Amphibians and Reptiles of Pennsylvania and the Northeast (Comstock Book in Hereptology)

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing, but probably adequate for most people.......2003-01-15

The maps of this book are too difficult to read, and while there are numerous references to specific Pennsylvania counties, there is no map of the counties for which to refer. The subtitle, "and the Northeast" seems to have been an afterthought. Little attention is given to the region outside of Pennsylvania. Most disappointing are glaring omissions, such as the absence of the Tiger Salamander from the key to salamander larvae. The formatting of the text is unfriendly and it is difficult to quickly flip to a species account, as the headings are of the same font and set off very little from the rest of the text. The original morphometric data in the appendix is one nice feature of the book.

Very Good For Pennsylvania Identification of R & A.......2001-07-16

The Book is very good for identifing PA species. It contains a good set of color plates, a identication key and text describing the species. The text describing reproduction and habitat is also quite good. The downside of the book is the range maps. Inside of PA the author uses dots at specific locations, outside of Pa the author shades the area that the species occurs in. The specific location dots in PA are not complete. Overall I would recomend this book for people who wish to learn about and identify Pennsylvania's Reptiles and Amphibians.

Walk softly upon the earth: A pictorial field guide to Missouri mosses, liverworts, and lichens
Average customer rating:
Walk softly upon the earth: A pictorial field guide to Missouri mosses, liverworts, and lichens
Lisa Potter Thomas
Manufacturer: Missouri Dept. of Conservation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Plants | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Botany | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006EMNT6

Walk Softly Upon the Earth, a Pictorial Field Guide to Missouri Mosses, Liverworts and Lichens
Average customer rating:
Walk Softly Upon the Earth, a Pictorial Field Guide to Missouri Mosses, Liverworts and Lichens
Lisa Potter Thomas and James R. Jackson
Manufacturer: Missouri Department of Conservation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U46O9M

Book Description

Even strong men need love â€" but it needs to be big and hard!

It's open season again! If you're looking for innocent youth in playful poses don't pick this up. Painter Xavier Gicquel lets his men have it just the way they need it â€" inside, outside, upside down and hot, hot, hot! He creates archaic scenes of dirty sex and painful beauty. Here the men are men and the roles couldn't be clearer. Over the 80 pages the artist indulges the senses with lavish colours and narcissistic pomp â€" this book is a must for everyone who "cannot get enough"!

Book Description

Fourteen-year-old Jack Morgan, determined to get justice for both himself and his symbiotic dragon partner Draycos, narrowly escapes a trap set by the notorious Malison Ring, thanks to another teen Alison Kayna, with whom he once worked as a reluctant mercenary. She in turn now needs his help to get to the primitive world of Rho Scorvi. There, at the edge of a hundred-mile-wide forest, they make a shocking discovery: traveling with a group of the planets native Erasvas is a small lost colony of Draycoss race, the Kda. But unlike Draycoss people, these Kda are slow, lethargic, and unintelligent. When the Malison Ring tracks them to Rho Scorvi, Jack must shield this herd of animals from their ruthless pursuers, or they will become the newest victims of the genocide that threatens to wipe out their entire race. But even more importantly, he must protect, from the mercenaries and Alison, the dark secret of the herd and Jacks poet-warrior ally. This new sf adventure, which can be read on its own terms, is the most exciting novel yet in this popular young adult series.

Customer Reviews:

Characters Develop.......2007-08-31

In this, the fourth book of the Dragonback series Timothy Zahn takes the reader to a strange planet where Draycos and Jack are being hunted by the mercenaries that hold the the information the pair need to save Draycos' people from being ambushed. On this planet they find a race of beings called the Phookas who appear to be of the same race as Draycos, but they appear to be at the level of herd animals, which makes Draycos question where he himself may actually have come from. They are acoompanied by Alison someone who Jack metDragon and Soldier: The Second Dragonback Adventure (Dragonback) with her help they defeat the mercenaries, and escape to fight another day, but Alison seems to have her own agenda. Zahn does a great job in developing the relationship between Draycos and Jack. The series keeps getting better and better.

Dragon and Herdsman.......2007-01-10

great book, amazing quality. hard back book with a very decorative cover. all around a great buy...

Too short .......2007-01-04

After reading the previous novels in this series, I expected a more rounded story for the end novel (it may not be). The culmination of the big fight against the evil magicians seemed to be pretty much a throw away, and new discoveries about the 'new' dragon habitation they are living in were not really detailed. I love this series, I just hope if there are any more books, that the author returns to his normal great story.

"Most of the Rest Was Verbal Scribble".......2006-11-18

Says Jack in this new "Dragonback" novel. Heh. I plan to steal this for myself and use it as soon as possible.

"Dragon and Herdsman" is the pivotal fourth novel in the "Dragonback" series. In this book, an important truth about the fate of Draycos's people, the K'da, is revealed and so is the true nature of a henceforth mysterious character, Alison Kayna.

This book finds Jack stranded on a planet full of Phooka, which are actually K'da. Their senses have been dulled by living an idyllic life and Draycos is disgusted at first. But he and Jack both soon find that things are more than they seem.

Fans of this series won't want to miss this newest work by Zahn. Things are really getting rolling with this series, which I only just recently started reading. I can't wait to see more!

Fast enjoyable read, with some real series developments.......2006-11-03

Dragon and Herdsman is the fourth novel in Timothy Zahn's ongoing series about 14 year old thief Jack Morgan and his alien symbiotic companion, Draycos, a K'da poet warrior who looks like a (small) dragon and who can become 2-dimensional and reside on Jack's skin, looking like a tattoo.

Jack and Draycos are looking for evidence of the rendezvous to which the remnants of Draycos' people are being lured. Human mercenaries are apparently plotting with an evil alien race to exterminate the K'da and their usual hosts, the Shontine. Jack's attempt to steal the data from one branch of the mercenary group goes wrong, but he is rescued by an old acquaintance, a girl of his age named Alison Kayna. In exchange he takes Alison to her planned rendezvous with her friends on another planet -- where, to their shock, they meet some more K'da -- but degraded K'da, with limited intelligence, hosted by fairly unintelligent humanoids. And then they are attacked by the mercenaries -- so Jack and Draycos and Alison escape into the forest on this planet, herding the K'da and their hosts. The three of them outwit the mercenaries a few times, while they make a shocking discovery about the supposedly unintelligent K'da like beasts on this planet. And we know that Alison has apparently nefarious motives of her own ...

Fun stuff -- and this might be the best of the series after the first. Fun, as I said, but awfully slight -- a fast read, enjoyable, but nothing special.

Book Description

Horizon Scientific Press titles focus on high-level microbiology and molecular biology topics. Written by internationally renowned and highly respected leaders in the field, they comprise review manuals, practical manuals, and reference texts for research scientists, bioscience professionals and graduate students.

Yersinia strains are important human pathogens causing diseases ranging from the deadly Plague (Yersinia pestis) to a relatively mild gastroenteritis (e.g. Y. enterocolitica and Y. pseudotuberculosis). Plague is currently classed as a re-emerging disease that is endemic in many parts of the world. Since Y. pestis is highly lethal (a very small number of bacilli are enough to kill someone in a matter of days) it could be used by bioterrorists as a formidable airborne adversary. This has provided the impetus for a renewed interest in Yersinia molecular and cellular biology.

Written by the top Yersinia specialists, the book reviews the molecular biology of these important organisms and comprehensively covers recent advances in the field. Topics include genetic diversity in Y. pestis, quorum sensing, identification of virulence genes, regulation of virulence elements, superantigens, host invasion, host immune response, LPS structure and genetics, flagellar-dependent motility, flagellar-dependent protein secretion, iron or heme transport systems, Yersinia pathogenicity Islands, the Yop effector proteins, plasminogen activator (Pla), F1 antigen, and the conjugative plasmid pVM82.

Essential reading for everyone with an interest in Yersinia and recommended reading for other scientists with an interest in, for example, bioterrorism, microbial pathogenesis, microbial genomics, and antimicrobials.

Book Description

Increasingly, neural networks are used and implemented in a wide range of fields and have become useful tools in probabilistic analysis and prediction theory. This book—unique in the literature—studies the application of neural networks to the analysis of time series of sea data, namely significant wave heights and sea levels. The particular problem examined as a starting point is the reconstruction of missing data, a general problem that appears in many cases of data analysis.

Specific topics covered include:

* Presentation of general information on the phenomenology of waves and tides, as well as related technical details of various measuring processes used in the study.

* Description of the model of wind waves (WAM) used to determine the spectral function of waves and predict the behavior of SWH (significant wave heights); a comparison is made of the reconstruction of SWH time series obtained by means of neural networks algorithms versus SWH computed by WAM.

* Principles of artificial neural networks, approximation theory, and extreme-value theory necessary to understand the main applications of the book.

* Application of artificial neural networks (ANN) to reconstruct SWH and sea levels (SL).

* Comparison of the ANN approach and the approximation operator approach, displaying the advantages of ANN.

* Examination of extreme-event analysis applied to the time series of sea data in specific locations.

* Generalizations of ANN to treat analogous problems for other types of phenomena and data.

This book, a careful blend of theory and applications, is an excellent introduction to the use of ANN, which may encourage readers to try analogous approaches in other important application areas. Researchers, practitioners, and advanced graduate students in neural networks, hydraulic and marine engineering, prediction theory, and data analysis will benefit from the results and novel ideas presented in this useful resource.

Amazon.com

It all starts with two unlikely passengers on the same number 14 Fulham Road bus--Scotland Yard superintendent Richard Jury and a glamorous blonde woman in a sable coat. He can't keep his eyes off her, and when she disembarks, Jury follows her to the gates of Fulham Palace. He loses her in the fog, however, and when she's found shot to death in the herb garden of the palace, the game's afoot--especially since the victim may only look like Jury's blonde, but not be her at all. Two glamorous women in priceless fur coats in an obscure little museum in the London suburbs on the same foggy autumn night? Well, maybe. Or maybe not. The plot ultimately involves chicanery in the art world, a family of Russian émigrés, a missing Chagall, an international female assassin, a couple of unsettlingly strange young girls, and a hilarious send up of a stuffy English men's club. The tale serves a hearty helping of Grimes's usual interesting, not to say eccentric, characters. Among the most consistently fascinating of these is Jury's aristocratic friend Melrose Plant, a direct descendant of Lord Peter Wimsey and other wealthy, titled, amateur English detectives. Fans of Grimes's previous Superintendent Jury capers--each of which takes its name from an English pub--will enjoy the jokes, and new readers will appreciate the author's dry wit, her sharp eye for British oddities, and the way she turns an ordinary police procedural into a cozy little study of the national character. The Jury series began with The Man with a Load of Mischief (1981) and has included The Deer Leap (1985), The Horse You Came In On (1993), The Case Has Altered (1997), and several other tales. --Jane Adams

Book Description

In Martha Grimes' newest, most intriguing novel yet, Richard Jury follows a beautiful blonde to the gates of Fulham Palace--only to hear of her death three days later. Soon Jury realizes that he may have finally met his match in this mystery woman--dead or alive...

* A major bestseller: New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times

"Wondrously eccentric." --New York Times Book Review

"Delightfully entertaining. Grimes' popular Richard Jury returns in top form...a must-have from one of today's most gifted and intelligent writers." --Booklist (starred review)

"The literary equivalent of a box of Godiva truffles...Wonderful." --Los Angeles Times

"Martha Grimes's wintry new mystery envelops the reader in all the comforts of an English whodunit...The Stargazey is wellworth setting your sights on." --USA Today

"The author weaves a psychologically complex plot [and] delicious wit." --Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel

"Wonderfully daffy and endearing." --Publishers Weekly

"One of the established masters of the genre."--Newsweek

"Read any one [of her novels] and you'll want to read them all."--Chicago Tribune

"Grimes is not the next Dorothy Sayers, not the next Agatha Christie. She is better than both."--Atlanta Journal & Constitution

Customer Reviews:

Answers in St. Petersburg.......2006-06-24

It is wonderful to start a Richard Jury novel knowing that in the firm hands of Martha Grimes the reader is to embark upon a satisfying adventure. Cybil Odeon is a pretend person. We find her in St. Petersburg. Stars are fueled by the merging of atoms. When killing she felt a rush.

Richard Jury had been running errands in South Kensington when, riding a double decker, he saw people exiting a pub called the Stargazey. He watched a blond woman in a fur coat. She rode the bus and got off in heavy traffic. Walking was quicker it seemed. The following day he went to the Tate to the Pre-Raphaelites. Several days hence he read in a newspaper the woman he had seen had been shot. The DI in charge of the investigation, Ronald Chilten, loved mystery. Seeing the dead woman at the morgue, Richard Jury realized it was not the woman he had seen Saturday evening.

Melrose Plant and Marshall Trueblood were hated by Theo Wren Browne, the owner of a book shop in Long Piddleton. Plant and Trueblood had money, titles, looks. Diana Demorney wrote a ridiculous astrology column for the local paper. The three went to London in Marshall's van. Melrose stayed there at his club, Borings. It was his father's club and he hadn't been there for twenty years. Jury and Plant had dinner at Borings. Jury wanted Melrose to go to an art gallery owned by the Fabricant brothers. There was a tie-in he felt with the death of the woman in the fur coat on the grounds of Fulham Palace.

Having a half pint at the Stargazey, Jury saw the image of his blond woman in the pub mirror. When spoken to, she denied having been on that bus the previous week. At the Fulham police station he learned the dead woman had been identified.

Moving on, Melrose met the painter featured at the gallery of the Fabricant brothers, Ralph Rees. He also met the mother of Sebastain and Nicholas when he was invited to their place. He wanted to talk about sable coats and could only think to talk about GORKY PARK. Later he ran into a former Times reviewer at Borings and the men determined there was something fishy about the work of Ralph Rees.

Later Pitt, the former times reviewer, was murdered surreptiously at the club and it turned out that Richard Jury had a femme fatale on his hands, Kate McBride, the woman he followed from the double decker bus. The story is complicated and exciting.

Enjoyable, but ..........2006-02-28

This book is obviously written with American readers in mind; how else to explain some of the inconsistencies about British mores and customs, some of which would make native Brits cringe? To list just a few: Shaftsbury Avenue is spelled Shaftesbury Avenue; when Melrose and Jury make a bet on dessert, one of them thinks it might be a pudding -- dessert is always pudding, because that's what the English call it, and sometimes it really is what Americans consider a pudding. Someone else has pointed out protocols in British clubs; I agree.

By the way: In a previous book, she has Jury pondering to himself who it was who said about LOS ANGELES that there's "no there thee." Does she really not know that Gertrude Stein said this about Oakland and not Los Angeles? If she does, she should point that out.

Still, I enjoy these books enormously precisely because the cast of characters stays the same, their method of operations is predictable and they are amusing. Who cares whodunnit anyway?

Colorful Characters, Intriguing Plot Twists.......2004-03-05

Detective Inspector Richard Jury is off duty and riding one of London's double decker buses, eavesdropping on two American women behind him, when a beautiful blonde wearing a sable coat boards the bus, then leaves, then re-boards and gets off at Fulham Palace Road. He is so fascinated with her that he gets off too and follows her to the gates of Fulham Palace. Then he leaves when she goes inside.

The next morning, a woman in a sable coat with no identification is found dead in the palace's herb garden.

Jury volunteers the information about the woman on the bus, but when he looks at the body in the morgue and declares it's not the same person, no one at New Scotland Yard believes him. He sets out on his own to investigate the sable coat, which leads him to an astrologer, artists, art dealers, an art critic, actors, children, travelers, a barmaid, a family of thieves, and aging members of aristocratic friend Melrose Plant's London club in his quest for answers.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Ms. Grimes' prose is outstanding, her colorful characters and plot twists are intriguing and the pub that gives this book its odd title made me want to stop by for a pint or two.

my favourite jury novel.......2004-02-19

If you're a fan of previous Jury novels, you are going to love the Stargazey! the Creme de la Creme of the series show up and add the eccentric delight we all crave of Grimes: Vivian, Diane Demorney, Marshall Trueblood, Agatha... they're all back and in fine Long Piddletonian form.
The plot itself is intriguing enough from page 1. Dashing Richard Jury spots a lovely woman on a bus. This wouldn't usually get the ball rolling for a set of murders, but this is Grimes and ANYTHING can happen!
Another fascinating facet of this tale is the insight into London's Art scene and a particularly repulsive set of paintings by Ralph Rees called "Siberian Snow" ( Melrose Plant's initiation to these works is indeed laugh-out-loud !)
With murders to solve and Lord Ardry in tow, Jury finds himself in a pseudo-romantic/homicidal/engimatic world that never appears to be as it seems. And there are, of course,many a worthy Jury/Plant rendezvous, this time at Borings: Melrose's Gentlemen's club. As soon as the Earl of Caverness can brush the dust off of his old entitled card he is an asset to the mystery and to Jury, schmoozing it up with elderly actresses and ten year old girls, buying ice cream and treating Bea Slocum to "Steak and Chips"; all the while being as charming and magnetic as a crossword-solving earl is allowed to be !

Loved this one !
Want to read again!

Can't tell the players without a program.......2004-01-04

This is another novel in the Richard Jury series. The title is the name of a pub that plays a small role in the story. The novel starts out well, but then the author makes a side trip to Long Piddleton and introduces material that is unconnected to the main plot. A couple of the characters from Long Piddleton eventually have roles in the main plot. The author has a fixation on piddling, and the characters include Flash, who exposes himself in public loos, and a child who piddles here, there, and everywhere, none of which is relevant to the main plot, although the people are related to one of the characters. Various odd characters wander in and out of the story, some related to the plot, and some just extra baggage along for the ride.

The main plot is interesting as New Scotland Yard tries to get to the truth of the matter. This is not an easy task as there is a tendency to not believe people telling the truth, and to believe people who are not. There is collateral damage, and a few bodies are left lying about. There is grand larceny and murder, and connections to crimes in other countries.

If you expect the villain (a cold blooded psychopath) to be brought to justice, you will be disappointed. Who is real and who is not? People can fade into the night or, in the words of Shakespeare, "...are melted into air, into thin air..."

The Stargazey
Average customer rating:
The Stargazey
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Books on Tape
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
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Dust: A Richard Jury Mystery

The Blue Last

ASIN: 0736644636

The Case Has Altered / The Lamorna Wink / The Stargazey / The Man With a Load of Mischief
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The Case Has Altered / The Lamorna Wink / The Stargazey / The Man With a Load of Mischief
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VXSTY0

The Stargazey (Large Print) (1999)
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The Stargazey (Large Print) (1999)
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Compass Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RGZ944

Product Description

A Richard Jury Mystery

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STARGAZEY (RICHARD JURY)
MARTHA GRIMES
Manufacturer: Onyx
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0747256969

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The Stargazey - A Richard Jury Mystery
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Henry Holt and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Stargazey Quilts Samplerz (#1 Country Housez)

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Stargazey Quilts Samplerz (#1 Country Housez)

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet
ASIN: B000BHKLHE

Product Description

Instructions and fabric lists for House quilt

Stargazey Quilts Samplerz (#2 We're allowed ten minutes for tea, now which set will it be?)

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Stargazey Quilts Samplerz (#2 We're allowed ten minutes for tea, now which set will it be?)

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Pamphlet
ASIN: B000BHIO78

Product Description

Instructions and fabric list for teacup themed quilt

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The Stargazey( A Richard Jury Novel )

Manufacturer: Onyx Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GQDYYC

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The Stargazey: A Richard Jury Mystery
Martha Grimes
Manufacturer: Onyx Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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