This comprehensive book is chock full of relevant scriptures and wonderfully encouraging examples and advice. While creative in itself, it is also practical and down to earth. It inspired me, and I'm sure it will inspire you, too.

This book is a great guide to unlocking your inter-creativity with God's help. It's well written and very insightful- I've already passed my copy onto a friend!

Chris Brown truely has a grasp on what a boater in the Northeast is looking for. I found that the information about the ports of call were particularly helpful for those not familiar with these areas. Highly recommended for those traveling in the Northeast.

I found this book a must have for my cruise this spring. It's jam-packed with information, from the depth of water to a complete list of marinas and their amenities. I am surprised that a book that is so packed with critical information could also be so easy to understand and fun. The many photos, maps and stories make this book a pleasure to read. I'm glad I purchased this book a month before my trip. I kept it on my night stand, and by reading a little bit each night, it made for a better vacation. The references throughout the book, like tips for clearing customs, what not to miss, and tourist information listings, alone were worth the price of the book to me. As a novice boater. I also appreciated the chapter on marina etiquette.

The Culinary Saga Of New Iceland: Recipes From The Shores Of Lake Winnipeg is a regional compendium of more than just mouth-watering recipes; also included are historical food articles from the newspaper Framfari, which once circulated among the New Icelandic settlement; tips from North American recipe testers; vignettes and photographs; and a legacy of a rich cultural tradition of perseverance, adaptation, and lip-smacking good food. Recipes for breads, desserts, delicious drinks, fish, meats and soups the New Icelandic way are all faithfully presented with pride and love. The Culinary Saga Of New Iceland is enthusiastically recommended for anyone interested in learning about, or better yet preparing their own meals in the New Icelandic tradition!

this cookbook is really impressive since it contains more than just recipes. i'm a young icelander, and i like being able to read the history sections and have access to my favourite recipes (especially in the desserts section). it lets you know where the recipes come from and not just how to make them. i think it's an awesome book...it demonstrates how a saga can be presented with a modern twist.

I first read this book 16 years ago. I have never forgotten it; it is one of my favorite books. Why? It blends architecture with medical necessity, family issues and social needs at the turn of the century. The idea that people could be cured (or not) by the winter weather of Saranac lake, with its extremely low humidity and extreme cold (40 degrees below zero days not uncommon), made tubercular people leave their children and families to go north to this tuberculosis treatment hospital while living in the town of Saranac. They'd bundle up in a cure cottage's glassed in porch, lying on an Adirondack cot made of wood, a cross between an ultra-sturdy deck chair on an ocean liner, and a hospital bed. Robert Louis Stevenson lived in his own home in Saranac lake, and Christy Mathewson was treated there also (He died of TB.) The history of tuberculosis is interesting not just from a medical, but an historical and social point of view. Anyone who enjoys architectural history will find this coffeetable style book of black and white photographs and informative text interesting. This Adirondack area is one of rich history, with the cure cottages of Saranac, the large country "cabins" of the rich New York city moguls, the Olympics in Lake Placid, and the artistry of outdoorsman Frederick Remington. This book is a wonderful addition to your historic architecture collection. It brings a long-forgotten chapter of medical care and historical architecture to life.

this is a wonderful book for anyone who grew up in the saranac lake/adirondack area. it brings home lots of memories of the area and days gone by. i found the photos extremely interesting. for anyone who grew up in the area, as i did, you will find yourself transported back in time to houses of your friends or houses you may have occupied growing up here. i found this all very nostalgic. the text is extremely informative. you need not be interested in tb to enjoy this book, but it does give you a interesting background of tb and the growth of saranac lake.

John Messina is a wonderful person and has much wisdom. I am curious if this book is about the lifes of his clients or not. I know that he was rated in the top five trial attorneys for the entire united states. I know the technical writing of all his other books is incredible. It does make you wonder if the storyline for this book was from his client list and thier sufferings.

It is a page-turner with excellent character development. The surprise ending is wonderfully done.

This book is so accurate and descriptive it made hiking the Tahoe Desolation Wilderness a pleasure. The authors describe the trails in detail, steep, vertical, not for beginners etc. The map included in the back is an assest, the detailed book a must for anyone heading into the wilderness of Tahoe.

This is the best book to get for hiking around Lake Tahoe - it is written clearly with step by step descriptions of each hike, the flora and fauna of the area and the difficulty level for each hike. Definitely a must when visiting the Tahoe basin area.

This is a great primer for anyone interested in the history of our wetland ecosystems- from armchair ecologists to the PhDs. It helped me enormously in understanding how our wetlands came to be what they are today. Vileisis' style is engaging and clear, making this a real page turner. I didn't want to put it down.

We've all heard the statistics. As Vileisis puts it, "Overall, 221 million acres of wetlands once graced our nation's lower forty-eight states with a rich mosaic of life. More than half of these important landscapes no longer exist." This book traces a history of loss and chronicles the changing attitudes of the settlers from Europe and their descendants about wetlands. Caught up as we frequently are in controversies about how to identify wetlands, how to preserve them and mitigate their loss, this book provides a long perspective and calls for no less than a change in culture if we are to stop the inexorable downward trend.

Vileisis describes how, to the first European settlers, what we call wetlands were "dismal swamps," linked by images such as Pilgrim Progress' "slough of despond" to whatever is dark and evil. Later wetlands represented opportunity: drain them and make a lot of money, whether selling real estate in Florida or planting more and more crops.

This is more than a book about wetlands, however. It is a history of water policy in the United States. It tells the history of the great American institutions that grew up to deal with wetlands issues: the Soil Conservation Service, the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and others. She also tells of the federal legislation that shapes our current ways of dealing with wetlands; how these laws got passed and how they have been enforced. Anyone attempting to understand the changing role of the Corp of Engineers in wetland protection, for example, should read this book.

The book is also gracefully written and filled with great stories about entrepreneurs and dreamers who saw opportunities in controlling the rivers and draining the swamps, and how their plans almost always went awry. It also tells of those who helped change the cultural attitude toward wetlands, people like Mrs. Augustus Hemenway of Boston, who, with William Brewster, founded the Audubon Society and groups like Ducks Unlimited, who saw dramatic decreases of wildlife in their favorite hunting areas. When scientists began to understand the values of wetlands in the early 20th century, long-entrenched attitudes began to change.

Vileisis points to the essential difficulty for understanding and dealing with wetlands: land is property, and our thinking is guided by concepts of "property rights." The waters of the country, on the other hand, have been understood as belonging to all of us. But wetlands are both land -- we can put a fence around it -- and water -- it flows and knows no boundaries. This is the key to why it has been so hard to shape public policy and attitudes about wetlands. As Vileisis puts it, "Americans were stuck somewhere between the conventional view of wetlands as property and the ecological view of wetlands as a life-support system."

Vileisis takes heart from the resiliency of nature, but in her closing chapter she says, "...while there have been changes in attitudes, policies, and laws, and marked decrease in the rate of wetlands loss, the destruction of wetlands continues because powerful interests cling to the status quo that calculates its profits in the ledger of short-term private gain with little concern for the common good." For those of us who work to change this cultural attitude, this book extends our sense of interconnectedness to those who lived before us. Vileisis says, "Informed by history, we can remember the trade-offs already made and turn away from the mistakes and misunderstandings of a time when we knew no better."

A clever poetic presentation integrates Language Arts and Science in a creative way. In addition to accuracy of content information, the author, Barbara Shaw McKinney incorporates literary devices: figurative language, alliteration, onomatopoeia, and personification. The opportunities for learning are endless as children read across the curriculum.

I particularly like the symbols that appear throughout the text, where the drop demonstrates the water cycle properties. They are further explained in the end pages titled, "A Magic Show Starring H2O." During subsequent readings, my students enjoyed dramatizing Drop's travels. "A Drop Around the World" lends itself well to interactive dramatization. For example, by pairing an action and sound effect with each water property/symbol, students are able to reenact Drop's journey, totally engaged in the text.

On another level, children are anxious to locate the drop on each page as it is revealed by the context of the story.

A "must have jewel" for innovative teachers attempting to engage the imagination of their students! Barbara Shaw McKinney's love of Nature's Magic is contagious as evidenced by the response of my students. They loved it!

I can hardly wait to see what wonders her next book will unearth!

Who would have ever thought the water cycle could be so entertaining! As an Environmental Educator, I am very VERY picky about children's nature books. Many are too technical to become a household favorite. Many others are too "watered down" (sorry very bad pun) to have any value in the classroom as a content book. Once in a very long while will a book be able to accomplish both goals. "A Drop Around the World" does this and much more.

Amazon lists it as suitable for ages 4-8 -- a conservative estimate, at best. Like only the best children books can, it appeals to all ages. And like only the best EE books, it has educational messages for young and old. At first, my 3-year-old was mainly concerned with searching out the "protagonist" drop from the rest of the water on each page. Now he also enjoys identifying all of the animals, so expertly drawn, as the pages go by. I myself get caught up in the text. I marvel at how factual and informative McKinney can be and still maintain an engaging and unforced rhyme scheme.

And finally as an added bonus, even the artwork is virtually flawless. I'm pleased to say that after close inspection I have found only one error. On the African Rainforest pages there is a Harpy Eagle which is a species only found in South America. Few $60-$80 ecology textbooks fair as well under my scrutiny!

I recommend this book for (2-and higher) because it has many hard words that I could not understand. The book is good. I liked it because it is like a science book and I like science.

We forget where things come from in our lives. After reading The Drop in My Drink, neither you nor your children will question where your water comes from, or why it is important to know. With water quality and availability named as the number one problem of the new millenium, this exquisitely illustrated book is a must read for both children and adults. Donate one to your child's classroom!

Until I read this book, I thought I knew everything about Spenser, but Norton has done it again! Insightful and interesting,this anthology of criticism covers everything from "The Faerie Queene" to all the other things Spenser wrote. I had always been a Chaucer hound,but now I've converted to the Spenserian camp. Partake of this grand work and be saved!

EDMUND SPENSER'S POETRY : Authoritative Texts and Criticism. Third Edition. Selected and Edited by Hugh Maclean and Anne Lake Prescott. 842 pp. London & New York : W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.

Although everyone has heard of Edmund Spenser's amazing narrative poem, 'The Faerie Queene,' it's a pity that few seem to read it. To a superficial glance it may appear difficult, although the truth is that it's basically a fascinating story that even an intelligent child can follow with enjoyment and interest.

It appears difficult only because of Spenser's deliberately antique English. He needed such an English because he was creating a whole new dimension of enchantment, a magical world, a land of mystery and adventure teeming with ogres and giants and witches, hardy knights both brave and villainous, dwarfs, magicians, dragons, and maidens in distress, wicked enchanters, gods, demons, forests, caves, and castles, amorous encounters, fierce battles, etc., etc.

To evoke an atmosphere appropriate to such a magical world, a world seemingly distant in both time and place from ours, Spenser created his own special brand of English. Basically his language is standard Sixteenth Century English, but with antique spellings and a few medievalisms thrown in, along with a number of new words that Spenser coined himself. The opening lines of the poem are typical :

"A Gentle Knight was pricking on the plaine, / Y cladd in mightie armes and silver shielde, / Wherein old dints of deepe wounds did remaine, / The cruell markes of many a bloudy fielde...." (page 41).

If, instead of reading with the eye, we read with the ear or aloud, the strange spellings resolve themselves into perfectly familiar words such as clad (clothed), mighty, arms, shield, deep, cruel, marks, bloody, field. And "Y cladd" is just one of those Spenserian medievalisms that simply means "clad" or clothed (i.e., wearing).

The only two words in this passage that might cause problems for the beginner are "pricking" and "dints," and it doesn't take much imagination to realize that these must refer, respectively, to 'riding' (i.e., his horse) and 'dents.' But if you can't guess their meaning, in the present edition a quick glance to the right at their explanatory glosses will soon apprize you of it, and will save you the trouble of searching for their meaning elsewhere.

Once you've used the side glosses for a little while, progress through Spenser's text becomes a snap. And learning a few hundred words is a small price to pay for entrance into one of the most luxuriant works ever produced by the Western imagination, and one that once entered you will often want to return to.

The present Norton Critical Edition has been designed for college students, but will appeal to anyone who is looking for an abridged Spenser which gives maximum help with the language, and who might also like to read a little of the best recent criticism.

The first part of the book, besides giving almost 500 large pages of annotated selections from 'The Faerie Queene' which amount to well over half of Spenser's complete text, also includes a generous selection from Spenser's other poetry : The Shephearde's Calendar; Muipotmos : or The Fate of the Butterflie; Colin Clouts Come Home Againe; Amoretti; and the beautiful Epithalamion and Prothalamion. An Editor's Note exploring important issues follows each selection, and all obscure words have been given convenient explanatory glosses in the right margins.

The second part of the book consists mainly of a wide range of Twentieth-Century Criticism, and contains twenty-five critical essays on various aspects of Spenser, many by noted scholars such as A. Bartlett Giamatti, Thomas P. Roche Jr., Northrop Frye, A. C. Hamilton, Isabel MacCaffrey, Paul Alpers, Louis Martz, and William Nelson. The book is rounded out with A Chronology of Spenser's Life and a very full Selected Bibliography.

Criticism undoubtedly has its value and at times can be stimulating, but Spenser, as one of England's very greatest writers, was of course writing not so much for critics as for you and me. Admittedly his language can be a bit tricky at first, and he certainly isn't to be rushed through like a modern novel. His is rather the sort of book that we wish would never end.

His pace is leisurely and relaxed, a gentle flowing rhythmic motion, and that's how he wants us to read him. To get the hang of things, try listening to one of the many available recordings. And when you hit a strange-looking word there will be no need to fret or panic, for a quick glance to the right at its gloss will soon apprize you of its meaning.

So take Spenser slowly, and give his words a chance to work their magic. Let him gently conduct you through his enthralling universe, one that you will find both wholly strange and perfectly familar, since human beings and their multifarious doings are Spenser's real subject, and somewhere in one of his enchanted forests you may one day find yourself.