Comfort in Any Climate

Customer Reviews:

Earth Shelters.......2006-08-16

I have all M. Reynolds' other Earth Shelter books and this one has some great pictures and gives a short background on the Earth Shelters. This is a great "starter" book for anyone who thinks they might be interested in building an Earth Shelter. (I can't wait to get mine started!)

Comfort In Any Climate.......2004-05-06

Comfort in Any Climate is an introduction to building your own home using passive solar techniques. The book is not intended to be the book to end all books, in fact it is an introduction that gets one thinking about how different climates affect the performance of any dwelling. No one cookie-cutter formula will work for different situations (Latitude, Altitude, Micro-climate, etc.) and this book gets one thinking about how to adapt a design to a given area based on narrowing down specific paramaters. It is not intended for Rocket Scientists, it is more for people who are new to natural and sustainable building, and wish to pursue their education in learning how to properly pick a building location so that they will be in a better position to make sensible choices that lead to asking the right questions of what design will work best on their chosen building site. This is a good place to start. The three original earthship books are more "one size fits all" and this book will add to knowing how to modify the "one size fits all" mentality so that a comfortably dwelling can be constructed.

Skip This One.......2002-04-04

This book talks about insulation, space, and mass and the need
to "tune" a house to benefit from free heat/cooling. HOWEVER,
it never mentions a single tuning formula. Unless you plan on
building many homes to "tune" your designs, this is only a book
on common sense and you'ld be better off with Reynolds' other
books or another book on this topic by another author.

Customer Reviews:

Great for the beginner and expert alike!.......2000-06-01

This is an excellent guide with clear instructions for the beginner quillworker, plus lots of photos to inspire the expert. While there's no beadwork in this book, the patterns depicted are directly applicable - I've found it an excellent resource for beading design ideas!

Book Description

Jeff Gusky, a doctor of emergency medicine, decided at the age of 42 that he wanted to better confront the reality of modern Jewish history. A self-taught photographer who subsequently learned to make museum quality prints, he bought what he calls "a good, journalist-type camera and some lenses" and traveled to Poland-once the home of the largest concentration of Diaspora Jews. He read the instruction manuals on the plane en route.

Over four trips, accompanied each time by a top Polish guide, Gusky traveled through the country, beyond the city ghettos and the sites of concentration camps, into remote villages where Jews had lived and worked for almost 1,000 years before the Holocaust-capturing on film the austere landscapes and the remains of a once thriving Jewish culture.

The silence is deafening: here are Jewish cemeteries full of broken gravestones, ruined synagogues filled with trash and disfigured with graffiti, a Jewish home now used as a public toilet-"where people lived, walked, worshipped, and were, ultimately, exterminated," says Gusky. The doleful, understated clarity of what he saw and photographed captures a poignant sense of loss-making at the same time an indelible connection to the past.

Customer Reviews:

Deafening Silence.......2006-06-18

Silent Places, by Jeff Gusky, takes us on a poignant, and incredible photographic journey to Eastern Europe, where he documented (in B&W photographs) the architecture and landscape of the Holocaust era...Synagogues, houses, landscapes, windows, doors, parks, all images from the past, but actually taken recently. The B&W aspect gives a ghost-like and haunting composition to the photographs...the aura of life within the frame illuminating our senses.

Time erodes the landscape, and even the architecture, but the sense of humanity and life still exist within the confines. We feel the aura of the past, brought into the present, the sounds of silence and former life, and activity resounding, for all of us to view. The ghosts of the past, sing their song, through broken windows, deteriorating doors, ruined homes, leaving an indelible mark in the time continuum, compelling us to wonder WHY?

Gusky's book is a a work of brilliance, one that we soon not forget, a book both compelling and haunting. It is a historical journey into the depths of loss, destruction and places that once hummed with Jewish life.

It matters not what our beliefs are, because we are all one underneath the sun, the umbrella of life on the planet. The history defined within the illuminations of this book define us all on some scale. We all have history, all have ancestral pasts, villages and cities of life, that run through our genetics. Time erodes much of our past, our life's history...and in that aspect...this book gives us to ponder and realize, that each person's history is a part of the universal whole.

Silent Places to Contemplate Loss of Life and Community.......2003-11-28

The somber and quiet images in this book appear to be from the past, but were photographed within the last few years. This unique book offers views of Jewish communities depopulated by the Holocaust and left today much as they were after WWII. Soviet occupation of Eastern Europe left many of these areas undeveloped and frozen in time.

The images in this book are artistically composed and printed with great attention to detail. Viewing the large printed images give one of the feeling of standing in the place itself. I strongly recommend this book as one of permanent importance. With the rapid changes now underway in the area, it may also be the look we have at the communities that made up such an important part of the cultural fabric of Eastern European life prior to WWII.

Average customer rating:
Silent Places: Landscapes of Jewish Life and Loss in Eastern Europe
Jeffrey Gusky
Manufacturer: Overlook / Dusckworth
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NR4DO4

Book Description

Portly and good-natured, Otto Porfiri may not look the part of a hard-as-nails private eye, but don't be fooled. He may abhor violence, but when circumstances require a little mayhem, Porfiri rises to the occasion, in spades! As relentless as he is rotund, Porfiri is often drawn into the scandalous world of the decadent rich, a hidden landscape of sex, drugs, blackmail,...and murder! Created by Franco Saudelli, reknowned internationally for his intricate and often highly erotic work, Otto Porfiri: Drama on the Cliff is another eye-opening Venture graphic album, published in collaboration with Strip Art Features, and available for the first time in an English-language edition!

Average customer rating:

Not very interesting...

Off on tangent, waste of time

light reading

Decent Expose, surprising level of insider openness

Interesting to read, but not a 'must have'

Spooked: Espionage in Corporate America
Adam L. Penenberg , and Marc Barry
Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

War by Other Means: Economic Espionage in America

CIA, Inc: Espionage & the Craft of Business Intelligence

Corporate Espionage: What It Is, Why It's Happening in Your Company, What You Must Do About It

Economic Espionage and Industrial Spying (Cambridge Studies in Criminology)

Sticky Fingers: Managing the Global Risk of Economic Espionage

ASIN: B000H2N25G

Book Description

A page-burning account of intrigue and espionage in the offices and boardrooms of today's corporations.

Imagine your main business competitor building a satellite-equipped "war room" to secretly monitor your new ventures. Imagine your classified product prototype mysteriously landing on the market under the brand name belonging to your archrival. Impossible? This isn't a story line from the latest spy thriller, it's modern-day corporate America. Spooked thrusts readers into a clandestine world-where business means war and information is worth stealing.

Through narrative accounts of corporate spies within companies such as IBM, Microsoft, and Motorola, Spooked dramatically brings to life one of America's fastest-growing industries: Corporate Intelligence. In this page-burning exposé, Adam Penenberg and Marc Barry uncover and describe in thrilling detail the alarming regularity of espionage in industry. They offer an unsettling portrait of America's publicly traded companies, and unravel the truth and hypocrisy behind the multi-billion dollar corporate intelligence industry.

Customer Reviews:

Not very interesting..........2007-03-31

I bought this book wanted to learn a little bit about corporate espionage but didn't really find anything too intriguing about it.
Penenberg gives examples of cases where espionage was used to extract information but doesn't go into a lot of details which would help the reader what was going on. In chapters 5 or 6 he tells the story about competing frozen pizza makers. He goes on to say how someone extracted some information from employees but never tells the reader how that information really could have been used. It would have been nice to include a extra few paragraphs explaining how the information obtained was actually used to benefit the "client".

Off on tangent, waste of time.......2007-01-26

I found the book on my gf's shelf, and thought it would be fun read. Typically I read the book cover to cover including the Preface etc, which is where I found the warning that this book was NOT a how-to guide. So while I knew what I was getting myself into, I proceeded. At sub 200 pages, this book is filled with fluff, in a typical journalistic fashion the author is bent on telling us what the characters were "eating" while they were going through the motions. I feel this book would have been a pamphlet if it wasn't for the unnecessary background information about each case of espionage. I wouldn't recommend this book, through I think if you find your local news channel "entertaining" - you may like it. I found NO take-a-way's from this book. So sad, with a catchy title and cool cover graphics, it could have been a contender. . . .

light reading.......2004-12-02

I picked up this thin hardback as a remaindered item, and it was worth what I paid for it. The book is about corporate espionage (and the field of "competitive intelligence") by a journalist and a practitioner, respectively. The bulk of the book tells the story of Victor Lee, an employee of the Avery Dennison company, who was the first person to be prosecuted under the U.S. Economic Espionage Act for selling company secrets to First Pillars, a company in his native Taiwan. The book's account of that case seems quite balanced, with due weight given to the defense (which ultimately failed, and apparently rightly so). This story is spread throughout the nine chapters (1, 3, 6, and 8 of the book's 9), in a somewhat disjointed fashion.

The book also describes the founding of the Society for Competitive Intelligence Professionals and the competitive intelligence group at Motorola by former CIA analyst Jan Herring, a case where Schwann's obtained competitive intelligence via legitimate means to compete with Kraft in pizza manufacturing, another chapter on legitimate intelligence gathering by Teltech to find out about nanotechnology development of plastics for Dow, and a very different chapter on eEye "Chief Hacking Officer" Marc Maiffret.

The book seems to have two voices about the ethics standards of SCIP, with co-author Barry thinking that the standards are hypocritical and rightly ignored, while it appears that Panenberg may be more sympathetic.

There doesn't seem to be much in the book in the way of conclusions drawn in the book. It could have been more useful with a summary of methods to prevent espionage, more details on principles of legitimate intelligence gathering, or at least lessons learned from specific cases.

Decent Expose, surprising level of insider openness.......2003-09-12

Barry is rather an oddball for a usually very button downed profession. He comes off as a field ops guy, not an HQ analyst like Herring. Field guys, in certain roles, can be pretty flamboyant since the sort of people they hang out with quite often are. Criminals are often sociopathic and particularly in the drug investigations that Barry used to do, flamboyant doesn't begin to describe some of those guys. They get downright bizzare.

Probably Barry's drug-bust type background, and profile as a risk addicted field ops guy is why he's so willing to lay it on the line about what's really going on out there. Comes across a bit like Robert Baer, the CIA guy who has been writing those books on the middle east. It's a classic schism between the guys in the home office and the guys risking their lives out in the field. The guys risking their necks tend to get a "f*** you" attitude pretty fast toward HQ.

Book is worth reading, if a bit boring in it's detail at times. Reads like an article series that didn't get published.

Some reviewers have said this book is a slander suit waiting to happen. Naah. First of all, it's printed, so it's libel. Second, I'll bet good money that Barry could trot out enough evidence in court to convince a jury he was telling the truth. So nobody is going to sue. Guys like Herring and the management of SCIP know better. Barry would cut them to ribbons, and then counter sue and set himself up for life.

Besides, it's much more effective in the long run to freeze the guy out of his profession, quietly. Or just ignore it completely, because it doesn't matter.

Interesting to read, but not a 'must have'.......2003-08-27

Penenberg, a writer for Time and Forbes, and Barry, the head of his own intelligence company, have written an easy-to-read, but yet disjointed book on the use of intelligence gathering techniques in modern business. The book provides ample evidence that intelligence collection on business rivals is alive and well but does not offer any solutions as to how to prevent these techniques from being used against one's own organization. Readers who want a better sense of how 'social engineering' works are better served by reading Kevin Mitnick's "The Art of Deception."

Professional competitive intelligence professionals, especially those that are members of SCIP (the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals), will learn nothing new here except to be aware of now NOT to collect intelligence. Computer hacking, information brokering and pretext are techniques that are used by companies with the "do whatever it takes to get the information" philosophy.

Readers that want more detail and insight on the Avery Dennison/Four Pillars case are better served by reading "Sticky Fingers."

Mark Robinson
The author of "Beyond Competitive Intelligence: The Practice of Counterintelligence and Trade Secrets Protection."

Book Description

Woldwide, developed and developing countries increasingly depend on groundwater resources for domestic water supply. Since groundwater is a hidden resource and individuals cannot see how much has been used and what is left, this book attempts to make global groundwater use more visible so that policy makers can make informed decisions as to its management. Organized into six geographical regions, the authors describe the various physical, cultural and institutional challenges of groundwater policy and management faced by countries worldwide. Analysis of the challenges and responses to groundwater management at the national level hopes to generate a broader understanding for societies across the globe. Each chapter provides the physical geography and demographics of the country, its water use, problems, law, politics and policy and future implications. Chapters on representative countries within North America, Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Australia and China and Africa provide a comprehensive perspective of groundwater issues internationally.

Average customer rating:
Expecting: Nursery Rhymes for Pregnant Times
Dolli Tingel
Manufacturer: C R Gibson Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Parenting & Families | Subjects | Books
Accessories:

Braun IRT 4020 ThermoScan Ear Thermometer

ASIN: 0837851254

Average customer rating:
EXPECTING? Nursery Rhymes for Pregnant Times

Manufacturer: Stardust Books, C.R. Gibson Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000I2BJFK

Average customer rating:
EXPECTING? Nursery Rhymes for Pregnant Times
Dolli Tingle
Manufacturer: Stardust Books, C.R. Gibson Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OEYM1A

Average customer rating:
Expecting?: Nursery Rhymes for Pregnant Times
Dolli Tingle
Manufacturer: C.R. Gibson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000TZ5R7W

Book Description

The first comprehensive study of the legendary Panzer commander. Though there have been numerous articles on Wittmann, none have come close to understanding the scope of his life and combat experiences. Wittmann's military exploits stand out from all the rest, as his Sturmgeschutz III and Tiger I crews succeeded in destroying 138 enemy tanks and 132 anti-tank guns and field artillery pieces. Gary Simpson conducted extensive research, travel, and interviews to uncover the tru facts and situations that Michael Wittmann encountered on the battlefields of both the eastern and wetsern fronts.

, 77 b/w photographs, 7 3/4" x 10 1/2"

Customer Reviews:

Many errors and bad grammar but some interesting information on Wittmann and Tigers in battle.......2006-11-10

I agree with the other reviewers that the book is awful in terms of grammar and the language used, but I think that it is quite unfair to throw it in the dustbin. The are many good black and white photos and some chapters, like that of the Tiger crews training, the Kursk battle, and of course the Villers-Bocage epic engagement against teh Desert Rats are very well presented, with a lot of tactical details. Not a bad choice for the tank enthusiasts after all, but the price is indeed high.

Great Book---to keep on the shelf.......2006-09-18

If you are looking for filler material for the shelf, this is the book for you. It is great for just sitting on the ledge, unread and untouched, and making you look well read. However, if you are thinking of actually cracking it open for any purpose other than to look at the pictures, save your money.

Pass.......2005-01-30

The other reviews got it right. Perhaps if one wants to get anything and everything related to Wittmann, one should get this book, otherwise, it's not worth it. Patrick Agte's book is the Wittmann bible (although there are some doubts about him), but I would suggest buying that instead.

Dont waste your money!.......2004-09-19

Bottom Line: THIS BOOK IS HORRIBLE! Terrible grammar and sentence structure. Poorly written. Not based on fact. A COMPLETE WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME!

EIN SCHRECKLICHES BUCH!.......2003-09-26

To say that the quality of this book is "uneven" is a mild understatement. Like the other reviewers of this book, I bought "TIGER ACE..." eagerly anticipating a well-written, well-researched book. NOT! Never have I been so thoroughly disgusted to read -- or rather, try to read -- such a HORRIBLY WRITTEN book!!! The photographs are the only good thing about this book. Yet, by themselves, they are not enough to redeem dieses Buch.

BUY THIS BOOK AT YOUR OWN PERIL.

Book Description

Modern American History in one sitting.

Average customer rating:

Florida's Birds

Useful Guide for Florida

Great for specificaly Florida birds

My opinion

Florida's Birds: A Handbook and Reference

Florida's Birds: A Handbook and Reference
Herbert W. Kale II , and David S. Maehr
Manufacturer: Pineapple Press (FL)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Birds | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

National Geographic Field Guides to Birds: Florida (NG Field Guide to Birds)

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Florida (Smithsonian Handbooks)

Florida Bird Watching: A Year-Round Guide

Florida's Birds: A Field Guide And Reference

Florida's Fabulous Birds

ASIN: 091092368X

Customer Reviews:

Florida's Birds.......2007-05-13

I bought this for my husband, who uses it all the time. Whenever we have a new bird come to the yard he gets the book out to see what it is. It is very helpful.

Useful Guide for Florida.......2004-11-18

Identifies the major habitats in Florida such as sand pine scrub, mesic hammocks, salt marshes, etc. Features include about 50 pages with color artwork showing the birds (grouped by type). The adjacent page gives a brief description plus notes on preferred habitat, then refers the reader to another page for more detail on the bird.
Pluses: charts the months the bird is in Florida and also the breeding season, makes an effort to explain key differences in similar looking birds, the index is set up with little boxes so it can be used as a checklist also.
Minuses: pictures somewhat small and at times overcrowded (ducks), it's a nuisance to flip back and forth from the pictures to the detailed write ups.

Great for specificaly Florida birds.......2004-03-10

This is a great reference book for anyone who is interested just in birds that can be found in Florida. The drawings have enough detail that most birders from beginner to advanced intermediate should find them useful. I used this book for the first few years of birding and found it to be of great value. Many people may attempt to compare this to Sibley's Guides but I would have to say that each has its advantages. Sibley's often has too much detail and does not show just the birds that you may see in one specific area. This book show only Florida birds and groups them in a logic fashion that allows for fast reference. If you are in Florida bird watching (I strongly suggest it!) then you should find this book useful. This is not a replacement for the Sibley Guide but more of a quick reference book that can be used as the primary source. Go to Sibley's Guides for fine details when in doubt but unless you know exactly where to find each bird, this guide will be less frustrating.

My opinion.......2003-01-02

This field guide handy bird book to have around the house, but not so great in the field. The color illustrations offer limited variations for seasonal plumage and the color is very inaccurate. Most importantly the information and illustrations are in separate sections of the book making identification cumbersome. I recommend sticking to Sibley's or the National Geographic field guide.

Florida's Birds: A Handbook and Reference.......2001-07-11

Excellent color depictions, good cross referencing to information pages vs. habitat and picture pages. It is exactly as represented - a good reference guide.

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Florida (Smithsonian Handbooks)

Average customer rating:

A Must Have...
disappointing
AWESOME!
Must have with caveat
A good index would help

Smithsonian Handbooks: Birds of Florida (Smithsonian Handbooks)
DK Publishing
Manufacturer: DK ADULT
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0789483874

Book Description

The most comprehensive series of field guides to North American birds ever. This impressive collection highlights birds from all regions of the United States including localized areas such as the Mid-Atlantic, the Pacific Northwest and New England. Whether birding in the foothills of New England, the prairies of the Midwest, or the beaches of Florida, Smithsonian Handbooks are the most comprehensive field guides to North American birds on the market. Looking for the Great Blue Heron or the Piping Plover while visiting the Great Lakes? Desperate to find the rare Long Billed Curlew or the Marbled Godwit during a hike in the Cascade Mountains? There's no need to look any further! Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, these amazing guides are an absolute staple for any birder or amateur ornithologist. Each local species receives its own profile, along with descriptions of habitats and annotated photographs that highlight specific characteristics and other points of interest. Take bird watching to new heights!

Customer Reviews:

A Must Have..........2007-05-06

This book is wonderfully informative and a must have for any interested in birding and living in Florida.

My only complaint is that you have to know what type of bird you are looking for to find it easily. It's kind of like going to a dictionary to find the spelling of a word.

disappointing.......2007-02-22

I just arrived in Florida and tried to find 3 birds I was not familiar with. Only one of three clearly indentified. I went back to the tried and true Golden Book and found two of the three. Gulls are insufficiently covered in the Smithsnian book , particulary as Gulls may not have final markings for 2-4 years. No color illustrations of these. A disappointing book.

AWESOME!.......2007-01-04

I sent this book to my mother who had recently moved to Florida from California. She was able to find many species of birds from her backyard within minutes and lots of interesting information about them too.

Must have with caveat.......2006-04-29

An excellent book for identifying birds. Anyone interested in Florida birds can use this book. However, its main drawback is that it offers very few specifics on when and where to find these birds IN FLORIDA. The main reason to consider a book on FLORIDA BIRDS is that it will tell you how to find these birds IN FLORIDA. For example, it states that the Swallow-tailed Kite is listed as endangered in South Carolina, which is unfortunate to be sure, but totally useless to finding this bird in Florida.

A good index would help.......2006-03-02

As the other reviewers have pointed out, this book covers every bird that has ever been seen in FL (well, not counting the dusky-headed parakeet we saw south of Tampa), but the index is terrible. On arrival in Florida we saw two egrets, one of which I knew was a great egret and other of which I knew was a snowy egret - but which was which? Unfortunately, when I went to the index for page numbers, all that was listed under "egrets" was cattle egret and rusty egret. The others were listed by their latin names only in another listing. The information was in the book, but not to be found through the index. The same with herons - the index lists only great blue, green, little blue and tricolored, although the book also includes info on the black crowned night-heron, and yellow crowned night-heron, both permanent Florida residents. I turned back to my Sibley's almost immediately because I had lost confidence in this book. Better books are available in Florida.

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