After checking ARTHRITIS: WHAT EXERCISES WORK out of the library for the third time in a year, I broke down and bought it. It's terrific. The exercises are tied to specific joints, ranging from the small, fingers and toes, on to shoulders, hips, knees, etc. Some you can even do in bed, but many are much more challenging--there is a range. Doing these for just a couple of weeks increased my flexibility tremendously--washing my back, tieing my shoes, and so forth much easier. And I'm a 53 year old professional female who is in "good shape" with aerobics and strength training--but the targeted flexibility/joint exercises here were new to me. I highly, highly recommend.

Galileo's Treasure Box by Catherine Brighton [with an introduction by Dava Sobel of Galileo's Daughter and Longitude fame] is a great children's book that will hopefully enjoy a wider readership the second time around. Originally titled Five Secrets In A Box [1987, E.P. Dutton], the book tells the story of Virginia, eldest daughter of Galileo Galilei, and her curiosity about some items her father kept in a gold box. Through a simple text and exquisitely done illustrations, Brighton gives you a view of what it would have been like to be a curious kid in the house of a scientist during the time he made his great discoveries. Virginia finds the lenses for a telescope, colored filters for viewing the sun, and a feather, all in a gold box on her dad's desk. The book leaves Virginia asking why her dad would keep a feather and this will leave the door open for a young, curious reader to find out more. I fell in love with the book when it originally came out and gave many copies as presents. Later, when the original hardback was remaindered, I bought all the copies from several local bookstores and continued to give them as presents. If you know a young reader with readers for parents, give the child a copy of the delightful Galileo's Treasure Box by Catherine Brighton and give their folks a copy of the equally delightful Galileo's Daughter by Dava Sobel. Hopefully many people, young and old, will discover the story of Virginia and Galileo Galilei.

I consider myself a quasi back pain expert. I had two herinated discs removed 10 years ago and believed that would be the end of my trouble; it was only the beginning. I have have 4 MRIs, five physical thearpy experiences, have seen othropedic surgeons, neurolists, and a pain specialist for cortezone shots. I currently have another herinated disc and a miscellaneous bulge at the site of the prior two surgeries. This book have provided me more knowledge of how to solve my problems than all the rest combined -- however, having all that experience makes me confident this book has the solution. Many of the exercises I was familar with from physical thearpy over the years. And yes, they told me I'd likely have to do exercises for the rest of my life. And that's what makes this book so handy, you don't have a thearpist with you day in and out, this book is very specific on how to do the exercises, how to progress, and what not to do. The advice is practical and well researched, and very much consistent with everything all the specialists have told me during my decade and a half of back problems. And now the REALLY GOOD News. I noticed improvement within a couple of days of starting the exercises. I have found I have to exercise both morning and night, but I am virtually pain free. I was at a point when I purchased this book, that I woke up every morning with some pain and much activity-limiting stiffness -- and periodically my back would "go out" and I'd spend a couple days in bed recuperating. Now I wake pain free; am able to start my day immediately. I remain careful about how I treat my back throughout the day, but I'm very confident my bed rest days are behind me! And I'm more limber, my balance has improved, as has my flexibility. I recommed this book highly!! The section on how to "find time" was very much appreciated and accurate, there are numerous opportunties throughout the day to do many of the exercises. Do heed what the authors say: PAIN is NO GAIN -- so start slow, be gentle, and don't push, this is not a race, for me - it was about getting my life back. Good luck to all, I can't tell you how thankful I am I found this book, I hope it brings you the same kind of improvement it did me.

I have struggled for years with acute back pain. Reading Sobel & Klein's book gave me the answers I was looking for. After getting X-Rays and an MRI revealing that 4 of my discs were herniated from one degree to another. I made an appointment with a trained physical therapist and we set to work on a plan of stretching & strengthening the key muscles. Bingo! I have never felt better. M.D., Mary Pullig Schatz's "Back Care Basics" is excellent as well with an emphasis on Yoga the mental approach for successful rehabilitation.

I have recommend these exercises to patients, but more importantly, they can benefit anyone who doesn't want to develop back pain in the future. Unfortunately our medical model is one of treatment and not prevention. I agree with another reviewer that consultation with a qualified physician is recommended for any type of chronic severe back pain, but there are very few cases I have seen, including patients who have failed surgical treatment, who have not been helped by some way in using moderate regular exercise. These are great exercises to reverse the effects that our sedentary working society foists upon us. I recommend this book strongly but emphasize the importance of dispensing with the "pain-gain" concept and embracing the a-little-bit-every-day-in-a-consistent-manner-without-pushing-to-discomfort paradigm. Kudos to Dava Sobel and colleagues for an excellent write...May I recommend "The Care and Feeding of Your Brain" as a companion book for helping deal the distress, depression, and other cerebral manifestations that accompany chronic pain...All the best!! Kenneth Giuffre MD, author, "The Care and Feeding of Your Brain"

Buying this book, i was expecting to a) read about SETI b) be introduced into thinking about the possibility of extraterrestrial life in new ways, as this book, written by Frank Drake one of the men responsible for the establishment of SETI would be a great source..
Instead: i wound up reading an autobiography disguised under the title "Is there anybody out there", a title which also disguises the fact that Drake spends more time and pages writting about the problems he encountered setting up SETI than SETI itself. Not to mention that he uses all 300 pages of his book to praise himself in a way that makes you yawn once you become familiar with the mechanism it is written. Indeed for a book that tackles an otherwise super interesting and controversial issue the book is boring. It's totally devoid of any humor and any attempts at such are further contributions to boredom. What's even more interesting is that for an author who clearly believes there is intelligent life out there he uses but a mere 2-3 pages to dismiss any accounts of aliens having already visited earth, recently or not so recently..2-3 pages to dismiss that? Hmmm, makes you wonder...In the end, after having (thankfully) been through with it i wound up thinking more about the motives behind Drake having written it than the book itself. Buy something else on the subject. Blindly.

i was surprised when i found this book in a second-hand book store. I had heard about it and wanted to read it, but knew it was out of print. Being a SETI enthusiast (running the seti@home screensaver 24/7), this book elegantly took me through the step by step advances in the field, told by the man himself, Frank Drake. What really got me hooked was the Sagan-like simplicity of the book. I urge anyone and everyone to read "Is Anyone Out There?". Highly insightful and very objective. (made me even go out and buy an amateur telescope!)

This book explains SETI to the average person very nicely. The fact that is written by Frank Drake, the person to conduct the first search for extraterrestrial life in the universe is a great bonus, because you know it written by a person who understands the subject, inside and out.

Frank Drake is the person that the Drake Equation is named for. The Drake Equation a simple formula for calculating the change that other intelligence life in the Universe Exists. How you decide to plug numbers into the equation is where all the debate on this subject is conducted.

Great book. Get it if you can find it.

I don't recommend listening to "Galileo's Daughter" as an audiobook--there's far too much flowery detail in the quoted letters, much of which I'd have skimmed in the text. I also found the reader's voice grating, at least for the first half of the book.

That might be because the first half of the book is far weaker than the second half--far less detailed than accounts I've read elsewhere of Galileo's early life prior to the publication of his controversial dialogue. The quoted letters from his elder daughter Maria Celeste are rather pedestrian.

The second half of the book compensates for these weaknesses. The reader starts to get a sense of Maria Celeste as a real person, and of the nature of her relationship with her father. The focus is still primarily on Galileo, but via Maria Celeste's no-longer-stilted letters and Sobel's writing, there's a view of Galileo that isn't seen in any other biography.

Ideally, read this and another of the Galileo biographies recommended by other reviewers. One book is not enough to fully explore all the aspects of this amazing man's life and work.

A wonderful exploration of history, science, religion, and love. The entire book is based on letters written to Galileo by his illegitimage daughter, a nun. When he was questioned by the Inquisition, the convent destroyed his letters to his daughter for fear of a stain on the convent itself - so his replies must be assumed from her references to them.
The difficult part of the book is the careful translation done in the archaic and overly polite language of the times, which makes for heavy going and loooong wordy passages at times.

The essence of this impressive work is the discovery of a giant of a man who was also a remarkably loving father. Indeed Galileo Galilei was driven by extraordinary talents in his own life and here moves strikingly though this book taking one intellectual giant step after another. The reader is reminded of Galileo's computations and conceptualizations that challenged the finest minds of his age. While we readily accept his conclusions today, Dava Sobel presents each with its inherent threats and potential for controversy. Yet, what compels the reader's persistence is an insightful and sensitive development of the extraordinary relationship between Galileo as a responsible and responsive father and his adoring daughter, Virginia. Galileo placed Virginia and her younger sister in a convent near him in Florence when she was but thirteen years old. Both daughters, upon coming of age chose to take vows as members of the religious community of Poor Clares at the Convent of San Matteo. It is as Suor Maria Celeste that Virginia wrote the letters to her father that now reside in Florence among the rare manuscripts of the city's National Central Library. Virginia's letters are used well by the writer. The major events of Galileo's age are replayed for the reader: wars, banishments, inventions, discoveries, celebrations, persecutions of real or imagined heretics. The seventeenth century is recreated on page after page. The Court of the Medicis, the popes, palacesand prisons of Rome, are vividly presnt along with Galileo's friends and enemies. Yet, time and again Dava Sobel returns her story to the father and daughter. This is their story. For many readers the unraveling of secrets long entombed in Florence's Santa Croce seal this tale with startling revelations, confirming the bond between Galileo's, as father, and Virginia, the daughter.

I must say I ordered this book because of a review I read, not because I knew Dava Sobel's work or knew the least about clockmaking or sailing. Harrison's ingenuity, the times in which he lived, and the importance of his quest were more appealing to me, and I was not dissapointed. By all this I mean you need not be a sailor or anything to enjoy this fascinating and beautifully illustrated story. (A nice touch of sophistication for the coffee table as well, if you excuse the shallowness of such remark)

"The Illustrated Longitude" is an excellent, worthwhile historical account of John Harrison's progression as an instrument maker and legitimate finder of a practical solution to the problem of determining Longitude at Sea.

If you are at all interested in the antecedents of today's accurate timekeeping devices this book is a must. The print quality is very high and the illustrations a wonderful aid to feeling the story unfold. The book does not contain detailed plans of Mr Harrison's chronometers or description of the techniques of celestial navigation, but rather is a brisk, engagingly written account of the origin of the Longitude problem, Mr Harrison's solution and those of his rivals and the political intrigues which delayed full acknowledgement of the merit of the H-1 to H-4 devices.

I bought this book some months after visiting the Old Royal Observatory in Greenwich, England. The ingenious mechanisms at work can keep an observer enthralled for hours. They are also very beautiful. "The Illustrated Longitude" really fills out the significance of the Longitude problem in that era and the career details and challenges overcome by a very clever and self made man.

I originally read a library copy of "Longitude" back when it was published in 1995. But I hankered for a copy of my own. Recently I discovered this new illustrated version of the original and must say that it's a real find. The pictures really do help one understand better the magnitude of William Harrison's breakthrough discovery about how to use a very accurate timepiece (now called a "chronometer") to determine longitude and help ships avoid the tragedy of becoming lost with potentially tragic consequences. The text is not so technical to put off a non-expert. I'm sure one could learn more about the workings of the chronometer, but I suspect a more detailed explanation might have put it beyond the comprehension of many of us.

This book is the result of a survey of 492 backache and neckache sufferers, and what did and what did not work for them. It discusses types of practitioners, drugs, therapies, exercises, and other lifestyle tips. I found it very helpful.

With "Longitude" Dava Sobel has written a very interesting book about the greatest scientific problem of the 18th century.

As a result of the 1707-shipwreck story (with a loss of 4 out of the 5 ships), the English Parliament offered in 1714 a 20.000 pounds reward to the person that could provide a practicable and useful way of determining longitude. (If you have forgot, longitude is the "lines" that runs from pole to pole). Not being able to determining longitude was a great problem. Ships spent excessive time trying to find its way back to port, or worse men, ship and cargo were lost at sea.

John Harrison (1693-1776) spent his lifetime trying to solve the longitude mystery. Harrison was a son of a countryman, with minimal schooling, and was self-educated in watch making. He made several timepieces, which all qualified for the reward, but the reward was delayed several times by the Longitude committee whom believed that other ways of measuring longitude were the preferred ones. Ultimately after a lot of harassment and trouble, Harrison was given the reward money.

Dava Sobel has done a wonderful job in this book, capturing Harrison's fascinating character, his brilliance, preserving and hard working nature. The author has also managed to strike a perfect balance between technical jargon and personal anecdotes, and she does it in such a way permitting the lay readers of the book to admire the elegance of Harrison's discoveries. I believe it is a sign of excellent quality when an author makes learning so interesting.

I was hooked from the first page of this book and I read it in 50-page gulps at a time.

Highly recommended!

This book records the history of determining longitude (i.e. east/west position) at sea. This may seem to be something of a trivial issue at first glance. However, centuries ago, ships, cargo and men were frequently lost because captains could not accurately determine their location. To gain an appreciation of how difficult the longitude problem was to solve, compare it to our modern efforts to develop a cure for cancer.

The man who "solved" (he died before his clocks were mass produced but his pioneering efforts were absolutely crucial) the problem was a carpenter and a watchmaker named John Harrison. His watches were among the most accurate in the history of time keeping. When he heard of the Longitude Act (the British government established a prize to anyone who could invent a usable and practical way of finding longitude at sea), Harrison set to work. His clocks were tremendously innovative; he solved the problems that plagued previous clocks on sea voyages (e.g. the metals in the clock would expand when in tropical climate and contact in Europe; these changes would render the clock unreliable). Harrison once built a clock that was almost entirely built of wood (with the exception of some brass parts); this clock never needed lubrication!

In the competition to win the £20,000 (roughly equivalent to several million modern American dollars), there were many quacks who advanced their various ideas but there emerged two dominant methods which vied for success. The clock method (How does this work? "To learn one's longitude at sea, one needs to what time it is aboard ship and also the time at the home port or another place of known longitude - at the very same moment. The two clocks enable the navigator to convert the hour difference into a geographical separation." Pages 4-5). However, this required a very precise clock and all clocks of the day were incapable of such precision. The other approach relied on the movement of the Moon relative to other celestial bodies. The astronomical approach continued to be championed by much of the scientific elite but it initially required four hours of calculations to determine longitude (this was eventually reduced to 30 minutes) and one had to have a clear sky (in order to see the Moon etc..) The Board of Longitude (which functioned as the Government body to determine who is to win the prize and give out grants to prospective men) subjected Harrison's various watches (he made four different ones, all different. The first three were very large and the last was about 5 inches in diameter) to many tests including observation at Greenwich Observatory, sea trials, disassembly before a panel of experts, reassembly and so on.

I found the intrigues of the various scientists interesting; it is not a phenomenon limited to the 20th century by any means. Harrison was looked down upon because he was what was called a "Mechanick," (i.e. a tinkering engineer) and the highly educated, academic astronomers did not think such a man capable of solving the vexing problem of longitude.

I have an interest in ships and their role in European empire building (e.g. the Dutch, French and British empires) and commerce and through reading this book I gained an appreciation of just how vital this piece of technology was to navigation in an age where radio and GPS were simply unavailable. Also, the idea of a Government sponsoring scientists to solve scientific problems (i.e. the concept of grants) seems to be pioneered here.

What not 5 stars? The technical descriptions of the mechanisms Harrison invented were difficult to visualize; some diagrams or even actual pictures of the devices would have been very helpful. I would also have liked to see some pictures of the various scientists involved.

The recommendations that I had received to read this book were right on. Based on the events that occurred to solve THE navigational problem of plotting longitude, Dava Sobel, writes a very clear and easy to read tale of events. I will admit that at first, I put off reading this book for a year because I could not find the subject very thrilling.

Now that I read this book, I wished I had read it earlier as the events in the key inventor's life, John Harrison, tell a tremendous story for all innovators and inventors. Mr. Harrison, an unknown clock maker, solved one of the most critical problems of it's day, by looking to unconventional means to solve the problem. From Galileo to Newton, some pretty illustrious names can be found leading the charge to discover an accurate means of plotting longitude. The problem was so vital and strategic to naval superiority and dominance in commerce, that the British government funded a worldwide challenge for anyone that could discover how to determine longitude and prove that it accurately worked on a consistent basis.

While many of the world's leading scientists and astronomers were convinced that the only way to calculate longitude was from the movements of the stars and moons, Mr. Harrison created an extremely accurate timepiece and proved that his invention worked. Yet politics, greed and his own perfectist traits kept him from being recognized and awarded the grand prize...

I will highly recommend this book to my sons to read and to all my business associates that are so focused on bringing innovation to the market place, but spend too much time trying to perfect their ideas.

compelling info on methotrexate. takes forever to get to the point. you don't really know what to do until page 240, "foods to avoid." alot of conflicting info with what most of the latest writing on biological medicine states. i refer to acid/alkaline relationship.