Anybody who has enjoyed other writings by Alexander Skutch on the subject of neotropical birds will also appreciate this book. After all, where else can you find interesting and informative writing about these two large and important families of neotropical birds? Not only is there a wealth of data concerning behavior, habitat, etc - but it is all presented in Skutch's very personal style, and intermingled with intimate anecdotes that really put you right there in the forest with that Bicolored Antbird, etc. Read this book before birding in lowland rainforest in Central or South America, and you will be rewarded with a much greater understanding of what you are witnessing. If you haven't yet, also read "A Birdwatcher's Adventures in Central America", and "A Naturalist in Costa Rica", as well as "Birds Asleep" - all by Alexander Skutch.

A GOOD SOLID READ. KEPT ME UP A FEW NIGHTS! THE STORY WAS GOOD AND MAKES ONE HOPE THE GOVT. KEEPS THE BLACKBIRD AROUND. WELL WORTH THE MONEY. BUY IT.

Spike keeps barking when Stu is cleaning the car and he needs to get a part but Tommy and Chuckie think it will keep spike from barking.

This book does not really adress questions like how does the brand fit with strategy or an organisation's core competences. But it does a superb job of illustrating the huge variety of ways that creativity can be embedded into a brand's communication relationships with consumers. If you're interested in forming an e-mail discussion group on this or other outstanding books on branding contact me. Chris Macrae, editor of Brand Chartering Handbook and MELNET www.brad.ac.uk/branding/ E-mail me at wcbn007@easynet.co.uk

Mr. Alexander's trade paperback debut has all the makings of a Hollywood blockbuster, from noble if flawed hero, to a clever cast of villains. Tightly plotted and paced, and completely enthralling.

I am delighted that the Biblioteca Italiana has made this book available in English. Five Cantos is Ariosto's relatively unknown sequel to his fabulous Orlando Furioso. Like in the Furioso, we follow Charlemagne's paladins through exciting adventures as they traverse the world looking for chances to demonstrate their chivalry and show off their knightly skills. In this book, most of the action takes place in Lombardy, Saxony, and Bohemia. Some of it even occurs in the belly of a whale. These are different settings from the previous epic and make the story interesting. All of the familiar characters are present (Orlando, Rinaldo, Astolfo, etc.), but a few new ones have been added. Five Cantos is a very dark work and a lot of the subtle irony and humor of Furioso is lacking. Many of the chivalric ideals have deteriorated and the characters appear much more deceptive. There is almost no mention of love and Five Cantos is mainly concerned with war. Although the book is only five cantos (chapters) and seems unfinished, it is still a very entertaining work and a worthwhile purchase.

This edition is in verse and includes both the original Italian and the English translation side by side. The introduction spans forty-five pages and gives a good background to the story. It is very insightful and contains a bibliography for further reading. Annotations that help illuminate difficult passages in each canto are present too. Overall, I highly recommend this book, especially for those who have read Furioso.

This book has many similarities to the Red Book, but it goes into considerably more detail, alerting the reader to the rarity of many coins in high grades and adding information on rare, unusual coins such as the unique Jefferson nickel of the wartime issues struck with its mintmark in the original location. Such details make this book far superior to the Red Book, lacking only the yearly update of prices to truly dominate the field. It also contains a section on patterns, entirely lacking in the Red Book. Comprehensiveness and good formatting earn this book its high rating, and easily justify it as a general reference despite it's out of date status.

The Collected Poems of Alexander Scott, ed. David S. Robb, The Mercat Press, Edinburgh, 1994, 260pp.

Alexander Scott (1920-89) was a pioneering teacher of Scottish literature at the University of Glasgow, and a poet and dramatist of genius. This collection, edited by David S. Robb, contains the greater part of Scott's verse, written between 1940 and 1987, and incorporates work from his first collection 'The Latest in Elegies' (1949), right through to his 'Selected Poems (1943 - 1974)'; Scott was preparing a final selection of his poetry for publication as 'Incantations: Poems and Diversions' at the time of his death in 1989.
The poet was a leading figure in the late second wave of MacDiarmid's Scottish Renaissance, along with others such as Sidney Goodsir Smith, Robert Garioch (Sutherland), Norman MacCaig and fellow Glasgow University academic Edwin Morgan, all friends and contemporaries of Scott. Although not all of his poetry is in Scots, certainly the best of it is, and readers will of course find here all of Scott's most famous works in this medium, notably, his long, heavily rhetorical poem on his native Aberdeen 'Heart of Stone' (Robb No. 91, or R.91), the life-affirming love poem 'Continent o Venus' (R. 49) and the much anthologised satirical reflection 'Calvinist Sang' (R.10), which contains a memorably bleak testimony to the short-comings of our modern age: 'The day ye need a hert and harns / As dour as the diamant, cauld as the starns'.
Literary readers will also be familiar with the popular 'Scotched' series of satirical squibs, in which Scott offers terse penetrating insights into the pretensions, flaws and foibles of his native people. Favourites include 'Scotch Passion' (R. 203): 'Forgot / Mysel', 'Scotch Poets' (R. 212): 'Wha's the / T'ither?' (Burns and who else, presumably? ... there cannot possibly be more than two!), and 'Scotch Education (R. 148): 'I tellt ye / I tellt ye', the perennial cry of the frustrated Scottish teacher.
For the first time in too many years, general readers can at last have easy access to exquisite, intensely musical lyrics such as 'Great Eneuch' (R.80) or to the sorrowful, sympathetic and harrowing war poems 'Coronach' (R. 22), 'The Sodgers' (R. 46), 'Stravaiger's Sang' (R. 41) and 'Twa Images' (R. 58). Scott was a resolutely modern poet, as his subject matter often shows (consider 'To Mourn Jayne Mansfield' (R.98) or 'A Gey Flash Gordon' (R. 290)), but he was also a traditionalist, whose consummate command of verse forms and Scottish literary traditions (look at 'Truth and True Thomas' (R. 278) or 'Sir Patrick Spens: The True Tale' (R. 20)), should be an inspiration to the younger Scottish poets of today.
The present reviewer's own favourites among Scott's poems must include the beautiful song 'Love is a Garth' (R. 60) with its reverent re-working of the 'seize-the-day' motif, 'Mouth Music' (R. 73), which contains a wonderful celebration of dance: 'Dance it, dance it, skirl it, birl it, swing / Wi a tipperan tae, wi a sway, wi a flourish, a fling', or 'Problems' (R. 217), with its audacious act of association between the plight of astronauts adrift in space, and the massacred peasants of Vietnam. Those whose taste runs to more substantial fare will find much to satisfy them in the major long poems, such as 'Deathsang for An Auld Man Young' (R. 51), 'Seaman's Sang' (R. 14), from the Anglo-Saxon', 'Deir Deid Dancer' (R.96) and 'Grace Ungraced' (R. 313). Notable English poems include 'From You, My Love' (R. 83), 'Landfall' (R. 105) and 'Greek Summer '74' (R. 276). But, at the end of the day, Scott's greatest poetic achievement must be 'Heart of Stone', not least because of its magnificent introductory image of the desolately circling sea-gull:

The sea-maw spires i the stane-gray lift
Owre sworlan swaws o the stane-gray sea,
Flaffers her wings - a flash o faem-white feathers -
And warssles awa i the wake o the trauchled trawler
That hirples hame hauf-drouned wi the weicht o herrin.

Robb's edition contains an introductory essay on Scott which is particularly informative about the poet's earliest attempts at writing verse, and gives us a fascinating textual insight into Scott's compositional process. There are two Appendices which contain an early version of 'Scotched' and list the contents of his individual collections such as 'Cantrips' (1968) and 'Double Agent' (1972). There is also a substantial glossary of Scots vocabulary which is essential for predominantly English-speaking readers. The book itself is simply but attractively designed, with a startling photographic image of Scott by Angela Catlin, set against a stark black background. A close-up of the poet's penetrating eyes is featured on the back cover and reminds us pointedly of one of Scott's most haunting lines (from 'Dreams', (R. 267)): 'There's een that only makars hae / To look on wae'.
David S. Robb and Edinburgh's The Mercat Press are to be heartily congratulated for bringing out this sterling collection of work by one of the 20th century's greatest Scots makars; would that we had similar one-volume editions of Scott's plays and other miscellaneous writings

The Comprehensive Catalog to U.S. coins is the most informative literature to enable the beginner expand his/her knowledge of U.S. coins but also enrich the novice by broadening his/her expertise in other U.S. coins. This piece of work is very helpful for all stages of individuals seeking knowledge of early to modern type coins. I always refer to this catalog of coins when I encounter an early type piece I'm not familiar with. This book not only expands but also tantilize my mind by the many types of U.S. coins depicted. Not a book to loan out if you wish to have it returned. I've purchased my second copy and will a third when it's updated. Thanks for a excellent book.

An outstanding reference book. Study of the Pentateuch is enriched greatly with use of this book. It is of the same caliber as the New Testament Dictionary series, also from Inter Varsity Press. Buy and use it for years to come