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The idea behind the book is on its smallest scale it is inside a qark inside an atomic nucleus, inside an atom, attached to a DNA molecule, inside a nucleus of a white blood cell, slightly below the skin on a hand of a man asleep at a picnic on some grass in Chicago....all the way to the scale of the universe. My son and I will transverse the middle 1/3 or 1/2 of the journey. He gets to pick his own bedtime books and he chooses this one out of hundreds once or twice a week.
The pictures make a great way to explain the concept of scale and various aspects of science. On the facing page of the main picture underconsideration are objects of the same scale. You can really see that the tail of a dinosaur is 10 times longer than a man.
For the adult, it is an easy introduction to various aspects of science all at different scales. It is not a super serious book - no math - simple explanations. But as a practicing scientist, I view it as vary factual.
The original film was potent too; more so in the directness with which it expresses the scale of the world. But the book, with its annotations and additional pictures, has its own power. You can flip back and forth, and take as much time as you want absorbing the incredible range of scale in the universe.
The book's first picture is scaled at about a billion light years across--ten to the twenty-fifth metres. On this scale even super-clusters of galaxies are just clots of dust on a black background. The right hand side of each page, as you go through the book, zooms in by a factor of ten, and we dive into galaxy clusters, into our galaxy, our spiral arm, our solar system, through the moon's orbit and into the earth's atmosphere, down into North America, and then Chicago, and a picnicker asleep in a park. After twenty five pages we're at a human scale; the pictured scene is a metre across. But the camera continues to zoom in; to the picnicker's hand, through his skin to a lymphocyte, and on down through the cell nucleus to coils of DNA, to a carbon atom and through its electron cloud, and down to the nucleus and beyond. Sixteen pages from the picnicker have brought us to the quarks.
The left hand side of each page provides companion pictures and comments, some drawn from the history of science. For the nanometre picture there's a copy of John Dalton's two-hundred-year-old models of simple molecules; at the millimetre and tenth-millimetre scale there are pictures of radiolaria, seeds, and other microscopic beauties. All are interesting and informative.
I can't recommend this book too strongly--it's a fundamental work of scientific culture, and should be in every house. However, I particularly recommend that you buy this for any nine-to-fourteen-year-old child in your life; it's the best way I know to introduce a child to a love of science.
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Characters from the series collect in the Dreaming to share memories of Morpheus. The first few books of this collection are exactly what the title implies - a wake. The stories of the Sandman collection receive their final detailing and a new Dream (yet, oddly the same Dream) assumes the throne.
The final two books are my favorites, though. Hob, Dream's human friend of the past few hundred years, tries to deal with the loss of his friend while attending a Renissance Fair with his girlfriend. Combined with the sorrow of the loss, Hob is also starting to feel his age and is wracked with guilt about his past. At the height of this, he gets drunk and has a conversation with Dream's older sister.
The last story stands on its own: a wise man's journey through a Shifting Zone, done in a style unique to the story.
This collection gives a sense of closure, and is probably the best installment since "Doll's House" or even "24 Hours". A must-own.
The Wake is a story about death and endings and farewells, and it is an end to the series, but only in the sense of the Death tarot card: representing transformation, rebirth, the closing of a door and the opening of a window. As Dream told Orpheus: "You attend the funeral. You bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you go on with your life." That's what the characters are doing in this book. It also contains the story of another wanderer in the shifting zones, (a parallel to "Soft Places"), and the writing of Shakespeare's last play (a parallel to "Midsummer Night's Dream.") All told, The Wake is a graceful coda to the bittersweet symphony (so shoot me for the reference) that is SANDMAN.
The king is dead. Long live the king.
"The Sandman" has always been about change, about those who can and those who cannot. This, the last in the Sandman series, ties together the ending threads of the story, and in the process reaffirms how wonderful a writer Neil Gaiman is. Never the showman, his prose quietly and powerfully speaks for him and his characters.
The artwork is, as always, brilliant. Michael Zulli's work on the main "Wake" storyline is amazing, and Charles Vess outdoes himself again for the very last story, "The Tempest." But most remarkable in this writer's opinion is Jon Muth's work for "Exiles", a quietly powerful piece that manages to express best what "The Sandman" was about; his art is a perfect match for it.
There are precious few proper endings, and ones that bring a tear to your eye are even rarer. This is one of the few books that accomplishes both.
It saved me, big time! In plain language, and with easy-to-follow pictures throughout, this book literally taught me all about immunology--it is the reason I passed my classes; NOT sitting stunned in some lecture hall listening to some guy drone. It took some work, and I had to read the book almost front-to-back, but it is a WONDERFUL text.
This book is not really a graduate caliber text, however. For specific and more technical aspects, books like the one by Paul are going to be the ticket. But even now, when looking to brush up on my basics, design pictures for a lecture, etc. I refer back to this book first. Only 3 years old, my copy is dog-eared, worn, and well-used. I often end up with classmates and professors asking to use it, too.
If you find yourself desperate and failing in an immunology class, BUY THIS BOOK AND READ IT. If you are taking any immunology text, and your prof has chosen a really cruddy book you are having difficulty understanding, do the same. If you're a professor trying to teach an immunology class, USE THIS BOOK. Make life a whole lot easier on your students--and you, when grading and evaluations time comes around!
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Regardless of your opinion, there's no arguing with the strips presented in Peanuts Treasury, originally published in 1968 during what was arguably Schulz's prime. Schulz had spent most of the 50's gradually developing the cast as well as his technique, and by the dawn of the 60's, he was running full steam; it's no wonder that the strip was also at the height of its popularity.
This hardcover collection presents the cream of the crop between 1959 and 1964, and at just $9.98, it's a steal. A rather bare-bones book (the cover is very sparse and the only addition is a brief introduction written back in August of 1968), I was surprised at how funny and sharp Peanuts could be. If you're a big fan of Calvin & Hobbes, you'll definitely see the huge inspiration Schulz served on Watterson. Calvin isn't anything like the Peanuts characters, but a lot of his world views, sarcasm, and humor feel like they evolved from these strips.
The presentation isn't perfect: some of the stories running through a few strips feel like they aren't in correct chronological order, and the Sunday strips aren't in color (a small complaint, though, since the artwork, particularly the use of color, was never that elaborate). Nevertheless, if you're looking for just one Peanuts collection to own, or if you just couldn't understand what the fuss was over this strip, check this collection out.
This collection missed the chance to have a detailed introduction about Charles Schulz and the Peanuts characters. Such an introduction would have added value far beyond its cost.
The printing is so poorly done in places that it is hard to identify Charlie Brown as himself. It felt like reading a comic strip on a light colored paper bag in places.
But, the price is amazingly low. While a quality version of this book would have undoubtedly retailed for ... or more, this one is priced as though it has only 40 pages in it.
So if you want lots of Peanuts for very little money, this is your edition.
You'll find Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Sally, Peppermint Patty, and Violet in these strips. Some of the strips are classics that you have not seen in many years. There are some good ones of Lucy and her lemonade stand/psychiatric clinic, Charlie Brown trying to kick the football while Lucy holds, Snoopy dreaming of being the Red Baron, Halloween and the Great Pumpkin, and Charlie Brown playing on and managing the kids' baseball team.
One of the benefits of this book is that you can read through extended sequences of strips to see their connections in ways that you could not do when you only saw them daily. It helps you appreciate Charles Schulz's narrative ability more. For example, the book starts with Lucy burying Linus' blanket. Separate story lines develop as Linus searches for it, tries to get along without it, Snoopy finds it for him, and Linus deals with the after effects. I remembered the sequence, but not all the ins and outs of the story. That probably means that I had missed some of the strips at the time. Perhaps you did, too.
You will definitely relive your younger days with these strips. If you only know the later Peanuts strips, I think you will like these better. They are fresher and more direct in their stories.
After you have finished reading all about Peanuts, I encourage you to think about all of the ways that we can make life easier or more difficult for each other. If we are like Lucy, we will add more complications than benefits. If we are too trusting and hard on ourselves like Charlie Brown, less will happen than the best also. I suggest that you reframe Lucy and Charlie Brown into one character who is both more aware and more caring than the average of the two. Then imagine how these stories would change.
Next, compare what you did today to what that new character would have done. What opportunities for improvement does that comparison present to you, for your life? Act on them!
Laugh at Peanuts, then at yourself, and then improve!
Warning: do not confuse this book with the "Peanuts Treasury" *series* of books that reprint strips from the early 1990's.
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About a year ago, I added SuperSelf to my success library and started to implement the strategies. I thought that the fincnail success principles I had learned from Givens were unparalleled, I was wrong. SuperSelf is even better. I literally felt 10 feet tall and bullet proof! After following the advice and enjoying a SuperSelf experience, I raised the limits of what I am really capable of achieving in life.
A week after finishing the book, I got news that my company was a victim of a hostile takeover and I among hundreds of others in higher managerment positions would be let go. WOW! Talk about challenges to my new attitude.
I decided to follow Mr. Givens advice that this was just an event and I could get past it easily. Prior to SuperSelf, I would have been flattened by this challenge. Instead, I went out and started my own business which has been doing extraordinarily well.
What impresses me is that I didn't get upset at all. Instead I used this as an opportunity to create my own business and invest in residential properties which pays me more than my former employer and is a lot more fun.
I used to and actually still do keep More Wealth without risk at my fingertips as a reminder to always use "Givens" strategies when making financial decisions. It is now underneath my copy of SuperSelf.
After reading More Wealth Without Risk, I used to tell people that I ran with it because every strategy worked. Compared to what I learned in SuperSelf, I was just walking or trotting. Now I'm not running, but sprinting.
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I've had this little book in my hands since its first publishing and have given countless copies to others along the way. Professionals have been using it for years. From White House summits overseas to professional athletes competing abroad-- this little book has been their answer for enhancing the quality of their trips with optimum mental and physical performance.
For some years this little gem was "Hard to Find," but I never gave up trying to locate a copy. Now it's reprint can once again benefit everyone to be side effects free. It worked for me so well that I still follow the diet to maintain a healthy even weight. This little book is GREAT and one of my most very favorite. Go for it.
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I have used many translations over the years. But I find myself always going back to the NASB. I just know that when all is said and done, I "trust" it. I use the NIV also, but there are just too many passages in the NIV that, upon closer examination, add or subtract from the text of the original Greek. For example, in Luke 9:62 the NIV translators add two words to the text that are not in the Greek "...no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for SERVICE IN the kingdom of God." The NASB simply translates what the actual Greek text says--"...look back IS FIT FOR the kingdom of God." If I did not know Greek, I would not have known that the NIV adds words that are not in the Greek text. In short, the NAS does not supply so much "interpretation" to the actual Greek text. It sticks to "translation." I just find over and over again, that when I read my NIV I either have to pull out my Nestle Greek text or my NAS to see if that is what the verse REALLY says.
The NIV is a great translation in many ways, but for serious Bible study, the NASB is, I believe, the most trustworthy translation on the market. And so, if you are going to go with the NASB text, why not get one with the best aesthetic qualities as well? This Bible has it all!!!
Only 3 drawbacks: I wish this Bible had included:
1. the cross-references found in most editions of the NASB
2. ALL of the footnotes that appear in most editions of the NASB (this one is pretty bare-bones), and
3. a little more margin space on the inside margins (not a whole lot of room to write on the inside margins).
But on the whole, I love it and am glad I purchased it. It's my favorite Bible (and I have many Bibles).
Unfortunately, all the Bible has is text and concordance with coloured maps in the back, and wide margins. No helps whatsoever.
I would even hesitate before I marked up the Bible, that's how beautiful it is. However, if all you want is a pretty cover, buy it. Otherwise, forget it. Other NASBU reference or study Bibles in genuine or top-grain leather are available at lesser cost. So, save yourself a few bucks and get yourself something that has more information.
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The book is filled with wonderful insights like that one and reminds us on nearly every page of the real reasons why golfers love this sometimes maddening, often magical, game. For those of us who never will have the pleasure of sharing a round with Charles Slack, this book is a delightful substitute.
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There is a boy named Peter Pan. He sprinkles fairy dust in Wendy and her two brothers. Then he shows them how to fly. He takes them to Neverland and shows them to the Lost Boys who live there. Wendy becomes their mother. She makes up rules, like any other mother would do. The boys have to follow these rules. Everything was fine until Captain Hook came with his crew to where the boys and Wendy were. While Wendy and the boys were at the lagoon, where they go every day after dinner, they see a girl named Tiger Lily, princess of her tribe. She was captured by Smee, one of Captain Hook's men. Then Peter saved her. A few days later Wendy and the boys were on their way to Wendy's house when they too were all captured by Captain Hook. Then Peter saves them. Then the lost boys, Wendy and her brothers go home. All except for Peter.
It is mostly about what the people in the book think is right with childhood. The kids in the book think that if you grow up it is bad, but in our case it is actually good.
Peter Pan is a violent book not really made for children under the age of 10 but people 10 and up can read it. It is violent because of the language that is spoken and the idea that killing could be fun. Also, the vocabulary is very difficult for children under 10 to understand. Even if you're older it is difficult to understand.
Overall, it is a good book but watch out for the violent ideas if you are reading it to little children.
It's difficult to know what to say about a book like this... everybody knows the story. But I guess that unless you've read this book (not just seen a movie or read a retelling), you don't really know the character Peter Pan, and without knowing the character, you don't really know the story. So read it.
By the way, if you enjoy this, you probably would also like "Sentimental Tommy" and its sequel "Tommy and Grizel", both by Barrie. There are differences (for one thing they're not fantasy), but there are also compelling similarities. Anybody who found Peter Pan a deep and slightly bittersweet book would be sure to enjoy them.
-Stephen
Although the book does have lots of textual info pages, the core of the book is a series of 42 full-page pictures which depict the an ordinary picnic photo in different scales.
Starting from an ordinary dude resting on the grass, each page turn shows the scene from 10 times farther away. First we see the park he is picnicing on, then the entire city, and before you know it we are in deep space racing towards the outskirts of the Universe.
On the other side of the journey, each page turn magnifies the last picture tenfold. First by viewing a close-up view of the picnicing guy's hand, you quickly find yourself probing deeper and deeper through the realms of biology and chemistry right into the core of a single atom.
The really cool thing about the whole deal, is that all the images are centered at the same object: a single atom on the picnicing dude's hand.
In short, the idea is absolutely brilliant. The images chosen for the presentation is not perfect, but they are still amazing. Of-course, the film is much more impressive then the book, but you can't take a film with you to a camping trip...