This Land: A Guide to Central National Forests

Book Description

Part armchair travelogue, part guide book, this projected three-volume series--divided into the western, central, and eastern United States--will introduce readers to all 155 national forests across the country. This Land is the only comprehensive field guide that describes the natural features, wildernesses, scenic drives, campgrounds, and hiking trails of our national forests, many of which--while little known and sparsely visited--boast features as spectacular as those found in our national parks and monuments. Each entry includes logistical information about size and location, facilities, attractions, and associated wilderness areas. For about half of the forests, Robert H. Mohlenbrock has provided sidebars on the biological or geological highlights, drawn from the "This Land" column that he has written for Natural History magazine since 1984.
Superbly illustrated with color photographs, botanical drawings, and maps, this book is loaded with information, clearly written, and easy to use.

Customer Reviews:

alternaria spp. deseases for apple fruit.......2000-04-17

fruit deseases , alternaria alternata

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Aaa Essential Guide Lanzarote & Fue (Essential Guides)
AAA
Manufacturer: AAA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Travel | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1562516000

Amazon.com

The fourth volume in Meg Cabot's popular Princess Diaries series, Princess in Waiting begins in the tiny country of Genovia, where 14-year-old Mia, the unlikely royal, is on winter break trying not to bite her fingernails. Being a princess and fighting for the installation of parking meters is tough, when all you really want to do is go back to your regular life in New York City and see your dreamy boyfriend Michael. Of course, Mia is soon back in the city, trying not to fail Algebra II and trying to stay afloat in a sea of self-doubt. Could it be true that she is merely a "massive reject" covered with orange cat hair? For that matter, is finding her missing lucky Queen Amidala underwear as important as finding her secret talent? Mia's frank, funny diary entries range from "Things to Do" lists ("Stop obsessing over whether or not Michael loves you vs. being in love with you"); lists of the valuable lessons of romantic heroines ("3. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice: Boys like it when you are smart-alecky."); transcripts of instant-messaging rounds with Michael; to poems ("Like the Millenium Falcon in hyperdrive/ our love will continue to thrive and thrive") and general irrational tirades. Whether or not Mia ever achieves her much-sought-after "self-actualization," teens will enjoy reading her over-the-top, up-to-the-minute-hip diary. (Ages 12 and older) --Karin Snelson

Book Description

Never before has the world seen such a princess.

Nor have her own subjects, for that matter. But Genovian politics are nothing next to Mia's real troubles. Between canceled dated with her long-sought-after royal consort, a second semester of dreaded Algebra, more princess lessons from Grandmére, and the inability to stop gnawing on her fingernails, isn't there anything Mia is good at besides inheriting an unwanted royal title?

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Never before has the world seen such a princess.

Customer Reviews:

Princess in waiting.......2007-03-07

The book was good it told alot about princess Mia she was a princess of Ginovia she did not know she was a princess at first until her grandmother came and told her and took her on a journy to become a princess and she tryed her best and she did great.

Princess in waiting.......2006-11-06

This book is definitely one of those books that i could read over and over and over again without getting bored with it. I really enjoyed reading this book because its a great plot and i think that alot of girls can relate with Mia and what she writes about in her diary. This book is about when Mia goes on christams break in genovia and how she has to deal without talking to or seeing her true love Michael for days. Then when she returns home she starts obsessing if Michael loves her or is in love with her. Mias mind is like a tornado, she's always thinking and worrying about new things that she doesn't need to worry about. With this type of story-i couldn't put the book down!

Princess in Waiting.......2006-09-02

This was definitely worth the 2 weeks I waited for it to be in the library!
Mia is spending her Winter vacation in Genovia, and when she comes back she continues to obsess over whether Michael loves her or is In Love with her (her mind is getting warped after reading Jane Eyre) and she really wants to get over the feeling that she doesn't have a talent and that she doesn't know how she can be so lucky to have Michael.
So fun!

awsome!!!!!.......2006-05-10

the princess diary books are awsome! I just finished this book like ten minites ago and the ending is the best ending of al the princess diary books I'v read so far! defenetly recamend this book.

Princess in Whining.......2006-03-24

A disgrace to the previous "Princess" books, this is possibly the worst of them all. Needless to say, I thoroughly enjoyed the previous novels in this series, eager for the next. I was drinking these books up as though I'd just ran miles. But this book I almost literally snored through. Mia was turned from a funny, clumsy princess into a whining brat. All she worried about in this book was whether her dream boy was truly "in love" with her or not. Hey, she was his girlfriend -- what more can you ask for? In Mia Thermopolis' eyes, plenty. She just can't get enough. I thought she got over complaining about her princess lessons -- my mistake. She's also an ungrateful little snob -- her boyfriend, Michael, is so sweet and always doing such nice things for her, like coming into Algebra to say hi to her every morning even though he rode with her to school, and dedicating songs to her. And I've noticed that not once does she repay him. Mia is just a bad character to mess with!

The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting (Princess Diaries)

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The Princess Diaries, Volume IV: Princess in Waiting (Princess Diaries)
Meg Cabot
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

In Neuronal Growth Cones, Phillip Gordon-Weeks explores the molecular biology of the behavior of growth cones, conical-like endings of the growing axon. He covers the basic morphology and behavior of growth cones, motility and neurite extension via the growth cone cytoskeleton, pathfinding, intracellular signaling, and synaptogenesis. A detailed, critical analysis of all aspects of growth cone biology, this incisive reference is an essential work for advanced graduate students, postgraduates, and researchers in cellular and molecular neuroscience, developmental biology, and anatomy.

Book Description

The book covers highly important topics in the challenging process from lead finding to drug candidates. Focus is upon the potential usefulness of methods for design of lead discovery libraries, lead optimisation, computational chemistry methods for the calculation of energetics of protein-ligand interaction, and computer simulations of biological activities. Important topics include new developments in chemometrics and rational molecular design as well as different aspects of structure representation, knowledge-based approaches to structure identification, and information handling.

Molecular Modeling and Prediction of Bioactivity

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Molecular Modeling and Prediction of Bioactivity
Klaus (EDT)/ Jorgensen, Flemming Steen (EDT)/ European Symposium on Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationships 19 (COR) Gundertofte
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSPTRW

Book Description

"Presents a theory of difference and functional equations with continuous argument based on a generalization of the Riemann integral introduced by N.E. Norlund, allowing differentation with respect to the independent variable and permitting greater flexibility in constructing solutions and approximations. Discusses linear transformations that state conditions for convergence of Newton series and Norlund sums!"

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Defeated by Julius Caesar and Yet Is Honored Long Afterwards for Political Virtue

A seminal and welcome addition to the growing library of literature promoting conservative values

The American Founding Fathers Favorite Play

Cato: A Tragedy, and Selected Essays
Joseph Addison
Manufacturer: Liberty Fund
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Suicide | Death & Grief | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
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Cato's Letters or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects : Four Volumes in Two

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Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

The Culture of Classicism: Ancient Greece and Rome in American Intellectual Life, 1780-1910

ASIN: 0865974438

Customer Reviews:

Defeated by Julius Caesar and Yet Is Honored Long Afterwards for Political Virtue.......2007-06-20

The Roman senator, Cato the Younger (95 BC - 46 BC) stubbornly resisted Julius Caesar's rise to power, but was ultimately defeated by Caesar in north Africa. Addison's play focuses on the last days of Cato's life, as Caesar's forces advanced. Although others urged Cato to come to terms with Julius Caesar, Cato resists to the end, finally committing suicide rather than surrendering. This tragedy has strong political overtones, addressing the conflict between individual liberty and government tyranny and republicanism versus monarchism.

Writing a political play during a period of intense political rivalry in England, Joseph Addison avoided charges of partisanship by having the prologue written by a Tory poet, Alexander Poe, and the epilogue by a Whig poet, Samuel Garth. Although this tragedy was held in high esteem throughout the eighteenth century, today's audience may find Addison's effusive praise of Cato's political virtue tends to be rather one-dimensional, and thus not entirely convincing.

Cato remained popular for decades in England and even longer in the American colonies, becoming a literary inspiration for the American Revolution. George Washington had it performed for the Continental Army at Valley Forge. The famous quotes by Patrick Henry and Nathan Hale were apparently derived from Addison's play.

Addison's characterization of Cato lacks the psychological depth and complexity that is found in Shakespeare's tragedies, or even what we have come to expect in modern biographical films like A Man for All Seasons, Lawrence of Arabia, Patton, and Gandhi. To be fair to Addison, Cato was described by his contemporaries, including his political enemies, as having high moral standards and incorruptible virtue. In contrast, Addison portrays Cato's sons Portius and Marcus, his close friend Lucius, and his protégé Juba, the prince of Numidia, in more realistic fashion, all decidedly loyal to Cato, but subject to private doubts and other emotions.

Cato is considered by many as the best tragedy written in eighteenth century England. I give it four stars, in part for its historical significance.

Note: Individual editions of Cato may not be easy to find, but it is often included in collections of eighteen century English plays. The Everyman edition, titled The Beggar's Opera and Other Eighteenth Century plays (edited by David Lindsay), is a good source.

A seminal and welcome addition to the growing library of literature promoting conservative values .......2005-11-14

Collaboratively and expertly co-edited by academicians Christine Dunn Henderson and Mark E. Yellin (both of whom are Fellows at Liberty Fund), Cato: A Tragedy, And Selected Essays is a compilation of the writings of Joseph Addison, beginning with his "Cato: A Tragedy" which is an account of the final hours of Marcus Porcius Cato (95-46 B.C.), a Stoic whose deeds, rhetoric, and resistance to the tyranny of Julius Caesar made him an icon of republicanism, virtue, and liberty to this very day. Although popular in its day (1713), the play had fallen into neglect and this is the first scholarly addition to be made available to the general reading public. The play is then added to in this volume to provide readers with examples of Addison's attempts to educate England's 18th century developing middle class of merchants and tradespeople in the habits, morals, and manners he felt necessary to the preservation of limited government and a free, commercial society. Also available in a hardcover edition (086597442X, $24.00), Cato: A Tragedy, And Selected Essays is a seminal and welcome addition to the growing library of literature promoting conservative values such as liberty, self-government, an opposition to tyranny, the advancement of justice, and the advocacy of honor, patriotism, and integrity.

The American Founding Fathers Favorite Play.......2005-08-09

Joseph Addison's (1672-1719) Play "Cato: A Tragedy", first staged in 1713, inspired many enlightened thinkers in the 18th century with its portrayal of the Roman senator Cato the Younger's (95-46 B.C.E.) willingness to commit suicide rather than to live under the tyrannical rule of Julius Caesar. The play takes place during Cato's final hours of resistance to Caesar. George Washington remarked it was his favorite play and had it performed for his men in Valley Forge during the revolution. Washington found in the play a powerful statement on patriotism, liberty, virtue and honor. He quoted from it extensively in his writings. The most famous use of the play was when he met with disgruntled officers in Newburgh, New York right after the war. They had met to contemplate taking over the government by force because the Continental Congress hadn't paid them. Washington got their attention by taking out a pair of glasses to read a letter he had recently sent to congress. As he donned the glasses he quoted a line from the play, "I fear I have grown old in the service of my country." After this remark it is reported that there wasn't a dry eye in the room and after he read the letter the officers dispersed. Nathan Hale echoed another line from the play, right before he was to be hanged by the British as a spy; "I regret, but that I have only one life to give to my country."

In addition, Addison has a great reputation as an essayist admired by none other than Samuel Johnson and Benjamin Franklin. This edition includes 32 essays extolling the virtues of liberty, and government free of corruption. Tories and Whigs in the English Parliament admired him. Joseph Addison studied in Oxford in Latin and Greek Classics. He served as a member of parliament, and became widely known as an essayist, playwright, poet and statesman.

I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in political philosophy, and history of the founding era of the United States.

Some timeless verities.(Book review): An article from: Modern Age

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Some timeless verities.(Book review): An article from: Modern Age
Kevin R.C. Gutzman
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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This digital document is an article from Modern Age, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 1109 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: Some timeless verities.(Book review)
Author: Kevin R.C. Gutzman
Publication: Modern Age (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Page: 75(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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Between the years 1805 and 1815, the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte conquered most of continental Europe, establishing their leader, if but briefly, as "a new Charlemagne." In the second part of his two volumes on the life of the emperor, military historian Robert Asprey examines the armies' triumphs and eventual defeat, following in their footsteps from Spain to Russia, and on to Waterloo.

Bonaparte, Asprey writes, aspired to forge and lead a united, peaceful Europe, a quest that required much blood to be shed. A former U.S. marine officer, Asprey is a reliable commentator on matters of battlefield strategy and tactics, and his book's greatest strength is his power to invoke the feel of bloody engagements, which include the Battle of Borodino, where more than 40,000 Russians fell in a single day (cut down, he notes, by the more than 2 million rounds that French muskets fired); Wagram, where French forces managed to eke out victory over their Austrian foes despite a series of costly blunders; Corunna, where the French forces, having marched 15 and more miles a day, proved "that there have probably been no tougher soldiers in the world"; and the decisive action at Waterloo, where French, Belgian, German, and English armies clashed amid thunderstorms and confusion to an end that was anything but inevitable.

Other books do a better job of treating Napoleon as a political being, but Asprey's is one of the better recent books on Napoleon as general, and students of military history will learn much from his account. --Gregory McNamee

Book Description

Robert Asprey completes his definitive, two-volume biography with an intimate, fast-paced look at Napoleon's daring reign and tragic demise with more of the personality and passion that marked the first volume of this cradle to the grave biography.

In The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Asprey showed us that Napoleon was not the father of chaos, but rather an heir to it. In this companion volume, we see Napoleon struggling to subdue the turmoil. We peer over Napoleon's shoulder as he solidifies his growing empire through a series of marriages, military victories, and shrewd diplomatic manipulations. We watch Napoleon lose control of his empire, plot his return from Elba, rally peasants in his march to Paris, endure defeat at Waterloo and suffer exile and a lonely death on the island of St. Helena. Robert Asprey tells this fascinating, tragic tale in lush narrative detail.

Customer Reviews:

The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte is a good general history of the reign of the little coroporal from Corsica.......2007-09-19

"The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte" is the second volume on the life of Napoleon by Robert Asprey. Volume One was entitled "The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte" covering his life from his birth in 1769 on Corsica to his victory at Austerlitz in 1085. That volume ends with Napoleon as the crowned emperor. All is well with the emperor!
In this final volume we see Napoleon meet his Waterloo as he is soundly defeated by Lord Wellington and the allies on June 18, 1815. Napoleon, who had earlier escaped from captivity on Elba where he had been exiled since his defeat at the Battle of the Nations, spent the last six years of his life on the South Sea island of St. Helena. Here Napoleon spent six miserable years of ennui, physical ailments and relatively harsh treatment from his English captors. His disdain for the governor of the ilsand Hudson Lowe was mutual. A sad end for the man who had made the great nations of Europe live in fear of the Grande Armee's military juggernaut.
Asprey briefly covers the major battles of this period. If you wish to study them in greater depth turn to David Chandler or John Elting's fine works on these huge and bloody confrontations. Asprey is good in superficially covering Napoleon's many amours including the sexy Marie
Walewski of Poland as well as his second wife Marie of Austria. Napoleon divorced the unfaithful Josephine but loved her until her death in 1814.
This book is a good introduction to the life and career of France's most famous political/military man. Napoleon was complex, hot-headed and
a man who had trouble dealing with the hand played him by Madame Fate.This
is a readable book. The maps included are minimal and poorly drawn. The period illustrations are well reproduced. It is a good book worthy to have a place on the bookshelves of miltary history buffs.

Eminently Readable Napolean Bio - Part II.......2007-09-13

Robert Asprey has written an outstanding biography about one of the world's greatest (or infamous) leaders.

Not drenched in military minutia or battlefield granularity, this 2nd volume presents a balanced and fair overview of the man and his leadership of France.

Asprey's literary style is entertaining and brisk. If you're looking for a bio that'll provide you with a solid foundation about how Napolean impacted Europe and the World -- you can't go wrong here.

Part 2 of an excellent biography.......2006-12-15

This is part two of the best biography of Napoleon that I have read. It is a focus on political and military history but does a decent job of covering the social aspects of napoleon's reforms. This book really focuses on the Napoleonic empire and its eventual fall. It also covers his return to power and does an excellent job of presenting the information clearly. The prose is well done and really makes for quick and interesting reading. This is a must have for anyone studying this era.

napoleon book bombs.......2004-02-09

I agree with Mr. Brooks' negative review on "Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte," by Robert Asprey. It would be comparable to reading a biography of Babe Ruth that was written by studying the box scores. The book has hardly anything about Napoleon's persona, which is promised in the preface, and important events are trivialized and hardly mentioned. After reading this and learning almost nothing, I opened a copy of Emil Ludwig's biograpy of Napoleon, written in 1926, which I had picked up years ago. Ludwig's book is much better.

Flawed.......2002-03-16

The second volume of Asprey's biography of Napoleon makes the same error of the first one: he focuses entirely on Napoleon's military career while virtually ignoring every other aspect of the man's life. Asprey has billed his book as an attempt to see the whole Napoleon, but in this he fails. Napoleon's personal life, his domestic policies in France, his philosophy, are passed over with scarely a mention.

Furthermore, even in covering Napoleon's military career, Asprey falls short. The section on the crossing of the Danube River during the 1809 Austrian Campaign, one of the most fascinating events in Napoleon's career, is covered in a confusing and slipslod manner, leaving the reader utterly at a loss to what actually happened. The Battle of Dresden, a massive engagement which lasted two days and was Napoleon's last major victory, is mentioned only in passing, without even a full sentence devoted to it. Overall, the writing gives the impression of an author in a hurry to meet a deadline, unable to carefully edit and correct his work.

This work fails in its stated purpose to present a full view of Napoleon's life, its writing style is somewhat sloppy and overall the book fails to impress.

Book Description

Based on a series of fascinating µWhat ifs' posed by leading military historians, this compelling new alternate history recontructs the moments during the Battle of the Bulge which could conceivably have altered the entire course of the Second World War and led to a German victory. Based on real battles, actions and characters, each scenario has been carefully constructed to reveal how at points of decision a different choice or minor incident could have set in motion an entirely new train of events altering history for ever. What if the Germans successfully prevented Patton from riding to the rescue at Bastogne? Or if the Allies had suffered a major setback at the Battle of the Bulge which allowed the Red Army to overrun Berlin and drive on to the Rhine? What if Hitler had not launched his massive gambit and, instead, the Allies had progressed with the operations plan they had prior to the Bulge? These are some of the intriguing scenarios played out by leading authors.

Customer Reviews:

Unmentioned 'What Ifs?'.......2005-08-28

For the purpose of his Chapter 10: Ardennes Disaster, Mr Tsouras conveniently ignores the 20th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which had been adopted in 1933 and states, in part: The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January... If, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President elect shall have died, the Vice President elect shall become President.
This is a pretty huge hole.
I'm not going to spoil a fun read, but if Tsouras had included a part where Santa Clause takes a time machine into the Jurassic Age to get a dinosaur to help the Allies defeat Hitler, he would be standing on no less firm scholarly ground than he does with Chapter 10 as it is presently written.

Ten What If Incidents.......2004-11-09

An alternative history of a different kind. Ten incidents during World War II are analyzed from a What If standpoint. For instance:

What If Montgomery had made some very minor changes in the organization and training of his troops for D-Day. Could he have captured Caen on the first day? If he had, what would have been the impact?

What If the Canadians had gotten to Falaise to meet Patton and truly close the Falaise gap before the great part of the German support troops and enough fighting formations got out to form the basis for the units that manned the defense of the Rhine and handled the Battle of the Bulge?

After Falaise, Patton appealed to Eisenhower to give him enough fuel for a quick and narrow thrust into Germany. Suppose he had gotten them and sent a spearhead around Metz and crossed the Rhine.

Montgomery proposed the same thing, but of course up North, Operation Market Garden to Arnhem. It failed of course because the releiving forces didn't get there in time. But What If they had.

Ten incidents, they didn't happen, but they could have.

Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios

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Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios

Manufacturer: The Military Book Club
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0739446835

Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios.(Book review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal

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Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios.(Book review): An article from: Air & Space Power Journal
Robert B. Kane
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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Book Description

This digital document is an article from Air & Space Power Journal, published by Thomson Gale on March 22, 2006. The length of the article is 527 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: Battle of the Bulge: Hitler's Alternate Scenarios.(Book review)
Author: Robert B. Kane
Publication: Air & Space Power Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 20 Issue: 1 Page: 116(1)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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the best

Have a big enough lever and you can move anything.

Lever Action should have been titled "Full Auto"

And the Truth Will Set You Free

Table of Contents

Lever Action: Essays on Liberty
L. Neil Smith
Manufacturer: Mountain Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civil Rights & Liberties | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Gun Control | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0967025915

Book Description

Non-Government Warning: L. Neil Smith's vision of Liberty is highly contagious and incurable. Exposure to his ideas will change your life.

Renowned science fiction author L. Neil Smith (The Probability Broach, Pallas, The Crystal Empire, Henry Martyn, Forge Of The Elders, Hope) has been inspiring, delighting, and motivating Western Libertarian audiences for 25 years with his iconoclastic letters, essays, and downright rants. Now for the first time, the best of Neil's non-fiction writing on gun rights, Libertarian and Republicrat politics, the sorry socialist state of modern science fiction — even his legendary essay "Why I Hate Breakfast" — are gathered together in a single volume.

Customer Reviews:

the best.......2007-07-27

a little bit outdated in hardware terms. That is okay the ideals are still there, ideals that libtards try to crush every day. Amazes me how people forget their own history or what it takes to preserve what they have. Let the libtards in to stary spouting the myths they claim are fact, it is fun.

Have a big enough lever and you can move anything........2006-09-27

L. Neil Smith is one of the most prolific libertarian writer of the last few decades. With more than 20 sci-fi books under his belt this is his first non fiction book. Full of essays on libertarian philosophy, libertarian politics, the Second Amendment, the media, science fiction, sex, drugs, Ayn Rand, freedom and Robert A. Heinlein.
The only problem is that if you are not a libertarian it will piss you off and if you are, well, then why do you need to read it?

Lever Action should have been titled "Full Auto".......2003-03-07

L. Neil Smith has gathered a no-holds-barred collection of his finest political essays in this book. I first found "el Neil" in "The Libertarian Enterprise" online. I have since read much of his fiction, and found it to be excellent. Please buy lots and lots of his books--give them as gifts, read them and stock them in every room in your house and in every vehicle. I want him to write more, and the sure way to convince him to do so is to pay him.

And the Truth Will Set You Free.......2003-01-13

I've read and enjoyed most of L. Neil Smith's science fiction novels. I checked out his essays and other non-fiction works almost as an afterthought. I liked them. So when I saw LEVER ACTION, I jumped on it.

Guess what? I liked it too. Of course, the issues that are addressed in Smith's science fiction by allegory, implication and exposition-an optimistic, freedom-seeking, pro-gun, science fiction worldview-are addressed directly in this collection of essays and speeches.

I especially enjoyed reading the Introduction in which Smith tells us how he came by the principles in which he believes. My favorite essay is a very short one. On page 226, Smith asks the rhetorical question, "How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?" He then answers his own question in an economical yet impassioned couple of hundred words. It is as beautiful a plea for mutual tolerance and personal freedom as you will ever read anywhere. Read it aloud to get the full effect. Read it aloud to your family and friends. Heck, read it aloud to someone you don't like. It might make a difference.

I have only one minor nit to pick. Because LEVER ACTION is a compilation of previous independently published writings and delivered speeches, there is some repetition. Of course, some things bear repeating.

Table of Contents.......2002-11-08

----
For the sake of providing needed information on this collection of L. Neil Smith's essays, the following table of contents is drawn from his Web site (specifically from page http://www.lneilsmith.com/leveractionmore.html):

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My Purloined Letters

INTRODUCTION: My Willingness to be Drafted to Run for President

Section I: LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY

1. The LP's First Priority
2. The Atlanta Declaration
3. Bill of Wrongs
4. A New Approach to Social Darwinism
5. The Tyranny of Democracy (Majoritarianism Versus Unanimous Consent)
6. Shop Now and Avoid the Rush

Section II: LIBERTARIAN POLITICS

7. Lever Action -- Accept No Substitutes
8. Hillary Behind Bars
9. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus Statement of Principles
10. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus General Resolution
11. The Twenty-Ninth Amendment
12. Tea in a Whole New Bag
13. My Three Tax Programs
14. My China Policy
15. Operation Safe Streets
16. A Desperate Suspension of Disbelief
17. A Lesson in Practical Politics
18. The Return of the Creature
19. Rally Me Not on the Lone Prairie
20. Tactical Reflections

Section III: THE SECOND AMENDMENT

21. Suppose You Were Fond of Books ...
22. Ban a Gun -- Go to Jail
23. The Atrocity Engineers
24. What About England?
25. Nipponese, Ted!
26. Twelve Tips for Safer Schools
27. Kids and Guns at School
28. Murder by Gun Control
29. Armies of Chaos
30. On Concealed Carry and the NRA
31. Screen, Scran, Screwn
32. We Don't Need No Stinkin' Bodges
33. Am I the NRA?
34. How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?
35. Clinton's Crimes Are Hitler's Crimes
36. Diana DeGette Wants You Dead
37. Whodunit? Wellington Webb!
38. Listen to the Women
39. Taking the Mag Pledge
40. Smith & Wesson Must Die
41. Right-Wing Socialism
42. Why Did It Have to Be Guns?
43. A Conspiracy Theory -- Sort Of

Section IV: REPUBLICRAT POLITICS

44. Prometheus Bound -- and Gagged
45. "Do It to Julia"
46. Feeding the Ducks
47. A Revolutionary Proposal
48. Advice to Flat Taxers: Go Jump Off the Edge
49. Bill Clinton's Reichstag Fire
50. Rumplestiltsclinton
51. No, No, Kosovo! No, No, Kosovo!
52. A Note to My Political Allies
53. Security
54. Stars and Bars
55. It's the Stupidity, Stupid!
56. A Tale of Two Hoovers

Section V: A RANT FOR ALL SEASONS

57. An Ant for All Seasons (formerly "Of Ants and Men")
58. The American Lenin
59. When They Came for the Smokers ...
60. Antismokers: Get a Life!
61. The Smoking Goons
62. The Lies of Texas
63. Weird Science
64. When You Wish Upon a Star ...
65. Big Brother is Watching You -- Again
66. I Hate Breakfast
67. Some Not-Quite-Random Thoughts on Americans and Their Cars
68. Sex, Drugs, and Voter Registration
69. The Most Thoroughly "Sanitized" City in America
70. Patching the Patches
71. Scalping Elmo
72. A Culture of Harmlessness
73. The Spider at the Center of the Web

Section VI: SCIENCE FICTION AND LESSER MEDIA

74. On a Clear Day You Can See Bulgaria -- But Who Wants to Look?
75. Merchants of Fear
76. The Manchurian Lobbyist
77. Getting Back at TV Propagandists
78. The Medium is a Massage
79. Parallax
80. I'll Show You Mine If You'll Show Me Yours -- A Challenge to the Canadian Mass Media
81. Robert Heinlein Remembered
82. Don Henley's Revenge (An Open Letter to America's Old Media)
83. Who's the Wacko?
84. A Maple-Leaf Rag
85. Stop the Nagging
86. Unanimous Consent and the Utopian Vision

---
"Why Did It Have to Be Guns" is one of the best brief arguments for why the advocates of any sort of "gun control" are not only intellectually bankrupt but also morally corrupt beyond redemption, and how each "gun control" politician must be immediately and unequivocally identified as your own personal mortal enemy, no matter what your political, ethnic, religious, or other demographic characteristics might be. As a whole, this collection is well worth its price, and should be in the hands of any honest, decent, humane person who can read the English language.

Book Description

This book provides an overview of how to establish water-human relationships by anchoring readers to a deeper understanding of the important cultural and psychological roles played by water in all our lives in terms of history, architecture, nature writing, art, environmental science and engineering, etc. By learning about how to deeply experience water through adventure, joy, contact and contemplation, readers gain wisdom about how to preserve untainted water in their own lives.

Customer Reviews:

Requires Imagination and Willingness to Take the Journey.......2005-11-25

A fascinating book that makes you rethink water and its role as essential to our existence -- physically, spiritually and aesthetically. A wonderful study of ways in which we think about water while taking it for granted. When I tell my students now that buying bottles of water would have been unthinkable when I was a child, they are astonished. France makes us think deeply about our relationship to water as a right or a commodity. Read it if you have patience with or affection for that which is not always linear.

Yuck.......2005-11-15

I have to say how utterly disappointed I was with this book. The writing is so scattered. The book seems to consist mainly of quoting other authors and half-baked ideas, written in a style that is so dry, so disengaging, it's hard to get through a page, let alone the entire book.

Interesting subject are given a line, maybe two, then followed up with quote after quote and study after study, statistics and percentages followed by statistics and percentages.

For a subject as poetic as water, this is about as un-poetic a book as is possible. Such a waste.

Do NOT waste your time or money.

Deep Emersion: the Experience of Water.......2004-08-27

In a time where we as an urban society are fundamentally detached from the natural process and life of water, Robert Lawrence France writes a refreshing work of reattachement and understanding. If you enjoy drinking water or looking at the horizon, maybe it is time to understand Water. Deep Emersion puts it all on the table by recognizing waters ephemeral qualities as the substance of life.

Immensely moving, thoughtful, and thought-provoking.......2004-04-06

Deep Immersion: The Experience Of Water by environmental studies respected academician and water management expert Robert Lawrence France (Harvard Design School) is a meditation on the power and profundity of water, and what it means for those individuals who embrace a close relationship with it. A spiritual reflection that is both informed and informative, Deep Immersion is an immensely moving, thoughtful, and thought-provoking postulation on the human condition and connection to the essential substance that brings life to our planet. Deep Immersion is enthusiastically recommended reading for academia as well as the non-specialist general reader with an interest in nature, the environment, and the contribution of water to diverse forms of outdoor recreations.

The Romance and Tragedy Water.......2004-03-24

If you are looking for a reference on the romance of water, as well as figures on its abuse, this is the book. It's a great book for water quotes and a review of its treatment through history but not one of the plethora of environmental alarmist books in doctoral thesis format that shout "something needs to be done by someone" without offering tools and ideas for positive change. Get this book for the water lovers in your life. It's also good for the bathroom. Restores our appreciation and reminds us of the sensuality of this basic element that we take for granted.

Chuck Harris, a landscape architect and Harvard professor emeritus who doesn't use the Web, wrote this note to me about it.
This is a remarkable, even awesome, little book. It contains so much rich references to the role of water in all of our lives, whether in the "deep past" or the "post-modern" era.

I read it entirely over the rest of the weekend. It offers a deep sense of the value and love of water in its many forms
and as it impacts all aspects of our lives from biological survival, to parts of functional systems, and, finally, to the very essence of all human's senses including BEAUTY, LOVE, and SPIRIT..

I remain in awe of the sweep of its efforts to illustrate the diverse experiences of water with almost overwhelming numbers of examples -- in quotes and paraphrases -- from all types of experiences and expressions of the remarkable qualities of WATER.

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