Fiji's Natural Heritage

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Fiji - simply stunning

Fiji's Natural Heritage
Paddy Ryan
Manufacturer: Exisle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Natural History | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0908988141

Book Description

Fiji's Natural Heritage is the acclaimed introduction to the flora, fauna and ecology of the Fiji Islands. First published in 1988, this superb new edition has been completely revised, expanded and redesigned.

Written for the general reader as well as for the natural history enthusiast, Fiji's Natural Heritage is the only book that provides a comprehensive overview of Fiji's rich biodiversity. The Fiji Islands have a large number of endemic species. These and the introduced species are illustrated and described with their common, scientific and Fijian names given.

Paddy Ryan's text is packed with fascinating biological facts and features, as well as many engaging anecdotes detailing encounters with his subjects including the grey reef shark, the crested and the banded iguana, the fiddler crab (which signals frantically to potential mates with its enlarged chela or claw), the frigate bird (an aerial pirate), and Fiji's national flower, the tagimaucia.

Fiji's Natural Heritage is a major publication on the Pacific Islands. It will be one of the best value natural history and travel titles!

Customer Reviews:

Fiji - simply stunning.......2001-03-23

Simply there is no other book on Fiji that matches the expertise of Dr Ryan's knowledge and the brilliance of his photography. A must for any visitor to the South Pacific.

Book Description

No matter what your budget or whether it's your first trip or fifteenth, Fodor's Gold Guides get you where you want to go. In this completely up-to-date guide our experts who live in Alaska give you the inside track, showing you all the things to see and do ? from must-see sights to off-the-beaten-path adventures, from shopping to outdoor fun. Fodor's Alaska 2003 shows you hundreds of hotel and restaurant choices in all price ranges ? from budget-friendly B&Bs to luxury hotels, from casual eateries to the hottest new restaurants, complete with thorough reviews showing what makes each place special. The Smart Travel Tips A to Z section helps you take care of the nitty gritty with essential local contacts and great advice ? from how to take your mountain bike with you to what to do in an emergency. Plus, web links and mix-and-match itineraries make planning a snap.

Customer Reviews:

If you are on a budget, this Alaska guide is for you.......2003-02-27

This book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number one destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

If you're exploring Alaska on a budget, this book is for you.......2003-02-24

This guide book contains a great list of places to stay and eat with prices. Some of my favorite sections of book include the following: Listing of Best Unspoiled Small Towns, which include Kodiak, Petersburg, and Cordova; Listing of Strange Comunity Events which include Cordova's Ice Worm Festival, Fairbanks' Midnight Sun Baseball Game nad Nomes Polar Bear Swim/Bathtub Race. If you are going to Alaska's number one destination, Denali National Park, make sure you pick up a copy of Discovering Denali.

Average customer rating:
Leaders of Our Time Series Four ( 4 )
Robert N. Webb
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H47K2A

Average customer rating:
Leaders of Our Time: Series 4
Robert N. Webb
Manufacturer: Franklin Watts, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: School & Library Binding
ASIN: 0531019020

Book Description

All manner of models are used to describe, simulate, extrapolate, and ultimately understand the function of dynamic systems. These sorts of models are usually based upon a mathematical foundation that can be difficult to manipulate especially for students. Modeling for All Scales uses object-oriented programming to erect and evaluate the efficacy of models of small, intermediate and large scale systems. Such models allow users to employ intuitively based symbols and a systems ecology approach. The authors have been leaders in the systems ecology community and have originated much of the scientific vocabulary of the field. After introducing modeling and its benefits, there is a series of chapters detailing the more particular elements of successful simulation. There follows another series of chapters, each devoted to models of different sorts of systems. Small scale models of growth, competition, and evolution give way, successively, to larger and larger scale models such as international trade and the global geobiosphere. Anyone interested in an easy to use approach to modeling complex systems authored by perhaps the most original systems ecologists of the century will want this book. To further enhance the users ability to apply the lessons of this book, there is included a CD-ROM disc which provides the fundamental tools for modeling at all scales.

Key Features
* The book makes it possible to teach modeling and simulation without much prior knowledge of mathematics
* Reasons for modeling and simulation are discussed
* The book makes modeling and simulation fun by keeping focused on simplified overview minimodels that have important principles to science and society
* The steps in successive chapters are arranged so that readers can teach themselves modeling, simulation, and the programming necessary to simulate the systems they diagram
* The CD-ROM has minimodel programs and versions of QuickBasic and EXTEND to run them

Modeling for all Scales: An Introduction to System Simulation

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Modeling for all Scales: An Introduction to System Simulation
Howard T. Odum
Manufacturer: Academic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHK8MY

Book Description

This new book contains the most up-to-date and focused description of the applications of Clifford algebras in analysis, particularly classical harmonic analysis. It is the first single volume devoted to applications of Clifford analysis to other aspects of analysis. All chapters are written by world authorities in the area. Of particular interest is the contribution of Professor Alan McIntosh. He gives a detailed account of the links between Clifford algebras, monogenic and harmonic functions and the correspondence between monogenic functions and holomorphic functions of several complex variables under Fourier transforms. He describes the correspondence between algebras of singular integrals on Lipschitz surfaces and functional calculi of Dirac operators on these surfaces. He also discusses links with boundary value problems over Lipschitz domains. Other specific topics include Hardy spaces and compensated compactness in Euclidean space; applications to acoustic scattering and Galerkin estimates; scattering theory for orthogonal wavelets; applications of the conformal group and Vahalen matrices; Newmann type problems for the Dirac operator; plus much, much more! Clifford Algebras in Analysis and Related Topics also contains the most comprehensive section on open problems available. The book presents the most detailed link between Clifford analysis and classical harmonic analysis. It is a refreshing break from the many expensive and lengthy volumes currently found on the subject.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent!.......1999-09-28

I'm a newcomer to the field, and after trying several other books, this one was my ticket. Clifford analysis has recently emerged as a subject of fundamental importance in mathematics, physics, and engineering. Since the first text on the subject appeared in 1982, the field has undergone rapid and significant changes. Although the book under review is a conference proceedings, I found its introductory portions so well crafted that I was able to learn the fundamentals while being led to the frontiers of current knowledge. Obviously a lot of rigorous editorial work has gone in to make this far from the usual volume of proceedings. And the selection of material was no less careful, resulting in a broad spectrum of important research while avoiding fringe topics of little general interest. In addition, there is 16-page "Problem Book" where all participants got a rare chance to state what are, in their opinions, some of the great open problems in the field. Well-done!

Book Description

We could all use some advice now and then. When the self-help books just aren't helping, it's time to call in the experts: real people. San Francisco Chronicle columnist Adair Lara polled her readers for life lessons learned through experience, receiving thousands of heartfelt and irreverent responses. The best are compiled here in over 200 bits of priceless counsel. With witty illustrations by Roxanna Bikadoroff, this handy little volume is filled with humor, unconventional insights, and the kind of common wisdom that will always bear repeating.

Customer Reviews:

Life is always teaching you another lesson.......2005-05-07

This book has almost only 1 sentence per page, sometimes 1 sentence per 2 pages, so it is a quick read. It is a compedium of advice about getting through life from people who have "been there, done that". Some of it is profound, some obvious and simple, but every reader can relate. If none of it makes you smile with recognition then you have been living under a rock or something. "Live, Learn and Pass It On" by H. Jackson Brown, Jr. is similar, but is more comprehensive and gives the ages of the people quoted so you have a better idea of the extent to which they speak from experience, from age 5 to 95. The Brown book is a better value.

Endearing, Flippant and Often humerous.......2005-01-05

This little book is packed with the advice we wish someone had told us about before we experienced it for ourselves. In the introduction Adair states she asked the people she knew "who live in the real real world what they wished they'd known."

To say this book was an easy read is an understatement. I whizzed through the 191 pages in two sittings but it could easily have been done in one. The lines are relatable and believable.

Adair Lara has five books under her belt, three of which are collections from her columns at the San Francisco Chronicle. Lara is not alone on this voyage into the real world. There are over 100 black and white illustrations by Roxanna Bikadoroff to help drive home the importance, realism and humour of each tidbit of advice. The images and quotes work well together.

My absolute favourite: A woman lounging in a chair with her feet up, nursing a bag of potato chips in front of the TV. Her husband/boyfriend stands in the doorway of the kitchen dumbfounded. The attacted statement reads: Sometimes a woman wants to do nothing about dinner. A man has no concept of that-doing nothing about dinner. -- I thought I was the only one!

The last page is a list of the real contributors. I would have liked to see their names with the corresponding advice. A note or two about each person would also have been a nice touch.

Lara has organized a book of sage advice ranging from endearing to flippant and often humorous. In a society that is becoming increasingly solitary, Lara's book pinpoints our simple connection: experience. This would be a handy little book for travelling and discussion groups. Imagine the stories it could evoke.

"It's ok," I said when `Da Boss' asked me about Adair Lara's new book, "Normal is Just a Setting on the Dryer." This little book is packed with the advice we wish someone had told us about before we experienced it for ourselves. In the introduction Adair states she asked the people she knew "who live in the real real world what they wished they'd known."

To say this book was an "easy read" is an understatement. I whizzed through the 191 pages in two sittings but it could easily have been done in one. The lines are relatable and believable.

Adair Lara has five books under her belt, three of which are collections from her columns at the San Francisco Chronicle. Lara is not alone on this voyage into the real world. There are over 100 black and white illustrations by Roxanna Bikadoroff to help drive home the importance, realism and humour of each tidbit of advice.

The images and quotes work well together. "Forgive yourself the big mistake. It isn't the end of your life. It will not define who you are, unless you stay stuck on it," is an informative reminder but displayed with Bikadoroff's visual of a man contemplating the empty plaque on his wall labelled "The One That Got Away," adds so much more.

My absolute favourite: A woman lounging in a chair with her feet up, nursing a bag of potato chips in front of the TV. Her husband/boyfriend stands in the doorway of the kitchen dumbfounded. "Sometimes a woman wants to do nothing about dinner. A man has no concept of that-doing nothing about dinner." I thought I was the only one!

The last page is a list of the real contributors. I would have liked to see their names with the corresponding advice. A note or two about each person would also have been a nice touch.

After talking with `Da Boss' I put normal out of my mind. Bits and pieces of the Lessons kept coming back to me throughout the day, eventually altering my view from being "ok" to leaving a lasting impression. Lara has organized a book of sage advice ranging from endearing to flippant and often humorous.

In a society that is becoming increasingly solitary, Lara's book pinpoints our simple connection: experience. This would be a handy little book for travelling and discussion groups.

Review Originally Posted at http://www.linearreflection.com

Funny on a higher level.......2004-04-06

You will read right away in the forward that this book was inspired by that Maria Shriver who wrote a book offering lessons on living a normal life! Ha! THis book is hilarious and I'm pretty jaded about 'cute little books', how can anyone not enjoy advice of this calibar: Never fry bacon in the nude"? Good stuff.

Unbelievable! The Best Gift book I've received!.......2004-01-20

I rcvd this as a gift and my gosh, it's been the greatest little book! I am ordering several copies to give out as gifts myself! whimsical illustrations and poignant quotes...absolutely fantastic!

Fun, Quick Read.......2003-09-09

This is a great little book to read to lift your spirits and make you smile. There is nothing profound about it, but it does make you think, makes you realize that there are things you have yet to discover about yourself and the world around you and there are things you have already discovered (to which you are thankful for having already discovered them). My favorite quip from this book was that "If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging." It's so simple, yet so true. It made me take a step back and realize that there is a brighter side to things, but that it does not necessarily mean that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. There are many more fun, humorous, deep, and handy 'lessons' in this compact book, and don't overlook the intro. It's a great read for a quiet afternoon or a fantastic gift for an old friend. Enjoy!!!

Book Description

Sometimes if we try we can disconnect from tough problems around us, but eventually the network of fractures spreads to our front doors when a husband walks out, a loved-one is arrested, a friend betrays us, a church splits, a job is terminated, a diagnosis is bad, or a financial picture worsens. Suddenly with no place to hide from the reality we realize life is all cracked up. Through the lens of our pain everything seems broken, bruised, and battered. But, as best-selling author Patsy Clairmont points out, there's a redeemer of our pain--Jesus. The Redeemer of the broken and discarded who mends our hearts, and even gives us a reason to laugh again.

Telling inspirational stories of women's brokenness and healing, with tenderness and her trademark humor, Patsy Clairmont helps us realize that we're not alone in our struggles. Jesus buoys our spirits and refreshes our tired minds. As Patsy says, "life is so much easier to bear when its shared.'

Customer Reviews:

all cracked up.......2007-09-09

Patsy Clairemont's book is great. You can use it as a devotional and her outlook on life is so funny, yet she shows you God is in it all.

All Cracked Up.......2007-07-05

It's a funny yet serious book.....I have bought one and sent it to a friend. Mine I read then share with others, Pass Around the Good Feelings You Get From Reading Them. This was a great great book that I think any woman can relate too, and leaves you smiling.

All Cracked Up : Experiencing God in the Broken Places

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All Cracked Up : Experiencing God in the Broken Places
Jerry B. Jenkins B. J. Thomas
Manufacturer: W Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Book Description

Written by a leading Civil War historian and Pulitzer Prize winner, this text describes the social, economic, political, and ideological conflicts that led to a unique, tragic, and transitional event in American history. The third edition incorporates recent scholarship and addresses renewed areas of interest in the Civil War/Reconstruction era including the motivations and experiences of common soldiers and the role of women in the war effort.

Ordeal By Fire Volume II (2) the Civil War

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Ordeal By Fire Volume II (2) the Civil War
James Mcpherson
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000X6CLGM

Average customer rating:

An Italy that is "infuriating and endlessly irritating, but...almost impossible to leave"

Long Live the Queen and the President

Worth Knowing

Illuminating!

Italian Dessert

The Dark Heart of Italy
Tobias Jones
Manufacturer: North Point Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Italy | Europe | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Travel | Subjects | Books
General | Italy | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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The Italians

ASIN: 0865477248
Release Date: 2005-05-19

Book Description

In 1999 Tobias Jones immigrated to Italy, expecting to discover the pastoral bliss described by centuries of foreign visitors. Instead, he found a very different country: one besieged by unfathomable terrorism and deep-seated paranoia. The Dark Heart of Italy is Jones's account of his four-year voyage across the Italian peninsula.

Jones writes not just about Italy's art, climate, and cuisine but also about the much livelier and stranger sides of the Bel Paese: the language, soccer, Catholicism, cinema, television, and terrorism. Why, he wonders, does the parliament need a "slaughter commission"? Why do bombs still explode every time politics start getting serious? Why does everyone urge him to go home as soon as possible, saying that Italy is a "brothel"? Most of all, why does one man, Silvio Berlusconi-in the words of a famous song-appear to own everything from Padre Nostro (Our Father) to Cosa Nostra (the Mafia)?

The Italy that emerges from Jones's travels is a country scarred by civil wars and "illustrious corpses"; a country that is proudly visual rather than verbal, based on aesthetics rather than ethics; a country where crime is hardly ever followed by punishment; a place of incredible illusionism, where it is impossible to distinguish fantasy from reality and fact from fiction.

Customer Reviews:

An Italy that is "infuriating and endlessly irritating, but...almost impossible to leave".......2007-09-05

Tobias Jones' "The Dark Heart of Italy" is an interesting read. I'd categorize it as a combination of two of my favorite books: Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily and Alex Kerr's Dogs and Demons: Tales from the Dark Side of Modern Japan. I feel like the comparison to Kerr's book is the most appropriate one: here's a foreigner who sees the country with fresh eyes and uses that perspective to make trenchant, well-presented observations about his adopted place. Both Kerr and Jones love their adopted country but are left with a feeling wonderfully expressed by Jones when he says that Italy is "infuriating and endlessly irritating, but in the end it is almost impossible to leave. It's not that everything in Italy is 'troppo bello' ('too beautiful'), or that food or conversation are so good. It's that life seems less exciting outside of Italy, the emotions seem muted."

There are good chapters on Italian television (Jones asks "why is it so bad?") and Italian politics. On the political front, he paints a complex picture of Silvio Berlusconi, calling the former Prime Minister "both fascinating and frightening."

I really enjoyed the foreword of the book, which captures the reaction to the release of the hardcover edition (for this reason, I recommend you get the paperback). Jones notes that "overnight, I was catapulted from near-anonymity in Italy to being a household name." Then he shares some truly thrilling tales of encounters with and letters from Italians who took the time to read the book. As one letter states perfectly: "I have lived in Italy all my life. I love this country. It is obvious from reading your book that you do too. I write to express my gratitude to you because you have been very courageous. You have described...precisely what is happening in Italy in these terribly turbulent times."

Long Live the Queen and the President.......2007-01-16

Tobias Jones's book highlights many important aspects of Italy, but ends up playing the same sterile game that most visiting English writers enjoy, which I will hereby describe in three steps:

1: Italy is extremely enjoyable...
2: ... but Italians are morally questionable and intrinsically fascist...
3: ... whereas we Englishmen and Americans, in spite of our occasional roughness and lack of such luscious treasures of art and good life, are ultimately right.

In the end, these books are not aimed at describing Italy, but at reinforcing the English-speaking reader's sense of righteousness and entitlement. Severgnini's "La bella figura" does exactly the same. No wonder they sell so well... Not in my name, not with my money...

Worth Knowing.......2006-02-23

The dimensions discussed are worth knowing about, or for one who has lived in Italy, worth remembering. All nations are complex. Italy being such a beautiful country one forgets that it has, like any other, a side to it that is not all milk and honey.

Illuminating!.......2006-01-25

When I saw the title of this, at first I thought, "hatchet job". But even the introduction drew me right in. I love to travel, and it's always easy to think the grass is greener elsewhere. That's why now and then I like to get a more critical view of a place. It's easy to be seduced by a place as beautiful as Italy.

This book does a beautiful job of presenting a portrait of Italian life. As an example, the byzantine process of buying a house there left me shaking my head. And the peculiar ways of the government and religious establishment are mind-boggling. Yet, he clearly loves it there, and points out the everyday beauty of life there very well.

Somebody made a fairly sarcastic comment about how Jones thinks Italy is a beautiful place as long as you eliminate the people. To me, this person got it entirely backwards. If anything, Jones is saying that the people, the language, the artisan stores, the conversations, and the amateur football are beautiful, it's the government that ruins the situation, and guess who is at the helm? The guy who owns half the country. No conflict of interest there. But Jones even admits that there are things about Berlusconi that he does like. Of course, I'm sure that many readers can't tolerate a critical view of anything that they have personal feelings for, but that's another woeful topic entirely.

I did bog down a bit in the descriptions of the many political scandals. There are so many of them that one would probably need a timeline or chart to keep them straight.

The many stories of individual Italians are delightful. The very old lady at the football game hilariously stands out.

I suppose he could have been less controversial by calling it something like The Complex Heart of Italy, but I can't blame him at all for having a bold title, and I think it's more effective. All in all, a great read!

Italian Dessert.......2005-11-02

This is a cleverly constructed book of several parts and a few recurring motifs. Jones, a Welsh Methodist, Everton FC supporter, London hack and Oxford (Arts?) graduate, goes to live in Parma, Italy where his beloved has established herself. He divides his book into nine separate chapters and tries to weave them together as well as his excellent English and his motifs will allow. The first chapter discusses nuances of the Italian language and he uses those nuances to propound that Italy is a much more nuanced country than England and that its culture is infinitely more refined. An entire chapter brings the nuances of Italian culture to bear on football and he waxes very lyrical about the local youth and whatever immigrants are around playing ball as the sun goes down. The football allows us to place Italian village life in our minds and to empathize very much with it.
The last chapter is an entire ode to Italy. It is written largely in the second person and it tells of "you" going through the village and everything there appealing to the aesthetic in "you". The English is beautiful and it achieves its purpose in making you close the book with a warm glow. Mission accomplished.
The chapter on Italy's Catholic religion and its Protestant and other minorities could have done with much improvement. Italy's Catholicism is more complicated than the Padre Pio cult and the Protestants of the north surely have their faults as well. The chapter looks like it came from several previous publications he wrote.
The politics chapters build on the hypothesis that the fascist and proto communist factions are still at war with each other and that politicians like Berlusconi exploit this for their own nefarious ends. He does a good job of tying the warring World War Two factions in with the protagonists and antagonists of later squabbles. He does not like Berlusconi and his polished prose does not quite hide this fact.
My opinion of this book is that Jones sat down with his material and tied it all together into a very passable but rather superficial book which is nevertheless well worth the money being charged.

The Dark Heart of Italy An Incisive Portrait of Europe's Most Beautiful, Most Disconcerting Country

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The Dark Heart of Italy An Incisive Portrait of Europe's Most Beautiful, Most Disconcerting Country
Jones Tobias
Manufacturer: North Point Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UF531Q

Customer Reviews:

A balanced mix of personal reflection.......2002-01-13

Sacred Trusts: Essays On Stewardship And Responsibility is an impressive anthology showcasing thirty new essays by environmental issues and nature writers ranging from Wendell Berry, Mary Catherine Bateson, and Frederick Turner, to Gary Paul Nabhan, Joan Wulff, and Bill McKibben. The contributors discuss their diverse experiences and attitudes as caretakers of the natural world and include a range of perspectives not commonly found in most collections of environmental commentary. The compelling, entertaining, informative, and occasionally challenging essays are enhanced for the reader with superb illustrations drawn by Russell Chatham. A balanced mix of personal reflection, finely crafted nature writing, and passionate appeals for conservation, Sacred Trusts is a welcome, timely, and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, academic, and community library environmental studies collections and reading lists.

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