For nature lovers, the descriptions of whaling practices may be difficult and painful to read. But, if you are intersted in maritime history, this book has a whole lot to offer. Ellis has several 'interludes' throughout the book that describe life aboard a whaling ship in addition to some amazing stories of shipwrecks and mutiny on the high seas. One would think that the whaling industry had hit it's peak in the late 19th and early 20th century. But the sad truth is that it wasn't until the mid 20th century that whaling hit it's peak. The later chapters in the book describe the 'modern' whaling practices. These chapters tell the saddest tales of men and whales. The pictures of 'factory' ships used for whaling clearly illustrate the brutality and butchery of the modern whaling industry. It is profoundly sad to think that the brunt of the human attack on whales occured so recently. Several times, Ellis mentions that certain populations of whales may be depleted to such an extent that they may never recover. But, he leaves us with hope at the end of the book with a good discussion on the international moratorium on whaling.

This book is an excellent introduction to Norse mythology for young readers. The individual myths are set down in a logical order so that the reader can understand the religious belief system of the ancient Norse people. I do not recommend this book to any adult who would enjoy a more in depth read on the subject; however, it would be a good read for an adult who just wants a quick and enjoyable overview of the subject.

I wish more children of European ancestry would embrace their heritage and read up on the myths of their folk. We can all learn a lot about who we are by studying the beliefs that are actually native to our respective peoples.

This book offers an excellent overview of the various aspects of sexuality throughout the written history of china. It covers the Chinese view of sex and gender orientation from the later Han dynasty to modern times. The book is well written and organized, with wide range of topics. I used this book as a reference for my Masters in Oriental Medicine thesis on the Chinese medicine treatment of impotence.

Richard Galzar, a Jew from Prague, survived for 10 months as a clothes-sorter in Trebinka, until his escape in the breakout of August 1943. While not a professional writer, his clear, strongly written account is an excellent source for true students of Holocaust history. The above reviewer either has not read the book or clearly seeks to defame this author, as is typical with Holocaust Deniers.

Mr Glazer has written an interesting manuscript of his war years experience however the astute reader will question many of the allegations he makes. His account of his incarceration in the Treblinka "Concentration Camp" contradicts most other survivor testimony regarding that camp (eg Yitzak Arad, Martin Gray) and recent aerial photographic evidence questions whether it existed at all.

His style is rather simplistic for such a serious topic and he never goes into much detail over any one topic. Liberal use of perjoratives and stereotypes also contributes to the novelish aura one gets. This book, while a worthwile read, unfortunately further blurs the boundary between fact and fiction regarding the period of history.

None of the previous reviewers seem to know that Richard Glazar, a young Czech, is one of the most effective eyewitnesses in Claude Lanzmann's epic masterpiece, 'Shoah.' He appears at numerous points during the parts of the film that deal with Treblinka. What comes across is his vitality, integrity, and self-awareness. He was one of the few to survive the Treblinka revolt in August 1943 in which several hundred prisoners finally managed to break out, although most did not finally survive. Glazar appears too in interviews with Gitta Sereny, 'Into that Darkness,' in her study of Franz Stangl, the commandant of Treblinka. Glazar's work is utterly authentic and a MUST READ.

While I give him credit for acknowledging the McKnight Foundation's role in his writing this book, you can tell throughout that Manning is doing it for their sake, and less for ours. Regardless, there is some interesting information about agriculture past, present and future, but I didn't feel he reaches a unified point about where we as humans should go next.

You have to approach with trepidation a book which has a cover blurb from the despicable, antihuman, scare monger Paul Ehrlich and which the author warns you was funded by a private organization (The McKnight Foundation) that funds the projects which he's going to be discussing. Right off the bat it just seems extraordinarily unlikely that you'll get a calm, balanced and non-dogmatic presentation of the issues. It's a pleasant surprise then that Richard Manning, despite a sleight over reliance on Ehrlichean "sky-is-falling" rhetoric, is able, at least to my non-expert eyes, to offer a full and fair look at some of the current debates surrounding the future of agriculture generally and, more specifically, the issues that arise out of the need to boost crop yields in developing countries to meet the rising food demands of their constantly increasing populations.

Manning's basic premise is that the original Green Revolution--largely a product of improved fertilizers, pesticides, and breeding techniques--has hit a wall and is no longer providing the types of increases in production which have characterized the past thirty or forty years. Nor is there any readily apparent successor Revolution to step in and provide the necessary increases. He proposes that the answer to pending food supply problems then will not come from such a top down revolution but rather will have to rely on myriad local solutions :

The Green Revolution at its most fundamental level treated all the world the same, but the lessons being learned in agriculture now are local. A practice, a variety, a people, and a crop endure in a place because selection has finely tuned them to survival. They have evolved along with local conditions, and the path to a sustainable future requires some respect for the results of that process.

In the ensuing chapters he surveys the results of studies in nine regions--Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, India, several parts of China, Chile, Brazil, Mexico and Peru--on unfamiliar but traditional crops like sorghum, tef, milpa, sweet potatoes, and the like, which suggest that these foodstuffs are uniquely suited to these areas and are more appropriate than Western grains. The work being done by scientists in these countries therefore focusses on how to maximize the yields of these native plants, but their work tends to be understaffed, underfunded and unappreciated. The nations after all tend to be poor, their best minds tend to emigrate to the industrialized West and there's not much interest on the part of powerful multinational corporations in these marginal crops. This is where McKnight and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) come in, providing seed money (quite literally) to keep local scientists working to improve local crops.

The best section of the book is Manning's rational and dispassionate discussion of bioengineering. Though he maintains a healthy respect for the dangers that genetic manipulation of crops could conceivably pose, he also recognizes that it is already happening on a significant scale and is going to continue regardless of hysteria like that which greets export of genetically modified American goods to Europe, that it is absolutely vital to the daunting task of boosting yields, and that it simply does not much differ from the routine ways in which man has always intervened in plant and animal breeding. Sadly missing from most of the heated argument that you hear about genetically modified foods is the simple common sense and undeniable truth of the following :

For at least ten thousand years humans have been engaged in selection, an artificial pressure on breeding populations. All the forms of life we call domestic have a genetic makeup, a code, that is artificial as a result of this pressure.

Manning does not issue a blanket approval for all bioengineering, suggesting that more limited manipulations may be more effective anyway, and are certainly less risky, but he comes down squarely in favor of using the techniques, particularly to help improve these native crops.

In the end, Manning suggests that the examples he's looked at are united by a common thread : that local knowledge, conditions, and customs should play a much more central role than they have in guiding agricultural development in Third World nations, and that they have started to, thanks in large part to the efforts of NGOs like McKnight :

All this suggests the real breakdown of the linear model. Information and knowledge will no longer flow from top to bottom but will originate in and reverberate through every part of the system. Information flows among researchers and farmers that in the end could have them working on a common ground, a common ground of knowledge. It may be difficult to define what will replace Green Revolution methods, but this concept lies at its core.

In fact, this too is a revolution, as he says, an "information revolution." Moreover, it echoes the writings of folks like F. A. Hayek on political economies, and the idea that centralized, bureaucratic, top-down decision making can not possibly be effective, precisely because it can not take into account all of the unique individual and local information bubbling up from the bottom.

It's become sort of commonplace these days to depict the ascent of Free Markets and Global Trade as a threat to the developing world, to the environment, and to local customs. But the push for free market capitalism is based on the hard won consensus that such a system offers the most efficient means of structuring an economy, that only such an open system allows for the free flow of ideas and information which is a predicate for intelligent decision making. It is really exciting to see that a similar recognition may be emerging in the field of agriculture and in those developing countries, that not only are free markets not necessarily a threat to native ways of life but that such a decentralized, fluid, information dependent, ruthlessly efficient system may be the best means of preserving local knowledge and traditions.

GRADE : B+

Richard Osberg's translation of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight comes with a short introduction, a decent glossary, and a few intresting notes, but the translation itself is very average, and the ... price tag makes this the most expensive translation currently on the market. There are several superior translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight that can be obtained at a tiny fraction of the cost of this one. I would especially recommend J.R.R. Tolkien's Ballantine paperback edition, Brian Stone's Penguin edition, or James Winny's prose translation, published by Broadview Literary Texts.

This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the medieval era. Originally written in Old English, the story has been translated by many authors. This version is, in my opinion, the best translation yet. It has the original text and the translation on facing pages for easy comparison, and a glossary of Old English terms. The story itself is an exciting tale of the adventures of Sir Gawain on his quest to fulfill a promise. It has all the elements we have come to expect from stories of the Knights of the Round Table: Magic, fighting, fair ladies, betrayal, a challenge, and the meeting of that challenge. I was first introduced to this story at the age of 9 or 10. I loved it then, and still love it now. This is the type of book that will be re-read for years to come. If you have not yet read this book, I guarantee you will not be disappointed when you do.

I admit it. I love legal thrillers. Even if it's poorly written, I still love them. And fortunately, this one is well-written and it grabs you by the throat and won't let go till the last page has turned.

Casey is a star defense attorney who takes pride in being number one, till a sordid murder trial made her take stock of her life and where she was going with that life. Casey was asked by her old professor, Dr. Lipton, to represent him in this horrorific murder trial and he claimed that he was innocent of this woman's murder. Casey won the case for him ... only to have the serial-like murders continue to happen. And the adventure has just begun.

It is a quick read ~~ I finished it in one day. It's also a page-turning read as well. If you're looking for a good book to read on that long airplane flight, I'd recommend this one. Green will keep you guessing throughout the book ... and you better make sure that you didn't miss your connecting flight ... it's that good that you can't just put it down.

6-7-02

Casey Jordan is the best defense lawyer in Texas and is looking to stretch that claim to best defense attorney nationwide. To that end she likes big, headline making, provocative cases, those with the biggest clients and the biggest risks. When Eric Lipton, nationally known criminal law professor, is accused of brutally murdering a former student, he hires Casey to defend him and she's thrilled. Though a tough case, Lipton was arrested leaving the country with the victim's bloody underwear in his luggage, it's just the kind of headline grabbing, career advancing trial she likes. And Casey does an admirable job, tearing apart defense witnesses and even laying suspicion on the victim's father. Just before the jury foreman reads the not guilty verdict, Lipton leans over and whispers into Casey's ear..."I really killed her". Now as other bodies begin to pile up, Casey is caught in a real bind, her duty to her client as an attorney and her need to see justice done. Tim Green has written a fast paced, page turner with well developed, interesting characters, powerful, riveting scenes and enough twists and turns to keep you off balance and guessing to the very end of the book. As a practicing attorney, his knowledge of the ins and outs of our criminal justice system, lend real credibility to the story. The Letter of the Law has it all, great characters, an action packed tight plot and a very satisfying ending with a few surprises thrown in.

Tim Green is a pretty amazing guy. He starting writing thrillers while still an active player in the NFL. Somewhere along the line he picked up a law degree, passed the bar on the first try, and established a business law practice. He now comments on football in USA Today and on NPR as well as announcing games for FOX (which he says is "like methadone for a heroin addict.") He also has four small children.

Somehow, in the middle of all of this he writes books. This is his first book without a hint of football and it worked pretty well for me. This is your basic vacation reading sort of a book. It has a well paced plot, is written competently and the chapters leave you wanting to read more. Green is a bit heavy handed with the forshadowing. Likewise, the is it Sales or Lipton ping-pong is overdone. (Makes you wonder how good a writer Green would be if he actually wrote full-time.)

The characters vary in quality. Most interesting for me were Sales, the murder victim's father and Bolinger, the Austin, Texas cop. Casey Jordan, the lawyer turned slueth, is harder to warm up to. As for Lipton, the law professor, he is right up there with Hannibal Lector.

Bottom-line: Not likely to win any awards but a good choice for those who like legal thrillers for their entertainment reading. It is a bit gorey for those with squeamish stomachs.

I am always glad to see new work on the Vietnam War. It is also very difficult for me to be critical of the authors out of respect for their experience. Unfortunately, that's not where Ogden takes me. I felt as though I were reading about a group of sadistic Boy Scouts in a very bent version of the "Lord of the Flies"; rather than the United States Marine Corp. I think that Ogden is obviously a talented writer and perhaps I really don't understand his approach. I do know however that I was disappointed and didn't feel enlightened in one way or the other.

i read this book several years ago and was completely blown away by it. ogden paints a picture of what vietnam was like for a small, scared kid first hand. he holds nothing back in his writing. after reading it again it still moved me. his account of hand to hand combat to the death and his views of day to day life are very vivid. i recommend this book to all readers to get a feel what it was like in the 'nam.

This is a great book, I have read almost every book out there on Vietnam and this as good as any. Very similar to 'GUNS UP' which I read just before this . Yes the writing style is different but very funny and a welcome variation. I imagine the author had to find some way to deal with all that he went through. If you like this kind of book you won't be disapointed, the action scenes are great.

Do not confuse this Monacelli Press book with the latest Rizzoli book by the same name. This one is an "artsy cofee table book" with slightly out-of-focus artsy black and white photos of a limited selection of his projects, including some of his earlier houses as well as some of his latest works. Large two page photographs are shown, together with 3 or 4 smaller ones per project, in lieu of a more comprehensive exposition of their work. If you are looking for information on their current work or design ideas check out the Rizzoli books instead.

To those very few of us who are in architectural circles, Richard Meier is a common name. I know that I quickly bought the first two volumes of his books upon entering Architecture School, and put my name on a waiting list for 3 months to get the third volume. When the book arived, I was a little disappointed at the haste in which the book was put together. It seemed to me that they were in such a rush to put out another volume of his work, that the quality of it suffered. Many of the projects shown in this book, are just completed versions of what was in the planning phases in his second book. Another disappointing feature of this book is that almost one quarter of it is dedicated to the Getty Center. I guess the reason that it seemed so spurious to me is that I had volume two AND a book on the Getty Center before purchasing this third volume, so there wasn't much new information to sink my teeth into. My recomendation is this: If you have the first two volumes- Don't be in any hurry to buy this book. It's already familiar to you, and you'll be let down.

If you don't have the first two volumes, or are new to architecture: Go and buy this book immedeately! This is a great book for you to become familiar with one of the masters of modern architecture. You'll like what you see

This 3rd in a series monograph by Rizzoli is a must-have addition to any serious architectural book library or to fans of Richard Meiers work. The numerous color photos are top rate, and together with a large number of drawings give a thorough overview of one of the top designers of today. The many photos in particular attest as to the successful completion of previously anticipated projects which have been in the pipeline, while new drawings herald new masterpieces to come.

There is an enormous amount of detail in some apparently unimportant topics (for example on how to get a green card for your maid) and very little on very important ones (for example on labor certification). The topic of labor certification is a subsection in the chapter for "Live-In Domestic Workers" !

This book may be good if you are trying to get a green card for your maid, though.

i wish going to usa to be with my brother hosam

I believe this book may be of interest to many readers.
First of all, it explains how visitors from abroad can legally prolong their stay in the USA. It's possible to apply for an extension of one's visitor's status without leaving the USA. And this book guides well through this procedure.
Secondly, those who are interested in applying for a green card, should find the most suitable category if they want to succeed. The book describes qualifications and outlines the application process for each of them.
Many people don't know that they may be inadmissible for one or another reason even if they otherwise meet all the green card applicant requirements. Someone already in the US, and still may not be allowed to proceed if he or she falls into one of the inadmissible categories - as a violator of immigration rules in the past or for health reasons, for example. Some people find this out only after passing a medical exam. But you may want to learn about the regulations in advance. The book covers this issue in detail, including who and how can apply for a waiver of inadmissibility.
Another sensitive chapter is on cancellation of deportation. How and in what cases this may be done...
Also, you'll find some important information on how and who is eligible to claim status as a refugee or political asylee.
In all, I think the book is pretty informative and filled with practical advice. It's also easy to read and understand.