Book Description
This book chronicles the fascinating story of the enthusiastic, stalwart, and talented naturalists who were drawn to California's spectacular natural bounty over the decades from 1786, when the La Pérouse Expedition arrived at Monterey, to the Death Valley expedition in 1890-91, the proclaimed "end" of the American frontier. Richard G. Beidleman's engaging and marvelously detailed narrative describes these botanists, zoologists, geologists, paleontologists, astronomers, and ethnologists as they camped under stars and faced blizzards, made discoveries and amassed collections, kept journals and lost valuables, sketched flowers and landscapes, recorded comets and native languages. He weaves together the stories of their lives, their demanding fieldwork, their contributions to science, and their exciting adventures against the backdrop of California and world history.
California's Frontier Naturalists covers all the major expeditions to California as well as individual and institutional explorations, introducing naturalists who accompanied boundary surveys, joined federal railroad parties, traveled with river topographical expeditions, accompanied troops involved with the Mexican War, and made up California's own geological survey. Among these early naturalists are famous names--David Douglas, Thomas Nuttall, John Charles Fremont, William Brewer--as well as those who are less well-known, including Paolo Botta, Richard Hinds, and Sara Lemmon.
Book Description
An outstanding book for young naturalists
Floy Hutchings, also known as Squirrel, is the daughter of the man who opened the first hotel in the Yosemite Valley in the 1860s. She has to fend for herself much of the time and is considered wild by her family and her father's guests. When the future naturalist John Muir is hired as a carpenter, Floy becomes his inquisitive shadow as he builds himself a cabin over a stream, talks to flowers, and listens to snow. Floy, determined never to grow up because she'd have to be a lady, and Muir, searching nature for a way to live free of society's expectations, are primed to find common ground.
In this story set against a backdrop of watercolor paintings that vividly capture the beauty of Yosemite, Floy learns to see the world through John Muir's eyes.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful Illustrated book for kids.......2006-08-21
This book is a nice illustration of Yosemite Park.
It may serve as a good beginning for a little kid's spiritual path.
An Award Winning Book.......2005-03-19
While the story alone is enough to engage even the most rambunctious children aged 4-8 and lead them to study nature, author-illustrator Emily Arnold McCully's natural watercolor artwork makes the words on the page come alive and awakens a yearning to experience nature too. There is more of the main character, a girl nicknamed "Squirrel," in most of us than we would like to admit! The book's images show us a spritely dynamo of a girl who goes from 'rebellious' to 'inquisitive' as her mentor, John Muir, a gentle giant of a man, teaches her many object lessons and observational skills in the great outdoors. This book won the 2005 Giverny Award, given annually for the best children's science picture book. McCully's artwork gives us a sense of moments of self-discovery in nature, frozen in time. In the story, Muir honed her powers of observation by his own example. He had not lost his childlike sense of wonder, even though, when he arrived at her father's hotel, SHE almost had. The sheer joy of studying nature with Muir gradually replaced her delight in causing trouble. Near the end of the story, Floy (Squirrel) even became a nature guide for the tourists who visited the Yosemite Valley. The torch had been passed to another generation.
A SPLENDID STORY THAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN TRUE.......2004-09-13
When author/artist Emily Arnold McCully set her sights on famed naturalist John Muir and a little girl whom he met in Yosemite in 1868 the result was a splendid story which isn't totally true - but, it could have been.
At that time Muir was 30-years-old. He'd been to college, worked at several jobs, and felt a strong call to commune with nature and discover its laws. When he arrived in Yosemite hoping to prove his theory of glacial formation, he was hired by James Hutchings, an English journalist bent on attracting tourism to the area. Hutchings was also bent on one other task - taming his spirited daughter, Floy. Here was a girl who never wanted to grow up because then she'd have to be a lady. A thought quite repellant to the rebellious young miss whose nickname was Squirrel. She happily spent hours "talking to the family's pet parrot, balancing on a plank by the woodpile, making mud pies, and capturing frogs."
As the story develops Muir and Squirrel soon become the best of friends as he shows her how to see through his eyes the incredible surroundings in which she lives.
It is not known whether or not Floy grew up to be a lady, but it is known that John Muir became famous and the world has benefitted by what he learned.
- Gail Cooke
Book Description
The story of the Town Below the Ground is one of the most disturbing in the annals of Scottish history. For almost 250 years, Edinburgh was surrounded by a giant defensive wall and, unable to expand its boundaries, it became the most densely populated city in Europe. When buildings could go no higher, people were forced to construct new edifices over the existing structures. An underground slum developed, where subterranean dwellers lived in darkness and abject poverty, ignored by chroniclers of the time. Edinburgh's population eventually came to believe that the city—out of sight and out of mind since its abandonment in the mid-19th century—had never been there at all. This is the first book to fully chronicle Edinburgh's Town Below the Ground—its history and structure, its inhabitants and the lives they led, the story of its rediscovery, the parts that still remain, and the tales that made it legendary.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating Author, Fascinating Stories.......2001-04-22
I must start by saying that I haven't actually read this book. I did, however, visit Edinburgh a week ago and embark upon a tour of the old city that focused sites of murder and mayhem. On that tour, my guide was Jan-Andrew Henderson. He brought an overlarge group of American teenagers to silent, rapt attention with his description of the old city of Edinburgh inside the Floyden wall. We ended at Greyfriar's churchyard, home to 400 monuments and approximately 800,000 bodies. He was a charismatic and knowledgable story-teller, and if he writes at all in the manner in which he speaks, anything he could put on paper would be worth reading. ~ Interested in History
P.S. On this tour Henderson made no mention of his name or plug for his book. I found out his identity later from my overall holiday tour guide (completely independent from Henderson's tour) who had accompanied my school group for the experience.
A Big Disappointment.......2001-01-11
...those readers who don't come from Edinburgh found the book entertaining, but those who do found it disappointing, and I must add my name to the latter category.
As a lifelong Edinburgh resident I've heard stories of the underground city all my life, and the emergence of this book offered the promise of a full and final explanation of what's really there and what isn't. However, aside from a reasonably interesting general history of old Edinburgh, the book is astonishingly lacking in facts of any kind. It's all conjecture, rumour and myth. At least fifty percent of the book is merely a series of fables and ghost stories with absolutely no descernable facts or evidence to either back them up or dismiss them.
If someone's going to bother writing a book on the underground city, wouldn't you expect them to have something to TELL? Not so Jan-Andrew Henderson. For him the gathering together of a few myths and legends was enough. No solid research, maps, plans or diagrams, descriptions of exactly what remains of the underground city; No reports of excavations, eyewitness accounts; no rummaging through old property plans or title deeds to discover reports of mysterious doorways in lost cellars that seem to lead nowhere. None of this.
If you're really interested in learning about the underground city you'd be better off saving your money, and instead paying a visit to one of Edinburgh's many pubs in the old town, where you'll encounter characters who can tell you much more about it than anything in this book
Fascinating and Chilling!.......2000-12-24
I only gave this book 4 stars because I felt that it was too short and abbreviated. Then again, I'm the type of person who likes rich historical details. The author doesn't bore you with dates or technical details, the story of the origins of Edinburgh's underground city are told with a marvelous gift of oratory, making you feel like you're hearing a story told in front of a fire, a story that grows more and more chilling.
The story is simple, due to overpopulation, numerous underground chambers and vaults were built to accommodate the fast growth of Edinburgh's Old Town. The poorest of the poor lived in these dark cramped vaults and more often than not died there too, having never known anything but poverty and misery. You are told of the kinds of people who lived there: villians and widows, families and loners. You hear of how they lived, from the people too sickly to work to the poor children forced to climb inside chimneys to clean them. Full of misery, disease and hoplessness, it's no wonder the underground city has gained a reputation for being haunted.
Tales of the supernatural happenings are also found in this book, tales of a mischeivious yet harmless ghost who haunts a pub to the frightening stories of tourists and tour guides alike being assaulted by unseen hands and claws.
Whether a history buff or a fan of ghosts stories, you're sure to enjoy this book. It's easy reading, educational AND entertaining.
Average customer rating:
- Ben needs to shape up
- THIS BOOK WAS GREAT!!!!!
- I love this series!
- Just one of an AMAZING series!!!!!!!!
- NINA SHAPES UP
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Nina Shapes Up (Making Out)
Katherine Applegate
Manufacturer: Morrow/Avon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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Zoey Plays Games (Making Out, 9)
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Making Out #11: Ben Takes a Chance (Making Out)
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Making Out #8: Aisha Goes Wild (Making Out)
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Don't Tell Zoey (Making Out)
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Claire Can't Lose (Making Out #12)
ASIN: 0380807432 |
Book Description
They've all grown up together on a tiny island. They think they know everything about one another...but they're only just beginning to find out the truth.
Nina shapes up because she's desperate to keep Ben's love. She's terrified that if he regains his eyesight, he won't need her anymore. And if Ben can see Nina, will he still love her?
In the tenth book in this hot series about broken hearts, best friends, and shocking secrets, Nina shapes up because she's desperate to keep Ben's love. She's terrified that if Ben has the operation and regains his eyesight, he won't need her anymore. And if Ben can see Nina, will he still love her?
Customer Reviews:
Ben needs to shape up.......2002-02-17
I understand wants to go through with this alone. However, he allowed Nina to come with him during the test and he even slept with her. So why doesn't he quit being selfish and let his woman be by his side and quit acting like it is pity. I like Ben; but, he is messing up. As for Zoey, well history does repeat itself. These were similar circumstances that lead to her and Jake breaking up. Aaron is a bit manipulative, but that is what Lucas gets for pushing the sex issue with Zoey. If he would have been intelligent enough to back off the other 100 times Zoey said no, this situation would no exist.
I understand that he loves Zoey, in fact I get that. But, no is no, and when she told that she wasn't ready for that he should have left well enough alone.
THIS BOOK WAS GREAT!!!!!.......2001-11-12
I think the Making out Series of books are great!! I hope Ben's surgery goes well so he can see again. I just finished it and I recomend it to everyone who likes a good romance/teen novel. Lara and Jake should definatly stay together and I hope Lara can stop her drinking problem. My least favorite character is Clair. She is sooooo mean. Me and my friends have all started reading the books. Some of them are really hard to find though cause they are out of print!!!
I love this series!.......2000-07-26
OMG these are the best books! I just got done reading Nina Shapes Up and I think it's the best one yet! Nina and Benjamin are my fave island couple, they are so in love (even tho I peeked at a review 4 a later book and it said they break up and now Nina is with LUCAS of all people...I hope she and Ben get back 2ge+her!). NEwayz, the point of this book is that Ben finds out about a blindness reversal surgery project in Boston. He and Nina run away so he can have tests done 2 see if he's eligible. Then something...*surprising* happens between him and Nina. You'll just have 2 read it 2 find out! If you plan 2 read this one start w/ Zoey Fools Around and work your way up...you'll get more out of it that way! C-ya later! - Sara -
<3-
Just one of an AMAZING series!!!!!!!!.......1999-06-02
i have read all of the books in this series, most of them in 1 day, and i was really sad when i finished; i wanted to read them all again! My fav character in the series is Nina, cos' she is so funny.
This book is all about how Nina wants to make sure Ben will always love, even if he does get his sight back. Plus the slimy Aaron arrives and causes alot of heartache for Zoey and Lucus. Christopher has a question to ask, but Aisha's not sure how to react!
i recommend these books to any one who wants to laugh, cry, smile and be suprised. After i read the first few books i told some friends about them and now i've got them all addicted! i think the books appeal to teenagers because the series is written in the way we think, using the way we talk.
This book is a roller-coster of a ride, so hold on tight!
NINA SHAPES UP.......1999-04-07
I love all the books in this series. I think that Nina and Ben make a cute couple and I'm glad that he has a chance to get his his sight back. I was surprised at what happens between them. I was also surprised by what happened with Aisha and Christopher. I don't like the Aaron character, though. I think he's ruining things for Lucas and Zoey.
Product Description
multiple books ship as one item. save on shipping/handling charges.
Average customer rating:
|
Combinatorial Strategies in Biology and Chemistry
Annette Beck-Sickinger , and
Peter Weber
Manufacturer: Wiley
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0471497266 |
Book Description
Combinatorial chemistry has taken the pharmaceutical industry by storm over the past ten to fifteen years. There has been a massive investment in automation by pharmaceutical companies and a demand for graduates/PhDs with experience and knowledge of combinatorial chemistry. These days the academic education of chemists and biologists is gradually converging, so those entering the pharmaceutical industry need to be not only chemistry graduates but also biologists applying their biological knowledge to chemistry.
Many chemists, however, still require experience in biological methods and similarly biologists have not yet realized the power of chemical methods. This book will therefore help ease the transition from biology into chemistry and vice versa, for those working in the combinatorial chemistry field. Because combinatorial chemistry evolved from the requirements of the biology field, the authors have written this book with both biologists and chemists in mind.
Combinatorial chemistry is a new and highly influential area of modern synthetic chemistry based on efficient, parallel synthesis of molecules, as opposed to the use of several synthetic steps, to produce many sets of compounds for biological evaluation. The techniques used in this area are key to the discovery of new drug compounds in the pharmaceutical and agrochemical industries. Combinatorial Methods in Chemistry and Biology describes the origins, basics and techniques used both in combinatorial chemistry and molecular biology.
Key features:
- First book to cover combinatorial methods in both chemistry and biology - ideal for those with either a chemical or biological background.
- Introductory text - ideal for newcomers to the field.
- Covers a wide swathe of techniques and topics - providing beginners with a complete overview of the field.
- Contains chapters on supporting material and linkers, two important areas in the field.
- Up-to-date and topical.
This volume will be of key interest to technicians/scientists working in the pharmaceutical industry with backgrounds in either biology or chemistry. It will also be invaluable to students - postgraduates studying chemistry and molecular biology or those chemistry/molecular biology undergraduates at universities where combinatorial chemistry is taught as a module.
Book Description
METEOROLOGY TODAY has for many years been one of the most widely used and authoritative texts for the introductory meteorology course. This eighth edition sees improvements in flexibility for instructors and strengthened learning solutions for students. Author C. Donald Ahrens has been widely praised for his ability to explain relatively complicated ideas so that even under-prepared students can understand them. The text's clear and inviting narrative is supplemented by numerous pedagogical features that help augment students' understanding. Introductory stories found at the beginning of each chapter draw students naturally into the discussion. In-chapter reviews help students master concepts while they study, and four types of end-of-chapter exercises provide opportunities for everything from further review to in-class discussion questions. In addition to these in-text learning aids, the eighth edition sees a complete integration with MeteorologyNow™, the first assessment-driven and student-centered online learning solution created specifically for this course. MeteorologyNow™ uses a series of chapter-specific diagnostic tests to build a personalized learning plan for each student, allowing students to focus their study time on specific areas of weaknesses. Each personalized learning plan directs students to specific chapter sections and concept-driven multimedia tutorials designed to augment their understanding. The new edition is available in its original nineteen chapter "classic" version, or as a "core" version, which features only the most popular sixteen chapters. The "core" version sacrifices none of the detail that the course needs, but eliminates chapters that may not be directly covered in class. Looking for more flexibility? With the Thomson TextChoice custom solution program, instructors can select and reorganize chapters to perfectly match their syllabus, thereby creating the ideal text solution for the course.
Book Description
METEOROLOGY TODAY has for many years been one of the most widely used and authoritative texts for the introductory meteorology course. Each edition is extensively reviewed by leading researchers in the field to ensure that the text remains completely up-to-date and reflects today's current understanding of meteorological concepts. Author Donald Ahrens has been widely praised for his ability to explain relatively complicated ideas so that even under-prepared students can understand them. The text's clear and inviting presentation is supplemented by numerous pedagogical features that help augment students' understanding. Introductory stories found at the beginning of each chapter draws students naturally into the discussion. In-chapter reviews then help students to consolidate their understanding as they read, while four types of end-of-chapter exercises provide opportunities for everything from further review to in-class discussion questions. Graphics are carefully designed and subsequently refined so that the key ideas clearly emerge. Many of the photos in the book are taken by the author and provide unmatched images of dramatic weather phenomena. A unique and popular feature over this title's seven editions has been the foldout cloud chart at the back of the book. A wealth of online resources accompanies METEOROLOGY TODAY, Seventh Edition, allowing professors to integrate striking and illuminative interactive weather exercises into their course. Many of the exercises on the BLUE SKIES CD-ROM packaged FREE with each new copy of the text are tied to downloadable real-time weather data, offering instructors an easy way to bring the exploration of current weather events into the course discussion.
Customer Reviews:
Great Intro text book.......2006-06-01
One of the best introduction to metrology I have read. Great for any anyone that is interested in the weather. Gives more information then average books that are found at local book stores. Also the on line tests help you know what you have learned.
Great Book.......2005-02-24
This is a great book. It was expensive (aren't all college textbooks?), but worth it.
As a beginning weather hobbyist with a new weather station, I have been looking at many weather books over the past couple months. I have been disappointed. Most seem geared to elementary school levels. A couple handfuls are for the general population, a few intermediate, and a couple handfuls are for more advanced hobbyists or professionals.
This book was one of the very few that I would strongly recommend. The information is great and presented very well. It is colorful and slick (yes, substance is more important than slickness, but this book has both).
I found the CD less than useful, so I tried it and removed it. You won't be missing anything, really. The book has it all. Just a great book.
Disappointing extras.......2005-01-18
For a meteorology reference tool, save money and buy the book used without the CD or infotrac. The blueskies CD is only good for one year from activiation according to the license agreement and infotrac is a 4 month subscription to online databases that are largely available for free at the public library.
Awesome.......2004-06-08
I am enrolled in a Meteorology course right now. I bought this book sometime ago to get ready for the coursework in Meteorology. I had read a bunch of books prior to this one and I found this book to be well written. Easy to understand and great illustrations make it easy for anyone to understand it. May be a bit too basic for some. If you need to know more about Meteorology and want to know more than the average Joe...then buy this book....you won't regret it. I love it!
Fairly good introduction to the subject of meteorology.......2001-01-02
This text is a very basic introduction to the world of meteorology. The writing style is very simplistic, as the book seems to be intended for non-science majors. There are very few quantitative portions and the few math portions that are there could use a little more expansion. All in all, this book is suitable for anyone who wants an introduction to the weather without having to do numerous calculations.
Book Description
Ahren's METEOROLOGY TODAY is the # 1 text in the market! This text presents the fundamental concepts of meteorology in the context of everyday weather observations. This is a perfect blend of theory and application in meteorology. The book features a traditional yet flexible organization, moving from atmospheric elements to air movement to severe weather, then finally global and climate change. Ahren's successfully excites the student reader by teaching them to actively observe the weather. The organization contains enough detail to provide a higher level student with the detail he/she needs, as well as an accessible writing style for the weaker student. This text contains extensive new features that significantly address the market needs of accuracy, currency, earlier presentation of mapping and forecasting, with a greatly enhanced technology package.
Customer Reviews:
It is a easy learning book !.......2001-02-08
This is a really good book. It presents all the idea so clear with many graphs and figures. That make you feel comfortable to keep on reading. Also the contents are not so hard. It is a really good book for the beginner who want to know more about meteorology.
Customer Reviews:
Not good........2003-02-12
The questions in the workbook simply aren't helpful. And, a lot of times, they give the WRONG answer in the key!
The only reason why I gave this two stars is because the chapter summaries are okay.
Ok IF you are looking for the workbook, not the textbook.......2002-11-28
...The book description still doesn't tell you it is only a workbook. They need to be more descriptive.
Average customer rating:
- A charming (if over-the-top) spoof of Revolutionary heroics
- The least known and most humorous of Melville's works.
|
Israel Potter: His Fifty Years of Exile, Volume Eight (Melville)
Herman Melville
Manufacturer: Northwestern University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Melville, Herman
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Pierre: or, The Ambiguities (Penguin Classics)
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Moby Dick, or The Whale: Volume Six: 150th Anniversary Edition (Melville)
ASIN: 0810115913 |
Customer Reviews:
A charming (if over-the-top) spoof of Revolutionary heroics .......2006-07-25
After the financial failure of "Moby-Dick" and the social scandal of "Pierre," Melville settled down to write a book that would please the public, his publisher, and (most important at this point in his life) his bank account. He promised George Putnam (his publisher) both "nothing of any sort to shock the fastidious" and "nothing weighty." In short, he wrote an adventure story.
But not just any adventure story. Melville drew on a little-known autobiography published 30 years earlier and called the "Life and Remarkable Adventures of Israel R. Potter," which recounted the extraordinary career of a veteran of the Battle of Bunker Hill who delivered secret wartime letters to Benjamin Franklin, who found himself stranded in Europe, and who ended up a pauper in London. (The original Northwestern-Newberry edition reprints a facsimile copy of this source, keyed to passages in Melville's text. More remarkably, this edition notes the recent discovery of an unrelated text by a British author who included a brief account of Potter's days as a nomadic street-trader in London, along with a portrait of the man himself.)
Yet Melville's book is not merely a biographical novel. Instead, he greatly embellishes Potter's account, incorporating a farcical portrait of Franklin and adding equally comic accounts of John Paul Jones, King George, Ethan Allen, and several other historical figures whom Potter never actually met. In Melville's hands, Franklin becomes a miserly, philandering "tanned Machiavelli in tents" and "not less a lady's man, than a man's man, a wise man, and an old man"; Allen is transformed into a larger-than-life Paul Bunyan figure; King George is a kindly dolt; and Jones turns into a tattooed, flirtatious, vainglorious rake. And poor Israel Potter himself is alternately drafted, imprisoned, released, and press-ganged.
The result is not only Melville's most accessible work but also an over-the-top spoof of the heroic amateurs running the Revolution and (more subtly) an acidic indictment of the abandonment of the early American dream. While it lacks the depth or the "weight" of his other late works, "Israel Potter" makes up for its shortcomings with charm and mirth.
The least known and most humorous of Melville's works........1997-06-12
This book is at the same time the least and the most "Melvillian" of all Melville's corpus. Melville wrote in Moby-Dick that "two thirds of the world revolve in darkness." This idea certaily holds true for most of Melville's works, but not Israel Potter. In this uncharacteristically light-hearted and crisply written rewriting of American history, Melville gives an early literary version of Woody Allen's film Zelig. The character Israel Potter is that same sort of insignificant historical non-entity who just happens to get caught up in incredibly significant historical moments. In his various wanderings Israel meets and becomes politically involved with a trio of the most important American patriots--Ben Franklin, John Paul Jones, and Ethan Allen. It is through these encounters that Melville subtlely (and sometimes not so subtlely) realizes his critical agenda and those darker themes that dominate so much of his other work begin to show themselves. In his portrayal of Franklin, Melville takes a bash at what he sees as the exemplar of American "genius"--the same American genius that ignored and misunderstood his most significant works and forced him into obscurity and poverty in his lifetime. Melville sees Franklin as representative of all that is wrong with the American character--he is parsimonious, small-minded, hard-headed, and morally hypocritical. In the other two historical figures, John Paul Jones and Ethan Allen, Melville finds redemption. In them he sees represented more of that European idea of genius, the manly half-savage/half-civilized genius of Thomas Carlyle. Like Queequeg in Moby-Dick who is described as "George Washington canabalistically rendered," Jones and Allen are wildmen in a civilized society, raging against the world as they utter their outrageous and at times incomprehensible truth. A fun yet undenialbly thought-provoking read. Enjoy
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