Breeding fish is not a simple prossess. If you are not experienced enough you can cause a change on the genetics of the fish. This will cause new hybrids. But this book teaches a lot about this subject. Lots of information about efficient breeding your fish.

A very basic, but well-reasoned and politely argued, exposition to combat the usual divisions between classic and romantic music as they are passed down currently in musical education. The premise and main message of this book is, as usual, that everything you have learned is wrong. Don't be surprised by that. Classic or romantic? It's not so easy to tell, and the divisions between these two "movements" in aesthetics are not so finely drawn as educators would have you believe. Definitions are given, fragmented, pored over, analyzed, autopsied, and the end result is that even less is "known" than before when it comes to categorizing classical music. That's fine, as it takes us a little closer to historical fact, instead of the pedants' obsession with classifying beyond rhyme or reason. An important book, good to have for people who want to know the truth about classical music, and not just sound like they know it.

When this book came up on Amazon.com, the reading level listed was "baby-preschool". Drs. Norton and Mumford would be insulted (or maybe only amused) if they new that their scholarly tome on pest management was rated no better than for a preschool audience. I would recommend a degree in agricultural or biological sciences for your baby before you buy her this book!

Andre Norton published four books in her Moon Singer series: "Moon of Three Rings (1966); "Exiles of the Stars (1971); Flight in Yiktor (1986); and "Dare to Go A-Hunting (1989).

"Exiles of the Stars" combines Norton's SF Free Trader and Forerunner themes, with some magic mixed in to add weird undertones. These aren't the stodgy (but wonderful) free traders of her 'Solar Queen' series. The crewmates of the starship 'Lydis' are edgy, shape-shifted mutants with extra-sensory powers. Krip Vorlund, one of the first-person narrators was once human, but got relocated into an alien Thassa body in "Moon of Three Rings." He couldn't go home again, so to speak, because his original body was spaced. The second narrator, the Moon Singer herself (who switched Krip then got switched herself) inhabits a sort of large-clawed, dog shape in 'Exiles,' but retains her intelligence and at least some of her esper powers.

The Forerunner theme weaves into the mix when the 'Lydis' sets down on the planet, Thoth in the Amen-Re system, which happens to be particularly rich in Forerunner artifacts. 'Lydis's officers seal a bargain with Thothian priests to transport some of the alien treasure to the planet Ptah for safekeeping (Thoth is in the midst of a nasty civil war). So far so good. But shortly after lift-off from Thoth, the 'Lydis' has to make an emergency landing on the uninhabited planet, Sekhmet.

Almost as soon as she touches down, the 'Lydis' comes under attack.

Krip Vorlund and the former Moon Singer, Maelen set out on a rescue mission through the ancient, underground ways of Sekhmet, where they encounter jackers (space pirates), Patrolmen, ghosts from their own past, and yet more Forerunner super-technology.

The Moon Singer books are not my favorite Nortons. They are a thematic hodge-podge, and it's hard to love a hero and heroine who inhabit non-cuddly alien bodies with super-human powers. However, if you are already a Norton fan and are particularly fond of her Forerunner novels (I think the very first one was the 'Solar Queen' adventure, "Sargasso of Space"), read "Exiles of the Stars"--but only after you've finished "Moon of Three Rings."

is an excellent read. With this book she continues the story begun in her other book titled: Forerunner. Engaging, and a very good read, Andre Norton keeps the pace up and the reader riveted until the last page. If you like Andre Norton's other works, I suggest purchasing this one too.

There are a couple of plot devices in books I tend to avoid: the amnesiac device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to remember who he or she is; and the mind-swap device, where the main character spends most of the book trying to get back into his or her original body.

Unfortunately for Ramsey Kimble his original body is back on Earth, dead and buried. In the alternate universe that had been troubling his dreams, the body he now inhabits is supposed to be dead, too, but there was a hitch in the plot to murder Kaskar, crown prince of Ulad. Thus Ramsey wakes up on a bier surrounded by flowers, candles, and guards who have been spelled into statues.

There is magic afoot in Ramsey's new world, and plots to murder or manipulate the new Kaskar-returned-from-the-dead. He must quickly sort out his friends from his enemies. His ability to dream true in this new universe makes him the wild card in any scheme to seize the throne of Ulad.

Ramsey-now-Kaskar has become the Knave of Dreams.

Norton tells a rousing, tightly paced adventure. My only problem with "Knave of Dreams" is the reason for the original body-exchange. Instead of swapping Kaskar into Ramsey's body and causing him to die in a car crash, why didn't the plotters just hold a pillow over his face or drown him in a butt of Malmsey?

You're more likely to admire than enjoy Eoin McNamee's two novellas, "The Last of Deeds" and "Love in History." A thoughtful, oftentimes impressive writer, McNamee's considerable skills are in full display in these two stories, but the tone here is quite bleak, rather tough to take, and his storytelling skills sometimes fail him.

The Last of Deeds takes place in contemporary Belfast. The story unfolds through the eyes of a young, working-class "taig," who inhabits a grubby world of waterfront warehouses, disco halls, take-away joints, and, most threatening, unfriendly "prods." It's a grim existence, and the protagonist's mates (one of whom is named Deeds, hence the title) don't help matters. Hope arrives when a middle class Protestant girl befriends our storyteller. But this is Northern Ireland, and hope appears to be a rare commodity, at least for the likes of the young people who inhabit "The Last of Deeds."

McNamee has a real flair for metaphors, and he captures a sense of place that is both fascinating and deeply troubling. Yet the plotting in this relentlessly grim tale is often overtaken by an overabundance of metaphors. The result distances the reader from the characters, and the tale reamins not nearly as compelling as one would hope. Still, it's hard to be too critical of a story that concludes with the following: "...as far as I was concerned there were no beautiful strangers and the only ghosts in this town are the ones that are walking the streets."

True to form, the second of McNamee's novellas, "Love in History," is no more uplifting than the first. However, this tale, set close to VE Day near an army base in Belfast, is chock full of startling passages, unexpected twists, and an overall more satisfying effect.

"If you pulled down the top of Betty Grable's swimming costume, the breasts underneath would be white shaved cones with exact, graphite tips."

So begins "Love in History," a romance with dark undercurrents, including, racism, religious intolerance, and the too often unreported casualties of war - women. Betty Grable's presence is everywhere in this tale, and it's the women of "Love in History" who are treated like pin-up girls.

Telling the story of a US airman named Hooper, who has lost in love, and Adelene, who has spent too much time with over-sexed, over there airmen, "Love in History" sometimes suffers from overwriting, such as, "He watched her with such intensity that his eyes could have pierced immeasurable distances of war and desolation to reach the exact spot under the left breast where Betty Grable's monochrome heart pumped Pearl Harbor..." You get the point.

But usually McNamee's prose is right on target, in keeping with the book's overall theme. "Across the street (Adelene) could see Betty Grable in the coming attractions case. The glass was fly-specked and the edges of the paper were beginning to curl, but her hands were outstretched, palm upwards, as if to weigh the sorrow that a war deposits in the hearts of women."

Unlike the first novella, that sorrow resonates in "Love in History," and by story's end the reader is moved, much impressed with McNamee's bold take on some of WW2's forgotten casualties.

Liberty's Daughters is really the combined collection of two books. Part I: The Constant Patterns of Women's Lives, sets the reader up for Part II: The Changing Patterns of Women's Lives. In a way, Part I explains the life of the prewar colonial woman. Part II discusses the changes that would occur for women during and immediately following the war. Norton makes a convincing argument that women's lives were forever changed by the Revolutionary War. Chapter 1 was extremely interesting as Norton details the differences between rural women of the colonies with urban women. She details the lives of rural women of the North in comparison to women of the rural South. Plus, Norton discusses the even harsher life of the female slave. In a way, there is an underlying sentiment that life was very difficult for both men and women during this period of time. I appreciated Norton's realization that men also experienced plenty of toil during this time in history. In other words, there was plenty of hardship to go around. One main theme that the reader quickly notices is how important spinning was to the women of colonial America. The first chapters detail how women would have to spin to make clothes for themselves and their families (and sometimes very large families). To pass the time, women would often spin in groups. This activity gave them a sense of companionship. This community would lay the important groundwork for their support of the men during the Revolutionary War. The second part of the book informs the reader how women formed formal spinning groups that actively worked to help the patriots. In a way, women now took up spinning as a part of the campaign for freedom against the British. Sewing gave women a sense of nationality as they could actively contribute to the defense of colonial liberties. Norton explains in the first chapters how women needed a certain degree of conversation. Women loved to talk, most particularly while they spun. In Part II, Norton explains how politics is all anyone could talk about during this era, so why would women want to be left out? Indeed, they were not left out of the conversation, and they were even more than willing to take part in the action. After all, it was their families who were at stake. Women actively took part in the mobs and spoke out against loyalists - partially to avoid from themselves becoming targets of the patriotic fever that swept much of the colonies. Just as in any other civil war, not all women agreed. Political differences caused breakups and differences in friendships and marriages. Though we read from other sources that Washington held contempt for the women who traveled with his army - taking precious rations and supplies, Washington also displays his gratitude to Ester Reed and her girls for this organization's contributions. He put these girls, "to an equal place with any who have preceded them in the walk of female patriotism." The significant sign of change in the lives of colonial women is found midway through Part 2 when the postwar female generation led political discussion and even took part in activism. This was completely alien to most women born before 1760. Nineteenth-century women took pride in the contributions that members of their sex had made to the winning of independence. The existence of such public-spirited models showed that women could take active roles in politics without losing their feminine identity. It was not by chance that in 1848 the organizers chose to use the Declaration of Independence as the basis for their calls for reform in women's status. They understood the relevance of the revolutionary era to their own endeavors. This is a far cry to the woman detailed in Chapter 1 who had no idea about even the financial state of her husband. Here is another profound change from Chapter 1: As time went on, women learned more about the family's finances while at the same time their husband's knowledge became increasingly outdated and remote. In a way, the soldiers increasingly delegated responsibility of the finances to their wives. Women received freedom from the British - just as did men. However, women also gained certain freedoms for their gender. Following the war, female children consequently began to expect the right to decide for themselves in marital matters if they so desired. Many girls continued to seek their parents' and friends' assessments of potential spouses. However, some women made up their own minds, and this is a revolutionary concept. After all, even today in some countries, women have yet to acquire this freedom. Not only were they given more choice in who they were to marry, the increasing use of contraception in the last two decades of the century can also be seen as a reflection of women's improved status within marriage. This came as quite a surprise to me as I had not been aware of any such methods of contraception at this early period of time. I had always assumed that people of this era had only one method of contraception: do not do anything! After the war, women grew increasingly willing to challenge the conventional wisdom about feminine faults. Women finally stood up against the arguments about their nature - particularly against negative aspects of their nature. They were less inclined to allow remarks about their "natural state" pass without harsh comment. This is, in my opinion, the true birth of a P.C. culture! Norton's argument is successful. The lives of women were forever altered by the Revolutionary War. Further, women had just begun to seek liberties for their own gesture. In a way, this book should be read before one begins to study and attempt to understand the feminist movement of the 1840's, before the Suffrage movement that gained women's right to vote, and before the feminist movement that would begin in the 1960's. Indeed, we still live with the consequences of the changes in women's society during the Revolutionary War.

Mildred Downey Broxon, Lin Carter, Marylois Dunn, George Alec Effinger, Gregory Frost, Joseph Green, Linda Haldeman, R.A. Lafferty, Shariann Lewitt, Brad Linaweaver, A.R. Major, Mary H. Schaub, and Lynn Ward.

A very detail book of Music from period before 300 A.D to the beginning of Music Renaissance. Concepts are often illustrated with musical examples and with historical background provided.

It is written in a style apt for advanced music students. Not recommended for amatuer and even music student who want to learn the "basics" of Medieval Music