As a former manager for a large aquarium shop I purchased a lot of freshwater fish. This was one of my best and favorite reference guides for identification and information about not only the ones I ordered, but the "stow-a-ways" which sometimes sneak in!

Great for the beginner and the experienced keeper as well and well worth the money!

Working as a manager in one of the largest aquarium shops in my state several years ago, I had a perfect opportunity to know and use many books. Some were excellent and others a waste of money. This book is an excellent guide to one of my favorite fish...the cat! Different types of cats are pictured in photos or detailed drawings to make identification much easier. Well worth every penny, it is a must for anyone truly interested in their care!

What a fantastic book! I raise corys and was looking for a book that would give me more information on specific species. This book gives a very in depth description of the spawning process for Corys in general then gives more specifics under the individual species if they differ from the "general". It includes advice about water temperature, PH, and water hardness. It is just what I was looking for and is a valuable resource for anyone who is raising corys for breeding or has them in their tanks "just for fun."

As frightening as the volume of the book might see, it is written very well and it is very contemporary with the topics discussed in.
The book is divided in several sections with general theory and implications disussed first and with some real cases presented afterwards. Each case is usually backed with some questions to think about and to extract the essence of it. The complete book feels like being a student in the class with authors performing as teachers (as they also do sometimes).
Concepts of strategy are extremely tricky. It can hardly been negotiated if there is a strategy or if you just got to have the feeling or if there simply are people who earn 1 million US$+ a year that turn into gold everything they touch and you can't run a serious business without them. This book will help you understand that strategy exists, will teach you how to define it and set it through and how to predict the future and react on it. But as real life is, many things can happen. You get the driver's licence after you learn the basics of driving. But no one can tell after you get the licence if you will get involved into the crash and when.
Many people expect from such books that they will get a broad pavement covered with roses to walk through their careers on simply by paying some 70 US$. How naive they sound sometimes. The pen alone doesn't write a book, it is just an instrument to success, behind which stands an enormous human effort. This wonderful book is only an instrument to avoid some crashes of company in your career. If it can therefore win you a job or a mere 100 US$ raise, it has paid back heavily, don't you think?

This is an important and recent strategy book. I recommend it for MBA students and managers.

It is easy to misunderstand such a subtle philosopher as Kierkegaard. From his cryptic style and pseudonymns creeps a message heavily veiled, and best understood by a select view. Both "existentialism" and "irrational" become easily misused buzz words far too often applied to Kierkegaard. This book argues that such has been the case with Alasdair MacIntyre in his book AFTER VIRTUE. Fortunately, those who seem most on the mark in their interpretations of Kierkegaard have been gathered here in this collection of essays defending Kierkegaard against MacIntyre's claims that Kierkegaard is an irrational fedeist. KIERKEGAARD AFTER MACINTYRE is a brilliant and responsible exposition of the depths and intricacies of "the father of existentialism" by, whom I believe to be, the most "well-versed" Kierkegaardian scholars. Most helpful in this book was the light it shed on the influence both Kant and Artistotle had on Kierkegaard's conception of the self and decision-making, and the importance of understanding what are Kierekgaard's thoughts through all the pseudonymity...especially when it comes to his writings on the Judge and the Aesthete in Either/Or.

The book is highly enjoyable with concise essays that make their points while citing the various passages of Kierkegaard. One can easily check their refences if one is skeptical of the context. And what I enjoyed most was the fairness of the book. MacIntyre himself ends the collection of essays, and has the last words in response to the book's claims that he has radically misunderstood Kierkegaard. A good read and a definite must for anyone who wants to stay on top of the issues at hand in Kierkegaardian scholarship.

My 8 year old daughter is already very curious about all kinds of world records, and this book adds fun nature facts to the subject. The info is in short snippets that are perfect while travelling in the car; we can pop the book open to any page and find something interesting to discuss. My 4 year old son enjoys the facts, too! I would definitely recommend this book.

College-level and reference collections with strong drama sections will want to include this resource in their libraries: Reader's Encyclopedia Of World Drama reprints a 1969 classic, with entries on national drama, playwrights, plays and genres providing country listings and historical surveys alike. Complete coverage of major dramatic genres and many minor styles are included in this comprehensive work.

TOO LONG A SACRIFICE is an admirable model of the editing of literary works of importance. The editors' knowledge of the subjects and their place in history (political, art and otherwise), the care with which they present the text, and the extensive and informative notes which clarify persons and events mentioned, are impressive. However important Quinn may be, my impression of him is not very positive. He seems to be, in spite of his status as a patron, protector and promoter, an opportunistic user of people. He appears to be communicating primarily as an effort to elicit responses that will have future literary value - he is writing with an eye to posterity's perception of him - he is less interested in the person than in the person's observations, statements and assessments. His words seem disassociated from a human, humane interest in his correspondent. While a degree of personal reserve may be expected, his reserve seems cold and calculated. I felt this strongly in the earlier ON POETRY, PAINTING AND POLITICS (The Letters of May Morris and John Quinn) {Janis Londraville's previous work on Quinn}. Mrs. Londraville's scholarly and graceful editing is wonderful. She does not intrude her assessment of the man into the book, making it possible for me to dislike him all on his own! I recommend both these books for all readers interested in the linked worlds of Irish history, literature and tragedy, seen through the filter of a careful, American, would-be Walpole.

TOO LONG A SACRIFICE is an essential guide to Irish arts and letters as well as an intriguing glimpse into the daily lives of early twentieth century literati. Between the dark wit of Irish American lawyer and art patron John Quinn and the passionate observations of political activist and feminist Maud Gonne, these letters open a window onto a private world where such literary luminaries as Joyce, Pound and Yeats were also friends. Through this collection of correspondence, historian Janis Londraville and SUNY Potsdam Professor Richard Londraville, who both spoke at the W.B. Yeats Society of the Palm Beaches this May (99) in Florida, have offered modern readers a passport into the minds and times of these two influential figures. Whether these letters were written from a train station in Paris, a country house retreat in West Ireland, or a law office in bustling turn of the century New York, I felt as if I was there as Gonne and Quinn corresponded about the effects of war, the possibilities of art, and the hopes of an independent and united Ireland. Since these letters were not penned for personal gain or public perusal, their candor is refreshing, especially as they speak of people who worked only for the blessing of history, not celebrity. That understanding - of how art continues to exist, often at great personal cost, because of some inner dedication instead of adulation - is just one of the many lasting insights from this book. It's an epistolary treat

Because of my interest in early twentieth century art, I have read some of John Quinn's letters before, and I'm familiar with his biography by Benjamin L. Reid. What fascinates me about this new book of letters is that Quinn seems so interested in and concerned about Maud Gonne, her various interests, and her children. He is usually less sensitive. The notes at the end of the text are another book in themselves, and very helpful to me in my own research about several sculptors, including Gaudier-Brzeska and Brancusi. Although Irish history is not my area of expertise, I liked eavesdropping on Maud Gonne when she wrote to Quinn about the Irish political situation and, especially, about the starving Irish children. I never really understood before what England had done.

Quinn, who grew up in one of the small suburban towns that dot the meadowlands, really captures the essense of this wilderness in the middle of the megalopolis. I never knew about how many people used (and still use) the meadowlands for hunting, trapping, fishing, etc.

While other authors deal with the cultural significance of something like the meadowlands, Quinn takes the position of a passionate naturalist and friend of the meadowlands, describing in detail wildlife, regional ecology and geology, history of the area and the many pressures the meadows face today.

A must if you're a fan of urban ecology, New Jersey, or just well-written nonfiction.

To all caring and compassionate environmentalists out there, Fields of Sun and Grass, the latest offering by gifted naturalist, writer, and artist John R. Quinn, is a glorious cry of victory via a remarkable portrayal of some of the most durable and stubbornly determined survivors in the faunal and floral kindgdom.

The setting is the New Jersey Meadowlands, a wild and reedy tract located a mere six miles west of New York's Times Square. It is considered by many as nothing more than a "toxic wasteland," but is in fact home to a dazzling array of often overlooked plants and animals. While there is little doubt that many of the life forms that once thrived here are long gone, many others remain, and these are the primary focus of this book. Many, many species are discussed; far too many to list here. Suffice it to say Quinn leaves no stones unturned.

The book has three central parts, respectively called "Yesterday," "Today," and "Tomorrow." Each covers a different time period in the ecological life of the Meadowlands. There also is an "Introduction," a "Starting Point," an "Epilogue," a bibliography, an index, and an interesting sort of "hands-on" chapter called "Exploring the Meadowlands." This will be of particular interest to anyone who lives within traveling distance of the region. It gives helpful and experienced advice on enjoyed the Meadowlands firsthand through boating, fishing, hiking, and the visiting of local parks.

Quinn's text is thorough, complete, and offered in a beautifully poetic yet pragmatic prose, making the read that much more pleasant and inviting. A memorable example can be found right at the beginning of the introduction-"Six miles-and ten thousand years-to the west of Manhattan's Times Square lies one of the grandest environmental paradoxes on Earth. Here, beneath a sun often obscured by smoky industrial exhalations, a river of many bends makes its way to the sea." It is peppered throughout with the occasional personal anecdote, like the touching retelling of an experience an eight-year-old Quinn had with his beloved grandfather in the summer of 1946 called "Grandpa and the Red Herring" (page 36). The paperback version is 348 pages in length, and much to Quinn's credit, a great deal of it is made up of his thoughtful and well-researched text.

The author's artwork is perhaps the aspect of the book that most effectively haunts you. It is simple black-and-white ink sketches, but there is an emotional complexity to each that is hard to describe, yet easy to appreciate. Quinn's clever focus on the wildlife while making sure to almost always include some image from man's industrial intervention does a marvelous job of hammering the book's point home. A glaring example of this can be found on pages 124 and 125, where we see a lone kestrel perched on the peak of a weed, while in the background looms the vague but unmistakable figure of a pair of tractors and a group of hard-hatted workers. Somehow the lack of colorization adds to the feeling of both positive and negative, of humankind's destructiveness (both intentional and inadvertent), and of the wildlife's determination to go on.

John Quinn is no stranger to the region, having been born and raised in the Village of Ridgefield Park, which rests on the Meadowland's northern edge. According to the author bio, he has published ten other books on nature and science. A potential reader can be comforted and assured by the fact that Quinn's experience and sincerity are deeply invested into every word and every drawing. In this age of the slipshod, assembly-line product, here we find an honest and lovingly crafted work by a man who genuinely cares about what he's doing.

As a proud and concerned naturalist myself, I strongly urge you to pick up a copy of Fields of Sun and Grass.

The first time I met John R. Quinn was a few years ago he was deeply involved in the gathering of stories that make up the Soul of the New Jersey meadows. His journalistic background was in control and he wanted to present as complete a picture as possible regarding the current controversey surrounding the future of the Meadowlands. At the time I was assisting the New Jersey Audubon Society by providing boat rides to conduct a migratory bird habitat inventory of the Meadowlands( published by NJAS and available to the public). We invited John to join us for a day on the River and he honored all of us by chronicling the trip in Fields of Sun and Grass. Now I can relive the personal experiences of that glorius day any time I want thanks to Johns eye for detail and his skill at turning a day of field research into a story about our adventure in the Urban Wilderness. Putting controveresy and advocacy aside I recommend this book to teachers througout the Hackensack River Watershed Everytime I take their students out on the Boat or go in to their classrooms to "talk to the children". As Riverkeeper I am contacted frequently by people who are requesting information about the Meadowlands thanks to John I have a ready reference and I have learned a lot about the estuary of the Hackensack that allows me to be a more effective advocate and a better Riverkeeper Captain Bill Sheehan Hackensack Riverkeeper Inc.

This book can hardly be considered an in-depth report on American commercial sexual activity. John Quinn's text, in sixty or so pages, is a superficial overview of the last hundred years illustrated with a few vintage porn and burlesque photos, I would have expected to see examples of Tijuana Bibles, burlesque and film posters, men's magazine covers, video boxes, adult web-site home pages etc, etc. Dian Hansen contributes an interesting short postscript on the future of porn.

What fills the majority of the book are hundreds of hard-core photos which seem to come from the output of Californian porn producer Leoram (they even have an ad on page 440) Kim Christy I guess has some connection with this company.

The book designer, Armando Chitolina from Milan, assumes all this very (interesting) explicit material will bore the readers so he liberally splashes color panels, text and abstract shapes over the photos.

So, not really history book on American erotica, more a visual treat on what men and women get up to in the Los Angeles sex biz!

This is a cover-to-cover porn odyssey...no holds barred. My copy has a very cool pink 3-D-psychodelic cover and while the text is minimal, the images are not.

Like a good porn movie the book is light on dialogue, but heavy on action!

TASCHEN didn't let me down on this one.

This book tells you the complete guide to the marine aquaria, very immformative and answers about about all of you questions, brilliant for beginner to expert, fantastic!

A classic book on the keeping of North American native fishes. Quinn provides some excellent no-nonsense information on collecting, and sucessfully keeping the more common native species. If you're into keeping gamefish like I am, this is definitely the book for you. My only problem with the book lies in the visual arena: no color photographs and grainy fish drawings. Yuck. If this book utilized color photographs to represent these fishes, then I would give it the full 5 stars. An updated re-release is desperately needed. Despite that, this is probably the greatest book on a very unorthodox hobby. Lets hope this changes soon, as fantastic surprises await many unsuspecting aquarists.