In the first part of this excellent field guide, families of butterflies are presented together on color plates, ably illustrated by Amy Bartlett Wright. This allows the reader to compare similar looking species--a must with hard-to-differentiate groups like the Blues, where minute differences mean the difference between one genus and another. The illustrations are cross-referenced to fuller descriptions in the second part of the book. Here there is additional information about appearance, food, habitat, flight, and range. As a beginner, I especially like author Paul Opler's decision to organize the butterflies by taxon rather than appearance. As I identify butterflies in the field, I am also learning a bit about the science of these beautiful creatures. Highly recommended.

Although it's a very good translation, I prefer to read the books of Plutarchos in the original Greek texts because the version of Dryden is now somewhat obsolete. And if you don't understand the ancient Greek language well, I recommend you to read several volumes of Plutarch in THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY.

After having read McCullogh's splendid series on Rome, I turned to this fat, dense book with great expectations. I was not disappointed: the stories are endlessly fascinating, from their basic details on ancient history to the bizarre asides that reveal the pre-Christianised mind-set of the author.

Like all great books, this one can be read on innumerable levels. First, there is the moralising philosophy that is perhaps the principal purpose of the author to advance - each life holds lessons on proper conduct of great and notorious leaders alike. You get Caesar, Perikles, and Alcibiades, and scores of others who are compared and contrasted. Second, there is the content. Plutarch is an invaluable source of data for historians and the curious. Third, there is the reflection of religious and other beliefs of the 1C AD: oracles and omens are respected as are the classical gods. For example, while in Greece, Sulla is reported as having found a satyr, which he attempted unsuccesfully to question for its auguring abilities during his miltary campaign in Greece! It is a wonderful window into the mystery of life and human belief systems. That being said, Plutarch is skeptical of these occurances and both questions their relevance and shows how some shrewd leaders, like Sertorious with his white fawn in Spain, used them to great advantage.

Finally, this is a document that was used for nearly 2000 years in schools as a vital part of classical education - the well-bred person knew all these personalities and stories, which intimately informed their vocabulary and literary references until the beginning of the 20C. That in itself is a wonderful view into what was on people's minds and how they conceived things over the ages. As is well known, Plutarch is the principal source of many of Shakespeare's plays, such as Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. But it was also the source of the now obscure fascination with the rivalry of Marius and Sulla, as depicted in paintings and poetry that we still easily encounter if we are at all interested in art. Thus, this is essential reading for aspiring pedants (like me).

Of course, there are plenty of flaws in the work. It assumes an understanding of much historical detail, and the cases in which I lacked it hugely lessened my enjoyment. At over 320 years old, the translation is also dated and the prose somewhat stilted, and so it took me 300 pages to get used to it. Moreover, strictly speaking, there are many inaccuracies, of which the reader must beware.

Warmly recommended as a great and frequently entertaining historical document.

Plutarch's history isn't always the most accurate -- he clashes with Arrian and Quintus Curtius on Alexander, for example -- but it sure is a lot of fun...Plutarch weaves in lots of interesting little anecdotes and his narrative arcs are always complete without being too long. It's also great for leisurely reading; there are so many Lives, you can pick one up on any rainy afternoon, long car drive, or what have you, and don't even need to know a whole lot of context to get the gist of what's going on. For fans of history and biography, or just stories in general, this is as good as it gets.

I recommend the Modern Library edition because it's complete (with the two volumes, that is) and because the Dryden translation is very colorful even though it's old-school -- you're bound to pick up a lot of cool vocabulary. Also, don't quite know how to put it, but his translation just seems more...classic. It fits, get it.

I have used this guide for 25 years. It is excellent for casual North American birders. It is compact, inexpensive and covers all birds normally found in North America. It has good illustrations of all birds one would normally encounter and good descriptions of the birds. It has some outstanding features found in no other birding guide such as heads of all sparrows on two facing pages so that they are all right there together where they can be easily compared. It has the same layout for winter peeps and fall warblers. This feature in itself makes the book worth having.

How they can sell this book at such a low price is beyond me. Lots of quality here.

Look at the cover with the buntings: it's not just some recycled art from the interior, but a specially painted picture just for the cover. This is part of the value that the authors offer you.

More importantly, the illustrations really capture what the birds look like in real life -- to my mind better than other paintings in guides and a thousand times better than photos -- and the text is clear and to the point.

Sections that showcase winter plumage of gulls or peeps or that illustrate the heads of warblers or sparrows have the page numbers right next to each picture so you can just whip over to bird in question if you need more information.

I especially like the fact that the range maps are right next to the bird's picture so you don't have to thumb to some inconvenient map index the back of the book only to find that the bird is never present in your area. Everything is right there to help you make a quick identification.

"Birds of North America" is a truly excellent guide. It may not be the most comprehensive, but it certainly is the most useful. It's probably the all-around greatest birding field guide out there. The illustrations are very well done, and the size of the book is easily manageable. This book is detailed enough to accomodate all but the most demanding and professional birders, but user-friendly enough to not overwhelm the amateur.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

Yea, The book could definently use some improvements, but overall the pictures did depict the birds pretty well. The only species illustrated {in color} are those endemic ONLY to the Carib islands. Any birds that are seen in the continental US are only given black and white drawings, and small descriptions. So a field guide and familiarity to eastern migratory birds are a plus! I am VERY dissapointed with the quality of the pages in the book. After a week in the Islands, mine looks worse than any of my regular guides! Bring a water-proof sleeve or something, because it's going to get wet! Not a bad book though, I had a lot of fun, and pretty much every bird you see tends to be a new species! Have fun!

Hard core 007 afficianados will notice a pile of 007 in-jokes that are scattered throught the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day". Among them: While in a Cuban office, Pierce Brosnan casually picks up a first edition of this book, which, as others have noted, is where Ian Fleming came up with 007's name. Better than available alternatives I suppose ("My name is Audobon - - John James Audobon..."

How can anyone find this confusing? This is a pretty simple work, and I find it difficult to believe that anyone can be confused as to what it's about. And why would you need Cliff Notes for this?

In any event, my problem with this play is that its just too simple: not enough meat and the characters aren't all that interesting. Yes, it shows us how narrow-minded the Puritans were. It's also an allegory for McCarthyism, for those of you who don't know. But do we really need this play to point out what it tells us about human nature? I personally find it overly long and overly dull for what it's trying to convey.

i was required to read this book for an english class, and am glad i did, because it really made one think about how narrow minded the puritans were and how that really brought on the hangings of the so called witches. this is definately a book to read.

this is a great piece of art by arthur miller. he catches your attention with the lies and injustices of the 1600's. this is a good book because of it's content. the speech is, as it was in that time. it tells a tale of a little girl who gets caught being "naughty" and blames it on the circumstances of those she doesn't like or has problems with. this book teaches that to lie about something that could have been small makes it much larger and much more complicated to deal with. the girl in this this book is in witchcraft and is caught dancing naked in the woods by her uncle who is the reverend. with her are two other girls, a servant, and a cousin. the town is brought down to a level where every one is accusing every one else for past happeneings. farmowners are accusing neighbors of it so that the land is auctioned off at low prices so that they can increase the quality of their own land. it becomes a big issue when it could have been solved completely with a simple confession. the subject is blown out of proportion and it destryos a lot of lives and families. the truth is finally found after nine-teen people are hanged for the crime of witchcraft. i reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys "a good book".

The book "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court"starts out with a man named Hank Morgan getting hit over the head witha crow bar during an argument. He awakes to find himself in 600ADCamelot where he gets taken captive by a knight and is to be burned at the stake. Hank tells everyone he's a magacian and uses a solar eclipse to his advantage to be freed from death. He becomes good friends with the king and goes on many adventures with him. Hank tries to modernize civilization but in the end fails miserably. I absolutely hated this book. It would go for pages on end where you wouldn't understand a single word they said. Many times they would attempt to throw in humor but... This book was VERY unrealistic with warping through time and having a solar eclipse fall right on the day of his execution. In conclusion, this book was a waste of my time and and will probably a waste of yours too.

I am a fan of most of Mark Twain's works; his wit and charm are unsurpassed, and are ultimately what makes his books worth reading. However, although the book contained elements of these traits, I felt it read more like a technical manual for modernizing a backward people. This made it a tedious read.

I read Connecticut Yankee and found it quite good. However, instead of reviewing the book per se, I would like to post a rebuttal to the views posted by the person from Minnesota and the person from Tibet.

The Minnesota person claimed that reading this book was a complete waste of time and furthermore that there were long passages that seemed incomprehensible. I can see how this might be true for a person of finite literary sophistication, so I'm going to assume that the reader must have been a high school student who tackled reading beyond his/her level of understanding, patience, and appreciation. The book is rich with historic accuracy about medieval life and every page is packed with subtle, humorous digs at both 6th century ignorance as well as criticism of his own 19th century attitude toward progress in the industrial northern states from where our protagonist hails. Obviously, the reader from Minnesota missed the point.

The reader from Tibet accused Twain of having anti-religious views. Twain's criticism was not of religion; it was of the church's hypocritical practices in _both_ the 6th and 19th centuries. It is still true today. In chapter 10, Twain writes: "Everybody could be any kind of Christian he wanted to; there was perfect freedom in that matter. But...I was afraid of a united Church; it makes a mighty power, the mightiest conceivable, and then when it by-and-by gets into selfish hands, as it is always bound to do, it means death to human liberty, and paralysis to human thought."

When was this more true than in the middle ages, when the Catholic Church orchestrated Crusades, was genteel in an age of feudalism, and later killed infidels in their inquisitions? It's clear that Twain simply doesn't wish to have a sectarian bias influence secular affairs; our First Amendment supports Twain's point of view.

You'd do best to disregard those other reviews, which hold Twain responsible for their own lack of understanding and appreciation of his novel, and read the book for yourself. It will be well worth your time.

Being a long-time Seattle-dweller, and even longer-time Western Washington native, this book irritates me. The author hasn't spent enough time in Seattle to truly appreciate the wonderful things about the city, not to mention he consistently dates both himself and the text by referring to events/people/places that are no longer in rapid use in the Seattle vernacular/mindset. Seattle is about MORE than coffee, grunge (ugh.. could that irritating phase have passed more quickly?), Microsoft, Boeing and rain. I'd recommend the Fodor's and Lonely Planet series to anyone who really wants a good feel for the city. Fodor's may be snooty, but at leats it's up-to-date instead of dated.

I very recently relocated to Portland, and getting prepared for my move I went searching for guidebooks. Since the title word "Irreverent" caught my eye, I was thinking this book would be a great "insider's look" to Portland and its quirks.

Now that I am living in Portland, I found that this text lacks severely in the "insider's look" aspect. I would especially NOT recommend this for younger people like myself. This "insider's look" is definitely not geared towards my generation. For example, the flannel and torn up jeans look is so outdated, yet the author writes about Portland fashion like it's a crime to not look like you just rolled out of bed. For much better insider's info, pick up a free Willamette Week when you get to Portland.

This guidebook does have its merits. It is written more personally than many guidebooks, it's easy to follow, and it has its humorous moments. However, you can find better (and free) technical info (where to stay, how to get where you want to go, best bets for visitors, etc.) at the Portland visitor's website, or at Pioneer Square in downtown Portland. For a good guidebook for "Generation X", and those about to relocate to the Pacific Northwest, I would highly recommend Best Places Portland. It provides much more detail and I find that the price guidelines are super helpful for people like me living on a limited budget.

Had I relied solely on Frommer's Irreverent Guide to guide me through Portland, I believe I would have been completely lost upon getting here. Save your money for a movie and a beer at a McMenamins theater.

Though I appreciated its humor, this book was a little lacking on some of the basic necessities in living in Portland. The sections dedicated to parks and recreation, for example, don't mention as much as you would want. On the other hand, it gives excellent background, trivia, and local interest facts. It's a fun book, but if you want something a little meatier, I recommend the City Smart Guidebook of Portland by Linda Nygaard.