This story reminded me of my own growing-up years, not in Alaska, but on a reservation, nevertheless. It is a powerful book and reminds me of the strength our people have to survive, despite the odds, and interference of another culture. Velma, thanks for sharing in an honest and sensitive way, and letting us know we were not alone.

Raising Ourselves: A Gwich'in Coming Of Age Story From The Yukon River is the personal testimony of Velma Wallis (a full blooded member of one of the Gwich'in clans that had settled where the Porcupine River flows into the Yukon) on what it was like grow up as a Native American in an Alaska dominated by white teachers, traders, and missionaries. The endless battle against despair, alcoholism, and the loss or forgetting of all the ways that were once practiced permeate this courageous and thoughtful memoir. Raising Ourselves is a welcome, engagingly written, and very highly recommended addition to academic and community library Native American collections.

Velma, once again thank you so much for having the courage to bring your stories to paper. I bought this book because of my love for the Gwich'in people. I knew about the sustinance living and the tents with the stoves, the hunting, the alcoholism and various other things, but this book puts everything I had heard, and more, into the perspective of a complete picture. You get the feeling you know the people involved because she has described her entire family in detail. Drawing us in so close to her inner world, she gives us the sense that we are experiencing a Gwich'in childhood in the village with her. In addition, the tragic stories of the liquor problems in Fort Yukon are heartbreaking. I now have a better understanding why some villages chose to go "dry."
Mostly, Velma's story left me with the lesson: that we all have dysfunctional families in one way or another, and as much as you can love them, sometimes you just have to face that you can't change them. But what you do have the power to do is to look in your heart for what makes you happy and follow your dreams and live out your potential. Only you can do that for yourself. And all you can do for your family really, is to just love them.

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.

I am extremely satisfied with my recent purchase of this Bible.

The references to different aspects of Scripture are easily accessed. My particular interest of Scriptures relating to Israel, it's people and it's land and Biblical prophecies relative to Israel are there at your fingertips.

My only criticism is in relation to the 'political correctness' of Mr. Jeffery's own writings in enclosed articles supporting areas of Scripture where he uses the term 'Palestine' out of it's correct geographical and historical context.

Palestine being the regional name given to Israel and adjacent areas after the suppression of the second Jewish revolt by the Roman Emperor, Hadrian, in AD135. The original name being 'Syria Palaestina' which eventually became anglicised into 'Palestine' and which was subsequently replaced by Israel upon it's rebirth in 1948.

Mr. Jeffery uses the term 'Palestine' incorrectly in some old maps and also in one area relating to Old Testament prophets who were around long before the term 'Palestine' ever existed.

If you can live with this, or amend it even, this will be an excellent Bible to possess. In all other ways it is to be highly recommended. The ability to easily access so many different aspects of the Bible is remarkable and such an aid to understanding.

One practicle reason I like this bible is that it contains in concise form the important topics of the end times. The notes are focused on prophecy so you are not reading a book with one hand and looking up the verses cited with the other. The bible contains numerous articles, maps, charts and illustrations. The articles are particularly helpful and include topics such as: The Battle of Gog and Magog (I finally understand wshere this battle falls in the end time events), The Antichrist, The Seventy Weeks, The Tribulation etc.

I have many bibles and this is one of the ones I use regularly.

Finally. A well thought out and well executed book about a major movement in American art that is often dismissed as being one dimensional. Dennis' introspective look into the most revered "Regionalist" artists not only offers engaging scholarship, but a very good education in American social history as well. A must read for anyone who thinks they know what "Regionalism" is.

This book makes you rethink any ideas you might have about Regionalism. Whether you agree with James Dennis or not is up to you, but he certainly does bring up some very interesting ideas. The basic ideas of the Regionalism school are initially laid out for the reader, and from this beginning it is already possible to see the weak foundation of the very definition of "Regionalism," as it was defined NOT by the artists, but by their critics and the public. The sterotyping generalities inherent in this 'school' set the stage for Dennis' questioning of the similarities of the work of Thomas Hart Benton, Grant Wood, and John Steurat Curry, the triumvirate of Regionalism. The author proceeds to explicate the inherent differences between the 3 artists' work, as well as the eventually obvious flawed general definition of "Regionalism." Dennis breaks down his discussions into realism vs. abstraction, realistic subject matter vs. fantasies, the ideas of nationalism and fascism in the artists' work, their varying depictions of women, and finally compares the three Regionalists to three contemporary modernists, Charles Demuth, Charles Sheeler, and Marsden Hartley. Dennis concludes with the assertion that the so-called "Regionalists" are in many ways more "modern" than their modernists contemporaries. The book has plenty of pictures, sadly only in black and white, and thus the book is a surprisingly quick read. Each chapter is thorough however, and must be studied to be fully understood. The reader should have some art historical background, and some knowledge of the history of the first half of the 20th century. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in Regionalism, and the history of American art. Makes you think.

The behaviorist school of psychology has so dominated research for almost 60 years. Finally, the tide is beginning to turn in the opposite direction. New research is showing without doubt that humans have underestimated animals to an extreme degree. This book examines the "Umwelt" of various animals and illustrates very complex behavior, even in animals as startling different than us as the honeybee. The authors are honeybee behavior researchers. Other works on the subject have come from researchers working with Mammals. Beautifully illustrated.

THIS BOOK HELPED ME AND MY COLLECTOR FRIENDS SO MUCH , THAT I HAD TO GIVE IT TO ONE OF THEM WHO DOES NOT LIVE IN THE USA, AND THAT IS WHY I AM NOW BUYING MY SECI=OND COPY. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

This book is a treasure. I used it several years ago as a sophomore in high school to prepare for the AP Examination in Biology. Wonderfully illustrated, exceptionally written, and very easy to use!

I got a "5" on the exam, which is the highest score attainable... I think that speaks for itself!

I read this book in April of 2002 before going to Scotland for ten days on business and pleasure. Please pardon the lack of detail in this review, since it has been a year. It gave me a good foundation for understanding many aspects of Scottish society and history. I did not want to read a simple tourist reference guide about the attractions of Scotland-I desired to know more about the people and culture. It turned out to be a terrific book was for me.

Author, Jamie Grant, touches uses his "Guide to Customs and Etiquette" to describe history, stereotypes and the nature of the people, "fitting in", doing business, arts & entertainment, food & drink, the outdoors, The Highlands, and Do's and Don't. His humor makes helps to make an already interesting book fresh.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone going to Scotland who wants to get a comprehensive overview of Scotland, especially if it is their first time. I learned a lot from it.

-EH

No less an eminent man of letters than Mark Twain called Ulysses S. Grant's "Personal Memoirs" "the best [memoirs] of any General's than Caesars." Having now read this outstanding work along with those of Julius Caesar, William T. Sherman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Omar Bradley, Colin Powell and H. Norman Schwarzkopf, I must agree with Mark Twain's assessment. For sheer honesty, humility, and simple but powerful language, U.S. Grant's memoirs are without peer.

Grant allows the reader to go along with him and live once again his experiences during the Mexican War and American Civil War. He interjects his own judgments and opinions sparingly, yet always honestly. Where he feels he made mistakes, he admits them freely, and his criticisms of his colleagues is always tempered by an obvious attitude of professionalism. The fact that Grant wrote a memoir of such eloquence while dying from cancer makes it all the more powerful a book.

I found this modern library edition especially outstanding. The introductory notes by Caleb Carr and Geoffrey Perret, while brief, are extremely informative. Maps and etchings from the original 1885 Charles Webster & Co. edition are included, as is General Grant's report to Secretary of War Stanton on Civil War operations during 1864-65. This appendix makes fantastic reading by itself!

I highly recommend this outstanding edition to all Civil War and military history enthusiasts. It is simply the best military memoir I've ever read.

Being a Civil War buff, I just received a copy of the old 2-volume edition of this book as a birthday present. It turned out to be one of the better presents I have received. Grant begins by stating that he will NOT present all the details of each campaign and battle. He keeps this promise. Rather, the book is a general overview of his background, youth, and military career from Mexico through the Civil War. I expected some self-aggrandizement, but was (pleasantly)surprised by Grant's frankness and obvious sincerity. He tells things as he experienced them, with no flourishes. When he was wrong, he says so. When credit belongs to someone else, he also says so. It is a straight-forward story by an obviously straight-forward man. Knowing that he was soon to die, Grant wrote a remarkably honest piece - especially compared to the works of some of his contemporaries. When I finished reading the book, I don't believe that I knew that much more about the war itself. Rather, my strongest impression was of Grant's character; that I had, in a sense, met the man. It is a book NOT be to missed.

Grant's memoirs are a must-read for any serious student of the Civil War. While praise is heaped upon Confederate generals such as Lee and Jackson, Grant's legacy has always been a little more uncertain. His reputation has been associated with allegations of drunkenness, and with an apparent unflinching ability to send men to their slaughter which this book helps to dispel.

Lincoln loved Grant, as he was the first Union commander who seemed willing to fight it out with Lee's army, and who enjoyed any consistent success. When one considers Grant's predecessors at the helm of the Union army, one can understand Lincoln's enthusiasm. You had McClellan, who never read an exaggerated report of the enemy size he didn't believe; "Fighting Joe Hooker", flanked and embarrassed at Chancellorsville; Burnside, who foolishly sent wave after wave of Union soldiers across the Rappahanock to attack an impregnable stone wall at Fredericksburg; and Pope, who was soundly beaten at Manassas. Meanwhile, Grant caught Abe's attention with his successful siege of Vicksburg in the summer of 1863, as Meade was beating Lee at Gettysburg.

Reading Grant's Memoirs is a fascinating experience, as the war, at least that part of it involving Grant, comes to life in the hands of a thoughtful commentator. Grant was obviously there, and he shares informative communications with his inferior officers (such as Sherman) and with the President. Grant sent many men to their doom to be sure, (the Wilderness campaign comes to mind as being especially bloody and ineffective), but overall you get the sense that Grant was respected by his men, who were happy to be marching forward and not backwards after a battle. He restored a sense of pride and accomplishment that was sorely lacking in the Union rank and file. He gave cogent reasons in his memoirs for the actions undertaken, sometimes admitting mistakes in humble fashion, and sometimes explaining why a siege would accomplish the same overall goal without unnecessary bloodshed.

My only regret is that Grant didn't live long enough to write a companion memoir about his presidency, which was clearly outside the scope of this book. Readers who have gotten this far in the Amazon review process are no doubt aware that a broke Grant, stricken with painful throat cancer, wrote out his Memoirs of the Civil War right up until the end of his life to provide financially for his family, finishing the book days before he died. We should all be grateful that he was able to preserve these pages for prosperity, they are truly a model of military memoirs that I consider an extremely rewarding reading experience. When one considers the circumstances in which Grant composed this work, the end result is nothing short of miraculous.

I'm an aspiring promoter and I found this book simply outstanding. This book gave me a vivid picture on how to put on a fund raising event. It was very easy to read and gives valuable information for organizations to build a fund raising concert. I really don't like to read and I found Mr Hollan's personal experiences very interesting. I was further intrigue by the planning and professionalism outline in each chapter. For anyone wishing to put on a fundraising concert, I highly recommend this book. Thanks Mr. Hollan for writing such a great book!

I love cher's concert book becouse i love her and i love her concerts.cher is a GREAT person to be a singer,a acter,and to make her own books. Cher was so luck do be married to Sonny.

The author dispenses a complete and concise guide that can be used by any organization in planning the benefit concert. The arrangement of chapters allows the committee to walk through the process knowing full well what is involved. Hollan's sense of humor is evident throughout the book and it is apparent that he has an uncanny ability to attend to detail without losing sight of the goal. Much of the book can be used by individuals or organizations in planning events other than concerts; his tips for dealing with sponsors and the media are very helpful. A great resource for any event planner!