I bought several Streetwise City Maps and this one is the best -- about the size of an envelope (accordian folded with 9 sections/folds). It is very detailed in the city center, public transport, and the larger urban area. Highly reccommended.

Most place names are in French + Flemish.

Oh how I adore these Streetwise maps! I can unfold them and RE-FOLD them with a minimum of fuss and no tearing... As compact as a regular map, laminated to withstand my coffee habits in the car, and quickly read while I'm wondering where I'm supposed to be going. They won't correct my wrong way tendencies but they'll definitely help!

Bottom line, this series of maps is the best way to see a city. Because they are coated in plastic and fold, they stand up well to being stuffed in a backpack or handbag, and they are clear and easy to use. I've used the San Francisco, Manhattan, London, and Florence maps, and they are really marvelous. And now I'm going to San Antonio!

One of the things I like best about them is that they clearly highlight museums, parks, and other tourist spots so that they are easy to find. The only drawback is that some of the text is mighty small, which can be a problem in low light if your eyes are over 40 like mine are. They are smaller than big fold-out paper maps, which is an advantage if, for safety reasons, you don't want to make it obvious that you are studying a map, advertising that you are a visitor.

I used this text in a course dealing with racial issues in the criminal justice system, Not only was each chapter extremely detailed, while presenting the material in a clear and concise manner. As a Sociology instructor I would highly recommend utilizing this text for courses dealing with issues of race in the criminal justice system.

I found this book an excellent introduction to the art of tailless aircraft design. It is a well laid out book which allows you either to read it through, or to browse topics of particular interest to the reader. The enthusiasm of the authors is obvious from the tone of the book and isn't lost in the translation from German. Most of the explanations and solutions are given in a conceptual form often by analogy before the maths is presented in any detail. This makes it a very easy book to use and understand.

Michael McClure is one of THE most talented, powerful, and original poets alive, without a question. He paints a beautiful picture with his chaotic style. Never have I read a poem that had such an effect on me, after you read ANY of these three poems, you will understand.

I was so thankful that I found this book in the library and had to buy a copy. Wonderful book for a former Southern like me that recently moved to COlorado. I was desperate for ideas about what to plant in my new hot, dry, ever sunny high-altitude climate. This book gave me great ideas and fabulous instructions for how to landscape as well. Highly recommended!

If you are from a small town in the mid west, You will LOVE this book, and swear it to be about your hometown. It is written in such a way that you can actually FEEL the gritty August sun blazing on the back of your neck as the tension mounts to a fantasic completion.

In that most memorable of scenes from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843), the villain-hero Ebeneezer Scrooge has just been shown a vision of his desolate future. Like his partner Marley, he will soon be dead, buried unceremoniously, then completely forgotten -- save for the moments when his life is ridiculed, mocked as an example the greatest miser in the history of London town. Terrified of this abysmal future, Scrooge cries out:

"Spirit! Is this the shadow of things that MUST be, or only MIGHT be. Tell me, Spirit!"

Fortunately for Ebeneezer, it was not too late to change his stingy ways, give up the futile accumulation of money, and find true happiness by devoting himself to helping the less fortunate human beings around him.

Perhaps it is not unreasonable to say that our planet today resembles the troubled Scrooge. Our environmental predicament is perilous, yet it is not too late to save ourselves. We can improve our world if and only if we act, soon, with compassion and intelligence. In facing this crisis there is no place for these classic Dickensian spirits: Apathy, Panic, or Ignorance.

Obviously, Earth 2000 is a culture far more complex than the Victorian society of 150 years ago. Today we have easy access to mountains and megabytes of paper and electronic data. But how can we discern which peaks of these information mountains are reliable, trustworthy, and wise?

Accurate information and keen insights is why this yearly book from the Worldwatch Institute -- Vital Signs -- is a publishing event of the utmost importance. The facts throughout this book are categorized into trends in these areas: food production, agriculture, energy, atmosphere, economy, transportation, communication, health and social problems, and military issues.

The facts and the numbers are astonishing. For example: Last year the world endured 35 wars: except for the Kosovo conflict, all the others occurred in third-world countries. Cigarette smoking last year was responsible for the deaths of 4 million people, a number which is expected to increase 2.5 times, to 10 million, by the year 2030. In 1999, the total number of persons infected with HIV was almost 50 million. About 2.6 million persons died from AIDS last year (most of these in Africa), pushing the total cumulative death toll from AIDS to 16 million. World population last year increased by 77 million persons, as the total population of Earth swelled past the 6 billion mark.

One of this year's most disturbing trends is the growing economic gap -- and the quality of life gap -- between the privileged persons and the poor. The World Health Organization has estimated that more than 1.1 billion persons are malnourished, at the same time that more than 1 billion persons suffer from health-related problems caused by obesity. Last year's edition of this book, in the section "Malnutrition Still Prevalent" shows that nothing has improved:

"Nearly 1 billion people worldwide do not get enough to eat each day, and several billion get enough calories but their poor diet falls short in providing basic nutrients. ... Regardless of the form it takes, malnutrition levies a heavy toll on human health, leading to increased susceptibility to disease, reduced levels of energy and productivity, and increased morbidity and mortality." As to be expected, the poorest nations, especially in South Asia and Africa -- Bangladesh, India, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Nigeria, Indonesia -- contain the highest numbers of malnourished persons."

If it all sounds like a nightmare of gloom and doom, take heart. In a number of areas, significant environmental progress is being accomplished. In the all-important realm of energy, the world is beginning to make the necessary shift from burning fossil-fuels (the major contributor to global warming) to non-polluting and renewable sources such as wind and solar cells. Organic farming -- without pesticides -- is thriving. More world treaties have been formed to control environmental degradation. Western Europe is now heavily taxing corporations who exceed pollution limits. Nuclear weaponry is shrinking; life expectancy is on the rise; and Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs) are growing in numbers of groups and volunteers, and already making an impact for positive social and environmental change.

The premise underlying Vital Signs 2000 is that the trends depicted here will shape the nature and quality of our lives in the coming years. Vital Signs 2000, the companion volume to State Of The World 2000, are the two most authoritative and insightful publications in their field. Everyone who wants to help to make this world a better place -- socially, economically, politically, sustainably -- should raise his own social and ecological awareness by beginning with these two books.

Michael Pastore, Reviewer

A fantastic book that is hard to come by these days. One of the only first hand accounts of a man who searched and reached the ancient "Abbey of the Seven Rays" in southern Peru. A great story of how he had to continue looking for clues with everyone around him denying that the abbey actually existed. How he had to climb to dizzing heights and battle cold, fatigue, insanity and starvation along the way. A truly inspirational tale of a man willing to die to find the meaning of his life and the truth about hi3 place in the universe.