The Correspondence of Richard Price, Volume II: March 1778-February 1786 (Correspondence of Richard Price)

Book Description

These three volumes are the result of many years of work by the editors who have gone to considerable lengths to establish the definitive collection of Price's letters. They contain all the known extant copies of the correspondence of Richard Price, printed, wherever the originals are available, from manuscript (including Price's shorthand mss.). Many items are published for the first time (including items from the valuable collection in the possession of the Marquis of Lansdowne). Perhaps best known as a political philosopher, Price made significant contributions to Anglo- American intellectual life in the late 18th century in a variety of fields. This remarkable collection of letters, most previously unpublished, is impressive for the breadth of topics covered—religion, theology, politics, education, liberty, finance, demography, and insurance.

Book Description

Imagine a hockey legend having a son whose skill and intensity match his own, a deadly accuracy and toughness passed on from one generation to the next. Well, imagine no longer. Brett Hull, NHL sensation and offspring of the legendary Bobby Hull, has filled his father's skates and then some, leading the NHL in goals over the last ten seasons, winning the prestigious Lady Byng trophy and the Hart trophy, and powering his way into the upper echelon of hockey stars.

Now a key member of the successful Dallas Stars, Brett tells his own story and shares his troubles and triumphs. Through all the pressure and controversy that comes with being an NHL great, he strives to stay on top of his game and to maintain an easygoing attitude. "My only game plan," he writes, "is to keep smilin' and shootin'. It's just the way I am."

Customer Reviews:

Very Enjoyable!.......2006-08-05

This is probably the most enjoyable book I have read regarding hockey or hockey players. Brett provides a light-hearted look at his life that is neither boastful nor "preachy". He is surprisingly modest given the extraordinary career he has had. I particularly enjoyed hearing of his days growing up in the shadow of his legendary dad and how he overcame his own personal obstacles. This book could easily have been two or three times as thick but I am guessing Brett would not have enjoyed writing a lengthy tome - and clearly Brett is motivated by fun more than anything else! A great lesson for anyone!

The Biography of Brett Hull.......2006-03-14

Brett Hull was a great hockey player. He worked very hard to become a star player. It was very hard growing up the son of a famous hockey player,especailly after his parents divorced. I think Brett Hull will be remembered and admired for his goal scoring and records he set on the ice. After reading this book I will remember him for how hard he works and how he never gave up his dream. I would recommend this book top everyone that is a hockey lover. I enjoyed the book and was happy I chose it.

GAME WINNING BOOK BY BRETT HULL.......2004-10-18

THIS IS THE STORY OF BRETT HULL IN HIS OWN WORDS. I REALLY LIKED THIS BOOK. BRETT DOES A NICE JOB DESCRIBING HIS CAREER, RELATIONSHIP WITH HIS DIVORCED PARENTS, AND HIS THOUGHTS ON BEING HIMSELF. BRETT FINALLY PLAYED ON A STANLEY CUP WINNER IN 1999. HE TELLS OF ALL THE PLAYOFF DEFEATS AND THE FRUSTRATIONS DURING HIS CAREER. HE ADDS HUMOR, HONESTY, AND ALOT OF INSIGHTS ON THE GAME OF HOCKEY. I RECOMMEND THIS TO ALL HOCKEY FANS AS A GOOD READ.

This is a great book..........1999-10-20

This is a great book, all of you brett hull fans or not, should go and get this book, it is definetily the best book i've ever read in a long time

Customer Reviews:

I Will certianly take your Cranky bottomsies.......2004-06-09

Cranky's reviews have made me cry with laughter over the years. I am glad to finally have the opportunity to keep them in a nicely bound book on my bookshelf instead of all those pesky printed pages of copyrighted material. Thank you Cranky, and God Bless!

Book Description

The reissue of a cult classic--with an extraordinarily engaging and intelligent ramble with one of the most lively and original minds of our time.

Jerry Garcia (1942-1995) is an American icon. The guitarist and de facto leader of the Grateful Dead was a gregarious talker, keenly engaged with the new world exploding around him. In 1972, Garcia was visited by Charles Reich, a Yale law professor, and Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone. Garcia was just thirty-one years old but already viewed--to his lasting dismay--as a social avatar for the new sensibility sweeping the land, an anarchist streak with a populist undercurrent that had roots in Ken Kesey's pranksters, the writers of the Beat Generation, and the libertine tradition of the American transcendentalists. In this interview, Garcia reveals how he is a combination of these and other influences, a high-school dropout and autodidact blessed with a gift for eloquent turns of phrase and a refreshing directness. He speaks of the saga of the Grateful Dead and his hoodlum youth growing up in San Francisco's Mission district. He delves into fascinating discourses on the music that shaped his own playing and writing, and freely discusses his use of drugs and explains why he felt it was important to stay high. Like the Grateful Dead's best music, Garcia: A Signpost to New Space is familiar, friendly, and inviting.

Customer Reviews:

Getting Deep With Jerry and Mountain Girl.......2007-08-09

I've read a lot of interviews done with Jerry by many different types of people, but this book contains the one that left me feeling like I'd actually had a conversation with him. We catch Garcia in 1972 here. Pigpen is still alive, Mickey Hart has just left the band, and Jerry's addiction to smoking heroin is still five years away. The adventure of his life is still unfolding, and he seems happy, content, at rest. Carolyn "Mountain Girl" Adams is his companion, and they have a beautiful house bought with the fruits of his musical skills. They are living legends.

So it's easy to see why Charles Reich tweaks out during the longer part of the book, the "Stoned Sunday Rap." Staying true to the title, it's a conversation between three stoned members of the counterculture, discussing a wide variety of spiritual, psychological and intellectual concepts. It's not the focused discussion centering on Jerry and the Dead you get at the beginning of the book. It's the conversation that every Deadhead wishes they'd had the chance to have with Jerry.

At times Reich's questions, lines of thought and quest for validation from Garcia and Adams become extremely painful and embarrassing to read, but it's fair to assume that most Deadheads would fare little better stoned in the presence of '72 Jerry and Mountain Girl than Reich does. Of course this really doesn't excuse the periods of the conversation where he doesn't let Jerry or Mountain Girl get a word in edgewise. But maybe this is why you get a sense of Jerry's character, depth and compassion that you don't get in other interviews. In the parlance of the times, it's a far out conversation that every Deadhead should experience.

Dissapointing in its current edition w/o pictures.......2006-11-22

I boght this book a total of three times- first, in its original magazine interview format, over two issues of RS, then in a first edition paperback
when the book was formally published, and agin, some ten years later, when I was sold a copy by a guy outside the Oakland Auditorium for one of the GD's
"year end" runs there.
In its present edition, it is nice to have all the material (text0- of the interviews, but it completely lacks all the pictures included in Rolling Stone's original edition of the book. This may be a small potatoes beef, but
in fact, without the pictures, there's even less a context for people to reference the subject in the era the participants discuss.
If you want a nice insight on the Garcia household on a sunny afternoon, this is an excellent read- before Jerry's smack addiction, and at the height of his influence in the music world just prior to their 1972 tour of Europe. Mountain Girl and Jerry make a hill of beans from Reich's shy pre-outing homosexuality and the California Car Culture, as well as
conversational digressions off the subject of music that are insightful and pithy.
Reich comes off looking like the chela in need of a guru and is dissapointed by Garcia's ineefable denials of the same, but this book will help anyone who has difficulty putting it in perspective a decent
(and from the horse's mouth) oral history of the longest-running, hardest working band outside of showbusiness...

Like A Smile On Empty Space.......2006-03-11

I've just finished reading this book for the first time, and as I was nearing the end I started thinking I'd like to come back to this again and again to be reminded of the spirit of those times, and the way to live into the future, and so this truely is a signpost to new space. The Rolling Stone interview is good, real good, but the stoned sunday rap is magic. Charles Reich (visiting Yale law professor and early new age intellectual) opens up, exploring his own journey, like a large innocent child, and Garcia and Mountain Girl stay right with him providing just the right balance, a remarkable and true mix of wisdom and compassion. Many times I laughed out loud, a few times I repeated lines out loud (to help to put myself there?), many times I felt like the two stoned guys, shaking my head and murmuring "right, right, yeah right" to the deep insights. I guess it got me stoned.

In the RS interview I learned alot of the Dead's evolution and trip to that point ('71). In the rap I was right in there and intimate with Jerry's life. Like Reich says this is a book to change and guide one's life (you can see it happening to him during the visit). It is fun and tender and silly and profound, really and truely profound. And timeless.

Garcia in a intimate print.......2005-08-02

I have the 1st printing so,what can I say I love it!its funny itimate,casual laidback,and definitly magical,thats what Jerry was,if you ask a true Deadhead what it was about him he or she will either say he transended a musician or he was a man beyond description,but he had that special something that in my mind was tied with a alchembic syncronicity,that for some reason he know how to tap into it,like pouring light into a cup,another description would be he did to music what Willy Wonka did for Chocolate,puns,humor included,this book reads itself be well Smitty Deadhead/Taper/bookworm :}

Well Worth Reading.......2005-07-20

If you're already a fan of Jerry Garcia, this book is
quite rewarding, entertaining & even enlightening.
The interview really helps you "get to know" Jerry,
where many of his motivations root & bloom--- The
"stoned Sunday rap" should bring a smile to many faces...
you can CLEARLY read that these people are STONED...
and some of the subjects they talk about are indeed
enlightening. The interview took place around 1972,
when all of Jerry's powers were extremely strong and
energetic...before any "touch of grey" kicked in.
This book is no fluff entertainment piece of crap,
but really has substance.

Garcia. A Signpost of New Space. The Rolling Stone Interview plus a Stoned Sunday Rap with Jerry, Charles & Mountain Girl

Average customer rating:

Garcia. A Signpost of New Space. The Rolling Stone Interview plus a Stoned Sunday Rap with Jerry, Charles & Mountain Girl
Charles and Wenner, Jan Reich
Manufacturer: Straight Arrow Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NUQ9SY

Average customer rating:

Garcia. A Signpost to New Space
Jerry). REICH, Charles and WENNER, Jann (GARCIA
Manufacturer: Straight Arrow Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ILOAS4

Garcia; A Signpost to New Space: the Rolling Stone Interview by Charles Reich and Jann Wenner, plus a Stoned Sunday Rap with Jerry, Charles and Mountain Girl

Average customer rating:

Garcia; A Signpost to New Space: the Rolling Stone Interview by Charles Reich and Jann Wenner, plus a Stoned Sunday Rap with Jerry, Charles and Mountain Girl

Manufacturer: Straight Arrow Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
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Searching for the Sound: My Life with the Grateful Dead

ASIN: 0879320311

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Games for boring people

Thirty Variations of Truth or Dare

This is Sinfully Delicious!

Outstanding!

Games for Naughty People
Brian L. Pillham
Manufacturer: Scholastic
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Looky, Touchy, Feely Party Games

Naughty or Nice Sex: Exciting Games and Romantic Play for Lovers

Sex Games

For Play: 150 Sex Games for Couples

The Sex Games: Kit

Product Features:

1

ASIN: 0964967839

Product Description

Are you naughty? Did you spend most of your high school days locked up in detention or at the principal's office? Do you often take the starring role in your friends' gossip sessions? Have you ever sneaked a few shots from your parents' liquor supply and replaced them with water? If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, chances are that you are naughty. That does not mean that you should be locked up or ostracized for your behavior. What you probably need is a good spanking. Eight Categories of Naughty Games! Gossip Criminal Activity Vulgarity Dirty Talk Couples Only Physical Contact Risque Drinking Traditional Drinking Age: Adult

Customer Reviews:

Games for boring people.......2003-01-11

Don't waste your time buying this book. Most teenagers would not find the book naughty in any way. Prudes might think this book is useful but anyone who has lived a little will find it a complete waste of time.

Thirty Variations of Truth or Dare.......2002-08-21

This book should have been called "Thirty Variations of Truth or Dare". Most of the games are just slight variations of each other. Not at all what I was hoping for. The title and cover are the most provocative part of this book.

This is Sinfully Delicious!.......2000-01-23

Where the hell has this guy been? I can not *wait* to try these games out with friends (and strangers ;-) alike). If you don't have a copy, you're not just missing out, honey, you *ain't* the life of the party! Nuff' said.

Outstanding!.......1999-11-24

This was one of the funniest and funnest books I've ever read! And you can really have fun playing the games too!

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Naughty, Naughty Party Games
Ariel Books
Manufacturer: Andrews McMeel Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Get This Party Started!

ASIN: 0740750577

Book Description

For parties or partners, this kit is an adults-only delight. Enjoy a little sexy competition. Take pleasure playing the Spin the Bottle game and using the "strip dice." There are also 50 arousing Truth-or-Dare cards and a booklet of grown-up fun and games. A must-have for consenting adults.

Book Description

ESSENTIALS OF ACCOUNTS PAYABLE

Full of valuable tips, techniques, illustrative real-world examples, exhibits, and best practices, this handy and concise paperback will help you stay up to date on the newest thinking, strategies, developments, and technologies in accounts payable.

"A real-world approach, with great insights and practical wisdom on all aspects of the accounts payable process. Essentials of Accounts Payable provides accounts payable professionals with a framework for action in a rapidly changing environment."
-Tom Nichols, Division Manager, Accounts Payable Operations, AT&T

"Mary Schaeffer has combined her considerable knowledge of the accounts payable process with the learning and benchmark statistics from top companies to produce a world-class guide to the AP process. Without Mary Schaeffer, and IOMA, AP would still be a neglected financial process without any formal reading to explain the complexities of a process that most companies think is simply paying the bills. This book is a must-read for anyone working in, directing, or managing AP operations, both seasoned professionals and those new to the process."
-Linda Sawyer Sisko, Programs Manager, Cisco Systems, Inc.

"This book does an excellent job of explaining the often complicated basics of the accounts payable functions. It provides a quick snapshot for busy executives who need to know how an accounts payable department should run. It is an excellent update for those executives who need to keep up to date on numerous issues that affect this rapidly evolving profession."
-Adrienne Glasgow, Chief Financial Officer, American Red Cross in Greater New York

The Wiley Essentials Series-because the business world is always changing...and so should you.

Customer Reviews:

A highly practice-oriented guide to AP world.......2005-07-27

A useful handbook for accounts payable professionals. A wide-visioned summary & comparison from accounts payable operations of many companies of various types. Describe things in very details. It will be better if the best practices are more focused to be articulated. Overall, this book would enable someone in this area to achieve a more systematic perception into accounts payable.

Manager.......2002-04-10

A remarkable book in getting anyone up to speed in the world of Accounts Payable. I found this book extremely, It gives valuable insights to both the begineer and the seasoned pro of AP

Customer Reviews:

Good hagiography of a controversial man.......2003-05-04

This is a good introduction to the theories and life of Viktor Schauberger, an Austrian naturalist and inventor. Born in 1885, Schauberger started life as a forester who tried to understand and copy Nature. From watching mountain streams he developed unorthodox theories based on vortex movement about water and its use. He started out designing highly efficient log flumes that used water in vortex motion and at its densest temperature of 4 degrees Centigrade. He then proposed cleaning up the Rhine River by rebuilding the natural curves which stimulate vortex motion in the water. He said that this vortex motion in the Earth caused spring water to be more alive than plain water. He believed that plants grew better in this living water and developed laboratory sized egg-shaped water energizers to activate water.

He also developed theories about the harmfulness of iron and steel tools in agriculture and proposed replacing them with copper ones. He designed an egg-shaped composter that was supposed to develop Noble compost which would be much more beneficial in gardens.

Around the Second World War his theories and experiments take a much different direction and he starts talking about Implosion energy as opposed to combustion explosion energy. He starts developing machines that generate more energy than they use and that run on water and air. Out of this research he claims to have developed a domestic power station that generates large outputs of energy from slight streams of running water. Even more fantastic is a flying saucer that used a 1/20 horsepower electric motor as a starter and then ran on the surrounding flow of air. The research on these inventions was destroyed at the end of the war. Schauberger and his son Walter never seem to have been able to find the resources to develop working models again.

Today his theories on vortex motion of water are taught at the Anthroposophical Emerson College in England. His copper farming tools are sold from the school his son Walter started, the Pythagoras Kepler Schule in Austria. His water, forestry, and farming theories have been accepted by Biodynamic Farming communities and may be helpful to organic farmers today.

There are two appendices at the end of the book by New Age science experts on the underlying theories of vortex energy. I find these actually detract from the book rather than help it. A Bibliography also is less than useful. Most of the sources are to obscure journals or original Austrian publications. These types of resources are less than helpful in such an introductory text.

Perfect Start for anyone interested in Learning about Water.......2002-04-06

I agree that this book is only a brief introduction into the thoughts of Schauberger but hopefully many people are inspired by this book to move forward into the area of water research in an effort to uncover many more truths about what really makes water healthy.

Unfortunately there is so much...on the market, evolving around new-age water products, which in-no-way copy Mother Nature as Viktor had stressed. All these people need to purchase this book in order to obtain some form of initial clarity if they are going to be involved in water research or water products of any kind. Living-water; revitalized-water; restructured water; clustered & micro-clustered-water; alkaline water; Pi-water; crystal-water; snowflake-water; cupcake-water; energized-water; polarized-water; magnetized-water; and all the many others that are on the market have obviously never read any of Viktor's work or at least understood it. Let us all use Viktor's work as a basis to change the planet and make this world a better place to live.

An Excellent Appetizer, Please Pass the Main Course.......2001-04-16

This is an excellent, brief introduction to the thought of Viktor Schauberger, and I hope it inspires works which are more complete. Callum Coates' books reach in this direction, but what is really needed are more people to read these books, synthesize their information, and come up with new and original books which take us further into depth in these areas. This will probably involve synthesizing the work of Schauberger, Grander, Bienveniste, and others.

An understanding of Schauberger is very important for those attempting to reconstruct an Indigenous European Perspective. Schauberger has the elements of a modern water shaman, and his shamanic / intuitive techniques of letting his body float with the water should be closely correlated with what Hans Peter Duerr has to say about "out of body" experience in his tome "Dreamtime". Although Schauberger lived in the 20th Century, his perspective allows us to imagine back what earlier indigenous practitioners may have been like. The Colonial, Imperialist Europe is only one side of the coin of Europe. We must also include the suppressed indigenous, pagan, and green sides. Significantly, the Inquisition represents a watershed in European history where a great deal of the indigenous healers and theorists were wiped out in holocaust proportions. An understanding of Schauberger, coupled with an appreciation of Steiner, Hildegard of Bingen, Hans Peter Duerr, and others, will allow us to reconstruct what a noncolonial, nonimperialist Europe was like.

Understanding water's nature is essential in this regard, for water forms the basis of our understandings of flow. Furthermore, understanding water's energetic qualities will help us understand how it interacts with the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine, for example, would benefit from an accurate and holistic understanding of water's qualities.

In short, this book is an excellent appetizer, but I await the main course ...

Thought provoking intro to little-known qualities of water.......1998-11-19

Although it occasionally veers into new-age speculation or pseudoscience, this book offers a rare look at truly alternative ideas about water and energy. The description of Schauberger's early work with flumes is enthralling, and the brief exposition of "flow forms" towards the end of the book is valuable. Search "flow forms" in any web search engine to see some of the sites around the world espousing a fascinating technology that unites water pollution control with esthetics.

Great introduction to IMPLOSION and what we missed out !.......1998-08-24

I have to say - I got very AGGRAVATED by some portions of this book , because it TOTALLY agreed and expanded on my very own frustrations with our retarded "modern" technologies.

I have ALWAYS dreaded NOISE - I haven't done empirical research on this subject, but my gut instinct has led me to run from & truly hate noisy machines. I feel like someone were stabbing me when I am exposed to a Harley Davidson on the road ! The only friends I really have in this matter I think are the ANIMALS - have you ever noticed the DREAD & FEAR with which ANY animal reacts to our machines ( most notably our motors - be they lawnmowers, drilling machines ... ) Even birds totally abhor the NOISE from our aircraft & automobiles .. notice their flight, as from terror, when they are flying over traffic !

Now I see that IMPLOSION is essentially a NOISELESS phenomenon !! And this is the technology that truly supports the LIVING ! My question - FOLKS, WHEN WILL WE RECOGNIZE THAT WE ARE NOT MACHINES ?? AND OUR SPIRITUALITY IS NOT SOME GOD-DEVIL-CRAP but a PHYSICAL manifestation of the higher ????

" They have eyes, but they don't see ..... "

Average customer rating:
Living Water: Viktor Schauberger and the Secrets of Natural Energy
Olof Alexandersson
Manufacturer: Gateway Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MBDF2W

Customer Reviews:

Mixed feelings.......2003-07-10

I have waited for a long time to find a copy of this at a price I could afford. Listening to the other reviews and looking at Amazons' look inside feature, what I expected was a thick paperback containing a large amount of information on all of the landmines in the inventory, and the approved EOD method for rendering them safe.

What I got was a book that barely fit on my shelf, much less a BDU pocket. It contains the notes of a well-respected gentleman that he homogenized from multiple various sources.

He states that one of the reasons for the book is that the publications for use by EOD personnel are normally not available to the deminer. In many countries, UXO personnel are not EOD people, they are conscripted from the local population. Unfortunately, many of the items do not list a method for neutralization, and the section on rendering safe is very, very, VERY generalized. The ones that do list disarming and neutralization procedures do so supposing that the reader already has attended a course of instruction in explosives disposal.

I wouldn't feel safe using the book in the field. I understand the need for classification, but nothing about landmines, which by nature are left behind to be collected for study and reverse engineering by any coutry with an interest, truly needs classification when you weigh the need of the deminer to safely remove them.

Also, possibly off topic, I would have liked to seen a greater number of submunitions listed.

In sum, the book has its' points, but it falls short of being the publication it could be. A book of this type has a very necessary place in demining operations, and with some more fleshing out, this book could fill that role.

Real information about landmines.......2000-04-19

This book is certainly a must for anyone who is involved in the task of removing the international landmine plague. It is also invaluable for those involved in research and development of new techniques for detection and landmine remediation. For those in the general public who want to understand the difficulties of the technical aspects of demining, it can be a frightening but enlightening reference.

Eddie Banks has over thirty years experience in his field. He has summed his knowledge into an amazingly usable and readable form covering every aspect of antipersonnel mine technology from a historical perspective to detailed specifications of individual mines.

The data sheets, organized by country of manufacture, provide photos, specifications, particular dangers and methods of disarming among many other pertinent facts.

For anyone, from researcher to interested reader, who wants to understand the possibilities for this weapon of terror and the possibilities for remediation, this is a must read.

Customer Reviews:

Essential space policy reading..........2007-07-31

I use this book in my "Issues in U.S. Space Policy" course at the Illinois Institute of Technology. It is an essential book on the development of American space policy during the 20th century. The book's thesis is critically important for those hoping to understand the reasons why human spaceflight has largely been in a holding pattern for the past 35 years (the Vision for Space Exploration notwithstanding). This book is perfect for undergraduate education, and is a crucial read for any serious student of American space policy. Michael Beschloss' overview of the Decision to go to the Moon is an effective synopsis of the classic book by John Logsdon. The chapter by Joan Hoff regarding the Nixon administration and post-Apollo deceleration is particularly interesting.

Spaceflight and the myth of presidential Leadership-

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Spaceflight and the myth of presidential Leadership-
Rodger D. Launius-
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press-
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OMIEMK

Average customer rating:

Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership
Roger D. (Author) Launius, Roger D. (Author) McCurdy, Howard E. (Editor) Launis
Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQBUN6

Amazon.com

How do bombardier beetles choose their mates? Why does a firefly's tail light up at night? What does a monk seal talk about, barking out there on the offshore reef? These questions all have some bearing on the way we humans live our lives, strange though they may seem. Diane Ackerman, a tireless explorer of the natural world, looks for answers among animals that are fast disappearing as their native habitats are destroyed--creatures such as the monarch butterfly, the short-tailed albatross, and the wonderfully named golden lion tamarin. She writes with grace and compassion, but also with a considerable command of science, which makes her work essential for students of nature writing.

Book Description

Ackerman journeys in search of monarch butterflies and short-tailed albatrosses, monk seals and golden lion tamarin monkeys: the world's rarest creatures and their vanishing habitats. She delivers a rapturous celebration of other species that is also a warning to our own. Traveling from the Amazon rain forest to a forbidding island off the coast of Japan, enduring everything from broken ribs to a beating by an irate seal, Ackerman reveals her subjects in all their splendid particularity. She shows us how they feed, mate, and migrate. She eavesdrops on their class and courtship dances. She pays tribute to the men and women hwo have deoted their lives to saving them.

Customer Reviews:

Grand Adventures!.......2005-06-12

Diane Ackerman writes with such eloquence. This book was such an enjoyable read, it is easy to forget that it deals with tough environmental issues. The author has collected short stories from many of her travels to various places to witness endangered species first-hand. From the rain forest to a remote island in Japan, she blends the story of her trip with information about the endangered species/habitat and the interesting people she meets along the way. She manages to get us to think about our impact on nature without being preachy, and in an entertaining manner. A must for any adventurer, actual or armchair.

beautiful journey.......2004-07-07

Diane Ackerman takes us on a journey from continent to continent exploring the habitat of several rare animals, including the golden lion tamarind, short-tailed albatross, and monk seal. In every case, Ackerman doesn't just observe, she gets right up close, in some cases risking or sustaining injury. She catches crickets, tags seal pups, and presses bombardier beetles to see them spray a warning. (All this is done under the eyes of experts in the various fields.) Her descriptions of the habitats are, as usual, beautiful but real enough so that you are transported right into these remote locations with her. By simply describing the work of those who study and handle the animals, Ackerman reminds us how important it is to preserve what's left of their habitats, always worth emphasizing.

Collection of essays on endangered species.......2004-03-03

I want Diane Ackerman's life. She gets to visit weird, remote, exotic locations, observe unusual flora and fauna, write about them - and earns enough money to go out and do it again.
In The Rarest of the Rare, she gathers together 6 essays previously published elsewhere; all deal with endangered species such as the golden lion tamarind, the monarchs, monk seals, and others. But she's not just a do-gooder naturalist: she's also a poet, a philosopher, and a heck of a good writer. Some of her musings, the questions she asks of herself, the parallels she makes, remind me of Annie Dillard's nature writing - her books such as Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.
It's a joy to share these things that I will never experience through the eyes of such a consummate scientist and writer and human being.
Also, for an entirely different approach to observing endangered species, see Daniel Glick's Monkey Dancing.

What We Stand to Lose.......2002-01-31

Ackerman's gift is her ability to capture and convey her wonder, delight and fascination with the creatures that inhabit the Earth. She is equally at home with whales and crocodiles, finds cuddling baby penguins as entertaining as discussing bombardier beetles and thinks nothing of tackling stormy seas and the vertical slopes of volcanic islands to catch a glimpse of a rare sea bird.

In this, her latest attempt to help humans see and understand the "interlocking business of species," Ackerman introduces us to some of the world's most beleagured inhabitants. Meet the Hawaiian monk seal with its "bulbous head covered in silky fur, with black-buttonhook-shaped eyes, a snout on which springy nostrils open full like quotation marks, tiny tab shaped ears, a spray of cat's whiskers, and many doughy chins;" the golden tamarind monkey, with its "sunset-and-corn-silk coloring;" and the magical monarch butterfly, "gliding, flapping and hitching rides on thermals like any hawk or eagle."

Then there are the creatures of the Amazon river - armoured catfish, cashew piranhas, striated herons, sphinx moths, yellow-footed tortoises and bewhiskered dolphins. On the volcanic Japanese island of Torishima, we are introduced to the last of the short-tailed albatrosses and the young Japanese orinthologist who is trying to save them.

Whether she is bushwacking through rainforests, fighting seasickness or summoning the nerve to touch a shiny beetle, Ackerman is always fully and actively present for her reader. Reading one of her books is the next best thing to being in the field with her, and certainly a lot less strenuous. This book is a treat that shouldn't be missed.

Heartfelt and beautiful.......2000-07-17

This is one of my favorite books for many reasons: it's heartfelt, knowledgable, deeply respectful of the animals and landscapes she knows personally, enviromentally conscientious, and written in unforgettable language. I don't know which I admire more-- her integrity, her passion, or the poetry of her language. I've read and reread it and will read it again.

THE RAREST OF THE RARE: VANISHING ANIMALS, TIMELESS WORLDS

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THE RAREST OF THE RARE: VANISHING ANIMALS, TIMELESS WORLDS
Diane Ackerman
Manufacturer: Publisher Unknown
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WR19AQ

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