..becasue this book provides you with compareable pictures of the different and often unusual citrus varieties today grown and sold. It give you a hint about were to plant, how to care and shows you the different varieties, so you easily can select an enjoyable variety for you container or backyard. The magnificent pictures make this book worth to buy, because you can choose your tree right from the fruit and see if taste and usage fit to your demand. Let's grow citrus!

This book has informatiom for the professional as well as the village farmer in Africa , its teachings are simple and clear for all those interested in the subject to follow , the illustrations and instructions are simple even for those with a basic knowledge of subtropical fruit growing. Africa is not covered in the distribution map never the less the fruits are for example the mango tree is synonymous with Africa , it gives food, and shelter from the elements and fuel what more can you want from a tree. Every African school would benefit from a book like this , and i know one that will.

I have read several other books on citrus cultivation, but this book is by far the best i've run across. It has excellent photographs of the hundreds of citrus fruits, both on the tree and of the inside of the fruit itself. It has some great citrus recipes, but it mainly focuses on the cultivation and care of each variety. This book tells the grower what he/she can exactly expect to see, and how to best care for your tree. If there is ANYTHING this book lacks, it is more info on out-of-zone citrus gardening. For example, i live in NC and i have phenomenal success with all my trees in containers (i winter them in a "cheap" plastic greenhouse). That is my only criticism of this book---otherwise, all cultivar info is detailed and well illustrated!!!!

Charles Jaco, who covered the Gulf War in person while working for CNN, has crafted a simple but solid introduction to the war. This is the book to start with if you want to quickly review the main points of that conflict. However, I have a big caveat-no maps. Anywhere. No where in the entire book is there a map of Iraq, Kuwait, or even a regional one of the Middle East. I understand that the Idiot's and Dummies series are designed to bring the casual reader up to speed on a topic quickly, but in this instance, the topic is heavily dependent on geography. To not have at least one basic map of the Iraq/Kuwait area is unthinkable. Basic treatment of the topic really requires several maps, one of the larger region, and then at least a few more detailed ones. It is extremely hard to make connections between the military movements described in the text without a map for orientation. This seriously detracts from the quality of the book. Unless one is a geography guru already, the book must be read with access to a good map that you've managed to obtain from somewhere else. I give the item 4 stars due to the text, but functionally, this work is really lacking without some maps. Any upcoming editions, if published, really need to think about addressing this problem.

If you can only own one book on Operation Desert Storm, make it this one. Jaco (remember him from CNN?) does a great job giving us the inside scoop on the real story behind the Gulf War. He also does a superb job of connecting the dots between Desert Storm and September 11th. The style is breezy but not condescending. Great up-close battle sequences, as well as historical perspective, and the links between 1991 and the War on Terrorism. Lousy title, great book

If you only have one book on your shelf about Operation Desert Storm, make this the one! Jaco (remember him from CNN?) does a wonderful job with the inside scoop on the war. But in the last 1/4 of the book, he really shines by "connecting the dots" between the remnants of the Gulf War and September 11th. Ever wonder why "they hate us?" Then get this book and read it. I picked it up quite by accident, even with the lousy title, and just kept on reading. It's an antidote to over-simplified explanations about the Gulf and the War on terrorism.

It was said from those that knew her best, that African-American folklore was Zora Neale Hurston's first love. The ability to manifest in, and excel within the margins of her own people'swapping lies, telling tales, and giving unique meaning to life from the backhand side. Thus, if any part of her legacy is to prevail, one should pay close attention to this side of her that I feel truly helped to define her writing style. No doubt, the genesis of it all goes back to her Eatonville, Florida roots sitting on the porch of the neighborhood story listening to the older men adhere to the aforementioned. Subsequently as a Barnard student of Anthropology under the guidance of Franz Boaz, she embarked in 1927 on a two-year effort to collect samples of African-American folklore. This sets the stage for Negro Tales From The Gulf States, which can boast of an interesting evolution. This is a book written by Zora that was almost an afterthought, until recently discovered after lying in obscurity for nearly 30 years. All of this time, it was stored in a basement at Columbia University, and 20 more at the Smithsonian before coming to light at the urging of the author's estate and others.

What we have here in borrowing Zora's own words ' 'authenticity to preserve the tale-tellers way of speaking'savoring the boiled-down juice of human living'. The book is well written and organized by subject. Read it and revel in how the author used and presented vernacular that would be recognized today as Ebonics'everyday idiomatic expressionism. You will witness improvisational wordplay and given an apt explanation of how these folktales were collected, lost, found, and examined for the deep significance they hold today. These lost southern tales are brought to life by Zora's commanding use of syntax mixed with a sense of urgency. Most of them are infused with humorous stories making a point that we can all identify with. She makes it pointedly clear that folktales were a direct link to our ancestral background, and served a purpose. I marveled at how she was able to use stories made famous by others in how they were reworked and related from a black point of view, giving them a special cross-cultural ring. For instance, to the story of a woman who promises the devil that she will break up a marriage in exchange for a pair of shoes, or how she gives reasons why God gave women keys to the bedroom, the kitchen, and the cradle. You will die laughing, and you will definitely be amused by the punch lines and the Zora penchant for comedic timing.

If there's a reason to want to understand folktales told from the mind of this unique storyteller, you'd want to be enlightened in digesting this type of wit that the author seem to make timeless. In accumulating this body of work, Hurston clearly placed as much emphasis on imagination as on truism. Often she got both. With all the other offering of late alluding to Zora Neale Hurston, you might as well add this book to your collection. You won't regret it!

If only Zora Neale Hurston could've published this book during her lifetime! Luckily her papers containing her research were rediscoveredand we now have this gorgeous collection of stories. Some of them were familiar to me from listening to my grandparents tell tall tales, others were completely new. These stories are funny, frightening and enlightening. Our elders and ancestors were amazing people with a tough and even cynical sense of humor. If we are lucky more of Hurston's research will be found and more will be published.

Kimberley Wilson, author of 11 Things Mama Never Told You About Men

If you grew up hearing older folks get together and swap wild stories, or if you have an academic interest in folklore, then this is for you! Essentially, the great Folklorist Zora Neale Hurston spent 1928 and 29 among rural Blacks in Florida and Alabama jotting down their folk tales and witty sayings. Being a Black Southerner herself gave her an insider's access that made her interviewees comfortable in sharing with her. The final manuscript, "Negro Folktales of the Gulf States" remained unpublished till now. Some of these tales were published in 1935 with a framework story of Miss Hurston's adventures among her interviewees entitled "Mules and Men." But here, the stories exist in their orignial, uncut form without a framework story. Once the modern reader becomes accustomed to the printed approximation of Southern African-American dialect, you can sit back and enjoy the folk wisdom and humorous tales. So imagine that Grandpa, Uncle Wille, and all the others are gathered around your porch with a pitcher of lemonade on a pleasant afternoon and enjoy this African-American equivalent to "Aesop's Fables" and "The Arabian Nights."

I am a native Floridian (4th generation)and it is truly amazing how accurate the recipes and the history information is.

This book is a wonderful collection of tantalizing recipes and interesting Floridian history! I recommend it for anyone who lives here, has been here, or just enjoys Florida.

I'm no cook and I found the easy to follow recipies a "real treat", but that's nothing compared to the way the dishes came out. Truly awesome!

As the symptoms and illnesses described which followed certain exposures in the Gulf War have been described with the diagnoses given to the victims, various causes were described.
The variety of symptoms of many appear to me to have been caused by the Anthrax vaccine which I suspect was contaminated by those diseases known to be caused by pathogens found in tick bites.
I do not agree with the diagnoses given to the sufferers. MS, ALS and Lou Gherich's can all mimic Borreliosis, Ehrlichiosis and Babesiosis. They should be tested for those diseases.

Of the men and women who served in the American forces in the Gulf War, more than one hundred thousand of them came back from that unique conflict suffering from a variety of illness only to face a public and a government that was largely indifferent. It took years of exhaustive medical studies and public awareness efforts of activists to overcome the apathy (and at times outright hostility) of the Veteran's Administration and the Congress to recognize, acknowledge, and begin to deal with this phenomena. Highly recommended reading for students of twentieth century military history, political science, veteran's affairs, and the medical aftermath of service in the Gulf War, Alison Johnson's Gulf War Syndrome: Legacy Of A Perfect War is the complete story of this struggle against government denial and betrayal of the American service men and women who found themselves in harm's way while carrying out their country's mandate on the fields of battle.

If you have any children, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles or friends who are considering whether or not to join our military...this book is for you (them!). I truly believe had it been possible to read this book ten years ago my brother (Gulf War Vet) would be alive today.

Alison Johnson, editor, has done her research compiling information about nearly every aspect of the gulf war, making it easy for the reader to find the information in one book. She also includes a dozen stories from vets themselves (or from family members)discussing what, in their opinion, went on before, during, and after the war. She then leaves the reader the chance to come to their own conclusion based on facts provided.

This book is also for those who are suffering from ill health and don't seem to have any answers for their problems (chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, ALS, multiple chemical sensitivity, etc.). If nothing else, it is an eye opener and a must read for the medical community.

This is a book that should be handed down to our children/grandchildren to give them an understanding of things that will be "tilted" in their history books. This is the book the government/military will not care for you to read as the truth, for once, gets out. Thank goodness this book was given to every member of congress this year. I hope they read it and make sure that what has happened in the past never repeats itself again!

I found this book to be a delightful help while snorkeling on caribbean vacations. Especially when you're trying to identify the cute and wily little fish which lures you over to where the barracuda boyz are hanging out, then deserts you. Now I know what fish does this to me, thanks to this book. You don't need to be hooked on fish scales to appreciate this publication.

Great, easy packing travel guide for the nature lover, fisher-person, or snorkeler/diver. Color- illustrated, with concise descriptions, range, and "edibility" of hundreds of Atlantic fishes. This is an economical reference, worth adding to the tourist's carry-on.

Colour photos of the most common fishes that swim off the Atlantic coast of North, Central, and South America. The information provided includes the fishes' living range, edibility, and if they harbour any toxins. The book can fit into a pocket, and is printed on glossy paper. An interesting read for anyone with an interest in fish.

Although not as good as Great Sky River, I consider this to be the second best of the Galactic Center novels. The science is absolutely mind numbing - I gave up after a while and just enjoyed the ride. A very satisfying conclusion to a great series.

Benford has managed to put together a story that reaches from the present into the far, far future and uniting both. By exposing the desperation that future human beings will suffer and endure to continue their survival, Benford makes the future understandable to us today. Indeed, he makes clear the powers and mysteries of nature, that human beings will certainly be required to utilize if we are to care and survive in our universe.

Yes, the science involved here is impressive. The reason it is my favorite of the six books in the Galactic Center series, however, is a larger compliment. Simply put, it is the writing. Benford is a master of vivid descriptions that completely immerse the reader in the story. When you read this book, you will feel that you were actually a passenger on the ship headed into the unknown. Beautifully written, poetic at times, and totally absorbing, this one brings out Benford's talents to their fullest.

This is a good introduction to spoken arabic. As the title suggests, the focus is on the dialects of arabic spoken near the Persian Gulf. Very little attention is payed to the script; the emphasis is on conversational speech. This is not the book to read if you want to be able to read the Q'uran or other classical arabic texts. it is primarily a course in spoken arabic, and to that end, it does the job well, although if the book came with a casette tape, it would have been a much greater help. Arabic is a difficult language for a native English speaker, but learning basic colloquial arabic is not really that bad, but due to the odd guturral sounds used, a tape with native speakers on it is indispensible.

i have gotten most of the way through this book by now, and it is by far the best book on arabic i've seen. i'd recommend it even to those who are considering literary arabic [aka modern standard arabic].

[1] the dialect presented is conservative and unifying -- the grammar is that of a typical modern dialect but the words are essentially in the same form as in the literary language, without the complicated phonetic changes that characterize many of the dialects [e.g. egyptian] and create additional headaches for learners. the authors have also tried as much as possible to eliminate regional words and forms in favor of more universal, standard and/or literary forms. the result is that arabic speakers from all over should be able to understand you easily, and transition to literary arabic should be easy. [imo your total time learning literary arabic this way will be *less* than starting out directly with a literary arabic book, due to the huge inefficiency of learning in an unfamiliar script, as all literary arabic books make you do.]

[2] i have spent a lot of time studying 10 or 12 languages by now and seen a lot of very bad language books, as well as taken a course on language-teaching theory [which showed me what a horrible state this field is in! there is a total disconnect between theory and practice, which leads to a huge proliferation of ludicrously bizarre theories -- check out "suggestopedia" for some real laughs.]. so, so many books follow theories that dictate what you should *NOT* do -- never explain grammar [berlitz]; speaking only, no reading [pimsleur]; don't use the student's native language [the "native" method]; don't translate words, but let the students guess at the meaning [see al-kitaab fii ta:allum al-:arabiyya]; don't transliterate; etc. in my experience all these "don'ts" do is slow down getting a basic grasp of the language ["communicative competence"], and create lots of frustration. "teach yourself gulf arabic" is one of the few that does exactly what it should -- it focuses primarily on communicative competence, and makes use of any and all methods to make learning easier. one of the biggest is that they transliterate rather than forcing you to learn arabic script -- in my experience learning a language in an unfamiliar script takes at least 4 times as long. each lesson presents dialogs, vocabulary, cultural tips and grammar in an organized fashion, and the progression of vocabulary and grammar from lesson to lesson is logical and thoughtful, with the essentials coming first. particularly strong are the grammar explanations and the "notes" that explain unfamiliar constructions and usages as they occur in the dialogs -- the explanations are clear and to-the-point and do a great job of presenting what's important without burdening the learner with unnecessary complexity. the dialogs are kept interesting by focusing on various aspects of arab life, and dovetail with the explanations in the "cultural tips" sections. there also also well-done intro sections/appendices on arabic pronunciation, script and verbs.

my biggest complaint: all of the "teach yourself" books have terrible bindings, suitable perhaps for novels but certainly not for learning books. even if you carefully go through and stretch out the binding, the pages come loose very easily.

I am not an Arab but I have been exposed to the script and language through the Quran. I would like to add that the book is very good for beginners. However you do need the audio tapes as they are indispensable. The dialogues are well done and you can in no time learn them. Of course this is not a case of pulling a white rabbit out of a magician's hat, so you still need to work hard at remembering what you go through. One word of advice. Pace yourself and no need to rush. Well worth the price and time.
Shukran.

When Phil Conkling came out with the first edition of Islands in Time he more or less created a genre of Human Ecological writing that was actually of use to a wide audience. Mixing history, geology, ecology and geography with a healthy dose of the story-tellers whimsy the book has become something of a cult classic for many of us in the Archipelago. Unfortunately the second edition is a bit of a step backward. It's big. too big. The first edition fitted comfortably in a daypack -this seems aimed more at coffee tables. It's chatty, and I think that a rather savage editor would have worked wonders. We get a bit too much of the "and-then-Raven-gave-a-thump-as-she-ran-over-the-puffin" style of writing & it tends to distract us from some really good stories & the solid history/natural history that shone so clearly from the first edition. That being said, if you are only going to take one book with you Downeast & are going the whole way Downeast, and can't find the first edition, get this.

I'm just finishing my first read of this book, and all I want to do is go back to the beginning and read it all again. This book is filled with people, history, nature, fascinating anecdote, gorgeous prose, introspective rumination, and too much rich information to even begin to digest in one reading. Conkling is a scientist comfortable with an amazing array of subjects and he is also a humanist and pretty-nearly a poet. I have a tendency to fall into the bleeding-heart environmentalist category, and while not offending my sensibilities in the least (he loves nature with a passion), he opened my eyes to many valid coastal points of view among the lobstermen, fishermen, and others. I changed my mind about a number of things while reading his book and I love Maine even more as a result of reading it. Lovely, informative, fascinating book! I'm one of those English-major types and a writer, and Conkling has not only increased my respect for science but has shown me how beautifully the arts and sciences can blend in a thoughtful, productive, earth-changing way.

This is a beautiful book--I'm sorry to see that no one has commented on it yet. It gives a wealth of information about the geology, ecology, and ecosystem of coastal Maine, but even better, it's written in a style that often verges on the poetic. Can't recommend it highly enough.

Some research was definetly put into writing this book. And at times, the author just throughs out some abstract, needless information. Almost as if he just to put it in their, because he thought the trival knowledge would make the book better.

Well it doesn't. It does fine all by itself. It gives some great insightful information to the reason behind some of U.S invasions, wars, and other candelstine efforts foreign and domestic.

Anybody that lived through the era that the book was covered will get bored easily as no true secrets are revealed. But for those born around the 80's, will become very informed.

A good book, but not that good. I give it three stars because the title does not match the book.

Every voter should read this book. This is perhaps the best book to give an overview on the major covert activities of the CIA and its ancestor agencies. A very well researched book. The author appears to have done an immense amount of research to write this book. Very informative and an easy read. The author appears to be unbiased and without an agenda. Every tidbit of covert CIA activity that I read about in past years was discussed in this book, plus many more activities new to me were discussed. Drawing upon this text I believe the average American can get a better feel for the sucess and failure rate of covert activities, risks v.s. advantages.
These covert activities ofter are the first steps that leads the U.S. into succeedingly hostile overt activities. The process is complicated by the fact that a covert operation has some loose oversight within our democracy. The author gives the reader a good feel for the past endeavors of the agency and analyzes the results.
I would recommend this book to any American because wherever the CIA is most active will generally be a place where crucial and influential American foreign policy decisions will follow. It is beneficial to have the past record of covert activity available. Covert activity is as the author states probably the most convenient and easiest way to accomplish a short term foreign policy objective and always a temptation to every U.S. administration, but it often comes with the price of a longterm political backlash from the populace involved.

John Prados begins the book with seldom related histories, particular are the accounts of Baltic and Ukrainian insurgents in post WWII. This is the first time I have run into modern cold war accounts were the planning of covert operations in Central and Eastern Europe ran so close to the end of WWII. Prados underlines that the "youth" of Central Intelligence Agency and the treachery of Philby severly undermined any attempts to support these insurrectionist movements behind Soviet lines. Further declassfication of past interogation reports throw new light on the extent of these movements and how unstable Central Europe actually was. Prados contines into the Cold War up to the 80's and 90's where the bilateral covert conflict no longer seemed to have the raw personal nature of covert action in post WWII and the fifties. Author has obviously had a very generous access to herby unpublished documents. A must for those concerned with Cold War history