The best microbiology book I've ever read (I haven't finished yet but it's still fun). I think it is the most up to date textbook in microbiology. It covers both biochemical and signal transduction pathways/networks in prokaryotes as well as principles in systematics and short introductions to medical microbiology and biotechnology. At the end of every chapter the various authors provide references to essential papers and reviews (instead to other books, like in Brocks Biology of Microorganisms) to start getting familiar with journals. The graphics are done with less colours but are very professional and as "easy" to understand as the topic they are representing (chemotaxis is not as easy as described in the stryer or brock). Maybe it's too much to read for undergraduates, but very useful for graduate students.

This book provides essential information for the undergraduate student of movement science and will be of interest to physiotherapists, biomechanists and exercise specialists. It covers the musculoskeletal and neurological considerations for movement, functional anatomy and kinetic and kinematic analysis of human motion. The sections on functional anatomy are particularly helpful as they combine the regional anatomical facts with useful biomechanical information in a way that I have not seen before. The book is highly readable and the many diagrams and figures enhance the reader's understanding. All in all a book that is worth buying.

This book is pure perfection, period. It is quite easy to understand for the novice analytical chemist. Dr. Wang simplifies very technical, difficult information -- into something easily comprehended by a person of average intelligence. I look forward to his next publication.

Mr. Evanich's book covers the state of oregon in a mostcomplete format. The maps contained in the book are very useful in finding those off-the-beaten-path birding locations. The author's illustrations and knowledge on the subject of the state of Oregon are also quite impressive. This is a book for the serious birder.

I am completely delighted with "The Little Guides" series. The format is extremely user friendly, and each guide is packed with useful and interesting information. I enjoy reading them, but my 6 year old daughter gives them the most use. While the guides are written at an adult level, there is plenty that she can read and understand. I currently own "Sharks," "Birds," "Mammals," "Space," "Whales," and "Flowers."

"Birds" contains two parts, the first covering the basics of birds, bird behavior, and bird and human interaction. Part two then gives information on about 250 different species of birds. The guide is richly illustrated and each entry contains information on the bird characteristics, feeding, reproduction, and habitat. This is a great book for car rides, having the children spot a bird and look it up in this guide.

This guide is packed with useful information, and is a great resource of adults as well as children!

I had the great privilage of winning a copy in a silent auction. I can honestly say I am in awe. Both author and illustrator were blessed with great gifts that they improved by intense study and practice.

this is great for our parents and grandparents who so want information aboout their past and we as childrean adn grandchildren sometimes are unable to obatian such info.

thanks

I asked for this biography as a Christmas present 20 years ago. I finally got around to reading it, and I was not disappointed. Dr. Vandiver has written an first-rate biography which compares to Dumas Malone's sextet on Thomas Jefferson and Douglas S. Freeman's classic four-volume opus on Robert E. Lee. John Pershing probably has languished in obscurity in recent times because of the events which followed World War I (the Roaring Twenties, the Depression) and World War II, which resulted from, as Pershing himself warned, failing to fight World War I to a decisive finish. He is also denigrated by some as not being able to chase down Pancho Villa during the Punitive Expedition. Vandiver sets the record of history straight on Pershing, though, as nearly all biographers of great men are wont to do, he does lapse into hagiography and glosses too readily in many instances over his faults and weaknesses. Nevertheless he fairly portrays Pershing as the simple, direct, honest, energetic, efficient, and dedicated man and soldier who rose to the rank of General of the Armies, a rank attained only by George Washington before him. Vandiver traces Pershing from his youth, his sojourn as a teacher in a small school, and his cadet days at West Point, showing how his values and experiences moulded him well for the service and duty he would render his country for decades. From West Point, Pershing went west to become an Indian fighter, to Cuba in the Spanish-American War, and then to the Phillipines, where he conquered the wild Moro tribes of Mindanao. Pershing performed each of his assignments with excellence and bravery, always earning the highest praise from his superiors. He was a spit-and-polish martinet, insisting that his subordinates conform to the highest standards set at West Point. He never asked of his men anything he would not ask of himself, and he honestly believed that all that drill, efficiency, and discipline put his soldiers at the minimum risk when the tasks of campaigning and battle were at hand. He had no patience with slovenly subordinate officers who let their commands slide. Pershing did have a knack for selecting excellent subordinates, and rarely had problems getting his overall plans and objectives executed. The best part of Vandiver's work is that which describes Pershing's command of the AEF. The general did an incredible job of commanding the mobilization, buildup of troops and materiel in France, and ensuring the training of his Doughboys, all the time holding off repeated French and British attempts to siphon off and amalgamate the arriving American soldiers into their forces. Had the French and British succeeded, it is not inconceivable that they would have wasted thousands of American soldiers in the grinding, failing trench warfare the French and British were accustomed to on the Western Front. Pershing's dogged insistence on an American army angered the Allies, but proved decisive and effective in the last five months of the conflict. To their everlasting credit, both Secretary of War Newton Baker and President Wilson also never wavered from this course, and backed up Pershing fully whenever Lloyd George or Clemenceau tried to press their case over the general's head. Vandiver fully portrays the human side of General Pershing, including his marriage to Frances Warren, their brief 10 years together, and his grief at losing her and their three daughters in a fire at the Presidio in 1915. He also depicts Pershing's social circle as a young man, and the fortuitous friendships with men who became extremely influential and helpful to him later in life. Many of the subordinates he mentored and nurtured all either proved essential to the building and command of the AEF and/or became the pillars of America's armed forces in World War II (Marshall, Patton, and MacArthur, for example). This biography does have a few editorial flaws. Dr. Vandiver, who was a prodigy who never attended high school or undergraduate school, does some excellent writing for having had no formal coursework, but he does have a shocking weakness in writing subordinate clauses as separate sentences. Of which this is an example. A good editor would have caught the few dozen instances in this work and revised the grammar. Also Dr. Vandiver sometimes drops articles from a sentence, resulting in some clumsy passages. Again, good editing would have corrected these. At the end of the second volume, as Pershing's retirement approaches, Dr. Vandiver omits the necessary explanation that, in 1924, the mandatory retirement age in the armed forces was 64; the reader has to infer that from the narrative. Nevertheless Dr. Vandiver hit a home run with his biography of Pershing, and it deserved far more acclaim and exposure than it has enjoyed in the past 20 years. Reading about this genuine American hero was a breath of fresh air in these times of antiheroes. America today surely needs more men like General Pershing. Thanks to Dr. Vandiver, he will not be forgotten.

This is a wonderful starting point for serious prayer about
World Peace. Fr Hans Kung says, "there can never be peace until the three tributarys of monotheasim can join in prayer to the ONE Father. Cardinal Bernardin leads the way to understanding of that faithful fact. jmk

I wept with joy while reading this book. It affirms that we ALL are perfect, whole and complete just the way we are. God is LOVE, not wrath nor judgement. The book makes so much sense and when an angel speaks, I listen. The book of bricks from the angel is one of blessings, which is emotional training; giving, which trains the mind; and deeds, which trains the body. What a perfect way to begin to live one's life, blessing one's neighbors and those that previously have irritated us changes the way we feel. Giving of our selves affirms the heart and by your own hand helping a neighbor affirms one' humanity and divintiy. May each of you find the peace that I did after reading this book. Bless your heart