This guide is good; probably the best available for the region. The birders I ran into (even a park ranger) had this guide. It is a convenient size, fitting easily in my cargo-shorts pockets while both hands held my binoculars. It describes most of species (I found a few exceptions, eg. Gray Gull, but it is fairly complete). I did find that some of the illustrations were somewhat simplistic. More detailed descriptions would be useful, but could also negatively affect the weight of the book. I used it in Parque Nacional Iguazu and los Esteros del Ibera, and it served its purpose well.

It was the first time for me in South America, so I didn't know nothing about the birds there. I had the chance to find this guide, which helped me very much, thanks to the good figures. The text is a little bit poor, but for a beginner it's enough. For some families like the Furnariids and the Tyrannids the figures weren't always good for recognising the species in the field. But, in general, I found this guide very useful and the best between all other guides of the region which I saw.

It was the first time for me in South America, so I didn't know nothing about the birds there. I had the chance to find this guide, which helped me very much, thanks to the good figures. The text is a little bit poor, but for a beginner it's enough. For some families like the Furnariids and the Tyrannids the figures weren't always good for recognising the species in the field. But, in general, I found this guide very useful and the best between all other guides of the region which I saw.

Maybe I didn't read the fine print anywhere, but I did not know that the book was geared to little children. I was astonished when I saw the large print. I thought maybe they sent me a book intended for someone who has little sight. I do not recommend this book for anyone over the age of 16, but it is nice to see that someone would write a book about Bix Biederbecke geered towards children. I am 26, and personally I was looking for something meatier. If you are looking for something new and shocking about Bix, then pass this book by. If your son,daughter, or grandchild is interested in early jazz, this may be the book for you.

An excellent book for it's format, which is aimed at younger readers. It is full of the relevant information on Bix and very well written. The reader will come away with a good picture of the too short life of this brilliant young man.

I grew up in the Quad Cities. therefore I grew up hearing about Bix Beiderbecke, the piano and cornet player from Davenport, Iowa. I always wanted to know more about him, both as a man and a musician. I bought this book even though I knew it was for high school students. It was just what I wanted because it gave me an in-depth look at an extraordinary person. I now understand why the people of my area showed so much attention to Bix Beiderbecke.

In this book, Jane Evans, author, presents not only copies of her artistry, but also gives the reader insight into: the art of Chinese Brush; explains the materials you need to accomplish your entry into this particular form of art; the basic techniques you will learn; how to apply 'washes'; how to accomplish painting flowers, plants, birds, insects, fish and aquatic creatures, animals, people, landscapes ... trees, grasses, mountains, hills, waterfalls, bridges. From start to finish ... including mounting your art ... Jane has left nothing out.

In a world of Chinese Brush Art, where books are hard to come by, this is a great buy!

In this book, Jane Evans, author, presents not only copies of her artistry, but also gives the reader insight into: the art of Chinese Brush; explains the materials you need to accomplish your entry into this particular form of art; the basic techniques you will learn; how to apply 'washes'; how to accomplish painting flowers, plants, birds, insects, fish and aquatic creatures, animals, people, landscapes ... trees, grasses, mountains, hills, waterfalls, bridges. From start to finish ... including mounting your art ... Jane has left nothing out.

In a world of Chinese Brush Art, where books are hard to come by, this is a great buy!

Bought this book a few weeks ago and love it.

The author uses illustrations and technique tips to enhance learning. The technique tips were very helpful and this book is an invaluable tool for anyone who would like to try their hand at brush painting. A bonus was information on supplies, including best bets for beginners.

The author of this book has obviously spend a great deal of time in academia -- much to his detriment. The book reads like a college-level psychology textbook, complete with references to the myriad of other people upon whom his work is drawn.

For example, the author is not content to just define a term and move on. Instead, he reviews the entire history of the term, what other people have thought about the term, and then summarizes all of the thoughts. Geez, there are even examples at the end of each chapter.

If my review is hard to read, I blame it on the fact that I have been reading this book for the past hour.

But, if you can get past the overly-academic writing style, you will find a good deal of useful information. The concept of object-oriented user interfaces is often misinterpreted and/or mis-implemented. There is a detailed history of the object-oriented GUI, and good discussions on the human factors that lead to good GUI designs.

One note is that the book was published in 1995, so brace yourself for lots of examples from the leading GUI of that time: Windows 3.1! Windows NT is only mentioned as 'Cairo'. But as is true of all design models, the age of the book really has no relevance.

Collins cuts right to the quick on this often misunderstood topic. Project manager thru programmer will profit from having this on their desk. It you remember COBOL, FORTRAN and PL/1, then this sbook is syour key to understanding the "new age" of object orientness. Incredibly concise, crystal clear discussions of all the important issues.

This excellent book is one of a mere few books that thoroughly and competently addresses object-oriented (OO) style of graphical user interface (GUI) design. Note that OO GUI *style* is entirely independent of whether the GUI is implemented with OO technology. A strength of this book is its comprehensibility by programmers, in addition to GUI designers.

Here are two other essential ones: Design Guide for Multiplatform Graphical User Interfaces (LP R13, Issue 3, by McFarland & Dayton, 1995, Piscataway, NJ: Bellcore), and Object-Oriented Interface Design: IBM Common User Access guidelines (by IBM, Carmel, IN: Que Corp.)

Here's a merely fair quality but essential one: The Windows guidelines for software design. (by Microsoft, 1995, Redmond, WA: Microsoft Press).

I don't know who Nancy A. Collins is, but this was an interesting book. The FF were never my favorite (let's all sit around and complain about ourselves), but this book at least makes them likable, unlike most of the comics I read of them when I was a kid. Honestly, this book focuses more on Namor than the FF, maybe that's why I like it more. Everybody pretty knows what there is to know about the FF, and this book does nothing to bulid on that. Namor, on the other hand, is fleshed out more than I have ever seen (although, I only had 2 of his solo comics, and both were boring). This book really focuses on Namor and Atlantis's pasts, presents, and futures. The Atlantean palace coup is actually quite entertaining. This book was more ambitious than it needed to be as it feels rushed and not fleshed out enough (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic's address to the U.N. comes to mind), but the book is exciting enough to allow you to overlook that. For Namor fans (or anyone wanting more information on this, suprisingly, deep character) should definately pick this book up. FF fans might be dissapointed as the FF's and Doom's involvment are paper-thin at best. I've heard that their other 2 books are even better though, but I have yet to read them.
If you're keeping track, here are my Top 5 Marvel novels so far:
1. Hulk: What Savage Beast; Peter David
2. Fantastic Four: To Free Atlantis; Nancy A. Collins
3. Ultimate Spider-Man; Stan Lee, editor
4. Spider-Man: Carnage in New York; David Micheline & Dean Wesley Smith
5. due to the extreme suckage of the other 3 books, none of them deserve to grace the top 5 with these other four, and to even mention them in the same breath as the Hulk and FF books is an extreme act of blasphemy and you should kick yourself in the shin for even thinking that!

This was a good book to start the Fantastic Four in the novel series.Nancy Collins did her research with all the characters in this book as Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben join forces with Prince Namor to save Atlantis from Dr. Doom. The charcters act like themselves and they all play important roles in the development of the story. It;s a tribute to the Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF stories.

I have to hand it to Nancy Collins, this book really took me back
to my old comic book days. All I can say is please please write more of them. I know this book is hard to find, fact is i got it at a yard sale. but if you can get a hold of one you wont be sorry.

Let me start by saying that I'm a fan of the First Amendment, and of the idea of and ideas of courageous people like Lenny Bruce who stand up for it in the face of considerable and outrageous persecution. Before getting this book, I knew very little about Lenny Bruce apart from the standard accolades to his artistic integrity and courage; after getting this book, the only additional information I have is that Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover have spent a considerable number of pages in creating a shrine to someone whom they clearly admire greatly.

There's no problem with admiring someone, even in a biography, but the way this book is packaged makes it sound as if it's a penetrating legal analysis offering some enlightening picture of Lenny's life. Maybe I didn't read this deeply enough, but what I saw was page after page of `Good ol' Lenny, and the things he did. Then the cops came in.' Yes, as I say, what Lenny was doing (onstage, if not in his private life) was basically right, and certainly impressive; yes, the legal harrassment he received was absurd, and hounded him to his death -- but surely that's not all there is to the picture. I wanted to find out about the life of an important, if largely indirect, fight for the First Amendment; I found only a testament that Free Speech Good, coupled with a few timid caveats that the subject was not a saint.

That said, how about the writing? Well, again, I picked up the book for some sort of insight into the legal twists and tangles of the matter, something to make me really begin to understand the cases; what I found was the work of someone who I think has great insight, but who was more concerned with showing that he was as cool as Lenny than with sharing that insight with his readers.

By the way, the CD is great, although it takes a few listens to see how it hangs together.

Comedian has Lenny Bruce always been something of an enigma.
Some compared him to the famous satirist Jonathan Swift, who was a moralist and who endeavoured to uncover the hypocrisy of various situations arising out of society.
His defence attorneys even pointed out "he was not a mad man writing dirty words on the walls of a public toilet. He was an original social critic with an unconventional vocabulary."

Others, however, including some well known journalists, perceived him as a "sick comedian" with a foul mouth, whose commentaries using filthy, obnoxious, depraved and obscene language pertaining to religion, race, sex, and government were of no social value.

The dilemma-was he not protected under the First Amendment of the American Constitution pertaining to freedom of speech, notwithstanding his shocking language?

Authors Ronald K.L. Collins and David M. Skover, two attorneys and experts on the First Amendment, have authored a book entitled The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon.

This is the first comprehensive and carefully documented account of Lenny Bruce's career and free speech struggles.

Bruce had been involved in at least eight obscenity arrests, and had been subjected to six-obscenity court cases conducted in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York over a span of four years involving some 3, 500 pages of trial transcripts.

For the most part, they all focused on so called "word crimes" concentrating on the following principal legal issues:

Were his routines steeped in "bitter social criticism" of unquestionable value?

Was his use of course language sexually arousing to the audience?

If the words were non-erotic, how could they have been obscene? As mentioned, something is not necessarily obscene merely because it is in bad taste, shocking, disgusting, stupid, vulgar, embarrassing, immoral or offensive?

Does the dominant appeal of the material used, taken as a whole, have a substantial tendency to deprave or corrupt the average person by inciting lascivious thoughts or arousing lustful desires?

Did his use of "dirty words" corrupt the morals of youth or others, when you consider that under age persons were not permitted to attend the performances?

Should an artist's use of word-taboos be judged, at least in significant part, by community standards?

To better understand the power of Bruce's performances and all of the above legal questions, the authors have cleverly included a CD narrated by one of Bruce's most adamant supporters, Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff, highlighting some of his performances and trials. The CD also contains interviews with some of his ardent defenders, George Carlin, Hugh Hefner and Margaret Cho, and as a contrast, interviews with some of his prosecutors.

Lenny Bruce died a tragic figure. He never lived to see the day where the courts recognized that comedians should not be imprisoned for their words. As the authors state, "the life of Lenny Bruce is a great cautionary tale about why First Amendment freedom must be the rule rather than the exception."

This is a must read book for defenders of the First Amendment, who will not be disappointed with its meticulous research and easy to understand analysis of the pertinent legal issues.

Norm Goldman-bookpleasures.com

Lenny Bruce lived to shock people. His nightclub routines, full of the worst of the four letter words, made fun of stuff which people, especially his contemporaries, were supposed to take seriously: religion, marriage, intimacy. However, _The Trials of Lenny Bruce: The Fall and Rise of an American Icon_ (Sourcebooks) by Ronald K. L. Collins and David M. Skover, makes plain that the iconoclastic Bruce had enormous respect for the law. His rooms were cluttered with tapes, court transcripts, and legal research efforts, and he wrote letters to judges trying to explain how his comedy was legally protected speech. He even showed civic respect for the policemen who were so often out to get him. Bruce saw that it was his job to change the law, and while he never really managed that, he made historic changes by fighting battles that those after him would not have to fight. The authors of this engrossing book have found that his story is virtually absent from the history of the First Amendment; this is a corrective.

Bruce was arrested many times for obscenity, but particularly interesting in this book is the demonstration that what often drove the arrests was irritation about his blasphemy. Bruce had routines that could bother any denomination. After mockingly accepting Jewish responsibility for killing Jesus, he roared, "We Jews killed Christ, and if he comes back, we'll kill him again!" He had a hilarious routine in which Christ and Moses come into the back of St. Patrick's Cathedral, to the embarrassment of Cardinal Spellman and Archbishop Sheen, who have to telephone the pope to explain ("_Of course they're white!_"). We have no blasphemy laws in this country (to the dismay, still, of some), but he was literally brought up on blasphemy charges. Blasphemy could not stick, but obscenity might. The problem Bruce had was that according to the Supreme Court decision in _Roth_, a work had to be taken as a whole, but the cops and prosecutors always concentrated on the specific words. The vice squad informers could, during a performance, tally every naughty synonym Bruce used for genitalia or coitus, and then present the list for consideration by the grand jury. Consideration to the sweep of Bruce's satire was seldom given.

As demonstrated in this comprehensive and well referenced volume, by two lawyers who obviously love their subject and enjoy explaining First Amendment issues, Bruce has had a resurrection. There have been plays and movies, but more importantly, as George Carlin (who was once arrested for attending a Bruce performance) said, "Lenny opened all the doors, or kicked them down." The nightclubs and comedy clubs are now open for anyone, with the sensible idea that if you might be offended by what you hear, don't pay to go in. A stand-up comic might fear bombing on stage, or getting heckled, but because Bruce has already taken the heat, no comic has to fear getting arrested. Within this book is a CD of Bruce giving some of his most famous routines, and commentary by admirers and detractors. On it, Margaret Cho, who continues in the tradition of offering outrageous satirical commentary, says that she knows part of her job, as Bruce's descendant, is to disrupt polite society, but she knows what has gone before: "I don't want to end up like him, but I want to be like him."

This book is good if you you just want to learn about the service of a concierge, but gives no detail on the important facts you need to learn about the career in starting your own concierge business.

Good for Concierge Employment but not starting a business. It does not really help you if you are starting a Concierge business. I thought this book was a guide to help you get started in the Concierge Business so I was very disappointed when I found no use for this book when reading it.

This book is not only excellent for concierges but hotel clerks or anyone who is in public service. I find it strange that the first two reviews complained that it did not help them because it did not deal with starting a concierge buisness. What you need to realize is that the buisness is all about customer service. The fact you never say no you find other solutions. You must be tackful and know your stuff. This is what Holly teaches you. I was lucky enough to meet Holly when she came down to Atlanta before the olympics to talk to the Concierge society about our upcomming challenges. This is a lady who knows what customer service is and you can learn alot from her experiences.

As a knitter advances past the "blind following" of patterns, a good stitch directory is an invaluable item for designing patterns -- even if it's just the pattern for a scarf. This is one of several stitch directories in my library. It isn't my favorite but I still use it regularly.

What I like about this book is the photography of the samples. Other books may (and often do) explain the actual working of the pattern better (Barbara Walker's Treasuries come to mind) but you have to be attracted to a pattern/stitch to even want to try it. This is a very good resource when looking for a stitch that strikes your fancy.

Of the various volume in this series, this is certainly the most useful for everyday knitting. The other books have some neat fancy stuff but when it comes to relatively basic stitches, this is a handy book to have on the shelf.

The stitches in this book are very interesting and many are quite unusual. My only gripe is that some of the colors are so dark that you can't see the stitch very well. I already have another stitch pattern book in which only a cream colored yarn was used. At first, I thought, "How boring!" But now I see what a big difference it makes when deciphering the patterns. However, many of the patterns in this book are for multiple colors, making the use of dark colors essential. I think the variety in this book and Volume 3 (I've never seen volume 1) is terrific and I recommend these books to anyone who loves experimenting with yarns and stitches in her original garment patterns.

This book is fantastic. I'm a textile designer in knitwear and this book is great for different ideas and inspiration. Its fantastic for beginners and also for the experienced knitter. You can never know too much.

This is obviously a concise dictionary, but unlike for instance Webster's New World Concise German dictionary, this one would satisfy only intermediate level language needs and is kind of large for its coverage - compare for instance with the Oxford Pocket German which will do the same job except for the basic grammar part this one has at the back (despite all this both latter are more easy to use than the Webster's which is more sophisticated but also a little tiring to find words and then read). So this dictionary, i believe has no extraordinary features than its competitors and even some setbacks just mentioned. The grammar section is helpful but if you need more extensive coverage, and direct and rich grammar information beside each entry this wont do.

I am a German instructor for adults working in the automotive industry. My students really appreciate this dictionary, especially the grammar section! Harper Collins dictionaries are always good for translators, but this one is perfect for intermediate-advanced students who also need a grammar reference. Great dictionary. I carry it with me when I'm teaching!

After taking over a year of German language classes, I decided to buy a good German dictionary that had everything in it that I frequently needed to look up (besides just word translations). This dictionary was the best. The best part is the huge grammar section in the back. It had everything I wanted, in bigger print than most other dictionaries. Look up "fand" and it says "finden". The only downfall is that it doesn't list all the verb tenses for irregular verbs when you look them up, but it compensates somewhat with a pretty good verb table in the back grammar section. The only dictionary that gives all the tenses right away is Harrap's, but it has excruciatingly small print.

This book I know to be part mystery and part history.Yes, I believe in nephlim they are amoung us I have walked beside them at winn-dixie and the mall.What's so great about this book and it's before book by the same author is it's ability to explain the story of the nephlim in a matter of fact yet completely neo-european way.This book was thourouly enjoyable reading.Like me,it can help you hem in your membranes and overrun the overwrapped ones.I think any scholar of a chap or chapess can relate to this most bright rendering of whying truth!!! blessings^^^no malar but sterling siver shirt cuffs for the soul!!! buy this book to read by the brook

I would give this book 5 stars for a good research done. But there are some very strange arguments.

Notably, the author actually relies on revelations by psychics. Well, this seems too much for me.

Very irritating is the author's manner of attaching words like "unquestionably" to what should be properly regarded as wild suppositions.

Many statements of facts raise doubts, especially when skilled artisan work and agriculture are assigned to 8000-9000 BCE.

The author attempts to make a point that ancient Egyptians had technology, unavailable even now. That's because we can't build pyramids like they did. So, what technology is that? Believe it or not, the author spends much effort to prove they possessed... saws. You got it right, the incredible technology was the brass saw, perhaps with sapphires on the edge. Of course, this is more than what is normally allowed for that time, but come on, you can't say someone built the pyramids with brass saws and then claim they had higher technology than we do.

Another proof is equally strange, although in its own way. It is commonly thought that Egyptians employed drills under pressure of 1 to 2 tons. This equipment is no rocket science, you see. But the author prefers to conjecture they used ultrasonic drills. Excuse me, but ultrasonic drill should work like a hammer, it won't leave spiral traces, like those found.

Other traces of this antedeluvian culture are equally unimpressive. There are no factories or spacecraft, just a few stones and artefacts, worked up better than we expect of this era. But doesn't it make sense to question their dating, then?

Authors' hypothesis on using sound to lift stones, right or wrong, is pure fantasy.

In order to find similarities between different cultures, the author discusses only those religious ceremonies and gods, which are alike. Not even exact, just somewhat alike. But if we look for dissimilarities, there is much more of them.

The author's point is unclear, but he seems to imply that these highly developed people of the previous civilization, who built pyramids, were in fact bird-worshipping shamans. And fish-worshipping, too. And star-worshipping. In effect, they were just shamans. Would you believe these people left us highly advanced knowledge, hidden below the pyramids?

I accidentally came upon Andrew Collins when researching material on Atlantis, and read his excellent GATEWAY TO ATLANTIS. I had to go to Amazon.uk to find his previous works. Good thing they are now readily availble in the USA.

GODS OF EDEN is one of those books that one needs to pick up periodically to mull over. It's nearly impossible to take in all of Collins' theories in one go. But he makes impressive arguments that the Egyptian culture is much older than traditional archeologists will admit. While kicking a bit of dust at the stodgy, old Egyptologists at the British Museum, Collins also deftly avoids the smoke and mirrors of "pyramidiots" old and new.

I admit he loses me a bit when he travels too far afield of Egypt, but I attribute the fault with myself and not with him. The book is copiously footnoted (they make good reading in themselves) and well researched.