I work at a nature center and the photos are excellent for use on hikes, when not all the kids saw the bird. The order of species makes identification from this book rather difficult, but it's a great little book overall!

This book has been perfect for me, a beginner bird watcher, because instead of listing by the latin or even common names, which would have been no help to me, it organizes the birds by color. So as long as you're not color blind, it's easy to find the different specimens you're looking for. My only complaint is that I would like to see a bit more description. Otherwise, it's perfect for beginners!

Must have read thru 2 dozen or more books ordered thru local library recommended for Birds for our area..and THIS ONE..was the the NUMBER ONE favorite of ours..as we are now buying one to keep. Birds of Ohio..is VERY well organized for easy locating of the birds in our area - NICE photos with smaller photos on same page for most showing female of that species. Handy size. Great information. We are luring Orioles and bluebirds to home site and love watching all the other birds here. My husband is pressing me for last week..to get online and order this charming informative book. HIGHLY RECOMMEND.

I am a real live 100% Slovak. I have lived in Cleveland my entire life. I can relate to lot of Milan's memories, though I think he eats a lot better than I do and I've never smoked a cigarette in my life. I've enjoyed this series since the first book, "Pepper Pike". I wish Mr. Roberts had stayed with naming the books after the Cleveland 'burbs. (For you non-Clevelanders, Pepper Pike is one of Cleveland's wealthier suburbs). We have lots of neat city names in this area and that would have been fun. Anyway, I stopped reading the series for awhile after Mr. Roberts killed off Marko. I still don't see the point of that. Milan is a good guy who does a good job. Except for some street names (Avenue vs. Road, etc.), Roberts gets the Cleveland stuff right. This was a good story. It's well worth your time and money, especially if you know Cleveland. I read a lot of mysterys and I usually don't figure 'em out, but I did on this one. Must be my Slovak blood, right?

The book is about an apparent suicide of an Internet executive and Milan Jacovich's assignment as a P.I. to determine why a beloved daughter would kill herself. It's smooth, well-written and accurate in its description of how an Internet ISP operates.

Others seem to find the book preachy, but after a half-dozen Jacovich novels Roberts undoubtedly finds it necessary to do some explaining why Milan does what he does.

Roberts writing has become smoother during the series and characters are well-developed. Local Cleveland color is excellent, but some aspects are well-developed and others are dropped in without contributing to the story. For example, his description of the bridge at the site of the suicide is excellent, complete with historic context. But his mention of a Cleveland Heights' passion, Mitchell's Candies, is superficial -- even though the store has a history as interesting as the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge.

Good detective fiction; a must read for Clevelanders and ex-Clevelanders like myself.

Computers, ... suicide --or is it murder?-- porn sites...what else could you want in a Les Roberts novel? Especially a Milan Jacovich adventure!?

I have always had a crush on Milan Jacovich...but now I think I'm in real trouble. Is there anything more charming than a crusty, street-smart detective learning his way around chatrooms and surfing the web? Well, yeah, I guess there is. It's the fact that this crusty sleuth actually admits he doesn't know as much as his son, a Freshman at Kent and his girlfriend, the real computer genius. It was great fun seeing computer lingo and on-line culture through the eyes of chatroom-virgin Jacovich.

Besides the "fun" in this book, are the layers of grisly discoveries Milan uncovers until THE DUTCH act is solved. There's something for everyone in this book, and I think Roberts has done his best yet at embracing a wide audience of mystery fans.

The book did curl my toes in some places. For those not familiar with Internet culture, Milan's discoveries will shock you. For those more familiar, Milan's discoveries will disgust and confirm much of what you already believe about the darker side of the World Wide Web. Naturally, our hero, Milan (pronounced MY-lan, thank-you very much!) shines light into that darkness with his talents as Cleveland's favorite sleuth.

Kudos to Roberts! I believe he has written a top seller, and I am glad to have gotten one of the first copies! As a book collector, I also want to express my delight in the book's jacket. It's absolutely delicious in its metallic blues and greys. I liked it so much I removed it from the book while I read it so it wouldn't get mussed! THE DUTCH is a great book -- inside and out. Enjoy!

This is a fine quality coffee table type book, with heavy paper and nice color reproduction. If you are an advanced collector who owns every book about Fiesta as well as every piece of Fiesta, you will want this book.

If you are a new collector who has absolutely no idea what any thing is, have no assortment of Fiesta to look at as you read and have no spatial visualization skills, you will want this book because it very pedantically gives every measurement every which way so that you can figure out that your plate that measures 9 5/8 inches is ... surprise commonly called the 9" luncheon plate, and not some "rare, unknown, experimental" due to that extra 5/8". In fact, if you are given to such flights of imagination, especially when pricing your items for sale, please buy this book.

If you are the average collector who falls in the middle, who has seen a set or two of Fiesta, or owns some already, who knows the difference between a bowl and a cup, the tried and true Huxford book, also out at this time in a new edition at about ... and in stock at ..., is the more standardly used alternative, and the one that all but the most novice collector would probably find the better value.

This is the definitive text on Fiestaware®, Harlequin® and Kitchen Kraft. It was written for collectors by collectors (the combined efforts of the Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association.)

The book has insightful, smart and readable text that was reviewed by experts for accuracy. Each piece is illustrated with gorgeous, professional full-color photos, scale line drawings and details on its manufacture.

Homer Laughlin gave the authors unprecedented access to the original journals of Franklin Rhead, the original designer behind Fiestaware® and Harlequin®, and it shows.

This is more of a textbook than a guide. I find myself using it constantly. For Fiesta and Harlequin® collectors there is no equal.

This book, by far and away, is THE BEST for the collector of Homer Laughlin colourware. It has an amazing amount of detail and answers almost every question a person could ask about the dishes named in the title. Measured line drawings are an invaluable help for both the novice and seasoned collector. And it is quite a treat to see photos of nearly every piece in all glaze colours. I found the price guide to be a major improvement over most, as each piece is priced individually by colour.

Readers are treated to a wonderfully accurate history of the dishes. Several rumours that have circulated among the collecting community over the years are laid to rest. The fact that the authors had access to both Frederick Rhead's journals and the HLC modeling logs resulted in a book that is sure to become "The Fiesta Bible".

It is quite refreshing to be able to consult a reference for information, and know that it is factual and free of some author's prejudice and innuendo. This particular book sets a new standard for what collectors' books should be. A MUST BUY!!!

I was asked to read The Trees over the summer for school. As a high school student who loves to read, I was estatic to have a new, thick book placed in front of me. 2 months later, I wasn't even half way through it. Every time I started to read the novel, I would either fall asleep, or just give up out of simple boredom. Richter did not make this book very reader friendly, never setting up a true plot, never reaching an exciting climax in the story, and never making you become attached to ay character besides Sayward Luckit. Who lived a dull life, caring for her brother and sisters. Perhaps this is a book beyond high school capability, or perhaps it is a book that was made to cure insomnia... I don't know. However, I do know that I would never recomend it to anybody, unless they were looking for a way to fall asleep.

I saw the miniseries years ago and loved it instantly. This seems like the real way it must have been for our ancestors (not that far back!). It's always fascinating to get a glimpse of how people lived many, many years ago. I read the Trilogy, and found this book, as the first in the series, probably my favorite. It will capture your imagination from the beginning.

The first part in "The Awakening Land" trilogy, "The Trees" chronicles the settling of the Ohio wilderness in the early days of the Republic. With an ear toward authenticity, Conrad Richter has seamlessly mixed history with fiction by introducing realistic characters who tamed Ohio when it was the "West." The story is simple, but beautifully told as Richter introduces the Luckett family, especially eldest daughter Sayward. The Lucketts claim the land and eke out a living among a howling wilderness as Sayward becomes the true head of the family. Richter is to be congratulated for introducing a realisitically strong character who, representing nameless and countless pioneer women, is a true hero. Read it for history or read it for fiction, it will touch you and teach you.

The good stuff:

This book features a very strong, well-defined, quite likeable private-eye. His personality shines through in every chapter. And he's not too cynical or angry for my tastes. He's just--very stubborn.

As for the interwoven plots, plus romantic subplots (more than one, if you count all the flirting), splendidly realistic dialogue and reactions from Jacovich fueled story material that should leave a reader wondering what he or she would do, as Jacovich does, at every step.

But:

The only spot where the novel takes a bit of reduction in my rating is in the ending. I had hoped for a stronger whodunit element for at least one of the puzzles presented in the book. If Les Roberts could apply--or has applied!--all of this terrific writing to a real "Puzzle for the Ages", then I'm in for a treat sometime in the future, because I will definitely revisit this author, oh, at least once or twice. The only other Les Roberts book that I have in fact read was Pepper Pike when it first came out, and it was arguably the better entry, because of the trickier whodunit content.

At least one review has called Les Roberts a 'hard-boiled' writer. Not so! "The Indian Sign" is a mystery of intricate structure, and overtones of Greek tragedy...with traditional elements from the tragic hero/stoic Indian grandfather to the chorus of whining women who populate the novel and comment mournfully on the action. And it all rests upon the human shoulders of Milan, the flawed detective whose very human-ness moves the action to the surprising ending.

"The Indian Sign" was the second Milan Jacovich novel by Les Roberts that I have read. I really like the character, as well as Roberts' writing style. Milan has two cases in this novel. He is working for Armand Treush, owner of TroyToy, who is suspicious that his accountant might be a corporate spy. His other case comes to him by circumstance. He notices an old Native American sitting all day on a bench outside his apartment in the frigid February cold. When he hears that the old man has been murdered, he goes to the police and identifies the man as the one he had seen. He then gets a visit from Eddie Ettawageshik, who is the grandson of the old man, Joseph Ettawageshik. Eddie tells Milan that his grandfather was in Cleveland looking for his great-grandson, Andrew Takalo, a baby who had been kidnapped from his home in Cross Village, Michigan. Milan agrees to help Eddie locate his nephew. This book is an excellent addition to the series and is highly recommended.

The book jacket states that "The Wrong Man" is a thriller, and nothing could be further from the truth--this slow, plodding work is far from an edge-of-the-seat heart-pounder. It's meticulous and fascinating, however, and is certainly the most complete of the works about the Sheppard murder case.

There's no doubt that author James Neff believes in Sheppard's innocence. A native Clevelander, Neff states on the front end that he grew up believing that Sheppard was guilty based on local media reports; he changed his mind after researching the case and followed it carefully as the trials took place. Regardless of your position on Sheppard's alleged guilt, you should find this book very interesting for a variety of reasons.

First, Neff establishes a serious rush to judgment on the part of the Cleveland press to try and convict Sheppard in the newspapers, and he makes a strong case that a variety of local officials (i.e. coroner Gerber) resented Sheppard's looks, wealth and prestige and wanted to give the dashing doctor his comeuppance--class warfare was alive and well in Cleveland in 1954.

Second, Neff's argument that the killer was actually interior decorator/window washer Richard Eberling is strong as well. Did F. Lee Bailey make a critical mistake by assuming that the results of Eberling's polygraph (he passed) were legitimate? Maybe so, maybe not. But again, it's interesting to watch what local politicians and law enforcement authorities said and did to cover their tracks when faced with the possibility that a third person may have been at the crime scene.

Sheppard was damaged goods when he was released from prison, and his demise is a sad one. The murder case clearly wrecked the Sheppard family as well, and I had mixed emotions as I read the final chapters--by then Sheppard's son, Sam Reese Sheppard, was in the midst of trying to clear his father's name 46 years after the crime was committed...with the evidence so tainted and damaged after all these years, and with so many witnesses dead or unable to remember to what they testified so many years ago, will there ever be a conclusive final chapter to this sad and depressing saga? Probably not. But this novel is well worth your time, if for no other reason than to gain a more balanced perspective about the case. Like many other people, I simply assumed Sheppard was guilty because the press said he was.

I tried to write something great about James Neff's The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case, but decided instead to use the words of one of my favorite mystery writers, Les Roberts, who writes a detective series starring Cleveland private eye Milan Jacovich. In his "Bookmarks" column in the January 24 Currents, Les said his favorite non-fiction book of 2001 "was The Wrong Man, James Neff's re-examination of the Sam Sheppard murder case--brilliantly and painstakingly researched, and written with power and compassion to read like a contemporary novel ...I was on the edge of my seat through every page--as if I'd never heard the bare bones of the case before."

James Neff's The Wrong Man not only is a good read but a compelling one. Though the title (subtitled, "The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case")gives one the ending, the drama of the story keeps the reader going as well as any good mystery. Neff's investigative talent and what he uncovers helps build that drama. Neff connects the revelations of the passions built by media/political forces in Cleveland during this 1950s case to the McCarthy era mentality and to the growth of what was then considered the "safe" suburbs.(The book has been relatively ignored by the local Cleveland newspaper despite its massive previous coverage. But don't expect a whitewash of its main character. The content also has relevance to today's media frenzy in some of the highly emotional cases that become media spectacles and a warning that what seems to be might not be at all. Neff's detective work, obviously tenaciously done, has a Holmes-like quality. It's hard to put it aside once into the book.

This book is by no means a comprehensive listing of all wildflowers and shrubs in Ohio, but it is a great resource for anyone who is just getting acquainted with plant identification. Using this guide, you should be able to identify most plants that are in flower to species and identify the rest to family or genus. The color pictures are clear and the format is easy to use. I would recommend this book to hikers, butterfly enthusiasts, and anyone else who appreciates wildflowers and wants to be able to identify more of them.

This book is just fine! I totally disagree with the 1st reviewer. I have other books that are also helpful and need to use them all for reference. The photos are helpful and the information is totally accurate & I consider my self an expert in this area. I don't know what the 1st reviewer is talking about??? I prefer this to Perterson's Guides. I use Audobon's as my 1st choice and use this as a good everyday back up.

This is the first book I pick up when identifying wildflowers of Ohio. The information is complete and entertaining, as well, with interesting notations regarding the history of many of the plants. The beautiful photos make it easy to recognize most of the flowers in the field immediately. I recommend this book as a useful and enjoyable way to learn about regional wildflowers.

I bought "The Force" expecting a great, firsthand look at high-stress corporate selling. I also expected the book to be readable! I have tried several times to finish this book, but the repetitive prose is frustrating: How many times can I be told that Frank Pacetta is caustic, or that Fred and Kathy are at odds over whether she should return to work? How many times can I be apprised of the other characters' anxieties, and in how many different ways? Dorsey duplicates his efforts by over-explaining everything that happens, instead of letting the dialogue or actions tell the story. The narrative paraphrases the characters' inner thoughts, repeating the same old harangues. The description of Kathy's reflections on a sermon about the Parsifal myth makes a simple point again and again, yet Dorsey's rambling prose is impossible to winnow down. The prose is tightest when Dorsey explains the history of Xerox. The complex whys and wherefores behind Xerox's adoption of TQM and their deal structure resemble the characters' inner thoughts in the narrative. What this book needed to give it pacing throughout was detachment, so the reader could keep track of everyone's situations throughout the story. This book needed the linearity of facts, rather than the circularity of anxiety and rationalization.

I will admit that the book is slow at times, but it has many good points. I am a marketing major, and I think it is a must. It honestly taught me a lot.

This book really captures the essence of being in sales and and what it takes to be in sales management. I'm in sales management myself and I can really relate to Fred Thomas' worrying about performning well, and I recognize some of the different characters in his department. Sales being glamorous to many people (those not involved in selling), but the negative impact it has on your personal life is very well described in the book. It's tough!

The book is a must for everyone in sales management!

One of the joys of reading is the opportunity of finding for oneself authors that have long been obscure or overlooked. I came to Dawn Powell's work with expectations of such a reward. I knew that the Library of America had saw fit to publish two volumes of her work and that Tim Page, Washington Post classical music critic, had edited the volumes and written a biography. I was eager to learn more.

Dawn Powell grew up in rural Ohio and moved to Greenwich Village as a young woman and lived a bohemian life. She wrote 15 novels between the 1930s and the early 1960s mostly set in rurual Ohio and Greenwich Village, which were little noted during her life. She has been "rediscovered" and praised highly by some.

Dawn Powell's "The Golden Spur" was her last novel and the first book of hers I read. The book tells the story of Jonathan Jamison who, at the age of 26 leaves his Ohio home in search of his father in Greenwich Village. Jonathan's mother had worked as a typist briefly in the Village before she returned home and married what she found a rather conventional man. She delivered prematurely and told Jonathan that his true father was in New York. And Jonathan goes to search for his father --- and himself.

The book centers around The Golden Spur, a bar in Greenwich Village frequented by artists and literary types. (It had been frequented by Jonathan's mother in her New York days). We meet a cast of characters who become involved with Jonathan, including Hugow, the bohemian modern painter of questionable talent, a succession of Hugow's former lovers, some of whom are bedded by Johnathan, failed literary critics, academics, has-beens and never wases. We also meet an elderly woman named Claire Van Orphen, the writer for whom Johnathan's mother worked briefly. She befriends Johnathan and is instrumental in his search.

I couldn't recommend reading this book for the story-line. It is muddled and hard to follow at times. Nevertheless, I came away from the book thinking that my search to discover a new author had been rewarded.

This book is written in a beautiful clear prose. Each line tells and each word is in place. It is a joy to read. The satire in the book is uncompromising and biting. Because the book is a satire, the characters are somewhat one-sided. In addition, I get the impression that Dawn Powell put some part of herself (but not her whole character) in each of the people in her book-- the young person (Jonathan Jamison) leaving rural Ohio for a new life in New York City, the young sexually active women in the Village, the struggling artists, the aging unsucessful writer to take some examples. Thus I found the characterization effective.

The book works better as a series of minature episodes than as a connected novel. Each scene is tightly written and convincing written, as I indicated, in a lively and supple style. I got absorbed in the book page by page and incident by incident. Possibly as a result of this, there were times when I lost the thread of the story and the interrelationship of the characters.

The best part of the book, besides the writing style, is the picture drawn of Greenwich Village. The picture of life in the bars and of artists, some good some not-so-good, struggling in flats with their women, their friends and their agents is precious. Dawn Powell knew the life she described. Again, most of the characters, from the young man, Jonathan Jamison, through the women, through the ageing Ms. Van Orphen, were aspects of Dawn Powell herself, transmitted into one character or the other.

This is a frothy, light book not without its flaws. But I came away with the sense of discovery for which I had hoped. Dawn Powell deserves to be read.

I've edited a number of Powell's books -- and this is one of her best (although not quite on a level with "Turn, Magic Wheel," "A Time To Be Born," or "Come Back To Sorrento.")

I did find it a little amusing to read the review of my supposed "introduction" to this edition, and to find it called "vague" and "anemic." It's actually much worse than that -- as I wrote no introduction to "The Golden Spur" whatsoever!

Note to budding critics -- it's always a good idea to read a book before printing a review.

Fine, funny literary satire of "bohemian" New York centered around Greenwich Village. This is Dawn Powell's last novel, published in 1962. Like The Fool in "King Lear," Dawn Powell punctures the absurd self-deceptions of numerous tinpot Lears (to the reader's vast delight). I found the writing wonderful, the wit fantastic and relentless; there are great lines on every page.

Here is a vast canvas of eagre "real" New Yorkers, fresh from the provinces (small town, or boring suburb), people who want to to shed their past, to hide their ignorance and laugh at the squares (not them! of course): people who "want to be what everyone else wanted them to be" in Manhattan.

Powell is excellent at looking behind peoples' pipe dreams. You'll recognize people and types you've encountered in real life as you read this book. You'll see their dreams, and you'll see the reality they hide from. Here's the person, "with her refined Carolina accent, which she kept up like her grandfather's shotgun;" here's the young lady dimpled with pride at "the generous picnic of her decolletage." And here are the "old has-beens, needling me for making it when they never could with their genius." The tone is perfect throughout; I was not surprised to read that Powell's favourite writers included Aristophanes and Petronius, two of the greatest satirists in history. She fits write into that tradition. The only negative thing to say about this book is that the types it describes will not appreciate it. But the detached reader, of even mild self-confidence, and a love of the Roman greats, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, Bellow and Vidal - a love of Truth over Cant - will enjoy Dawn Powell enormously.

In the end the book is a vast panorama of the New York of the 60's (and today), wonderfully evocative of the pull that city can have on all types of people, and beautifully descriptive of the reality of a decision to move there, for so many.

This Steerforth edition of *The Golden Spur* was brought out by Tim Page, who has seen many Powell books back into print. Good of him; but his introductions to her work (*The Happy Isle*, her *Diaries*, and in his biography of her) I found anemic and vague; he seems to have difficulty coming to grips with Powell's great powers as a satirist , is shy of its implications and tries to turn Powell into a much more sentimental writer than, as a clear-eyed realist, she is. I recommend Gore Vidal's 1987 essay (its in his collection "United States") which has a lot of information about Powell and gets (I think) the experience of reading Powell exactly right.

Try Powell's "Happy Island," The Wicked Pavillion," and, indeed, all her New York novels if you like this one.

Jeff Snook's chronicle of the 1995 Ohio State University Buckeyes' football season reads as a veritable "who's who" of the NFL: QB Bobby Hoying (Oakland), RB Eddie George (Tennessee), WR Terry Glenn (New England), CB Shawn Springs (Seattle), and others all feature in the Buckeye team pushing for an unbeaten season and a chance at the national championship. Coach John Cooper's players are a hard-working, clean-living bunch - admirable qualities, but ones that unwittingly conspire with other elements to drain the book of any real drama: there are no mercurial young players who clash with the coaching staff or have profound emotional issues to overcome: the pressure upon Cooper to deliver success is obvious, but not overwhelming. Neither are there desperate, against-the-odds struggles to upset stronger opposition - those match-ups that do test the team, including a season-finale clash with hated nemesis Michigan, suffer from Snook's failure with his spiritless prose to capture any of the on-field atmosphere and emotion. His reluctance as well to print bad language deprives the book of gritty realism and further negates his intention to tell "the inside story" of the team. Followers of Ohio State will enjoy the book as a means to reminisce over past glories, while Eddie George fans will savor the Herculean efforts that by season's end had made him a frontrunner for the Heisman Trophy. The more casual reader, however, will be disappointed by an uninspired and very ordinary book that, although occasionally diverting, ultimately fails to engage in any meaningful way.

Coming off a second top-two finish in three years, Ohio State fans have begun to take for granted that our team will contend for the national title year-in and year-out.

How quickly we forget that John Cooper's early years at Ohio State were filled with mediocrity and losses to schools of the Little Eight! As recently as 1994, OSU lost four games and was even beaten by lowly Illinois.

Jeff Snook's book gives us a glimpse into the beginnings of the maturation of John Cooper's program-- the 1995 season.

While the 1993 team spent several weeks ranked among the Top 5, it was the 1995 team that truly signified that Cooper's program was at last capable of producing an absolute powerhouse.

1995 featured all of the hallmarks of Cooper's best teams: flashy NFL-caliber talent, clutch wins over big-name opponents, and a heart-breaking loss to an inferior Michigan team.

Not a great book, but certainly worth the money Amazon is asking.

This book was truly cool. Everything that happened in it happened for a reason. Some of the players on that team are now in the National Football League like Terry Glenn, Eddie George, Bobby Hoying, Orlando Pace, and Shawn Springs. John Cooper was coach who had his job up in the air. This is a great book if you like football.