Causual spatiality not in Tells of all flaws in not Written or boun

As prior reviews state, the text is well-selected from Powell's journal, and the photographs are superb. But how can the author publish the journal of an explorer without a map keyed to the dates of journal entries? The photographs are superb, but again, not keyed to a map, or even associated with the text. The identifying data for each photo is listed in the front of the book, but is not given on, or near the photograph. A potentially superb book, but, because of these defects and faults, one that is maddening to read.

This sequel to THE ARGUS GAMBIT takes right off where the first book stopped. The author's plotting continues to spin off in countless directions, so that any no character, or story, really threatens to take off and run away with the entire book.

At the core of the story is a solution for humanity, which has become overpopulated and faces rationing: a prospect that has surprisingly few political consequences for President Shefferton, who has managed to rapidly persuade the American people to start dropping their isolationist guards while also funding a space-based artificial photosynthesis system.

Naturally, the forces of "good" face potential doom, at the hands of both the revitalized Soviet Communists, and Horatius J. Krebs and his monopolistic (and aptly named) Python Industries. The latter is a bit surprising, given the author's "Libertarian/Objectivist" leanings. Maybe it only seem's odd because of the Objectivists' defense of Bill Gates and the Microsoft monopoly, but, the author only lets the political speechifying escape every once in a while.

It's all pretty entertaining, but some plot threads are left dangling, and others in surprisingly abrupt fashion. Characterization is a bit spotty, sometimes drifting a bit above, but more frequently settling at the Tom Clancy level. The most complex character, ex-cop Mel Hardrim, is at turns, lunk-headed, hard-boiled, lovelorn, and yet a capable member of a secret society of super-intellectual scientists. Female character's get short shrift, even the VPOTUS.

Still, it's a page-turner, with some interesting dilemmas, some decent near-future speculation, and a portrayal of DC politics that seems almost innocent to someone who's watched THE WEST WING for a couple of years now.

This is a supplement to my earlier review. Note that the description of American Insects, by Arnett,... is based on the first edition, in which "Every order, family, and genus is conveniently numbered and indexed" and you could "quickly determine the taxonomic position of any species, genus, or higher taxon of insect known to occur in America and Canada." This is not the case in the second edition. You can look up major genera only.

Subfamilies are listed under an entry for the family, not under the subfamily name, which means you _can't_ quickly determine their taxonomic positions. You have to know the taxonomic position in order to look up the subfamilies. This defeats one major purpose of the book, and renders it not very usable.

Whoever provided the text for the book description apparently just carried it over from the previous edition, without taking into account the changes in the new edition. This isn't by a long stretch the same book.

As a naturalist and amateur entomologist, I found the first edition of this book especially useful for looking up unfamiliar genera and species of insects, to find out where they fit in the scheme of insect taxonomy.

Unfortunately, CRC Press, the publisher of the second edition, has cut corners by reducing the size of the index from 128 pages for 714 pages of text in the first edition to 57 pages for 931 pages of text in the second edition. This was accomplished by eliminating all but the major genera from the index. In my opinion, this seriously diminishes the value of the book. The best information in the world is useless if you can't access it efficiently. A book like this lives or dies by the quality of its index.

After purchasing the book in early January, 2001 and quickly discovering the problem, I wrote to the publisher to complain and to ask that they make available a complete index as a supplement. I have yet to receive a response from them. The book's author, Ross Arnett, was upset when the publisher of the first edition inadvertently left out the photo captions in proof and wouldn't restore them. I have to think he is spinning in his grave over the gutting of the index in the second edition, a much more serious affair.

I'd love to be able to recommend the second edition of this book. However, unless the publisher remedies the index problem, I can't. Unless you want it primarily for the keys, I suggest looking for a used copy of the first edition.

This is a very interesting idea that is called "We Both Read." Every opening contains a beautiful full-color painting by David Hohn, whose style is very attractive. The left-hand pages contain text for a parent to read to a child, and the right-hand pages contain cute verses for the child to read to the parent. All of the text is simple enough that the "parent" could as easily be an older friend or sibling. On the cover, it claims to be geared toward grades one and two. When I was seven, I was not a top reader, but I was enjoying far more sophisticated works than this. Still, it is a great learning aid for any child who loves Oz and has trouble reading.

The story takes place prior to Dorothy's first visit. The Witch of the East is still at large, and has made it illegal for the Munchkins to celebrate birthdays. This makes Meezie and Tweeze (two cute Munchkin twin children) very unhappy, as today is their birthday. So Meezie schemes with a breezy character named Windbag to overthrow the Witch by conjuring up a storm. It is obvious what happens next, but bear in mind the fact that, if you are reading this review, you probably are not five years old.

The plot is quite simplistic, but it is intended for very small children, so I can't hold that against it. On page ten, there is an illustration that looked at a glance to me like a little girl no older than nine. It turns out that this is supposed to be Glinda! Then I noticed the poppies on either side of her blonde head and realized that it is obviously Ozma. The author must have originally wrote about Ozma, got it illustrated, and then realized too late that Ozma would have been Tip at that time. So now Glinda is described with "golden hair" and depicted as a pre-teen. There is also an awkward conversation with Windbag in which he discloses the fact that he was responsible for bringing the Wicked Witch to Oz in the first place. He had blown her off course en route to France! And Dorothy's arrival contradicts Baum's version. Still, if one may theorize that Windbag was mistaken about the Witch's origin, and that Dorothy may have had an encounter with some different Munchkins after Tattypoo and the others left, this book is not too bad. And of course I can approve of anything that helps children learn to read. 2 stars.