This book is an outstanding true account of a trip made by Zane Grey and a plainsman, Buffalo Jones - one of the last. Jones was a famous sportsmen in North America at the turn of the 20th century and Grey a famous author of adventure stories. Unlike many of Grey's fictional novels of the old west, this is an account of a trip made to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon about 1908, for the purpose of tracking and capturing mountain lions. In those days, the North Rim was famous for the number and size of cougars - one mentioned in the book was 10' long, tip of tail to nape of neck, and weighed 300 pounds. The story is riveting with many details of the Arizona high desert and Grand Canyon areas of that era and gives a wonderful account of the Ponderosa Pine forest now known as the Kaibab National Forest. The details given about the behavior of the mountain lion are well worth finding a copy of this classic work. Grey includes a chapter (XV) entitled "Jones on Cougars", in which he relates the wisdom of this plainsman on the species - gained through a long life in the wilderness including a sojourn as a game warden in the Yellowstone National Park, where he captured numerous cougars alive and killed seventy-two. Although modern views of the mountain lion seem to consider this animal more like an oversized, undomesticated sort of house cat, after reading this book you will definitely treat them with appropriate dignity and caution.

You want to understand the theory of international politics? Well, then, first try Kenneth Waltz's "Theory of International Politics", then go to Robert Keohane's "Neorealism and its Critics", then read David Baldwin's "Neorealism and Neoliberalism", and finally peruse this work. "The Logic of Anarchy" anatomises every part of Waltz's "T of P", criticises it wholly, and improves it to the extent to which I doubt there will be any further refinement. It is the most important and best response to Waltz's work!

Please excuse my spelling, it's terrible This book is terrific. I started reading this book and couldn't put it down. It is a fine collection of stories ranging from the great soilbank days when Kansas alone had 4 million birds to the Royal hunts in Europe where an average daily bag mesaures in the thousands, It has stories more like mine where the average hunt ends with tired dogs and few birds. The book through it's many differant authors also explores the ethics associated with hunting. This book is for the bird hunter who's cleaning his gun for the third time this week when hunting season isn;t for 6 months. It's for the guy who can't stop dreaming of how his new pup will do his first time out. It's for the guy who spends more time with his dogs than with his wife. All hunters will enjoy this book, but the true bird hunter won;t be able to put it down.

This is one in a series of excellent books devoted to presenting various positions on controversial issues. Other books look at the abortion question, at AIDS, at poverty, at water use and resources, etc. Here the question is not just Is There a Population Problem? (the subject of Chapter 1) but Is the World's Population Growing Too Fast?; Is Overpopulation Responsible for Hunger, Poverty, and Environmental Problems?; What Are the Effects of Immigration into the United States?; and "What Population Policies Should Be Pursued? (chapters 4-5).

Each of the five chapters contains from six to eight essays in answer to the chapter questions. For example, on whether there is a population problem, Editor Charles F. Hohm presents an essay from German demographer Johann Peter Sussmilch, which he entitles, "The State Should Encourage Population Growth," excerpted from a larger eighteenth century work, and an "answer" to that from the English clergyman, Joseph Townsend, also from the eighteenth century. Then there is something from Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population arguing that overpopulation is a serious problem, and then an answer from Frederick Engels, arguing that overpopulation is a myth.

The other chapters also contain some historical views, but more often the essays are from moderns. For example there is economist Julian L. Simon's view that we don't have enough people on the planet as well as Rockefeller University professor Joel E. Cohen's counter that "There Are Too Many People on the Planet." Whether there is a shortage of food (or whether an apparent shortage of food is caused by distribution and/or political problems) is debated.

I have the 1995 edition of this book in front of me, and it is a fine introduction to the subject; but there is an edition copyright 2000 that features newer arguments including an essay from Pope John Paul II. This is the sort of book that works well when it is kept current. It is an excellent text for young people and those new to the argument.

The highlight of this book for me was the essay "Scientific Progress Will Solve the Population Problem" by John H. Fremlin (abridged from his "How Many People Can the World Support?" which appeared in the New Scientist in 1964). In this extraordinary piece Fremlin argues not that the earth might support ten or twenty billion more people, but as science learns to efficiently utilize all sources of available energy including solar and nuclear, Fremlin sees the planet as supporting 15 trillion people within the next 450 years. That's trillion with a "t" folks. At this point the entire earth would enjoy "midday equatorial conditions round the clock" thanks to orbiting solar mirrors with a total area of 100 million square kilometers and the "complete fission of uranium and thorium in about 3 cm depth...or by fusion of deuterium in about 3 mm depth of seawater."

But Fremlin is only getting warmed up (so to speak). He goes on to argue that if the average heat income of the Earth's surface could be doubled from its present 250 watts per square meter ("without raising the temperature above the normal equatorial value"), the population density could reach "2 per square metre" or one quadrillion people. Whether that's 10 to the 15th as in the American value of quadrillion or 10 to the 24th as in the British system (you do the math) doesn't matter. My head is spinning in either case.

But Fremlin is still not through. The problem now is how to get rid of all the heat generated by the energy needs of all these people (not to mention the heat their very bodies are radiating). No problem. The ocean would be roofed off (actually the entire planet) to stop evaporation and heat pumps would transfer excess heat into space.

Quality of life? Fremlin notes that "even at much lower population densities, very little horizontal circulation of persons, heat or supplies could be tolerated." He adds, "clothes would be unnecessary." As a sort of postscript he notes that "low-speed...travel over a few hundred metres would be permissible" allowing people to choose friends from some ten million others living close by.

Is this a serious extrapolation, a nightmare or a horror story?--or (my surmise) an unconscious (perhaps self-) parody of those who think there are no limits to population growth, especially of those who think another human soul on earth is more important than any quality of life argument or the maintenance of any other form of life.

Indeed, this is the real question that this book debates: at what point do we finally say that the "carrying capacity" of the planet has been reached, not only in terms of resources, but in terms of a life that is worth living?

Charles Jones has a superb grasp of place, and proves it in this book about one place: La Honda, a California town buried in a deep valley and hidden behind and among ancient trees. Writing in the back room of a saloon, living in various places such as a cabin, an old ranch building and a blue tent, Jones writes perceptively about the feeling of his place. He begins "Coming home to a place I had never been before was easier than I had expected ..." Then he unrolls his written tapestry of the people, the times past and present and even the myths of the place. Photographs by Susan Friedman perfectly embody Jones' mobile sculpture of words.

This solutions manual is among the most clearly written and enjoyable I've ever used. Crisp simplified formatting makes even the complicated solution approaches pleasant to read with a minimum of excess steps and all the appropriate diagrams and drawings as needed. Just simply a perfect solutions manual to compliment the equally enjoyable text.

When Doing Right is Wrong has to be one of the most revealing books on human motivation that I have come across in the last 15 years or so.It is filled with case studies related to why many people do the things they do at church- or for that matter at other venues and recieve no inner rewards for their fervent efforts. The author is a professional therapist who holds years of experience in the mental health field and has worked with a great number of such dissatisfied individuals. The book is the best one I've read on negative motivators and how to overcome these since Robert McGee's Search for Significance.

Just as Clement Moore gave us the definitive Santa Claus in "A Visit from St. Nicholas" (a.k.a. "The Night Before Christmas"), Charles Dickens gave us the definitive Christmas spirit in his simple but charming novella "A Christmas Carol". First published in 1843, this supernatural story of an elderly man's redemption from his mean-spirited, miserly ways takes place in Victorian London, but its universal theme of charity towards our fellow man has endeared this classic to many a generation around the globe. In addition to its priceless role as a morality tale, the book colorfully describes the Yuletide customs practiced in England during the early nineteenth century. This Washington Square Press edition of "A Christmas Carol" is unabridged, yet you can understand why so short a book is yet published in abridged versions, especially for schoolchildren. Not infrequently, Dickens veers from the main story line and goes into tangents of a philosophical or descriptive nature, much like the converser who abruptly changes the subject only to return to it with the familiar "Anyway, ... ". I assume children (and some adults) may find these tangents cumbersome and distracting, but they are still useful in that they reflect Dickens' thoughts while writing the book. It may still be difficult for some of us to think that cold-hearted Christmas-bashers like Ebenezer Scrooge exist, but look at human nature around you, and it will be difficult no more. At a time when "Merry Christmas" is being supplanted by a more vague "Happy Holidays", and the season gives way to coarse behavior and unchecked materialism, "A Christmas Carol" is the perfect guidebook to put things into perspective.

Master storyteller and social critic, Charles Dickens, turns this social treatise on shortcomings of Victorian society into an entertaining and heartwarming Christmas ghost story which has charmed generations and become an icon of Christmas traditions. Who, in the Western world has not heard, "Bah, Humbug!" And who can forget the now almost hackneyed line of Tiny Tim, "God bless us, every one!" or his cheerfully poignant observation, that he did not mind the stares of strangers in church, for he might thus serve as a reminder of He who made the lame, walk and the blind, see. Several movie versions: musical, animated, updated, or standard; as well as stage productions (I recall the Cleveland Playhouse and McCarter Theatre`s with fondess.) have brought the wonderful characterizations to the screen, as well as to life. This story of the redemption of the bitter and spiritually poor miser, and the book itself; however, is a timeless treasure whose richness, like Mrs Cratchit`s Christmas pudding, is one that no production can hope to fully capture.

It's hard to think of a literary work that has been filmed and staged in more imaginative variations than Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"--there's the excellent George C. Scott version, the delightful Muppet version, the charming Mr. Magoo version, etc., etc. But ultimately true "Carol" lovers should go back to Dickens' original text, which remains a great read.

"Carol" tells the story of cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who despises the Christmas holiday and scorns all who celebrate it. But a visit from a series of supernatural beings forces him to reevaluate his attitude--and his life.

With this simple plot Dickens has created one of the enduring triumphs of world literature. It's a robust mix of humor, horror, and (most of all) hope, all leavened with a healthy dash of progressive social criticism. One thing I love about this book is that while it has a focus on a Christian holiday, Dickens puts forth a message that is truly universal; I can imagine this story resonating with people of any religious background, and also with more secular-oriented people.

This is a tale of greed, selfishness, regret, redemption, family, and community, and is enlivened by some of the most memorable characters ever created for English literature. Even if Dickens had never written another word, "A Christmas Carol" would still have, I believe, secured his place as one of the great figures of world literature.

"Dream Country" contains 4 unrelated stories about Dream and Death. The first story, "Dream of a Thousand Cats" is an amusing tale, but it does not deserve an entire issue to tell. It could have easily been one of the stories told to Rose by the old women in "Kindly Ones" and taken up only a few pages.

The second tale "Calliope" is much better, but is still missing that Gaiman magic. It does however, introduce us to one of Sandman's great loves and mother of his only child. It's a good story, but it's unoriginal.

The third tale is the real treat. "A Midsummer Night's Dream" takes off from a chapter in "Doll's House" where Dream tells William Shakespeare to write 2 plays for him. Shakespeare and his troop of actors perform Midsummer Night's Dream on a grassy hill in the English Countryside for the actual fairies that are represented in the play. It's a wonderful story and the art is just breathtaking.

The last one, "Facade", doesn't include Dream. Instead it focuses on an obscure super-heroine of the 60's and how she longs for a normal life which is granted by Death. It's a moving story, the kind of super-hero tale that only Neil could write. Super powers may be great, but being a normal person would be much more appealing sometimes.

All in all, Dream Country is not the best collection of Sandman stories, but "Midsummer Night's Dream" is the single best Sandman issue and actually won a slew of awards. It's worth checking out for that tale alone.

This collection contains two of Gaiman's best short stories. "Dream of a Thousand Cats," with its gorgeous artwork by Kelley Jones and Malcolm Jones III, is one of the great ironic cat stories. And "A Midsummer Night's Dream," which actually won a World Fantasy Award. The Award committee was so chagrined by the notion of a comic book winning the prize that they changed the rules to prevent such an abomination from ever happening again. Ah, what fools these mortals be. The collection also includes, as a bonus, a copy of Gaiman's script for another story, "Calliope," in which the magician shows us how the illusion is created. In one of his panel descriptions we see the key to his method: "NOW I WANT TO GET ACROSS THE RAPE, AND THE HORROR AND THE DOMINANCE, FAIRLY SUBTLY, DOING ALL THE WORK IN THE READER'S HEAD." Yes, indeed. That's where Gaiman always does his best work. In the reader's head

Yeah, I know it's not the first volume in the series. But I don't think Neil Gaiman really hit his stride until Dream Country. As this collection is a bunch of stand alone short stories, I think it makes an excellent book get people hooked on the Sandman.

There's Calliope, a one-hit novelist's muse really is one of the muses. He rapes and abuses his muse -- bad news when her ex comes to the rescue. Creepy, creepy story. Best of all, the collection includes the script to this story.

A Dream of A Thousand Cats... A charming tale that shows what cats dream of, and why those dreams will never be reality.

A Midsummer Night's Dream .. The real Oberon, Titania and Puck (and other fairies) attend the first performance of Shakespeare's classic play. Simply magical with superb art by Charles Vess.

Facades ... The life of a has-been superheroine. It takes a silly and forgotten character and makes her painfully human.

All of these stories are must-reads -- each told with different styles. What a wonderful way to sample what comics can be.