This book does an excelent job of giving a brief history of each summer camp in Algonquin Park. The coloful pictures clearly illustrate the individuality of each camp. If you have any connection to the Park or any of the camps, I'm sure you will enjoy reading this book. Also this book makes an fabulous keepsake for any camper or alumni of the camps.

The book is quite good if you want to learn the basics of photography and want to learn some terminology. It dedicates two full pages (but lots of photos on each page) to each subject, but it does not go into depth on technique or details on how to shoot etc. If you're a beginner, definitely a good book to get you started. If you are trying to move towards becoming a pro, this is not the book to take you there!

I read this book before giving it to my 10 year old niece for Christmas. I thought the book was fabulous, talking about how animals communicate with us and how to understand their behaviors. The author explains the value and mechanics of developing richer relationships with animals in ways that kids can understand. The author's attitude is open and trusting with animals, and is exactly the kind of attitude I wanted to foster within my budding vet-to-be-niece.

I started to collect Thai paintings long before I picked up a copy of the Ten Lives of the Buddha in 1982. As a serious collector, I try to find whatever available information there is about the subject and this book has provided me with invaluable background in understanding this particular art. The masterpieces reproduced in this book represent the best of this rich and unique artistic heritage. The ten lives of the Buddha are recounted in a lively narrative style that recreates the realms of myth and legend forming a vital part of the culture of the entire Buddhist world. Jataka paintings are not only works of art in their own right but also sermons in line and color. ()

For the novice to Tombstone history and the diaries of George Parsons, this is an informative book. There are many good illustrations, with good footnotes on some of the characters mentioned in the diaries. However, there are many mistakes as well, and the informed scholar would be made cautious to take everything at face value, and would be urged to further check any facts. For example, on the very first page it is mentioned that George had one brother, Sam, and two sisters, Alice and Strallus. "Strallus" was a nickname for Alice, thus Alice and Strallus are the same person. The other sister's name was Emeline. A very basic fact such as this should not have been missed and unfortunately makes much of what follows suspect to any scholars looking for pertinent information. The book also states that George began his diary in March of 1879, after arriving in San Francisco. This is also inaccurate - the diary was begun in June of 1869, following the death of his mother, which had a profound effect on George and was the impetus for the journal. Every year on the anniversary of his mother's death, George would note it in his diary, even a half-century later. There are also grammatical errors and misspelled words in those sections coming directly from the author, and poor editing is to blame rather than the author of this volume. It is unfortunate that small things can cast doubt upon an entire volume, but still, the vast majority is in good order and the book is a very good snapshot of Tombstone and the mining district during those years. For someone desiring such, it is chock full of information, although the diary isn't always clear itself on who George is talking about, as he often uses abbreviations when discussing people. There are other versions of the diary in print that eliminate the abbreviations and spell out who is being discussed, although they may lack the extra footnotes or illustrations. For serious scholars, this book is a good companion volume to others in print, while for the novice this book can stand alone as a good primer on the Tombstone mining era.

I found that while this book had a lot of helpful information in certain areas, there wasn't consistent information for each fish mentioned in the book. As a beginner in the fishkeeping world I was really looking for a book that could give me the basic requirements for specific fish, i.e. max. size, water requirements, feeding requirements, behavior, etc. While this information was provided for some fish, it was not provided for all, which was a little frustrating. Also I found that many of the types of fish listed in this book were not available in your typical fish store or had a name that was different than what it was commonly called (in the U.S.). This book does provide very helpful sections (almost half the book) on setting up a tank with wonderful information on water management, equipment, foods, feeding, etc.
*Added 12/13/01 - After keeping fish almost 3 years I have found myself referring back to this book again and again. I would like to edit my earlier review and rating. The beautiful color photographs and information about each fish category are great. I was a little misled by the title, as I assumed that every type of freshwater fish would be catalogued in this book. Because different kinds of fish are availabe in different areas of the country/world and often they are called different names, I now realize that you would need a book the size of Webster's dictionary to be able to list every fish you might encounter!

A good book with which to start if you're new to metaphysics and even if you're not. It is always interesting to get to know an author once you've read her books or even before you begin. What an author has lived is, more often than not, experienced anew through writing; therefore, what better way to get the most out of an author's writings, than by reading her autobiography?

Valor and Lace, edited by Mauriel Phillips Joslyn, is an anthology of eleven short histories of women that lived during the War Between the States and contributed to the side of the South during that conflict. Each of the anthologies is readable and most are well researched. As with any book containing material from several authors, there are some chapters that are better researched and written than others. However, in general the book is concise and presents various aspects of the Southern woman's life during the War. The title and subtitle (The Roles of Confederate Women 1861-1865) are somewhat misleading. The book does not present a comprehensive history of women in general during the war but rather presents the reader with eleven specific cases of extraordinary women who felt the need to commit themselves to the cause for which they believed, be it the Southern cause for independence or the moral cause to care for the wounded, regardless of their political affiliation. While it would be erroneous for the reader to assume this is a true picture of every Southern woman, it is an appropriate portrayal of certain aspects of life both at home and on or near the battlefield and the role that some women played during the Civil War. This reveiwer recommends the book to any student of the War as well as to those readers interested in the social roles of women during that period of American history.

On a scale of 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best I rate this book 4 stars because I didn't find this book to be very funny. I thought this book was going to be like Louis Sachar's Wayside School books because it is about kids in a school. It was a little exciting when the wrestlers went to the professional wrestling ring at Bailey City High School while the parents were protesting outside. When the Vikings, Howie, Eddie, Liza and Melody go to Burger Doodle for their favorite Doodlegum shakes the Vikings stuff their mouths with French fries, milk shakes and Doodle Burgers, which I thought was a little strange. When I was reading this book I kept asking myself, "Is there going to be a Viking Invasion?" Read the book to find out.

Voices From The Classroom is a collection of international stories written and presented in a naturalistic inquiry paradigm and are examples of qualitative research. The editors, Kathleen Bailey and David Nunan, are language professors and researchers from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California and ESADE Idiomas in Barcelona, Spain respectively. Bailey and Nunan write two of nineteen articles that comprise the book's chapters. Seventeen other educators and researchers were invited to contribute to the book; however, only unpublished stories were accepted. The articles are grouped according to thematic sections which include: 1.) Teaching as thinking, doing, and interpreting, 2.) Classroom dynamics and interaction, 3.) The classroom and beyond, 4.) Curricular issues, and 5.) Sociopolitical perspectives. At the end of each section the reader is provided with 'questions and tasks' that seek to highlight or consider issues and concerns that surfaced in each section. Sections one and two consider issues and concerns voiced by teachers in the field. Section three addresses language experiences outside of the classroom and, and what effect, if any, do these experiences have on learning a language. Section four looks specifically at the complexities of developing, implementing, and evaluating a language curriculum. Section five considers a more global aspect of teaching and learning and situates these studies within certain geographical, political, and social parameters. Perhaps the greatest strength of Voices From The Classroom is that it introduces the reader to various types of qualitative research such as the use of metaphors, action research, ethnography, case study and narrative dairy. The reader is presented with a rich selection of data samplings which include, but are not limited to, field notes, lesson plans and transcripts, video/audio tapings, teachers' and learners' journals, teacher and student interviews, teacher/researcher narratives, and stimulated recall protocols. The editors explain that these samplings provide the data necessary for conducting qualitative research, and for permitting data triangulation, or the notion that two or more perspectives of a given phenomena are essential to accurately capture and present any type of discourse identifying or explaining a particular phenomenon. Early on, the reader recognizes how qualitative research seems to lend itself to research conducted and situated within a foreign or second language context. Just as individual languages are salient and fluid so too must be the methodologies used to investigate their realities. As with any publication, authors and editors are frequently asked to make revisions to materials submitted for publication. Unfortunately, these revisions, more often that not, require that authors and editors take serious steps to reduce the number of pages, sentences or words used to recount an experience or event. Consequently, certain studies in Voices From the Classroom seem to be more developed than others. Nonetheless, the goals and objectives set forth by the editors are achieved. To paraphrase Bailey and Nunan, the book is about learning and teaching languages as the are experienced and understood by language teachers and students, and it provides opportunities for investigating and revisiting many aspects particular to language instruction and learning. Voices From The Classroom would be suitable for teacher educators, teachers in training, researchers of foreign or second language education, and certainly anyone interested in learning a foreign or second language. Additionally, it would be a good textbook for a seminar course in foreign or second language education. It would certainly provide an ideal forum to discuss and consider individual issues and concerns as presented in each story. Likewise, it would also provide an interesting forum to examine and consider issues that have not been fully developed, perhaps even omitted, or simply not addressed at all in the stories. Sometimes the most essential information of a story is the portion that is not told, or the voice that is not heard.