Creative learning for your kids! Hours of interactive fun creating bugs of all shapes and sizes. The book is divided into three sections. This format allows children to play independently or with others. The graphics are exciting and colorful.

No more bugs in the rug! This delightful, creative book allows your child to mix and match both the names and the bodies of bugs you've never heard of. My daughter laughs out loud at the silly creatures she creates. No more tears from fears of bugs but rather a new interest has been peaked!

This is a splendid book detailing life in Mexico before the conquest by the Spaniards. Beginning with the inside covers the book is rich in pictoral description. The endpapers are beautiful color reproductions of Diego Rivera's "The Great City of Tenochtitlan", a lavish tribute mural of Aztec life that adorns the Palacio Nacional in Mexico City. The color is magnificent throughout the book and includes many artifacts left from the ancient Aztecs. The book also includes a great little glossary that includes a pronunciation guide to Nahuatl terms. The glossary serves as a fine introduction to the Nahuatl Language and it's phonetics. Although the authors and contributors are scholars, the book is easy to read for the average person interested in archaeology and Pre-Columbian life in Mexico. The color plates are some of the finest and include rare glimpses into Codex's that are housed in museums. A magnificent book to use as reference. The book is also a great source of information for further research as it includes a selected bibliography. An excellent view of Aztec life, it compliments any personal library. If you love the Art of Pre-Columbian Mexico this book is also a source of inspiration.

Developed by four distinguished Mesoamerican scholars for an exhibit at the Denver Museum of Natural History (1992 - 1993). Great photographs of artifacts (jade masks, human skulls, sculptures), buildings and manuscripts. Well-written (not dry or too scholarly). It's been on my coffee table for years but I never tire of looking at it.

This book is a must-have for the cosmos-curious. Well organized and indexed and excellently written, the author puts difficult information within reach of the student who aspires to understand one of the most complex disciplines. A superb accomplishment by a fine teacher and consummate scientist that should become the definitive text for all would-be cosmologists.

I stumbled across the title of this book when I was browsing around somebody's cosmology course website. I know that Scott Dodelson is a quite well-known cosmologist, so I start searching for more information. After reading the preliminary detailed table of contents (I found it somewhere on the web) and the book description from Academic Press, I decided to pre-order the book. The book arrived just on March 31. I tried to take a quick but thorough view before write this comment. I haven't read the book in full. Here i would just like to write the Table of Contents in more detail by including the sections.

1. The Standard Model and Beyond. The expanding universe, Hubble diagram, Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), beyond Standard Model.

2. The Smooth, Expanding Universe. General relativity (crash course), distances, evolution of energy, cosmic inventory (photons, baryons, matter, neutrinos, dark energy, epoch of matter-radiation equality).

3. Beyond Equilibrium. Boltzmann equation for annihilation, BBN (neutron & light elements abudance), recombination, dark matter.

4. The Boltzmann Equations (BE). BE for harmonic oscillator, the collisionless BE for photons (0th and 1st order), collision terms: Compton scattering, BE for photons, BE for Cold Dark Matter (CDM), BE for baryons.

5. Einstein Equations. Perturbed Ricci tensor and scalar, two components of Einstein Equations, tensor perturbations, decomposition theorems, gauges.

6. Initial conditions. Einstein-Boltzmann equations at early times, the horizon, inflation, gravity wave production, scalar perturbations.

7. Inhomogeneities. Prelude, large scales (super-horizon & through horizon crossing), small scales (horizon & sub-horizon crossing), growth function, beyond CDM.

8. Anisotropies. Overview, large-scale anisotropies, acoustic oscillations (tightly coupled), diffusion (Silk) damping, inhomogeneities to anisotropies (free streaming, C_{l}s), anisotropy spectrum (Sachs-Wolfe, small scales), cosmological parameters.

9. Probe of Inhomogeneities. Angular correlation, peculiar velocities, redshift space distortions, galaxy clusters.

10. Weak Lensing and Polarization. Gravitational distortion, geodesics and shears, ellipticity, weak lensing power spectrum, polarization, quadrupole and Q/U (or E/B as in recent literatures) decomposition, polarization power spectra, detection of gravity waves.

11. Analysis. Likelihood function, signal covariance matrix, Karhunen-Loeve & optimal quadratic, Fisher matrix, mapmaking & inversion, systematics, foregrounds.

Appendix A. Solution to Selected Problems
Appendix B. Numbers
Appendix C. Special Functions
Appendix D. Symbols.
Bibliography.

In addition, each chapter is ended with a summary and further reading list. Quite nice indeed. The bibliography are extensive: there are classic, pioneering papers, recent papers, textbooks. There are some color plates in the middle part of the book.

In my opinion, this book is far better than Peacock in discussing new aspect of anisotropies and inhomogeneities. Lots of topics that were only previously available in research papers, review articles, summer school lectures, preprints, are brought together to the form of a decent book. The chapter of analysis is quite interesting, since the subject has become very demanding but there are still no single treatment of it.

Dodelson said in the preface that the expected audience are advanced undergraduate and beginning graduate students. Some of the necessary materials (GR, inflation, are introduced in the text).

I myself suggests, however, that the reader should have a proficient knowledge in standard undergraduate physics (mechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, quantum physics), mathematical physics, and general relativity if possible. Some knowledge of astrophysics/astronomy, statistics/data analysis, kinetic theory, would certainly be welcomed.

A little bit of cons, however are inevitable. The current development in cosmology is astounding. Just a few weeks before the book was published, the WMAP team released their first result after a year of observations, which put tight constraints for cosmological models. Several numbers and figures in the book then are in the need to be updated. Topics such as distant quasars, cosmic reionization and the end of cosmic dark ages, first-generation stars, might be worthy enough to be included in the future.

This book is definitely a must buy for cosmologist.

Update 2003 July 8
Author's website for the book is available with full table of contents at

home.fnal.gov/~dodelson/book.html

I tend to think of Orson Scott Card as a storyteller, mainly because "writer" is just too general a term to be applied to his occupation. This collection of fantasy tales (only the last tale, "The Monkeys Thought 'Twas All in Fun" qualifies as science fiction) proves the point with one of Uncle Orson's most lyrical tales, "Unaccompanied Sonata," which was inspired by the unhappy thought, what if someone forbade him to write? Card himself described this short story in its original afterward as the truest thing he had ever written. Also included in this collection is the exquisite tale of "The Porcelain Salamander," and the inspired devil's advocacy of "A Cross-Country Trip to Kill Richard Nixon." While these recommendations conclusively argue that the first three stories in "Monkey Sonatas" are the best of the bunch, this is still an above average collection of Uncle Orson's early short stories. Still, to underscore the obvious, if you read one Orson Scott Card short story in your entire life, it should be "Unaccompanied Sonata."

Orson Scott Card is far and away my favorite short story author. Of his collections of short stories, _The_Monkey_Sonatas_ is the best. Each of the "sonatas" is a gripping, tragic short story about we "monkeys." In almost every case, I was moved to tears. If you can find this book, I give it my highest recommendation. It's not in print at the moment, but I'm looking forward to a reprint. I lost my first copy, which I consider to be a separate tragedy. :) If it is re-released, I plan to buy at least 5 copies for backup and gifts. (Hear that, Tor?) Some of them are science fiction, some are fantasy. All are fantastic.

What a great book for beginning or struggling readers. Children have been very successful with this book. I love the length of the story and the characters are delightful. My favorite features are the Introduction for each book, a strategy used in Reading Recovery, and a part called, Helping Your Brand-New Reader . I've bought the whole collection for my first grade readers. Great series!

What a wonderful idea for beginning readers! Children need books like these in order to feel successful. The size of the book is perfect for small hands to hold. The repetitive story line allows children to be successful while reading the book and the book uses familiar sight words. The surprise ending makes the book fun for children, so they will want to pick it back up over and over again.

The illustrations are adorable! Children will enjoy each and every one of them beacause they show the actions on each page so clearly.

The front and back covers offer many good ideas to help children benefit from their reading experiences.

Favorite scene with Jasmine-
Going to Storm's room after dinner.

Favorite scene with Storm-
Fight with a "friend" about Jasmine.

Together-
Jasmine telling Storm she can't leave with him.

Favorite scene with Gretchen-
Being abducted.

Favorite scene with David-
The chase after a falling rock.

Together-
When Gretchen is abducted.

An immensely beautiful book. Awing in its sensitivity, delicacy, and completeness of language - "sculptured in the heavens," one thinks as one looks up. On every page, in every paragraph, there is caring for - more than caring, a love affair with - its subject.

But I can add little beyond admiration to Eileen Berton's fine little sketch of it below.

This book is remarkable for its breadth and depth, and for its fluid and totally enjoyable narrative. Montgomery brings a scholarly, well-organized, imaginatively catholic mind to his study of the moon, as mapped, observed, and imagined by Western minds. His enthusiasm for his subject is contagious. He discusses the early cartography so important to popular conceptions of the moon, the moon's complex and changing relationship to Christianity and Judaism, philosophy, mathematics, literature, and art. Importantly, he provides an orderly and very interesting history of Western conceptions of "the first modern planet." The Arab contribution to astronomy is detailed. The relationship of mathematics to astronomy is also explored, fluidly and appropriately for the lay person. Galileo, Copernicus, and scores of lesser-known astronomers and scientists come to life in this book. "The British Contribution," a chapter on sixteenth century lunar pioneers Dr. Wm. Gilbert and Thomas Harriot, is excellent. Montgomery also analyzes cartographic evidence - and provides commentary. This book combines scholarship with a fine and elegant narrative, the bibliography is terrific, and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in this subject, which becomes downright thrilling in this book.

Even better than the original. I'm a man and believe that every woman should own this book - except it should be filed under "Women's Self-Help", not humor.

Angry women will get a kick out of this humorous belittlement of men. I know I did. I recommend this for any woman who is fed up with men.

This is a book that any mountain biker in Indiana, Eastern Illinois, or Northern Kentucky should have. Dozens of trails, helpful directions, and contour maps. There are a number of terrific, yet out of the way single-track trails included. The only negative is that it is a bit dated.

Layne Cameron has truly given Indiana cyclists something to be proud of. He has displayed, with inciteful commentary and fun humor, the best mountain biking Indiana has to offer and the interesting monuments these trails have near their locale.This book is an all-terrain cycling Bible with wonderful maps and excellent directions. Thanks Layne!

Who knows Cyril Scott Seems that the entire musical and literary work of Cyril Scott is a strong and simple thrust of "returning home" . But he wrote and composed during XX century, which moste precious objective was to " run forward". Nobody knows where. Just, purely, run forward. Such was the idea of all to many modern artists. That was not the idea of Cyril Scott. Therefore, he had a problem. How to compose music that "returned home", during the XX's century? How to creat something vivid, full of art-in-tension? Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner had metaforaly for some, literary for others - achieved this, using all "available quality". Nothing could besaid afterwards. Seemed as if the ray of music had completed it's journey. That is the reason why Cyril Scott music is, in a certain way, heroic. Not in tone, not in harmony, but in spiritual intention. We suspect that during the turn of XIX century to XX century, this iman was changed, by not-seen hands. And that Scott and few others simply registered the change. They only had to let the metal particles fall on to the white sheet of paper.

Seems that the entire musical and literary work of Cyril Scott is a strong and simple thrust of "returning home" . But he wrote and composed during XX century, which moste precious objective was to " run forward". Nobody knows where. Just, purely, run forward. Such was the idea of all to many modern artists. That was not the idea of Cyril Scott. Therefore, he had a problem. How to compose music that "returned home", during the XX's century? How to creat something vivid, full of art-in-tension? Mozart, Beethoven and Wagner had metaforaly for some, literary for others - achieved this, using all "available quality". Nothing could besaid afterwards. Seemed as if the ray of music had completed it's journey. That is the reason why Cyril Scott music is, in a certain way, heroic. Not in tone, not in harmony, but in spiritual intention. We suspect that during the turn of XIX century to XX century, this iman was changed, by not-seen hands. And that Scott and few others simply registered the change. They only had to let the metal particles fall on to the white sheet of paper.