Guide to Marine Mammals of the World illustrated by Pieter Folkens et al is a National Audubon Society book organized into four major groups of marine mammals; marine fissipeds, pinnipeds, cetaceans, and sirenians.

There is fascinating detail as the book goes on to describe the world's whales, dolphins, porpoises, seals and sea lions, manatees, marine and sea otters, and polar bears. Not only is there detailed descriptions, but there are maps to show where these animals live throughout the world. There is a general introduction that outlines the evolution and tanonomy of marine mammals, distribution, migration, watching guidelines, identification techniques, organizations and laws that protect marine mammals.

There are 120 species represented in this book. Also, there are facts about social organization, surface behaviors, swimming and diving, details about food items and foraging techniques, and estimates of population in the wild, plus current and historic threats.

If you are taking a trip to the coastlines or live near the oceans then don't be caught without this fine field guide. You will be amazed by the wildlife near the and in the ocean. This is a comprehensive and beautifully illustrated work.

Don't leave home without it, as your trip will be richer and more fulfilling as you spot the animals listed.

Pieter Folkens illustrates Guide To Marine Mammals Of The World, a comprehensive desk reference which blends color photos and maps with realistic drawings of marine mammals. Paintings illustrate juvenile and subspecies, photos show typical behavior and appearance in the wild, and color range maps reflect the latest information, while chapters cover all the natural history basics. Guide To Marine Mammals Of The World promises to be a lasting, important library reference.

The National Audubon Society's Guide to Marine Mammals of the World contains a wealth of information about pinnipeds (seals and sea lions), cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises), sirenians (manatees and dugongs), polar bears and otters that's timely and easy to digest. Descriptions, range, behavior, etc. of the various species are informative, with just enough detail for anyone short of a marine biology major.

Along with a number of excellent quality photographs, Pieter Folkens (from my hometown of Benicia, CA!) illustrations are superb. From Knopf, the same publishers of the Sibley Guide to Birds, the graphics and layout of this guide are similarly clean and very attractive. I think it's one of the best looking books of it's type, and an ideal introductory guide for anyone with an interest in marine mammals.

I wasn't sure what to expect with this anthology, but I found myself enthralled from beginning to end. Nnedi Okorafor's "Crossroads", Seth Lindberg's "Atropos", and James Dorr's "Madness" were special delights.

A great mix of chilling, horrifying, and otherwise entertaining stories.

This is a great compilation of magic, madness, culture and creativity. All of the stories were pretty satisfying, some of them terrifying! There are some writers here that are going to go places. Watch for the authors of the two longest pieces, Nnedi Okorafor (her story is called Crossroads) and James S. Dorr (he wrote a story called Madness).

Mysteries of Terra Firma: The Age and Evolution of the Earth written by James Lawrence Powell is a very well-written, cogent, lucid, and extremely lively book that is about the age of the Earth. Through discoveries in deep time, tectonics and extraterrestrial impacts, the mysteries of time, drift and change have established with admirable clarity how geologists came to discover the true nature of the Earth.

This book is a story of three parts... time, drift and change these three profound stories have affected the Earth and life as we know it today. Without knowledge is these three disciplines the true nature of our Earth would still elude us.

Have you ever asked yourself, "How old is the Earth, the Universe? How firm the the Earth? How do meterorites affect the Earth? Well, this book takes on these tough questions and gives us some startling answers.

First, time... How can we understand the ground on which we walk, or how that ground holds the key to the greatest secerts of deep space time. Lord Kelvin and Ernst Rutherford helped set the stage for the calculations for the solution of the age of the Earth. When they were finished a number 4.5 billion years of geologic time was the answer... the universe is 13.5 billion years old, enough time for our solar system to die and another to be reborn. If this were all condensed to a 24 hour clock, man would only be found on the very last second.

Second, drift... Without drift, life would no exist. What the author is talking about is plate tectonics or continential drift. Believe it or not this theory was not accepted when first proposed, by a German meteorologist and polaer explorer Alfred Wegener, espicially in the petroleum industry. So, how firm is Terra Firma... well that depends upon where your perspectives lay... but for all intents and purposes, yes the Earth moves.

Third, chance... Throughout geologic time meteorites have been bombarding everything in the solar system. From a grain of sand to a mountain-sized meteorite have flown through space, struck the Earth, killed the dionsaurs and almost everything else on Earth, leaving a very small mammal the size of a hamster as our ancester. Powell says, "The chance of that happening again is essentially zero."

Ernst Mayr says much same thing, "...highly intelligent life originated only 300,000 years ago, in a single one of the more than one billion species that had arisen on Earth. These are indeed long odds."

If you are looking for a book about the study of the Earth, geology, and plate tetonics, this is a very good choice considering no more than the rocks beneth our feet.

Mysteries of Terra Firma by James Lawrence Powell, author of Night Comes to the Cretaceous, is an excellent introduction to what are arguably the science of geology's greatest contributions to humankind's knowledge of the universe. These great discoveries are the age of the Earth [4.55 billion years old], the theory of plate tectonics, and the knowledge that the impacts of comets and asteroids are an important force in our solar system, including here on Earth. In each of the three sections of the book, Powell takes the reader through the convoluted histories of each of these great discoveries, showing geology and the geologists, warts and all. These histories illustrate the fact that science can be slow and imperfect, but ultimately does a good job at pushing our knowledge of the universe forward. Mysteries of Terra Firma is an excellent read and should be enjoyed by anybody with an interest in geology, the Earth, or the history of science. I also recommend that college and high school earth science teachers append this title to their supplementary reading lists as soon as possible. I thoroughly enjoyed Mysteries of Terra Firma and I think you'll enjoy it, too.

I loved this account of Aviators. Rock On

This is a great book for many reasons: it's a truly useful cookbook, the anecdotes re NY neighborhoods, and the perspective of a Firehouse cook has has seen and prepared it all! A wide variety of foods and cooking styles are included. My favorite is the Gourmet Irish Brisket, which always gets a rave review in my home.

This is the biggest collection of haunted hotels and restaurants I've seen. A must have for anyone, anywhere to find a haunted location close to home or on vacation. Rob and Anne have come through again.

Powell is looking at sex here with the eye of an engaged anthropologist. He asserts that sexuality is different from culture to culture. He then examines the tradition of courtly and romantic love in the West--and the orgasm-oriented approach of Western sex manuals. With this he contrasts traditions of sacred sexuality in India, China, Polynesia and the United States. Powell, however, offers not so much a fawning acceptance of Tantric and Taoist sexual yoga, as a critique. He then offers his own thoughts on sacred sexuality. Spiritual leader Da Free John, who resides in Fiji, placed this book on the required reading list for his circle of devotees. Originally published in English, the book has been translated in both Japanese (Hosei University Press) and Spanish (Thassalia)

The Mind of the Founder: Sources of the Political Thought of James Madison by James Madison and Marvin Meyers editor, is a book on Madison's political thought through writings and papers.

This is excellent for students, scholars and general readers as it delves into Madison's thought as a political theorist, practicing politician, and major political thinker in his time. Madison political life went on for fifty years, from the time of the Revolution to the framing of the Constitution, and finially to the sectional crisis over slavery.

This book is divided into five major parts and each is subdivided into small like sections. The five major parts are: Anticipations: Revolutionary Years; Founding: The Critical Period; Opposition: The Federalist Era; Power: The Republican Regime; and lastly Reflections: The Elder Statesman.

This book has an excellent bibliography of selected readings about Madison and is documented through and verified from extensive cross referencing and from Madison's own writings. Reading Madison's writings makes you know Madison rather vicariously, but to know him better you would have to speak with him one on one.

I found this book fascinating and well worth the time as I read, you can almost feel the wheels turning in Madison's head as he plots and thinks through problems... too bad Madison wasn't a better leader... he would have surpassed Jefferson in import. But, as a political theorist, Jefferson depended on Madison.

It's a shame this book is no longer in print, because it's a wonderful book and I rather wish more people could read it.

Before I read this book, I knew almost nothing about Jacques Derrida, though I had browsed through some of his works. I think this is a good book for the general reader. It goes more into depth on Derrida than Powell's other book Postmodernism for Beginners.

Derrida is my favorite philosopher. I don't think that his 'Deconstruction' is holistic necessarily but the gist of it explains the inherent problems of doing philosophy better then anything else I've read.

Unlike the greats of Science who simplify complex ideas (i.e..Stephen Hawking, Richard Feynman), the guru's of philosophy take fairly straight-forward ideas and shroud them with such mysterious sounding proprietary language that their work becomes nearly impossible to decipher. Derrida is no exception. This is a shame because his underlying message is brilliant...and really not not all that abstract.

So until philosophers realize that less words does not directly translate to less intelligence, we should be very glad to have commentators like Jim Powell around.

"Derrida For Beginners" concentrates on developing the key concept of "differance" and defining the necessary Derridian terminology used to communicate its meaning. The book clearly defines, "binary opposites", "texts", "logocentricism" etc.. and has plenty of diagram's to help you get the idea. While I can't say the artwork did much for me, the cartoon setting does force the message to be carried accross succinctly...no babling. The first book I read after failing miserably to tackle "Of Grammatology" was "Derrida" by Christopher Norris. While his was an excellent introduction..I will say that after I read "Derrida for Beginners" I went back and read most of Norris' book again and got a lot more out of it. Try this: read "Derrida for Beginners" as many times as needed until you have all the words in bold print at your fingertips..then, read Norris' book "Derrida". With this few hours of investment, do some online searches and read some of the commentaries and criticism of Derrida. You will be surprised at how badly he is misunderstood by so many who have studied him a lot more then you, and should feel good about your knowledge in comparisom. Of course you then need to get humble again so start reading "Of Grammatology". :)

Before I read this book, all I ever hear of Derrida is that he is so hard to read. Upon reading this, I realized where this could be true. This beginners book is very well written and made Derrida's work simple to understand. Although one may need a basic knowledge in linguistics and Sassure, one does not need it all together to comprehend some of Derrida's work. Author Jim Powell gives a concise look into the dense writings of the linguist which I not only found easy, but exciting - enough to make me want to go out and read some of the material that is written about. Along with an explanation of Derrida's work is also a brief biography which gives on an idea where he is coming from. Highly reccomended! One of the best beginners book to date.