"The Best of Pif Magazine Off-Line" offers a refreshing assortment of new stories and new voices. A standout among them is Mimi Carmen's "Love Birds". Ms. Carmen's tale of an aging mother and conflicted daughter resonates with idiosyncratic vision and gritty passion. The bird imagery is breathtaking. I also very much enjoyed "23 Johnson Avenue, 1985" by Diann Blakely. If writers were race horses, and I had money, I'd bet my wad on these two.

A wonderful collection - refreshingly different, but solid. My favorite is "Love Birds" by Mimi Carmen. I'd like to read more of her work.

I am bored with many print magazines nowadays. The same things, the same things. Ho-hum. I've been following this zine for a while now, open it every month with relish. They've definitely picked a lot of their best, and Camille Renshaw's intro says a lot about WHY I don't like other magazines. Here is something worth a read, something that will make you want to get everything the magazine has put out since the beginning. There's even a rationale for professional wrestling, something that wants me to buy a tape of the event with the Undertaker/Mankind Hell in the Cell match, and I NEVER watch that stuff! You should definitely have this on your shelf--impress your friends with how in the know you are.

This comprehensive reference volume will appeal to both specialty and general-interest libraries: American Aquarium Fishes provides over 118 color and over 200 black and white photos of various species of aquarium fish, providing detailed discussions on where to find native fishes, how to collect and transport them around the globe, and regional rules of collecting. The depth and detail and the vivid photos are impressive.

It's about time that a talented group of aquarium hobbyist (who are also biologists I believe) got together to write a book that the layman can understand and appreciate. You will not find convuluted passages common in the scientific literature. Each species account is well written and contains the information that the hobbyist wants.

Goldstein, Harper, and Edwards are well known hobbyist and if there are any real experts in the field, it's these guys.

This is an all around great reference for the North American native fish hobbyist.

First of all,these tapes are very well spoken.You have got contributions from Richard Stack,Stephen LaBerge Ph.D,Robert Monroe,and Raymond Moody M.D. The first tape consists of Rick Stack's first OBE's as well a techniqes on how to have your own OBE's.The second,Robert monroe explains Hemi-Sync and also tells his story about the OBE.In the third tape,Raymond moody explains life after death as(life after life).The forth tape is about controling your dreams.Stephen LaBerge goes in to detail on how to do this with ease.There is so much information in these tapes.If you are interested in any of these things whether you are expirienced or not,this is a good buy,and worth every penny.I liked the realness and the expirence of the authors/readers.Five stars.

I am too, very interested in predictions about how the manufacturing will be in not 2020 but even in year 2010. With his impressive credentials Mr. Morley could be one of the best persons I would look up to. Oh boy, was I wrong? As another reader put properly, all you hear is "look how good I am. By the way, do you know who my co-author's father is?". Yes, there are few good ideas sprinkled all over the book. 127 wild card predictions authors make for future are wild speculations. To mention few, they predict that a disposable, pasted toothbrush will be available. You don't have to wait any longer, stay in Hampton Inn you can have one today. They say, PLC's will be here in twenty years from now, of course PLC is Mr. Morley's baby. And, programmers will be gone too. Who am I to disagree? but, I bet you for a cup of coffee PLC will be reduced to an embedded processor and will be in all appliances and tools, of course that is if PLC was a computer. You say, what about Programmers? Well , with all embedded processor and larger computers around, who do you think will do the interfacing? Interfacing is, even today, the biggest problam with ERP implementations. You need human programmers to do that. Computers will not run the humans, humans will run the compuiters. This book is at its best a poorly written science fiction. A huge disappointment coming from a legend like Mr. Morley.

It took me a while, but I just finished The Technology Machine by Moody and Morley, and I'm sad to say that it is a poor vehicle to spread their valuable message to the world of manufacturing. Let me say at the outset that I am not an engineer, but I'm no dummy, either. I bought the book based on an intriguing review in upside (or Red Herring - one of those tech magazines).

The Good News: Some good points are made in the book about the power of approaching complex logistical production problems with the use of properly designed software "agents", each one of which having the "intelligence of a chicken" but en masse creating an environment where behavior capable of handling complex issues efficiently emerges. A powerful idea, to be sure.

The Bad news: The message gets lost in the noise of a very poorly written book - the conversational style used is way too casual for a subject this serious. It's as if this were published by a vanity press - was there no editor? Typos abound (mislabeling GM Paint Shop as GE Paint Shop on page 225, or "...president of Nypro Corporate Inc. of Nypro, a company..." - page 237 are but two examples) and the grammer is atrocious - like the rantings of an angry curmudgeon. There is way too much "consultant-speak" in the beginning of the book, and towards the end it seems to lose focus. As a result, the strength of the message is quite diluted.

I have no doubt that the authors are very smart people and that they have contributed immensely to the world of manufacturing, but in my opinion this book does them a disservice and much of the value of their message is lost.

Patricia A. Moody and Richard E. Morley take a fascinating trip into the future, the not-too distant future, by exploring what manufacturing and product delivery to consumers will look like in the year 2020. By discussing past and current advances, the authors articulately present convincing arguments for their ideas with great zest. Don't worry, you won't find impenetrable technological prose here, quite the contrary. Instead, you'll find visions of point-of-consumption manufacturing, small work groups made up of people who live near their job sites and biotechnology that enables customized creation of replacement body parts. Gene Bylinsky of Fortune magazine calls this well-received volume, "a beautifully written, insightful and important new book... your best guide to success" in the 21st century. We at getAbstract recommend this book to forward-looking managers who understand that, even in the complex future, the main rule will be: Keep it simple.

The book is good for all people...topics covered apply not only to athletic fields(and golf courses), but also to the average home user. After reading the maintenance section, most people will learn that they over-fertilize and over-water.

Topics also include tufrgass diseases, weed control, and managing insect problems.

This book provides a compehensive discussion of turfgrasses and their management. There are plenty of pictures showing grasses, weeds, and diseases suffered. The pictures are all very clear and close up so you know what you are looking at. There is also plenty of info on how the manage(fertilize, mow, etc.) grasses. I actually used this book in a class taught by the author(Dr. Richard Duble); while I used this as a college textbook, this book does not read like a college textbook so it should appeal to a wider audience.

Yes, disappointing is the word. More of an encyclopedic book that one that provides an interesting naarative on the fish or even better, information useful for catching them (habitat, preferred bait).

Houston Chronicle writers raved about this. I disagreed. Would have returned it if it wasn't so much trouble to ship it back. Wish I'd have bought it from a local store, could have returned it right away!

Good text book for classifing any fish found in the Gulf of Mexico by families, but not a quick picture reference book for identifying your catch. ... If the pictures had been better in "Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico". I would have given it a five stars rateing.

This book is literaly THE FISH BIBLE. It is not for a novice but for fishing it is the BEST money can by. I know alot of marine biologist that swear by it. IT IS GREAT FOR TEXAS COAST.

Despite the blindingly obvious fact that Moody Moose suffers from Bipolar Disorder, Healthy Hippo, the town "doctor" prescribes buttons to treat her symptoms. BUTTONS! This misdiagnosis should come as no surprise considering that he fails to recognize that Goof Off Goose clearly suffers from narcolepsy, Yakkity Yak from attention deficit disorder, and Responsible Rabbit from obsesive compulsive disorder.