Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
  • paradise lost
  • serious scholarship accessible to the layperson
Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
D. Fairchild Ruggles
Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0271022477

Book Description

A history of the gardens and palatine architecture of Islamic Spain.

Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain offers a new interpretation of the history of gardens in Spain during the period of Islamic rule from the eighth through the fifteenth centuries. Islamic gardens, with their cultivated garden beds and water channels, are traditionally regarded as an early reflection of paradise, which the Koran describes as a "garden watered by four streams." However, D. Fairchild Ruggles argues that the early palace garden was primarily an environmental, economic, and political construct, and that paradisiac symbolism did not develop until gardens acquired tombs.

D. Fairchild Ruggles discusses three aspects of medieval Islamic Spain: the landscape and agricultural transformation as documented in the Arabic scientific literature and geographies, the typological formation of the garden and its symbolic meaning in the eighth through the tenth centuries, and the role of vision and the frame in the spatial apparatus of sovereignty through the fifteenth century.

Ruggles explains that, while the repertoire of architectural and garden forms was largely unchanged from the tenth through the fifteenth centuries, their meaning changed dramatically. The royal palace gardens of Cordoba expressed a political ideology that placed the king above and at the center of the garden and, metaphorically, his kingdom. While this conception of the world began to falter in later centuries, the patrons of architecture still clung to the forms and motifs of the earlier golden age. In Granada, instead of creating new forms, artists at the Alhambra reworked and refined familiar vocabulary and materials; the vistas fixed by windows and pavilions referred not to the actual relationship of the king to his domain but rather to the memory of an expanding

Customer Reviews:

2 out of 5 stars paradise lost.......2005-04-19

I haven't read this,but the author's contention,contained in the editorial review,that the concept of paradise is a latter thought,is diammetrically opposed to the generally accepted idea that the islamic garden is a a descendant from the perisan chah-bagh,the four way divided,enclosed pleasure garden.
Ancient Persia was to the arabic world what greece might have meant to the romans,a paradigm to be emulated.
The word paradise,per se,comes from the persian paradeisos,meaning the royal enclosed hunting grounds.

5 out of 5 stars serious scholarship accessible to the layperson.......2004-09-18

I own the hardcover version of this book. This is a fascinating topic. The writing in this book is beautiful: rich, concise, informed.

This book is serious scholarship, but much of it is accessible to the interested layperson. I highly recommend this book.
GARDENS, LANDSCAPE AND VISION IN THE PALACES OF ISLAMIC SPAIN
Average customer rating: Not rated
    GARDENS, LANDSCAPE AND VISION IN THE PALACES OF ISLAMIC SPAIN
    D. FAIRCHILD (ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LANDSCAPE HISTORY, UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS, URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, USA) RUGGLES
    Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback
    ASIN: B000ORAGC6
    Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      Gardens, Landscape, and Vision in the Palaces of Islamic Spain
      D. Fairchild Ruggles
      Manufacturer: Pennsylvania State University Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback
      ASIN: B000OQZECO

      Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution
      Average customer rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
      • Excellent
      • Beautiful & Informative Book
      Picturing Iran: Art, Society and Revolution
      Shiva Balaghi , and Lynn Gumpert
      Manufacturer: I. B. Tauris
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 1860648835

      Book Description

      This book assesses modern Iranian visual culture from the 1960’s and 1970’s and suggests that modernity in Iran was a creative, complex, and contested process. It examines the expression of Iranian modernity in a variety of media including painting and sculpture, photography, posters, and graphic arts. It highlights new modes of artistic production and the expanding scene in Iran: developments in Iranian art criticism, exhibition apparatus, education, and patronage. The contributors also address changes in the iconography of Iranian art and in the increasingly social role of the artist. This groundbreaking work demonstrates that the visual arts serve as an important archival record of a critical period in Iranian history.

      Customer Reviews:

      4 out of 5 stars Excellent.......2005-12-13

      It was quite informative, as modern Iranian art is somehow unknown, and is trying to find a character of its own. But also I have to disagree with the other comment , that Art in Iran is smehow quite different from the rest of the middle east, and it does not portrait the modern "Islamic Art" at all, and to understand Iranian art one has to consider so many other factors, such as the Persian art, and pre-Islamic art, and if you are interested in the art in middle east in GENERAL, then you should buy a book about art in middle east in General!

      5 out of 5 stars Beautiful & Informative Book.......2003-03-26

      Since there are so few books on modern Islamic art, this book is an amazing find! It is filled with beautiful illustrations of posters, photographs, and paintings. Though scholarly, the essays are readable. The book shows how art can serve as a fascinating insight into the politics of the contemporary Middle East. Anyone interested in Iran or the Middle East will learn a lot from this book!

      Children Of Ceausescu
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        Children Of Ceausescu
        Herta Muller
        Manufacturer: Umbrage Editions
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 1884167101

        Book Description

        More than a decade after the fall of the Iron Curtain and the overthrow and execution of brutal Romanian dictator Nicholas Ceausescu, the worst AIDS epidemic among children in the world bears out its infamous legacy in Romania, still one of the poorest and most fractured societies in Eastern Europe.

        101 Things Kids Can Do to Annoy Their Parents
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          101 Things Kids Can Do to Annoy Their Parents
          Ray Comfort
          Manufacturer: Bridge-Logos Publishers
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

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          William Maxwell: A LITERARY LIFE
          Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
          • Written with knowledge
          William Maxwell: A LITERARY LIFE
          Barbara A. Burkhardt
          Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Hardcover

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          ASIN: 0252030184

          Customer Reviews:

          5 out of 5 stars Written with knowledge.......2006-08-24

          There are few biographers who know/knew their subjects as well as Barbara Burkhardt. She has been a professor of mine for fours years and I can tell you first hand she is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to Mr. Maxwell. Her interviews and friendship with Mr. Maxwell make her writing more real and personal. I can't think of a better person to ask (or read from) than Barabara about William Maxwell and his life and works!
          Emmanuel Appadocca, Or, Blighted Life: A Tale of the Buccaneers
          Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
          • My first pirate story
          Emmanuel Appadocca, Or, Blighted Life: A Tale of the Buccaneers
          Maxwell Philip , and William E. Cain
          Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
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          ASIN: 1558490760

          Customer Reviews:

          4 out of 5 stars My first pirate story.......2004-04-07

          I recommend reading the forewords before starting the story. I started this book with some skepticism because I don't usually read adventure stories so I was surprised when it was so hard to tear myself away from it each night. I found the very start slow and the very end a bit incredulous (well, it's a pirate story after all!) but the other 98% of the story was riveting.
          I found the foreword important because it helps to understand the author's frame of mind.
          Emmanuel Appadocca;: Or, Blighted Life. : A Tale of the Buccaneers
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Emmanuel Appadocca;: Or, Blighted Life. : A Tale of the Buccaneers
            Maxwell Philip , and William E. Cain
            Manufacturer: University of Massachusetts Press
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            Binding: Hardcover

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            William Maxwell: A Literary Life
            Average customer rating: Not rated
              William Maxwell: A Literary Life
              Barbara A. Burkhardt
              Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
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              Fast Cash With Quick-Turn Real Estate: How Anyone Can Quickly Turn Single Family Houses into Cash
              Average customer rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
              • Superceded
              • Fast Quick Money
              • Usually skeptical...
              • A Little Real Estate Reality Check Here...
              • "A heck of a lot of information between the covers"
              Fast Cash With Quick-Turn Real Estate: How Anyone Can Quickly Turn Single Family Houses into Cash
              Ron Legrand
              Manufacturer: Results Publishing Inc.
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              ASIN: 0965485102

              Customer Reviews:

              1 out of 5 stars Superceded.......2004-11-20

              This is an old book. This character has written a new one, same kind of bull. If you're greedy and gullible, buy that one.
              Maybe some day you'll be in bad straits, and some rogue will get in on robbing you of your abode. Not this guy,though. He just writes books and runs "seminars" in chintzy hotel rooms in front of people who want to get something for nothing and have nothing going on in their lives.

              4 out of 5 stars Fast Quick Money.......2004-07-25

              Anytime I see these terms together I look for drug deals or armed robbery scenario. Making "dough" is a disciplined practice, whether you're 'turning tricks' or "kissing-up" to a superior to do so. The discipline in "quick-turn" real estate is that you look for low-priced, discounted properties which have automatic profit. Distressed, foreclosed, estate sales, job transfers, divorces, etc are all eligible candidates. Little, or no money-down, with a credit card purchase are probably not likely, unless you're picking up tax-liens and seizures. But, "Uncle Sam's" IRS selling $500,000 homes for $40,000 are rare events mainly because of a little issue called National Debt which is a mere $7,294,735,218,397.14 as of 7/22/2004.

              4 out of 5 stars Usually skeptical..........2004-04-18

              about books on flipping. But he really shows you the nuts and bolts of this type of investment. Besides teaching you just about everything you need to get started flipping properties, the real gold nugget in this book is the chapter on mortgage lending. I will warn you that utlimately he is trying to sell you one of his courses at the end of the chapter (but arent all these "no-money-down, flipper" type authors trying to upsell you to their high priced programs? Dont read these books if that type of stuff is going to offend you.)

              And to the naysayer reviewers who say it cant be done in my town because of real estate prices, well all I can say is - duh! Get off of your can and drive 45 miles to a smaller town. I live in a high priced area of the country and you can still find these properties. They are nothing you want to move into and live in mind you, but they are there, and there is someone else you can flip them to for a profit.

              5 out of 5 stars A Little Real Estate Reality Check Here..........2003-01-01

              This book is great for whetting your real estate appetite! And of course you have to buy other, more in-depth courses if you want to ascend the ladder of higher learning & success in the RE investing world -- that's if you're not too negative and scared to go for it. After high school, don't you have to go to college and maybe even grad school if you really want to make it in your chosen career? Sure you do -- that's a no-brainer. Well, real estate investing is no different. Anyone who thinks they're going to get their entire education out of one book or tape set is extremely naive. This stuff works for those who will work it. RE is a HUGE subject and you need to go slowly and learn well or you WILL screw up. Like anything, you have to gradually get your head around it. I came from a poor background. I was a street-tough who was in and out of jail. Thanks to creative real estate investing I've positioned myself so that money will no longer be an issue in my life. Want the same? Don't buy into the excuses -- your own, or anyone else's. That's called the hypnosis of the culture and it aims to get you down in the hole that it's in. This book is great! It's a great place to start in real estate. If Ron didn't touch on subjects lightly, everyone would be overwhelmed. Eventually there's an ocean of info in the RE investing world. He's letting you wade in about knee deep instead of drowning you all at once. I've been studying this stuff since I got out of the military 12 years ago and I'm still learning. Speaking of the military, Ron's RE boot-camp seminars are also great. That's where you get your real training. This book is here to merely introduce you to some broad concepts. It will help you open your mind to all the possibilities that await you out there in the RE world. Just like in the military, this book is just your "indoc" or indoctrination. That is the purpose. Oh and by the way, everyone loves to say it won't work in their town. Wherever you live it won't work, right? So do the rest of the investors in your town a favor and move. And as soon as you move it'll start working again, right? (a little seminar humor) But, seriously, I can go to anywhere in the US and buy decent houses for 10 cents on the dollar -- I'm living in one right now. So to the reviewer down in NJ - it's called a "short sale" not a "time warp" and it works in any town where there are houses. :-) For real though, a "short sale" is just one of hundreds of techniques to buy houses cheap. Hey guy, maybe you should've bought some of Ron's more in-depth courses and you would have learned the details of how to buy real estate cheap. Ron could charge double for what he teaches and it'd still be a steal. In the long run, going out on your own and doing RE the old "trial and error" way (without proper training) will cost you 50 times as much as just paying up-front and getting trained by someone like Ron who's been out there and made the mistakes for us. And no, I don't work for Ron or get a dime for going on like this. It's just that... unlike some reviewers here, I actually know what I'm talking about because I've put in the hard work and time and money and long hours getting real with real estate -- not just being a spectator. So all I know is that this book made a big change for me. It's a classic! Speaking of classics... I remember a guy telling me Star Wars sucked, before I saw it. I decided to go to the theater and see it for myself. Well, I don't know what that guy was on, but we all know it was a classic. Ron's book speaks for itself guys. Pick up a copy and see if it speaks to you. Peace Out. R. Rogers

              4 out of 5 stars "A heck of a lot of information between the covers".......2002-06-12

              This book was well worth the time and money I've spent on it so far. There are more techniques than a beginner as myself can use. This makes some of the chapters seem a little dry. Some of Rons techniques seem somewhat scandalous, if not downright unlawful. I wonder if Ron has created any enemies in Florida? His big push is--get out and make offers. Nothing will happen until I do. Ron has definitely done a great deal of research in the field. I have listened to his spiel in person, and know for a fact that he pulls no punches. This book, along with the tape set of the same name includes so much information that they must be studied over and over again. A Downside? Ron includes absolutely no information concerning tax shelters. In a business like this, especially if you make large profits, Uncle Sam will definitely have his greedy hand out. Capital gains and income tax, to name two. Just don't let delusions of grandeur mask the fact that there are always risks and downsides.... Buy it and read it.

              A Millennium of Family Change: Feudalism to Capitalism in Northwestern Europe
              Average customer rating: Not rated
                A Millennium of Family Change: Feudalism to Capitalism in Northwestern Europe
                Wally Seccombe
                Manufacturer: Verso
                ProductGroup: Book
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                Zorndorf 1758: Frederick faces Holy Mother Russia (Campaign)
                Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
                • Frederick the Great's Bad Day
                Zorndorf 1758: Frederick faces Holy Mother Russia (Campaign)
                Simon Millar
                Manufacturer: Osprey Publishing
                ProductGroup: Book
                Binding: Paperback

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                ASIN: 1841766968
                Release Date: 2003-06-20

                Book Description

                In January 1758 Count Wilhelm Fermor marched into East Prussia at the head of 45,000 Russians. Frederick the Great was dismissive of the Russian army and failed to take the threat seriously. With the Russians laying siege to the fortress of Cüstrin, Frederick crossed the River Oder and cut their supply lines. On 25 August the two armies met at Zorndorf. This book details the bitter day-long battle in which the Russian infantry refused to buckle. Casualties were horrific, the Russians losing almost half their army. Frederick had managed to stave off the Russian threat but his opinion of their army had changed dramatically.

                Customer Reviews:

                4 out of 5 stars Frederick the Great's Bad Day.......2003-08-05

                British Army officer Simon Millar's Zorndorf 1758, which is #125 in Osprey's Campaign series, follows hard on the heals of his earlier volumes on Kolin and Rossbach/Leuthen. Zorndorf is probably Millar's best volume to date on the campaigns of Frederick the Great and his narrative style has improved. Overall, Zorndorf 1758 is a clear and succinct account of Frederick the Great's most difficult battles.

                Zorndorf 1758 has the usual sections on introduction, chronology, opposing leaders and opposing armies, but omits the section on opposing plans (which is incorporated elsewhere in the text). A rather lengthy 17-page prelude covers Frederick's abortive siege of Olmutz and his march to the Oder River. The Battle of Zorndorf is covered in a 40-page narrative, followed by a 5-page aftermath section. Millar provides a detailed order of battle, but unit strengths are not mentioned. The campaign narrative is supported by six 2-D maps (Eastern Europe 1758, Russian & Prussian movements in August 1758, the Siege of Custrin, Frederick's march to Zorndorf, initial positions at Zorndorf, and the final Prussian attacks) and three 3-D Birds Eye View tactical maps of the battle. The three battle scenes by Adam Hook are: Russian Cossacks burning Zorndorf; Russian cavalry charging the Prussian advance guard; and Prussian infantry attacking the Russian Observation Corps.

                Although a Russian invasion of East Prussia in 1757 had come to naught, a renewed invasion in the spring of 1758 was more successful. Russian forces under General Fermor launched a surprise winter campaign (typical!) that caught the Prussians by surprise and quickly overran virtually most of East Prussia, while Frederick was busy facing the Austrian armies in Moravia. When the Russians approached the Oder River, a scant 80 kilometers from the capital in Berlin, Frederick was forced to race north to blunt the invasion. Millar's description of Russian conduct in East Prussia is interesting; the Russian troops did not molest the people or ravage the land, and they even read an official apology from the Tsarina for damages done in the 1757 campaign! Readers will surely be apt to contrast this self-restrained invasion in 1758 with the savage Soviet invasion of East Prussia in 1945.

                Millar's description of the Russian army in 1758 is also interesting. The Russian army of this period was not the "steamroller" of later years but rather, a relatively limited, long-service force that could send fewer than 70,000 troops to fight in the West. Although Millar notes that the Russians had "the best trained and equipped" artillery in Europe, they were burdened with a sloppy command and control system (exercised from the court in St Petersburg) and a cumbersome logistic system. On the other hand, the Russian Army was blessed with tough, steady troops who could absorb a huge amount of punishment without routing. Since most of Frederick's tactics were designed to precipitate flight in unsteady opponents, the Prussian tactics were ill suited for dealing with the Russian threat.

                Millar notes that Frederick was probably not in top form at Zorndorf, noting that he committed his smaller army to battle with conducting proper reconnaissance and failed to take advantage of the initially disorganized Russian forces. As usual, Frederick tried to turn his enemy's flank but when this did not work out, he decided to conduct a "frontal oblique order attack" (i.e. a frontal attack on one of the enemy's wings). Frederick's improvised battle plan was not particularly good and his subordinates botched it, resulting in 2/3rds of the Prussian infantry being rendered temporarily hors de combat. Indeed, Frederick's attempts to personally rally his routed troops failed. Millar is probably too generous with Frederick, preferring to blame his subordinates, but it is obvious that the Prussian tactical plan at Zorndorf was uninspired and possibly foolhardy. What saved Frederick from total defeat was the absence of the Russian commander from the field and the consequent lack of higher leadership. Nevertheless, the Russian cavalry commander was independent enough to overrun some of the Prussian artillery and disorganize much of the rest of Frederick's infantry.

                However, Millar notes that the Prussian cavalry under Seydlitz got in some serious blows that did real damage to the Russian infantry. Frederick kept attacking futilely for ten hours until both armies were fought out. Both sides still held the field and Millar rightly calls Zorndorf a draw. It was also a very bloody battle indeed, with 35% losses for the Prussians and 45% for the Russians. While the Russian threat to Berlin was stopped for the moment, Frederick had badly damaged his ever-shrinking army in a poorly thought-out action. Zorndorf was certainly not one of Frederick's greater moments and his handling of the campaign was marked more by arrogant assumptions than tactical genius.

                My only concerns for this volume are the author's wandering attention and apparent lack of research into Russian sources. Millar spends too much time on pre-campaign events in Moravia and then too much on post-campaign events in Bohemia. Meanwhile, the early phases of the Russian invasion get too little attention. Apparently, Millar is more interested in the Austrian Front than the Russian Front. This wandering focus is particularly noticeable in the 5-page Battlefield Today section, where Millar starts discussing a modern visit to Zorndorf then starts talking about toy shops in Berlin, the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, Potsdam, and the nightlife in East Berlin. If I want to read a tour guide about Berlin I will buy one. Focus on the subject, please! It is also obvious throughout the text that Millar is a great admirer of Frederick and this probably colors his evaluation of mis-managed battles like Zorndorf.

                A History of Wiltshire: Volume I Part 2 (Victoria County History)
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                  A History of Wiltshire: Volume I Part 2 (Victoria County History)

                  Manufacturer: Victoria County History
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover

                  GeneralGeneral | World | History | Subjects | Books
                  ASIN: 019722735X

                  Book Description

                  Volume I(2) contains a series of chapters originally planned to accompany within a single volume a comprehensive gazetteer of Wiltshire's prehistoric remains. In the event the gazetteer was published as Volume I(1) in 1957 and the chapters are now ap-pearing after a considerable lapse of time. Although the chapters are based largely upon the evidence contained in the gazet-teer, the authors have taken account of relevant excavations and research under- taken since 1957. The first five chapters tell the story from the beginning of human settlement until the end of the final phase of bronze technology, and they take, so far as archaeological evidence permits, a narra-tive form: thus some monuments with long life-spans, such as Stonehenge and Avebury, appear and re-appear as the chronological account unfolds. Those chapters cover a period for which the Wiltshire evidence is of great significance; they are written by Professor Stuart Piggott, whose long and close acquaintance with the antiquities of Wiltshire has enabled him to enter into considerable detail and often to set the local evidence against a continental or wider British background. Six chapters follow taking the story from the early pre-Roman Iron Age down to the end of the Roman era. Here the nature of the evidence makes a narrative style easier to adopt. The growing complexity of the settlement form is traced from the single enclosed farmstead of the early Iron Age to the hamlets and even small villages of the Roman period. The steady course of Romanization in Wiltshire is traced until its eventual collapse and the British victory at Mount Badon. A final chapter deals with the Pagan Saxon period, using archaeological, documentary, and place- name evidence; it gives special attention to that impressive but enigmatic earthwork known on its Wiltshire course as the East Wansdyke. Numerous line illustrations have been drawn specially for the volume.

                  The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
                  Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
                  • Another Gem
                  • An informative book.
                  • From the perspective of a non-birder...
                  • The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
                  • Instructive, engrossing, delightful
                  The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior
                  David Allen Sibley
                  Manufacturer: Knopf
                  ProductGroup: Book
                  Binding: Hardcover

                  GeneralGeneral | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
                  ReferenceReference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
                  OrnithologyOrnithology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
                  All TitlesAll Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
                  Outdoors & NatureOutdoors & Nature | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
                  ScienceScience | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
                  Similar Items:
                  1. The Sibley Guide to Birds The Sibley Guide to Birds
                  2. Sibley's Birding Basics Sibley's Birding Basics
                  3. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Eastern North America
                  4. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America
                  5. Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America Kaufman Field Guide to Birds of North America

                  ASIN: 0679451234
                  Release Date: 2001-10-02

                  Amazon.com's Best of 2001

                  From the creator of the seminal field guide, The Sibley Guide to Birds, comes another indispensable book for bird watchers. This veritable bible to the world of birds is the collaborative effort of 48 expert birders and biologists, who combine scientific accuracy and detail with an easily readable and well-organized format. How does a tiny chickadee survive subzero temperatures? How do flocks of birds synchronize their flights? How can an albatross cross miles of ocean without flapping its wings? Which bird brains are actually intelligent? It's all here in essays giving an overview of avian evolution, biology, and the aerodynamics of flight and in chapters devoted to the 80 bird families of North America, each one detailing taxonomy, habitats, feeding, breeding, vocalizations, migrations, and more. Concerned about declining populations, Sibley also discusses the conservation status of each species and the factors that threaten them. This fascinating source of information is destined to be a well-thumbed companion. -- Lesley Reed

                  Book Description

                  “Once in a great while, a natural history book changes the way people look at the world. In 1838, John ames Audubon’s Birds of America was one...In 1934, Roger Tory Peterson produced Field Guide to the Birds...Now comes The Sibley Guide to Birds.”

                  Thus did The New York Times, in 1999, greet David Allen Sibley’s monumental book, which has quickly been established nationwide as the peerless, standard bird identification guide.

                  The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior is the new landmark book from David Allen Sibley. Designed to enhance the birding experience and to enrich the popular study of North American birds, the book combines more than 795 of his full-color illustrations with authoritative text by 48 expert birders and biologists. In this new guide Sibley takes us beyond identification, to show us how birds live and what they do.

                  Introductory essays outline the principles of avian evolution, life cycle, body structure, flight dynamics, and more. The 80 family-by-family chapters describe the amazing range of behavior dictated by birds’ biology and environment. Among the subjects covered and illustrated are:

                  --molts and plumages
                  --habitats
                  --food and foraging
                  --vocalizations and displays
                  --courtship and breeding
                  --rearing of young
                  --migration and movements
                  --scientific groupings
                  --introduced species
                  --accidental species
                  --anatomy
                  --flight patterns
                  --nests and eggs
                  --conservation
                  --global distribution

                  Accessibly written, superbly designed and organized, and brilliantly illustrated, The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior is an indispensable source of information on the avian life around us.

                  Customer Reviews:

                  5 out of 5 stars Another Gem.......2007-07-28

                  Like all the Sibley books, this is comprehensive and well-written. A necessary and welcomed addition to any birder's library.

                  4 out of 5 stars An informative book........2007-01-11

                  This is a useful book about bird behavior written by a true expert. It's a bit like a textbook the way it approaches broad topics and discusses various aspects.

                  Like any textbook, I suppose, if you go into this book with a specific question and hope for a specific answer, you may not find it. However, if you were trying to write a school report or something you would certainly find lots of useful tidbits of information in the general area of your topic.

                  I'd say that rather than thinking of this as a reference book, you should think of it as background reading, to be taken in small doses, for the above-and-beyond birding enthusiast.

                  5 out of 5 stars From the perspective of a non-birder..........2006-08-24

                  I'm not a birder, though it seems like an interesting hobby. But I just look at the birds at the feeders and birdbath in the back yard and think, "I wonder what that one is?" So, I bought "The Sibley Guide to Birds" (which is outstanding) on the recommendation of a birder friend, and that led me to this book.

                  On the one hand, it's a long, dense, scientific work. The years of effort and study that went into it is astounding.

                  On the other hand, it's an extremely entertaining set of answers to all of those "Why do they do that?" questions that come up when you're watching birds. For example, why do bird knees seem to bend backward? Well, they don't; the knee is close to the bird's body, and what seems to be a backward knee is actually the bird's ankle. The birds are in effect walking around on their tip toes.

                  If hundreds of pages of information like that, coupled with beautiful illustrations and great maps, all wrapped in an easy-to-use organizational scheme sounds interesting and useful, then get this book.

                  For a non-birder like me, it's probably more information than I really need, but I found it fascinating.

                  5 out of 5 stars The Sibley Guide to Bird Life & Behavior.......2006-08-08

                  Includes all the information our other guides - Audubon, Peterson's, the other Sibley's Guide -- have left undescribed. Devotes many pages for further study of bird species and sub-species.

                  5 out of 5 stars Instructive, engrossing, delightful .......2006-05-04

                  Have you ever wondered how an owl navigates in the dark? Why the whip-poor-will has bristles around its mouth? How the kingfisher teaches its young to dive for fish? How the woodpecker can keep up all that drumming without getting a concussion?

                  If you have observed a phoebe building a neat cup-shaped nest on a ledge under a roof overhang, or if you have watched a green heron using bait to attract fish, you must have felt an urge to learn more about these creatures. How intelligent are they? Or do they just "follow their instincts"?

                  This book will answer most of your questions - whether you are an avid bird watcher or a curious novice; and where there are no definite answers, a number of working hypotheses are suggested.
                  The beautiful water color illustrations by David Sibley show the birds in characteristic postures and hone in on diagnostically important features; and the individual chapters by various authors on bird biology, evolution, classification, behavior, migration, habitats, populations and conservation are illuminating.

                  Recent DNA studies have shed new light on hybridization and mating systems and have led to some revisions in species and family classification. There is also a very helpful glossary: if you just want to browse, this may be a good place to start. Before you know it, you will be hooked; and every time you open this book you'll come upon new insights that will astonish and delight you.
                  The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior (LEATHER BOUND)
                  Average customer rating: Not rated
                    The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior (LEATHER BOUND)
                    David Allen Sibley
                    Manufacturer: Easton Press
                    ProductGroup: Book
                    Binding: Leather Bound
                    ASIN: B000TV6CFC

                    Product Description

                    Leather bound book accented in 22kt gold.
                    The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. (Ornithological Literature).(Book Review): An article from: Wilson Bulletin
                    Average customer rating: Not rated
                      The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. (Ornithological Literature).(Book Review): An article from: Wilson Bulletin
                      Sara R. Morris
                      Manufacturer: Wilson Ornithological Society
                      ProductGroup: Book
                      Binding: Digital

                      GeneralGeneral | Science | Subjects | Books
                      Science & TechnologyScience & Technology | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
                      ASIN: B0008FW94W
                      Release Date: 2005-07-30

                      Book Description

                      This digital document is an article from Wilson Bulletin, published by Wilson Ornithological Society on June 1, 2002. The length of the article is 603 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: The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior. (Ornithological Literature).(Book Review)
                      Author: Sara R. Morris
                      Publication: Wilson Bulletin (Refereed)
                      Date: June 1, 2002
                      Publisher: Wilson Ornithological Society
                      Volume: 114 Issue: 2 Page: 285(1)

                      Article Type: Book Review

                      Distributed by Thomson Gale
                      The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior (LEATHER BOUND
                      Average customer rating: Not rated
                        The Sibley Guide to Bird Life and Behavior (LEATHER BOUND
                        David Allen Sibley
                        Manufacturer: Easton Press
                        ProductGroup: Book
                        Binding: Leather Bound
                        ASIN: B000OFEIW2

                        Product Description

                        Leather bound book accented in 22 kt gold.

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