Subjects are thoroughly covered and the information is written in an friendly and interesting manner. If you have a question about the Sonoran Desert, you will most likely find the answer here. Among other surprises, this book offered my first look at the "creeping devil cactus" - how interesting! I'd never even heard of it before. "A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert" is a book you will turn to for detailed information that can be trusted as well as entertainment. Very nice photographs and illustrations. A great book for a nature lover, even if the Sonoran Desert holds no particular interest to them.

This is the ideal book to take along on trips to the Sonora Desert. Whether it is the Cailfornian , including Baja, Arizonian(it actually covers five states) or Mexican portions of the vast and diverse Sonara Desert, the details and complexities of this eco system are truly amazing. This book is an indespensible guide to all facets of this immense gift, including the many plants and animals that inhabit this harsh yet bountiful environment. It is a book to read before, as well as after the trips to the desert. Since it is so diverse and vast , covering some 100, 000 sq.mi., the amount of information given is quite a bit but done in such a mannner that one can easily navigate the text to the desired area of interest Inevitably one will stray into an area of new found interest. The little known facts are a lay persons path to knowledge about what the heck they just saw or are about to see. The black and white illustrations for the plants and animals you will or did encounter are excellent and extremely helpful for identification. There is a section with color photographs as well to further illustrate the beauty of the Sonora Desert. With contributions by some thirty five different experts in their pespective field this book is the ultimate guide. Do not hesitate to buy this book if you are visting the Sonora Desert as it will prove to be a valuble reference tool that can be used over and over. Since there is so much to learn about the Sonora Desert and it's inhabitants, this book can be read anytime, anywhere since it is nearly impossible to experience it all. Recommended for the tourist, naturalist or anyone interested in learning more about the 2000 species of plants, 550 species of verbrates and thousands of unknown invertebrate species who make the Sonora Desert home. This is truly fascinating material that only nature can provide so don't hesitate to purchase this book.

we agree with all of the other reveiws.... a great discovery and a great resource....Glad we got it...

Ali and Ripley's masterwork cannot be touched in terms of the completeness of individual descriptions, but this volume is amazing in that it draws together all the subcontinent's spp. into one book. Even so, the tome is too heavy to carry to the field. The taxonomy is updated, as is the species list. The colour illustrations are of a very high quality; my quibble is that the individual species are too small to be very useful. The maps are miniscule and that limits their utility; the use of two colours would have helped under the circumstances. Otherwise, this book is a long-awaited treasure.

Simply the best available guide to the birds of the Indian Subcontinent. Subcontinental birders have long awaited a comphrehensive guide to the birds of this region.

No other guide comes close in quality of drawings, text and range maps. Though too large and heavy to be called a field guide. It is still brought on trips to be reviewed after a day in the field.

We eagerly await the publication of this book as a true 'field guide'- that will be useable in the field.

This is the best one-volume book on the market at this time. It has very good illustrations and good species accounts that include excellent range maps. It is the only book of one volume that covers all the birds of the Indian subcontinent with this quality of illustration. The range maps are very good and there is an adequate amount of information about each bird. It's too heavy to take into the field on your trip to India, but it is an excellent reference.

Whatever your style, this book has so much to offer. I'm a Brit who has always loved the vibrancy of US stitching and this book has so much that is good. Small projects to large, the quality is superb. ..... Wish I lived in the US !

Since you have a lot of cross stitch books. I have tryed to find a pattern on a picture for anniversary. I have made this once borrowed it from a friend and she can't find the book. It is momma & poppa bear has the date they were married at the top and at the bottom has their inital.Do you have anything like that or do you know where I can find this book? I want to make one for my grandson Would appreciate if you could fine it. Madge

Honey bees are among the most complex of the extant protostomes, and their behavior and central nervous system has been studied in some detail. This easy to read reference describes beekeeping, the life cycle of the bees and the bee hive, communication by pheromes, communication by sound, communication by the bee's 'dance language', navigation by a sun 'compass', navigation by a polarized light 'compass', navigation by landmarks, possible navigation by a magnetic 'compass', flower learning and memory, matching from memory, visual memory, and the possibility of limited insight in bees.

The authors, in laying out an engaging and thorough discussion of bees, their 'honey dance', and other elements of highly structured language, illuminate the broader question of how animals experience and learn. The folklore -- and wonderful pictures -- will make this book a pleasure for nature lovers, while students of language and of the scientific process will enjoy it for the window it provides into how classical experiments are used to probe cognition and learning. Despite the apparently narrow scope of the title, I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys popular-press books on science: there's a lot of wonderful material here, and its not hard to get at and enjoy.

For lovers of Italian food in particular, but for any lover of cooking and Italy, this is a must have for your collection. Every recipe is preceded by an introduction to the Nonna (Grandmother) whose speciality it is. These Nonnas run the gamut, from sophisticated Roman and Florentine women to women from small villages, still cooking as their own Nonnas did. I've tried several of the recipes and each has been spectacular. I'm buying another copy to take as a gift for a week-long 60th birthday celebration at a villa near Sienna. Ciao!

When my mother gave me this cook book, and I saw the word 'Nonna' in the title, I got a little choked up. I also whispered to myself, "this better be good." Well...'Bravo! Ti hai fatto bene!' You have done well. Yes, the recipes are wonderful, but the mood, the stories, the history of each of these Nonnas made me smile, and made me proud. Just as in my Nonna's cooking, these ladies are the best at turning leftovers into elegance. Wonderful subtle flavors - Crostini, Polpette, the Chocolate Ameretti Pudding...all we need is a deck of cards for Scopa! I made my Nonna write down her sauce recipe for me, because if I didn't, it would have died with her, recipes are verbal traditions handed down for generations...this is cooking history. Thank you. My wife thanks you too...books like this motivate husbands to cook more often.

I am enjoying two weeks off at Christmas and went "crusing" on the net to find recipes for Panetone (festive Italian Christmas Bread) and found this site with the lavish comments and laudatory praises for Carol Field's book. I also found a "doable" panetone recipe I could conjure up. After a visit to a local bookstore and finding this "treasure" I am hooked! I bought it on Sunday and it's now Thursday and I have read over 100 pages--not only for the tasty recipes, but the detailed, insatiable descriptions of the regions, and history of the recipe at hand. Never have I had a cookbook that I could rave about like this one. After spending 10 years in Vicenza and Napoli with my Army husband, I recognize the regions she so adeptly describes and the foods that complement the plates on the table. Do not miss this one, it is a rare jewel. Thank you Carol for the best christmas present I got this year!

This is a superb book that turned me into a baker. The author coversa wide variety of Italian Breads, cakes and holiday specialties (like Pannetone). I regularly make all the breads we consume at home and am thinking of making some items for sale at a local store, like Focaccia. The Ciabatta recipe is one of my favorites. One of the virtues of the book is that each recipe discusses three ways to make the item; 1.) by hand, 2.) with a mixer and 3.) with a food processor. I have found no other book that covers as many types of Italian bread as this one. BRAVA, Ms. Fields!

When I was hired to be the bread baker at an Italian restaurant in Carrboro, NC, I had no experience baking. The chef told me the restaurant wanted to start baking its own bread instead of buying it from a local bakery. She handed me this book, and I took it home to read and to pick out some recipes to try out.

I found the book quite readable, and I agree with the reviewer below who praises the book's "detailed, insatiable descriptions of the regions, and history of the recipe at hand." Also worthy of praise are the sections on the fundmentals of baking, which were particularly helpful to me when I was learning to bake. By covering the fundamentals and the various techniques used in different regions of Italy, the book gave me a good idea of what aspects I could experiment with comfortably, and which steps were more or less prescribed.

Our baking program turned out to be a success. Diners were especially fond of the scroll-shaped loaves that we learned to make from "The Italian Baker." Later we started making sourdough bread at the restaurant, based on techniques learned from this book. One night after we had been at it for a few weeks, one of our waiters came back into the kitchen to pass on compliments from a diner from San Francisco who said that our sourdough bread was as good as any she had had at home in SF. We were ecstatic. Only a few months before my cooking expertise had been more or less limited to heating up canned soup!

So I give this book a very enthusiastic recommendation for anyone wanting to bake Italian bread and then possibly go on to improvise their own loaves. In addition to being well-written, it is also a very handsome volume.

I just got the book the otherday and I have alreadly flagged about 30 items I want to do ASAP... It's amazing...and I saw the other book same publisher "365 simply handmade easy projects for every occaision...." I want to get that book too, its almost as incredible as this book! page after page is crammed with the easiest most inspiring elegant ideas.... never seen a book so awesome... I'll be the envy of the neighborhood.... YOU'VE GOTTA BUY THIS BOOK, its probably the only craft book you'll ever need... SERIOUS!!!! (I really really like the beaded candle idea) and about 30 other simple yet elegant items!!! (one thing, I just wish they had some "St. Patrick's Day Crafts)....

I bought 2 craft books and out of the 2 this is the one i can use.I am a beginner at crafting and it has great ideas.Even someone who has been doing crafts for awhile will get enjoyment from this book.My 8 year old has already picked out things for us to do.The projects go from easy to a little bit more complicated.It is worth the money!

Fantastic idea book! The colorful pictures are just so inspiring. The crafts are so easy to do and requires little time to accomplish. Too, the materials required are inexpensive. Even the inexperienced crafter can easily get away with the projects shown here.

Featured projects range from glass decorating (etching, embellishing), clay pot decorating/painting, mosaic, dressed-up table centerpieces, etc. etc.

The nice thing is each project comes with an extra idea/hint or two, plus beautiful pictures of the finished product. I'm sure this book will not just gather dust in your shelves; you'll actually craft something that's shown here!

Worth it for the price!

Carol Williams has written a gardening book that is as instructive as it is eloquent, as practical as it is spiritual. I found the book at the library, just after I (nervously) embarked on my first garden. I quickly realized it needed a permanent place in my home, and I bought my own copy. As a rookie, I savored its useful advice and encouraging tone, but with each year of experience, I return to it for so much more. Just a great book.

I've given this book as a gift to three people, each of whom raved about it.

Carol Williams provides a comforting stroll through the pleasures of growing a garden that is a place of comfort and pleasurable change.

She reminds us that the garden we build today will change as we change, and that the changes bring wonderful opportunities. She stresses that we should enjoy the process of planning, building and growing a garden, rather than rushing to a finished product.

This book is more than a "how to" on growing and arranging veggies and flowers in your garden, although there are many great gardening tips and techniques included.

There are many things to be learned in the growing, the germinating, the flowering, the pruning, the harvesting, the compasting, the living, the dying, and most of all the watching. This book is filled not only with practicalities for the gardener and philosophies for the human being, but philosophies for the flowers and practicalities for life.

Carol Field's Celebrating Italy is as much an Italian cultural reference book as it is a cookbook. I loved reading through all the different holidays celebrated in Italy complete with traditional recipes. Having lived in Italy for 8 years myself, Carol's stories made me long for a return trip.. Being the Italian Cooking Host @ Bella Online I found the recipes true to their cultural origins, but yet given with clear, easy to follow directions. If you are as fascinated with Italian cuisine as I am, you'll love this book!

I bought this book from Amazon.com because of its title alone but was so easily assimilated into Carol's amazing talent of recreating events with the written word that I found it difficult to put down. She put me right IN the festival! Because I live in Italy I have been able to visit a good number of the festivals that she describes in this book and have found her descriptions to be so accurate as to be scary. She seems to have found a way to penetrate the soul of these manifestations in a manner that not even many Italians can do.

I praise this not as a cookbook or a collection of recipes, but as a literary work that can be taken seriously as a 'training manual' on the spirit of Italian celebration. I recommend it to anyone who harbors a love of Italy and wants to know more about its inner being...

I highly recommend all Carol Field books, even if you don't cook. She TAKES you to Italy and FEEDS you. She writes engrossing and vividly descriptive literature which also happens to contain really great, authentic Italian recipes. Celebrating Italy will make you want to move to Italy and eat all day and night.