Frans Lanting had created marvelous book. His pictures portray the unique beauty of the region, convey the wildness of a place, and force a viewer to visit the place immediately. The photographs and text also urge the people to save this unique ecosystem. We realize the impact of water on the unique environment of the delta that supports the greatest variety of the flora and fauna in the world. At the same time these photographs make us realize what will be lost if the water will be gone. This book has inspired me even more after I visited the Okavango delta. It made me to relive my own experiences once again. After more than 5 years of its publication, this book is still the best pictorial work on Okavango delta. Simply, the greatest!

This is a terrific book to learn more about this region. I can't recommend the book enough. The photography is stunning and the narrative is just right. I only wish it didn't end.

Mr. Lanting is a unique and wonderful photographer who is a great help to all of us. His photos capture the wildlife of the Okavango as they are -- not postcard photos. He has a respect and reverence of this fragile ecosystem (unlike none other in the world) and all that lives and dies there that is captured in this book. Botswana is a special country with a unique ecosystem in the Delta that you should travel to. I've had the good fortune to experience Africa eight times, Botswana twice. I will return many times to the Delta as there is so much there to experience and each time its fresh. Let Mr. Lantings photos pursuade you to go.

I am actually the author's daughter. And although he and I have not always gotten along, I was delighted to hear that my dad had finally decided to write and publish this story. As I was only six years old when he went on this particular field trip, his recounts of all the wacky and wild mishaps, misadventures, and downright silliness he encountered in Africa became favourite bedtime stories for my brother and I for years afterwards. His book preserves the tongue-in-cheek feeling of the early retellings that so delighted us as kids... and also his own personal joy at confronting both the scientific and physical challenges of this type of fieldwork.

I can totally recommend this book not only for a glimpse into the life of an earth scientist, but also as a source of inspiration (or amusing tales) for younger readers. You wouldn't think geophysics could be so much fun!

Once I started this book, I could not put it down. I finished it in just one evening. The other reviews posted here explain the content of the story, so I will just comment on the readability of the book. And thoroughly readable it is; the author writes a personal story in a manner that makes you feel like you were there. After finishing the book I felt depressed, because I knew I would never get to personally experience an adventure such as this one.

Half of the excitement of embarking on an earth sciences degree is the opportunity to do hands-on science. The vast majority of new students relish the chance to find it all out for themselves-make their own observations and measurements, test their own hypotheses-in the best of all work environments, the field. Even those who lack motivation in the classroom often find new levels of determination when faced with the reality of a particularly gripping outcrop. There is a downside to all this delirium. Budding geologists must learn to put up with harsh conditions during the many field classes that are run in the vacations outside the summer months. In Britain, they receive precious little support from their local education authorities, despite losing valuable opportunities to earn money during holidays and terms with part-time jobs. And they also have to equip themselves for the field by buying expensive weatherproof clothing and tools. All in all, though, the experience of fieldwork is not just enjoyable and an excellent foundation in scientific experimental design. It is also good for a students future career. "Hardly any universities support the concept of fieldwork nowadays." Even if only a very few go on to become professional geologists, the benefits for students of learning to think on their feet, both literally and metaphorically, and of operating in harsh conditions while developing self-motivation and teamwork, make good highlights on CVs. Certainly, my students fare well in the graduate employment cattle market. The trouble is that, although many explorers seem increasingly to realize the benefits of a strong field experience, the whole exercise is under more and more pressure. I'm sure that this arises largely from a deep misunderstanding of what fieldwork actually involves. And the misunderstanding also extends deep into the scientific community-even within those disciplines that have, like the earth sciences, a strong traditional fieldwork. What triggers this odd perception? In a word, image. Fieldwork is often portrayed as an exercise in random data collection- a chance to potter about on your own, just looking around. The geological community hasn't helped itself much here: modern role models and good, clear presentations of excellence in fieldwork are few and far between. Curiously, other sciences have greatly benefited from fieldwork. Take astronomy, for example. How much of the interest in this science in the latter part of the 20th century was launched with the NASA lunar landing, the most expensive fieldwork ever undertaken? Indeed, the solution to the recent hot potato of life on Mars can only really be addressed through another batch of fieldwork-on the Red Planet itself. Meanwhile, back on planet Earth, a new book by Christopher Scholz offers a number of important insights into earth sciences fieldwork. It is true that Fieldwork: A Geologist's Memoir of the Kalahari hardly touches on scientific issue as important as the physical and biological evolution of the Solar System. It is nevertheless a gripping account of a small research programme directed at understanding how continents rift apart. Scholz's story recounts the activities of an expedition to collect geophysical data in Botswana. His research brief was to get a handle on earthquake hazards in and around the Okavango river delta in the Kalahari. So the book contains two currents: the narrative of the scientific investigative approach running alongside the human story-the personal excitement and frustration of life in the field. Scholz's concurrent adventures make for a thrilling read. Attempted robberies, arrests, drinking sessions and expeditions to find a decent hamburger are intertwined with the conditions a geologists needs to receive good signals with seismometers. Scholz graphically describes the difficulties inherent in carrying out seismological experiments in hostile terrain, the hassles, with local, petty bureaucracies, the difficulties of working together in teams and living alongside heards of elephant and rhino. But this is much more than a Boy's Own account of African adventures. As with most good science, Scholz's Okavango project arose by chance. The United Nations Development Programme runs a project on the Okavango delta, and its researchers wanted some idea of the earthquake hazard in the area. This delta, sited in the heart of the Kalahari desert, is a delicately balanced environment whose rivers are banked by extremely low ridges. If the ridges were formed by active faults, slip on the faults, manifested as earthquakes, could disrupt drainage in the region. This would cause massive ecological changes. The UNDP approached Scholz and asked him to be its local "earthquake consultant". He, in contrast, was interested in the more general problem of how faults and earthquakes work, particularly in response to rifting in the continents. After a bout of detective work involving global earthquake records and satellite images, Scholz realized that the Okavango area lay on a possible continuation of the rift valleys of eastern Africa. If so, the little faults in the Okavango represented an early stage of rifting, something that is extraordinarily difficult to observe elsewhere on Earth. The problem for Scholz lay in testing his ideas-hence his interest in the project to collect detailed data on small earthquakes by recording them directly in the Okavango area. So Scholz's expedition was a marriage of convenience, satisfying the interests of the UNDP in managing the ecology of the Okavango and, at the same time, allowing him to investigate, as he puts it, "a basic scientific problem". I particularly enjoyed Scholz's description of the important early parts of his scientific expedition, the different motivations for the study and the groundwork needed when designing the experiment. These are the elements that are often missing from popular accounts of scientific expeditions. As a consequence, it is easy to lose sight of the motivations of the scientists themselves once they become embroiled in the challenges of a particularly exotic location. Or the technology gets in the way of the story- an all-too-common occurrence. By avoiding these pitfalls, Fieldwork makes an exciting read for crusty old geologists, students in search of role models and all those wanting insight into the processes of scientific discovery. And it illustrates why fieldwork provides such an excellent training environment. This should have left me feeling optimistic. Here I have a book that I can recommend to my students as a role model for their own studies. Of course, this type of expedition is unlike anything they might do themselves while studying, but there are useful parallels. And I can recommend the book to my friends and family who think that fieldwork is just a question of getting a nice tan in an exotic corner of the world. The problem is that the pressure on scientific fieldwork by the organizations responsible for funding are very great indeed. Hardly any universities support the concept of fieldwork, requiring individual departments or, more commonly, the individual students to fund themselves. It is seen as a old-fashioned, unnecessary part of modern scientific endeavor, a bit of a luxury. It may already be too late to convince the skeptics. Academic fieldwork is being severely penalized even for postgraduates. Britain's Natural Environment Research Council has recently cut its support for fieldwork radically, even through students going on scientific cruises using the council's ships or working in its laboratories can use these facilities without charge. Ships and laboratory costs are underwritten yet there is no specific fund for fieldwork. So I fear that, notwithstanding the wishes of employers and the excellent general training that fieldwork provides, its days are numbered. Even excellent books like Scholz's may be too late to reverse the tide. Rob Butler teaches and researches at the University of Leads.

This was a great memoir about a "typical" southern boy's childhood. I wish Willie Morris had not died so young because I found his work so enjoyable, and it would have been wonderful to read even more of his writing.

I would not put Mr. Morris up on the same level as Mark Twain (and he probably would not want it either), but this book reminds me in a lot of ways of Tom Sawyer--a young boy's life on the Mississippi Delta. Everyone should experience these memories, whether in real time or vicariously.

He tells of his childhood in Yazoo City, Mississippi, with all his childhood friends, including Spit McGee (the forty's Huckleberry Finn). He recalls their baseball games, football games, hunting on the Delta with his father, practical jokes played on anyone and everyone. He recounts the story of the Witch of Yazoo and the broken chain. One of the best and most humorous of his stories is the tale of the haunted house and what the boys found in it one dark and stormy night.

I best remember in this book the chapters of a typical day in the life of a boy his age in Yazoo City--a day in the summer and a day in the fall. These are great vignettes and very poignant pulling in the reader to want to recall his or her own childhood memories.

This is a great memoir and can be enjoyed by all.

This is one of the best books that I have ever read.Mr. Morrishas a beautiful writing style, and captures the beauty of the southperfectly.

This was a great book ... I am from MS and Good Ol' Boy really makes you feel what it could have been like growing up in the Delta. If you dig Southern Lit, you won't be disappointed.

A terrific book for all types of nature-loving readers. If you like pictures, they're here. If you want the best information available about African Wild Dogs and efforts to save them, it's definitely here. All people who are fascinated by wild animals will find this book to be a treasure. The photography is beautiful...It's the next best thing to being there. Leave this book on your coffee table and I guarantee that every guest will pick it up.

These animals truly are in trouble. McNutt does a good job explaining exactly why these dogs are endangered (or should be classified as such).

Like most books published under Smithsonian, this one is a keeper.

Hi, I'm an OAC biology student (that's grade 13 in Ontario) who is doing my ISP on African wild dogs. This is the best book I have ever found on wild dogs and probably the best ever written. I could not believe my luck when I found it. It is an excellent, coffee-table-type book with lots of beautiful pictures that you would like even if you were not specially interested in wild dogs. You will be surprised at how similar the dogs look in the pictures to your own dog.

Are you fascinated by wolves? Do you dream of going on safari in Africa? If you answer yes to either question then this book will be of interest to you.

I had the good luck to see a pack of 10 wild dogs while on safari in Botswana in September of 1998. Being a wolf enthusiast, I was very interested in the similarities and differences between the American grey wolf and the African wild dog. This book was in the library of each safari camp I stayed in so I had the pleasure of studying about the wild dogs while in their native habitat. As you'll learn from this book, wild dogs are extremely social, even more so than grey wolves, and very efficient, successful predators.

The photographs in this book are fantastic and the text is well written, well organized, and aimed at the general public rather than the scientific community.

The author continues his African wild dog research in Botswana. The fate of these fascinating predators is very precarious due to their small population and the relentless persecution by people, similar to that experienced by the grey wolf in America earlier this century.

An Amazing book by an unknown author- Larry Brogan, whom I'm betting will soon be a household name.
This book is filled to the brim with action, suspense, romance and takes you on a trip out of the ordinary. If you liked "The X-Files", the "Twilight Zone" and the movie "The Matrix" you might want to get out the reading glasses. Brogan has painted images of a world as seen only by a few, and Bart inparticular sees it more differently than anyone else. Barts brush with the CIA and the KGB takes him into a world of the paranormal that will leave you spellbound and wondering "what if?"
Brogan's The Delta Zone is well thought out and researched, almost to the point that I'm wondering if he hasn't been there himself...
This book is an amazingly quick read and will leave you wanting more. I'm hoping a sequel is in the works and a film is in the future.

I loved it! A genuine thriller! A real page-turner with wonderful imagination combined with international political intrigue. Anyone who enjoys Ludlum, Crichton or Clancy will enjoy this marvelous novel.

The "Delta Zone" is an easy and quick read. Mr. Brogan set the stage beautifully, using real and some very well known activities, landmarks, and other identifiable references to captivate the reader. The main theme deals with astral projection/remote viewing which is a unique area of study, is believeable, and to varying degrees experienced by people. I believe Mr. Brogan has set the stage for a sequel and, if so, I look forward to reading it. Great job.

I was haunted by the main character Margaret Cape. As a southerner reading a story set in the south, every word was believable and real to me. I don't understand why Wylene Dunbar was not heralded and made famous by this novel. She is as good a story teller as Grisham, Welty and other Mississippi authors who already have their fame! Books like Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil and many by Anne Rivers Siddons came to mind when I read this intriguing tale.

This is a wonderful book, so it came as no surprise that MARGARET CAPE received this year's Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters fiction award, beating out nine other nominated books by top novelists in a state known for its writers. In his note describing Dunbar's award, Bob Summer (southern correspondent, Publishers Weekly) said that "[Dunbar's] stellar achievement is piercing the inner life of a searingly memorable woman in prose often simmering with sheer beauty."

This is a superbly crafted and intricate story of generations, social conventions, prejudices, power, gender roles, and the thin veneer of gentility in the South. But don't mistakenly believe this is just another Southern novel. Dunbar's Margaret Cape is a most unusual protagonist who follows a highly unconventional path to discover and complete her own "story." There is enough psychological brutality, love, conflict, death, sex, and legal battles in this book to satisfy most "beach book" readers, and at the same time those looking for a more "literary" work will be impressed. The unusual plot turns, surprises, and strangeness are quite plausible because Dunbar recreates a world (the context of the South, the changes in the decades from the 1920's to the 1990's, the fragility of the human mind) that allows us to accept them as real. I'd be surprised if this novel doesn't get nominated for one of the book awards

I already have the AHD 3rd edition(paper back) and is my first dictionary made in the U.S.A. The best thing of the AHD is that it satisfies what we want from dictionaries in everyday uses. The definitions are clear, simple, and precise. Besides, identification of word origins is the most useful feature to give in-depth understanding on each word. I couldn't resist buying the new AHD 4th edition. One more thing. The color combination of the cover page is surely more attractive than that of the 3rd edition. I think I'm going to treasure this dictionary. :)

This dictionary is one of the most informative dictionaries of the English tongue (both in Britain and America) I have come across so far. Other dictionaries such as Britain's Chambers dictionary offer merely the definitions. The American Heritage Dictionary, however, offers the words' definitions, etymologies, and various pronunciations and spellings. In addition, this dictionary is also encyclopedic, succinctly explaining about certain people, places, events, et cetera. Moreover, many of these encyclopedic explanations are accompanied by small photographs. I do question, however, the title "The American Heritage Dictionary". Many of the words in this dictionary are also spoken in other countries such as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland. Indeed, there are Americanisms included in this dictionary. But one may also find these Americanisms in British dictionaries such as Chambers. Nevertheless, as a whole the American Heritage dictionary will be beneficial to English speakers of all nationalities.

Very much like my childhood, sans the farm. A wonderfully written memoir that would make an excellent gift to anyone who grew up in the South before integration. The phrase "common" was something I learned as a child - to be "common" was to bring shame or disgrace to one's self and family. "Don't do that, Rachel," my friend's mother said "it's common." No other explanation was needed.

The carefree childhood days of Bolsterli's (and my own) South are gone now, having long been replaced by asphalt, industry, and the complexities that seem to be a necessary part of modernization. Bolsterli tells of daring feats with neighbor children, of playing without the constant adult supervision that is a must for today's child. I well remember long afternoons spent in our neighborhood, without anyone worried about my whereabouts, let alone my safety. Then there is the dark time, a murder in the family, with the polite perceptions and differing accounts - it's all there and Bolsterli tells it so well.

A good book to read at least once more.

As I child, I passed by the author's childhood home many times when visiting my friends the Rices in nearby Watson, Arkansas. There were always brief comments about the stately Southern home at the end of the long drive and the important, cultured family that had lived there for generations. So, when I first read BORN IN THE DELTA, immediately after it was published, my reaction was partly personal.

It is a beautifully crafted portrait of unique aspects of the Southern culture that still persists in the Mississippi Delta region. Each chapter tells a readable, retell-able story about everyday topics that range from the manners we taught our children, to Southern cooking at home. From the meaningfulness to children of a lively backyard pond, to the way proud Southern families artfully coped with the financial stresses of a volatile agricultural economy. And each chapter is more colorful, more rich with imagery, more authentic than the one before.

Berstoli's book is also informed by her deep knowledge of language and sociology. Her years in the University of Arkansas' English department provided a platform for continued research into Southern communication styles and social conventions. She has localized this book to a very small sub-region (focused in and around Desha County in Southeast Arkansas), which allows for observations that are much more precise than the popular, overgeneralized Southern stereotypes.

If I taught a class in American History, I would certainly include BORN IN THE DELTA as a text.

This book contains, in tablature and standard notation, songs by a number of great Delta bluesmen -- Charley Patton, Son House, Robert Johnson, Willie Brown, Skip James and others. Grossman does not in every case write out the notation for the entire song; a song might be represented by its intro, first verse and closing guitar lick, or maybe just by an extended break. In each case, Grossman gives you enough information that you can sit down with the recording and learn to play these classic songs.

Interview snippets, history and photographs add great color and texture to an extremely useful work.

Just a beauty of a book. A sampling of classic delta bluesmen with their songs and tablature. Many are quoted, shedding light on personalities and the time and place in which they lived. A great book to purchase if you want to explore the genre.

A work of love. Major Kudos. Thanks very much.

The opportunities to make an important American history connection that are contained in this book are inspirational.

I just got back from the Delta (there's only one, isn't there?) last month (12/01) and had the opportunity to visit 8 sites. I drove a small car with my 15 year old son, and the information this book and my experience with the blues provided, prevented the mayhem one frequently associates with excessive exposure between generations from the same family.

We started in Leland and went to Clarksdale and came down to Greenwood and back to Leland.

While I expect to continue to use this book for years to come as my family and I go back to annually visit the in-laws, my sole complaint is the directions. I've driven from Guatemala to Vancouver and been in 26 countries, so I have a well seasoned sense of direction. Perhaps I'm overly pedantic but some of the directions did not anticipate some of the predictable confusion I experienced.

While the directions to Zion Church in Greenwood were good, confirmation such as a green roof or easily visible from a mile away just after the curve to the right would be helpful. It was a lovely church but I was a somewhat self conscious about parking in the driveway. Fortunately there wasn't anyone else there at the time.

The graveyard for Mississippi John Hurt was fascinating but the directions could have been a bit better. When a turn is called out and the driver makes it, I'd prefer to see right away that one should park right after 1.0 miles. By the time my son read the preceding information, before the distance,to me, I wasn't sure how many tenths of a mile we'd gone. So, do we turn around to the mail boxes or try to guess? We tried the latter and should have tried the former (it was getting late in the day). It was well worth it since the graveyard was fascinating in how natural, secluded and private the sites were. Thanks for the tip about wearing bright clothing due to hunters, but I wish that had been in a section in the front: Preparing for Your Journey. That section could include common sense photographic suggestions such as extra film, batteries, a flash and a tripod.

I'd suggest adding to the Sonny Boy Williamson grave directions to make the first right after 2nd street (instead of turn at the gas meter, not all gas meters in the country are the same) on the named street, I'm going to guess Bruister (starts with a B anyway) Street. The locals walking that road saw me 4 times in a half hour, probably livened up their day.

I'm sure I expect too much, but I would have liked some idea about the driving time between sites with a line item complete itinerary in the back with the driving time between the site you're looking at and the site on the line above. That way if you wanted to skip some of the less interesting (varies from person to person) sites, you can plan your day more efficiently.

I wish I had unlimited capital and could pay the author to try to find out who else is buried in these various graveyards. Were they family or neighbors? I wish there were money to pay someone to go to these graveyards annually to spruce them up a little, secure lopsided gravestones etc. I'd want to see all the individuals in the graveyard get equal treatment.

Go slowly and make notes in the book in case you ever want to redo the trip or take another blues enthusiast on the trip of their life that wouldn't be available if it weren't for this excellent book.

Blues Traveling: The Holy Sites Of Delta Blues by Steve Cheseborough (an independent music scholar and a performer of blues music) showcases the contributions of John Hurt, Jimmie Rodgers, Bessie Smith, Muddy Waters, Fred McDowel, Howlin's Wolf, B. B. King, Little Milton, Elvis Presley, Bobby Rush, Junior Kimbrough, R. L. Burnside and other notables essential to a proper understanding and appreciation of this authentically American music tradition. Blues Traveling is a literary and historical excursion through the Mississippi delta taking the reader on a kind of pilgrimage to juke joints and churches, birthplaces and graveyards, dusty roads and levees, where down-home blues music was born, nourished, and evolved. Blues Traveling is a unique guidebook enhanced with photographs, maps, easy-to-follow directions. If you are a fan of the blues and will be finding yourself in the delta country, the begin your trip planning by a serious perusal of Steve Cheseborough's Blues Traveling!

I thoroughly enjoyed 'Blues Traveling'. It came along just as I was planning my trip to the Delta this summer, so I constitute a sort of 'road test'. The book contains a wealth of information on little-known historic buildings and the like, and it's conveniently arranged by a very logical itinerary. With lots of little-known facts (did you know that the Great Wall of China is *not* the largest man-made structure in the world?), it's a great read whether or not you're actually traveling to the Delta. FWIW, I'm not in any way related to the author. :)