My mother read this book to me as a child, and I have read it many times myself as an older child and as an adult. It teaches the true values of life from the mind of a totally innocent child, who has never been exposed to all of the attitudes of the "real" world, but has been thrown into the real world by unfortunate circumstances. The sweetness, beauty and innocence of this child is so refreshing in this world. My mother also read it to my oldest child. They had regular Friday night reading sessions, and JUST DAVID was one of their favorites. This is one of his best memories of his grandma. She died when he was 9. I will have a first grade classroom next year, and plan to read this to my class. Would love to have another copy. My copy is a family treasure, and I hate to take it to school and risk losing it. Hoping for a reprint. Excellent and timeless book.

Just David was a steal for me. I bought it at a Garage Sale along with many other old books. I had it for over a year before I finally read it. It is by far my most favorite book. I love how David always brings out the best in people without actually realizing what he is doing. He is young and the most naive little boy ever. He reminds me a bit of my six year old daughter. She always sees the beauty of something...even bugs. This is the only book I ever recommend. It is a wonderful, delightful, and interesting book. A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE! I am so glad it is still in print. I have seen it in many local libraries as well. I have since read other books by Eleanor Porter, but find Just David to be my favorite to date. Most Libraries will loan out there copies...so if not on your library shelf, see if they can find a copy for you to read. Enjoy! Lori

I read this marvelous book when I was a fifth grader and absolutely loved it. My love for the book did not fade, as when I was in the eighth grade, I wrote a required book review and chose Just David as my book. My love of the book must have come through, as the teacher read it aloud to the class. She had never read anyone's book review aloud before--so the influence of this book is wide. A reprint would be so welcome to both today's young readers and to those of us who loved the book in the past. I hope to own Wendy Lawton's Just David doll someday.

I got a copy of Eliot Porter's Glen Canyon book after reading Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire," a chapter of which is devoted to a downriver rafting trip along this stretch of the Colorado River just before the dam was built. While Abbey's descriptions are vivid, I wanted to see with my own eyes what he was describing. And Porter's camera is the closest you can get to doing that today.

His pictures are, of course, not the real thing, but they are about as breathtaking as photography can be. The colors, textures, reflections, and the play of light and shadow are wonderful, and each photograph is distinctly different. His own description of the canyon's display of color and light in the introductory essay "The Living Canyon" give an instructive insight into the eye of the photographer. His awareness of what he is looking at and his ways of choosing to look help the reader to see even more in the 80 photographs that follow.

While some of the photographs capture the monumental scale of the canyon walls and formations, many focus on the myriad surfaces that are revealed to the eye: erosion patterns, lichen, rippling water flow, the dark streaking mineral stains extending from seeps, the rough texture of weathered sandstone in glancing sunlight, smooth river stones, the layered stripes of exposed sediment, the trickling spread of water falling from overhead springs, the hanging tapestry coloration of the walls, whorled and striated rock, dry sand. There are also photographs of plants: moonflower, maidenhair fern, willow, tamarisk, redbud, columbine, cane. Above all, there is the rich array of colors, capturing a great variety of moods and attitudes.

Porter was recognized for his photography of birds, and while there are no birds visible in these photographs, his introductory essay makes mention of them, and when looked at with that awareness, many of the pictures also seem to capture a sense of "air space" for flight. Before turning to photography, Porter was a Harvard professor of biochemistry and bacteriology, and it's interesting to see the somewhat dispassionate eye of the scientist in the way he uses the camera. While the story of Glen Canyon may induce sorrow or anger, the photographs are strong for their lack of sentimentality.

The pictures also excite a curiosity about the geology of the river, and the book concludes with a short essay describing how the canyon walls reveal the geological ages that have gone into forming this part of the earth, going back millions of years. The book also includes a catalog of all the plants and animals that inhabited Glen Canyon before its inundation. Altogether, with its quotes from other writers, including Loren Eiseley, Joseph Wood Krutch, Wallace Stegner, and members of John Wesley Powell's expedition in the 19th century, this book is a fitting record of a great lost national treasure.

These photographs are just about all that is left of Glen Canyon. After the Sierra Club and other environmentalists had lost the battle to prevent the Glen Canyon River Dam from being built, Eliot Porter took this extraordinary series of photographs to memorialize the gorgeous area that has been lost forever. Few people at the time knew much about the Canyon. It was too remote, too difficult to get to. Although it was one of the areas that John Wesley Powell found most beautiful in his first expedition down the Green and Colorado Rivers, no access roads or paths were ever built to make it possible for many people to view the areas firsthand. As a result, very few people knew precisely what we were about to lose.

The tragedy is that these areas are really, truly are gone. Even if the Glen Canyon River Dam were magically removed, many of the areas viewed in these gorgeous photographs have already been silted up. The Green and Colorado Rivers carry extreme quantities of minerals, and when the dam stops the flow to form a reservoir, they tend to drop to the bottom. All dams have a limited life. They don't last for as long as one might imagine. Basically, they create a new landmass behind them over the course of a century or so. Many of the spots photographed in these pictures are now solid earth.

One would hope that such beautiful photographs as these, photos that create tremendous longing for what we have already lost, would make us more concerned to preserve what is left. But with the current presidency even today as I write this review opening the national parks to snowmobiles and with people speculating that there will be new attempts to open arctic areas in Alaska to oil exploration, we can't assume that in the least. These photographs may end up being emblematic of all endangered areas, of the ongoing fragility of all of nature.

I was expecting a reprint similar to the small-sized Ballantine issue of the late 1960s. I was surprised to receive a book almost as large as the original Sierra Club hardback! The color in several of the photographs is even better than in the original (and difficult to find/very expensive) book, thanks in part to the cooperation of the museum which received Porter's works as a bequest.

All of my friends love it! My little sister even stole my first edition from me..so i had to buy another. A lot of short humorous poetry..a few examples: Exactitude, Dear, shows whats true, Precisely, in all cases: I quantify my love for you Down to 16 decimal places

The dance floors bare, the band is gone: Listen honey: theyre playing our song

those arent even my favorites...just what i happened to open the book too...REALLY great stuff

I thoroughly enjoyed David's talent and wit! None of his poems are like the typical rubbish that's frequently labeled poetry these days. No esoteric BS that only the author can relate to.

At one time or another, all communities are likely to face attempts by powerful outside interests to contest the course of future community development. This book constitutes a detailed example of local mobilization that effectively used a thorough understanding of the formal procedural framework to successfully protect important community priorities and values and, in fact, the community's vision of itself.

This is a very well-written, detailed and incredibly thorough book about a successful effort by a group of activists and residents in a small community in New York State to battle a proposed construction of Wal-mart in their rural town. The book explains in detail the legal and practical aspects of the environmental review process in New YOrk State. It also explains legal and theoretical bases for appropriate and planned economic growth in a rural community. The book would be useful for community activists and environmentalists in any state that has similar statutes as SEQRA in NY State. I am thoroughly enjoying reading this book.

This book is excellently written. It captivated my attention from page one to the end. It is a first-hand account of the pastor that started the revolution in Romania.

The photography in this book is spectacular! It is what you expect from a Sierra Club book. Put together with wonderfully thoughtful and though-provoking texts by various writers, this book can give even a hard-core city slicker pause. Wilderness at its best....words to salve the heart.

Collaboratively written by W. Raymond Wood (Professor of Anthropology, University of Missouri-Columbia), Joseph C. Porter (Chief Curator, North Carolina Museum of History), and David C. Hunt (Director, Stark Museum of Art, Orange, Texas), and enhanced with numerous black-and-white illustrations and studio art reproductions, Karl Bodmer's Studio Art is a truly captivating collection of images and an informative, scholarly study of the works of Karl Bodmer, a Swiss artist whom Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied selected for an 1833-34 expedition up the Missouri River. Bodmer sketched and painted landscapes and Native American portraits which uniquely captured the imaginations of the western world then and now. Enthusiastically recommended for academic and community library Art History and American History reference collections, Karl Bodmer's Studio Art focuses more on the story of Bodmer's journey than the art itself, yet both the text and the illustrations have a timeless appeal.

"A pioneering work in its time, Modern Negro Art continues to provide today's scholars with early source information, core bibliographic material, and other essential research tools for African American art history." Richard J. Powell. Duke University

i never would have gotten an 'A' on my Sea Star report in Advanced Biology if it weren't for this book. Easy acces to what you need, the info you need, and great pictures!

This is a very comprehensive book on phase transformations from a materials scientist point of view. Without going deeply into the math of the theory of phase transitions, which is repulsively complex, the authors have taken a pragmatic approach using a simple, easy-to-understand and straight forward style. Not much pre-requisite knowledge is required for this book though some background in materials thermodynamics will definitely be helpful. A must for grad-students, professors and practitioners of materials science.

...this book is the only text suited for a materials science class in phase transformations. A great introduction to the subject.

This a good book for students in material science. I think that should be reimpressed again.