Book Description
Entering her fortieth year, Beverly Donofrio, a "lapsed Catholic," inexplicably begins collecting Virgin Mary memorabilia at yard sales. Her search for kitsch, however, soon becomes a spiritual quest, leading her to make a pilgrimage to the holy city of Medjugorje. There, she learns that Mary comes into your life only when pride steps out and receives a bonus: hope. In Looking for Mary, Donofrio offers the universal story about a woman who-in a quest for the Blessed Mother-finds herself.
Customer Reviews:
Wonderful!.......2007-08-30
This book is a rarity--a book about Catholic Marian spirituality with much to offer non-Catholics, and even non-believers. D'Onofrio comes to terms with her (grievous) mistakes as a mother as she searches for (and finds) Mary the mother of Jesus. The book traces her interest in Catholic kitsch which gives way to an authentic awareness of and openness to the divine as it is manifested in and through Mary. Profoundly moving and honest, inspiring and very well-written--I feel lucky to have stumbled across this book.
Wonderful..........2007-07-05
I really loved this book. Beverly Donofrio is a very honest spiritual seeker, free of piety and self-pity. A teenage mother deserted by her husband (who later dies of AIDS), she moves with her young son to New York to pursue her dream of being a writer. An MFA from Columbia and a rather wild social life follow. Later in life, with a stormy relationship with her son to contend with and many failed relationships, Donofrio finds herself drawn to Mary for spiritual sustenence. This is where the book heats up -- trips to Medjugore and Mexico, mystical experiences, and healing for the author. She acknowledges that her neglectful parenting has been her son's "cross to bear" but finds forgiveness for herself as well. You won't close this book dry eyed.
Looking for Mary - A must read.......2007-06-10
Looking for Mary is a fabulous story with lots of emotion. I highly recommend this book as it a wonderful "journey". A lot of women can identify with the experiences. Looking for Mary is a must for Book Clubs... great for discussions. This book was so good that I purchase three so that I could give a copy to special friends.
A Spiritual Journey ..........2007-06-06
I loved this book and found it to be such a brave portrayal of Beverly Donofrio's search for her own unique devotion to Mother Mary. It was amusing, moving, funny and profound. My favorite part - mixed with both amusement and emotion - was when Beverly went to confession. "Bless me Father for I have sinned,it has been 35 years since my last confession."...
Inspiration found.......2007-03-16
I loved this book and have recommended it to countless friends. I was inspired not only by the author's bravery in recounting her story, but also with her leap of faith. I could not put this book down!
The author's faith journey began with a serendipitous decision to buy a statue of Mary. From that first statue, the author was called to buy more Mary icons to fill her house. Her journey eventually led her to Medjugorje where she had a spiritual awakening. This book was a beautifully written memoir.
Average customer rating:
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Abi's Grace: Journey of A Special Needs Family
Traci L. Trube
Manufacturer: AuthorHouse
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Religion & Spirituality
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ASIN: 1418455687 |
Book Description
"Abi's Grace; Journey of a Special Needs Family" is an intimate look at the lives of a special needs family. Abigail is a severely and multiply impaired little girl who has had a profound and magical effect on not only her family but all who allow her to touch their heart. "Abi's Grace; Journey of a Special Needs Family" allows the reader to experience the complexity surrounding the care of a special needs child, yet invites the reader to celebrate the simplicity and honesty of their love. Humor, frustration, confusion, exhaustion, determination, serenity. "Abi's Grace; Journey of a Special Needs Family" is about all of these feelings and many more. But, most of all, it is about acceptance and unconditional love.
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"Strange Friends": A Learning Guide (Film Guides for Students of Chinese)
Jing-heng Ma
Manufacturer: Center for Chinese Studies, The Universi
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0892641029 |
Book Description
Il primo libro de madrigali a cinque voci (Venice, 1566)
Customer Reviews:
Bravo!.......2006-01-04
Ideal for cowardly, dishonest chess players.
Humor much needed by serious players.......2000-05-04
Chapter 1 is entitled But You Can't Cheat at Chess. Yet tournament players will recognize some of the dirty tricks recommended here, and practiced by occasional opponents, in competitions. Chapter 4, entitled Friendly Games, consists entirely of the admonition "There is no such thing as a friendly game of chess." The full-length Chapter 5, "Friendly" Games, sets the record straight. The book suggests playing in the center or on the wings, depending on whether your opponent's eyes are far apart or close together, and deep in your opponent's territory or close to home, depending on whether he has long or short arms. At one point the author recommends the move Pawn to King's Rook Three-and-Three-Fourths, so that it can be j'adoubed back to the third rank if it turns out to be vulnerable on the fourth. The penultimate chapter describes how to be a chess journalist, by applying such hackneyed annotations as "Note how naturally White's moves flow from the characteristics of the position" to a ridiculous move played in the middle of a ridiculous game. This book is not for serious competitors, but for those with a sense of humor. It's hilarious.
A great deal of fun to read........1997-03-14
Loved it!
This isn't really a chess book but a humor but a humor book about chess. Although it does teach something on how to cheat at chess, the most important thing in the book are the jokes, which might sometimes be a bit stupid but are always very funny.
Read the chapter on friendly games
Book Description
An introduction to technical analysis with a free software and data offer from one of the top names in the business
This indispensable book will guide traders and individual investors through the most important-and profitable-advances in today's investment arena. Technical Charting for Profits explains technical analysis topics to traders in an accessible manner, and covers how to apply them in actual trading practice. Filled with helpful sample charts, graphs, and end-of-chapter quizzes, Technical Charting for Profits:
- Teaches you the basics of understanding and using indicators
- Includes a CD-ROM video and 30-day free data trial of the most widely distributed charting software package in the industry
- Covers both theory and practice of technical analysis
Chart your course for financial success today with the priceless lessons in this much-needed book.
Download Description
An introduction to technical analysis with a free software and data offer from one of the top names in the business
Customer Reviews:
Honest effort, but badly written for target audienmce.......2006-06-12
First of all, the writing style. Larson's writing style is easy to follow, but the book itself is badly edited, with lots of padding. For example, we learn on P.69 about the 25 day DMA and two pages later the 200 DMA is presented. I had hoped for a better discussion of TC2000's proprietary indicators, MS, TSV and BOP, but the book presents a rehash of the documentation supplied with the software.
More important is the book's target audience. Don't even bother buying this book uless you intend to use Worden's TC2000 charting software. All discussions, indicators and charts are explained using this software as reference. On the other hand, if you have this software, you presumably already have a good understanding of the standard and proprietary indicators supplied with the package, and don't need lengthy tutorials on moving averages and relative strength. In this respect, the book's audience is unclear.
For me, what the book missed was material for the advanced TC2000 user, such as using the software's scanning and programming language capabilities. I assume that Larson himself is an advanced TC2000 user, it would have been nice if he had included some trading strategies making use of the software's advanced capabilities.
Sadly, all this is missing.
Sow shall you Reap.......2006-03-29
Mark has written & spoken of his years of successful trading to thousands across the United States & other countries. I have known him for several years & consider him a sincere giver who is willing to help anyone who is interested in improving their investment skills.
Mark not only can talk the talk BUT he truly can walk the walk. He is proud to display his investment portfolio & does so in many of his investment classes. May God continue to Bless Mark & his family.
Excellent Introduction to technical aspects of trading.......2006-03-26
A very helpful insight into some of the most commonly used technical indicators for market and individual security price trends. The book offers good explanation of what each indicator is designed to measure and how some of the indicators are used together. Concise, easy to understand and apply---a good resource for anyone investing in paper assests.
THIS BOOK WAS EXTREMELY HELPFUL ESPECIALLY WITH PARALYSIS ANALYSIS IN TRADING OPTIONS........2006-03-25
THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST OPTION BOOKS I HAVE EVER READ.IT TOTALLY CLEARED UP MY CONFUSION WITH INFORMATION OVERLOAD.IT WAS VERY HELPFUL TO READ MARKS THOUGHT PROCESSES BEHIND THE TRADE AS WELL AS TO LOOK AT THE CHARTS WITH HIS IDENTIFIED TECHNICALS.HIS DETAILED DESCRIPTIONS ENABLED ME TO SEE WHAT I WAS DOING WRONG.THIS BOOK TOTALLY INCREASED MY CONFIDENCE LEVEL IN TRADING OPTIONS AS WELL AS THE PROFITS I HAVE MADE SEVERAL MONTHS IN A ROW SELLING NAKED PUTS ON ABAX , WEBX AND SBUX. THANKS LARSON!!!! MARY
This is a great fundemental book The other reviews must have a hidden agenda.......2006-03-25
I thought this was a great book on fundementals even though a lot of technical indicators are available from different sources. The bad reviews listed here must have not read the book or had a hidden agenda to trash Mark for some reason. It is hard to understand why. Mark is very successful and spends most of his waking hours helping others learn to be self-sufficient traders.
Product Description
Successful traders know that using Moving Averages can result in more profitable trades -if applied properly. But, what are Moving Averages? When -and how- should they be used? Now, noted trader Clif Droke takes the mystery out of Moving Averages by explaining them in detail, describing how they can be employed to zero in on buy/sell signals that result in more profitable trades- more often.
Traders of every level will also discover how to:
--Calculate moving averages -including the Simple, Variable, and Exponential
--Use moving averages to identify price cycle bottoms
--Identify support and resistance levels with moving averages
--Spot trend changes with moving averages
Supported by numerous examples and charts that help visualize time- tested tips and techniques -you'll soon solve the simple "mystery" behind this incredibly powerful investment tool.
list price $29.95
Learn candlestick charting from a trading master! Steve will take you through the basics of candlestick charting and spotting early reversal signs in this informative audio tape. A great supplement to his best-selling title 'Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques' and his video workshop 'Strategies for Profiting with Japanese Candlesticks'.
list price $19.95
Product Description
Futures trading,for many years the domain of professional fund managers and harried, hand-waving pit traders, was long considered either too risky or too sophisticated for the average investor. However, due to current technology that capitalizes on formerly inaccessible data and research, this vast trading arena holds great promise for those who seek to leverage small investments into substantial gains. In order to profit, traders need to know about the specific types of analysis, technology, and patterns that can lead to success. Filled with practical tools and techniques for understanding and prospering in the world of futures trading, Profit in the Futures Markets! shows how to use this information to your best advantage. In addition, you will discover how to improve your trading strategies by understanding and building upon your own style and developing a specialized plan for success based on your individual needs and abilities. Investors interested in expanding into the potentially lucrative world of futures need look no further than this easy-to-read, insight-filled guide. Debunks the myths that until recently have prevented many individual investors from trading in the futures markets -Covers virtually all important aspects of the subject, from the mechanics of trading to advanced strategies and techniques, including futures options and online trading -Reveals the importance of futures as an essential tool for capitalizing on price swings and market volatility -Instructs on discipline and money management - How to trade like a pro- Illustrated with numerous charts and graphs list price $34.95
Candlestick audio CD:
Learn candlestick charting from a trading master!Through the basics of candlestick charting and spotting early reversal signs in this informative audio tape. A great supplement to his best-selling title 'Japanese Candlestick Charting Techniques' and his video workshop 'Strategies for Profiting with Japanese Candlesticks list price $19.95
Book Description
Love by the Glass is a captivating memoir by the authors of The Wall Street Journal’s weekly “Tastings” column, Dorothy J. Gaiter and John Brecher, who have merged their journalism careers with their love of wine. She grew up in the all-black environment of Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, and he was raised in Jacksonville, where his was one of a handful of Jewish families. Follow Dottie and John from their June 4, 1973, meeting in the newsroom of The Miami Herald to their first “Open That Bottle Night,” which put them on the road to becoming full-time wine columnists. From the André Cold Duck that accompanied their first date to the bottle of Taittinger Champagne smuggled into the delivery room to wet the lips of their newborn second daughter, lovers of books as well as lovers of wine can now join the wine world’s favorite couple as they embark on the ultimate quest for the perfect grape.
Amazon.com
Dorothy J. Gaiter and her husband John Brecher are best known for their Wall Street Journal wine column, "Tastings," a passionate yet practical guide to their favorite subject. Love by the Glass: Tasting Notes from a Marriage is their marriage-and-wine memoir, an account of the couple's life together in terms of the bottles they discovered, shared, and enjoyed (or didn't) over time. If readers learn less than they should about the pair when their glasses aren't raised, they are nonetheless treated to a fascinating (as well as useful) investigation of a growing education and the bottles that fueled it.
Chapters are named for the couples' progressive wine discoveries, from the "rudimentary" (André Cold Duck, enjoyed on their first date) to the diversely more evolved (for example, a "magnificent" Gevrey-Chambertin Gérard Quivy provided in a basement shop in Burgundy). Other discoveries are delightfully serendipitous (like a "small" but delicious Collery brut champagne, enjoyed at the launch of the pair's wine Web site). In the process, readers follow the intertwining lives of the love-at-first-sight couple--he, from one of a few Jewish families in Jacksonville, Florida; she, African American and raised in the environment of Florida A&M University--as they blend burgeoning journalism careers with their love of wine. Emblematic of this ever-evolving infatuation, and a narrative high point, is the couple's maternity ward visit to wet the lips of their newborn second daughter with Taittinger champagne. Thus wine and love are once again mutually measured in a book all devotees of the grape, and of the couple who so plainly elucidate its mysteries, will want to read. --Arthur Boehm
Customer Reviews:
Tastes Good!.......2006-06-16
What a wonderful way to organize a book! Most life stories are organized around major life events. This memoir is organized around the small events that matter in the long run. The wine is the supporting actor/ress, never overwhelming the stars, but always rounding out the story.
One day, Americans will drink wine with the same sophistication we currently save for sports, complete with fan clubs and tasting events, and of course, comptitions. In the meanwhile, wine is working its way into our family events, our personal acheivements, and intimate moments. This kind of "viral" change takes a long time. But eventually, wine will win.
These are wonderful events and worderful in the life of an interesting couple. The place wine has in their lives is probably not unique, but the writing is easy (like a summer Chard) and interesteing.
Get a glass of your favorite, whatever it is, and enjoy!
To your health, good times, and good friends!
Wine, with love.......2005-06-19
I have recently started to study the world of wines thoroughly. But when a friend gave me this book to read and told me that I might like it, I was a bit skeptical because I believed wine could be told only in technical and sometimes boring terms.
I just had no idea it would be such a charming and enjoyable reading.
The book is very unpretentious, written with lots of charm and fun - and especially with love. The story starts by explaining the long road the authors took before becoming wine columnists for the Wall Street Journal. It is delightful to discover how many years two people spent on discovering wines, learning about what they like, learning how to distinguish good ones from bad ones, and going on trips to wineries around the world. It is an honest and sincere story about how they discovered the unique pleasures wine can give. All that seasoned with their love for each other, and of course for wines.
I have to admit that there are some parts in the book where I think they may have stressed their private lives too much -- such as how much they struggled to conceive their first child, or how much their houses cost. But the story remains above all a captivating telling about their love story and wine.
I don't think there is anything more beautiful and enjoyable than a couple and their discovery of another shared love - in this case, the love for wine. But, of course, this is a very subjective view and wine plays a central role, and so I recommend the book only to those who enjoy reading about wine.
Sweet, helpful, and unpretentious.......2003-12-03
Gaiter and Brecher have employed their love of wine as a wonderful frame for the warm and touching story of their lives together. Both are people of incredible accomplishment who share their experiences and appreciation of wine in an uncomplicated, unpretentious, and understated fashion. While what they share about their evolving interest and expertise in wine is interesting, it is their own personal chronicle that is fascinating.
This is a wonderful book for the neophyte/developing devotee of wine. They frankly point out their initially pedestrian taste in wine, and their continued willingness to try seemingly unsophisticated, "fun", or inexpensive wines. I experienced some mild nausea reading what a wonderful principled paragon of good journalism the "Wall Street Journal" represents (in light of its editorial page); however, its credibility jumped in my estimation while reading this book due to the admiration I developed for them and their advocacy of the paper. This book challenged my assumptions, in that the seeming journal of the privileged features a wine column ideal for the needs of regular people.
"Love By the Glass" is a practical guide to savoring wine that doubles as a touching memoir. It is not a great book or a connoisseur's guide, but definitely is a fun and worthwhile read.
Alcohol and I don't mix, but I still loved this book!.......2003-11-07
I'm doing research for a series of romance novels about a family of winemakers. My friend, Gwen, recommended this book since she knew I was a neophyte where wine is concerned. I'm so glad she did. I learned a lot about wine, how to choose a good one, why wine changes from the moment you uncork it to your last mouthful.
I learned about the regions where grapes are grown, and why some grapes grow better in certain regions. I learned that oftentimes how good a wine is depends not so much on the soil the grapes are grown in, but the patience, passion, and faith of the winemaker. Most of all, this book is about enjoying life. Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher definitely know how to do that! They're inspiring. A truly heart-warming story. And I didn't have one potent potable while reading it! :o)
Disliked everything except the whole book.......2003-08-22
There's plenty to dislike about this book.
First is the style: it's written in the third person, as if by some distant friend of the authors, and that's a highly debatable choice for two people who are zealous advocates for wine being best experienced as an intimate personal event. Then, apparently in recognition of the fact that the 3rd person style has its limitations in this context, the authors throw in occasional personal asides in italics, adding an element of inconsistency on top of their initial poor choice. (A much better style would have been, say, the joint author style used in "All's Fair," the book that James Carville and Mary Matalin did together several years ago). It's thus almost hard to believe that these two are the esteemed writer/journalists that they claim to be...which, in turn, brings up another problem with the book: there's a typical baby boomer self-centered, self-congratulatory note here in a text that doesn't need it. Also in the stylistic department: the end of the book seems awfully rushed. After a leisurely pace through most the book, within the space of a couple pages at the end, the authors breeze through Martha Stewart, the dot-com bust, their decision to give up the traditional careers they started, and 9/11/01.
On top of this, at least some readers are sure to find that the authors really are the wine snobs that they so often claim not to be. They admit, after all, to being Central Park West, East Coast, yuppy liberals who love eating at chi-chi restaurants and living close to the edge of their means while traveling the world. Oh, and for liberals who might be inclined to love the authors all the more because of all this, keep in mind that the authors barely explain their life decision to work for capitalist tool "The Wall St. Journal."
I'll be darned, then, if I didn't enjoy every single page of this fantstic and wonderful book (much as I love John & Dottie's regular newspaper column). It seemed so honest and intimate. I literally laughed and cried while reading this book. I don't want to say much more, except read it yourself.
And here's a fun tip for how to read the book: while you would do just fine to read it piecemeal (Chapter 1 here, Chapter 7 there, Chapter 4 later), read it cover to cover without thinking about it too much (i.e., without concentrating on gleaning every wine tidbit from every page). Then, go back when you're done, and look again at the chapter headings, each of which is titled after a wine. Then scan each chapter again to see where that wine fits into the story told in the chapter.
Average customer rating:
- A brutally realistic novel of combat life and death
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Battle : Normandy, 1944 : Life and Death in the Heat of Combat
Kenneth Macksey
Manufacturer: Grub Street
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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ASIN: 1902304470 |
Book Description
It is Normandy, July 28, 1944. Outside Caen, the Americans have broken through the German defences. Six stalemated British divisions redeploy to join the American attack. The ensuing battle involves infantry, tanks and artillery working together. The battle plans, which had seemed clear-cut and achievable during the battle seem a nightmarish botch to the frightened men who are fighting. Some men fail - as human beings, as leaders, as comrades; some just do their duty, some excel. It is a battle like any other, where the resources of men are tested to the limit and each is faced with his own stark moment of self-revelation. And here is the key. In order to show the reader the true nature of combat, Ken Macksey has selected a real engagement in which he took part, and has related authentic incidents played out by participants who have remained fictitious to protect the memory of the living and dead. He weaves a terrific story using all his experience and the result, part fact, part fiction is a unique and brilliant insight into what really happens in the life and death of warfare.
Customer Reviews:
A brutally realistic novel of combat life and death.......2001-10-15
Battle: Normandy 1944, Life and Death in the Heat of Combat is a brutally realistic novel of combat life and death near the end of World War II, in Normandy 1944. Author Ken Macksey has meticulously researched actual incidents and learned from survivors true, personal accounts of the deadly conflict, weaving them into a story that could just as well come straight from the pages of history. Though the novel is technically a work of historical fiction, the details and feel of close-combat warfare are eerily real because they are based firmly on fact. Battle is a highly recommended novel for those who prefer the vividly accurate battle re-creations of the "Saving Private Ryan" film to the historical liberties of the "Pearl Harbor" movie.
Average customer rating:
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Debating Democracy's Discontent: Essays on American Politics, Law, and Public Philosophy
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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Democracy's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy
-
Public Philosophy: Essays on Morality in Politics
ASIN: 0198294964 |
Book Description
In this timely and provocative volume, some of the world's leading political and constitutional theorists come together to debate Michael Sandel's celebrated thesis that the United States is in the the grip of a flawed public philosophy - "procedural liberalism". Beginning with an original stage-setting introduction by Ronald Beiner, and ending with a reply by Michael Sandel, Sandel's liberal and feminist critics square off with his communitarian and civic republican sympathizers in a lively and wide-ranging discussion spanning constitutional law, culture, and political economy. Practical, topical issues of immigration, gay marriage, federalism, adoption, abortion, corporate speech, militias, and economic disparity are debated alongside theories of civic virtue, citizenship, identity, and community. Not only does this volume provide the most comprehensive and insightful critique of Sandel's Democracy's Discontent to date - it also makes a very significant, substantive contribution to contemporary political and legal philosophy in its own right. It will prove essential reading for all those interested in the future of American politics, law, and public philosophy.
Book Description
Consider just two of the countless facts about the damage we have done to the Everglades: Half of its original 14,000-square-mile expanse is gone, and saving what is left will cost at least $8.4 billion. Alluding to destruction on a scale we can barely grasp, figures like these can at once stir and immobilize us. In Liquid Land, Ted Levin guides us past the dire headlines and into the magnificent swamp itself, where we come face-to-face with the plants, animals, and landscapes that remain and that will survive only if we protect them.
Levin has traveled extensively through the Everglades, often in the company of such dedicated individuals as Archie Jones, the conchologist who for fifty years has been studying and rescuing tree snails, or Frank Mazzotti, with whom Levin spent two weeks in the field monitoring American crocodiles. Through Levin's adventures we come to know intimately a place where water was meant to flow as a broad, shallow "sheet" and where minuscule changes in elevation yield a dramatic change in the diversity of life, from manatees and mangroves on the coast to panthers and orchids in the interior.
Throughout, Levin profiles the various parties who have tried to master, protect, or coexist with the Everglades--from the agribusiness concerns known collectively as Big Sugar to Friends of the Everglades to a small community west of Miami, nameless but for the designation "8.5 Square Mile Area." As we float, sometimes slog, alongside Levin through hammocks, keys, and sloughs, we see firsthand how drainage and development have led to water pollution and salinity fluctuations, a disruption of the swamp's wet/dry seasonal cycle, an explosion in the mosquito population, and a weakened response of the ecosystem to drought, fire, hurricanes, and invasive species.
Liquid Land captures the Everglades' essential beauty and mystery as it explores ongoing restoration efforts. Our success or failure will have an impact on environmental policy around the world, Levin believes. As the preservationist rallying cry goes, "The Everglades is a test. If we pass, we get to keep the planet."
Customer Reviews:
A great read, you'll read more than once........2005-11-09
I read River of Grass last fall and then read Liquid Land last winter. It was great. Easy to read and follow. Very informative.
I'm reading it for the second time now. You can't read it without coming away with genuine concern or affirming everything you have thought or been told about the state of our Everglades and how vital they are to the well-being of our Earth.
Winner of the 2004 Burroughs Award.......2004-08-03
This book just won author Ted Levin the 2004 John Burroughs Award for natural history writing, putting him in the company of such wonderful writers as David Quammen (Song of the Dodo), Carl Safina (Eye of the Albatross), Rachel Carson (The Sea Around Us), John McPhee (Control of Nature), Bernd Heinrich (Mind of the Raven), and others.
For me, this book is the new Everglades natural history classic, and will go on my bookshelf next to Marjorie Stoneman Douglas' "The Everglades: River of Grass."
The Everglades: a Metaphor for a Land Abused.......2004-07-08
The Florida peninsula was at one time, depending on how you looked at it, a collection of pestilential swamps and frightening dark hardwood hammocks and pine woodlands, or a remarkable paradise of biodiverse and uniquely intertwined ecosystems. I tend to view the peninsula that was as the latter and I am saddened by, for example, the loss of tropical hardwood hammock to the ever growing asphalt and concrete jungle that is called greater Miami.
Indeed, of the many splendors of the "Sunshine State" the Everglades is one of the most remarkable. Made famous by Marjory Stoneman Douglas (who lived to reach 100 years of age), it has at least as much allure as the "Big Scrub" of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings. I have seen both, but by the time I saw them they were both much diminished from what they were even fifty years before.
Ted Levin eloquently tells the story of the Everglades, its near destruction and attempted restoration in "Liquid Land: A Journey Through the Florida Everglades." It is not a pretty story as it involves many misguided ideas about the "grassy waters." These led to the building of miles of canals and dikes and one of the most messed up attempts to tame the untamable in the history of the United States. Whether the Army Corps of Engineers can restore the Glades to their original splendor is questionable, as they don't even really know what the Everglades were like prior to the end of the 19th Century. Nobody bothered to record it! After all it was worthless swamp and jungle to the developers like Napoleon Bonaparte Broward.
Levin records this sad history of an underappreciated wilderness reduced to, as Levin says, the artificialness of Disney World by the pumps that try to restore "normal" flows of water. Besieged by often totally inappropriate development, the Everglades still survive in a much reduced form. This world was also well described, as well as illustrated by beautiful and haunting photographs as it was in the early 1970s, by Archie Carr in "The Everglades" (Time-Life Books).
A monumental "tribute" to the short-sightedness and unbelievable hubris of the human species, the story of the Everglades is also one of hope, however slight. Archie Carr always tried to look on the bright side of the issue and I think we have to do so as much as we can (while not sugar- coating the destruction that has occurred in the past and is still going on today). While a mere shadow of what once was, there are still some areas like Corkscrew Swamp and (if you are very adventurous) the Fakahatchee Strand that are very much worth seeing- especially if you can appreciate swamps.
Read Ted Levin's book if you care about the special wild places of this planet!
Packed from cover to cover with eye-opening insights.......2004-04-05
From panthers to tree snails, author Levin has experienced Florida's Everglades as no other, and here is provided an artful survey of author Ted Levin's travels through the region. From issues surrounding its restoration efforts to history of wildlife and wildlife management efforts, Liquid Land is packed from cover to cover with eye-opening insights.
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