This manual has saved me at least $500 in labor costs. All illustrations are exacting to the bike.

It was an excellent book with lots of instructions and it was good explained

This is a must read for those who appreciate interdisciplinary studies and want to understand the global economy, law, and politics. It offers an excellent balance; big enough to offer a lot of detail yet not too ponderous. Although it is very readable (not too technical), it's not a lap read.

This book is one of the best texts about international economic law. This book will help those who study international economic law to understand what is the legal problems of this world of globalization.

I bought this book from the authors at a recent & fantastic David Grisman/Bela Fleck show. That night I didn't turn off the reading light til very late--one thing leads to another with this guide to the roots of great music. It's amazing how many musicians are influenced by Miles and by Bill Monroe. We are so lucky to live in this time of blending, eclectic music, with so much choice. Clearly a labor of love, this book plays one of my favorite games: who influenced my musical heroes. And the range of musicians they connected with is astounding. It was obvious the musisicans got into the process and put a lot of energy into thinking about what albums were on their turntables, 8 tracks, cassestte and CD players. From two members of the Grateful Dead to John Lee Hooker, the authors really connected with the best to find out who they thought really had the good stuff. This book is a lot of fun; it's one of those books you can just open anywhere, and whooosh, you are on a fun journey. Highly recommended for anyone who cares about music.

Be warned: This book could cost serious music lovers some serious cash. Loaded with reccomendations from musicians from so many genres there is something for everyone. Clever in it's lay out and an overall interesting read, allowing you to "walk inside the ear" of legends like Greg Allman to up-and-comers like Jeff Tweedy (Wilco). Plus, the master list of recordings and an appendix with some great web sights for finding the thousands and thousands of recordings listed in the book make the whole collection a great cross between reference and absorbing non-fiction.

If your CD collection knows no bounds, buy this one now!

I am a student at the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University in Cleveland, OH, where Norman Krumholz is a full-time professor. In 1994, I had the pleasure of taking an urban studies class that he taught. I enjoyed the class so much that I went on to take other urban studies classes, and eventually changed my major from journalism to urban planning. Dr. Krumholz is a brilliant man, and a gifted orator. His class had such a profound impact on me. I ended up on a completely different career path because of his teachings. It's rare to find someone so dedicated to social equality. I highly recommend anything he's written.

Krumholz describes a planning experience that is so instructive that it will alter the way we look at professional planning forever. His experiences are documentations of persistence, triumph, defeat, and victory.

On Quaternions And Octonions: Their Geometry, Arithmetic, And Symmetry is a collaboratively presented treatise by John H. Conway and Derek A. Smith on the geometry of the quaternion and octonion algebras. Examining 3- and 4-dimensional Euclidean spaces, enumerating the corresponding finite group of symmetries, analyzing the arithmetics of quaternions and octonions and much more, this impressive presentation sheds new light on the geometry of complex numbers and is a scholarly addition to Advanced Mathematics reference collections and reading lists.

John Conway's books are always well written, and this could serve as a model for other mathematics authors. I don't need to know that much about quaternions and octonions, but I found myself working through most of the book and the beautiful mathematics it covers. The only thing that disappoints is the dreadful cover and the difficulty getting hold of a copy in a bookstore. But then I guess Amazon.com exists to help people get their hands on stuff they might never see in a bookstore.

What differentiates "One Step Beyond" from the overwhelming battery of success books is the fact that the voices profiled in its pages arise out of hard-won, authentic success in some of the world's most remote places. From the summit of Everest to the polar ice of the Arctic, "One Step Beyond" redefines peak performance from a place where success has been tested through adversity.

Based on the philosophies of John Amatt, an internationally-renowned motivational speaker and a leader of Canada's first successful climb of Mount Everest, "One Step Beyond" is about attitude. "The Adventure Attitude". "Adventure isn't hanging on a rope off the side of a mountain", says Amatt. "Adventure is an attitude that we must apply to the day-to-day obstacles of life -facing new challenges, seizing new opportunities, testing our resources against the unknown and, in the process, discovering more of our own unique potential".

Writer Alan Hobson gives voice to Amatt's approach by profiling five individuals who embody the Adventure Attitude: Laurie Skreslet, the first Canadian to reach the summit of Everest, exemplifies "the calibre of courage". John Hughes, the first to intentionally sail the waters around Cape Horn with a makeshift mast, typifies "the power of persistence". Mike Beedell demonstrates "the capacity of curiosity" in his voyage by open sail boat through the Northwest Passage in Canada's north. Sharon Wood symbolizes "the triumph of teamwork" as the first woman from the Americas to ascent Everest. And Laurie Dexter, who skied across the North Pole from Russia to Canada, portrays "the excellence in endurance".

Hobson surprises, however, by highlighting the fallible nature of each adventurer. He certainly does not paint picture-perfect success or plastic portraits of Type-A personalities. It is the energy generated by attitude that fuels their sometimes staggering achievements. The five adventurers are in agreement. "The way I perceive my environment", says Sharon Wood, "is the only thing that makes me different".

The Adventure Attitude is meticulous, intelligent, and aware; it does not compromise itself with an undisciplined drive to possess either social status or wealth. This alone is enough to set "One Step Beyond" apart from most guides to success. The Adventure Attitude is an 'itch' that compels individuals to depart again and again from the comfort and security associated with traditional standards of achievement.

Sailor John Hughes articulates the need to steer beyond out-dates definitions of success: "As a whole, people in our society have moved away from testing their mettle to measuring everything by accepted standards: the size of your house, the number of cars you have, your income etc... Unfortunately, we tend to be a little more concerned with how we think other people view us than with how we view ourselves".

"One Step Beyond" is a celebration of the individual, both as the solo navigator of personal challenges and as an essential resource in team effort. The spark that makes an ordinary venture into an 'adventure' is the element of risk. Hobson and Amatt demonstrate that risk, if weighed, scrutinized, and acted on with unflinching resolve, can reward with immeasurable self-confidence. Confidence feeds an ever-expanding circle of accomplishment, and is as vital an investment as good old-fashioned capital.

Risk, in the world of "One Step Beyond', holds life and death in the balance. Before Laurie Skreslet stood on the summit of Everest, four climbers were killed in avalanches on the mountain. The book describes how the tragic accidents affected expedition morale, and how men like Skreslet and John Amatt had pause to re-evauate both team strategy and summit-lust. Mike Beedell's own brush with death reiterates the level of commitment that can characterize adventure: having penetrated the heart of the High Arctic, the route out had to be exactingly pioneered as was the route in.

The epic sweep of of all five stories makes "One Step Beyond" as dramatic as the ancient tale of Jason and the Argobauts sailing through the clashing rocks. On both a corporate and personal level, readers will be impressed with how the book liberates the sense of achievement from a traditional emphasis on the final product. It is not the golden fleece that matters, but the quest itself. As we hurtle into the new millennium, we may be grateful for "One Step Beyond's" deeper contribution to the psychology of leadership.

This is an exciting and extremely well written book, which profiles five adventurers and investigates what they have learned from overcoming physical adversity and how they now apply it to achieving success in their everyday lives.

The book profiles climber Laurie Skreslet, the 1st Canadian to scale Mount Everest; sailor John Hughes, who deliberately sailed solo around Cape Horn with a makeshift mast; photographer Mike Beedell, who was a member of the 1st team to cross the Northwest Passage using only wind power; mountaineer Sharon Wood, the 1st North American woman to climb to the top of the world (the 29,028 foot summit of Mount Everest); and Laurie Dexter, a member of the 1st expedition to ski from Russia to Canada via the North Pole.

From these five profiles, author Alan Hobson and renowned adventurer/speaker John Amatt, then develop their innovative "Adventure Attitude" philosophy for striving for success in the turbulent and unpredictable world of the new millennium.

A must read for anyone with personal "mountains" to climb.

For a first edition this book is amazing. As a medicine intern going on to second year, I too find it more useful than the Washington Manual, though the two books clearly have different purposes. As I said in the title, I wish this book were more pocketable (it fits, but is heavy). The first thing I would get rid of would be the formulary. I understand that the formulary is part of what has made the Harriet Lane book so successful, but it is a waste of space to put a formulary in a handbook of Internal Medicine.

*Amin Sabet

What a fantastic book! Similar to the Harriet Lane handbook for kids, this book has useful differentials, management plans, and treatments for the comprehensive evaluation of adults. Great coverage with useful algorithms. Also summarizes common errors or pitfalls. Many chapters with a heavy evidence-base when available. Formulary not as useful as Harriet Lane.
Overall, FAR superior to the Washington Manual. Strongly recommended for students and all residents (not just internal med) caring for adults.

This is a marvellously well-done little book whose only (minor) fault is that it skimps a bit on information about the animals themselves; facts about their diet, reproduction and behaviour are condensed into a paragraph each. Instead, we have a field guide worthy of the name that tells you where and how to find reptiles in northwestern North America and how to identify them, and that provides very good subspecies data (a rare thing nowadays), excellent range maps, and beautiful photography. Most enjoyable are the field notes at the end of each species description, in which the author tells a story about finding the animal in question in the wild (often so that it could be photographed for this book). This feature alone makes this book one of the most unique field guides I have encountered in years, and reminds us that a field guide is really about encountering and interacting with animals in the field -- and this point is ably illustrated by the often-funny photos of snakes dangling off someone's ear or lizards biting someone's hand. Highly recommended.

Reptiles are one of the most successful classes of animal that inhabit the earth. They occur in almost every climate and it should be no surprise that the Pacific Northwest has its share of fascinating reptiles. There are 42 species of reptile found from British Columbia to Northern California and Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John is the guide to them. Comprehensive, with brilliant photographs, it is simply a must-own for not only budding herpetologists but naturalists and outdoor enthusiasts of all ages. Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John has an easy to access and understand quick reference guide and detailed introduction to reptiles and herpetology. Each species of Northwest reptile is given a complete introduction with detailed description and information on its distribution, habitat and behaviour. What sets Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John apart from other field guides are the 6 beautiful and informative color photos of each species and the informative and whimsical field notes describing each reptile. These are accounts of encounters Alan St. John has had with these reptiles and they give the reader experiences that you don't find in the average field guide. They are filled with the author's wonder and joy in these creatures, written with humour and warmth in a casual biographical style.
This is a special field guide. Its soft cover allows for ease of slipping into any backpack enabling one to take advantage of the great inclusion of the Northwest Reptile Life list note pages. Reptiles of the Northwest by Alan St. John is definitive and comprehensive It is a unique field guide to unique animals.

In the midst of a non-stop barrage of fearfull news, and tragedy upon tragedy, it is most helpful to be able to refresh one's spirit, one's soul. This book provides a soul-restoring breather and more. With its live examples, and helpful instructions about how to find reasons for gratitude, and how to share, I feel calmer, with a renewed sense of optimism. This is no preachy text. Yet clearly it is inspired by a pair of lives lived with a strong sense of the eternal. I find comfort and guidance in their stories and lessons.

Now, my task is to try to limit the number of friends to whom I will send the book. So many of us need the encouragement, need the sense of wonder that courses through this work. I am grateful for its appearance in my hands, for its messages in my life.

Read, enjoy, follow...

I don't know about you, but I've been pretty cynical the last couple of years. Watching TV has become almost intolerable. The economy ..., world peace seems like a ridiculously impossible dream, and the environment is paying the price of the money-mongers in charge of most governments. This book helped me see the rainbow in the middle of the storm. SEASONS OF GRACE showed me how that just being alive is a miraculous gift. Being grateful does not mean just sitting back and taking whatever those "in charge" will try to fob off on us -- it means being mindful and practicing gratitude for the gifts we have been given, while we mobilize to change the world for the better. Money-mongers, watch out.

This was the first of a baker's dozen of Alan Watts books which I have read in the past year and, looking back over this reading project, I think I like this one best of all, even over Tao the Watercourse Way and some others which so greatly impressed me at the time I read them.

There is no question that Watts was an intellectual giant and this book is evidence of that. The articles are well-researched and presented with clarity and detail. There is more scholarship here than in some of his other books.

I especially liked his extended discussion of Pure Land Buddhism and its relation to Mahayana. Pure gold here!

It was this book also which introduced me to the quote on the omnipresence of God from F.W. Faber (page 227) which has made a great impact on my life. Everything changed from the moment I read that.

If you have read any of my other reviews on his books, you will see that my initial enthusiasm turned eventually to boredom with his predictability, but none of that includes Seeds of Genius. I have read it several times now and have greatly enjoyed it. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would. I am glad to have been introduced to Alan Watts and Seeds of Genius and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in philosophy and religion, whether or not you agree with his own philosophical stance.

Generally speaking, Alan Watts "did his own thing" with the themes and thoughts of Eastern philosophy, often in such a way that "square" Buddhists and others sought to distance himself from him. In this book, where most of the selections are taken from when he was still in his early twenties, he is seen engaging the ideas of Zen, Taoism, Krishnamurti and other topics, for the first time, in a way that is more orthdox, yet also contains his fresh insights. Also of interest is a section of political writings, since Watts is generally veiwed as apolitical.