Gold For A Boat is a rare find that will please both kids and adults. It's a tale of adventure and the courage of three young boys who find more than they bargained for when they set out to find some lost pirate's gold in a watery cave in Bermuda. They want the gold in order to buy a boat for themselves, and they figure the best place to look is in one of the many water-filled caves partially under the island.

After selecting a likely cavern to start with, they enter only to find another opening to an interior cave at the back. Swimming in, they discover what may, indeed, be a pirate's chest of gold, and decide to return later with their one set of swim fins, a mask and a little rubber boat to make their attempt to bring up the chest resting on the bottom in the murk. However, the boys must battle cold, fatigue, and a rising tide to do this, after they figure out how to do it.

And, they must also contend with pirates. Real, modern-day pirates who have hidden the chest after filling it with pilfered treasure from a sunken ship in order to spirit it away for themselves rather than turning it over to the Bermuda government as required by law.

Oh, yes. And they must contend with a hurricane as well. A hurricane that traps them in the cave with the pirates, one seriously chilled little boy, and no one aware of where they are.

The entire adventure is riveting, and so realistic this reviewer thought it was a true story at first. The writing is beautifully spare and filled with action; there are no excess frills. The boys are depicted as ordinary boys with active imaginations, plenty of resourcefulness and intelligence, and even more courage. A great story altogether, and highly recommended for all ages.

The author, Eric Ierardi has truly conveyed his personal experiences of growing up in one of Brooklyn's most historical areas.
Using primary resource materials has helped the reader get a feeling of what it was like in the olden and pioneering days of Gravesend.
The author is personable and clear in his writing Icould not keep this book down. I finished it in one sitting.

I hope that he continues to write. He has a natural talent.

I also was employeed by the LIRR during many of the same years that are detailed in this book. Change some of the specific situations and it describes my experience also. On my third day of employment a senior LIRR employee said to me "Slow down - your making us look bad." No, your poor attitude and work habits are making you look bad.

The "good enough for the LIRR" attitude, the nepotism and the extreme inefficiency simply cannot be believed - unless one works there and sees it first hand.

Every politician in Albany should be required to read this.

Taxpayers are being soaked for BILLIONS and receive only [bad] service in return.

What is really amazing is that all this happens every day, in broad daylight and is generally known by almost everyone.

See [website] for more information about this giant money wasting organization...

In this book, professional biologist Tim Birkhead describes his years studying the breeding biology of seabirds in isolated arctic regions. Note however, that this is no dry ornithological text bogged down with eye-straining tables of data and statistics. Although the science is there for all to see, and the take home messages are as clear as crystal, they are nestled within a hugely enjoyable tale of what it is like to study wild animals in their natural habitat. The rugged beauty and remoteness of arctic cliffs and islands is captured well by the author's style, which borders on the reverential without being romantic. At times, I almost felt as though I was perched on a cliff alongside the author, watching crowds of auks (murres) squabbling on their tiny breeding ledges!

This book also gives a readable synopsis of avian reproductive physiology put in the context of what one acually observes from the outside, as well as a good account of seabird natural history. What separates this book from others of its ilk is the author's willingness to bare his soul to the reader, giving the book a very personal feel with the description of some rather troubled events that most people would have shied away from even mentioning. Equally interesting is a chapter describing how scientists actually work, and what motivates them to devote so much effort into questions which the casual observer would happily leave unanswered.

I learned a lot from this book, at several different levels, and would strongly recommend it to laypeople with an interest in natural history or wilderness travel, as well as practising or prospective scientists.

THE NANTUCKET BOOK is one good read! There are well-researched chapters on the Island's history, and culture. Did you know that Nantucket has more toally preserved buildings in the National Register of Historic Places than Boston, Salem, or Plymouth? And that it was a refuge for escaping slaves and free blacks after slavery on the island was abolished in 1770? The book is also chucked full of lodging, eating, shopping, environmental, and recreational information. I used it to plan my summer vacation. But its a great read for armchair travelers too.

You will swear that some of these images are pencil drawings and others a part of a dream. William Abranowicz is a gifted photographer whose passion for pristine landscapes and still life reinvents this artform. As a collector of his work, I was thrilled to see his first book published. The world has enjoyed his images without knowing they were enjoying the world through his eyes. Through his lens, we see a world that invites all the senses to be aroused. I will cherish this book as a personal treasure from my friend.

For travelers planning their own itineraries through the Greek islands (and Aegean Turkey), this guide can't be beat. It is far more useful than the whole rack of budget travel books. Not only does it provide useful ferry schedule information that is difficult to get elsewhere, it provides enough destination information to supplant traditional guides. Island and port maps are a particular help

As an anthropology student of Margaret Kenna's, studying Greece I felt it my duty to read through this book and I'm glad I did. Many ethnographies are very uninspiring reads, but Kenna's deeply personal work was very engaging and has helped me to learn to love anthropology again.

Using fieldnotes, personal letters and diary entries from her stays on the small Greek Island of Anafi in the 1960's and on a few other occasions on the 1970's and 1980's Kenna describes life on a small Greek island from the view of a young unmarried woman, and at a later period a married woman with a son.

As she was one of the first anthropologists studying Greece it makes essential reading for anyone interested in the topic, among other things Kenna was the first to write extensively about the link between naming and inheritance.

While this book might not appeal to everyone, as an anthropologist, I give it 5/5.

Lawrence Durrell is best known as a novelist, in particular for the four novels that make up his ALEXANDRIA QUARTET. In addition, he is both a poet and a travel writer. THE GREEK ISLANDS, though not one of his better known works, is much more than an ordinary travel guide. As he says, "the modern tourist is already well provided for in that respect." How, then, would you describe this book?

For starters, it is an island by island discussion of the physical characteristics, history, mythological importance, and peculiarities of each island. Durrell blends these together so well that, by the end of each section, you feel that you know what makes each island unique and that traveling there would be more like returning to the home of an old friend than making a first visit. He also relates those experiences that might be a warning to skip one or two of the smaller islands. In this respect he tells of an island so small that the only place to sleep was on the floor of a small chapel. This, in itself, was no reason to stay away, but the bed bug bites and fleas were. Luckily this sort of experience was the exception, not the norm.

During an extensive period before World War II, Durrell was an employee of the British Foreign Service and lived and traveled in the Greek Islands for several years. After the war, he spent several more years in a similar position for the Allies. He got to know the native inhabitants much more intimately than most foreigners ever do. He lived in some of their homes, hiked and camped in their less populous areas, and absorbed the ambience of many of the islands. During that period he kept extensive diaries. In preparing this book, these diaries along with contacts with many old friends still on the scene provided the basic information for the book.

There are two books that I wish that I had read before my visits to the Greek Islands in the early and mid '80's. This is one and Kazantzakis' REPORT TO GRECO is the other. Each provided its own outlook, and together they give an unbeatable overview. Most of us see ruins, particularly on islands such as Delos, the legendary birthplace of Apollo, drink, dance, and shop on islands such as Mykonos, eat the food and drink ouzo and retsina wherever we go, but we don't go out of or way to meet the "before the tourist came" natives. Durrell talks of going to out of the way islands and villages where one finds a room by finding the mayor who, in turn, introduces you to someone who takes you into their home as if you were a friend of the family. To do this, you have to be more of a risk taker than most of us are. I'm not sure that I fit that mold by the time I was there in the '80's, but I'd like to think that I might have. I certainly did when I was younger and living in the Philippines. Then, I (foolishly?) knew no fear, and even slept, one night in a carabao pen. (A carabao is a domesticated water buffalo.) Any port in a storm when you're young and adventurous.

To summarize, Durrell presents a picture of the Islands that integrates a place, a people, an ancient history, a mythology replete with warring gods and goddesses, and a modern history, including wars and rebellions, and freedom and slavery, into an experience worth reading about, and worth seeking out. If I'd read THE GREEK ISLANDS before my trips, I would have been more on the lookout for that world. I think that it's still there for those of us who really seek it out.

WITH ITS RE-WRITING OF THE ORIGINS OF ENVIRONMENTALISM, THIS BOOK IS PROBABLY THE MOST SIGNIFICANT BOOK PUBLISHED IN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY IN THE LAST 10 YEARS. I FELT IT COMPARED WELL WITH SIMON SCHAMA'S LANDSCAPE AND MEMORY IN HELPING US TO UNDERSTAND THE EVOLUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERN. IN PARTICULAR THE NOTION THAT ENVIRONMENTALISM BEGAN ON FRENCH OCEANIC ISLAND COLONIES, ESPECIALLY ON MAURITIUS, IS A REVOLUTIONARY ONE.