The poems in Gail Wronsky's collection are inhabited by the ghosts of the forgotten. Desdemona, Walt Whitman, and Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz haunt the pages of the book, challenging silence and silencers. In those moments the sublime rises from the ordinary in sequences like "The Earth as Desdemona." The book is filled with surprise: a lawn chair becomes a cubist chicken, hieroglyphs appear in the sky. Wronsky's "Dying for Beauty" mixes elegance with outrageousness. The language that bridges these two sensibilities reveal the blessings of music.

Seeing this book on your list is a special treat for me because I happen to be one of Professor Wronsky's students at Loyala Marymount University in Los Angeles. She desrves all of the credit towards her book because she is a brilliant English professor who has a love and deep appreciation for what she teaches.

A layman needs a good guide when on tour of a new territory, whether that be a museum, a literary genre, or a country's heritage. In David Pearson's and Les Beletsky's 485 page ECUADOR and its GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, they present a book that is as good a guide as a layman could hope for, not just for exploring Ecuador or its Galapagos Islands, but for getting to know much of the fauna of Amazonian Latin America. The text is professionally written, yet down to earth and not infrequently humorous. The famous entomologist J. Henri Fabre once wrote, "Others again have reproached me with my style, which has not the solemnity, nay, better, the dryness of the schools. They fear lest a page that is read without fatigue should not always be the expression of the truth. Were I to take their word for it, we are profound only on condition of being obscure." This approach to scientific writing - being informative without being pedantic - allows writers like Pearson and Beletsky to fill the reader's heart with wonder while still often bringing a smile to his/her face.

With Ecuador being one of the most biologically diverse countries on earth, it is impossible to create a book that is both comprehensive and brief. The authors have gone for middle ground, covering the portion of Ecuadorian wildlife that is of interest and/or likely to be spotted by the ecotraveller to Ecuador. There are 96 color plates (with 5-6 animals illustrated on each one), several pages of color photographs, an excellent chapter - with maps - of Ecuador's National Parks and Bioreserves, a section on Ecuador's geography and habitats (e.g., Lowland Wet Forest, Mangrove and Coastal Vegetation) along with drawings illustrating several major plants in these regions, and 200 pages of animal descriptions under the headings 'Amphibians', 'Reptiles', 'Birds', 'Mammals', 'Insects & Other Arthropods', and 'Galapagos Wildlife'.

As an Ecuadorian resident, I have found this guide to be an excellent aid to identifying and understanding the natural history of the country. The book was both informative and fun to read, and I can highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this wonderful area of the world.

I have just returned from those Enchanted Isles and found Beletsky's guide omnipresent, dog-eared and tightly clutched in the sea-salted hands of many a visitor. I am surprised that the Sea Lions and Blue Footed Boobies did not have their own copies!

This guide is a truly indispensible accessory for those fortunate enough to have visited those Islands of wonder and enchantment. It is also a great whetter of one's appetite! Other books have their strengths, but when push comes to shove, or in this case just going around..., one wants a thorough compliment to one's naturalist (to make all those notations when one gets back home, of course) and also a look into what is to come. Accurate and beautifully illustrated.

I loved it! It was recomended to me by my 7th grade teacher. She said that bcause I liked Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury she thougt I'd like Masque Of The Red Death so I decided to check it out and I loved it! It was so good. I highly recomend it to anyone who likes to read.

The book The Masque of the Red Death is by Edgar Allan Poe. I thought this book was great. It is about a ghost that haunts a castle. All the people were scared and they could not escape the ghost. The "red death" killed many people. If you want to find out what happens you should read this book.

I'm 38 and am a home schooler and to get back into math mode, I chose this book. I did every odd problem and some of the systhesis problems. You will learn the material if you take the time. I spent around 14 or 15 months to get through the book. The program is excersises and review. Constant review is huge plus. I recommend you get the solutions manual from addison wesley. I've just started Marv's et.al.. Precalculus book and then will go onto calculus. I'm enjoying the math. Much more then in high school.

My son and I sit down and learn together. He says "get your book" and lets do math. The key to his desire to do math is because he see's his dad doing it.

I've seen many other books and this tops them all.

This book is not all you get. The book itself is great. But the additional FREE helps which come with the book assure that even the most inept math student can learn algebra. These helps consist of, but are not limited to:1) free tutoring via phone,email,& fax; 2)free practice problems via internet website. Other supplemental materials consist of: Videotapes, Tutorial Software, and a solutions manual. These are all available for the student. I haven't even mentioned the benefits that a classroom teacher has through the Instructor Supplements. These consist of a Test Bank/Instructor's Guide, extra practice problems, mtls for transparencies, video tape index, and several tools for the computer users: test generator, test grader,on-line course management and testing. In other words, this is a great resource for teachers also. I am in the processing of trying to purchase it for my school.

This book was extremely helpful to me while I learned all about the fishes at the Aquarium of the Pacific. It is very concise and yet includes every order and family that I ever encountered during my studies. I recommend it wholeheartedly!

This 1995 copyright date assures the reader s/he is getting the latest in deep-sea discoveries. Scientists can gather more information with the latest, quieter cameras. It has photos from the most beautiful to the most grotesque fishes. The text is organized, readable & enjoyable

Covers the gamut from first world war to modern aircraft. Good photo's and illustrations, with informative text

I liked this book very much. It had almost all the modern military aircraft in the world.

This is a wonderful book that every libertarian should own. It features a solid selection of some of the best pieces in "Cato's Letters" as well as the "Independent Whig." These works expounded some of the most radical libertarian principles that the world has ever known. Trenchard and Gordon advocated natural rights, including the right to revolution, and looked upon every governmental action, as well as every individual who possessed political power, as suspect. This philosophy of is key to understanding the American Revolution, because, as Jacobson notes, Americans loved these works and read them frequently. Aside from the actual texts included here, Jacobsons' lengthy introduction and bibiography are wonderful sources of information on "Cato's" lives, thought, and influence. Nevertheless, if one is truly interesting in their work, I would suggest a purchase that the Liberty Fund's fine edition of the complete "Cato's Letters" as well.

This book is great. First of all, it gives the reader an introduction to the lives and thoughts of the two great masters. Also, it includes ample passages from both the INDEPENDENT WHIG amd CATO'S LETTERS. Reading this book often leads to the purchase of Cato's Letters in their entirety.

The Essential Saffron Companion by John Humphries is the most accurate and comprehensive book ever written about the "Mellow Yellow" plant (Crocus Sativus). It is packed with historical points about the bulb to the characteristics of the plant once bloomed. All good details and very accurate. Also, the recipes are top-notch castillian cooking. Very much authentic of the European Spanish-style cooking. Bravo, JH!

I've always been fascinated with the aroma and taste of saffron. This book is both a lesson on the rich history of saffron and a collection of very balanced recipes that showcase saffron in some very interesting ways. I've been using saffron for years the wrong way. Just one recipe from this book has re-focused my love for this spice. My wife and I purchased a great amount of saffron in La Mancha, Spain last year. This book will guarantee our enjoyment of it. Highly recommended!

I read this book and I must say I was quite pleased with it. It offers a good guide to ski tunning, with step by step instructions. I particularly liked the checklist at the beginning of each chapter that made the whole book as a sequential script on how to fine tune our skis. It doesn't, however, go too much into the details of ski tunning, but that was not its purpose anyways. I would say that this book is a wonderfull complement to Seth Masia's book, where more detailed stuff can be found.

Not only does From Tip to Tail provide you with a WORKING knowledge of ski tuning, it offers up something that other ski tuning manuals don't‹simplicity and focus. I found that after having read this small, but potently illustrated book, the art of ski tuning suddenly was within my grasp. Now I'm keeping that money I used to dole out to ski techs and buying the author a ceegar

that not that long ago in this country someone was found wandering the streets and there were no means to identify him. How sad that someone had raised him for 16 years and then "lost" him. This is a story about one man's dignity. Unlike a lot of stories involving institutions, it seems as though John encountered an awful lot of caring people employed at these places. I find it interesting that although he learned to communicate with others, he never discussed his past or gave any real clues as to his beginnings.

It's a well written book about a sad subject. I recommend it.

On October 11, 1946, a black boy of indeterminate age was found wandering the streets of Jacksonville, Illinois. When police discovered he was deaf, mute, and suspected to be retarded, he was sent to the Lincoln State School and Colony, a state facility that bore little resemblance to its name. Had he been permitted to stay at the School for the Deaf, his life would have been completely different, but that school was not permitted to take retarded people.
The Lincoln School was a self-contained city having a farm with price-winning cattle and a dairy processing plant. It generated its own power and returned thousands of dollars to the state treasury, thanks to the free labor provided by the residents (really inmates). These people varied from the very severely retarded to those of borderline intelligence. The place was vastly overcrowded, and the pecking order among residents was often established violently.
John Doe, as he was called since they were unable to identify him at all, was given an I.Q. test, but much like any test, if you don't understand the value or importance of the test, there will be little incentive to do well, even assuming you can understand what is expected of you. A special test was used that had been designed for the deaf, but the examiner had difficulty conveying the purpose and instructions for the various tests that were disguised as games or puzzles. John's deafness and inexperience were a huge impediment, and, not surprisingly, he scored very low on the test. This result was to haunt him for years to come. After several unsuccessful escape attempts, John gradually adapted to his surroundings. He had no known relatives so there was no one to claim him nor to send him packages or money that might help alleviate his situation.
By the mid-sixties, thanks in part to JFK's commitment to improving conditions and education for the mentally retarded and an Illinois commission, facilities and conditions were improving at the Lincoln School. John Doe had now been there close to two decades. Unfortunately, it was also the time of Chlorpromazine that the psychiatric profession had discovered could turn unruly or violent patients into virtually catatonic, but untroublesome, individuals. It soon became the drug of choice for nearly everyone in an institution. Despite regular doses, John was becoming one of the best students in the ASL class that had been started for the deaf residents. He became a trustee and was placed in charge of several other patients, helping them to dress and to get ready for the day.
By 1973 the side effects of the drugs began to manifest themselves and John was inflicted with diabetes and glaucoma. In 1975, the Lincoln School was converted into a state prison, and John was sent to the Jacksonville Developmental Center. He was now totally blind, but thanks to a few dedicated individuals, his talents were recognized and he was sent to the Helen Keller School. This provided him with the skills he needed to subsequently live in a series of group homes.
He died a few years later, but to this day no one has still been able to track down his identity.