The author seems to cover molecular biology, physics, and engineering with equally impressive expertise. Prior to purchasing this book I thought "How can someone write so much on a field that arguably does not yet exist?" I was surprised at just how much thought has gone into the many facets of nanotechnology and nanomedicine -- regardless of the fact that we do not yet have the ability to implement most of the technology being discussed.

The title is perhaps a bit misleading. I would say this book is just as good a primer on nanotech in general as it is on nanomedicine. Many engineering issues are discussed, including power requirements, communication, heat dissipation, and mechanical strength. And, while many ideas are presented in a biological context (for instance, fluid drag is discussed in the context of navigating the blood stream), the information has applicability to nearly any type of nano-engineering.

The information presented is EXTENSIVELY referenced, and by skipping over the mathematical formulas, should be easily understood by someone with a basic background in biology and/or physics/engineering. I highly recommend this book.

...

This volume makes it clear that Freitas has really thought things through. He is also an excellent writer; the introductory chapters on medicine and nanotechnology are exceedingly clear and informative. It's when he gets into the details, though, that the breadth and depth of his knowlege become apparent. It may be that things on the nanoscale are weirder and less cooperative than we currently imagine, but within the limits of what we know today, this book is authoritative.

It might also be a broadening read for engineers and/or people in the medical field with no direct interest in nanotechnology per se, since it takes an engineering (rather than a traditionally anatomical) view of the human body.

Get this book if you are at all interested in the emerging and world changing field of nanomedicine or nanotechnology. This book is THE foundation for nanomedicine. I used the hard cover version as a textbook in my seminar last semester. It was a wonderful resource. An amazing vision! I am glad that it is available in the more affordable soft cover version. It is exactly the same as the hard cover at a lower price. See the excellent reviews under the hard cover edition.

This book is wonderful. I paid full price for it and would gladly do so again in order to give it as a gift to others. I highly recomend it.

I haven't met many people who can point out at least ten different plants in the average yard and can tell you how to cook them. Mr. Henderson does an outstanding job of identifying wild, and not-so-wild, edibles common to almost every neighborhood. His recipes are easy to follow and delicious.

Even if you are not planning to run right out to the nearest shrub and harvest its leaves for dinner, I recommend this book. Mr. Henderson's prose is worth reading, whatever the content. His witty, humorous style enlivens a book full of excellent information.

The Neighborhood Forager is a very informative and enjoyable book. It not only tells about the plants in our backyards and by-ways but gives historical information, recipes, warnings and dyer's tips.

Mr. Henderson writes with humor and personal anecdotes which makes the book a good read even if you're not into foraging.

This book is very well illustrated, well layed-out, easy to use, and the pictures are very beautiful. It's full of information, explains more than I expected, and it is a MUST for Hummel collectors.

not only is this a complete guide -- but it is so easy to use -- anyone owning or buying Hummel's should have this -- I only wish I could find Guides like this for my other collectables --

Even though it's proclaimed by expert collectors as the absolute source of information about Hummel figurines, Robert Miller's reference work is easy for amateurs as well. He provides insightful guidance in determining value and quality as well as interesting tidbits about production and variations in the figurines. His work is referenced by many sellers in internet auctions, but is also helpful in figuring out just what you already have. As a rank beginner, I had no problem in following his material and ascertaining the value of an inherited collection. It was also useful in helping me determine additions that I wanted to make to the collection.

This is one of my favorite series by Nora....it's more of a drama about real life and family! It's a must read collection....I gurantee you will love it!

I hit the jackpot when I read these books! These are my first Nora Roberts books and they have made me a book junkie. I cannot get enough of her books!
They can be compared to a four course meal.
Sea Swept is only the "appitizer" to the meal, it will make you want more. Rising Tides, you get a taste of what is to come later, and with Inner Harbor, this is the main course. You will enjoy these book as you would a wonderful meal. I can hardly wait to sit down with "dessert" reading Chesapeake Blue with a good after dinner drink!

Very captivating. Couldn't put them down. You'll have to finish the series off with her "Chesapeake Blue". Very heartwarming story. You become a part of the "Quinn" boys' lives.

The aboriginal Sng'oi of Malaysia are often described with words like "pre-industrial" or "pre-agricultural," but it is a mistake to think of them as living in a former stage of what of our more "advanced" society has become. More to the point, they are living in another world. Having spent half his youth growing up in this non-Western world, Wolff says this: "I learned early on to be in two different realities." One reality was oriented around the clock, efficiency, technology, and harsh realism. The other was fluid, timeless, almost dreamlike, "a world and at a time when people touched each other, when we knew animals and plants intimately." The bulk of this book is spent fleshing out differences between these worlds, in an attempt to teach us Westerners another way of knowing, in an attempt to show us another reality. But in the process of doing so, it quickly becomes apparent that the modern world doesn't measure up.

As slaves to an alienating industrial system, as a completely self-domesticated species, in a state of utter dependence and helplessness, the condescending glance "modern" humanity casts at so-called "primitive peoples" is extremely ironic - indeed absurd. Traditionally referred to as "Sakai," or slaves, by modern Malaysians, the Sng'oi do not take offense. Says one Sng'oi man, "We look at the people down below [literally, from up in the mountains] - they have to get up at a certain time in the morning, they have to pay for everything with money, which they have to earn doing things for other people. They are constantly told what they can and cannot do. No, we do not mind when they call us slaves."

At one point in the book, Wolff recounts a number of silent educational trips into the rainforest with his friend/guide, Ahmeed, who was subtly trying to teach him to interact and connect with the forest on his own terms. After days of walking, Wolff became thirsty. It was precisely then that Ahmeed decided to sneak off and leave him to find water on his own. After searching for hours, he not only discovered water - he also discovered another way of seeing. "When I leaned over drink from the leaf, I saw water with feathery ripples, I saw a few mosquito larvae wriggling on the surface, I saw the veins of the leaf through the water, some bubbles, a little piece of dirt... How beautiful, how perfect." His perception suddenly "opened," and a deep feeling of connection enveloped him. "The all-ness was everywhere, and I was a part of it... I could not be afraid - I was apart of this all-ness."

Contrast this with our culture, a culture walled-in with fear; a culture that "learns - has to learn - to shut off the senses, to protect oneself from all the noise." Unlike the Sng'oi, who are brought up to listen, watch and feel in depth, ours is a culture run amok, set out to expand and colonize every wild space left on the globe; a culture in which many humans are brought up to act like machines only to find themselves replaced by machines built to act like humans. In the other world Wolff experienced, every day - indeed every second - was a miracle. Life, although by no means perfect, was full of smiles, stories, songs and dance. It was a world where fear and domination do exist - that is, until white men in Komatsu bulldozers come to clear away the forest.

The topics Wolff address in this book vary from indigenous medicine to education, from dream interpretation to surviving the onslaught of civilization. The format is a series of anecdotes whose deep wisdom will stay with you, perhaps for a lifetime. This is not simply anthropology or ethnology, but a critique of modern industrial civilization and it's "Development Scheme" in the gentle voice of someone intimate with the Sng'oi. In all, the book amounts to nothing less than an alternative way of being. I found it refreshing, insightful and transformative - three criteria for any great book.

My library finally found Original Wisdom and got it for me. I almost have it finished and I havn't had the book in my hands for 24 hours yet. I highly recommend Original Wisdom to anyone who wants a first hand account of what life is like outside of our Dominant/Taker Culture. Maybe our way isn't the one right way to live.

Well written memoirs of a western trained scientist visiting/living with tribal people over many years. this book touches on everything from crime to dreams. a must read!

For a general introduction to landscaping with native plants in Florida, this is a good book. It includes some introductory chapters with landscape plans for various types of gardens, such as water gardens and wildlife gardens. The main part of the book has a page on each native plant grouped in chapters on palms, shrubs, small trees, large trees, vines, wildflowers, and water plants.

The book includes plants for all of Florida, which means there are a quite a few temperate zone plants that grow in the north and central part of the state and not in zone 10 (farthest south), but there are also plenty that grow throughout the state or only in the south.

Overall, good photography, plant descriptions and advice make this a good general book for Florida landscaping.

This is a great reference book for anyone living in Florida, who wants to identify and learn about native Florida plants. The book includes a photo of each plant with the common and botanical names. It provides zone numbers and descriptions of each plant's average height & light requirements. Also, bloom information, fruit, leaves, trunk, habitat, propagation and appearance descriptions. Chapters are divided by basic plant type - large trees, small trees, palm trees, wildflowers, etc.

I can't think of a way to improve this book. It's been invaluable to me. The pictures are excellent, as are the descriptions of the various plants' growth habits, needs, and wildlife attracting properties, etc.

"A comprehensive road-map for the small businessperson to help them plan, grow, and prosper in business."

"Success in business is tied to the access of capital and information. New York Finance provides the methodology on how to write a write and sell a winning business plan to a lender or investor. It provides invaluable direction as to where and how entrepreneurs can access capital to start or grow their ventures"

"We hear from small businesses across the country that obtaining capital is one of the most intractable concerns of entrepreneurs. This book is an enormous help to emerging businesses, as they learn the fundamentals of creditworthiness, bank debt, and alternative sources of capital. We wish there were guides such as this across the country."

If it wasn't for the fact that this work is such an exhaustive expression of observational material, and partially devoted to users of larger telescopes, it would most certainly be placed on the Belmont Society's "Required Reading List". As it is, these two wonderful volumes of information are both extraordinarily useful and educationally priceless for intermediate beginners and the advanced amateur. It is mostly "tilted" at users of larger scopes, but those of us who have an interest in small and medium-sized instruments will greatly appreciate its enormous cache of useful information - i.e.: just double stars alone, to cite an example.

By itself, the data is worth the price of admission. But the foundational text is a bottomless well from which to draw buckets of valuable knowledge about all the known types of deep space objects. This information is compiled in an ideal arrangement, and is laid out in logical and sensible format. Explanations and informative text are among the finest we've ever seen. The sheer quantity of information, along with an exemplary written style gives the impression that this work was composed by scores of eminent astrophysicists and astronomers, all contributing within the realms of their individual specialties, and then edited by a single omnipotent director. And sure enough, there is a lengthy acknowledgment to the contributors, the roster of which is very extensive, and the complexion of which is almost exclusively amateur.

The work is divided into two volumes or seasonal groups - Volume #1 is dedicated to Fall and Winter constellations, and #2 consists of Spring and Summer. Each volume is divided into segments, which present its constellations in alphabetical order. Each constellation begins with an impressively detailed list of double stars. Then there are the deep sky objects - dark nebulae, emission nebulae, globulars, galaxies, etc. Each individual object is given a description and a graphic rating (5 stars for the very best, and so on) with notes that justify its rank. Additionally, objects are listed in chart form by type as well. Sad to say, objects below a minimal southern latitude are not included.

For the most part, object descriptions are presented as seen with apertures between 8 and 12 inches (and larger). Roughly 30 percent of the observations are described as seen with smaller apertures, and some binocular objects are listed as well. As mentioned, the double star listings are superbly done. There are over 2,100 worthy examples of these. This list is among the most detailed we've ever seen.

These are a pair of really big books! There's an interesting but typical reaction displayed upon seeing one close-up for the first time. They dwarf the average encyclopedia edition (remember those?). They are even bigger than the law books you see behind the District Attorney's desk on a TV serial. And we appreciate the hard glossy cover with no separate jacket to rip or lose. They aren't cheap books either. It would seem practical for the amateur on a budget to acquire them separately.

Kepple and Sanner are amateur astronomers who've created a magnificent work, worthy of commendation reserved for meritorious professionals. The magnitude of their efforts is astonishing, even considering that all of it was pieced together from smaller works that they themselves authored quite some time ago. We are so impressed with the quality of this work, that we've given it "Honorable Mention" status on the Belmont Society's "Required Reading" list. The only reason it didn't make the main list is because many amateurs do not have access to, or are deprived of the opportunity or the means to use larger aperture telescopes.

Very highly recommended.

This is the first volume of an incredible deep sky reference work for amateurs. First of all, the introduction written by Craig Crossen (noted astronomer and author) is the finest overview of basic layman's astronomy theory and observing conventions that I have run across.

The rest of the book consists of sketches or photographs and descriptions of hundreds of deep sky objects in all constellations visible from mid-northern latitudes during the Fall and Winter seasons. The second book covers Spring and Summer. Objects are described as to how they appear with telescopes of different apertures. The majority of objects are for large scope owners, e.g. 12"+, but the brighter objects like Messier are even described for 4" scopes.

The maps and finder charts are adequate but you'll need a good star chart to complement them and confirm that you've got your target. Each constellation chapter begins with a table of interesting double and multiple stars, an excellent and thoughtful inclusion for medium-size scope owners who may not be able to see many of the DSOs or for those in cities where DSOs are wiped out by light pollution.

I haven't seen a guide to compare to NSOG in depth of coverage. The two large volumes are enough to keep large scope owners busy for many years. There are nice guides out there with better descriptions of far fewer objects (e.g. The Universe From Your Backyard by Eicher), but for sheer quantity NSOG leaves them all in the dust.

Let me echo what others have said: this is the best observational reference guide out there for intermediate or advanced observational astronomers. The descriptions are useful but brief, and I really like that it "rates" the objects based on brightness and overall impact. It also lists what it considers to be the showpieces in each constellation. This really helps you to summarize what you are going to look at that evening. I do my homework in this book before going out. I love the linear map on the inside cover, too. For many objects, it describes views you'll see in scopes from a backyard 6" reflector to a 20" (and beyond) dob. The only drawback is that it seems like kind of cheap paper; I'm afraid to take it out in the field and have to deal with the dew.

I'm a 12 year old reader from CA. I have read all the Clearwater Crossing books, and this is my favorite. The Melanie/Jesse thing is driving me nuts. Does she love him? Does he love her? At the end, I was almost screaming at Melanie for being so dense. The Ben thing was a little undeveloped, but very interesting. After all, if you don't like the person you're kissing, than the kiss is worth nothing at all. As for Melanie and Jesse, if they're ever going to have a serious relationship, they both need to acknowledgde their feelings, not deny them, and learn to trust each other. I hope this review helped you!

I thought that this book was really good. The book was so life like. Not like some books where they try to make it life like but no one can ever relate to them. This is practically a dictation of the average teens life. I loved this book and if you have enjoyed other clearwater crossing books in the past you're guarenteed to love this one.

Yet another wonderful book for adolescents. Being thirteen, I love to read stories that reflect all of the things Ms. Roberts includes. She has a very real approach to the world, and the topics she writes about I can really relate to. This book was very good, but overall I think I'm just a huge fan of the series. Looking forward to #9, and I recommend Clearwater Crossing to everyone!

This book is creatively crafted by Peter Cunningham and Robert Mickey. It is a great primer on the basics of kickboxing and chapters include information on conditioning, getting started, striking techniques and much more. The book isn't just full of photos teaching the reader how to make each movement. No, this book is much more. There contains much information on the ends and outs of this sport.

This book reads at a ninth grade level which widens the appeal to teenagers who have had some karate training and may be looking to expand their knowledge into the sport aspects of kickboxing. Adults in the martial arts (like myself) should enjoy this book as well. Cunningham has done a great job and deserves a lot of credit for this publication.

Like most martial artist, I did some soul searching before I found my art. I bought a lot of books, on many styles. I ordered this one, and it made my mind up for me. This is a THE book for anyone interested in kickboxing.

This book is a must for those people who are interested in doing kickboxing, whether they are newcomers to the sport or intermediate fighters looking for great knockout techniques. The book is written in an easy to understand format with photos showing how to execute the kicks and punches. Before I read this book I knew nothing about fighting. But within two weeks of practicing these techniques I felt confident that I could defend myself if the need arose.