I have read this book over and over. Astrid Varnay has so much to offer readers who love opera. It is a great book to read through, but there are parts that take a couple of readings for a trained musician to understand. Her intelligence is evident in every word and so is her humanity. She is most knowledgeable about the works of Wagner and Strauss, so those interested in lighter opera may not be as well served, but her concepts are important for all opera singers. This book is quite honest and those who want some "dirt" on old singers, conductors and impressarios will be well-served. Go for it.

In the pantheon of twentieth-century Wagnerian sopranos, Astrid Varnay ranks very high, though she is woefully underrepresented on available recordings today. Through the efforts of friends and supporters, detailed in the preface, her autobiography has been made available in English, and music and opera fans everywhere should be grateful.

Varnay's story, told calmly but with frequent flashes of wit, begins with the tale of how her parents, both opera singers, met, married, and made their careers in Europe before coming to the U.S. and settling in New York. Young Violet Varnay, as she was dubbed by a teacher who could not cope with her Hungarian name Ibolyka (little violet), worked as a secretary, waited in the Met standing room line and quietly prepared herself for an operatic career. She prepared so well with her coach and eventual husband, Hermann Weigert, in fact, that her resume was met with astonished laughter at her eventual Met audition. The powers that be were quickly won over upon actually hearing her, and her stage career began at the Met in 1941 as a last-minute replacement for Lotte Lehmann in Die Walkure. Before retiring in the late 90s, after a career spanning more than five decades, her voice and dramatic presence would take her to Bayreuth and all of the great opera houses of the world.

It is of course difficult to say how much of the structure of the book stems from the singer herself, and how much from her co-author, Donald Arthur; but one of the attractions of this memoir is the skillful mix of narrative, anecdote and self-analysis of Varnay's numerous roles. She draws portraits of her husband, family and colleagues that leap vividly from the page, without ever descending to mere bitchiness, though she does allow herself some jabs at Herbert von Karajan and Rudolf Bing. The ultimate impression is of a strong, self-aware but not overweeningly arrogant personality--someone one would like to meet and talk to in person. One is touched by her inexhaustible eagerness to perform, and her capacity for discovering insights into roles usually dismissed as worthy only of comprimaria singers. She is also not above laughing at herself, and includes some amusingly informal photographs. Highly recommended.

A lot of opera singers have published their autobiographies the last few years, but almost none are as good as what Astrid Varnay and Donald Arthur have given us here. Yes, we get some dirt (the problems with Bing and von Karajan, for instance) but, unlike others, Varnay never comes across as either bitter or bitchy. Instead it is her story and that's that. She is straightforward, tells her side of things and moves on to another subject.

She also pays the reader the compliment of assuming that if we are interested in her and her career, we will be interested in her roles, some of her reseach on the roles and why she feels the way she does about the characters she played on stage. That is not to suggest for one minute that she gets bogged down in endless tedious details. Far from it! For all of the wonderful digging into her roles, there is also always a delightful quip to go along with it. The humor is there, the talk about colleagues, but it is a refreshing departure from the usual "And then I sang in Vienna and they loved me, and then I went to Berlin and they loved me even more" story. This is obviously the very real story of a singer whose life was the theater.

What stays with me, long after finishing the book, is the enormous amount of work and unrelenting dedication Varnay put into her honeing of both her voice and her dramatic instincts. It took constant hard work, but it was a labor of love--and that love shines through on every page here. The book is the perfect companion to the live performance CDs of Varnay in her prime that are now available. And the world is a better place for having both.

The male Emporer penguin goes without food for two months to keep an egg warm between his feet and belly... the African Honey Bird leads humans to beehives in order to share in the bounty (it wants the wax, not the honey). Birds do the strangest things! I remember loving this book as a child (along with Animals do the Strangest Things) and was glad to find a copy in a used bookstore to read my own child. It is still just as fascinating as I had remembered! I wish Scholastic would reprint this series.

This book is loaded with color pictures of numerous birds from around the world..I found pictures of birds in this book that I couldn't find in my other bird books (I have many). Though it's an older book,it's a useful addition to my bird reference library. Definitely worth buying if you like pictorial bird books.

The Golden field guide, *Birds of North America* has been a favorite companion for countless birders since it was first published in the late 1960's. It has the virtues of being nationally comprehensive, easy to follow (illustrations, maps, songs, and descriptions are provided on the same two pages), and perhaps best of all, small enough to carry in a jacket pocket. It also uses an interesting and highly useful visual "sonagram" approach to conveying information about bird vocalizations.

Unfortunately, however, the ornithological powers that be are constantly lumping and splitting species, rendering field guides at least somewhat obsolete overnight. Consequently, these books must be updated periodically so as to be optimally useful to birders. The Golden guide was last updated during the 1980s, and was long overdue for a makeover.

Happily, this has finally been provided. And indeed, this revised version of the guide is (for the moment) up to date regarding the various lumps and splits that have gone into effect over the past decade. Some of the "splits" are fully illustrated, as with the Canyon vs. California (formerly Brown) towhee. Some, however, are only mentioned in the text, and sometimes all too briefly. It's probably ok not to have a separate illustration of the smaller Gunnison species of the Sage grouse, but a separate illustration of the California gnatcatcher surely should have been provided. Similarly, the somewhat larger and brighter Island scrub jay should have been depicted separately from its relatives the scrub and Florida jays.

Certainly, the publishers of this revised version of the Golden guide have made an earnest effort to provide an updated and attractive entry into the increasingly crowded birding field guide competition. They have included, for example, some new plates illustrating the various introduced parrot species and some (surely not all) of the Eurasian vagrants that are reported in Alaska and along the west coast. There also is a fine illustration comparing the tail feather patterns of both common and accidental pipit species.

However, it seems apparent that the update to this guide was done on a fairly tight budget. Most disappointing is the sometimes mediocre reproduction of what otherwise are fine color illustration plates. Particularly in the shorebird, gull, and tern sections, the quality is simply not first-rate. Apparently sloppy reproduction work also can lead to some misleading visual information. For example, based upon the illustrations of the loon species, one might conclude that the summer Pacific loon has a greenish throat patch while that of the Arctic loon is purplish.

Still, overall, I have always liked this field guide simply because it is so very easy to carry and to use. Consequently, whereas other larger, heavier volumes may be what I study while preparing for a day in the field, the Golden guide provides me with the quick reference I might need while out in the field. As a handy pocket reference, I would continue to recommend that birders consider purchasing this field guide in its updated version.

How they can sell this book at such a low price is beyond me. Lots of quality here.

Look at the cover with the buntings: it's not just some recycled art from the interior, but a specially painted picture just for the cover. This is part of the value that the authors offer you.

More importantly, the illustrations really capture what the birds look like in real life -- to my mind better than other paintings in guides and a thousand times better than photos -- and the text is clear and to the point.

Sections that showcase winter plumage of gulls or peeps or that illustrate the heads of warblers or sparrows have the page numbers right next to each picture so you can just whip over to bird in question if you need more information.

I especially like the fact that the range maps are right next to the bird's picture so you don't have to thumb to some inconvenient map index the back of the book only to find that the bird is never present in your area. Everything is right there to help you make a quick identification.

"Birds of North America" is a truly excellent guide. It may not be the most comprehensive, but it certainly is the most useful. It's probably the all-around greatest birding field guide out there. The illustrations are very well done, and the size of the book is easily manageable. This book is detailed enough to accomodate all but the most demanding and professional birders, but user-friendly enough to not overwhelm the amateur.

This book has most of the important facts about Godfrey's unique career. What a fascinating, if sometimes difficult, man. We who remember his shows, or who knew him (like myself, at age 18-19), have been waiting for years for this book. Mr. Singer could have dwelled on the scandals and tantrums and what not, but he chose to describe the broadcasting era and the man intelligently and fairly. Perhaps he could have expanded a little on some of the good things Godfrey did for many. It would have been nice to read the eventual fates of the various Little Godfreys. But Singer cleared up the false and terrible "antisemitisim" charges with common sense. No doubt Mr. Singer has enough good stuff left over for another volume on this important radio/TV/aviation pioneer!

Arthur J. Singer has given us an interesting and complete biography of Arthur Godfrey,deftly weaving the history of broadcasting (both dradio and TV) with the life of Mr. Godfrey including his passions (flying, horses and at times, women), his need to control, his sincere patriotism and his slow demise. His charismatic personality enabled him to have a profound influence on his audiences. This book is highly readable, Mr. Godfrey is always interesting and the times are vividly recreated. I felt that I had a complete picture of the man, his successes and failures, but most of all, his monumental influence on the way the broadcasting industry evolved.

When I ordered this guide, I was expecting a format that was similar to the other Petersen bird guides. Unfortunately, this book is nowhere near as well organized. The plates are small, the artwork is not as good, and not all the species are illustrated. The text was also rather thin in life history information. If you are traveling to the Caribbean in winter and aren't up to speed on North American migratory singbirds, you will need to take an Eastern U.S. bird guide with you as well, as the numerous migrants that comprise the wintertime fauna are merely mentioned. I managed to identify most birds that I saw while using this guide, but it was a frustrating process.

Yea, The book could definently use some improvements, but overall the pictures did depict the birds pretty well. The only species illustrated {in color} are those endemic ONLY to the Carib islands. Any birds that are seen in the continental US are only given black and white drawings, and small descriptions. So a field guide and familiarity to eastern migratory birds are a plus! I am VERY dissapointed with the quality of the pages in the book. After a week in the Islands, mine looks worse than any of my regular guides! Bring a water-proof sleeve or something, because it's going to get wet! Not a bad book though, I had a lot of fun, and pretty much every bird you see tends to be a new species! Have fun!

Hard core 007 afficianados will notice a pile of 007 in-jokes that are scattered throught the latest Bond film, "Die Another Day". Among them: While in a Cuban office, Pierce Brosnan casually picks up a first edition of this book, which, as others have noted, is where Ian Fleming came up with 007's name. Better than available alternatives I suppose ("My name is Audobon - - John James Audobon..."