Amy Carmichael was an admirable woman who performed great deeds in India. She was devoted to God and did her best to serve him. Although she labored under some misconceptions and ignorance about Hinduism, it is possible to forgive her because she operated from a pure heart and a sincere desire to do the Lord's work. It would not be fair to judge her by today's more knowledgeable and open-minded standards.

Without wanting to detract from Amy Carmichael's achievements, I wish the authors had taken the trouble to understand the reality behind some of her misguided beliefs. For example, the following statement (from pp. 77-78) is patently untrue: "Buddhism is a religion of many gods and many statues of gods. Buddhists often believe the statue itself is a god and not just an image of a god." A cursory look at just about any middle school social studies book should prove otherwise.

The authors also depict the British contributions to India in a wholly positive light, although most scholars would agree that their legacy is mixed. Furthermore, their contention that "English rule ... brought roads, railways, industry, and education to India" (p. 96) completely ignores the richness of a great and sophisticated civilization that was the birthplace of some of the world's greatest religions, that gave the world the mathematical concept zero, that had a sophisticated infrastructure already in place (such as the Grand Trunk Road), traded extensively around the world, had a flourishing industry of handicrafts (which were part of the reason the British were originally attracted to India), and so on long before the arrival of the British. The arrogance of such a statement takes my breath away.

Finally, the author's blanket condemnation of the "devadasi" or temple dancer tradition in South India is ignorant and misguided. From the Columbia University website:

"The tradition of the ... devadasi in the temples of India, was one of dancer and sexual initiator. It is a tradition found in relatively recent times throughout the East, traditions as old as those in Ancient Greece and Egypt. The Devadasi was often trained in the art of dance from childhood and she would be officially married to the Temple God at the onset of puberty. The dance form was equally erotic and spiritual which is difficult for the western mind to comprehend. .... The Devadasis were not slaves as they are often portrayed but women of high social status, with accomplishment in all of the arts. However because the Western mind could only comprehend the woman as being married or celibate, the devadasi was seen as a prostitute by the British authorities."

Except that they were not celibate, this is not so different from the position of Christians nuns who are also "married" to the God they serve. Historically, parents in Europe who could not afford to marry off or maintain their daughters also brought them to the church to dedicate their lives to God -- often against their daughter's wishes. I applaud Amy Carmichael for assisting those girls who did not want to become devadasis. But undoubtedly they were many who enjoyed their work and were honored to serve God. Carmichael, who was very much a product of her times and culture could not be expected to understand that. The authors however have a responsibility to be more evenhanded.

Amy Carmichael had a huge heart for God, and a huge heart for God's calling for her. She cared for many children and rescued them from a horrible life of being destined to temple prostitution. She made a huge impact on all of the children she raised, and showed them the wonderful love of Jesus. She's also a great example of a woman that wasn't bothered to serve God as a single woman. This book tells about the many ways God used her to reach people who desperately needed to know the freedom of Christ.

"Bright Gem of the Western Seas" is a compilation of newspaper articles written by James Carson for the San Joaquin Republican from January 17 to May 29, 1852, and reports on the Tulare Valley by George Derby. The articles written by Carson occupy the bulk of the volume, and are by far the more colorful and illuminating.

Mr. Carson holds a minor place in California history, having been an early inhabitant, gold panner, and explorer for whom some landmarks are named. He is not writing as someone concerned with his place in history, as a Stanford, Ralston or Hearst might have been. He is just telling it "like it is," or at least as he sees things to be.

And that is what makes this work so interesting. It is anything but politically correct. He speaks of the native Indian population in fairly disparaging terms that, I gather, were typical of the time. He defends the lynch mobs. Conversely, he complains of the racist Foreign Miners Tax as discouraging the immigration of Chinese miners. Go figure.

Better yet, don't try to figure it at all. Just take him for what he was . . . a man of his time. And, if you have an interest in California history and, especially, the Gold Rush, you'll probably enjoy having this book in your library.

Nothing is better for historical reference to the mood and texture of a particular time than the public writing of that time. This is, I agree, politically incorrect and quite telling. If you want to know what was seen, heard and felt by the people in California in 1846, (a year before the Mormon Pioneers got to Utah,) and 1852, then give this a read. Go and rent, "Paint Your Wagon," and make a night of it.

I bought this dictionary because I love the French one, but I was disappointed with this one. It has most of the words I look up but in the english to spanish section it doesn't tell you the gender of the word, so you have to look it up in the spanish section. I assume that the author expected the user to know, or be able to figure out the gender, but speaking more french than spanish, I am never sure. Otherwise, a nice little dictionary that nearly replaces a bigger one.

I am a Spanish native speaker. I have used this dictionary for about 10 years when I travel. It has a lot of expressions besides the definitions.

Of course this doesn't substitute a big one for your desk (like Oxford's), but it is a very good pocket-size one.

This book had a lot of Crystals and Gems that come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

The photographs of OVER 200 CRYSTALS AND GEMS is worth the purchase price of this book. And I am not just talking about ANY picture of each crystal, I am talking about a GORGEOUS, AMAZING sample picture of each crystal! Some of my favorite photographs/stones included are: Opals (My personal favorite stone ok, tied with Diamond!), Aragonite, Agate, Tourmaline, Calcite, Topaz, Barite, Hematite, Amethyst, Rose Quartz, The Blue Hope Diamond, Ruskin's Ruby, Moonstone, Spodumene, Blende, Natural Mosaic, Malachite, Gold, Mother-of-Pearl, Turquoise....I could go on forever!

Here are the chapters: WHAT IS A CRYSTAL? A WORLD OF CRYSTALS, NATURAL BEAUTY, CRYSTALS-OUTSIDE, ...AND INSIDE, THE COLOR OF CRYSTALS, IDENTIFICATION, NATURAL GROWTH, GOOD HABITS, DISCOVERY-RECOVERY, GROWING FROM SEED, CRYSTALS AT WORK, GOOD VIBRATIONS, QUARTZ, DIAMOND, CORUNDUM, BERYL, OPAL, OTHER GEMSTONES, COLLECTORS' ITEMS, STONES FOR CARVING, PRECIOUS METALS, ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE, WHAT IS IT WORTH?, MAKING THEM SPARKLE, LORE AND LEGENDS, CRYSTALS AT HOME AND INDEX.

This is a must-own if you have any interest in the marvelous beauty of crystals and gems. Not only are the photographs great but the information is succinct and fascinating! I highly recommend this book along with any other of the 109 in the Eyewitness series! Talk about something for everyone! Thanks Dr. Symes and Dr. Harding! Wow!

This book is a fairly short book on Emeralds. Ward gives the reader a great introduction to the world of emeralds without losing the reader in a bunch of scientific jargon. Though the book is very short for its price,it is full of great color pictures and information. The photography in this book alone makes it a must have for emerald lovers. The only complaint that I have about the photograph is that many of the pictures are taken zoomed in so the reader has a tough time determining the actual size of the subjects. Ward touches on the ancient history of these beautiful gems and explores modern day sources of the world's emeralds. Ward also discusses treatments of emeralds before sale, care of emerald jewlery, and there is a particularly interesting section on the making of synthetic emeralds. I would recomend this book to anyone with an interest in emeralds, but I would not recomend it to those looking for a particularly scientific book or a buyer's guide. This little book is packed with information and photographs that won't let you down.

I read Fred Ward's book "Emeralds", a part of his gem series, for an oral report I had to do for school. This book is packed with information on emeralds, from general info, to the cutting process; this book has it all! Not only is Fred Ward a talented author and researcher, but also he takes magnificent photographs. This book has lots of beautiful pictures of emeralds from all over the world. Fred Ward gives you a history of emeralds and their importance with the ancients. And shows and tells you about some of the beautiful jewelry that emeralds are in today, as well in the past. It even has a buying guide that shows what to look for when buying emeralds. I did tons of research for my report, and used a lot of books, but none of them even came close to "Emeralds".

I just made it back from Oregon and a limited visit to several of the many sites listed. The book was copyrighted in 1998 so it's five years old at this writing. I'll take a star off the rating for age. I found several sites listed were now closed. Oregon is growing along with the rest of the west. The author has done a commendable job in detailing locations. If I had two wishes it would be that both the Gem trail guides and the Falcon guides be updated at least every four years. and that the authors include GPS coordinates for the main turn-off and starting collecting point in the site descriptions. If I was traveling a long distance to collect I would call the local rockshops to verify the desired site(s) were still open.

We haven't lived in Oregon all that long and having a guide that will shorten our search is very helpful. Gem Trails is very accurate with easy to follow maps and many colorful pictures that help to enhance the experience. We checked out areas that are close to our residence and we were not disspointed. We are anxious to explore further.

The back flap says that "Luc Quisenaerts . . . has a passion for anything to do with hotels." After receiving this book as a gift, I consider myself lucky that Mr. Quisenaerts decided not to keep his passion to himself.

"Hotel Gems of France" is the first in a series of books profiling what one might consider to be the world's dream vacation hotels. To me, it's a perfect scaled-down blend between the "Resorts & Great Hotels" and "Architectural Digest" magazines. There are 34 "gems" in this book, each portrayed in four to eight pages of text and gorgeous photographs. The back of the book contains an excellent section of factual information (e.g., rooms, facilities, activities, location), plus a map of France pinpointing the location of each hotel.

I wouldn't necessarily use this book as a travel planning tool unless I had lots of time and was expecting to cover lots of territory. There are probably more than 34 hotels just in the Latin Quarter of Paris, so taking this number within all of France doesn't make for useful comparisons. Also, there are no rate listings for any of the hotels, but I'd guess that the term "upscale" would fairly describe the price, as it surely does the quality of the properties.

Still, for those who enjoy superb photography, or who wish to get an introduction to France's beauty, or who might REALLY go on a dream vacation, this is a wonderful book. If I were rating this with my heart and eyes only, it would be 5 stars.

hotel gems is a great resource for anyone planning a visit to the scenic french countryside or searching for an intimate and classy place to stay in france's cities...it successfully manages to be both a useful guidebook to france's small upscale hotels and a beautifully photographed, written and edited coffee table conversation piece...it allows the imaginative reader to 'visit' these lovely hotels from the comfort of his or her own living room, at a substantially lower cost in both time and money than actually going to them!

This book is a must-have reference for anyone in the jewelery business, but probably too technical for someone interested in learning about jewelery. Nicely organized.

Having been in the industry for several years I found this book an excellent resource. It has tables to review formulas for all types of gold, silver, and platinum. The only thing it is lacking is the specific gravities for different gemstones. It has several pages of the many types of cuts for diamonds. This book is so invaluable that I lost it, and now I'm buying it again.

There are a lot of basic uke books out there (including some by Jim Beloff), but if you already play a little guitar and want to go beyond 3-chord folk songs, there aren't that many books to help you. This one does. A useful, second-stage instruction book that ends with an introduction to chord solos. I've had great fun with it.

Jim Beloff has created a small industry collecting old ukulele tunes, editing them, adding chord symbols and publishing them in books like this. This particular collection is one of my favorites, along with Beloff's "Ukulele Favorites". Both books offer around 30 tunes and a very complete set of chord charts for the price of a couple of sets of strings. Not bad.

The author specifies 20 different stones, 34 healing patterns, & 6 metaphysical/magic patterns. The diagrams are line drawings, not photos. The bibliography is extensive (& necessary). Multiples of various stones are used in the patterns. She gives a short sentence on what each stone type in the layout is supposed to do/represent. While you may find yourself wishing for a little more detail, the publisher HAS billed it as a "companion" to her book "Crystal Enchantments" (also with no photos). Note: some systems do not advocate using an abundance of different stones in a layout & the author herself gives a warning not to leave them on for longer than 15 minutes.

Very practical applications. Lack some explanations and how different layouts may work though. One has to try the layout himself/herself in order to find out.