If you were to only buy one book on reptiles and amphibians, this would be the one. No other author can come close to Rober C. Stebbins in this area. Not only is his writing, informative, easily understood, highly intersting and always engaging, but he also does his own drawings, from live specimens, and his artwork is quite incredible! I suggest that any parent of school age children consider buying this book as a present for his or her own kids. Young boys in particular are quickly attracted to this kind of work and a book like this will serve as a real foundation for years of study and enjoyment. Teachers too will often find that boys who dislike school and "reading" in general, will just love this book. Anything spent on this book is money well spent.

Written by the leading expert in his field, this is the best book on the subject. I remember when I was in college that Professor Stebbins' class was always impossible to get into because he was so popular and respected. This book is his legacy... a highly detailed book with hundreds of beautifully rendered drawings. Each drawing is meticulous and a great learning tool. This volume is one of the best of the Peterson Field Guide Series and is highly recommended for all readers, even if they never venture outside.

I, too, have had the pleasure of studying with Dr. Horrox; however, I have had the added pleasure of having read this book. Dr. Horrox's choice of essays, her deft handling of the material, and the overall significance of the material is, not unexpectedly, superb.

i must confess that i haven't read this book just YET-- but i have looked for it forever, it seems. the reason i feel that i am justified in reviewing a book i haven't read is that i have had the extraordinary pleasure of getting it, as they say, straight from the horse's mouth. she was one of my professors at summer school in cambridge. her class was entitled life, literature and art 1000-1500 and was probably the most enjoyable class i've ever taken. she would never look at the class (we were warned that she wouldn't) but she would roam back and forth across the front of the room, looking up, looking down, and speaking almost as if to herself of the most fascinating bits of information. while other teachers were dry or commanding or chummy, she was just genuinely informative. she spoke of history as if it were the juiciest gossip that you held your breath to hear more of. if ms. horrox can write half as well as she teaches this book should be one of the greatest reads imaginable for anyone with even the slightest hint of interest on the subject. cheers, ms. horrox.

Really enjoyed this book. After reading all the Preacher books and almost all the Mountain Man Series, I felt that the author was repeating many sections in some of the books. Not this one! It tells the story of Preacher when he started out. So it was all new material. It was hard to put down!

Good Book Would like to read more. Please send a list of others

I have sampled many cookbooks, vegetarian and omnivore, and this is one of my all time favorites. Many vegetarian cookbooks contain recipes that are either endlessly time consuming, or simply produce a bland final product, or even worse, both. This cookbook harbors recipes that are mostly quick to prepare and are all spectacularly tasty; these dishes have become staples in my repertoire. I have prepared about half of the recipes in this book, and not one has proven a dud. The pictures are lovely to look at; the prose is what one would hear from a friend explaining the background of a recipe and how to best prepare it. I have given this cookbook to almost all of my friends, in California and outside of it, and it has been an enormous hit. If you like to cook, buy this book.

I've tried only about 10% of the recipes in this book, and all have astounded me and my lucky guests. My favorites have been the Sopa de Tortilla, the Sonoma Salad of Spinach, Carmelized Pecans and Warmed Goat Cheese, and the Grapefruit and Tequila Sorbet.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, very classy. The book is a story of courage, decency, and integrity. It's nice to finally find an author who can write an adult story without having "adult" material. I intend to read more of Wheelers' writings. I trust his other novels are as brilliantly written.

This was the first book I read by a male author. I usually read Historial Romance by women authors. This book was very well written with good discriptions of characters, made you feel like you knew them. It was a book that i could not put down. I can not wait to read the rest of the Sam Flint series. Although I would not consider this an actual Romance novel it was filled with all the things of the West and how courage over came problems and how one mans love for a women had him doing what was in her best intrest instead of his own.

John Hanson Mitchell recounts his travels by bike from Southern Spain through France and England finally ending up in Scotland all the while musing on the sun and the indelible mark it has left on our culture. The book is part travelogue, part philosophical musing, part anthropological study, part religious mediation. The accounts of the people and places he encountered are compelling and his descriptions of the food he ate along the way made me very hungry! It all adds up to a thought-provoking and entertaining read.

A couple of quibbles: It would have been great if there was a map included with the book that showed the route traveled. Mitchell writes eloquently about the geography and it's hard to visualize it without having a map handy (unless of course you are very familiar with the regions he's writing about). I also found it somewhat disturbing that it wasn't clear when exactly this journey took place. The book came out last year or the year before,but it seems that the actual trip took place long ago.

Whoever wrote that review that you say was in Publisher's Weekly obviously never read anything by John Hanson Mitchell! They must be confusing him with some other author. Mitchell's writing is always so good-hearted and generous--the opposite of caustic!
Following the Sun is so rich--a journey on two levels; a review of virtually everything under the sun, from myth to bird migration to the solar origins of Christianity. But it's also a delightful bicycle ride--all the way from the south of Spain to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland with journeys throughout the vineyards of Bordeaux, the chateaux of the Loire in France and the stone circles of the British Isles in between. Mitchell always has a way of falling in with eccebntric types, as I've seen in his other books eg. Ceremonial Time (a 15,000 year history of one square mile of land)and The Wildest Place on Earth (about Italian gardens and the American wilderness). He seems to be able to mix arcane facts about the setting of sugar in winegrapes, and the perversities of Roman emperors and the like with a sharp ear for story. There are some great ones here with some rollicking Old World characters. The author followed back roads all the way, and he did it before the establishment of the European Union when all the food was better, the wine sweeter, and the stories deeper. And Mitchell's writing style, lyrical and smooth, is a salve for whatever ails you. What a pleasure!

The review that follows says it all, but I want to add that this is THE book for African American history in the Seattle area. I found it moving and thought-provoking. Anyone serious about understanding issues of diversity in the Pacific Northwest should begin with this book.

Though Seattle's experience may be somewhat different from other parts of the country, the issues were still (and are still) complex. This book not only puts it all in context, but leaves you hungry for more. It's an opportunity to discover unsung heroes, mourn blaring injustices, and refresh the belief that we can still learn from the past in order to forge a better future. As a native of Seattle now living in Georgia, I especially appreciated the breadth of information. Reading Taylor's book inspired me to read Horace Cayton's autobiography and follow up on some of the other sources Taylor drew on. Well written, dynamic, and comprehensive. Can't wait for more!

Putting it bluntly I love Sally Kenyon's voice in this! This short story has been seriously enhanced with actors and special effects (listen carefully for wind noises in the background). Everything is well presented. The sound is clean and crisp and easily heard in the noise environment of a car. The story itself is very well laid out and flows nicely. The story is about a would-be rancher (Mac Marcy) who buys a two-bit ranch on high, dry ground and begins to run a couple of hundred cattle (for which he has saved several years). Things are complicated by a rich next door ranch and a serious lack of rain. Enough said. You feel as if you are there. An excellent buy.

Of all the audio adaptations, this is one of my favorites. Even thought the characters are the same as in the printed edition and the basic story line is the same, there are enough differences to make you wonder if they are two different versions of the same story. The audio edition has beed "sweetened" up quite a bit. In the book, Vin Ricker is a genuine "bad guy". In the audio, he is just a misguided star-struck cowboy/foreman of the ranch. There are no evil people in the audio version at all. Still, it is very enjoyable to listen to in the car on the long commute to work. One that I re-listen to once or twice a year.

A return visit to Thrush Green and the return of two of our favorite retired school teachers. The usual unusual characters abound and help enliven a lovely, gentle story about small village life. I love Miss Read.

In this continuing story of Thrush Green we follow the day to day life of the old friends we have met before in Miss Read's books. After the retirement of Agnes Fogerty and Dorothy Watson the new headmaster Alan Lester and his family move into the school house. But in small villages it's hard to keep secrets and it is soon apparent that Mrs. Lester has a drinking problem. Nellie Piggot is now a partner at the Fushia Bush and must face the responsibility of dealing with the strange ways of Bertha Lovelock as she approches her 80th birthday. Percy Hodge is the subject of much speculation about his love life. This book is a wonderful escape of the stress of modern life as we enjoy old friends Charles and Dimity Henstock, Harold and Isabel Shoosmith, Dotty Harmer and many others in Thrush Green.

I found this biographical dictionary convenient to use. It provides the reader with a rich cultural overview of the ancient world.
The entries are organized for quick, concise reference.
The well developed chronology was useful.

From Polis To Empire: The Ancient World c. 800 B.C. - A.D. 500 is a dictionary of biographies featuring notable and influential figures of the ancient world. From Alexander the Great to Zoroaster, and including countless lesser-known rulers, mathematicians, historians, and more, From Polis to Empire, deftly edited by Andrew Traver (Assistant Professor of Ancient and Medieval History, Southeastern Louisiana University), not only presents the lives of history's spokespersons but through them, a snapshot of life in the ancient world. An excellent, scholarly reference highly recommended for academic and community library collections, From Polis To Empire is also fascinating for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in antiquity to simply browse through.