This book gives the reading a kind of "before they were stars" approach. It provides a good spring board to seeing how Marx metamorphasized from Das Capitol into the Communist Manifesto. I recommend this book for anyone who is looking to get to the base of and learn more about this influential write and philosopher.

Published as Volume 10 in the Geological Review Series of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, the primary task of this commissioned book was to identify and notify geological Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) which would then come under the protection of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981).

Professor Benton is a leading academic in the field of British Vertebrate Palaeontology, and this book is an extensive work of original research, fully referenced: over 1,150 literature sources are cited. It is illustrated throughout with geological maps and tables, reptilian specimen drawings and reconstructions, and on-site photographs. It describes in detail his final selection of 50 SSSIs, explaining the special interest, palaeontological significance and heritage value of the specimens which each site has yielded. It goes far beyond the official requirements, providing a valuable reference source on the history of British vertebrate palaeontology, and an authoritative synopsis of current scientific opinion regarding the status and significance of British fossil reptiles.

This is a nice compact book that can be used to teach plant nutrition. The directions on making DIY kits for tissue analysis are interesting. I wish the author had icluded a guiding range of values corresponding to the five elemental requirement categories in Appendix D.

Beyond the dry second- and third-hand tellings of history are the real stories told by the real people-and it doesn't get much realer than Guibert of Nogent. He's arrogant, condescending, socially inept and has a weird fixation on his mother. Proof positive that men were messed up way before women's liberation hit the scene. I don't claim to be a historian. I've never read St. Augustine's Confessions, on which Guibert modeled his own work. I can't say for certain that Guibert wasn't your typical Medieval French monk, but I find it hard to believe that most monks had mothers who spent the latter part of their lives trying to recapture their virginity. But that's what's great about reading first-hand accounts, no "typicals" get in your way. For instance: How many third-hand historical texts would have a chapter that begins: "Since hardly anyone passed the bishop's corpse without casting at him some insult or curse and no one thought of burying him. . .?" Believe it or not, this type of image seems to be common in the literature of the time. Now if only we could work it into the popular conception of history, maybe we'd have a few less romanticizers telling us how society is falling to pieces.

Benton manages to write a thorough text on various vertebrate groups and their evolutionary trends, mentioning specific important species and basic morphology without making the book as dry as a bone. As one can always state about books that are overviews, one could wish for more thorough coverage of personal groups of interest, but as an overview, this is a great book. The diagrams and phylogenetic charts are very helpful, and the case studies that are provided in offset boxes are very interesting.

One major complaint about the book is the number of typos and mislabeled diagrams...it can become rather confusing. I have taken a pen to the book and with careful reading, re-reading and cross referencing, have corrected the errors in my own copy to save me the brain strain...but on the whole, this book does what one would want from it.

This is the first original English book I read in whole and I enjoyed reading it very much. Of course it is not enough to know America in such a short account. But for anyone as I was who is new to the States and its language, this book is a wonderful start. Its language is kinda poetic and fit for telling the westward stories that was before the big crash in 1929. Recommended for foreigners beginning to study English and History of the US.

The dust cover claims this book is worth its weight in gold. Its last chapter, which outlines the 20 steps to earning $100,000 a year, could well make it so. If you buy the book, read the final chapter first. D.A. Benton’s 20 steps are clear and easy to follow. Once you know them, the rest of the book provides excellent supporting information. Benton shows examples of how specific individuals (many of them high-profile celebrities and athletes) used each step to achieve success. This book offers no get-rich-quick schemes. The author advocates a logical, methodical approach to making $100,000 per year. She is so confident that she makes a guarantee: If you put maximum effort into all 20 steps, you will become a member of the $100,000 Club. We [...] recommend this book to anyone interested in making a six-figure income.

I am a real person, and a simple reader. Mentioning the above is simply to claim the authenticity of my review, not some made up or conspired opinion or expression, but a true and genuine review. This is one of the greatest and best books I ever read by far, especially in it's own category. What it's contents cover and how the whole book is put together is a marvelous and tremendous work. I am only about half way through the book and it's definitely my mental coach, encouragement, inspiration, motivation, and secret weapon of all things, already. Some or perhaps many of the ideas in the book are not new inventions, but how the author was able to put everything together in such an excellently constructed order, along with her own professional knowledge, and wisdom surely amazes me. Never before have I heard of D. A. Benton But I have now a great admiration for her and started search all the books she's written. I wouldn't want my competitors at work know about this book but worse is to see all the disgusting reviews written by people who do not have an appreciation for great work. And others being misleaded by those reviews. That's the reason I had to write this. That's how good this book is.

As an avid reader of D.A. Benton's business books, I must give this latest one high marks once again. It's evident by the way Benton writes that she has been successful in her professional and personal life and wants to share her experience and research with those of us readers who are on and in search of that same path. I found the book realistic, engaging, funny, and full of information that inspires me to pursue my non-traditional path of making more money outside the corporate business world.

I found the chapters on Following Your Heart & Soul along with Earning $100,000 at Home or On Your Own to be very insightful. With so much dread and negativity in the world, it's refreshing to read a book that lends so much hope for complete happiness and success in life.

This book is dull and does not unravel anything that the average person who can rise to the top cannot derive on its own - if you are just graduating from college, this may seem appropriate, if you've been around in the business world - seek other material. One reading suggestion, which is light and very simple, but a good reminder of what's required is the book by Lencioni: " The 5 temptations of a CEO" - worth an hour while waiting at the airport between flights.

I did get one soundbite that I hope I can use in my life from this book, "Be yourself, unless you're a jerk". However, I got so tired of: be nice, have integrity, be an example, on page after page I was only able to make it through half of the book. All of that is important, but they covered that quite well in kindergarten. If you pick it up to read on the plane bring a backup book; you will need it.

The book presents itself as a semi-scholarly work, synthesizing interviews with 100 CEOs into a meaninful set of commandats for those that want to act like the big boss. On an academic level, this is fraught with peril - How do we know these are the right CEOs, and do they really articulate what makes them succeed?

Business books have a history of weak scholarship (think In Search of Excellence) but still can contain great ideas.

The 10 less than profound results:
1 - Be Yourself, Unless You're a Jerk
2 - See Around Corners
3 - Make Dust or Eat Dust
4 - Make the Big Play
5 - Keep Good Company
6 - Be the Number One Fund Raiser and Protecter
7 - Act Like a CEO When You Don't Feel Like It
8 - Evangelize the World
9 - Go Big or Go Home
10 - Cut Through the Junk

All this is good advice, but did you need to ask 100 CEOs to come up with it?

Ultimately, the book resides in my restroom. It's good for a couple minutes a day of reminding me what I should be doing, but nothing that requires hours of in depth study. It's a light read, but not really the blueprint to the executive suite.

This book's title implies that it is primarily about the end Permian extinction, the largest known to science. In fact, direct discussion of that event occupies less than twenty per cent of the text. Much of the rest is a history of scientific ideas about the history of life and the great extinctions, with considerable attention to the individuals who advocated them. While the book is written in a readable style, the reader may be frustrated by the author's cautiousness in drawing conclusions about the Big One. The book ends with a discussion of what Benton calls the Sixth Extinction, caused by human activity, implying that it is comparable to the one at the end of the Permian. While this has become fashionable in popularized books about science, we haven't come near the Permian extinction level - yet.

While I liked the premise of this book, I was rather perplexed
to see the conservative scientific stance regarding this great-
est of all Mass Extinctions, when some 96% of life was erased
from the planet.

Excellent for the disturbing brute "scholarship" of Lyell's im-
position of the denial of catastrophism on science.

BUT, and this is a BIG BUT-just look at the surfaces of our Moon, Mars, Venus, Mercury, and hi-res photos of Earth's sur-
face, and one see's a plethora of impact craters, some slamming
into others......then look down at Earth. She would have the
same pitted surface, the same multiple chances for impacts, and
resultant extinctions, but for erosion, plate tectonics (remem-
ber when that was dissed?), and a living,viable oceanic planet. Chances are that life was X'ed out several times, and restarted several times during the Hadean Era.....

And the argument that this is all past, well-remember a little
event named "Shoemaker-Levy 9" bodyslamming into Jupiter???????

Since we are on a living large planet, I doubt that we currently
can know what really happened 250 million years ago-science just
is a tad or two or three too conservative to look up, then look
down, and see what may have happened-or even found the culprit,
or combo knock-out punch yet.

The KT boundary severity was due to the impact on a part of the
Earth rife with limestone-releasing a witches'brew of acids, and
continent-sized fires on the earth.

The Permo-Triassic boundary probably has largely subsumed/recyc-
led itself into the mantle, and this whodunnit is far from solved-and this book admits it. Which is brave.

I enjoyed the history of geology and especially the
history of establishing the Permian age itself. I
liked the thorough discussion of the Russian sites,
but as a geoscience professional I am probably more
inclined to this than the average reader. There was
also a good discussion of the KT event (that wiped out
the dinosaurs) and several other extinction events.
My gripe is that when he finally got around to the PTr
(Permian - Triassic)event, he basically explained why
certain hypothoses were not good, but didn't really
give a strong hypothesis of his own. Maybe that is
because the evidence is not good enough to have a strong
hypothosis, but the title is misleading in that case.
Overall, I recommend the book as a history of geology
and the Permian specifically, but don't expect to come
away with a real answer.