This book applies Darwin's theory of evolution to medicine and that's very exciting. It's exciting because the theory of evolution turns out to be a framework with impressive explanatory power in the area of health and disease. Why do babies in modern Western societies show more excessive crying than infants of !Kung San hunter-gatherers? What makes many women that give birth in modern high-tech hospitals still unsatisfied with the process? Why do so many modern women get breast cancer? Evolutionary medicine proposes answers, sometimes controversial, but definitely almost always worth considering. Why only four stars then? Perhaps it's because the field is still maturing but I thought only six of the eighteen chapters of the book showed clear arguments, high-quality writing, and didn't require a Ph.D. in biochemistry to follow the details. (I liked the chapters about evolutionary perspectives on infant crying, sudden infant death syndrome, obstetrics, nutrition, psychiatry, and breast cancer). And finally, readers should keep in mind that "Evolutionary Medicine" is a university textbook. For a more accessible introduction into this exciting new field they should read Nesse and Williams' "Why We Get Sick".

this is a devastating emotional nightmare which is saved by the authors incredible insight into a hidden world. the issues explored are not uncommmon even now but polite society colludes to supress discussion -this makes the impact of this book massive.this is THE book for women this year. to describe the subject matter in a short review would be too crude but this book deals with post natal psychosis,deception, infantacide and oppression.

This book is a really excellent choice, it teaches you the fundamentals of ADA programming which has been developed by the US Militrary.

James "the Just", "the brother of the Lord", is remembered in Christian tradition as the first bishop of Jerusalem and the author of a canonical epistle. In the Orthodox Church, his feast day is marked by a special liturgy, celebrated on no other occasion. In short, he holds a place as a Great Man in the early Church. Nevertheless, his theoretical greatness is coupled with practical obscurity. Next to the towering figures of Peter and Paul, James is a shadowy presence. Even the one writing attributed to him, a high point of "Wisdom literature", has suffered neglect, burdened by Martin Luther's contemptuous dismissal of its contents as "straw".

John Painter seeks to restore the portrait of "Just James" to its original brilliance. He considers every ancient text that bears on James: the handful of references in the New Testament, the short but significant testimony of Josephus, the thin line of orthodox remembrance and the much more abundant Gnostic and heretical appropriation of James' image. The available information about James has never before been so carefully and thoroughly assembled. Sadly, though, the pigments on the canvas remain scattered and faded, so that the Painterly picture has in it, in the end, more of the artist than the subject.

On some elements of James' life, Professor Painter is fresh and convincing. He demonstrates the weakness of the evidence underlying the conventional opinions that James and the other "brothers of the Lord" converted to belief in Jesus only after His death and that James did not become the "leader" (whatever leadership may signify at that point in Christian history) of the Jerusalem church until Peter departed from the city. He also offers a clear treatment of the early controversy over mission strategies, though his symmetrical schema of six "positions" in the debate over preaching to non-Jews may be too abstract and tidy to reflect reality.

On the other hand, his discussion of other topics is less satisfactory. On the degree of kinship between Jesus and James, he presents the standard arguments against Jerome's hypothesis (that the two were cousins) but rejects the traditional view of the Eastern Church (that they were half-brothers) without grappling with it. His argument is half well-poisoning (guilt by association with the often-preposterous Protevangelium of James) and half literalism ("adelphos" means "brother", and that's that, as if there were any other natural Greek word to use for a brother by only one parent).

Even worse is his analysis of the motives that led the Jerusalem authorities to put James to death in 62 A.D., an action that the non-Christian Josephus characterizes as a judicial murder. The natural assumption, unanimously supported by Christian accounts, is that James was martyred for professing Christ. Professor Painter, on virtually no evidence, prefers to believe that James was closely associated with economically distressed Temple priests of pharisaic tendencies and was executed for his advocacy of their interests. Such a socioeconomic interpretation may resonate today, but one wonders how James and his small congregation could have genuinely threatened the political power of the High Priesthood and whether Professor Painter is right to presume that Pharisees would not have objected to injustice against someone who was not of their own faction.

Questionable points like these do not, however, undermine the value of this scholarly labor. The limitations of the surviving sources necessarily make the history of early Christianity largely a study of two apostles (or of one and a half, since Pauline material is so much more abundant than Petrine). An effort to fill in some of the rest of the picture is welcome.

Although a title like "The Last Hurrah of the James-Younger Gang" is good from a marketing standpoint because of the "celebrity" status of Jesse James and Cole Younger, it unfortunately does not recognize the real heroes of Robert Barr Smith's book: the ordinary citizens of a small Midwestern town who in 1876 repelled an invasion by a criminal gang. Smith makes no secret of his sympathies (which I share) when he describes the outlaws as being "no more than orinary criminals, bullies who stole the fruits of other's labors because it beat working and did a good deal to inflate their twisted egos." In other words, don't buy this book if you expect to read praise of Jesse James!

Smith's research into the Northfield, Minnesota, raid is broad, but the nature of the evidence prevents him from constructing a simple narrative with all details laid out in a straightforward, no questions manner. Quick, violent events such as the Northfield gun battle inevitably leave witnesses confused and contradictions are inescapable. Moreover, the outlaws' own accounts appear more concerned with providing excuses and whitewashing their activities than relating the truth. And, finally, the stories from both sides were very often exagerrated and distorted by the newspapers and books which reported them.

Time and time again, Smith relates several different versions of some particular incident, pointing out improbabilities and sometimes identifying the most likely truth, but very often only a best guess at what really happended can be made. Nonetheless, Smith's reconstruction of events held my attention and, in the end, I celebrate with him the victory of those Minnesota farmers and shopkeepers over the hoodlums who thought they would be easy picking.

Even though the latest edition was published in 1975, Light's manual is still a "must have" for the west coast naturalist. This book contains taxonomic keys and information about the majority of intertidal invertebrate animals that live along the California Coast.

The keys have supplementary illustrations that help the reader figure out what animal is in their bucket, or in the tide pool at their feet.

There are entries that are unavoidably out of date due to the publication date. The reliability and usefulness of the taxonomic keys and supporting information in this book, however, still ring true.

A wonderful reference book to the invertebrates of California.

The only reason I didn't give the book 5 stars was that its publication year (1975) is causing its contents to slip out of date.

Anyone up for putting together a new edition?

Meet Me At Infinity by James Tiptree, JR. Hardcover - 352 pages (February 2000) Tor Books; ISBN: 0312858744 Who was the most convincing imposter in Science Fiction? Robert Heinlein's Double Star? Lois Bujold's "Admiral" Miles Naismith? Nope...it would be James Tiptree, Jr. aka Alice Sheldon, gender bender, Hugo winner, psychiatrist and onetime member of the CIA. Editor David Hartwell deserves our thanks for putting together this illuminating collection of stories previously published and not, and adding his insights into this important and interesting author's writing and life. It's not a polished group of stories, but a gathering of full pieces and fragments...all fascinating. As Harlan Ellison remarked; "Quite a different can of worms. It has something...I have no idea what." Highly recommend

When I was a kid my uncle gave me a copy of this book and it opened up a world which still intrigues me...reptiles and amphibians. Even today I consult the book for info on some lizzard I don't recognize or to see if salamanders actually spend a lot of time out of water. In fact, I'm sharing it with my own nephew now--age 11--who's discovering this new world of life for himself. This book is well-presented and easy-to-use, as well as full of great illustrations that alone make it worth reading through. Profiles of each reptile and amphibian are thorough withough being overwhelmingly scientific. A timeless classic for young or old...one to share over the generations.

This book provides a lot of information regarding a subject where there has been little research. Easy to read.

If you like tales of time travel and thought-provoking little twists, this is the book to read. Need a short break from reality during a stressful day? This one is great since it is a collection of short stories each of which you can easily read when you have a few minutes to spare.