The Book of Stratagems: Tactics for Triumph and Survival

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The Book of Stratagems.......2000-05-30

This book should be required reading at all the military institutes AND for business executives.

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Portfolio Planner.......2000-04-20

This is an excellent book! I recommend any student to purchase it! Well worth it!

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Dynamics of irrigation development: History of sone canals in Bihar
Basawan Sinha
Manufacturer: Devika Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 818655730X

Book Description

Chinese plant life is estimated to include up to 30,000 species and extends from the Himalayan snow line across a diversity of habitats to the lush tropical south. It is embraced by a culture going back more than 3000 years, providing plants for medicinal use and some of the most valued horticultural species. Although for many years access to Chinese plants was limited, the present situation provides an opportunity for a new and authoritative assessment of such botanical treasure-houses as Yunnan and Sichuan.
The present book provides an overview of the subject and is fully referenced and indexed. It will be of interest to those working in agriculture, alternative medicine, plant conservation, ecology, genetics, horticulture, molecular biology and taxonomy.

Book Description

Wetlands are an important, and sadly diminishing, habitat in many parts of the world. They contribute significantly to the planet's biodiversity, housing thousands of species of plants and animals. Increasingly, human management is required to sustain, and even create these fragile ecosystems, while global changes in climate are also taking their toll. Understanding Wetlands explains how wetlands are created naturally and how they sustain themselves. It describes how the flora and fauna of these unique habitats are ideally adapted to their environment, and how the ecosystem copes with pollutants and climatic change. The impact of human activity such as farming, building, and recreation is also assessed. The book concludes with a look at the need for conservation and various conservation techniques. This integrated and holistic account of wetlands is a valuable reference for students of ecology, biology, and environmental science. Its beautiful illustrations and accessible style also make it ideal for the general reader with an interest in the natural world.

Book Description

The 2003 International Conference "Hydrogen Materials Science and Chemistry of Carbon Nanomaterials" was held in September 2003. In the tradition of the earlier ICHMS conferences, this meeting served as an interdisciplinary forum for the presentation and discussion of the most recent research on transition to hydrogen-based energy systems, technologies for hydrogen production, storage, utilization, materials, energy and environmental problems. The aim of the volume is to provide an overview of the latest scientific results on research and development in the different topics cited above. The representatives from industry, public laboratories, universities and governmental agencies have presented the most recent advances in hydrogen concepts, processes and systems, to evaluate current progress in these areas of investigations and to identify promising research directions for the future.

Book Description

Few writers have attempted to explore the natural history of a particular animal by adopting the animal’s own sensibility. But Verlyn Klinkenborg has done just that in Timothy: an insightful and utterly engaging story of the world’s most famous tortoise, whose real life was observed by the eighteenth-century English curate and naturalist Gilbert White. For thirteen years, Timothy lived in White’s garden. Here Klinkenborg gives the tortoise an unforgettable voice and keen powers of observation on both human and natural affairs. Wry and wise, unexpectedly moving and enchanting at every–careful–turn, Timothy surprises and delights.

Customer Reviews:

From difficult start to fan.......2007-06-28

I have enjoyed other writings of Klinkenborg - appreciated their direct style with carefully chosen words and well-formed thoughts. As I began Timothy; or, Notes of an Abject Reptile a found the short and often fragmentary sentences slowed my reading. As I progressed I was further slowed by unfamiliar vocabulary - huckaback, shambles, scute, taw ... Then I discovered the glossary in the back which provides a definition when context is insufficient.

As I delved further into the book my complaints turned to admiration. Klingborg's fragmentary sentence structure fits perfectly into the very concrete thought patterns he attributes to Timothy the tortoise. While Timothy may be philosophical at times it is a philosophy of life firmly planted in the natural world not the abstract philosophy of humans. The vocabulary is necessary to embed the story in a particular place and time - a critical aspect of Timothy's world.

Wisely, Klinkenborg does not carry the conceit of narration by a tortoise to the extreme. Timothy reports and/or comments on more that she would have actually been in a position to observe - most notably the travels of her owner's nephew, Gilbert White's observations re: sex and instinct in the "natural kingdom" (which, naturally, excludes humanity). But in these observations, Timothy quietly exposes the foibles of man.

Combining these elements, Klinkenborg creates a story that not only holds your attention but also requires introspection of the reader - what is the reader's (and Timothy's) place in the world?

5 stars plus!.......2006-11-18

Timothy is a tortoise. She understands and speaks English---albeit in incomplete sentences. She knows some geography. She knows the thoughts, the worries and beliefs of the inhabitants of 18th century Selborne, England. She knows what goes on in their churches and their homes, even though she has presumably never entered any. She knows what takes place in winters, even though she has hibernated through every one.

Never mind!

Suspend your disbelief. Accept that Timothy is omniscient. Enjoy her descriptions and commentary. It reads like poetry, with lots of witty bits and little jabs at the absurdity of humans. It had me laughing out loud at times.

On Easter: " 'The lamb who was slain now liveth again,' he [Mr. Gilbert White] believes. And so he says aloud to his parishioners. Though on this earth, the lamb who is slain is supper."

This book is a rare treat, so read it slowly. There's a glossary in the back to help with the names of local areas, the obsolete and botanical terms.

BTW, The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White, which inspired this book, is available to download at Project Gutenberg [...]. A search for "tortoise" points to several letters that mention an unnamed, old Sussex tortoise.

At a Snail's Pace.......2006-07-29

I plodded at a tortoiselike pace through this tedious, monotonous work of fiction that sluggishly shares the assumed thoughts of a snobbish tortoise. Yes, yes. I get it. Klinkenborg deliberately paced his novel to evoke the slow-creeping crawl of Timothy, but, like this book, a dozing tortoise seldom holds my interest.

The Observer observed.......2006-04-25

In Timothy, Verlyn Klinkenborg gives voice to a tortoise. The real Timothy was a Mediterranean tortoise who found herself transported to England, where she was kept and observed by the late eighteenth-century curate and "pioneering naturalist," Gilbert White. But step by step and sentence by sentence, it is Timothy who explores the mind of her observer and assembles for us a portrait of Selborne village, Gilbert White, and her own views (or are they Klinkenborg's?) on life, adaptability, and nature. Timothy is a beautiful and deceptively nuanced book.

Unique and unforgettable!.......2006-04-14

I picked up this book because I'd read a review that compared it to GILEAD, one of my favorite novels of the past 10 years. While the stories are wildly different, the comparison is a good one. Both novels are meant to be read slowly, and will evoke deep emotions about life and humanity.

Timothy the tortoise is about as unlikely a narrator as there is. Snatched from his Mediterranean birthplace, he winds up in the garden of Rev. Gilbert White, whose meticulous diaries about his 18th century parish still exist today. Timothy's reflections on the humans around him and on the cycles of life in the village are informed by his slowness, of course, and by his extraordinary longevity (tortoises often live 80 years or more, significantly longer than the humans of White's day). The novel's appreciation of the intricacies of nature, the beauty of the seasons and the value of slowness are meant to be savored, and his reflections on humans and their follies come as sly and often moving little revelations scattered throughout the novel.

There's something to appreciate on every page of this short and lyrically written novel. I enjoyed it while sitting in my garden, like Timothy. It's one of the most memorable and unusual novels I've ever read. You won't be disappointed by taking a chance on this one.

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Timothy; Or, Notes of an Abject Reptile
Verlyn Klinkenborg
Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N6AP42

Product Description

This translation compiles speeches and proclamations from Hitler's rise to power in 1932 to his demise in 1945. It provides insight into his political agenda and ideology in an unprecedented span of years. Described as 'essential,' 'extraordinarily useful,' and 'indispensable,' this standard reference work on the Third Reich represents the most comprehensive collection of Hitler's Speeches, with an extensive commentary and the largest set of footnotes. It provides insight into his political agenda and ideology in addition to demonstrating his organizational and rhetorical skills. The four-volume set, Hitler Speeches and Proclamations is completely translated into English for the first time and is a much-needed addition to every public, research, historical, or personal library. In 1932, when Hitler became the most important political figure in Germany, Dr. Domarus began to collect his public statements, speeches, interviews, and letters, being conscious of their eventual documentary value. Friends at home and abroad persuaded him to make comments on this unique collection and publish it in its entirety. This publication's most distinctive feature is to be found in the clear, concise and insightful comments of the author.

Customer Reviews:

National-socialism.......2006-05-25

I always wanted to know what Hitler tells to masses. I have big interest in his speeches, in his style of talking. It is a great book for me because it unclude the most important Adolf's public speeches. I enjoied reading it!

Hitler: Reden Und Proklamationen 1932-1945: Kommentiert Von Einem Deutschen Zeitgenossen (Teil III Untergang, Vierter Band 1941-1945)

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Speeches are a bust, the editing is superb

Hitler: Reden Und Proklamationen 1932-1945: Kommentiert Von Einem Deutschen Zeitgenossen (Teil III Untergang, Vierter Band 1941-1945)
Max Domarus
Manufacturer: Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0865163278
Release Date: 1998-12-01

Product Description

Hitler: Speeches and Proclamations, the first English translation, compiled and edited with copious notes and large commentary, by Max Domarus. Volume III 1939-1940 contains: * 1939, In a breach of contractual agreements, Hitler occupies all of Czechoslovakia and establishes the protectorate Bohemia and Moravia. Lithuania cedes the Memel district. England and France repeatedly state that they will declare war on Germany in the case of a German attack on Poland or Danzig. Nevertheless, Hitler, feeling confident because of a non-aggression pact with Russia, does start war with Poland. The declaration of war by the Western powers is tantamount to the complete breakdown of foreign relations, which were based on an amiable relationship with England. The quick conquest of Poland does nothing to change the constellation in Western Europe. * 1940, Without declaring war, Hitler invades Denmark and Norway, then, one month later, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. As a result of the campaign in the West, France capitulates; England, however, does not, contrary to Hitler's expectations. Hitler is forced to engage in air combat over Britain, a battle he loses within only a few weeks. His terrorist air-raids on London and other English cities provoke retaliation by the RAF, resulting in the destruction of major German cities from 1942 to 1945. Hitler dispatches troops to Rumania. His attempts to involve Spain, France and Russia in the battle against England fail. Italy's entry into the war proves to be a burden to Germany, with respect to Africa as well as Greece.

Customer Reviews:

Speeches are a bust, the editing is superb.......2003-07-05

Max Domarus intitially published this book in Germany in the early 60's and this is the first attempt at translating this massive work. The results are a mixed bag. This set is obviously intended only for people with a serious interest in Hitler. The price alone with preclude any casual readers from investing in these volumes.

The books contain many of Hitler's speeches and these oftentimes make boring reading. Hitler was a superlative orator, but without him delivering the words, they invariably fall flat. It is scarcely edifying to read Hitler's speeches and that is what the bulk of this set is all about. However, Domarus' includes his own remarks and editing, all of which are superb. He includes little vignettes about Hitler's entourage, daily habits and private life, and his insights are both informative and accurate.

Book Description

Domarus's work is collected source material, accurate and complete, of the actions, day-by-day, month-by-month, of the government in the Third Reich. Here is the full record of policy statements, along with political-military decisions, and the results of these actions presented in chronological sequence. This is not just another narrative about Hitler and the Third Reich, drawing a dramatic picture or making some current political point but is a very complete collection of primary source material from the Third Reich, together with extensive commentary and copious notes, useful for all time to determine what the Nazis were really doing.

Volume 4
THE YEAR 1941

Hitler invades Yugoslavia and Greece without prior declaration of war. Like Napoleon, he subsequently attempts to defeat England in Russia and thus invades his former allies without a declaration of war. Despite considerable territorial gains, Hitler is not successful in taking Leningrad, Moscow or Murmansk. The German army takes a painful beating at Moscow. Hitler uses this opportunity to make himself commander-in-chief of the army.

THE YEAR 1942

Despite initial successes, Hitler is unable to take the Suez Canal and the oil fields in the Caucasus.

The attempt to conquer Stalingard results in the German 6th Army being surrounded. The German Africa corps is forced to retreat at El Alamein.

The efforts to exterminate the Jews reach a peak.

THE YEAR 1943

Collapse of Germany's battle in Stalingrad and Northern Africa. Italy is forced to plead for a cease-fire after Allied forces reach the mainland. Hitler occupies Northern Central Italy.

THE YEAR 1944

The invasion of the Allies in France is tantamount to the end of Hitler's rule in Western Europe. Russia smashes the German army division Mitte. An assassination attempt at Hitler's headquarters makes the internal military opposition to Hitler apparent. Romania, Bulgaria and Finland capitulate. Hitler's Christmas offensive in the Ardennes region falls apart after modest initial successes.

THE YEAR 1945

Germany is overrun by the Allied and Russian armies. Hitler is forced to take his own life in the bunker of the Reich chancellery.

Customer Reviews:

Best book in English on Islam I have yet seen!!.......2002-03-04

This is a BEAUTIFUL book! It is an oversized volume that covers the essential theology supporting Islam.
If your interest is in the religion and not the politics surrounding the Islamic World, this book is a wonderful investment.

Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus

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Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus
Akbar S Ahmed
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Islamic | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0415446724

The Victim and its Masks: An Essay on Sacrifice and Masquerade in the Maghreb

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The Victim and its Masks: An Essay on Sacrifice and Masquerade in the Maghreb
Abdellah Hammoudi
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customs & Traditions | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Islam | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Tribal & Ethnic | Other Practices | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
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Master and Disciple: The Cultural Foundations of Moroccan Authoritarianism

ASIN: 0226315258

Book Description

Each year, in a solemn Sunni Muslim feast, the Ait Mizane of southern Morocco reenact the story of Abraham as a ritual sacrifice, a symbolic observance of their submission to the divine. After this sober ceremony comes a bacchanalian masquerade which seems to violate every principle the sacrifice affirmed. Because of the apparent contradiction between sacrifice and masquerade, observers have described the two as entirely separate events. This book reunites them as a single ritual process within Islamic tradition.

An Historical Atlas of Islam.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review): An article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society

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An Historical Atlas of Islam.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review): An article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society
Paul M. Cobb
Manufacturer: American Oriental Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B00082C41I
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Journal of the American Oriental Society, published by American Oriental Society on April 1, 2003. The length of the article is 978 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: An Historical Atlas of Islam.(Reviews of Books)(Book Review)
Author: Paul M. Cobb
Publication: The Journal of the American Oriental Society (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2003
Publisher: American Oriental Society
Volume: 123 Issue: 2 Page: 457(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Book Description

It’s a story that has never been told … until now.

Imagine being sealed into a closed environment for two years — cut off from the outside world with only seven other people — enduring never-ending hunger, severely low levels of oxygen, and extremely difficult relationships. Crew members struggled to survive in Biosphere 2, where they swore nothing would go in or out — no food or water, not even air — all in the name of science.

For the first time, biospherian Jane Poynter — who lived and loved in the Biosphere — is ready to share what really happened in there. She takes readers on a riveting, fast-paced trip through shattered lives, scientific discovery, cults, love, fears of insanity, and inspiring human endurance.

The eight biospherians who closed themselves into the Biosphere emerged 730 days later… much wiser, thinner, and having done what many had said was impossible.

Customer Reviews:

Poynter's life before, during and after living in a fishbowl - fascinating.......2007-01-05

I found the Jayne Poynter's book to be very interesting both for her personal "lead up" to how she came to be on the Biosphere crew, as well as the drama of the 2 years inside -- all the problems they had, both technically and psychologically.

It's too bad the media spent so much time trying to find out why something might be a "fake" (for lack of a better term) with Biosphere II rather than trying to appreciate the enormous magnitude of the project and it's intent.

As I understand it, Biosphere II sits largely unused today. I certainly hope that a university or two will get involved to keep the facility operating. There's a lot to be learned, and I suspect the majority of the cost is already spent.

Life in hermetically sealed environment was no picnic.......2006-12-06

Many people in 1991 were fascinated by the idea of Biosphere 2, a closed, hermetically sealed, self-sustaining, man-made ecosystem with a desert, an ocean, a rainforest, a savannah, a marsh, a habitat and an intensive farm, all in three acres. On September 26 eight people entered the structure for a two-year stint living "as if on Mars, farming all our food, recycling our water, our waste and even the oxygen we breathed..."

But bad publicity dogged the project even before the team went in. The public grew skeptical, as the Biospherians were dismissed as frauds, cult figures, publicity hounds and charlatans. None of which, strictly speaking, was completely false. Or completely true.

Jane Poynter, who celebrated her 30th birthday in Biosphere 2, and went on to found an aerospace firm with fellow Biospherian (and later husband) Taber MacCallum, attempts to set the record straight with this emotional and wide ranging account.

Poynter was an upper-class English girl who joined the Institute of Ecotechnics at age 20 for travel and adventure - and, no doubt, to escape her parents' conventional expectations. The IE group, headed by charismatic and authoritarian John Allen, were Synergists who believed in a "strict adherence " to three avocations - theater, philosophy and business - to keep themselves in intellectual, emotional and economic balance. This was the group that went on to conceive and build Biosphere 2.

Poynter was an early candidate for the team. Her training included stints on a Ferro-cement research vessel built by IE staffers and an outback ranch in remote Australia populated primarily by large meat-eating ants, plagues of flies, and termites who ate the tires off cars. Lessons in resourcefulness, difficult physical conditions and close, isolated living may have been useful as Poynter says, but nothing could really prepare any of them for the Biosphere experience.

"After thirteen months in Biosphere 2, we were starving, suffocating and going quite mad."

Inadequate food had plagued them from the start. In part this goes back to the cult-like group dynamic.

The Biospherian candidates worked on design and construction of Biosphere 2 (earth being Biosphere 1), and were shifted to different tasks in order to have well-rounded experience. In practice, shifts were sometimes made to punish a staffer for disloyalty, i.e., criticism. Criticism was also dealt with in less subtle ways.

Poynter, as agriculture manager, was asked to draw up a report showing that Biosphere 2 could produce all of the food they would need. When she could only arrive at a total of 80 percent she, and two others who sided with her, were fired from the team. Poynter and another woman were taken back three days later without explanation - the third was shunted to some other aspect of the program.

This type of behavior was common and served to keep all of them cowed, off balance, and unwilling to point out snags. When a certain root fungus was cited as a potential problem, John Allen's response was to make the scientist "jump up and down, screaming `pythium, pythium.' " The fungus was indeed a persistent rice-crop killer.

Their second big problem was a steady, unexpected drop in oxygen. For months they did intensive experiments, but the debilitating riddle remained unsolved until an outsider provided a clue in a casual phone call. Serendipity and science working together would seem to give the Synergists' creed of balance a lift.

But the "going mad" part never really got better. Much of Poynter's book focuses on the interpersonal acrimony, which eventually divided them into two groups of four. Difficulties were exacerbated by backbreaking work on inadequate diets in low oxygen, but even when these problems were somewhat alleviated relations stayed poor.

Of course, the manipulation by outside management never got better and it was that that separated them into loyalists and non-loyalists. Poynter was a non-loyalist. When she walked out of Biosphere 2 her time as a Synergist was done too.

But her book seems balanced and open - something of a catharsis. She celebrates the science, such as it was, and laments that more was not done later to study closed-ecosystem reactions. There was one more 6-month group sojourn inside, but the project was too expensive to continue.

Though the two years were arduous she counts them a success - "we had proven that a man-made biosphere can successfully sustain life, including human life, for an extended period of time without inexplicably crashing, or devolving rapidly into green slime." True, but they did need two infusions of oxygen, which would not have been possible in space, and for all their psychological problems they always knew they could walk out at any time.

Naturally many questions remain, particularly about the environmental science. Though the environment was carefully engineered and controlled they still had ceaseless problems with insect pests (including ant intruders from outside) and plant diseases.

Poynter is at her best describing daily life; the "dysfunctional family" they became, the feasts and famines, and the daily grind of work, though you get the feeling she's leaving a lot out to avoid pressing on old wounds. An absorbing, varied and often suspenseful read.

-- Portsmouth Herald

Holds insights for us all........2006-11-06

It's the 15th anniversary of the Biosphere 2 experiment, when eight individuals sealed themselves into a 2-acre desert building to survive without any help from the outside world - and here one crewmember shares what life was like behind the glass. It was designed to be a mini version of Biosphere 1, and was a self-contained ecosystem which could be viewed either as a prototype for a space habitat or a small version of Planet Earth experiences. The author helped design the experiment, lived it, and walked away from it in the end: her account holds insights for us all.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Amazing Book, captivating, interesting, well told........2006-10-20

Jane Poynter gives a very honest story of her involvement in the group that conceived and built the Biosphere 2, where she came from and where the group was coming from.

Jane obviously knows her Biospherics, the book has Bibliography and Index for easy reference like a scientific paper, the Science almost reads like a hard techno-thriller, Low Oxygen, Failing Power, Constant food shortage.
This combined with the tensions between the people inside and outside of the biosphere makes a very intense story, where the reader gets drawn into the drama and emotional stress.

That the story is real, and told by one of the participants is astounding.
"No-one can make this up"

Written in 2005 Jane Poynter has the distance to the events to make the story balanced, it is not one sided, she objectively describes the events, and tries to make an objective assessment of her own feelings at the time.

The book is not a personal vendetta against other people in the Biosphere 2 project.

Overall a 5 star book

The inside story of the Biosphere 2.......2006-09-27

First, I am not a professional reviewer or writer. I am an like everyone else who likes to read a good book.

I liked this book for a few good reasons. It was easy to read and follow. I didn't get tired from reading it. At times I would get so engrossed in reading it that time would seem to fly by.

This book gives you the inside story of the Biosphere 2 experiment. It tells about the relationships of the people involved and some of the History leading up to the experiment. It even gives you a bit of the science behind the Biosphere told in a way that a non technical person can understand. It tells about the fun times and some of the bad times even some of the funny times. It is certainly not a dry read. I think that Jane Poynter did a good job writing this book. It certainly answers some of the questions raised in the past about the Biosphere 2 experiment. It is a good read, I recommend it. I own it, I am going to keep it and I look forward to reading it again.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Parks & Recreation, published by National Recreation and Park Association on February 1, 2005. The length of the article is 664 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Parkland means more than profit: parks have the power to inspire, and should be defended against being sold as excess lands.(NRPA Perspectives)
Author: John A. Thorner
Publication: Parks & Recreation (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2005
Publisher: National Recreation and Park Association
Volume: 40 Issue: 2 Page: 2(1)

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