Stanley Changnon and his colleagues have written the best, and most comprehensive analysis of what really happened with the biggest climate event of the century, the 1997-1998 El Nino. What is unique about this book is that they carefully look at both the devastation that occured and the positive impacts from the mild winter -- fewer deaths from ice storms, more shopping when people went out in milder weather, less fuel oil. They also point out the places where the forecast worked, and where it had problems. As society gets more and more sensitive to weather events, we will need more thoughtful probing into how we have responded and how we will respond. This book sets the stage, and is written by experts who have analyzed other big weather events. I strongly recommend it.

Stanley Chagnon and his colleagues have written the best, and most comprehensive analysis of what really happened with the biggest climate event of the century, the 1997-1998 El Nino. What is unique about this book is that they carefully look at both the devastation that occured and the positive impacts from the mild winter -- fewer deaths from ice storms, more shopping when people went out in milder weather, less fuel oil. They also point out the places where the forecast worked, and where it had problems. As society gets more and more sensitive to weather events, we will need more thoughtful probing into how we have responded and how we will respond. This book sets the stage, and is written by experts who have analyzed other big weather events. I strongly recommend it.

I have read alot of books on this subject and this is still one of the leaders in having all of the info that you want in one book. All topics are covered and in such detail!!! It is such a valuble tool that someone should republish it for students now.

Designed as a companion for his college course on the subject. Schumm clearly explains the concepts and theories behind fluvial geomorphology. This book should be required reading for all students and practicioners of fluvial sequence stratigraphy. CJ

Any birder is familiar with the format that even the best guides use to convey the likelihood over time of finding a given species in a particular location. Because of the scope of those guides, they are limited to conveying the timing to seasons and the locations to regions.

This book tells the reader exactly when specific bird species are generally found in specific counties of the state. A field guide will tell you that a certain bird migrates through the state in the spring, but some birds migrate in March, and some in June. This book will also tell you how populous the bird is (ie. how rare it is). You can also see the general movements of resident birds in the state over seasons.

I live in Wisconsin, so I use this book all the time. I have been frustrated trying to find similar information for states that I visit regularly. It is an invaluable resource for concentrating observation and understanding the animals being studied.

This book is an ideal companion to a field guide to Eastern birds. Primarily designed as a reference guide (it contains no pictures, descriptions, or field marks) it contains a wealth of information on the likelihood of finding a particular species by county and time of year in Wisconsin. Based on at least 15 years of birding reports, the book is organized in standard order of species with one bird species per page. Each page contains the probability of spotting the species somewhere in the state in a given year, a map of the frequency of reports by county, a chart of the reporting frequency by week for the year, and a trend line by year of the total relative number of reports. I would recommend the guide primarily to the intermediate or advanced birder who is knowledgable about each bird species and their likely habitats already, but needs to know what is likely to be found in a given part of the state.

IMHO, this book is a template of how every state or regional guide should be designed.

Who would have believed this information was available 20 years ago. This is a deeply scientific book, not for casual reading. A must for those that like to think they are in the top branch of information givers.

From diet to breeding habits, dwelling preferences, discussions on internal organs and just so much more of the many different species of the iguana. Burghardt and Rand have complied (edited) a tremendous collection of researchers work. Never have I seen the pooling of so many different resources to come to the understanding of a reptile.

If you think you are one of the "smart" people when it comes to the iguana species, this is a MUST HAVE publication.

An excellent overview of the history and rules of the game of hockey. This walks through the creation of the game as well as biographies of the greatest players of all time. Even though the target of this book may be for the true fan, those who are merely interested in the game will find enjoyment as well.

This book is tribute to the love of the land - land that was owned and culivated by the Nearings (The Good Life). It shows in pictures the beauty of the Maine coast land, and what honest labor can bring. It also documents local culture and custom to give a flavor for the year-round life in a harsh winter and short but intense summer.

This turns out to be an outstanding book and I'm very happy to have it. The text is pleasant to read, written in a friendly and personal way. The pictures are crisp and beautiful, and laid out nicely alongside the text for easy access while reading the description. One outstanding feature is the detailed habitat information based on the author's years of field experience in observing the habitats of each of these orchids. Another stand-out is that the author has done the photography himself, resulting in pictures that support and complement the text very well. I checked several books on orchids and wildflowers while trying to identify an orchid in my forest (which turns out to be a lily-leaved twayblade), and I found this book to be the best. In summary, I'm impressed with this book. I hope it will set a new standard for other books on regional wildflowers.

This book is excellent from cover to cover. Detailed information on care, breeding, food, species, and biology are all in "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide". I was given a Chilean Rose tarantula as a gift 9 months ago and considered myself ignorant of their required care. "The Tarantula Keeper's Guide" was the most informative book out of 6 purchased. I now have over 35 tarantulas consisting of 28 species and consider myself much more knowledgable about their care and biology. I have even started breeding some of my tarantulas. You won't find a better book in print if you're a beginner or expert.

The Tarantula Keeper's Guide by Stan and Marguerite Schultz is by far the most informative book on tarantulas to date. Whether for the amateur fancier or professional arachnologist, this book will pay for itself in no time at all. Aimed primarily towards those interested in captive husbandry of arachnids, this book gives extensive information on care, housing, and feeding for spiderlings, juveniles, sub-adults and adults. In chapter 1, the anatomy and physiology of tarantulas are covered in great detail. Chapter 2 deals with taxonomy and scientific names; chapter 3 covers the life histories and ecology of these arachnids. Chapter 4 involves the uses of tarantulas throughout history while chapters 5,6, and 7 cover the "pet" aspect of tarantulas; this covers such subjects as housing, feeding, handling, breeding, medical emergencies, and much, much more. The final three chapters cover conservation issues. This well-designed book is packed with tons of colo! r photographs, greatly illustrated drawings, and accurate (up-to-date) names of many species commonly kept as pets. Unlike other tarantula books I've read--and I've read plenty--this book gives the first detailed description of how to catch your own tarantula. Other books have attempted this same task, but have not got the point across like this book. In all, this 288 page piece of art is the best book on tarantulas ever put together. Anybody with the slightest interest should purchase this book because it will spur one with mere curiosity into an out-of-control collector/hobbyist (such as me) and take you to the realm of the tarantula.

If you have even one tarantula, the invaluable nature of this book cannot be stressed enough. It addresses almost every issue you could think of and some you possibly wouldn't. Filled with detailed information, beautiful color photographs, excellent illustrations this book is truly a bargained that should not be passed up, even by the passing fancier. All tarantula enthusiasts agree, if you own one book on them, it should be this one.

Anyone who enjoys whole foods cookery, herbal healing, and organic gardening will appreciate Crawford's observations. Those with a philosophical bent will appreciate them even more. His reflections on a life lived close to nature are a bit like those of Thoreau or Jefferson, but Crawford appears to also be very much the guy who brings fresh produce to your local farmer's market.

Few of us have probably given much thought to the growing of garlic bulbs, which really consist of "cloves" that can be divided and planted or used to season everything from marinara sauce to stir fries. You might have noticed the green sprouts that begin to emerge from cloves of garlic kept too long in your refrigerator, but Crawford suggests garlic plants are difficult to grow because their life course is different from that of many other plants. Garlics have adapted to life in stressful places where rainfall is not always forthcoming but when they need moisture, they need moisture. To avoid death, the bulbs spend a good part of the year "resting" or dormant. In a chapter called "Waiting" Crawford says that's exactly what the garlic farmer does. Much of the year, garlic like other bulbed plants are in hiding, and the farmer must be patient and wait until they are ready for the harvest.

But Crawford's interaction with plants isn't only about garlic. He relates how he "tasted the landscape" as a child in his native California-peeling and chewing the white pulp of anise growing by the side of the road in winter; sucked the syrup of nasturtiums, smelled the pepper tree berries, and searched the orchids for loquats, limes, and mandarin oranges. Today, children are not so fortunate. Pollution, chemicals, other noxious matter have made much of the landscape dangerous. Crawford toyed with both conventional and organic farming. He says he wishes to ask those who enquire whether his products for sell at the weekly market are "organic" if they lead organic lives. Do they earn their money in organic ways. He says, "Perhaps in the poisonous desert of the city there is little else you can do besides seek out what you hope is "pure" food. In addition to being informative and philosophical, Crawford's book is provocative.

When Henry David Thoreau left the comforts of civilization to build his own house with his own hands and deliberately live close to nature, his experience at Walden Pond became a classic in American literature. Even today, many of us trapped in the mundane horrors of urban life long to escape, as he did, to a small plot of land somewhere outside the realms of commerce, overcommercialization, and petty-minded consumerism.

Novelist Stanley Crawford had the courage to do more than dream about it. He left California for the rigorous, simple life of a New Mexico garlic farmer and, like Thoreau, has written a wise and thought-provoking book about his experiences. His account spans a year in the life of garlic, tying topics as diverse as the nuclear bomb and the challenge of maintaining community to the rhythms of building one's own house from adobe and learning to plant and harvest responsibly.

After closing the cover of this book, I was ready to drive to New Mexico and seek out Crawford in the Farmer's Market, to buy my own bulbs of top-setting garlic and somehow bring some of the beauty of his life into my own. I may never stand in Santa Fe behind his pickup, buying a woven garland of organic garlic to hang in my kitchen, or perhaps I will travel there and stammer some foolish words about his writing as I hand him a handful of crumbled dollar bills. In some sense, the physical journey has become irrelevant: Crawford's New Mexico has already illumined my heart and wakened me to the rhythms of my own life. I don't have the strength or the patience to tend a field or a garden, manufacture adobe or create a home, brick by brick. But I, too, have a place in the world, and eyes to see--A Garlic Testament is one of those books that wakes us from habitual slumber and reminds us, as Thoreau so aptly put it, to advance confidently in the directions of our dreams, and to put the foundations under our castles in the air.

This is one of the best-written books that I have ever read. Each word is well-chosen, effective, and yet easy to read. At one point in the book, he alludes that he has written poetry previously. Each of the 39 chapters is a few pages long, presenting a brief essay on something related to garlic farming in New Mexico. There's an obvious love and care that he gives to his work (both garlic farming and writing), and he's able to show respect for others who have not chosen this path. The book also presents some information about how garlic is grown, but it's by no means a gardening book. It's a descriptive story of the cycles of the growing season. Like in his other excellent book, Mayordomo, the author also shares his community with us - talking about how farming, farmers markets, irrigation, and such intertwine a community, even one that contains members who originally went there to "get away from it all."

I don't believe I've seen more than two of Mazursky's films but I enjoyed his book, especially the juicy chapter on his adventures with the increasingly more bizarre Peter Sellers. This is not a biography, but rather a series of essays about his involvement with different Hollywood people and some chapters about his current life and childhood. Recommended.

An interesting, light and witty Summer read that gives you insight into Mazursky's career and tales of movie production. Mazursky, born in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn started out as an actor (Blackboard Jungle), moved on to be a comedy writer (Danny Kaye, I Love You Alice B Toklas) when acting parts were infrequent, and made his directorial debut with Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice. My favorite scenes in the book? When a young Mazursky catches his zade eating his bubbe's herring on the afternoon of Yom Kippur; when Eisner and Katzenberg ask Mazursky if he thinks that the I.B. Singer story (Enemies, A Love Story) is too Jewish... maybe it can be about the Cambodian Holocaust instead of the WWII one; when Richard Dreyfus pulls out of the Enemies project; and the creation of Down&Out in Beverly Hills.

I loved reading this book, both from the standpoint of appreciating Paul Mazursky the director of many of my favorite films and reveling in Paul Mazursky the no-holds-barred storyteller. But--and, I'm sorry, there is a 'but'---why devote one sentence to the great Art Carney, who Mazursky calls the most pure actor he'd ever worked with, and then not tell the reader WHY he feels that way about Carney? There are no anecdotes to share about Jill Clayburgh or Robin Williams? Come on, Paul, give! This lapse is mostly compensated for by Mazursky's tales of traveling in the "then" Soviet Union and South America, his memories of working for Danny Kaye and his sharing the bitter and the sweet about his family, his friends and the ups and downs of his life. The chapter about Mazursky's relationship with his mother is especially powerful and a reminder that much of the pathos within even his funniest films came honestly to him. So, five stars for what's here---just would've liked to have seen more!