Cellular Energy Metabolism and Its Regulation

Customer Reviews:

A must-read classic on metabolic regulation.......2005-01-28

Although Dan Atkinson wrote his classic book nearly 30 years ago, it is still available, and thus still worth reviewing.

Much of what he wrote in 1977 is still quite valid today, and anyone wanting a readable introduction to the classic ideas of metabolic regulation could scarcely find a better place to start. Although the title refers specifically to cellular energy metabolism, that just provides the focus for what are really more general ideas, and in any case it is the central point in the whole subject. Many of Atkinson's ideas have become part of the general background knowledge in biochemistry, but he also includes less well known themes that could benefit from being better known: for example, he devotes several pages to assessing what he calls the metabolic costs of growth, in other words estimates of the numbers of molecules of ATP that need to be transformed into molecules of ADP in order to "pay" for producing particular metabolic products. Thus the simple aminoacid glycine costs 12 ATP equivalents, whereas tryptophan costs 78. Although qualitatively this is obvious -- no one would expect tryptophan to be as cheap as glycine -- the quantitative aspects are also important.

Another theme that Atkinson handles more competently than most textbooks is that of equilibria, and thermodynamics generally, in biochemistry. This is not, of course, the favourite topic for most students, but it is one that has to be taught, and in an ideal world would have to be understood as well. Among some important insights he disposes nicely of the popular nonsense surrounding free energy "efficiencies" -- to put it at its most simple, Gibbs energies can be added and subtracted from one another, but multiplying or dividing them by one another makes no sense.

Atkinson wrote his book before metabolic control analysis started to influence the thinking of biochemists. One might fear that this would make it out of date, but in fact it is an excellent thing, as it spared him the need to write many pages attacking an area of the subject that he came to dislike very much.

Cellular Energy Metabolism and Its Regulation

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Cellular Energy Metabolism and Its Regulation
Daniel E. Atkinson
Manufacturer: Academic Press Inc.,U.S.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OH0U3G

Customer Reviews:

looks like a road map.......2007-01-11

Found what we were looking for in this detailed map

an outstanding map of the Samoas.......2000-11-30

As the author of Tonga-Samoa Handbook, I've used James A. Bier's map of the Samoas many times to check dubious place name spellings or to verify geographical information. The detailed index makes finding places a breeze and the drawing is amazingly clear. I recommend this map highly.

Book Description

Spiders are wonderful creatures. Their varied and complex range of behavior and highly developed sensory systems are excellently adapted to the environmental conditions - as is proven by their evolutionary success. Over 400 million years, spiders have developed their sensory organs to a fascinating technical perfection and complexity.
In his intriguing book, Professor Friedrich G. Barth puts this technical perfection into the context of "biology", in which the interaction between environment and sensory organs and the selectivity of the senses as a link between environment and behavior play a major role.

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Silicones and other organic silicon compounds
Howard William Post
Manufacturer: Reinhold Pub. Corp
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General & Reference | Chemistry | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
General | Organic | Chemistry | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006ARXV8

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Silicones and other Organic Silicon Compounds.
Howard W. Post
Manufacturer: Reinhold Publishing Co.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NY7JWK

Book Description

A new class of methods, termed "group explicit methods," is introduced in this text. Their applications to solve parabolic, hyperbolic and elliptic equations are outlined, and the advantages for their implementation on parallel computers clearly portrayed. Also included are the introductory and fundamental concepts from which the new methods are derived, and on which they are dependent. With the increasing advent of parallel computing into all aspects of computational mathematics, there is no doubt that the new methods will be widely used.

Book Description

My aim is to take familiar things and make
Poetry of them, and do it in such a way
That it looks as if it was as easy as could be
For anybody to do it . . . the power of making
A perfectly wonderful thing out of nothing much.
--from "The Art of Poetry"

When David Ferry's translation of The Odes of Horace appeared in 1997, Bernard Knox, writing in The New York Review of Books, called it "a Horace for our times." Now Ferry has translated Horace's two books of Epistles, in which Horace perfected the conversational verse medium that gives his voice such dazzling immediacy, speaking in these letters with such directness, wit, and urgency to young writers, to friends, to his patron Maecenas, to Emperor Augustus himself. It is the voice of a free man, talking about how to get along in a Roman world full of temptations, opportunities, and contingencies, and how to do so with one's integrity intact. Horace's world, so unlike our own and yet so like it, comes to life in these poems. And there are also the poems -- the famous "Art of Poetry" and others -- about the tasks and responsibilities of the writer: truth to the demands of one's medium, fearless clear-sighted self-knowledge, and unillusioned, uncynical realism, joyfully recognizing the world for what it is.

Amazon.com

It's taken for granted today that the Supreme Court has final say on how the Constitution is interpreted, but this principle--hotly debated in the republic's early years -- was established by John Marshall (1755-1835), the fourth Chief Justice. Historian Smith's definitive biography, detailed and lucid, is a model of scholarly writing for the general public. The author claims our admiration for the justice and sparks affection for the man: warm, gregarious, fond of drink, a Federalist with the common touch, a seasoned political infighter who remained on good terms with his opponents.

Book Description

A New York Times Notable Book of 1996It was in tolling the death of Chief Justice John Marshall in 1835 that the Liberty Bell cracked, never to ring again. An apt symbol of the man who shaped both court and country, whose life "reads like an early history of the United States," as the Wall Street Journal noted, adding: Jean Edward Smith "does an excellent job of recounting the details of Marshall's life without missing the dramatic sweep of the history it encompassed."Working from primary sources, Jean Edward Smith has drawn an elegant portrait of a remarkable man. Lawyer, jurist, scholars; soldier, comrade, friend; and, most especially, lover of fine Madeira, good food, and animated table talk: the Marshall who emerges from these pages is noteworthy for his very human qualities as for his piercing intellect, and, perhaps most extraordinary, for his talents as a leader of men and a molder of consensus. A man of many parts, a true son of the Enlightenment, John Marshall did much for his country, and John Marshall: Definer of a Nation demonstrates this on every page.

Customer Reviews:

The title says it all...................2007-08-15

.....though we can still debate whether he defined it correctly. John Marshall, fourth Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was, and remains, one of the absolute giants of our history. Washington fought the battles, Jefferson and Madison composed the theories, but it remained for Marshall to elucidate what it all meant. This is, to my mind, the definitive biography of a titan.

John Marshall was born in what is now Northern Virginia in 1755, the child of a fairly well off family. On his mother's side, he was descended from the famous Randolphs; his father was a surveying associate of George Washington. His dad taught him a love of education and good books that continued all his days. Before embarking on a career in Law, Marshall was a soldier of the Revolution, serving with Washington in several major battles. After marriage to young Polly Ambler, he was a law student of the great George Wythe [also the law teacher of Jefferson, and of Spencer Roane] at William & Mary. Successful practice, and politics, soon followed...Marshall served on the Governor's Council, and was the leading advocate for Constitutional ratification in the Virginia convention; his battles with Patrick Henry are the stuff of legend [though they served as co-counsel in several cases]. He was a constant supporter of Washington, served as one of Adams' three ministers to France in the XYZ affair, and was briefly a Congressman and Secretary of State. He it was who said of Washington "First in War...", though he let Light Horse Harry Lee speak the words, and get the credit. In 1801, John Adams made a "midnight appointment" of Marshall to be Chief Justice, preventing the incoming President Jefferson from making his own choice...

For the next 34 years, Marshall solidified Federal power, freely interpreting the interstate commerce clause, and the clause which allows Congress to make enabling legislation. Marbury v. Madison asserted the right of judicial review, and further cases expanded it. He wrote the judicial opinions that remain the basis of Federal centrilization of power to this day. Smith gives great detail of individual cases.

One of Marshall's great strengths, and we shouldn't make light of it, was that he was a nice guy. A sociable host, his friends loved him, but even total strangers could find him thoroughly modest and charming. Quoits, and good Madiera were real passions. Even his enemies [with two profound exceptions] liked him. His basic decency certainly aided his consensus building.....

...the two exceptions were Spencer Roane and Thomas Jefferson. Roane was the son-in-law and political ally of Patrick Henry. A long time neighbor of Marshall, and Chief Justice of the Virginia Supreme Court, Judge Roane believed completely in States Rights and held the US Constitution to be a voluntary compact of free and independent states that could be broken at will. What Spencer Roane proposed, Jeff Davis disposed... Alas, where Marshall was a prince among men, Judge Roane was of such acid, unpleasant, temperment that even his friends and allies couldn't stand him...

....and then there was Mr. Jefferson. The feud between Marshall and Jefferson is one of the absolute central themes of American history. It was multidimensional...personal, familial, political, philosophical...for about 40 years, the conflict was one of cordial, respectful, dislike; after the Aaron Burr treason trial of 1807, it turned into blind, unreasoning hatred. Part of it was rivalry between branches of the Randolph family; part was Jefferson's civilian service during the revolution while Marshall was in the field; part was publication of a letter to Jefferson from his daughter stating "Mrs. Marshall is insane" [sadly, true]. Mostly, the problem was that Marshall and Jefferson had totally different theories of government and visions of America. [They agreed about religion, though Marshall was a founder of, and regular attender at, Monumental Church in Richmond]. In 1807, Aaron Burr was charged with treason, accused of wanting to set up his own empire. He was tried in Richmond, with Marshall sitting as trial judge. Marshall's friend, neighbor, and occasional law partner John Wickham served as defense counsel, along with the drunken genius, Luther Martin. In what is today generally considered a rigged trial, Burr was acquitted. During this trial, an incident occured that is the only evidence of improper conduct on John Marshall's part that I can find; while Burr was out on bail, Wickham threw a grand dinner party for him. Marshall was invited [not improper], went, and stayed the whole evening. You can well imagine the spin that sympathetic Jefferson biographers put on this; Smith doesn't mention it.

John Marshall was a great and brilliant man; he was also a good and decent man. He had his problems; Polly was an invalid with a combination of physical and mental problems for years...one of his sons was essentially worthless. Thru it all, John Marshall was faithful to both his public and private duties. Now, I'll get personal....my copy of this wonderful book was a Christmas present my wife bought me at the John Marshall House in Richmond. Located at 9th. and Marshall, near the Capitol, it is lovingly maintained by a fine staff of really nice people [the Director even helped me with research for a small biography I wrote of Spencer Roane]. The house, and Marshall's grave in Shockhoe Cemetery a few blocks away, are cared for as monuments to greatness, which they are. The house is nice, but not spectacular; Marshall was a modest, unassuming man [John Wickham's house, two blocks away, IS spectacular]. At the John Marshall House [yes, I contribute financially], and at his grave, I feel awe, intellectual interest, and profound respect; at Monticello, I feel reverence. Maybe I think Jefferson was right about the issues, but I can still look up to John Marshall. If you want to understand America, you need to read this book.

This is the best available biography of Marshall, maybe the best ever. If all you want is case histories, read Hobson; if you want a highly technical biography, read Newmyer; if you want to understand the great cases, AND the great man who decided them, start right here. Newmyer and Hobson wrote fine books, but any intelligent person [not just specialists] can read this one.....

possibly the most unknown founding father.......2007-03-14

I think it can be argued that, next to Washington, Marshall was the most significant of the whole colonial group, and fortunately, this excellent biography rises to the occasion, telling the story of this truly remarkable American. The best proof of my enthusiasm for the book is that I have already purchased four copies for friends with more undoubtedly to come

An excellent book about an excellent man.......2007-02-11

The court says what the law is. That simple, now obvious precept comes from John Marshall more than any other founder. Whether the United States would be a fractious loose confederation of competiting states or truly united states with an agreed set of rules was the enormous question of the Revolution. Through bumps and starts, Jefferson, Hamilton, Madison, Monroe, Adams and their less well known but hugely effective partisans proposed conflicting approaches to the way the country would be governed. These men of ideas and politics had to have a final place where their competing philosophies and general beliefs could be hammered into practical law. A trial brings a real problem against the idea behind a law. John Marshall said the Supreme Court was the final place for reconciliation of thought and practice. Marshall thought and wrote with such clarity, reason and discipline that he was able to convince even presidents who disliked him ( he worked with 5 of them), state legislatures and the public that the Court's findings were reasonable and necessary.

America, before and after the Revolution was not in the least united. Civl wars and succession were threatened regularly by competing proponents of individual, state and federal rights --and even who was intended when the "individual" rights were debated. The conflicts about the purpose of government was vastly complicated by the rise of political parties, by partisanship and the explosive growth of an economy and social strata unlike the rest of the world. By the time Marshall was appointed to the bench by John Adams, there was no agreed national philosophy to guide the country's decisions. Marshall said the Constitution was law, not suggestion. Today that fact seems so obvious that it takes a stretch to appreciate what Marshall achieved. His unwavering adherance (and careful avoidance of what he saw as unecessary conflict) to the idea that the president was responsible for politics (guiding national direction)and international relations, congress was responsible for making the laws, and the court was responsible for ensuring that the laws were congruent with the Constitution built the bones of this country.

It cheers me that Marshall, according to Jean Smith (and a shorter biography by Gordon Woods) is nearly the ideal founder that his more famous contemporaries certainly were not. Marhsall was a man of simple, gracious manners, apparently not adept in high scociety, but genial and welcoming in small gatherings who was happy to add Madiera to aid discussion. His open minded and unpretentious approach to others allowed him to obtain unanimous decisions from fellow jurists who were not without ego and ideas of their own. He was astonishingly loyal to a wife who was a recluse. He started as a lawyer and legislator, but withdrew entirely from politics once he gained the bench, and was in fact the honorable, honest and intellectually immense presence that we want our founders to be.
Smith manages to keep this lengthy biography interesting, including informed and clear discussions of the context of the cases, the national temper and the personalities of participants. Smith is political science and law professor (but not a lawyer) with perhaps ten other histories to his credit. I demand a lot from a history(clarity, reason, context, support for argument and even the occasional sense of humor -- and without polemics) and Smith manages to do it all. He clearly is a Marshall fan but, from my other reading, Marshall deserves the respect and honor he gave his county.

An excellent biography and overview of early American history from a different perspective.......2006-09-01

What a book and what a topic for a non-lawyer, early American history buff. I actually feel smarter now!

Seriously, Jean Edward Smith does a great job of pulling a tremendous amount of primary source material into a seamlessly integrated biography on US Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall. In large part, because of all the primary source quotes, the book reads slowly, but without videos, photographs, and voice recordings, that's the best way to learn about historical figures from that era. Smith's own writing, research, and overall understanding of the material and ability to convey that to the reader is excellent.

I was not aware that John Marshall was so involved in Virginia politics after the War and was asked multiple times by fellow Virginian George Washington to take on major positions, only to be rebuffed. He was so highly admired even before he entered the Supreme Court. So, the first 300 pages cover Marshall's career leading up to his nomination. The next 200+ pages cover his tenure on the Supreme Court.

What is really nice, though, about the way Smith handles the biography, is that he constantly brings back recurring theme's in Marshall's life, whether it is Marshall's ability to get along with people from either side of the aisle and his remarkable affability and love of Madeira wine, or his plain old good judgment and belief in the supremacy of the Union, or his dedication to his job and the country and his ability to strengthen the Supreme Court by striving for unanimous decisions and collegiality among the individual Supreme Court justices.

And obviously, Smith does a good job of putting the importance of Marshall's decisions in perspective in his time and today. I've read perhaps 40 books on early American history, but John Marshall and the role of the Supreme Court has always been a black box or a side story. Smith does a great job of fleshing this out for me. Additionally, as always it is interesting to view history from different perspectives, and this book does a nice job of doing that all the way from the War of Independence through Andrew Jackson's reign.

Thank you Jean Edward Smith for your efforts.

Great book.......2006-07-05

I love early American history, the early Constitutional period to be more exact. I've read the biographies of many of our Founders but I have never read one about a Supreme Court justice. After visiting the Court's building in D.C. a few years back, I became interested in Marshall and found this book about his life.

This is a very informative book for the non-lawyers among us (like me) who want a layman's understanding on how the Supreme Court muscled its way onto the national stage. Sure, the Court was equal to the other two branches on paper. But Smith shows how Marshall flushed this "lowly" court into a genuine equal with the legislature and executive.

The author also gives a clear view on Marshall's thinking regarding the "state's rights vs national power" controversy that was at the forefront of the debate during those early years of the nation.

For those who want to understand the power of today's Supreme Court, this is a great place to learn its history.

John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.: An article from: Independent Review

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John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.: An article from: Independent Review
James W., Jr. Ely
Manufacturer: Independent Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Independent Review, published by Independent Institute on January 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2559 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: John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.
Author: James W., Jr. Ely
Publication: Independent Review (Refereed)
Date: January 1, 1998
Publisher: Independent Institute
Volume: v2 Issue: n3 Page: p450(6)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Customer Reviews:

Great Author.......2005-09-10

I have the distinct pleasure of working with the author, H.P. (we call him Ned) Willmott. He is a man of integrity, charm, and great wit. He is also a great writer.

A great read!.......2000-12-16

I have found H.P. Willmott to be one of the most knowledgable authors of World War II history. I used this book as a text book in a class on World Military History that Willmott taught as a visiting professor at Memphis State University in 1990. He takes a very eurocentric approach to World War II in this book, and frankly, opened my eyes to the British view of the war. His claims that the US never fought the best the Germans had to offer took some soul searching on my part to accept. But he proves his case credibly with ample facts and first hand accounts. He really gets into the "nitty gritty" of what brought the "Great Crusdade" into being and what it took to beat the Axis powers. A GREAT book that I highly recommend!

THE GREAT CRUSADE: A NEW COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

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THE GREAT CRUSADE: A NEW COMPLETE HISTORY OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

Manufacturer: Michael Joseph
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War

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Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War
H.P. Willmott
Manufacturer: Free Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O94AFS

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Great Crusade: A New Complete History of the Second World War
H.P. Willmott
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000O8YPUE

Book Description

This book is the amazing story of greed, corruption, and scandal in the framing of one of the most famous oil families in Texas and the subsequent IRS raid of unprecedented proportions. This book will confirm your suspicions of the IRS yet provides a glimmer of hope in our criminal justice system.

Customer Reviews:

Better than Clancy!.......2002-10-02

My daughter was reading it and I looked at it out of curiosity to see what it was about. I started reading and I couldn't put it down. It's a fascinating story about a family that fought for justice and won. It's more exciting that a Clancy novel!

Wildcatters: The True Story of How Conspiracy, Greed, and th.......2002-09-23

A book every one should read. Hard to believe how the IRS treated this family. Unbelievable.

Great book reads like a fiction.......2002-09-17

Picked up this book because Charlie Moncrief is a friends father. Started reading this book and could not put it down, the story is told so well and the emotions and the drama are so put together -- reads like a Ludlum, and the amazing thing is that it is all real.

Highly reccomend.

Amazon.com

The largest temperate rainforest on the planet and home to grizzly bears, deer, moose, salmon, eagles, and myriad Native American tribes, the Tongass once covered southeast Alaska like a vibrant green carpet. That carpet has seen better days. In the 1950s, with sweetheart deals that provided seemingly limitless volumes of timber at well below market cost, the U.S. government enticed two pulp companies to set up shop there. The federal legislation opened up the country's largest national forest to massive industrial clear-cutting; it also set the stage for a bare-knuckles environmental battle that would reach its apex near the end of the century and become a template for future skirmishes.

A former environmental journalist for the Portland Oregonian, Durbin tells the story of the Tongass with a crime reporter's eye for deadly facts--which will fascinate anyone with an interest in the subject, particularly Alaskans and environmentalists. She details the collusion between the two pulp mills to keep prices down and small loggers squeezed; the illegal pollutant dumping; the union-busting; the U.S. Forest Service's bureaucratic myopia; the thousands of miles of logging roads punched through formerly pristine watersheds; and the destruction of once-prolific salmon streams and big-game habitat in a region renowned for its hunting and fishing. Durbin is at her best, though, unraveling the complex political processes behind the timber wars, both at the national level and the local, as well as exposing the backroom dealmaking that goes on between elected officials, corporate leaders, and activists. Perhaps most compelling is the subplot of coalition-building among fledgling enviro groups that spans decades, especially the progress of the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council (SEACC), founded in Juneau in the late '60s. Beginning as a tiny assortment of part-time, longhaired activists with nary a cent, SEACC eventually sends its own lobbyists to Washington. By the late 1980s, due largely to SEACC's tireless work, a New York Times editorial is calling the federally subsidized logging on the Tongass "so wrongheaded it's likely to provoke profanity from any fair-minded person," and Sports Illustrated is covering the story with an article entitled "Forest Service Follies." Through all this the author's sympathies are clear: significant portions of the Tongass, once a magnificent, sprawling ancient forest of spruce and hemlock, have been largely reduced to newspaper pulp--and, incredibly, at a loss to U.S. taxpayers. --Langdon Cook

Book Description

The fate of the Tongass National Forest is one of today's most closely watched environmental issues. Praised by Publishers Weekly as a "blow-by-blow account of a messy controversy and an impressive example of thorough journalism," Kathie Durbin's acclaimed volume is now available in an expanded edition that updates the story of this remote, wild, beautiful land.

After World War II, the U.S. government lured two pulp companies to Southeast Alaska by promising them low-cost timber from the Tongass National Forest, the planet's largest coastal temperate rain forest. The mills brought jobs and growth to a sparsely settled region. They also wreaked ecological havoc and created a timber industry that broke labor unions, drove competitors out of business, and controlled politicians and the U.S. Forest Service. It took a national campaign, led by grassroots environmentalists, to bring sanity and sustainability to management of the Tongass.

In her insightful account of Alaska's era of pulp, Durbin draws on the voices of the people most affected: independent loggers who fought back when the pulp companies conspired to drive them out of business; courageous biologists who warned that logging was destroying critical fish and wildlife habitat; Tlingit Indians who saw their traditional hunting grounds vanish; young activists and lawyers who found their lives transformed by the battle for the Alaska rain forest.

In this new edition, Durbin updates the story of the Tongass with a new chapter describing political and economic developments since 1999. Among the changes: a dramatic growth in cruise ship tourism, a new governor's plan for a system of roads and bridges to link remote Southeast Alaska communities, and a renewed push by the Forest Service under a timber-friendly administration in Washington, D.C., to open vast roadless areas to logging. Yet the fight for the Alaska rain forest is becoming a broader movement as appreciation for the true value of the region's wilderness grows.

Customer Reviews:

The rain in Alaska falls mainly on the Tongass.......2006-01-24

It's not just recently scientists and people who care about the environment have talked against clearing rain forests. How could one not be moved by those seemingly endless stretches of trees in the southern tropical countries of Brazil and Malaysia? After all, they're home to tons of plants, bugs, birds and animals, along with some native peoples.

What's recent is the attention to another kind of rain forest, called the coastal temperate. It's a rain forest that needs cool summers. It also needs a total rainfall each year of more than 55 inches. This kind of rain forest used to be found on the west sides of continents. Only Africa and Antarctica never had them. Ireland and Scotland used to be famous for them. Norway still has them in pockets. There's also quite a bit along Chile, New Zealand, and Tasmania. But the greatest of them all runs from Kodiak Island in the Alaska gulf south, through the Alaska panhandle and Canada's British Columbia coast to Vancouver Island.

Alaska's rain forests are a breathtaking sight. They're also good for the world. They build up and store more organic material than any other forest on earth. Some of that material drops into the nearby ocean. That's why Alaska's waters are full of the most scrumptious shellfish, salmon and halibut around.

And yet for over 40 years some of those forests were logged quickly and uncontrollably. Other forests were likewise logged some 20 years later. Salmon-spawning streams and black-tailed deer homes were ruined. Poorly built logging roads brought about landslides and brought in poachers. Caves underneath the trees were an archaeologist's treasure chest. But cutting down the trees caved in caverns and buried a part of our world history.

By the end of the 20th century, almost 1 million acres worth of trees were gone. It wasn't just muskeg, conifer and alpine scrub. It was western red cedar, western hemlock, Sitka spruce, and Alaska yellow cedar. The sad thing's no matter the tree, it was turned into pulp or 2-by-4's. That meant a lot of big, old, strong, tall trees cut down to make low-priced wood products that could have been made from lower-quality wood from elsewhere. Fewer trees could have been cut down and more money could have been made if the goal'd instead been turning out custom and specialty wood products for higher prices.

Pressure from nature supporters, native peoples and area residents put an end to TONGASS PULP POLITICS AND THE FIGHT FOR THE ALASKA RAIN FOREST might be won in the 21st century. Adventure packages, cruise ships, food production, handcrafts, small-scale custom and specialty logging, and tourist accommodations keep people employed and communities afloat. Forest service workers are cleaning up streams, redoing bad roads, and watching second-growth trees. So for the time being, there's more respect to what Virignia Tech master gardeners call the wildlands-urban interface of where people and nature meet.

Author Kathie Durbin's book is well-organized. It has clear examples and telling photos. It ends with a good bibliography and index. It's aimed at nature-supporting and community-building readers.

In 2003 we are still tearing this treasure down.......2003-04-20

Journalist Kathie Durbin has written one of the finest investigative works that I have read. I'm a lawyer with biology and chemistry degrees and I find the extensive endnotes, legal references and her penchant to seek out and cite primary sources refreshing.

There is nothing here that supports any label of the author, save that of professional. This work has disturbed me for years. I have become more active in the fight to preserve the ONLY temperate rain forest left in North America because of her clear and concise use of well-supported facts.

The most disturbing fact not in the book is that the lumber industry is now nothing but a byproduct of the pulp industry.

Ms. Durbin shows us how Salmon spawning grounds destroyed out of greed and carelessness by logging right up to the spawning streams and destroying the shade that the Salmon's Redd's require, and by the disposal of low pH waste into bays and estuaries and by the effects of runoff from clearcuts (damaging sub-arctic land and water: a fragile environment, indeed).

There is no room to debate the facts...only the policy. Calling this work or its author names simply illustrates the old adage: if you can't win on the facts attack the fact-finder.

Read this book. ANWAR may be the cause celeb today, but the damage to the Tongass is going on NOW.

Pulp Fiction.......2000-06-04

As a 50 year resident of Ketchikan, I was curious how a "tree hugger" would portray the fight for the Tongass--known in these parts as the fight for a reasonable standard of living. Ms. Durbin quotes environmental organizer Donald Ross on page 172: "It doesn't take much, when you're a congressman from Kansas and you've never heard of the Tongass, to get you to vote for trees." When all is said and done, that was the tactic of the environmentalists. On page 246, she says, "Most who did [find job after the Sitka mill closed] were forced to make do with a lower standard of living than they had become accustomed to on pulp mill wages." How easily she dismisses the plight of those who live in the Tongass. There's a lot Ms. Durbin doesn't mention like the fact that only the wealthy and refugees from the 60's can afford to experience up close & personal the pristine beauty of the nation's First Park. The environmentalists have won. Sierra Club, kiss my ax!

Trash.......2000-06-02

I have lived in the Tongass,, The Tongass is being sold out to the tour package industry,, this industry is no different than any other. The people who live here through its most harsh winters are being dictated to by feel good (my Disney Land) visitors. Many wonderful Alaskan familys have been displaced because of this myth.

How we almost lost a national treasure.......2000-03-24

Kathie Durbin reveals the irresponsible and corrupt practices of the U.S. government, the Forest Service, and the pulp mills it was in bed with in Southeast Alaska, and how their destructive logging practices politicized a whole contingent of people to stop the decimation of our last temperate rainforest. Read "Tongass" and your blood will boil over what happened there, and what is still happening in many of our other forests today.

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