A Horse in the Ladies' Room

Book Description

A book that bares the facts and foibles of operating an Early American Inn while simultaneously answering the question: HOW TO BE HOSPITABLE WHEN THE GUESTS KEEP GETTING IN THE WAY! A unique New Hampshire innkeeper faces challenges from all sides as he does business in a 175-year old building with a parade of unconventional guests and staff. The book is filled with humorous and often unbelievable anecdotes.

Book Description

One of the most powerful players of his generation, Ian Woosnam is a golfing legend. His is a fascinating life story - from the struggle to earn a living in a hard-working mining community, through the highs and lows of the amateur and professional game, to becoming a household name. Woosnam has strong opinions on how to keep the game "honest" and the threat posed by modern technology and the regulation of the professional game. And on a lighter note, he revisits the wealth of characters he has come across both inside and outside the game: from Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo to Ian Botham and Dennis Taylor.

Book Description

Girls are everywhere these days: they rule MTV and the pop charts; they are big box-office draws; they are on the covers of top-selling magazines; and they score the winning points in professional sports. Despite the recent flurry of books exploring girlhood, like Odd Girl Out and The Secret Lives of Girls, these titles mainly tackle the topic of aggression in young women.

Anita Harris, in her new book Future Girl, goes beyond this to create a realistic portrait of the "new girl" that has appeared in the twenty-first century--she may still play with Barbie, but she is also likely to play soccer or basketball, be assertive and may even be sexually aware, if not active. Building on this new definition, Harris explores the many key areas central to the lives of girls from a global perspective, such as girlspace, schools, work, aggression, sexuality and power.

In an era of girl power and Riot grrls, Future Girl provides a fresh and original perspective on what it means to be young and female at the beginning of the new millennium.

Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty-First Century

Average customer rating:

Future Girl: Young Women in the Twenty-First Century
Anita Harris
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUA1N4

Customer Reviews:

For mature audiences.......2001-01-17

While these volume two projects are again attractive and book-related, they are not particularly useful for librarians and teachers with limited budgets and prep time. The author states in the introduction that they were planned for "ten participants between the ages of four and ten" and cost "between twenty and thirty dollars". The projects use a lot of craft store materials in addition to tapestry needles and hammer and nails. I doubt that the parents of my story time kids would be comfortable with them wielding implements of that nature! It does include detailed supplies list-just enough for the ten intended participants, who would have to be pretty mature to produce most of these "with only minimal help". For kids in the upper age range these may work just fine, and adults may enjoy quite a few of them too. There is a "Blind Mice Puppet" project that is a dead-ringer for "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse"! Appended with project patterns, which are mostly full-size, and macrame diagrams.

For mature audiences only.......2001-01-17

While these projects are certainly quite attractive and book-related, they are not particularly useful for librarians and teachers with limited budgets and prep time. The author states in the introduction that they were planned for "ten participants between the ages of four and ten" and cost "between twenty and thirty dollars". The projects use a lot of craft store materials in addition to wire cutters and hammer and nails. I doubt that the parents of my story time kids would be comfortable with them wielding implements of that nature! It does include detailed supplies list-just enough for the ten intended participants, who would have to be pretty mature to produce most of these "with only minimal help". Older children (or even adults)with artistic abilities will find much to like here, however.

Amazon.com

Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX 2004 is the leading software tool for the creation of Web sites and other HTML interfaces. It's remarkably capable, able to deal intelligently with everything from fonts and images to JavaScript for client-side data validation and embedded Java applets. In most cases, Dreamweaver will save you time over hand-coding--and yield better-looking pages to boot. The program's learning curve, though, isn't trivial. That's why Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual is worth having on hand as you learn to use Dreamweaver, and worth keeping within reach as you tackle increasingly difficult Web development work.

David McFarland wrote this book, but the influence of esteemed series editor David Pogue is obvious in the careful coverage of features and frequent touches of humor (books about applications can be whangingly dull; the books in Pogue's Missing Manual series consistently manage to avoid this problem while maintaining comprehensiveness). The two men treat Dreamweaver's numerous features (and the even more numerous ways of putting them to use) cleverly, with a combination of procedures and side information that clarifies many oddball situations as well as straightforward conditions. --David Wall

Topics covered: How to create HTML (XHTML and CSS, strictly speaking) documents using Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004. In addition to the basic stuff (text, images, links, and frames), the book shows you how to build forms for data submission and embed Flash movies and Java applets. There's also a lot of helpful emphasis on Dreamweaver's productivity features, like snippet libraries and file transfer utilities. A special section shows you how to do some server-side work with databases.

Book Description

Macromedia's Dreamweaver MX 2004 offers a rich environment for building professional web sites, with drag-and-drop simplicity, clean HTML code, and dynamic database-driven web site creation tools. It comes with everything except perhaps the most important feature of all: a printed manual. Enter Dreamweaver MX 2004: The Missing Manual, the book that enables both first-time and experienced web designers to bring stunning, interactive web sites to life. What sets this new edition apart is the crystal-clear writing, welcome humor, and exclusive features like these:

Live examples. With a step-by-step annotated tutorial, readers follow the construction of a state-of-the-art commercial web site, complete with Flash buttons, Cascading Style Sheets, and dynamic databases.
Tricks of the trade. The book is bursting with undocumented workarounds and shortcuts.
Design guidance. Readers can create any modern web feature, including forms, animations, pop-up windows, and more. This book lets you know which browsers, situations, and audiences are appropriate for each.

With over 500 illustrations, a handcrafted index, and the clarity of thought that has made bestsellers of every Missing Manual to date, this edition is the ultimate atlas for Dreamweaver MX 2004.

Customer Reviews:

Dreamweaver Manual.......2007-04-11

Fantastic, really simple tutorials and suggested websites for further info. Deals with the basics to get an extemely powerful website online.

There are many more aspects to web design but anyone from the total beginner to intermediate should find this book helpful.

Good Book.......2006-11-10

Better than Dreamweaver MX 2004 "Training From the Source". This is a step by step book for beginners thru experts. I found it easy to follow and understand. It is also a good reference book for the experienced, which I am not. Why Macromedia could not furnish a book like this with there software I will never understand. The same goes for the new Dreamweaver 8. They want you to buy there product but not show you how to use it. This is a good buy.

Very good manual.......2006-07-13

So many software books are so confusing and difficult to understand, I really appreciateone that is clear and truly helpful, which this one is.

Fantastic.......2006-03-16

I have read this book cover to cover. You can read it in front of your computer and perform the tutorials or you can simple read an look at the illustrations. Both provide you with a very accurate experience. The online web site allows you to download all of the necessary files to perform your labs if you desire. It is simple, elegant, and well thought out book. You can't walk away from this book and not say that you did not truely learn to use Dreamweaver MX 2004. I struggled to learn this program, after reading the book, I have built several complex websites, complete with dynamic database integration. This book is that good!

The Dreamweaver Missing Manual Rocks!.......2006-03-15

I admit I'm biased because I've had Dave as a teacher and he's a great one, but his book is like his teaching -- clear, comprehensible, practical and most importantly, funny. Who wouldn't want to work on the National Exasperator pages? His tutorials are excellent, easy to use and fun.

Book Description

Keith Moon was the bad boy of rock & roll, the most manic member of an aggressive and fabulously successful band, a full-throttle hedonist who lived at the center of an unending party. He was also a musical genius who inspired whole generations of artists, a generous friend to nearly everyone who crossed his path, a guileless man of immense personal charm to whom the sweetest sound on earth was surf music.A generation after his death, Moon is still revered as the greatest drummer in rock history and the single wildest personality in an age of pop excess. Here is the truth behind the legend, the result of more than three years of research in which music journalist Tony Fletcher interviewed dozens of Moon's friends, colleagues, and associates. The result is an instant classic that brilliantly illuminates both the tender and self-destructive sides of this singular personality. This is the story of one of the most outrageous rock stars ever born -- and Moon is one of the greatest rock biographies ever written.

Customer Reviews:

terrible intrusion .......2005-12-09

I've read this book and I have to say not only is it a bunch of garbage but I would like to know who gave the author his degree in clinical pyschology?! I would also like to know where the author gets off giving out personal addresses?! The author is a rock'n'roll wannabe. This is his claim to "fame" and a poor one at that. Anyone knows an author should be objective and not try to interject his own personal, misguided views into a biography. Avoid this trash like the plague.

Rock is dead!.......2005-08-29

For me that's a true statement! I first heard of THE WHO when I saw them on the ABC show Shindig, and I thought this is the band I've been looking for! It was a shame that at that point in time American AM radio were not playing their records. That didn't stop me from getting my local TSS record department manager from ordering songs "I Can't Explain", "Anyway Anyhow Anywhere", "My Generation", and "Substitute" for me. He automatically ordered a copy of "I'm A Boy" for me when it was released. He knew I'd want it. The next release was "Happy Jack" and it became a hit in the states. I watched their massive hits success in the U.K. from the beginning. But what made these four guys so special to me was not Pete Townshend's outrageous guitar playing though I thought he was better than the rest. It was not John Entwhistle's masterful bass playing. He too was by far the best I had ever heard. It certainly was not Roger Daltrey's singing though when he sang lead on songs such as "The Kids Are Alright" or "So Sad About Us" (why that song was never released as a single, I'll never know)I thought he had a better voice than McCartney. No, what set this band apart from all the rest was Keith Moon's drumming! He was and remains the greatest rock and roll drummer in the world, dead or alive! This book, his biography is fantastic! Yeah there's a dark side to him, and it is well exposed throughout! But when I read about him and the locomotive records with the speakers hidden in the hedge to scare the little old women in his neighborhood as they walked by, I broke out in uncontrollable laughter! It's the type of thing my friends and I would have done as kids. His drug problem and drinking problem no doubt contributed to the horrible way he treated his wife. Such is the behavior of so many of the so called celebrities that we place on pedestals in our minds! The Who were never the same after "Who's Next"! It was not too long after that that Keith moved to California. There might be a half a dozen good songs in "Quadrophenia". But really, the energy was gone! When Keith died, for me rock and roll died. The Who have never been the same band! (Sorry Kenney Jones, you know it and I know it)! True, for some years I enjoyed the occasional rock song, from Van Halen, Madness, or more recently Smashmouth. But there will never be another Keith Moon. I saw The Who twice. In 1968 at the Westbury Music Fair where I met Roger Daltrey. The group had me out of my seatand on my feet from the first chord of their classic song "Substitute". Wow what a show! I saw them again at Forest Hills in 1971 when they opened their "Who's Next" tour. That album remains the best album ever done, and "Live At Leeds" remains the best live album ever done, especially with all the songs now included with the CD that weren't with the original album. This book is terrific! Everyone should own a copy! Because of it I feel as though I actually knew Keith Moon! And I am thankful for the "Live At The Isle Of Wight" DVD that I have seen over and over with great enjoyment! If you have never seen Keith Moon, rent it or buy it! Check out also "The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus" and see The Who performing "A Quick One (While He's Away)"! Wow what a performance! They stole the show, thanks in great part to Keith's playing. They performed that when I saw them at the Westbury Music Fair! I Love You Keith!

Dear Boy..........2005-03-14

...as the book was entitled in Europe is a thick one, but this is the definitive biography of one of rock's greatest drummers, and one of its most outrageous personalities.

There have been books written about the Who, and about Moon. "Full Moon," written by his longtime personal assistant Dougal Butler leans heavily on the more salacious aspects of his time with Moon the Loon, but has its moments.

This is deeper; Fletcher examines Moon's early life, his influences, both musically and comedically, and the events that brought him together with the three iconoclasts that would make up one of rock and roll's pioneer bands.

Moon's drumming technique, mostly his own is well-examined here, along with those of his contemporaries, and the bands of that era, both famous and unknown are stacked up well against the Who in their various incarnations.

Fletcher gets a good insight into the Mod movement, which has been look at elsewhere, but also the many things that interested and drove Moon himself...he was an early Carnaby Street regular, whose appearance and style would have put Austin Powers to shame!

Moon's health problems are also examined, especially the mental ones: Keith was obviously a hyperactive child, but growing up in post-war Britian, that kind of affliction was considered something you grew out of. Some of us did, like myself, but with Moon is stayed, and I think it can now be said he suffered from some form of manic depression.

This made for great energy, whether playing a powerful, improvisational style of drumming or coming up with bizarre ideas and practical jokes. It also made for great publicity, something his Who mates now seem to regret a great deal.

Moon is such a fascinating figure--one of the nicest people one minute, a complete jerk the next. The way he treated his wife Kim, and later Annette Walter-Lax would have him in jail today. How they both dealt with him I have no idea.

But it's obvious he is troubled; unable to get offstage and just be himself, the self-blame he takes for the accident that causes the death of a close friend, and the loss of his marriage. He sometimes becomes a pathetic figure, alone and terribly lonely amidst fame and fortune, the latter of which he blew in huge quantities.

Townshend once said he believed that Moon was never truly happy, and never had one true close friend. That may be. At least at the end Moon was trying to clean up, get off the booze, etc. But sadly, an overdose of a drug he should never have had his hands on ended his life.

Whatever the case, this book tells the story and tells it without pulling any punches about one of the greatest drummers in rock history, one who should not be remembered just for his lunacy.

Well done bio.......2005-01-13

When I was 14, 30 years ago, I discovered the Who. Not long thereafter, I started fiddling about with the drums. Keith Moon was my inspiration, because listening to him made it seem the drums were important, that they were as an intregal part of the music as any other element of the ensemble. That serves as testamment, everso redundantly, what he meant to music. First and foremost it should be made needlessly apparent that Keith Moon was an incredible musician. This book would lead me to believe that drumming came as naturally to Keith as walking.
This book paints a portrait of someone that was so many things to so many people. It's a disappointment that Keith could be such an arse, yet it's as if he always redeemed himself by being his jovial, generous way, and of course what he made for our listening enjoyment.
This book is excellently researched. Having been someone that thought they knew much about the legend of Keith Moon, there was much in this book I'd never heard and/or read. It was revealing, and disturbing to see how much Moon actually made his self destruciton a full time job. I sympathize with Kim, Mandy and Annette. It's sad to realize how badly he treated some people, disspelling this idea of such a jolly fellow, always the loon and funmonger. Fletcher does an admirable task of breaking down who this guy was, that I empathize with him, where in reading this, he like I, must have had difficulty coming to grips with that as much we loved Keith, that sadly he was the orchestater of his demise. Yet at the same time I can't help but to feel more than ever for Keith Moon because certainly he needed help that no one seemed able to give him, and was perhaps destined to die before he got old.
God bless you Keith Moon. God bless the Who.

The tragic life of a rock legend.......2005-01-08

My enjoyment of the Who's music, curiosity about the legend of Keith Moon, and my interest in drummers and drumming in general led me to check out this rather massive book. By the time I reached the final chapter I was both sad that the story was over and completely emotionally drained, and not exactly sure I was glad to have learned all I had about Moon. Having grown up with an alcoholic/drug-dependant family member, far too much of what Fletcher described of Moon's problems was painfully familiar to me. The way he treated those who cared for him, particularly the women in his life, was quite terrible and sometimes difficult to read about.

Fletcher pulls no punches and presents both Moon's greatnesses and his weaknesses. He illustrates where and how Moon was a genius on the drums yet also where, when and how is performance was sub-par. He does not sugar-coat anything. Still, the end result is not as tawdry and cheap as some celebrity biographies I've read, for the reader gets the impression that Fletcher respects the subject matter instead of simply looking to provide cheap thrills and sensationalism. He also works hard to disprove some of the wilder stories and legends of Moon's behavior and stick with the facts, which may disappoint some who hate to see the legends shattered, but there is still much madness and mayhem that is apparently quite true.

If you are a Who fan and/or interested in the story of one of the most legendary drummers of rock music, you owe it to yourself to check out this book. Just be forewarned that you may find it difficult to look at Keith Moon in the same light ever again.

Keith Moon: The life and death of a rock legend

Average customer rating:

Keith Moon - It is a well written book
that's what I call a great book!

Keith Moon: The life and death of a rock legend
Ivan Waterman
Manufacturer: Arrow Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0099209306

Customer Reviews:

Keith Moon - It is a well written book.......2005-05-20

Mr.Waterman wrote one of the first Moon bio's. Waterman's book on the greatest drummer in rock history is interesting and well reasearched. It is a darn good read for rock and roll fans of The Who, Moon, or just looking for a book on a great character in music history.

that's what I call a great book!.......1999-11-06

Actually I didn't even finish the book already, but I'm enjoying so much I coud not resist and writte about it. Even if you are not a Who fan, you gonna rate this book as a fine entertainment. The stories and insights about the personal life of the most famous drummer of all time are surprising and really interesting. It shoud be reprinted.

Book Description

Firsthand accounts from around the world of more than forty of the most important shipwreck and sunken-city projects ever undertaken.

From the Pacific to the Mediterranean, from the Caribbean to the Red Sea, from northern Europe and the northern United States to the Indian Ocean, archaeologists vividly describe shipwrecks from centuries past, from the oldest and deepest ever excavated to the remains of battles in both the European and Pacific theaters of World War II.

Readers will dive nearly 200 feet with Cemal Pulak on a royal ship that sank over 3,300 years ago off the Aegean coast of Turkey, and explore with Donny Hamilton the streets and houses of the richest English colony in the New World, the infamous pirate stronghold of Port Royal, Jamaica, swallowed by the sea in 1692. They will accompany famed undersea explorer Robert Ballard, discoverer of the Titanic, as he and Cheryl Ward search for shipwrecks in the deep, oxygen-free waters of the Black Sea. They will wade with archaeologist Fred Hocker through mud along the bank of a South Carolina river, and then sail through a gale with Susan Womer Katzev on a full-scale replica of the best-preserved ancient Greek ship yet raised from the depths of the Mediterranean.

The book describes the tragic loss, within sight of their loved ones, of seamen returning home to Portugal in 1606, at the end of a two-year voyage to the East on the Nossa Senhora dos Martires, and then describes the fate of the crew of another Portuguese ship, the Santo Antonio de Tanna, which sank off Mombasa, Kenya, while trying to lift the siege of Fort Jesus by Omani Arabs in 1697. It describes the foods, games, weapons, tools, and grooming implements on a ship sailed by Bulgarian merchants around AD 1025, carrying as cargo the largest known collections of medieval Islamic glass and glazed pottery. 350 color illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Wonderful for archaeologist or beginner.......2007-02-20

The book is a wonderful look at underwater archaeology by the Institute of Nautical Archaeology. Some of the most renown underwater archaeologists have contributed to this work. It is written for both the professional and the avocationalist.

Average customer rating:

Beneath the Seven Seas
Cornel Lumiere
Manufacturer: Hutchinson, London
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

Beneath the seven seas
Cornel Lumiere
Manufacturer: Hutchinson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Water Sports | Sports | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007IYGJ6

Book Description

Understand the nature of your mind and exactly how it interacts with matter at the quantum level to produce manifestations, magick and miracles.

Learn the nature of the universe in which we live and the exact process by which you can change your destiny by mere faith and imagination.

Understand how modern physics demonstrates the absolute immortality of your consciousness, your mind, your spirit.

The Universe and Multiple Reality presents a viewpoint dramatically different from the currently fashionable scientific interpretation of modern physics, an interpretation that denies the most important part of recent scientific discoveries: the mind and its effect on reality.

The Universe and Multiple Reality explains the exact physical processes by which paranormal events operate, including how miracles, magick and manifesting occur.

This book is a must for any person curious about the place their mind occupies in the cosmic scheme of things.

The Universe and Multiple Reality breaks new ground. There are a great many books on "parallel universes," on quantum physics and multiple reality--but none that proffers an understandable theory on how the human mind interacts with multiple realities at the quantum level to produce palpable physical effects.

Customer Reviews:

The Universe and Multiple Reality, by M R Franks.......2007-09-04

It deseves one star, at the most, compared to other books published on the same subject.

I Question Some of the Concepts.......2005-05-31

I had a very mixed reaction of this book, which served as the catalyst for my recent paper on parallel universes and found it to be a very interesting read. What I most appreciated however was that when I asked M.R. Franks about some details in his book he sent me three articles within about two hours. What disappointed me however was the shortness of the book and the focas on cited works from other authors and I don't really buy the andriod therory persented at the end of this book.

Very Interesting..But..........2004-08-03

Let me first say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book..but I have a few questions.

The basic idea behind the theory is that any two contiguous frames differs by ONE quantum state. There are infinite number of such frames through which consciousness traverses contiguously.

Then Mr.Franks writes that the case is so becoz nature doesn't like voids and hence creates all permutations and combinations of frames possible.

So my question is that if nature doesn't like voids then why accept quantum states as constant. In other words why can't nature create and fit in another infinite set of frames between the two quantum states by which any two contiguous frames differ as postulated by this theory? Isn't the gap between the two quantum states a "void"?

Galileo or Einstein.......2004-04-21

"Postulates with no explanation" is also what critics said of Galileo and Einstein. Such criticism usually comes from those heavily invested in the current orthodoxy, from those unable or unwilling to see beyond the box.

Genius, it is said, instantly recognizes genius, while mediocrity knows nothing better than itself.

This book is BRILLIANT!

Recall Occam's Razor: The simplest explanation is probably the correct one. Einstein's General Theory of Relativity didn't drone on for hundreds and hundreds of pages. Those who fault brevity should spend their money on longer, more expensive, but far less insightful works.

This book, however, can change your view of the universe and even of life itself. It's a must for those with the courage to view things differently but far more clearly.

I couldn't agree more..........2004-04-05

I agree completely with the previous reviewer - postulates with no explanations - is what you will find in this short book, filled mainly with quotes from other authors & experts. I was also inclined to read the book since it received such a positive online rating. However, further inspection of the reader reviews show they are redundant, lacking real substance, and biased. Why else would a reader seek to criticize all other similar titles (ex. The Elegant Universe, The Theory of Everything and even Deutsch's great writing) with the same useless lingo of 'bunny fluff', 'puffery', etc. only to recommend this book in each? I am sorry, the only thing PUFFED up, are some of the reviews.

As an intelligent reader and theorist who has studied parallel universes and quantum physics, I prefer a text that answers what it claims to, not a brief with quotes from authors, whom have ironically been bashed. I was left more confused than satisfied and asked myself "what IS the purpose of this book"?

Although a bit disappointing, it remains a good read but is much better as an extensive editorial. I gave the author an extra star for creativity, intellect and excellence in writing but would have really preferred to read about his own perspectives/theories to offer an explanation to the postulates put forth in the book.

Book Description

National Geographic has been called a window on the world and a passport to adventure. Each month an estimated forty million people in 190 countries open its pages and are transported to exotic realms that delight the eye and mind. Such widespread renown gives the magazine's writers an almost magical access to people and happenings, as doors that are closed to the rest of the journalistic world open wide.

Thomas Y. Canby was fortunate to be a Geographic writer and science editor from 1961 to 1991, a time during which the Society's ventures and size grew by leaps and bounds and the resources available to staff were seemingly limitless. In From Botswana to the Bering Sea, he gives readers an on-the-ground look at the life of a National Geographic field staffer and an insider's view of the fascinating dynamics within the magazine's editorial chambers.

Canby's assignments dealt largely with issues of global concern, and his travels took him to the farthest reaches of the planet. This book gives the reader the visas and tickets to share in Canby's experiences-from a Filipino rice harvest capped by a feast of deep-fried rats, to impoverished villages of Asia and Africa gripped by the world's most widespread famine, to seal hunting and dog sledding with Eskimos in the Canadian high Arctic. Readers match wits with paranoid guardians of the secret Soviet space program; skirt land mines in the flaming oil fields of Kuwait; and dodge death while scuba diving to an archaeological site in a Florida sinkhole. The book also gives insight into the magazine's inner workings: how article subjects are chosen; how writers are assigned and interact; how prolonged trips to impossibly remote destinations are planned; how staffers operate in the field.

Working for National Geographic has been called "the best job in the world." From Botswana to the Bering Sea describes that unique job, and answers from first-hand knowledge the question Canby and his colleagues are so often asked: "So, what is it like to work for National Geographic?"

Customer Reviews:

An deftly written, engrossing, armchair tour of the world.......2000-07-06

Tom Canby had the great good fortune of working for the National Geographic during that wonderful time when all the big glossy magazines and high-circulation newspapers were willing to spend money to bring information to their readers. This willingness to to be serious about news coverage gave this deft and sensitive writer the chance to roam the world and take the time necessary to cover his beat (science) in depth and with a thoroughness almost unheard of today, when even great institutions like National Geographic are nickel-and-diming to cut costs. From Botswana to the Bering Sea is the personal memoir of a gentle man and a gentleman. Canby would probably be the first to admit (as he, in fact, alludes in his book) that he is not the stereotype of the hardbitten tabloid news reporter. Instead he is an essayist of uncommon grace. This is a wonderful book.

Wonderful Reading.......1999-11-18

This is not a review but an urgent request to find the most recent book published by Thomas Y. Canby, Sandy Spring Legacy. This is the legacy of a Quaker Village and tells the story of one of the oldest towns in the Maryland Piedmont, settled by the Quakers and others in the early 1700's. I am interested in finding this book as I once lived in this little Quaker Village forty years ago. Thank you for any leads you may have.

Canby hits the mark for National Geographic fans........1998-09-16

If you like reading National Geographic, then you'll like reading Thomas Canby's book about his 30 years with the yellow border magazine. He recounts some of his favorite assignments, including glimpses behind the scenes, and the occasional personal note. My favorite is the rat assignment. After a day of chasing rats, he settles down for a few beers. After getting a good buzz, the fried rats are served and he and his friends dig in with gusto. Later, in writing the actual article, Canby details the rat feast but somehow fails to mention the beer.

Canby is an unabashed lover of National Geographic, making a number of references to the positive aspects of working for the magazine and the envy with which other writers view a National Geographic assignment. So, don't expect any revelations about the inner workings of the Society beyond those already published. Criticisms of management and the editorial staff are mild, and generally take the form of disagreement. The book does provide interesting insight into how story content was sometimes influenced by "mossbacks" on the Board of Trustees. There is also a brief but blistering appraisal of former editor John Oliver LaGorce, but this only reiterates and reinforces previous reports.

All in all, National Geographic fans will find this book a good middle-of-the-road look at how things work within the magazine. Canby does a pinch of bashing, a bushel of praising, and a ton of good old story writing-all in the National Geographic style.

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