Is Swift's A Tale of a Tub a great novel? Is Carlysle's Sartor Resartus a great novel? Is Tristram Shandy a great novel? Each of these works takes as its basis another form, whether the controversialist pamphlet, the philosophical treatise, or the biography, and comes out the other side with a new type of work, as well as a new work. These books occupy an originary and terminal position: they are the first and the last of their kind. For readers, these works are stones -- either the stones that become the foundations for understanding or the stones that drag them down. At Swim-Two-Birds takes as its foil the popular novel and the Irish renaissance myth discovery and the personal narrative. Why should a novel have only one beginning, O'Brien (aka Brian O'Nolan, aka Brian Nolan -- a man who got into university with a forged interview with John Joyce) asks? Why one ending? If, as some reviewers have suggested, you try to find the "structure," you're missing the point. Trying to mash this book into a novel's mold is misguided, and O'Brien will eventually make that clear. In fact, it is the story of a college student (fictional), who is writing a novel about a man (fictional) who is writing an Irish western (which cannot be). Additionally, the student's translation homework -- tales from the Dun Cow Book -- emerge in a full Lady Gregory parody and begin to interact with the other fictions, and the characters of the Irish Western themselves begin to resent their lots in life. The book plays games on so many levels that reading it the way one reads a novel is useless. This is not about information and straight lines, but about play -- sometimes rough and tumble and sometimes gentle. All of the narrators lie, by the way, and there is always one more frame of fiction beyond the one in action at the moment. Do not buy this book if you're intolerant of play. Do not buy this book if you look at books for "what happens." If, however, you're one of those who enjoys, instead of resents, reading milestones like Sartor Resartus or think that Italo Calvino is extremely sophisticated, this book (not novel) will be the greatest delight the 20th century can offer you.

I'M HERE TO TELL YOU: THIS IS THE FUNNIEST BOOK IN THE WHOLE WORLD YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF. But don't believe me -- Graham Greene, Dylan Thomas, John Updike, and yes, Jimmy Joyce himself all felt the same about this impossibly convoluted Irish stew of mythology, poetry, drunken banter, and scatological humor. The book is constructed (to use the term loosely) as a UC Dublin student's journal during his final year, including his "spare time literary activities" interspersed with his "biological reminiscences". The former consist of a series of fitful forays into ancient Irish mythology, coupled with a book-within-a-book (within-a-book) attempt to write a highbrow novel. The latter involve the narrator's recountings of his (mostly inebriated) carousals and daft philosophizings with his odd cronies, admixed with his tense and tenuous relationship with his straightlaced uncle, with whom he boards. But to concentrate on the book's plot or content, such as they are, would be pointless. The book's real magic lies in Flann's virtuosic use of unabashed verbosity, unblinking descriptiveness, and just plain words, words, words, to provoke laugh after laugh after laugh after laugh. Nobody -- not Sterne, not Joyce, not even Groucho -- could string together words as funnily as Flann. It's as though an Irish Robin Williams had been locked up in his room with a pencil, pad, pint after pint, and his own mad (but very well-read) imagination. Read this book, you could use a good laugh (everyone can use a good laugh). Just don't drink anything while you're reading, guaranteed it'll end up coming out your nose.

This just might be the funniest book of the 20th century. I have seen this book and read it and . . . do you know what I'm going to tell you, I have loved this book. Do you understand what I am saying? Now you go read your chapter 12 of Ulysses and many other passages that might incriminate my good author here by the proof of that book's very burdensome influence which became like a terrible complex for the man who became after the writing of this book the Dublin columnist known as Myles na Gopaleen but was at this time still the man of imagination, Flann O'Brien . . . and you come back here, with all your expectations about first novels and incomprehensible, overindulgent spaghetti-messes of plots . . . and try to tell me that every aspect, those and all the others, one might apply to this type of book that could have been fatal faults are here made in its favor by the undeniable force of its whole, a power that cannot be denied in the same way that a frigging cloud cannot be denied to resemble a plate of hot mashed potatoes or what-you-will . . . you come back here and try to tell yourself that you didn't like it . . . and then I will ask you to kindly try to read it again, this time with your skull-boned eyes open. P.S. This is a much better book than The Third Policeman.

Yellow Bird and Me is a very good book. It is about a girl named Doris and her friend Bird. Doris has a friend that moved away. Doris writes letters to her friend every time she writes a peom. Doris and her friend are very good friends. I like the book because it is funny and I recommend this book to everybody. I've got to say, it's a big big laugh-out-loud. There is nothing that I don't like about this book. This is a very good book to read.

Sincerely,
Organic

Yellow Bird and Me is one of the best books I have ever read (I have read a lot of books). If I had to rate it 1 - 5, I would give it a 5. This is what it is about... Doris has a friend named Amir who moved away. She also has a friend named Yellow Bird, who has problems reading. This is a good book for little kids. ...

I liked the book Yellow Bird and Me. It was hard to put down, but it was boring at the beginning. It was about Doris, who is trying to earn money to see her friend Amir and Bird, who wants to be in the drama club, but he can't read, so Doris has to help him. ...

A good book to start your field and in hand bird identification specialty book shelf.

The pictures of birds flying over head are much improved over the paperback Peterson series book "Hawks" by Clark and Wheeler.

This is the best photographic guide to north american raptors available. The photos are very clear so you can see details on plumage. It also includes multiple photos of the species that have morphs, which is very helpful in the field. This is not a book I would recommend if you are using it for written reference. But I give it 5 stars for a field reference guide!

This is simply the best field guide for North American diurnal raptors that I have seen. Unlike some other photgraphic guides, it provides several images of each species in poses that one is likely to see in the field: perched and soaring from above and the side (showing field marks of top of wing and tail). It shows several examples of different morphs and ages for most birds. This is critical in understanding the variability in markings within a species. In addition, it has a section on field identification problems, detailing differences between similar looking birds. To my knowledge, there is no substitute.

However, the paperback version is somewhat cheaply produced. The publisher should improve the binding and the quality of paper for this book. Try not to get it wet.

I thought this was a terrific introduction to the neotropics. The chapter on aquatic life was weak, and the author lowered himself to some unfortunate puns (he should have skipped the topic completely). The early chapters were the best.

I've had to choose between 3 and 4 stars, but I'll stick to 4 stars.
It's really a good introduction to the natural history of the Neotropics. Yet, I've got the feeling that Mr. Kricher wants to tell us about too many things in too few space, thus leaving much things for further explanation. Of course, it's a heavy task to pack such a diversity in so small a book. The general introduction is thorough, but in the group description some groups remain heavily underexposed.
He shouldn't be playing on words this much only to let every pun be followed by a hypocritical "no pun intendeed". There's nothing against making puns, though.
The colour pictures do not add much to the book. I think he'd better have fewer and larger pictures than this stamp collection that give a somewhat disorderly impression.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading it, making me wish to return to the neotropical rainforests.

Kricher's prose is easily read and digested with fascinating details of the workings in a tropical forest. A delightful read for both the student wishing to understand tropical ecology and the traveler who wishes to get a better feel for the environment in South America. Highly recommened.

I think this book was a very good book. I liked it because it was about a girl who helped migrate geese.Her father was a inventor so that made the book very interesting. I think this book was a very well written book. I would tell others to read this book.

this book was litterly the best ive ever read and it even inspired me to rase some geese of my own.

Wanderfull ! I have just bought this book at the store just five houers ago and I am already on page 63 ! This is a story of Amy and her birds . Amy finds some eggs near her house . Rescues them and helps them hatch . She then asks her dad if she can keep her Gooslings and he says yes . But the problem is that they are sooner or later going to want to fly south and they need someone to show them how . Will Amy be able to teatch her geese to follow her dad before It's to late ?

I am a big fan of William Joyce's work. He has such a wonderful style and tells such great, imaginative stories. This early work from him isn't one of my favorites though. It's a cute story, but the illustrations, the true stars of his books, are a bit different than what he normally does. The illustrations are too light or something. Still the character desings are cute and it's well worth the price of purchase but it's just not as satisfying as his other works.

I agree with the reader from Virginia--reading this I pictured it as a movie. Totally delightful and imaginative.

This children's book is exquisitely told and drawn. My almost-six year old daughter and almost-four year old son also love it. Every time I read it, I wonder why they don't make children's movies like this book. I would so much rather take my children to see this book in film version than to another Disney film. This is the kind of story children and parents can get lost in together. And I can't say enough about the illustrations--I laugh every time I see Bentley smiling down at the screaming lady from atop her easter bonnet! I give this book my highest recommendation.

I used this book while visiting Venezuela, and I was able to identify quite a few birds. However, I found that some of the color plates are inaccurate, which made identification rather difficult at times. Several species (such as the Green Jay, some tanagers) are depicted with improper coloration- some were too pale, some too brightly colored and/or with incorrect markings. The book was very useful and I'm glad I bought it, but be aware that the bird you see may look significantly different in the book.

There are a couple of risks of misunderstanding with regard to this book that must be made clear here. Firstly it is in no way a second edition. The only things in common with the first guide to the birds of Venezuela, by Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps Jr are the familiar old plates by Guy Tudor, the title, and the publisher. In all other respects it is completely new. Secondly, the "Grand-daddy" review here, clearly refers to the original book and not this one.

Having said that, there is little one can add to Chris Sharpe's comprehensive review except to say that I have already used Hilty's book extensively for research this year, along with the other current guides for other countries, and have found it to be the best. In my opinion it sets a new standard. The only small weakness worth noting here is the plates, but has there been a guide that is perfect in this respect?

For anybody birding in Venezuela, the book is an essential item to have along.

I believe the earlier reviewers are mistakenly referring to the 1978 First Edition of this field guide (Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978). As the first modern field guide to a South American avifauna, the original Birds of Venezuela is certainly now showing its age though it is still a remarkably useful field aid to the world's sixth largest national avifauna. The new edition - practically an entirely new field guide - is a very different kettle of fish. What makes this new edition different?

First of all, the new guide is twice as thick and the text is much more closely packed. The book now weighs in at over 1.8 kg (4 lbs) and is more along the lines of the field guide volume of the Birds of Ecuador (Ridgely and Greenfield 2001). Nearly a hundred new species are treated, taking the country total to 1381. Far more species are illustrated and more colour plates have been used, though eight black and white plates have been retained to depict flying raptors and swifts. We now have 67 plates compared with the previous 53 - a 25% increase. Twenty-five of the plates are entirely new with beautiful artwork primarily by John Gwynne. The new plates cover a range of taxa, with Cracids, owls, nightjars, toucans, tanagers, Fringillids, Emberizids and Icterids particularly well covered. A further four have been adapted from Birds of Panamá (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989) and one from Birds of Colombia (Hilty and Brown 1986). The remaining 37 are basically the same Guy Tudor plates (and one by John Gwynne) from the old edition with some modifications.

To my mind, though, it is the text which has really benefited from this new edition - so much so that this should really be thought of as an entirely new field guide. The format follows and improves on the standard set by Birds of Mexico (Howell and Webb 1995) and Birds of Ecuador. The type-setting and text layout have allowed far more text to be included than, say, Birds of Ecuador and Hilty has also been precise and economical with his words. This comes as no surprise to those familiar with Hilty's earlier Birds of Colombia.

The text is far more oriented towards identification than in the old edition - the main requisite for a field guide. The first section contains information specifically on identification and this is followed by a section on similar species, where further comparative text is merited. The voice section is new and seems to be very well compiled with - to my taste - excellent transliterations of songs and calls. Much natural history information and further aids to identification are included under a paragraph on behaviour. A detailed appraisal of status and habitat preference is included before the final discussion of range. The text retains the custom established by the earlier edition of separating range information by subspecies, a feature which is particularly welcome in these times of ever changing taxonomy. Range maps are another new feature and they make use of points corresponding to specimen and sight records as well as the customary shading to indicate overall range. In short, they are similar in format to those provided in Birds of Ecuador.

Finally there is a good selection of references at the end of the book and some very nice colour habitat photographs at the beginning. A well annotated locality map of the country is also provided together with colour relief and vegetation maps.

Any drawbacks? With a work of this magnitude there are bound to be some errors and omissions and I quickly found a number of minor inaccuracies too petty to mention here. Perhaps the guide could have a benefited a wee bit more from external review of status and range of some species - there are gaps in the known range of a number of species. Many will also carp about the dimensions and weight of this new guide, though this is an inevitable product of the diversity of the avifauna in question and nothing that cannot be remedied with a pair of scissors and a certain degree of irreverence.

In resumé, an essential buy for all who are interested in Neotropical ornithology and truly great value for money too. I can't wait to get the book out into the field!

Bird does a decent job summarizing this kitschy topic in a succinct manner. In a sense though the length of this book is its worst enemy. He could have either been even more brief and cut about 50% of it to focus on the main issues rather than repeating himself. Alternatively, he could have truly explored the characterization of the individuals behind the craze as well as probed the American psyche and increased the length by 50%. Straddling the middle, Paint By Numbers ends up being pleasant but vaguely dissatisfying.

William Bird Jr's Paint By Number traces the history of a movement which swept across the country and created many a budding novice artist. Chapters provide plenty of color photo examples of a changing industry which recognized an unfulfilled desire in the common man to be an artist. The gorgeous displays and ads for the medium are compelling, even for the non-artist reader.

This is a really neat-o! book.

It's a short book, beautifully illustrated with paint-by-number paintings on almost every page (including paintings completed by J. Edgar Hoover, Nelson Rockefeller, Ethel Merman, and others). There are also lots of photos of advertisements, packaging and promotional displays used to sell the kits. The author discusses Max Klein & Dan Robbins, the men who started the paint-by-number "craze", and some of the other artists who worked on the kits. Despite heavy criticism from the art community, the kits were enormously popular in many countries.

I used to love doing these kits when I was a kid in the '60's and '70's. It may not be "art" but if nothing else I think people learn a little something about colors, shading and composition while working on these kits.

This is a truly massive work (600+ pages all in "King-size") more suited for the coffee-table than the field. If there is anything you would like to know about Birds of Paradise you can find it here. The first part (150+ pages) of the book deals with a huge number of scientific matters examples being the discovery, ecology, biogeography, evolution, conservation, and reproductive behaviour of the Paradisaeidae. A absolutely astonishing number of tables exist in this part of the book. The next 300+ pages of the book deals with the individual species (all 42 or so species incl. Manucodes and Riflebirds). These descriptions are truly comprehensive dealing with description (incl. juv. and nestling appearance), distribution, systematics, subspecies, size, distribution (incl. map), habitat, vocalisation, courtship behaviour, diet, status, where any knowledge is lacking, and experiences in aviculture (this is just a sample of the subjects dealt with!!!). Numerous black-and-white drawings show different behaviours and a sonogram is often included. The text is scientific (with numerous references), however it should not present a large problem to the average reader, as a glossary exists in the back of the book. In the centre of the book 15 colour plates exists. One shows old drawings of Bird of Paradise, another shows different habitat photos, and yet another shows different nesting behaviour and moulting of a number of species (also in photos). The remaining plates show some of the highest quality drawings of birds I have ever seen. All the species of Birds of Paradise are depicted in a huge variety of plumage's (e.g. males, females, juveniles, and different subspecies). One plate is even devoted to their egg's. The drawings can only bee described as a true appetiser for anyone interested in beauty. The last two plates depict a number of hybrids apparently rather common in the Birds of Paradise. A chapter also deals with this subject. Well, after all this scientific nonsense, who would want to buy this book (other than a scientist)? Everybody interested in special, interesting, and beautiful birds. If you are going to New Guinea in the near future this is absolutely also a book worth looking at. A five page chapter also discusses how, when, and where best to see Birds of Paradise (also as a the tourist!!!). It will prepare you for this astonishing group of birds like no field guide could ever do. The only thing I would have wished for is more colour photos.

Hey thes book is very good i am from denmark and when i first saw it it seams like a good book, nice colorfotos of every species and easy readable text what moore can i say buy it *s*

I have just returned from Irian Jaya and spent the time looking at birds (including some BOP)and reading this excellent book. It is an extremely thorough, comprehensive and enjoyable book. Anybody who has an interest in Birds of Paradise - or indeed birds in general will do well to invest in this book. One day all bird books will be like this. Well done Frith, Beehler & Cooper - well done indeed.

The character Socrates, in "The Clouds," makes endless fart jokes and rags on effeminate men. A 5th century BCE "South Park"! In "Lysistrata," Athenian women conspire to abstain from sex until their husbands agree to quit fighting the war. Needless to say, the war is over almost as soon as the plan is put into action. In "The Birds" and "The Frogs," talking animal choruses satirize human society.

Uber-clever translation by Arrowsmith, Lattimore, and Parker seamlessly carries all the juicy vulgarities into modern English. Aristophanes is a master of puns, yet I didn't feel like I was reading a translation--this edition is filled with quality English word play, such that I rarely needed to consult the footnotes to understand the jokes.

If you're loooking for a good collection of Aristophenes for casual use or reference, this is it. These translations are excellent, far better than the so-so translations that Aristophenes usually recieves. Highly recommended.

This book is physically constructed like a student edition -- i.e., cheaply. The paper is cheap and thick, the ink thick and sometimes blotchy, with that great newspaper smell. If you're looking for a lovely edition of Aristophanes to sit on the mantle with your nice books, this is not.

The text is also organized like a student edition. The translations are great, lively, readable and fun. Each of the four plays is followed by a commentary, with textual and contextual explanation (pointing out Greek jokes that couldn't be translated, explaining Athenian politics, etc.). The back of the book is a glossary of names, places and institutions. The aids are clear and very helpful, especially for first time readers.