My kids find the Fandex format easy to use, and the information on them accessible. We have several, and they're fun for all of us to use together.

This Fandex covers a number of wild birds of North America. Each page has a large photo of the bird in question, its Latin name, a description of it, and the following Field Note categories: Habitat; Range; Diet; Nest; Eggs; and Status. Mind you, this is not a scientific, adult field guide, but a fun way to introduce children to the joys of birding.

The only quibble I have about these decks is that sometimes when they're completely fanned out, the edges of the illustrations get caught up in each other, making it hard to close them properly. But other than that, they're cute, informative, and a nice format for kids.

A fantastic "quick & dirty" reference tool! The PERFECT aid for persons in the online auction selling business. For example, I had a lovely antique plate that I wanted to put up for auction. This particular plate featured a bird sitting in a tree. I got out my trusty Fandex Bird Guide and there it was ... a Yellow Warbler. I then got out my equally trusty Fandex Tree Guide and there it was ... the Downy Hawthorne Tree. Therefore, instead of describing my treasure as a plain ol' "Bird Sitting in Tree - Plate", I was able to give it the justice it deserved and described it as a "Lovely Yellow Warbler Nesting Atop a Downy Hawthorne Branch - Plate".

These books are so much fun! They are great gift items for adults or children. I try to keep one copy in my car on Trees and Birds. What a great idea!

Swimming with sea lions, petting giant tortoises, observing birds who have no fear of man...These Edenic images, promoted by tour companies, have led many of us to dream of traveling to the Galapagos Islands someday and walking in the footsteps of Charles Darwin. But while these images may have been true forty years ago, when small tour boats brought the first tourist-adventurers to the islands, they are far from true today. In this sad chronicle of the Galapagos, 600 miles from Ecuador, which both claims and governs them, Michael D'Orso documents the devastating changes which have taken place in the past ten years and focuses on the immediate crises of the past three years--crises which threaten the very existence of this irreplaceable natural resource.

Several astute and eccentric long-time residents of the islands serve as D'Orso's first person commentators, giving him insight in to the islands' history, explaining how they have changed, and commenting on the ecological disasters now unfolding. The disasters are many, and they are getting worse, according to D'Orso. In crisp and unambiguous prose, which he sometimes wields like a truncheon, he excoriates corrupt local officials, judges, and members of the national government. Many of these, he points out, have financial interests in the oil, fishing, boating, and tourism industries, but they also want to be seen as "populist" supporters of the poor immigrants who have flooded the Galapagos looking for a piece of the tourist action. The government, he says, is "so horrifically convoluted and corrupt that onlookers have taken to calling this country 'Absurdistan.'"

The introduction of non-native animal species (rats, feral dogs and cats, pigs, goats, and burros), along with foreign insect life (wasps, roaches, and fire ants), and foreign plants (blackberry, lantana, and wild guava bushes) has already permanently changed the environment on which much of the Galapagos wildlife depends. Fishing regulations are wantonly ignored, and penalties are not assessed for violations. Sea cucumbers and other marine life continue to be harvested willy-nilly; fishing boats with long-lines up to 75 miles long continue to hook and kill protected species; and rustbucket oil tankers, never inspected and often owned by highly placed public officials, carry nearly raw petroleum to the islands. They are already responsible for one major oil spill in the formerly pristine islands.

Most threatening, however, is the massive influx of economic refugees from the Ecuadorian mainland who have brought the permanent population to twenty thousand (to be thirty thousand by 2010). With a lack of fresh water and adequate sanitation, and the immigrants' single-minded determination to tap into the underwater riches of the Galapagos, the ecological disaster is not just threatening--it's already happened. In a recent uprising, these immigrants physically destroyed the national park and station offices, along with the personal homes of the directors, even ripping out their toilets.

D'Orso is passionate in his desire to awaken the world community to the disaster that is taking place before the islands have been totally destroyed. His forecast is bleak, but his message, and his book, are strong. Mary Whipple

You know the Galapagos Islands. Darwin made them famous, of course, as a spark for his initial insights on evolution. The specks of land on the equator, off mainland Ecuador, have continued to perform as observatories for evolution. The tiny islands, burned by volcanoes and equatorial sun, have far more life than such an environment might seem able to support, but besides the famous and unusual bird species, there are hundreds of species of starfish, eighty species of spiders, and many others. If you watch TV documentaries or leaf through photo books, you get a flavor of just how rich and strange the life there is. You might know that the animals are so unused to humans that they have not learned to flee even hunters. You might have the idea that the deserted islands harbor but a few scientists and the ecotourists who come to see the unique offerings. _Plundering Paradise: The Hand of Man on the Galapagos Islands_ (HarperCollins) by Michael D'Orso offers a different view of the islands, specifically about one of its newest and most intrusive species. There are about 20,000 humans who make the Galapagos their home, or at least their workplace. They are not just scientists, but hoteliers, nightclub owners, poachers, beggars, religious proselytizers, law enforcers, and more. The title of this eye-opening book isn't a surprise; all these people are not doing the islands any good.

"These islands were simply not made for people," D'Orso writes, but he has interviewed a lot of them for this book to portray humans that are making a go of it anyway. Some of them are eccentric, some admirable, but the islands are few, and have desirable properties, and surpassing written law, the law of supply and demand holds sway (just as Darwin knew). Humans have a poor record of improving the lands they have inhabited everywhere, but D'Orso is withering in particular scorn for the corrupt Ecuadorian government, colloquially called "Absurdistan." Such an environment only encourages people to grab any profits they can, and makes impossible long range planning for conserving the islands' resources. Global agencies are reluctant to invest as they can predict how little money would make it to environmental improvement. There has been a proposal that the Galapagos should be under UN trusteeship; after all, it is one of those sites that requires little imagination to view as belonging to the heritage of all humans. From time to time someone suggests banning tourism. Neither proposal is likely to impress those who are currently gaining incomes from things as they stand.

D'Orso's book brings an important problem to light. It is written as an entertaining profile of different members of the human species who have washed ashore on Galapagos. There are the ex-hippie who has run a hotel there for thirty-five years, the German recluse, the park ranger who endangers himself by hunting poachers, the charmingly corrupt mayor, the Jehovah's Witness naturalist guide, and more. In describing their activities, he has given a human profile to the islands. It is a sad look, nonetheless. Market forces are no way to run an ecosystem.

Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 30, 2003

The Galápagos Islands have the honor of being the only sizable, habitable land mass to remain unpopulated into the 20th century. The islands' lower slopes and some of the smaller islets are a weird moonscape of ancient lava flows devoid of fresh water. Uphill, however, are permanent water sources and soil capable of supporting orange, papaya, and coconut trees, to say nothing of herds of cattle.

Despite these lush conditions, no community had attempted to live on the Galápagos until the publication in Germany in 1923 of a travel book called "Galápagos: World's End" that described the islands as a tropical paradise. A few eccentrics came to see for themselves. They have been coming ever since.

Michael D'Orso went to the Galápagos in 1999 to chronicle the unusual native fauna. Not the huge iguanas that dive into the surf to feed, the finches that obligingly speciate while ornithologists watch, or the vast colonies of blue-footed boobies. The animals that fascinate D'Orso are the more eccentric members of species of homo sapiens, a type in which the Galápagos abound.

Take the charmingly corrupt mayor, leader of the 20,000 mostly impoverished Ecuadorians who stretch the ecosystem of the archipelago well beyond its capacity. Mayor Sevilla is only 41, but he grew up on the islands before the advent of automobiles and electricity.

"We ate a lot of tortoises," D'Orso quotes him saying. "It was free meat, just roaming around. We didn't understand why people would want to protect the animals when God gave us the animals to eat. Even to this day, I feel this way." Which explains why the mayor lets poachers out of jail as fast as National Park Rangers arrest them.

Or take Godfrey Merlen, who stumbled onto the islands in 1970 as an aimless youth working as crew on a rich man's yacht. He stayed, hung around the research station, made himself useful to field scientists, and has become a well-published, highly respected biologist in his own right without ever leaving the islands or taking an advanced degree.

D'Orso keeps trying to drag his attention back to the project that brought him here: to write about the more colorful of the gringo inhabitants - the beachcombers, con artists, and barefoot philosophers. But instead, his attention keeps drifting to the real story of these islands in the 21st century. The world's educated elite prizes the Galápagos for their dramatic and unique biology. But they belong to one of the poorest, most overpopulated, and corrupt nations on earth.

"Banana republic" is an insufficiently scornful term to describe a political system that not long ago saw three presidencies within an hour. The trouble with Ecuador is nothing new in the world: A small number of very wealthy families manage the country for private profit.

These families allow the National Park to exist, but do not, for example, allow the rangers to stop commercial fishing in park waters. The boats take everything: tuna, sea cucumbers, coral, shark fins. (Not the whole shark. They cut the fins off and throw the creatures back to die. Fins fetch astonishing prices in China where shark fin soup is a traditional wedding-banquet delicacy.)

D'Orso's casually powerful storytelling draws us in to the grotesquely unequal struggle between a unique and fragile ecosystem and the humans bent on getting rich fast.

Not that the environment pays all of the costs. On the outer islands, beyond the reach of law, and far beyond the reach of any kind of medical care, hundreds of desperately poor men dive for sea cucumbers using antiquated, badly maintained scuba gear. No one records how many die every year. No one records the tonnage of sea cucumbers shipped illegally to China, which are bought by men foolish enough to believe that sea cucumbers are an aphrodisiac.

Nor is there indication that anyone with power in Ecuador cares, certainly not the legislator who represents the Islands in the national congress. The flat roof of her house is covered with illegally harvested sea cucumbers, curing in the sun. Part travelogue, part history, and part sociological study, D'Orso's story should help shed light on these exotic islands of corruption.

Diana Muir is the author of Bullough's Pond

Shortly after the American Civil War, John Muir, a 29-year-old budding naturalist, set out on an epic journey across the eastern United States. Starting in Louisville, Kentucky on September 2, 1867, he walked southward through Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia, where he was delayed in Savannah. After crossing through Florida he finally reached the Gulf, but, unfortunately, his desire to continue on toward South America was hindered by an illness. Not fully recovered, he eventually made for Cuba, but went no further. Muir returned home only to set out for California a short while later. During his journey, he kept a journal in which he recorded his experiences and observations of the flora and fauna he came across. This journal, along with an article written in 1872 and a letter that he wrote while in California, constitute A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf, which was originally published in 1916, two years following Muir's death. Although there are a few instances when the author reveals himself to be a man of his times, his observations of a natural world which in many instances have long since been destroyed, are priceless.

As the human population expands the natural world around us disappears. This is a fact we mostly ignore as we go about our daily life. One day, you wake up, and discover that within your own lifetime things have been permanently altered.

When John Muir made his "Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf" the U.S. was not as heavily populated as it is today, although much had changed from the time when European settlers first moved through the area he explored -- a path that stretched from Indianapolis Indiana to the Gulf just north of what is Tampa Florida today.

Muir moved South in the aftermath of the Civil War, so he encountered much unrest, unhappiness, and destruction along the way. He describes not only the flora and fauna he found but the condition of humans as they struggled to rebuild their lives.

He says, "My plan was to simply to push on in a general southward direction by the wildest leafiest, and least trodden way I could find, promising the greatest extent of virgin forest." To a great extent, he was able to do that, however, he could not escape some of the realities of the world around him. For example, in Georgia, he encountered the graves of the dead, whom he says lay under a "common single roof, supported on four posts as the cover of a well, as if rain and sunshine were not regarded as blessings." A bit further he says, "I wandered wearily from dune to dune sinking ankle deep in the sand, searching for a place to sleep beneath the tall flowers, free from the insects and snakes, and above all my fellow man."

Muir wonders at the teachings of those who call themselves God's emissaries, who fail to ask about God's intentions for nature. He says, "It never seems to occur to these far-seeing teachers that Natures's object in making animals and plants might possibly be first of all the happiness of each one of them, not the creation of all for the happiness of one. Why should man value himself as more that a small part of the one great unit of creation? And what creature of all that the Lord has taken the pains to make is not essential to the completeness of the unit--the cosmos?"

Partly as a result of his writing, and the writing of other Naturalists, the National Park System came into being, and today, more trees grow on the East coast than grew in the late 1700s (American Revolution). The fight is not over, however, it has only begun. Many of those trees are "harvested" every year. Sometimes, even within National Forests they are all felled at the same time through a process called clear cutting. The lovely large oaks that Muir beheld are mostly long gone and have been replaced by Pine.

This is one of John Muir's best books (the other being _First Summer in the Sierra_). It's Muir's slightly-edited diary of his 1000-mile trip through the Southern U.S. to Florida, then Cuba. He traveled on foot observing nature and the people. The book holds your interest as it's written on the spot through the enthusistic eyes of a young man. It reminds me a little of Mark Twain's book _Roughin' It_, another story through the eye's of a young man latter to become famous (about working on antebellum riverboats).

Overall, an excellent reference to begin a search on ballparks. (here comes the but) BUT it seemes there are some inaccuracies about the very old, pretty unknown parks around the country. For Example: Recreation Park, Pittsburgh PA. The Author claims that there was baseball played on a field at 1200 Allegheny Avenue, Pittsburgh from 1876-1887. A City Map of 1897 shows housing located on the property. I question other sources in the book.

this book is an incredible reference for anyone interested in, or doing research about, baseball parks. park statistics, such as fence distances and capacities are listed, as well as interesting tid-bits about the 'uniqueness' of each park.

I found this book a page tunner. It really brought me into the outside world and exposed me to my surroundings. I feel more in touch with the biotic factors around me.

This book is so good. I swear! Just buy it. Toms River Rules

"The Arab world has not been a happy or successful place in the last fifty years, and the misery and disenchantment of the people has recently become acute." So reads the first line of "Inside the Arab World"; most of the large volume that follows buttresses and amplifies this statement. Field, a journalist, reviews the history of Arabic-speaking countries since World War I, then provides a survey of current issues (economics, democracy, Arab-Israeli conflict, relations with the West). His information appears to rely in large part on his many trips to the Arab countries over a twenty-seven-year period.

The result is a well-informed and timely survey. Some of Field's hard-hitting opinions make a whole lot more sense than others. Yes, he's right that "[t]he Arab world has become a more sober and realistic place since the mid-1980s." No, he's completely wrong that "religion is not the cause of conflicts but provides a rallying point for conflicts that are basically economic or political." Of particular interest is the chapter on the Saudi economy, where Field argues that the manufacturing businesses have become commercially viable.

It is nearly impossible to tell the extent to which Field relies on other authors' writings for he provides hardly a single citation. That raises a question about the publisher: however skillfully done, why does a university press put out such a nonscholarly essay by a knowledgeable insider? Is there no distinction now between a trade publisher and a university press?

Middle East Quarterly, September 1995

Michael FIELD has assembled an enclopedia of cultural, historical and political insights that assists the armchair diplomat in an honest and forthright manner. Without writting down to the new students of the Arab world and without surpassing the heights of professional inquirers, the author combines personal perspectives and intimate expressions from players in the nations to present a comprehensive new look at a durable and ancient challenge to the liberal democratic agenda. The author rewards the reader with fresh and important facts while including obscure and little-seen points-of-view.

Sit back and take a ride on a tragic carpet.

Don't let the ... packaging fool you--this paperback is a reprint of a BBC book from a few years back that's chock full of information on many hundreds of cases of animals devouring people. This book imparts that more than a million people have been killed and eaten by tigers in the course of human history. There are also chapters on African lions (including a great capsule story of the Man-Eaters of Tsavo), leopards (which rival tigers in India as man-eaters), wolves (of which there are almost no known cases of them killing man in Europe or North America), and cougars, which are deadlier than I had realized. There are also chapters on more cold-blooded denizens, sharks and crocodilians. Very entertaining, though you'll reconsider letting your kids play outside for a while.

Not for young readers the attacks are described in graphic details.
I have only read the first chapter on the attacks and it is pretty intersting to read about why the animals do it.
I am 16 and I don't like other non-fiction books I mostly like fiction, but this one caught my eye, I recomend that you go rent it from your library first to see if you like it.

"The New Killing Fields" is not straight reporting, but rather a collection of essays by various writers concerning modern genocide, particularly in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and East Timor. The writers of the essays for the most part assume some level of knowledge about each war zone on the part of the reader, and the book is aimed more toward opinion leaders than the general public.

The essays themselves are an attempt by the various writers to help those of us in the West come to grips with the causes of genocide and our obligation to attempt to stop it. The argument is made that in Yugoslavia, for example, even the most minimal military intervention could have stopped the slaughter years earlier and that the Bosnian Serb forces in particular were nothing more than paper tigers. The "Powell Docterine" that has repeatedly led to a reluctance by the U.S. to use its military comes under particular criticism. The authors also tailor their remarks to the post-September 11th political realities.

Overall, a strong collectiion of political essays aimed at opinion leaders.

Essays written by eyewitnesses to foreign terror are packed into The New Killing Fields: Massacre and the Politics of Intervention, a powerful, revealing title, which considers massacre, and the politics involved in its intervention around the world. Lessons gained from Asian and European massacre experiences, issues of justice and responsibility, and those involved in military and social issues on all sides are revealed in a set of striking scholarly analyses.

The author covers interesting places in most of the Western states, with the noteable exception of Utah. After spending the past 2 weeks in Utah, exploring caves, petroglyphs, and cliff dwellings of the Anazazi and Fremont Indians, I referred to the book to see if any of the places I visited were mentioned. I was surprised to see that the entire state of Utah was ignored.

Field Guide To Mysterious Places Of The West by archaeologist, geologist, and experienced traveler Salvatore M. Trento is an exciting and unique tour guide to an impressive series of unusual and noteworthy locations throughout the American West. Ranging from the Turtle Rock Geoforms (granite blocks of Colorado which have eroded into recognizable shapes), to sacred sites, ruins, solstice sunrise petroglyphs, and so much more, Field Guide To Mysterious Places Of The West is organized by state, and complemented with black-and-white photographs and diagrams. Field Guide To Mysterious Places Of The West is very highly recommended an excellent supplementary guide for vacationers and travelers looking to see and experience something different in their journeys throughout the American West.

I loved this book. I was excited to read the different explanations about these strange things found in nature. It is even more interesting after you have seen some of these places for yourself. I think that the photos in the book added a lot to my understanding. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in natural mysteries!

Out of the numerous books I've read and movies I've seen about Vietnam, this is the only Vietnam story that I actually believed; that I felt captured what it was really like to be there. Michael Shapiro's story is not overly sensationalized, dramatized or distorted but accurately captures the feeling of the times and the experiences of the men in battle.

"I liked Fields of Fire so much I bought two extra copies to give as gifts to my sister and to a friend. I didn't serve in Vietnam but Shapiro let me feel what it was like to be there during that time. I could almost smell the odors and feel the heat. I have a lot more respect for those guys who were in Nam than I did before reading Fields of Fire." -- Michael Ireland

Paul Gebhart quits college in his sophmore year to volunteer for Vietnam. But he soon realizes 'I was an idiot. I had volunteered for the draft to prove my manhood to the guys in the neighborhood. It was a stupid thing to do, but I couldn't help it. I was raised on war movies; God, Glory and Victory at Sea.'

Based on his real-life experiences as an infantryman in Vietnam, Michael Shapiro has written an outstanding novel, conveying so accurately the particular experience of Americans fighting a futile war. Shapiro captures the sights, sounds, and ironies of the Vietnam War with force and humorous authenticity.

"Fields of Fire" is a great book from the first page to the last paragraph: 'Despite the loneliness, I felt satisfied. God had saved me to write about the men and times from that year's tour of duty. I had fulfilled my destiny, and in my heart I felt a quiet peace, like a balmy Vietnamese evening.'

This brilliant novel would be a terrific war movie!

Sincerely, Diana J. Dell, author, "A Saigon Party: And Other Vietnam War Short Stories"