This is an easy-to-read and easy-to-reference book which lists many of the more common reproductions of outstanding scrimshaw work. It is valuable for the beginner as well as the experienced scrimshaw lover/collector. Some repros are pretty good. If you are considering buying or bidding on scrimshaw over the internet, or you just like poking around antique and second-hand stores, this book can save you time and money. It's a great investment. Greasy good luck, mates!

I love Franl Lloyd Wright's work and I love coloring so I was thrilled to discover that Dover Publications had a book out about several of his creations. The drawings are simple black and white that you could color if you wished but I think the book is beautiful on its own and I'm not sure my coloring skills could do Wright's designs justice. The projects include both private homes and public buidlings. Each image is accompanied by a brief description that includes where, when, and for whom it was created. Several quotations from Wright himself are scattered throughout the book. I do wish the book had an index or a table of contents however. As for a coloring book, well, that's why I took off one star -- it seems disrespectful to color in this lovely architectual works.

Although purportedly about letters, this book is really about some of the most remarkable people and events throughout history. The letters, interesting in their own right, serve more as the jumping off point. Beautifully illustrated and well written, this is a fascinating book which can be sipped a little at a time -- or consumed in a single sitting! Highly recommended for any student of history of the fine art of letter writing.

For any one prepairing to have a profession in the martime industry, or just for any one who likes boating. This is a must, it gives all the rules and regulation about basic navigation on all watrerways. I'm an owner of one and you should be to. safe boating Salty Dog

I am a huge fan of British police procedurals and I was delighted to see a new team had been born. On the whole, Frank Smith's Fatal Flaw does not disappoint, but his second book in this series, Stone Dead is a much better read. Fatal Flaw's story is good and it runs smoothly and quickly. His two coppers, DCI Paget and DS Tregalles are likeable fellows, but I find that the Sergeant has a lot more personality than the somewhat stiff and blah Chief Inspector (Smith spends a little too much time torturing us with Paget's terrible luck in love). But, in the first book and the third (Candles for the Dead), Tregalles almost seems a minor character. All in all, the series is good and I can't wait for the fourth installment.

Foster's book delivers what it advertises. It is both an old-fashioned identification book and resource for shade and woodland gardeners. The beginning of the book covers necessary information about biology, natural history, cultivation, and propagation of ferns. The rest of the book is a collection of detailed species descriptions with line drawings accompanying each. The book concludes with a comprehensive chart covering the highlights of all species covered in the book.

This book loses a star due to the lack of photos in the identification section. There are black and white photos in the early sections of the book, but the species descriptions have only line drawings. This gives the book the feel of a traditional botanist's identification guide, but photos would increased the utility of the ID section.

This is the only English, mostly-complete field guide to the frogs and reptiles of Madagascar you can get. Not only that, but you get the bonus of some lemurs and fish as well! The pictures are adequate, descriptions are fairly complete, and user-friendliness is superb. If I would've gone to Madagascar without this guide, I would have been lost! Knowing what I was seeing in terms of frogs, lizards, snakes, and lemurs made the trip MUCH more enjoyable.
It is worth the cost just to be amazed by all the unique creatures of this island.

James Cook's "Fifty Years on the Old Frontier" is an autobiographical narrative of his life experiences in the American West. Cook's endeavors during the latter part of the 19th century and early part of the 20th century encompassed a whole host of occupations: cattle drover, tour guide, hunter, rancher, and military scout. Cook eventually married into money and retired to a ranch near Agate, Nebraska where he consorted with Red Cloud and other old Sioux warriors. He also collaborated with several university professors on fossil digs located around his ranch, eventually becoming an amateur scientist in his own right. Cook's accounts of his adventures in the Old West provide a compelling insight about the realities and myths of America's movement across the North American continent. James Cook died in 1942.

The beginning chapters of the book outline the author's work as a cattle popper and drover along the old cattle trails through Texas and Kansas. The dangers that threatened the well being of these tough as nails trail hands constitutes the bulk of Cook's narrative. What quickly becomes apparent is that these guys were not the dapper dandies we see in films and fiction; they worked hard everyday to get those longhorns up to Kansas and to the railroad. Cook recounts the disagreements amongst drovers, an experience with hail and a tornado, stampedes, the threat of wild animals, and the dangers posed by Indians. A separate chapter discusses the fate of the wild mustangs, yet another sad chapter in the annals of the conquest of the West. Once the businessmen moved in and discovered a market for horses, they rounded up the mustangs by the thousands through crude trapping techniques and by depriving Indians of their stocks. Horses injured in the process were ruthlessly shot by the trappers. The picture that emerges from the author's narrative about trail life is one of greedy exploitation leading to environmental damage.

Relations with Indians are a central theme of the book. The movie image of tremendous battles between natives and American military forces does not find expression in this story. Instead, Cook portrays Indians as just another obstacle to the settlement of the West. Cattle drivers had to pay attention to Indian raiders who sought to steal horses and cattle, but it was more important to worry about weather and stampedes. In the last section of the book, Indians play a bigger role in the story. The author outlines in detail his relationship with the Sioux after they had been confined to the reservation. Another chapter deals with the Geronimo uprising in New Mexico, an incident Cook experienced first hand during his tenure as a ranch manager in the area. He takes the opportunity of the uprising to tell the truth about the Indians and the military forces during the campaign. According to the author, Geronimo and his Apache warriors did not fight the military head on, but relied on hit and run tactics with strategic retreats to Mexico to stay one step ahead of the law. The military relied heavily on scouts, often mixed blood Indians, in order to track down the rogue Indians. Geronimo eventually surrendered when an army officer talked him into giving himself up.

Cook's interest in the West is not a broad picture of western history, but rather groupings of anecdotes about his individual experiences in the area. The reader often has to read between the lines of these engaging stories in order to ascertain the reality of the situation on the frontier. For example, Cook discusses in depth the time the Sioux on the reservation asked him to be their government appointed agent. The author provides several letters of endorsement written on his behalf by politicians and bankers in Nebraska and Wyoming. The letters praise Cook as a man of the West on excellent terms with the local Indian population. A cynic can see the larger dynamic tensions between East and West in these letters. The locals want one of their own in the job because up to this point the position was always held by someone from back east. Moreover, a western agent could deliver lucrative supply contracts to western businesses and perform favors for western politicians. Why else would bankers take the time to write a recommendation letter to the government? It certainly had little to do with goodwill towards the Sioux Indians, especially since this wheedling went on at roughly the same time as the Ghost Dance fiasco.

I am astonished that no one else has reviewed this book. This is a great text for the Old West history buff or those interested in Indian/White relations during the late 19th century. James Cook's "Fifty Years on the Old Frontier" is an entertaining, yet at some times sad, account of the realities of our frontier days.

Frank Parrish's Dan Mallett novels are unjustly neglected little gems, with twisty plots and lyrical descriptions of the English countryside. His detective is an unusual and memorable character; pushed into a banking career by his ambitious mother, he takes up his father's "career" of poaching after his father dies. Dan is a charmer, appreciated by the ladies and willing to put on a thick accent and country yokel act when needed, or slip back into his banking suit and tight black shoes as a disguise. He makes a little money on the side by doing odd jobs for the "nobs", which brings him into contact with all sorts of nefarious goings-on. When his mother needs an operation and refuses to go to the public hospital, he begins stealing to save up the necessary money -- just a little here and there from people he disapproves of. He has his own moral code and if the rich folks don't treat people or animals right, they are marked down as potential donors to his cause...

In this first book, Dan becomes a suspect when a number of local farmers and gardeners fall victim to an extortion racket. Dan investigates in order to clear his own name. While the reader may be able to guess who is behind the racket, there are a couple of very surprising twists in the last few pages. I only give this one four stars because the later books in the series are even better.

Frank Parrish was one of the pseudonyms of Roger Longrigg, who also wrote as Ivor Drummond.

This is a very specific book design for people who already know how to skate, turn and stop. A lot of the information are useful in here but beside of this book, I suggest you buy another book that teaches techniques. Unless you are a very good skater of course.