Nature a Day at a Time: An Uncommon Look at Common Wildlife (Sierra Club Books Publication)

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Romance of the Familiar

nature in daily bits

Awakening awareness

A Genius

Amazing Book

Nature a Day at a Time: An Uncommon Look at Common Wildlife (Sierra Club Books Publication)
Cathie Katz
Manufacturer: Sierra Club Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animals | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Nature & Ecology | Science | Subjects | Books
Nature Writing | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1578050502

Book Description

For each day of the year, witty text and engaging drawings describe familiar wildlife and reveal surprising connections between the natural world and our own human nature.
Surprising clues to our own human nature can be found in the natural world all around us, according to author-illustrator Cathie Katz, creator of this unusual and engaging "almanac." On each page, Katz interweaves fascinating information about a selected plant or animal, appealing pen-and-ink renderings, and a related quotation. Her quoted sources range from essays on biology to Native American reflections, from the poetry of Emily Dickinson to the novels of Barbara Kingsolver. Through the musings of these various individuals, Katz shows us how an aspect of the featured plant or animal tells us something about human nature--including such aspects as love, sex, appetite, and thought--and about the human condition in general.
A visual treat as well as nourishment for the mind, this unique book of meditations is one that readers will turn to day after day, season to season, all year long. On every page there is wit and wisdom--something to reflect upon and much to remember.

Customer Reviews:

Romance of the Familiar.......2000-11-21

Have yet to see a purple cow? How about a slithy trove? Despair no more. In this lovely book, Cathie Katz transforms the FAMILIAR into passing strange phenomena. Her secret? Attention to detail. Waving her "charming rod" of magnification over the common creatures of everyday life, she presents each one as a wish fit for the gods without sacrificing its connection to Earth and to us. Thanks to Cathie, we can now put away the shadows of childish imagination and embrace the sometimes frightening, always magical, fellow travelers of our own existence.

nature in daily bits.......2000-11-06

Cathie Katz starts out writing about no-see-ums, crab grass and cricket-frogs and somehow ends up with human nature, life, the universe and everything.

Katz is a Melbourne Beach writer, naturalist and sea-bean expert who fields queries from beachcombers around the world as editor of "The Drifting Seed," a newsletter about sea beans (or more properly, rain-forest drift seeds.)

Her new book, "Nature, a Day at a Time: An Uncommon Look at Common Wildlife," contains 365 mini-essays about 365 forms of life, ranging from viruses to possums. Each day's entry begins and ends with a literary quote and features one of her illustrations. Like her writing, her detailed pen-and-ink drawings are a good balance of factuality and whimsy.

A simple format, but deceptively so. These entries are linked by some profound, half-submerged themes -- our kinship with the natural world, the way our personal nature can be found in daily nature around us, the fascinating natural processes going on immediately around us. And it is this kind of accessible natural world -- worms and viruses and backyard birds -- rather than Discovery Channel-style big and exotic wildlife -- that makes up the days in her book.

"Nature a Day at a Time" is a good year.

Awakening awareness.......2000-10-17

I will no longer walk by an insect, bird or plant without some new found knowledge and a willingness to share our surroundings. Kind of like living among people, there are some good traits and some irritaing traits but nevertheless we can exist in harmony. The illustrations are talent ladden enhanced by the whimisical little stick figure Larry. If you can read just a day at a time without longing to cancel all on the agenda you are ahead of me but for times when all we can squeeze in is one page our world will become brighter and more alive to us. So enjoy and let that spider make his web without that tidiness gene taking over.

A Genius.......2000-09-07

Once again Cathie Katz has outdid herself. The author is not only a talented writer, but her illustrations are exquisite. As reading the book, you realize that nature is all around us and we are directly tied into the universe together. The illustrations, quotes and individual way that Cathie brings nature to us lifts our spirits and brings joy into each day. I look forward to each daily reading. I have ordered this book for friends and family and highly recommend you read this book. Not only will this book enrichen your life , but you will learn from this book daily and broaden your knowledge of the nature that surrounds us.

Amazing Book.......2000-09-03

I love the detailed drawings on every page and the descriptions of all the familiar wildlife. The idea of seeing bugs, birds, and even plants from a different perspective has really opened my eyes to the nature around me. Also, I never connected my behaviors and instincts with my "animal nature" until I read this book. I'm now beginning to understand human nature from the viewpoint of genes and inheritance. This book makes undertsanding scientific matters so much easier...and so much fun. A page for every day of the year is a great treat, especially to read about soemthing that's right under my nose... I always wondered why antibiotics made my stomach feel "funny" -- Now I know it's the bacteria squirming around before they die. I'll never look at roses, squirrels, pussywillows, moles, fleas, song birds, bees, or butterflies again in the same way. I love the drawings and quotes by themselves, but to read all the unusual facts about the "commonest of the common" makes it really worth reading. Instead of reading it a day at a time, I had to read it all the way through!

Book Description

This award-winning series is jam packed with up-to-date, in depth travel information and fascinating background details, including highlights of every town and site, money-saving tips, health precautions, and anecdotes on local history, culture, and customs.

*Footprint Handbooks have been essential reading for almost 78 years, making these the world's longest-running travel series in the English language

*Features travel-tough paperback covers, color pages, and a more relaxed, user-friendly style for the traveler of the 21st century

*All authors are experts who have lived or worked in the countries they write about; these books will inspire readers to enjoy those places as much as they

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Writing worthy of study

Wonderful

Yea

Awesome

Claidi Journals

The Claidi Collection (Lee, Tanith. Claidi Journals.)

Manufacturer: Amazon Remainders Account
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: B000FA4TQQ

Book Description

The first three novels in Tanith Lee's popular Claidi Journals series are now available in this handsome hardcover three-in-one omnibus volume, which includes the complete texts of Wolf Tower, Wolf Star, and Wolf Queen. Fantasy fans can immerse themselves in Claidi's adventures as she unlocks the secrets of her past and finds the love of her life.

Customer Reviews:

Writing worthy of study.......2007-03-20

While I enjoyed the story, I have to admit that what I most admire about these books is the characterization. Without so much as a ripple in continuity, Lee brings Claidi along a very real and human journey such that, as Claidi notices herself, she seems to have become a different person from when she started writing. Claidi is also one of the best and clearest examples I know of a flawed heroine; while she often makes terrible mistakes, she never fails to learn and grow from them, and the reader understands and sympathizes with her at every step along the way. Venn is also extremely well-developed and was a joy to read, though Argul's character lags slightly.

This collection is both an excellent deal and a great way to compare clues and details between books, so if you're looking into buying them, look here first.

The one thing that was less than well-thought out about the story was the level of technology, especially in the third book. I bought the moving rooms of the Rise mainly because they were completely fascinating and uniquely dangerous, even if thinking about how that kind of mechanism could work gave me a headache. The rings, however, stray towards a traditional fantasy where everything is far too easy once you have the "magic talisman." If their powers had been more limited, at least to just outside the realm of mechanical believability, the story would have been smoother and provided more opportunities for character growth.

Wonderful.......2006-09-21

These books are a wonderful example of an exciting, well thought out young adult/childrens book series. The world Claidi lives in is enticing and beautiful, and we are drawn through it with her. She falls in love, experiences betrayal and redemption, and overcomes insecurities and fears as she defeats the people who try to destroy her. Tanith Lee has created a world that is part fantasy, part science fiction, and all wonderful. These are the perfect books for young people who like their fantasy to be intelligent and personal.

Yea.......2006-03-02

This one is good. these books. Thanks Tanith Lee for giving them to us, they're great.
Surely, they have everything, love, action, regret, happiness, tragedy. And in the end, evrything isn't solved (but this isn't the last book, either.) I should have given it 4 ½, ebcuase it didn't make me thik of it for very long, and it lost a little it was my fault) becuase I looked up it was going all right at the last apges.

Awesome.......2005-11-01

This excedingly predictable series no matter how origional it was, is amazing, the amazing ideas the author put into this book make you want to read it around twenty more times and you will still notice something new, when I first started reading them I was up until 3'am reading and comprehending, the new worldy idea makes every reader want to live there and the main charector is highly relatable, so, read them or be square.

Claidi Journals.......2005-05-25

These books are a wonderful collection of stories. They are written in the style of a diary. The stories are about 'Claidis' adventures through an unknown world. Power, love and magic all play major roles in this story. Definitly worth a read if you like fiction. Try it!

Book Description

This book provides the first systematic treatment of the thermodynamic theory of site-specific effects in biological macromolecules. It describes the phenomenological and conceptual bases required to allow a mechanistic understanding of these effects from analysis of experimental data. The thermodynamic theory also results in novel experimental strategies that enable the derivation of information on local, site-specific properties of a macromolecular system from analysis of perturbed global properties. The treatment focuses on binding phenomena, but is amenable to extension both conceptually and formally to the analysis of other cooperative processes, such as folding and helix–coil transitions. This book will interest any scientist involved in structure–function studies of biological macromolecules, or as a text for graduate students in biochemistry and biophysics.

Customer Reviews:

Good theory book.......1998-08-23

This book provides a lot of in depth theory for those wishing to learn about ligand-receptor interactions. The book focuses on a historical perspective throughout the introduction, then addresses contemporary ligand-binding experimental techniques from a drug/inhibitor/receptor stand-point. In addition, this is key reference material to accompany "Graphpad Prizm" non-linear regression/ligand-binding analysis/graphing software. Reccomended reading!

Customer Reviews:

Easy first steps ..........2002-10-23

Elliot has presented here, in this well pictured book, the basics for learning - or maybe even more, 'building the desire for' - making paper. A great precursor to learning more and developing the craft of paper making.

It's not the most in-depth piece .. but it does what I believe it was intended to do: Inspire and Promote. These it does well.

Enjoy.

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Paper Making (Contemporary Crafts)
Marion Elliot
Manufacturer: New Holland Publishers Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Industrial, Manufacturing & Operational Systems | Engineering | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1853686204

Book Description

As Kenneth W. Ford shows us in The Quantum World, the laws governing the very small and the very swift defy common sense and stretch our minds to the limit. Drawing on a deep familiarity with the discoveries of the twentieth century, Ford gives an appealing account of quantum physics that will help the serious reader make sense of a science that, for all its successes, remains mysterious. In order to make the book even more suitable for classroom use, the author, assisted by Diane Goldstein, has included a new section of Quantum Questions at the back of the book. A separate answer manual to these 300+ questions is available; visit The Quantum World website for ordering information.

There is also a cloth edition of this book, which does not include the "Quantum Questions" included in this paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

A Good Book for Non-scientists.......2007-09-17

I found this book to be very interesting. The only minor drawback is the intense focus on the many kinds of sub-atomic particles (Hadrons, Fermions, Leptons, Pions, W particles, etc.), but I really liked the way the information was presented. A good book for the non-scientist. Makes the completely complicated quantum theory quasi-understandable, if not fathomable. I think it was Neils Bohr you said that something like "anybody who claims to understand quantum mechanics really doesn't", as it is weird science based on probabilities. Not many equations in the book; a few in the footnotes.

A good introduction to Quantum Physics.......2007-09-09

This is a good and readable introduction to Quantum Mechanics with a good collection of questions at the end that will be handy for educators (an answer manual is available to them). The quantum world is so far away from our daily experience that it should not surprise us that the concepts we use in classical physics such as defined trajectories, particles, waves, exact position, etc. get blurred in the quantum world. However, there are fascinating experiments, the best known is the double slit experiment, that show us the weirdness of the quantum, epitomized in the famous Wheeler's question: "How come the quantum?".

The quantum world is fundamentally probabilistic. For example, you do not who whether a specific atom of a radioactive substance will disintegrate in the next second, the only thing you can know is the probability that it will decay.

The book also traces the history of the main discoveries in particle physics and has a good number of photos of the main characters.

To conclude: anybody not familiar with QM and who wants to acquire a minimum scientific culture about one of the two main revolutions in physics of the XXth century (and the one that has had the widest impact in our modern economy) needs to read this book.

I particularly enjoyed the explanation of alpha and beta radioactivity and the discussion on CP violation, "the reason we are here", according to Nobel Prize winner Val Fitch. On the other hand, I missed some clarifications that will confuse the lay reader: why neutrinos are not their own antiparticles or how come there are 8 gluons if there are nine pairs of colour/anticolour. On the other hand, the important Uncertainty Principle is only discussed on page 213, whereas it is mentioned several times before in the book.

Very accessible, but all over the place.......2007-08-28

Emit one photon at a certain point, then detect it at another point. In between, that one photon has traveled EVERY POSSIBLE PATHWAY between the two points. The location where you detect it is determined by probability, not certainty.

This book blew my mind, as I had left physics behind over a decade prior. It was very accessible, but disjointed. I suppose it is difficult to compose a flowing narrative about a subject that no one truly understands. Credit Ford for helping us learn, even if we have to keep flipping back and forth to remind ourselves what leptons and bosons and fermions are.

Great theory book.......2007-08-20

This book an exellent introduction to Quamtum physics but it also talks about the history of quantum mechanics, which is quiet interresting and makes it easier to read.

I was look for an introduction to the Quantum World and this was the one. Sadly, I'm the kind of person who forget what I just read. This book is filled with theory (i.e. all sorts of leptons, quarks, force carriers, etc.) and consequently, really hard to remember.

Im in High School now and I was just curious about Quantum mechanics. I just had some really BASIC knowledge in QM and this book explained me all the rest easily althrought some explanations were incomplete like for the Weak interraction: it just says it is carried by the W and Z particle. The book does say what "carried" means (that is, force carrier) but it doesn't say actually how's it works.

Overall, this book explained a lot of things about QM but it demands the reader to remember a lot of things, especially the particles, their charge and their family (leptons, bosons, fermions, etc.).

This book CAN'T be read like a novel because you have to remember a lot of things but it's still easier to read than a book about relativity or math because it contains only few equations and doesn't ask you to "think" exept for the part when you have to know particles decay and their charge.

You must at least have some basic knowledge about Quantum Mechanics OR simply about physics before reading this. If you're interresed about QM and don't want to have all the complicated sutff (this book doesn't even say the value of Plank's constant), I deeply recommand this book.

Clear, interesting and detailed.......2007-06-22

This book deals mostly with the quantum facts and doesn't deal with the underlying reality interpretations in depth. It is written very clearly with lots of analogies, however the mass and depth of information make it a studious read, though it is easy to get many basic ideas with a skim. It has a lot of history of quantum discoveries and the people that made them. I like this book.

Average customer rating:

One of Those Amazing Little Book Finds Discovered Unexpectedly Between Two Behemoth Titles on the Shelf

A Cafecito Story

A Cafecito Story by Julia Alvarez

Coffee and love

Praise for Alvarez

A Cafecito Story
Julia Alvarez , Bill Eichner , and Belkis Ramirez
Manufacturer: Chelsea Green
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Organic Cooking | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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Family Saga | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1931498547

Book Description

A Cafecito Story is a story of love, coffee, birds and hope. It is a beautifully written eco-fable by best-selling author Julia Alvarez. Based on her and her husband's experiences trying to reclaim a small coffee farm in her native Dominican Republic, A Cafecito Story shows how the return to the traditional methods of shade-grown coffee can rehabilitate and rejuvenate the landscape and human culture, while at the same time preserving vital winter habitat for threatened songbirds.
Not a political or environmental polemic, A Cafecito Story is instead a poetic, modern fable about human beings at their best. The challenge of producing coffee is a remarkable test of our ability to live more sustainably, caring for the land, growers, and consumers in an enlightened and just way. Written with Julia Alvarez's deft touch, this is a story that stimulates while it comforts, waking the mind and warming the soul like the first cup of morning coffee. Indeed, this story is best read with a strong cup of organic, shade-grown, fresh-brewed coffee.

Customer Reviews:

One of Those Amazing Little Book Finds Discovered Unexpectedly Between Two Behemoth Titles on the Shelf.......2007-05-20

While perusing an independent bookstore in Pasadena, CA, I discovered *A Cafecito Story* in between two giant tomes of little interest; but somehow, this slime volume caught my eye and then my interest as I read the back cover and flipped through the book to see the wonderful woodcuts by Belkis Ramírez.

This is the simple story of Joe, the son of a farmer in Nebraska. Disaffected by the direction of farming as the corporations buy up family farms - including his families when his father is forced to sell a large part of the land to pay the bills - and the ruin this brings to the local economies, Joe decides farming is not for him. He moves to the city, marries a city girl, becomes a teacher, divorces the city girl, and at 40 finds himself near burnout and realizing that he can't even enjoy a cup of coffee. So, he decides to take a vacation.

His travels and budget land him at a resort in the Dominican Republic; but, soon he is bored with sitting by the pool and the sterility of resort protected behind walls and guards from the population of the land. At the recommendation of one of the resort's employees, Joe visits the mountains and the coffee farm of the employee's relative. Here is where Joe's life changes forever.

This semi-autobiographical novella by Julia Alvarez (writer-in-residence at Middlebury College and who was born in the Domincan Republic) is a metaphor for the discovery that the author and her husband made while visiting the place of her birth. It is also the story of how people can change the way things are done for the better and in the course of it all begin to change the world. If you are familiar with the concept of Fair Trade in the world of coffee and chocolate and the like, you will really enjoy this look at some of the movement's roots - if you aren't familiar, this book will open your eyes.

A Cafecito Story.......2007-01-10

Delightful, charming story, based on a true, organic, working coffee farm in the Dominican Republic. Illustrations are delightful and enhance the story and the imagination!

A Cafecito Story by Julia Alvarez.......2007-01-10

Beautifully written & illustrated! A little disappointment: I bought this as a gift and there was a small knife slit in the paper cover. I taped it over & hoped my daughter won't notice. Please, be more careful in handling. Thank you. Kathryn Russell

Coffee and love .......2005-12-08

This short work, is the story of coffee, "a social beverage that bridges nations and unites people in trade, in words, in birds, and in love . . . through the eyes of Joe, a man with farming in his blood but an increasing sense of dislacement from the natural world."

Joe is the son of Nebraska farmers. He loves to farm, the small farms go under, and he winds up teaching, though he still yearns for a connection with nature. Then, he takes a vacation in the Dominican Republic. Escaping the gated resort where he is staying, he goes into the mountains and discovers coffee and the coffee growers. They, too, are threatened by agribusiness, companies that spray the coffee with veneno (poison).

Joe buys a parcel of land, and, with another grower, forms a cooperative. Others join them. But they do more than grow coffee the "old-fashioned" way. They promote literacy, and sustainability.

There is also a love story here, not, they are careful to say, the story of Alvarez and her husband, but I think there is something of them in Joe and "the woman behind the counter".

There is an afterword by Bill Eichner about their coffee farm, as well as a list of resources.

The woodcuts by Dominican artist Belkis Ramírez are wonderful. I especially like the one of "the woman behind the counter", as she sits with the steam from the coffee rising, and her hair, flowing out and upwards, has visions of a coffee farm in its curls.

Praise for Alvarez.......2005-06-01

I picked this book up purley by chance. It was on a featured book table at my local library. I don't normaly real a lot of fiction but something made me check it out. I brought it home and started reading it the next morning while having my morning coffee. Theres something in the author's writing style that just makes you want to read more and more. I will most deffinently be purchasing this book and cherishing it forever. Thank you Julia Alvarez!

El Cuento Del Cafecito / A Cafecito Story (Best Seller)

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El Cuento Del Cafecito / A Cafecito Story (Best Seller)
Julia Alvarez
Manufacturer: Random House Mondadori
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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