as women continue to make war on men and as the Matriarchy's grip becomes more crushing, male cartoonists have become softer and more effeminate (this is happening in other settings too, obviously).

And more women have become political cartoonists. There's an Ann Telnaes cartoon in which Joseph Lieberman's statement at Notre Dame that public morality should be based on faith is juxtaposed against a picture of Moslem women wearing veils.

Even assuming that it's BAD for women to hide their features, is it really accurate to suppose that a faith-based public morality would require an imposition of the burqua? No more than it would require baptism or a kosher diet but in a feminized world, the reader is not supposed to think but to emote, emote, emote.

Of course, as anyone who has seen her recurring appearances on C-SPAN knows, as a political cartoonist, Ann Telnaes is one hot babe whose face definitely should NOT be covered. But her cartoons would only be improved by the camouflage that a veil would provide. They are hardly worthy of inclusion among the country's "best".

And the feminization of the American political cartoon isn't just limited to matters of style.

Resistance to the Matriarchy has become unthinkable. In the 1973 edition, there is an entire section devoted to "Women's Lib", most of the contributions deliciously skewering the feminazis.

In one uproarious example, a man is standing at the altar looking apprehensive while hooked in his arm is his "bride", a man in drag. The preacher performing the "marriage" ceremony asks the "groom", "Do you, John, promise to love, honor and obey the Equal Rights Amendment?"

Go try to find a cartoon like that today! We've come a long way from when Thomas Nast cartoons afflicted and ultimately defeated party bosses such as Bill Tweed. Today's feminist bosses have no reason to moan, "Stop them damned pictures!" The people drawing them come from the same New Class that their masters do.

So where gender issues are concerned, the drawing board cult members bow their collective heads in deference to the "women are strong and good; men are weak and bad and deserving of punishment" party line. The 2002 edition shows an androgenized Statue of Liberty punching a Taliban member in the face in a display of women's "rights" (get it? She`ll throw her "left" at him next).

The Evil Rights Amendment might not have been enacted, but feminism has still become the official state religion of both left and right. As such, it stifles masculine energy, independence, and creativity. These can only return when and if a younger generation of males rebels against the imposition of public morality in the name of this particular faith.

Until then, the quality of written protest, in the form of political animation, can be expected to continuously decline. But I wonder what the 2032 edition of "Best Editorial Cartoons" will look like.

Focuses on concerns over terrorism and political actions.......2002-06-05

Leading editorial cartoonists are presented in a volume which focuses on concerns over terrorism and political actions. Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year, 2002 Edition packs in popular black and white editorials that reflect the major concerns of the Year 2001: any that wants a record of events and opinions will find Best Editorial Cartoons Of The Year, 2002 Edition intriguing and fun.

Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 1979 Edition

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Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year, 1979 Edition

Manufacturer: Pelican Pub Co Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0882891928

Book Description

Leslie Stephen was the first serious critic of the novel, and he was also editor of the great Dictionary of National Biography from its beginning in 1882 until 1891. In 1859 he was ordained a minister. As a tutor at Cambridge his philosophical readings led him to skepticism, and later he relinquished his holy orders. He wrote several essays defending his agnostic position. Throughout his life Stephen was a prominent athlete and mountaineer. Virginia Woolf was the younger of his two daughters by his second wife. His first wife was Harriet Marian Thackeray, daughter of the novelist. This book is notable for containing the first book appearance of Virginia Woolf (a brief memoir of her father on pages 474-476).

Leslie Stephen's Life in Letters: A Bibliographical Study

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Leslie Stephen's Life in Letters: A Bibliographical Study
Gillian Fenwick
Manufacturer: Scolar Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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Life and Letters of Leslie Stephen
Frederic Maitland
Manufacturer: Duckworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RAZQ4I

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THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF LESLIE STEPHEN

Manufacturer: G.P. Puttnam's Sons
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ID9B8G

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very informative

When a Child Has Diabetes
Denis Daneman , Marcia Frank , and Kusiel Perlman
Manufacturer: Firefly Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
General | Diabetes | Disorders & Diseases | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Type 1 Diabetes: A Guide for Children, Adolescents, Young Adults--and Their Caregivers, Third Edition

Diabetes Care for Babies, Toddlers, and Preschoolers: A Reassuring Guide

Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin

Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 155209331X

Customer Reviews:

very informative.......2006-03-06

A must read for anyone with a diabetic child written by the preeminent expert in the field and current president of the international diabetes foundation.

Book Description

While much has been published on the armed forces of the USSR during the 1980s, surprisingly little is available on the forces supplied by the other member nations of the Warsaw Pact. Rivalling the size of the United States Army, the combined ground forces of the six non-Soviet Warsaw Pact countries totalled over 775,000 active troops, with almost two million ground forces reserves. This book examines the history, organization and uniforms of the often overlooked DDR, Czechoslovak, Polish, Bulgarian, Hungarian and Romanian forces at the end of the Cold War.

Soviet/Warsaw Pact ground force camouflage and concealment techniques (Defense intelligence report)

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Soviet/Warsaw Pact ground force camouflage and concealment techniques (Defense intelligence report)
Jack Mace
Manufacturer: Defense Intelligence Agency, Soviet/Warsaw Pact Division
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006Y3CVO

Warsaw Pact Ground Forces Equipment Identification Guide: Armored Fighting Vehicles

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Warsaw Pact Ground Forces Equipment Identification Guide: Armored Fighting Vehicles
Defense Interlligence Agency
Manufacturer: Department of the Army
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JF4F48

WARSAW PACT GROUND FORCES' WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT.

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WARSAW PACT GROUND FORCES' WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT.
No Author.
Manufacturer: Softback
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UPJDTO

Warsaw Pact ground forces equipment identification guide: Armored fighting vehicles (Defense intelligence report)

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Warsaw Pact ground forces equipment identification guide: Armored fighting vehicles (Defense intelligence report)
Paul Fein
Manufacturer: Defense Intelligence Agency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0006XRL12

Warsaw Pact Ground Forces Equipment Identification Guide: Artillery, Rockets, and Missiles

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Warsaw Pact Ground Forces Equipment Identification Guide: Artillery, Rockets, and Missiles
Defense Interlligence Agency
Manufacturer: Department of the Army
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JF0SQW

Warsaw Pact ground forces equipment identification guide: Engineer equipment (DDB-1100-382-82)

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Warsaw Pact ground forces equipment identification guide: Engineer equipment (DDB-1100-382-82)
Paul Fein
Manufacturer: Defense Intelligence Agency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Warsaw Pact Ground Forces. Osprey Elite Military History Series No. 10

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Warsaw Pact Ground Forces. Osprey Elite Military History Series No. 10
Gordon Rottman
Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MSJ7U4

Customer Reviews:

Full of interesting political history.......2005-04-30

The period just before I came to awareness of the politcal world--and I came to some such awareness by 1936, when I was eight--has always fascinated me. I remember when I read Frederick Lewis Allen's classic, Only Yesterday (on May 21, 1946), how enthralled I was by the account of the years just before my ken. Much of the same fascination fuels my appreciation for this book, which considers the forces in the Democratic Party in the Twenties and early Thirties and the struggles between them. The author's thesis is that the Democratic Party was at least in the Conventions of the 1920's controlled by the conservative wing, and we know that some of those conservatives left the party in the New Deal days. I found the book full of interesting things, such as a clear explanation of why after the 103 ballots in 1924 the Houston convention in 1928 naminated Al Smith on the first ballot--a result which might mystify but which this book explains convincingly. Anyone who enjoys political history will be caught up by this carefully researched book--I was.

Book Description

In 2004, Venus crossed the sun's face for the first time since 1882. Some did not bother to step outside. Others planned for years, reserving tickets to see the transit in its entirety. But even this group of astronomers and experience seekers were attracted not by scientific purpose but by the event's beauty, rarity, and perhaps--after this book--history. For previous sky-watchers, though, transits afforded the only chance to determine the all-important astronomical unit: the mean distance between earth and sun.

Eli Maor tells the intriguing tale of the five Venus transits previously observed and the fantastic efforts made to record them. This is a story of heroes and cowards, of reputations earned and squandered, all told against a backdrop of phenomenal geopolitical and scientific change.

With a novelist's talent for the details that keep readers reading late, Maor tells the stories of how Kepler's misguided theology led him to the laws of planetary motion; of obscure Jeremiah Horrocks, who predicted the 1639 transit only to die, at age 22, a day before he was to discuss the event with the only other human known to have seen it; of the unfortunate Le Gentil, whose decade of labor was rewarded with obscuring clouds, shipwreck, and the plundering of his estate by relatives who prematurely declared him dead; of David Rittenhouse, Father of American Astronomy, who was overcome by the 1769 transit's onset and failed to record its beginning; and of Maximilian Hell, whose good name long suffered from the perusal of his transit notes by a color-blind critic.

Moving beyond individual fates, Maor chronicles how governments' participation in the first international scientific effort--the observation of the 1761 transit from seventy stations, yielding a surprisingly accurate calculation of the astronomical unit using Edmund Halley's posthumous directions--intersected with the Seven Years' War, British South Seas expansion, and growing American scientific prominence. Throughout, Maor guides readers to the upcoming Venus transits in 2004 and 2012, opportunities to witness a phenomenon seen by no living person and not to be repeated until 2117

Customer Reviews:

Venus in Transit doesn't cast a long shadow.......2004-03-11

I read e: The Story of a Number and Trigonometric Delights from Eli Maor and found both to be well written and enjoyable. With the transit of Venus approaching, the previous experience with Eli Maor brought me to his latest book. The writing style is the same, clear, fluent, but Venus in Transit is at a different level, more superficial than any of the other two books. And a couple of statements make you wonder. On page 58 "...Venus reaches its ascending node around December 8, and its descending node around June 7, so a transit can happen only around these dates. But for a transit actually to occur, Earth, too, must cross the line of the nodes on these dates." There is an inversion here, for Earth reaches the line of nodes at the given dates, while Venus is usually elsewhere in its orbit at these dates as already pointed by another reviewer. And then on page 20 when describing Galileo's observations of the phases of Venus as the first solid proof for the heliocentric system, the author states: " Venus showed phases like the moon - a narrow crescent at the time, a gibbous shape at another, and occasionally a nearly full disk. Here was solid proof that Venus moved around the sun; for had it moved around d the earth instead, it would have shown a full disk at each opposition, when it was directly opposite to the sun [sic]." This is surprising. Venus is never at opposition with the Sun as the ancients new very well by observation. The epicycles and deferents in the geocentric system of Ptolemy had their sizes and speeds carefully adjusted to account for the maximum elongation of 47 degrees or so along the ecliptic between the Sun and Venus. And although the geocentric system could not account for a full disk because in that system Venus was always between the Earth and the Sun, the alternative system proposed by Tycho Brahe could. These two inconsistencies suggest that Eli Maor is not exactly at home when discussing planetary astronomy and perhaps this is the source of the different levels between this book and the other two dealing with mathematics.

Incomplete history, muddled science.......2001-06-22

I have read a few of Eli Maor's books. They are not great masterpieces, but they fill a niche, providing all the information I wanted and more. This one was less satisfying. This became clear on page 58, where he states that Venus crosses the ecliptic on December 8 and June 7, and transits can occur only when Earth reaches the same node at the same time. Perhaps he is using the Venusian calendar, but in our calendar Earth will be there in December and June while the location of Venus will vary.

I bought this book because the transit of Venus in 1874 was significant in the history of Campbell Island (French expedition)and Auckland Island (German expedition) in the sub-Antarctic region. There were also Americans on Kerguelen and French on St. Paul Island, and probably others. Maor mentions only the British and German expeditions to Kerguelen, where the Brits released rabbits that devastated the native vegetation. The scale of the effort is not apparent from his tale.

My second objective was to learn what other mmethods were used to measure the astronomical unit when the transit of Venus proved inadequate. Maor mentions only that a measurement of the parallaz of Mars was used, but gives no hint how. Apparently there were other methods before WWII, but they are not in this book. Too much space is devoted to failures and speculations, pleasant stories properly used as side dishes, too little to the main course.

Interesting, simple astronomy.......2001-06-17

This book traces the history of the Venus transit, which is when Venus transits between the sun and earth, thus casting the planet's shadow on the sun. Happening only every 121 years, Maor explores the lives of the many scientists that studied the Venus transit in order to come up with an estimation of the astral unit (the distance between the sun and earth...about 93 million miles), including Galileo, Hell, Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, and more. The book is very good, and one is left marveling at astronomy and eager to the coming of the transit, but Maor is very extensive in his history at times.

A syzygy for everyone.......2000-12-26

A transit of Venus is a kind of solar eclipse in which the planet Venus, rather than our moon, crosses in front of the Sun. A century-long interval between transits makes the normal kind of solar eclipse seem like a frequent event. The transits occur in pairs separated by eight years, with over one hundred-year separations between the pairs. The last transit of Venus was in 1882. However, we can look forward to the transits of 2004 and 2012.

By traveling thousands of miles, I have been able to place myself in the path of the shadow for six total and two annular solar eclipses. With careful planning, and some last minute scurrying to avoid clouds, my success rate for viewing of the critical event is seven of eight. How ironic that today I was able to walk into my own back yard to view a partial solar eclipse under a clear cloudless sky.

By contrast with total solar eclipses, which may be viewed only within a narrow corridor, a transit of Venus may be viewed from any place on the Earth that faces the Sun during the event. Thus, simultaneous observations may be made from distant locations.

The author tells the story of the pursuit of transits of Venus by scientists whose aim was to establish a precision measurement of the distance between the Earth and the Sun. It is a great adventure story. There are the usual disasters: there are wars; ships are intercepted; natives run off with the instruments; and there are clouds. Finally, an unexpected optical effect, the "black drop", appears. In the end science triumphs, although not as expected.

We no longer need to measure the transits of Venus to establish the astronomical unit. However, our ability to calculate and predict precise locations and times for the occurrence of such events as eclipses and transits is a confirmation of the success of our formulation of mechanics and an affirmation of the scientific method.

This work is primarily a history with the basic information on the details of the transit of 2004 and very little on the transit of 2012. The reader will have to go to the web for more. However, the eastern Mediterranean looks promising for 2004, while the transit of 2012 should provide an excuse for a trip to Hawaii.

From Unobserved to Key Measurements to Celestial Joy.......2000-12-15

Whether you are interested in astronomy or not, you will find this book to be a rewarding expansion of your understanding of that important, awe-inspiring part of the scientific pantheon.

The phrase, transit of Venus, describes the process whereby Venus appears to cross the Sun during daylight hours from earth. For most of recorded history, few probably paid attention. And for good reason. You would have been blinded by looking directly into the sun except very near sunrise and sunset. And you had to know when and where to be looking because transits of Venus are rare. Besides, you could see Venus on most nights anyway.

In this delightful background preparation for the next transit of Venus on June 8, 2004, Professor Maor provides all the background you could hope for to help you understand how celestial events (especially this one) are forecast so accurately, their scientific implications, and how to enjoy them yourself.

Many famous astronomers were encouraged to enter the field by first observing an eclipse. The ability to accurately predict the timing and the nature of the event left them with awe. Perhaps this transit of Venus will be our most productive ever for generating scholars for the 21st century. Oh, by the way, if you miss this one, there's another one coming along 8 years later in 2012.

Although ostensibly focused on a type of celestial event, the book has a broader theme: How humankind can use reason to deduce new understanding of the physical world.

The book begins with the origins of modern astronomy, by describing the observations of Galileo, the conclusions about the solar system by Copernicus, careful measurements of Brahe, Kepler's deductions from those observations, and Newton's application of these lessons into his Principia. All of that work made it possible to predict transits of Venus.

Since we all can see Venus with the unaided eye (unless blind or very near-sighted), why did anyone care? The main reason was that astronomers wanted to establish the distance between the earth and the Sun. They obviously could not pace it off. How could Venus help? By measuring the duration of the transit from far apart locations of known distance, one could construct a triangle and use standard trigonometry to calculate the distance to the Sun. This point is clearly and simply described in the book. The illustrations are wonderfully done to help.

Then the author gets down to the reality of executing on that simple concept. Many problems occur. At first, not enough observers are involved. Bad weather at the time of the transit can always obscure observations. The combination of our atmosphere and that of Venus also combine to create a black dot effect that makes it uncertain when the transit begins and ends. Some observers are accused of making mistakes. Other observers notice things that are not planetary transits. Thus, the realities and challenges of experimental science are well documented.

Astronomers have better ways to measure the distance to the Sun now. As a result, the transit of Venus takes on for us a combined role of aesthetic experience and honoring of the astronomical history associated with it. Professor Maor makes a nice transition in making this point clear.

He provides many tips for watching, including where to go, and how to watch safely. He describes a potential viewing from Jerusalem. That could be combined with a very nice religious pilgrimage, if you are so inclined, for those who have not been to Jerusalem before.

I especially liked his commentaries about seeing Earth transits from Mars, and transits of the inner planets from the outer ones as our ability to pursue space travel improves.

I think the most important question that this book raises is who to have with you when you observe the transit. A young person somewhere between the ages of 6 and 16 would probably be ideal. You could probably change a life with the experience that this event provides. I suggest that you provide that young person with a copy of this book (if old enough to appreciate it on their own) or read it to them and explain its meaning (if they are not advanced enough to appreciate it unaided). Then make a date to see the following transit 8 years later with the same person.

Acquire inspiration from the heavens . . . and closeness with a young person you care about!

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VENUS IN TRANSIT JUNE 8, 2004
Eli Maor
Manufacturer: Princeton Univ. Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000RB10B0

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