For those interested in photographs of fossils found mainly in Australia from the Paleozoic through the Cenozoic (along with a few from Antarctica), then this is the book for you. Crisp high quality photographs of vertebrate fossils are provided, everything from the hindlimb of Dromornis stirtoni to the top view of the skull of Leaellynasaura to numerous fish fossils. The primary focus appears to be on dinosaurs, though extinct mammals are well covered as well.

Accompanying the photographs are short articles detailing various aspects of the region's history, such as extinction of Australia's Quarternary megafauna, the floodplain faunas of the Great Southern Rift Valley of the Early Cretaceous, the role the increasing aridity of post-Miocene Australia played in evolution, and the fauna of the Gogo Reef. Longer articles deal with the basic geologic and paleontological history of Gondwana, the history of research there, and the role of Gondwana in the global context of worldwide evolution of animals. Numerous photographs of wildlife today accompany discussions of the unique biogeography of Australia and the role isolation has played in the development of the organisms there.

A beautiful coffee-table book, I hold from giving five stars for two reasons. One, the price is fairly high; though a really nice book to own, it may be out of the price range for many, or at least more than they really want to pay. Two, though the numerous photographs of fossils in the book are really high quality, I think the book could have benefitted from more artists' illustrations of the animals and their environment in life. Though a few nice ones are included, several more could have really added to the value and popular appeal of this book. Many of the extinct fauna of Gondwana are bizarre and fascinating, particularly some of the extinct marsupial megafauna, and it would have been nice to see more illustrations of how they looked in life. All in all though a really well done book.

I compared the book Walking with Dinosaurs to a time machine. Well, here's another one. Wildlife of Gondwana is composed with love and devotion to the field of Paleontology. It is a momentous feeling to relive the evolution of our planet's surface leading to Gondwana and Laurasia and stunning to watch how vertebrate species diverged to fill all the ecological niches of the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. A must for the dino lovers but also gives a fresh insight to other vertebrates that were contemporaries of the giant lizards. I hope there will once be a Wildlife of Laurasia, too.

This book centers on the prehistoric animals of Australia. It starts at the Ordovician period and even includes a chapter on living animals of Australia. Also it talks about the history of paleontology on Australia. This book has a simple vocabulary and thus can be enjoyed anyone who have an interest in prehistoric life. It has many colored pictures that show fossils and recreations of animals. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in paleontology. Also I recommend the book "The flowering of Gondwana", that talks about the paleobotany of Australia.

Over 200 beautiful color photographs.. stunning. Cloth Emerald green cover is beautiful, too.

A look at the pacific NW from unusual angles.

Purchasing a first class photographer's books, when well printed, is a unique opportunity to own fine art at bargain prices and makes an outstanding gift. Morton Beebe's Cascadia is an opportunity to acquire world class photography and an outstanding visual essay on one of the most dynamic areas in North America at an incredibly reasonable price. The first class Japanese printing contracted by Harry Abrams illustrates some of Mr. Beebe's fine pieces with an exceptionally high quality. Among the photographs which are highlights of the book include a stunning skyline of view of Seattle at sunset, an exceptional graphic image of the Washington Mutual Tower, unique photographs of Orca whales, an beautiful view of Echo Bay in British Columbia, portraits of the logs floating outside of a Washington mill in winter waiting to be cut up with seagulls overhead and on the logs and numerous other exceptional photographs. If you have a friend or member of your family who's interested in the Pacific Northwest, Cascadia is an excellent candidate gift.

Jelly Roll Morton, the self proclaimed "inventor of Jazz," remains one of the most complex figures in American music. Largely forgotten by the time of his death, Morton had pioneered the early New Orleans style jazz on record and seemed to be on the comeback trail and to be experimenting with the dominant swing style of the 1930s. Pastras provides an insight into Morton by examining his years on the West Coast(roughly the late teens to early twenties and then again in the early 1940s). The first period was among Morton's most satisfying both musically and personally, and the second seems to indicate an attempt at a comeback. Pastras sheds light on Morton's relationships with his godmother and his long time companaion Anita Gonzales and in the process examines the roles played by voodoo and "passing for white" among the Creole community. While the contributions of this book are many, one of the main thrusts is the often conflicting and, at times untrustworthy, nature of oral history as evidenced by Alan Lomax's previous oral history biography of Morton. In the end Lomax's book is more folklore than history. However this does not negate Lomax's contribution, but rather illuminates the pitfalls of not balancing oral history with other evidence if such evidence exists. It is Morton as he wished to present himself to the world. Pastras' text is not only interesting but instructive to those dealing with oral history, but the average reader may want to start with Lomax's book and then move to Pastras' more compelling investigation.

WOW. After Alan Lomax's _Mr._Jelly_Roll_, this is THE book to get to understand the most boastful musical genius to grace the 1st half of the 20th Century. Jelly Roll Morton claimed to be the "Father of Jazz", and it seems certain that if he wasn't it's father, he was at least waiting in the delivery room at it's birth. This book covers the critical "lost years" of 1916-1922, and has a lot of material that escaped Mr. Lomax's attention when his book was published in 1950--in 53 years, enough has surfaced to justify a treatment like this, and Morton certainly deserves it. Until the transcriptions of his complete Library of Congress Recordings are published, this and Mr. Lomax's book are crucial to understanding this almost-forgotten genius, to whom modern music owes so much.

This book is decent, but I think that Chiang book is better that this book, I recommend "Elements of Dynamic Optimization" from Alpha Chiang (ISBN: 157766096X), it's better.

There is no doubt that to master in advanced economics one should have a firm grasp on mathematical tools. Kamien and Schwartz's Dynamiz Optimization is the perfect book to this end. Actually it deserves a rating more than five stars.

I've read two or three books about catching trout in Wisconsin, and this book is the most informative. There are detailed illustrations, including a hatch chart with all of the best bug hatches in the state. They also have detailed descriptions of some of the finest trout waters in Wisconsin. Good for the beginning angler as well, because the book gives good tips on starting gear and techniques. I found it extremely helpful. If you're planning on trout fishing in Wisconsin this book is a must.

Many fish-and-tell books suffer from either not enough information (the trailhead is where?) or too much detail, and sometimes an annoying combination of both. The reader is left wondering about the bigger picture and the finer points of the resource and local opportunities to experience it.

Not so with this book. It is painstakingly researched and very well presented. The resource and conservation overview is integrated with specific and useful information on streams, hatches, and techniques. The book is well-written and generally enjoyable to read, as well as being a good reference for beginners to advanced flyfishers. It is clear that the authors know their home waters and have great love for them. I highly recommend this book to those wanting to know more about the excellent fly fishing and cold water resources in Wisconsin.

This book gives a very thorough explanation of most of the things that surrounds us. It is very easy to understand due to the many examples, and yet manages to maintain very cogent. It does not require much math read this book, since this is explained as the book moves along, and is needed.

This is an excellent book for the first time physics student. It is very "straight to the point" when it comes to explaining physics concepts. This book does not waste time talking about senseless theroy that gets you no where. It tells the concepts of physics clearly and it has EXCELLENT examples to illustrate the concepts that it tries to explain. It has plenty of clear and concise examples. It probably has at least 12 to 15 examples per chapter witch is VERY excellent!!!!

Additionally, this book comes with a GREAT student solutions\help manual. The student solutions\help manual helps explain the concepts even more clearly thus giving you a better understanding of such a difficult subject.

I've seen this book has been around for a long time. I can see why this textbook has been around for a long time because of its superiour quality. I hope this book is still around for students in the future 50 years from now.

A great book.

Athough there are some interesting ideas here, history appears unappreciated. In a war described by Lenin as being amongst imperialists, and at a time when Russian soldiers were embracing Bolshevism, psychiatry rose to prominence in an attempt to heal the trauma suffered by American working class soldiers during the First World War. And although you'd expect the post-World War II McCarthy reaction against homosexuals by monopolists would likewise be examined, the regulatory impulse of monopolists (and resistance to it), as illuminated by authors like Foucault, seems unrecognized. In short, the origins of the homosexual movement in class struggle, and queer theory as a form of working class consciousness, appears under appreciated.

Marxism, Queer Theory, Gender

Volume 2 of Transformation: Marxist Boundary Work in Theory, Economics, Politics and Culture

Edited by Mas'ud Zavarzadeh, Teresa L. Ebert, Donald Morton The Red Factory, Paperback $22.00

Transformation is a series presenting "Marxist boundary work in theory, economics, politics and culture." Its second volume, focused on "Marxism, Queer Theory, Gender," not only goes against the grain of contemporary theory (Derrida, Butler, Fish -- to mention the triangle of hegemonic theory), but also counters the mainline of truncated "marxisms" that one finds in the writings of Laclau, Jameson, Zizek, Spivak and in such institutional journals as Rethinking Marxism. In fact the first volume of Transformation (Marxism and Postmodernism) was hailed in Europe as a path-opening "American alternative to Social Text and Rethinking Marxism" (Textual Practice).

The path taken by Transformation is the path of classical Marxism, which argues for social transformation (hence the title of the series) by deploying the concepts of class, revolution, and the labor theory of value, and its overriding goal is freedom of humanity from necessity. These are, of course, concepts that have been marginalized by today's "third way" leftism and in the writings of post-marxists.

Transformation No. 2 puts the "red"--the revolutionary--back into Marxist theory and politics. It takes classical Marxist theory and puts it on the boundaries of contemporary conflicts over sexuality, AIDS, sexual harassment in the workplace, "family values," pedagogy, cyber-activism, domestic labor and above all, dominant forms of queer theory.

The first, and most theoretically expansive text of the volume, Donald Morton's "Pataphysics of the Closet," theorizes the enduring silence around issues of class and exploitation in contemporary forms of sex-radicalism and dominant forms of queer theory. Setting the agenda for the volume as a whole, Morton argues against the dominant knowledges which (in the guise of "radical democracy" and "radical thinking") have transformed "difference" into a code-word for the unique entrepreneurial self. Morton's critique argues for a "Red Queer Theory" which "refuses to give up difference as the difference of class." Other theorists contributing to the collection, Dana Cloud, Robert Nowlan, Jennifer Cotter, Huei-ju Wang, Robert Wilkie, and Teresa L. Ebert, provide rigorous scholarly and theoretical explanations of various aspects of questions of sexuality and gender now. This is a uniquely rich, innovative, and ground-breaking volume.

At a time when the left and post-marxisms have all but in name surrendered to triumphalist global capitalism, Transformation continues to be in the vanguard of red struggles for social equality, economic justice, and freedom from necessity.

July 7: Author lives downtown Pittsburgh near big Pennsylvania RR station where he & his brother got onboard in '42,for Ft Meade,MD..enlisted men, a month after Pearl Harbor. Off to Molesworth,England..the "island Aircraft carrier". Made risky runs, 'a wing & a Prayer', over occupied Europe, he's 80 now,& speaks with nostalgia for all those comrades who.."laid down their lives,on altar of our) Freedom. quotes from Post-Gazette,Jon Schmitz,staff)

This book is a must read if you feel strongly for those men that served our country during WW2. This book pays tribute to those who served and weren't often recognized-the mechanics, engineers, as well as the men who flew the planes. In addition to a plethora of interesting information, Alvin Morton also includes short stories and recollections that will stir your heart. Congratulations Mr. Morton. I appreciate what you did for our country.

I'm a freshman in veterinary medical college. And I go to my seniors' animal hospital every weekend for studying and assitanting them. Before I assitant them, I had to know about treating animals with the right way. Then my seniors gave this book to me. I think this book is very good for Vet.technician. This book is really detailed for every part of the way of treating pets. I am sure that this book will be helpful to you, veterinary technician or a student often doing assistance in hospital just like me. But i am sure it will not help any junior or senior studying veterinary medicine.

This book reveals a good intent that fell slightly short. The authors evidently know their stuff very well and describe many procedures with meticulousness. However, necessary details are missing on ocassion, like where to locate the vessel they recommend to inject. The illustations are satisfactory but sometimes insufficient. One wonders whether photographs could have been better in these cases. I missed some procedures that are common in veterinary clinics today like x-rays and some small surgery techniques that are common in a clinical setting. For examaple, I would have liked to find some pointers on how to operate an x-ray machine. The book is very useful and well worth buying it, but the authors could make it even better if they surveyed the needs of their colleagues before attempting the next edition.

I am a director of a veterinary technology program and this is a required text. It outlines the "how-to-do" of procedures as simple as cephalic venipuncture to complicated procedures such as gastrotomy tube placement. The value of this book lies in the fact that it lists every supply or piece of equipment you will need to perform a procedure and then walks you through it step by step. The illustrations are awesome. This book would be a valuable reference for a practitioner or technician who wants to perform a procedure for the first time or needs a refresher on the procedure.The inclusion of rabbits to this edition is a welcome addition as it outlines procedures likely performed in practice.

As many books written before computers the exercises in this book crumble before a program as Mathematical Explorer by Wolfram [Here at Amazon for 75 bucks]. In fact most are done with no strain on a hand calculator [I use an old Hewlett Packard 48g which you can buy here but hasn't been made, new, for years] . So, basically, all you are learning from the exercises is how to program your computer or calculator .

The author uses a style which presents a calculation without explaining how to do it for 70 more pages. I presume this is to make one 'think for themselves' but I will dream on what I choose not what someone thinks that I should.

By reason of its organization this is a hard book for self study. The facts are there, however. Although I have no alternative there must be one.

Two weeks ago I ordered about 10 math books from Amazon, and this book is the only one I have been reading-- I just cannot stop reading it.
It is not difficult to understand and it has very interesting problems. The title fits the book very well. Although I am taking statistics class in school, my understanding of combinations and permutations was very shallow before I started reading this book. I really appreciate the author. Thank you, Prof. Ivan Niven. I hope there are more math books like this one. And I wish our math textbooks can be this fun. Highyly recommend it to anybody who loves having fun with math.

There are few books which can even come close to the lucidity and simplicity with which Ivan Niven explains the basics of combinations and permutations.He even puts forth difficult topics like Generating Polynomials in the most simple and understandable fashion.No doubt this is a prescribed book at Harvard!! It has personally helped me in preparing and coming out successful for admission to the Indian Institute of Technology institutes,which is one of the toughest examinations in the world . The book is suitable for anyone who wants to understand the maths involved in making a choice.This will be of great help for High School students, Under Graduates,Graduates and teachers of Mathematics.A gem from Ivan Niven.