Good summary of drugs antimicrobials used to treat pediatic infections. Easy to find disease or patogen and reccommend drug of choice.

From the title, one would think this a type of travel journal, a panorama of episodes along the way, a sequence of stations between the starting off point and the destination. Instead, the overall weight of the book is given to glaciers, their descriptions, their influence on the landscape, their geological record, the discovery of new glaciers, and other characteristics of these moving rivers of ice. While Muir offers descriptive powers unequaled among authors on nature, never repeating himself though constantly repeating his subject, the sheer repetition tends to bog the work down. Two whole pages might contribute to our view of a particular glacier, and suddenly Muir reports that he's finished a 200-mile leg of his journey on foot. He tells us when he's climbed a glacier, and along the way we've missed an entire week. Time and space almost have no medium in this publication, utterly lost when gazing upon a glacier. For nature lovers who will never go to Alaska, the descriptions in this book make the ranges and glaciers come alive in print, but as a dramatic journey, a travelogue, or a field manual for the Alaskan bush, this book forms only a vague shadow.

Nature is a beautiful and highly complicated phenomena of this world. Many have sought to understand it and capture its essence in writing. The nature writings of John Muir succeed in capturing the beauty of nature as well as the scientific aspect. I have to be honest, I wasn't that enthused about reading a book about science. I expected Muir's book to be identical to a science textbook, definitely not my idea of enjoyment. However, his book was actually full of detailed descriptions and creative uses of similes, metaphors, and analogies. In fact, it completely changed my perception of a scientific novel.

In his book, "Travels in Alaska", Muir brings alive the magnificence of the vast expanses of unexplored Alaskan territory. His prose reveals his enthusiasm for nature, and he weaves clear and distinct pictures through his words. Muir's writing is very personal. His favorable feelings toward the land are very apparent, and reading the book is like reading his diary or journal. He avoids using scientific jargon that would confuse and frustrate the average reader; his words are easily understood.

Muir also uses very detailed descriptions throughout "Travels in Alaska". Although at times his painstaking description is a plus, at others, he seems to take it a little too far. Numerous times throughout the book, Muir spent a paragraph or two talking about something slightly insignificant. He would go off on a tangent of enthusiasm for something as simple as a sunrise or the rain. While his careful observances make the book enjoyable, the sometimes excessive detail tends to detract from the point he was trying to make. The description also reveals that his heart and soul was in his research; this became very evident upon reading the long and thoughtful descriptions.

"Travels in Alaska" can be appreciated by a wide audience. Muir shines light upon the Alaskan territory, and he is detailed in his account of the many people he meets. Anyone could read the book and find enjoyment learning about Alaska when it was for the most part unsettled. Muir shares with the readers his keen insight upon the various Indian tribes that lived in Alaska. At one point in the book, he gives a very detailed description of one tribe's feasting and dancing. His observances capture exactly what he saw and the feelings these observances evoked in him.

John Muir's writing is of high quality. He incorporates beautiful and creative similes, metaphors, and analogies. His prose is very poetic, which makes it an enjoyable read. For example, Muir says that "when we contemplate the world as one great dewdrop, striped and dotted with continents and islands, flying through space with other stars all singing and shining together as one, the whole universe appears as an infinite storm of beauty." His work is also very organized. The book is divided into 3 sections, or parts of his trip, as well as separate chapters devoted to specific subjects. Muir spends one chapter describing his trip to Puget Sound, another on Wrangell Island, etc. The book follows a specific format that ensures that everything is easily followed and understood.

Truthfully, I was impressed with the writing, and the fact that it was nothing like a textbook. It incorporated the literary aspect so well, that the book held my interest whereas a textbook would not have. I had the wrong impression of a scientific novel, and I urge anyone unfamiliar with the genre, to give "Travels in Alaska" a fair try. It may just change your mind about scientific writing.

I confess up front, it's been a few years since I read Muir's Travels in Alaska. Yet significant aspects I remember well. Given Muir's exuberance for life and almost everything he encounters in his travels, one almost looses view of Muir the botanist and geologist. But not quite. Here we find the author contemplating the activity of glaciers and documenting the flora of southeast Alaska. Muir (who tended strongly toward vegetarianism) gleefully entertaining himself by foiling duck hunters. Baffling the locals by happily wandering out into major storms.
The book is a journal of Muir's 1879, 1880, and 1890 trips (he wouldn't mind if we called them adventures) to SE Alaska's glaciers, rivers, and temperate rain forests. He died while preparing this volume for publication.
I remind myself, and anyone reading this, that Muir isn't for every reader. And, as other reviewers have stated, this may not be the volume in which to introduce oneself to the one-of-a-kind John Muir. One reviewer doesn't think that Muir is entirely credible in these accounts. I won't say whether or not this is wrong, but I tend to a different view. For some of us -- and certainly for Muir -- wilderness is a medicine, a spiritual tonic, so to speak. For the individual effected in this way, physical impediments and frailties rather dissolve away when he is alone in wildness. I once heard Graham Mackintosh (author of Into a Desert Place) speak of this. In all of his travels alone in the desert, he doesn't recall having ever been sick. This may not sound credible to some, but I strongly suspect it is true.
If you like Muir's writings, read this book. If you like the stuff of Best Sellers, perhaps you should look elsewhere.

This book is to Foxe's original work as a pocket dictionary is to a full size, complete Webster's (the kind that requires a stand).

Foxe's original work is nearly 7.000 pages in eight volumes! But the really sad thing is that this particular edition has been so carelessly edited, rewritten, and corrupted. There is even a chapter about John Calvin, whom FOXE NEVER WROTE ABOUT!

All the Catholic/Protestant quibbling about Foxe's book is pathetically stupid, especially between people who've never even laid eyes upon the complete work. Besides, the REAL church was started over two hundred fifty years before Rome laid claim to Christianity -- and the first Christian church building was erected in England within three years of the crucifixion. So true Christianity is neither Catholic (never was) NOR Protestant (having never been Catholic, there was nothing for REAL Christians to protest except the way they were treated by both groups).

The truth is that Foxe accurately chronicled Roman Catholic atrocities of his time, but he also wrote in support of the Reformed (Protestant) church which used very similar tactics. He also reached some incorrect conclusions, for which he can easily be forgiven, since they are not central to his work and he did not have the research tools we have available today.

But the real point is that THIS BOOK IS NOT FOXE'S WORK and bears almost no resemblance to it. If you are interested in obtaining a a reprint of the REAL Foxe work, contact swrb(dot)com on the world wide web -- select "Rare Bound Photocopies" then look under "F" for Foxe's work. I am not necessarily endorsing any of the other works they sell, but they are the only current source I know for the complete Foxe work.

Any Christian foolish enough to think they've read "Foxe's Book of Martyrs" after reading the Thomas Nelson edition (or most other "modern" versions) is probably unlearned enough to call himself Catholic or Protestant.

Some historians have pointed out that Foxe was biased against Catholics. Although his personal conflict against Catholicism likely drove his effort to put this book together, one has to recognize that the very abuses described in this book are a large part of WHY he was set against Catholicism in his own day in the first place. So far as I know, most or all of the stories of burning heretics, which Foxe describes, are true. All of which is a part of what Pope John Paul II has begun apologizing for at the change of the millennium.

But Foxe also spends an equal amount of time retelling the stories of Christians who were killed for their faith during the days of ancient Rome. As a result, I don't think the book builds Roman Catholic resentment in most readers. Instead, it reveals the real fabric of Christian faith. Those who like only a rosey picture of the Church are no different than those who like only a rosey picture of the real world we live in. This book describes the dark times in Christian history, but the light is never lost in that darkness. And that is what this book is really about--the inability of the darkness to snuff out the light of true faith--whether it is an internal darkness within the Church or an external darkness that tries to engulf the Church.

This book should be read by everyone who calls themselves "Christian."Anytime I get to feeling life is too tough,and I start feeling like God isn't close,this book and the book of Job are the books to get me back to reality.When you read the book of martyrs and you read the horrible ways these Christians were tortured and killed you realize you have no reason to complain and every reason to be thankful.Thankful not only to Jesus Christ and the apostles, but to the Christians all over the world who are being killed every day for the Gospel.If you have ever wondered how the apostles died, this book tells you.Incidentally, John was the only apostle who died of old age.Humbling and educational

My son is 16 months old. The flaps in this book are a little big, and there aren't enough of them for his taste. I think this book might be more appealing to younger childern. Also, I wished there were more photos of real babies under the flaps, and not of puppets.

You can't tell from the description, but this is a lift-the-flap book. It took my 18 month old less than 48 hours to rip out most of the flaps. The photos are clear and the pictures of Elmo are cute, of course. But there aren't a lot of other things in the pictures to use to help build vocabulary. As much as my daughter loves everything Elmo, I can't recommend this very highly.

I bought all four of these books for my 18-month old daughter and they were well worth it for her. She sits on the floor and just turn the pages, flips the flaps and says ooooh, baby, ball and other little words. If your child enjoys the Elmo's World series on Sesame Street, they will love these books.

I purchased the original Nelson in Japan in 1962, the year it was first published. Over the last 41 years, I have worn out at least 2 copies, and presently own three.

The original Nelson was a masterpiece and for many years has been considered 'the kanji bible' for those interested in mastering Japanese characters. Unfortunately, the new version (The New Nelson, as it is inappropriately called) is a disaster... for several reasons:

1. Nelson's original 12 Step system, though still shown inside the front cover, is now unusable. For example, if a beginner wants to look up the character 'wa' (meaning peace or harmony) which is comprised of 'nogi hen' (Radical 115) plus 'kuchi' (3 additional strokes), following Nelson's 12-Step system will lead to failure--the character is not listed under Radical 115. WHY? (See reason number 2)

2. The New Nelson lists the characters under the old traditional Chinese system based on the K'ang-Hsi Dictionary of 1716. Under that archaic system, the character in question 'wa' was listed under Radical 30 ('kuchi-hen') for some reason even the Chinese could not explain. Guess what?!? This is PRECISELY what Mr. Andrew Nathaniel Nelson, PhD, most wanted to avoid in his original dictionary because in the old traditional Chinese system there was too much that was illogical and unfathomable about the ordering of the characters. So the New Nelson dictionary destroys one of the main advantages of the original Nelson dictionary.

3. The New Nelson adds a bulky, cumbersome 230-page Universal Radical Index. Every character is listed under every possible incorrect radical that any one could possible think of, any more. The end result is a total dumbing-down of the process of learning the radical-stroke character look-up system. It also makes the dictionary much bulkier and heavier and less handy. It is analogous to equipping a car with 5 extra gas tanks and 4 extra engines--in case you run out of gas or have some sort of engine problem.

We need to answer these questions:

Is the New Nelson a better dictionary than the old one? Definitely, NOT! It actually destroys the main advantage of the original Nelson--its handy character look-up system.

Is the New Nelson easier to use? Definitely, NOT! You first have to unlearn Nelson's original system of character look-up, and then try to learn an archaic, cumbersome, illogical Chinese system.

My recommendations:

1. Get a copy of the old Nelson and treat it with the utmost care. It may be a long time before an equivalent dictionary is available again.

2. Write to Charles E. Tuttle, the publisher, and complain about this horrible New Nelson.

3. Write to University of Hawaii at Manoa and complain about what they have done to an outstanding dictionary, which now has become unavailable.

I have done all the above. But what about my copy of the New Nelson that I purchased about 5 years ago?

I gave up on trying to use it and am now thinking of donating it to a needy Japanese fish pond as a form of ballast for growing barnacles or some other form of marine life... somewhere it might be useful. I'm also thinking of the Zen-related ramifications... the sound a New Nelson makes when it splashes into a fish pond on a moonlit night...

Rand Dorsey
Japanese linguist with 41+ years experience studying, researching, listening to, reading, writing, speaking, teaching, and enjoying the Japanese language.

As I have said before, this dictionary is not easy to master. It does not include the stroke order form; but it does covers a vast number of Kanji. Nothing is hard once you understand it's principal! I would recommend it to anyone trying to be fluent in this language.

Overall it scores: -

Usefulness- *****
Value- *****
Ease of Use- ***

This dictionary is not for beginners since it does not include the stroke order, however it has some very interesting points: 1.- Covers every possible kanji used in modern Japanese, +7000 2.- It includes some variants or ancient forms that still appear on some papers or publications 3.- It has a "God bless the editor" Universal Radical Index URI where you cand find a Kanji by whatever radical it includes not only by the official one. It really speeds up to WARP the localization of a kanji it does not matter how complex. 4.- It has plenty of compounds JUKUGO and it is not difficult to get to a second position compound using the URI index.

I would recommend it for a student on 2nd year or above.

I got this book expecting a bunch of puzzles from the cover and title. There are many other items to be found, but everything looks very out-dated. Definitely keep looking if you want puzzles or other up-to-date patterns.

Wayne