Of course this book's not to be taken seriously but for vampire lovers I got a kick outa this. It's focus is on traditional vampire beliefs, things that may not pertain to "modern" vampires. Like no reflection in a mirror, choking on garlic, afraid of crosses are those nasty things that mostly pertain to old timing vamps. It's packed with diagrams, history tidbits, and unintentional humor I think. The book takes you step by step through the process, what are vampires, tools you'll need - the works. If vampires were real this would be an excellent beginners guide.

This is a must-have for anyone who lives within driving distance of the Twin Cities. I have the 1984 edition and have been looking for an update, but, surpisingly, most of the '84 information is still correct. Information and directions to every conceivable bargain on every conceivable product can be found in this book. I bought ceramic tiles at half price, refinished a sofa for less than half price, discovered little-known discount and outlet stores, and more! Recommended reading for any Twin City-ophile.

I read this perhaps 17 years ago. I remember that my copy became quite ragged through rereading before I gave it to a friend who equally enjoyed it. I'd like to think it's still being circulated amongst friends.

Others have summarized the plot. I'll just reiterate that this book is a great way to spend a few hours if you're a sci-fi or fantasy fan.

Paul Edwin Zimmer, Bradley's brother, was initially an uncredited co-author. The lack of recognition wasn't Bradley's idea, and Zimmer was credited from the first on their sequel, _The Survivors_. The protagonist, Dane Marsh, is a lone wolf heroic type Zimmer wrote very well, along the lines of his character Roger Hogg in "The Hand of Tyr" (see _Greyhaven_). Marsh is a romantic born between romantic ages; he wants adventures, but in the late twentieth century, the world's fresh out. Every place has been explored, and somebody else has already been first to do anything worth doing. He saves his envy for whoever'll be first to hike around the Moon on foot, though, and gets on with his life - sailing around the world alone, even though it's been done.

At that point, a flying saucer kidnaps him right off his boat, and he learns that there may be a few more adventures left, after all. :)

The proto-feline Mekhar are notorious for their slave-raids, having refused Unity membership several times rather than repudiate the practice. Slaves being luxury goods, it pays to avoid damaging the merchandise, and even to install translator disks in their captives - although the Mekhar leave Dane's fellow prisoners to explain the situation. (Interestingly enough, proto-simians - humanlike beings - far from being lords of creation, are looked down upon, being perpetually "in season" and thus slaves of their sexual appetites. Superiority lies elsewhere: the proto-felines invented interstellar travel, and the proto-saurians generally look down on *everybody*. Aratak, the follower of the Divine Egg who befriends Dane, is an exception to this last.)

Dane's the only prisoner from Earth; the others figure somebody's being chewed out for grabbing a boat carrying less than a dozen people. Rianna's archeological team, for example, lost their gamble that the Mekhar wouldn't hit the otherwise deserted satellite they were working on.

Until Dane's arrival, nobody tried to escape more than once; not only are all the odds on the guards' side, but severe injuries may be a death sentence. Most of the prisoners have a fatalistic attitude that Dane violently disagrees with; he alone, for instance, interferes with the decision of the only captive from Spica IV, the empath Dallith, to refuse food and let herself die. (Oddly enough, while Aratak, the giant proto-saurian philosopher, remains silent, the vibrant Rianna protests Dane's interference, for reasons he comes to understand only much later.) Dane is the one who, spotting a security hole, masterminds an escape attempt - only to learn that it was just what the Mekhar were waiting for.

The final part of the Mekhar's standard operating procedure is to skim off the ringleaders in their escape-attempt test on each raid, and to sell them to the species known as the Hunters of the Red Moon for the role of Sacred Prey. The Hunters' only interest in life is to hunt the Most Dangerous Game: intelligent quarry, who can give them a challenge. Every batch of Sacred Prey is given some weeks to prepare on the Hunters' World before being taken to the Red Moon, and must survive there only until the next eclipse. They're even given a choice of weapons, short of firearms, but even that's disquieting; the Armory doubles as a huge trophy collection of the weapons of particularly excellent Prey. (In a really *cool* scene, Dane recognizes one weapon as the most perfect Mataguchi he's ever seen - something a samurai would *never* have left behind.)

The story revolves around Dane, as protagonist, and his fellow survivors Rianna, Dallith, and Aratak, with one startling addition: Cliff-Climber, a Mekhar guard who screwed up badly during the escape attempt, and took this option as an honorable alternative to suicide. While he knows more about the Hunters than any of the others, his proto-feline people take the proverb "curiosity killed the cat" very much to heart, and even though - he *says* - one of his own kinsmen survived a Hunt, he knows little about their destination. Dane and his companions have little more than the Hunters' word that successful quarry will be rewarded and allowed to leave. They don't even know what the Hunters look like; until the Hunt itself, the Sacred Prey only interact with robot caretakers, leading to a *lot* of theories among the Prey.

This is a mystery as well as an adventure story; only the last third covers the Hunt proper, the rest being split evenly between the slaveship and the Prey's prep time. Dane and the others must try to figure out the Hunters, knowing that the odds are against them. At the feast celebrating the end of the previous Hunt and the beginning of theirs, they learn that 47 Hunters faced 74 Prey. Nineteen Hunters perished.

*One* Sacred Prey survived.

I read this book about 10 years ago and went searching for it so I could read it again. Too bad it's out of print. This book is very entertaining. It's a worthwhile read. I couldn't put it down.

I teach theatre classes for kids from age 3.5 to 18 and thisbook is one of the few I've seen that gives a good number of ideas foreach age group, and it gives you an idea of which games are age appropriate. This is a valuable tool that I would recommend to anyone who teaches, or just those who are stay-at-home parents who need new ideas for playing with their kids in creative and dramatic ways.

You will use this book over and over. I teach gifted upper elementary and middle school drama students. This book is one of my favorites - it is likely to be one of yours too.

101 Drama Games for Children is a really excellent book! I highly recommend it for all parents and older children to buy if you deal with children in any way. I teach a drama class of 5-7 yr olds in our homeschool group and it's been a real lifesaver for me! I also have 3 children and I use it with them too. I consider it a must-have book! It's catagorized by the different age levels by a little picture in each corner of each new activity so you can flip through and find a game for the age group you need. It's excellent for birthday parties, or any group games: camps, Girl Scouts, etc. I highly recommend every parent get one of these books! B.J.O.

This book is rather tall making it awkward to fit in most libraries. The photographs are great. This is an atlas with nice, detailed captions for each photograph.

This is a great resource for residents. A major problem with most atlases is that pictures of subtle findings are not properly annotated, so that the reader may miss the actual focus of the picture.

This atlas fixes the problem rather ingeniously: most pictures have an accompanying drawing that highlights and delineates each important finding and detail seen in the picture. Using these drawings, the reader can learn to identify these subtle but important features.

The use of such drawing makes so much sense that one wonders why more atlases do not employ the method.

I love the atlas for the great pictures, accompanying drawings, and good explanations.

If you are a student of Ocular Pathology and can only buy one book, it should be this one. There is at least one picture of everything here, from glaucem fleken to schlerql staining. Also, all the pictures here are available as a slide set from the same publisher.

This is a fun little guidebook, and a must-have for serious fantasy fans. It has actually been helpful in some of my writing, and it definitely is an entertaining read. You can learn how to spot a dragon in today's world (difficult, but possible--look for burn marks on buildings!), how to befriend it (sometimes), how to negotiate peace between the dragon and nearby humans, and how to (if all else fails) slay one without being slain yourself!

You'll love Lori's work. I've know her work for years and it only gets better! Kudos on the book, Lori.

A faithful Paradigm fan,
Ophelia

Lori is an awesome author, I suggest all of you get this book. I know Lori's work ,and you won't be disappointed!

I have a number of books on lighting, but this added information I had not seen elsewhere.

They concentrate on the size of light sources, the types of reflections produced by various subjects, and how to manage those reflections in a way that will add significant elements to your technique.

The discussions about lighting glass alone are worth the price of the book.

After you have read it, you will be seeing and using new knowledge both on the street and in the studio.

Their sections on electronic flash need to be updated to include modern TTL systems and upper end flash meters, but there is a lot of good information about using flashes.

It is important to [photograph] their examples for yourself to learn the techniques. The time will be well-invested.

Whether you're a beginner with a point-and-shoot or a professional with a huge investment in equipment, you need to know how light works. This book can teach you everything you need to know. It has both theory and practical guidance. The authors don't tell you which lights to use in a given situation -- they teach you how to determine what lighting to use to achieve the effect _you_ want. And they help you select lighting equipment.

To be fair, it's not always an easy read (there's a lot of theory and some math/physics to wade through), but it's worth the effort. I saw the difference in the next roll I shot. I only wish I had found this book a few years ago...

Anyone intimidated or confused by the subject of artificial/studio lighting must read this book. Very well prepared and very objective. The author describes how lighting WORKS, not how HE does it. Text is filled with numerous example photos and lighting diagrams. No experience with lighting is necessary to appreciate this book, but a solid photography background and a little understanding of physics helps. Top Notch.

Thank heaven for Beatle scholarship that this book was written. Competent journalist Hunter Davies spent a year observing the Beatles and interviewing them in their own homes during the heady, fascinating year of 1967. He emerged with a time piece: the Beatles as they were at that time, reflecting on what came before and unaware of what was yet to come. A chapter describing the writing and recording of "With a Little Help From My Friends," "Getting Better," and "Magical Mystery Tour" offers unique and especially valuable glimpses of the Beatles at work. Chapters depicting the home life and personal outlook of each Beatle are also very interesting. I must also say that for an authorised biography, this is remarkably honest. Perceptive readers will be able to detect the whole truth here, and a fine introduction written by the author years later helps fill in any gaps. Apart from being hugely entertaining, this book is a tremendous boon to historians interested in the Beatles.

I'm sure there were books about the Beatles written before this, but this book was written with the Beatles (complete with interviews). Hunter Davies includes some of his own opinions in later editions but this is about the Fab 4, their rise, and where they were in 1968 when this book originally came out (John admits to be bored with life as Yoko Ono had not yet been a household name to us and George was already sick of being a Beatle at the time). The later editions have a section about the breakup, what they did individually in the 1970's, the tragedy of John Lennon in 1980 and more recent interviews with Paul, George, and Ringo. You can trust Davies since he got the Beatles' authorization and respected their privacy (he mentions that George Harrison asked that certain things not be printed). As Davies points out, this story is about the rise and not the fall.

Because this book was the only authorized biography ever written of The Beatles and also because it was written at the time, rather than researched & compiled years later, I felt that I could believe what I was reading. It was facsinating reading comments from John before the breakup when he still enjoyed being a Beatle, rather than the cynical type of quotes from after all the animosity came into their relationships.

"It doesn't have to be this way..."

For too long, our western industrial culture has equated sheer numbers, whether dollars, cans of soda or tons of trash, with growth. The concept of growth based only on labor productivity and dollars moved has lead us to our current degraded environmental and social conditions. The perverse accounting behind this scheme allows the government to actually subsidize wasteful practices and encourages industries to turn their backs on innovation and improvement.

The authors offer here an alternative that is at once eminently practical and thoroughly visionary. However, this work does not make the liberal's usual cry for increased command and control regulation by government. Rather, it argues for decreased regulation, the elimination of the above-mentioned subsidies and an honest accounting of the true costs of production that include the value of degraded natural and social systems. Such new practices, which are oriented toward a truly free market, would force producers to increase resource, rather than labor, efficiency, which would, in turn, result in increased employment, greater innovation and healthier ecosystems.

Should the reader be overly skeptical, the authors share many examples of companies who are "doing well by doing good," that is, being commercially successful while at the same time improving the quality of life for all natural systems, both human and non-human.

This, along with Hawken's earlier The Ecology of Commerce, as well as Eco-Economy: Building an Economy for the Earth by Lester R. Brown are highly recommended as primers on a new vision for the future.

This was one of those books that took me weeks to read simply because of the fact that it was so disturbingly real and struck home so well that when read before bed there was no sleeping to be had. I had the honor of seeing Paul Hawkin speak in person at the Oregon Sustainability Forum this month in downtown Portland. It is obvious how moving Paul finds the issues confronted in this book, that are faced by every member of the human race, and every other race, on the planet today. The authors of Natural Capitalism bring heartening, encouraging, and inspiring tales of communities that are successfully implementing the concepts presented here as well as the grim facts associated with current capitalist, industrialist society. If you are at all interested in the future of business, your community, and the planet I highly recomment this book.

Here are some favorite passages:

This section relating directly to my life in a cubicle company :o) :"People are not simple uniform entities that thrive in a box. They are, rather, complex living organisms that evolved in and still function best in a dynamic and divers environment."..."People are happier, healthier, and more alert unders subtly dynamic than under constant conditions."..."Buildings that are alternately a solar oven or a walk-in refrigerator, with discomfort and energy bills to match, are coming to be seen as unacceptable. In the rapidly arriving era of green design, buildings that cost more than they should to construct and run and that work worse, look worse, and make informed customers feel worse than they demand will simply stand empty. - P 88

"At first, Winston Churchill said, we shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape our lives. This high purpose requires designs that celebrate life over sterility, restraint over extravagance, beauty over tawdriness. Green buildings do not poison the air with fumes nor the soul with artificiality Instead, they create delight when entered, serenity and health when occupied, and regret when departed. They grow organically in and from their place, integrating people within the rest of the natural world; do no harm to their occupants or to the earth; foster more diverse and abundant life than they borrow; take less than they give back. Achieving all this hand in hand with functionality and profitability requires a level of design integration that is not merely a technical task but an asthetic and spiritual challenge. - P 110

"In the face of this relentless loss of living systems, fractious political conflicts over laws, regulations, and business economics appear petty and small. It is not that these issues are unimportant, but that they ignore the larger context. Are we or are we not systematically reducing life and the capacity to re-create order on earth? This is the level on which our discource should take place, for it is there that a framework for both understanding and action can be formulated. In spite of what such signals as the GDP and the Dow Jones Industrial Average indicate, it is ultimately the capacity of the photosynthetic world and its nutrient flows that determine the quality of life on earth." - P 149

In the summer of 1999, the Harvard Business Review treated the business community to a glimpse of a bold new model for business and industry in the 21st century. The HBR has been filling requests ever since for the article by Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins and Paul Hawken titled "A Road Map for Natural Capitalism." The article described how businesses could profit by employing strategies built around a more productive use of natural resources. The authors explained in a very practical, yet compelling manner how these strategies could go a long way toward solving many current environmental problems.

Business readers and anyone concerned about the changing global economy and its impact on the ecosystem will want more than copies of the HBR article once they realize it was actually a tantalizing synopsis of the authors' new book, "Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution" (Little, Brown, 1999). This important book can take its place alongside such touchstone volumes as "Future Shock," "Megatrends " and "The New New." The authors describe in vivid detail how business and industry can gain competitive advantage through a new business model based on doing much more with much less.

The authors set out to prove that changing realities of the information economy and global competitiveness are already transforming industry and commerce in ways unforeseen even a few years ago. The new business model takes into account the values of all forms of "capital" including human, manufactured, financial, and natural. "Natural Capitalism" starts with an elegantly simple premise: economies need no longer be based on the idea that human capital is finite and natural resources are infinitely abundant when the obvious truth of the 21st Century is exactly the opposite.

With mounting confidence, Lovins, Lovins and Hawken predict that the latest industrial revolution will create "a vital economy that uses radically less material and energy." Businesses that recognize the trend toward this new type of industrialism will gain advantage over their less alert competitors. Those that postpone this shift will be left behind and will eventually, make themselves irrelevant in the new economy.

Theirs is not merely a detailed updating of Buckminster Fuller's "small is beautiful" thesis. Rather, the authors describe a step-by-step process of business restructuring that should result in more efficiency at the corporate, national and global level. Such a process, if carried out across several industries simultaneously, would make it much easier for governments to promote social equity and conserve or even restore the natural ecosystems reaching across traditional borders.

This next stage of industrialism, the authors' "natural capitalism," is founded on four core business strategies already being adopted by the most innovative corporations across the globe. The strategies suggest that companies need to:

1) employ technology and design innovations to use resources much more productively. This results, of course, in companies using fewer resources, reducing pollution, and setting the stage to create more jobs;

2) practice "biomimicry" by redesigning industrial systems to be more like biological systems, leading to an elimination of even the concept of waste;

3) shift from an economy based on goods and purchases to an economy based on service and flow. This concept leads to a quantum shift in how manufacturing companies service their clients, especially in terms of inventories, sales strategies, etc; and

4) reinvest in "natural capital" to sustain, restore and expand the resources on which industry, and ultimately all life, and therefore all livelihood, depends.

"Natural Capitalism" is not a "gloom and doom, industry vs. the environment" anti-consumerism rant. Neither do the authors fall into the trap of proposing a Pollyanna hypothesis that begins with "if only we could change our basic cultural values." Lovins, Lovins and Hawken make elegant use of facts and examples from several industrial sectors and actual case histories of large and small companies based in the US and overseas.

Consider the "Hypercar," a synthesis of emerging automobile technologies developed in 1991 by the Rocky Mountain Institute, the think tank founded by Amory and Hunter Lovins. Imagine "a family sedan, sport-utility, or pickup truck that combines Lexus comfort and refinement, Mercedes stiffness, Volvo safety, BMW acceleration, Taurus price, four-to eightfold improved fuel economy (that is, 80 to 200 miles per gallon), a 600 to 800 mile range between refuelings, and ZERO emissions."

If such technological innovations sound like eco-friendly pipe dreams, think again. Today, DaimlerChrysler, Ford, GM, Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen and others are actively competing to bring this revolutionary vehicle to the market within the next few years.

As global a corporate presence as DuPont is already feeling (and no doubt, influencing) a sea change in manufacturing philosophy. The Delaware-based chemical giant is on record in favor of "comprehensive resource productivity". In DuPont's words, "sustainable growth has to be focused on a functionality, not a product. The next major step toward sustainable growth is to improve the value of our products and services per unit of natural resources employed." To that end, DuPont is "down-gauging" its polyester film, making it thinner, stronger and more valuable so that it may sell less material at a higher price.

What the Lovins and Hawken have given us with "Natural Capitalism" is nothing less than an up-to-date business manual for the next century, complete with clear explanations and solid, real world examples. Their thinking finds common ground between business and environmental interests and makes the common sense case for how the two outlooks are merging into a new, practical, eco-friendly approach to making a profit.

Just as business and civic leaders in Atlanta and elsewhere are redefining how sprawling cities should grow, "Natural Capitalism" redefines how businesses and ultimately the entire planet should grow to sustain a prosperous and equitable quality of life for the indefinite future.

This book should put all other science stories to shame! First published in 1926, de Kruif elegantly and creatively describes the life and times of microbe hunters, from the very first man to peer into a lense and see the "wretched beasties." The stories are humerous, includes the family influences and accidental occurances with each discovery. A great addition for any science or medical buff! Also enjoyable but a little more tough to read "The Hot Zone" and "The Andromeda Strain" and "The Comming Plauge". I hope you enjoy it as much as I have!! :

"The Microbe Hunters" charts the amazing shift in medical knowledge from both the historical and philisophical viewpoints. Dr. de Kruif's genius lies in the fact that he can transform the highly technical jargon of medicine into a compelling story of men versus nature. It is very readable!
He maps the course that men such as Pasture and Koch blazed into the realm of scientific methodology that is still revered today. You will feel the heat of the battle as the individuals depicted herein challenged the conventional wisdom of their day and transformed medicine from superstition to a healing art.
I was first introduced to the book in a class on microbiology, but obtained a true education in how curiosity, dedication and perserverance on the part of a few pioneers changed our view of nature forever. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to undrstand numan nature or the strange and wonderful word of pathogens. As a college professor I recomend this book to anyone who wants to find the inspiration for education in one book.

I first read this book when I was in grammar school (K-6 level)and found it absolutely fascinating. I couldn't put it down. As a graduate of UC-Berkeley (BA, MS in biology), I highly recommend it not only to aspiring scientists, but to all who enjoy 'mysteries' - true life mysteries! When I was a med student at Albany Medical College, we took physiology and pharmacology in the "T-Smith" building. Theobald Smith was a grad of AMC. You will find his story here in "Ticks and Texas Fever". My copy is falling apart, but I consider it an old friend. It is one book that should be in everyone's library. I disagree (as one reviewer said) that it is "racist". I also disagree that it is not for youngsters. Get this book and treasure it!