Several colleagues have recently adopted, or plan to adopt the new textbook by JUDD, W. S., CAMPBELL, C. S., KELLOGG, E. A. & STEVENS, P. F. 1999. Plant systematics, a phylogenetic approach. ISBN 0-87893-404-9, for teaching vascular plant taxonomy. The book has some very useful introductory chapters on modern tools, which provide students with an insight on the applications of phytochemistry, mollecular biology and confection of cladograms.
Surely plant (and other) systematics bear on a traditional use of systems which have inherent flaws, given the tremendous diversity os species (or whatever you can call the final taxa) they deal with. The limitations of a patchy fossil record render phylogenetic approaches, however tempting their confection may be for a plant scientist in his search of a broader understanding, a kind of Nirvana that can never be completely conquered. We can know with some accuracy how long ago currently fossilized plants lived, but anyone familiar with the concept of convergence can hardly attribute affinities to a leaf imprint not attached to a flower or vice versa. Oddly enough, some of these concerns are addressed in Chapter 1 of the book, which is not consistent with the classification system proposed [since a large number of smaller but very important families was left out].
On p. 3 the book addresses the theory-neutral approach and clearly states it's intent to go further - into Phylogenetic interpretations. Conversely the most exhaustive numeric study of all species in a single extant genus, using all characters one can securely split into states, will shed light on their similarities, providing just another elegant and often valuable way to organize data, such as a cladogram. Distinguishing similarities reflecting true affinities from those brought about by convergence remains a cumbersome task which shall always rely on traditional methods.
The comment on p. 6 says: "We do not know the actual phylogeny of any nontrivial group of organisms [what would a trivial one be?], but instead must infer phylogenies from the data available to us." I have trouble agreeing with this point of view, since available data is admittedly patchy and often inconsistent. Paths in the true cladogram of evolution can not be retraced based on assumptions. We only have access to the dense upper surface of the crown, while the gross remainder of the tree's branches and trunk are obstructed from view. No matter from which angle one looks at it, Phylogeny draws on a generous dose of guesswork. On the practical purpose of classification, I cannot but paraphrase CRONQUIST (1988:12), one of the traditional taxonomists excommunicated in this book: "In taxonomy, consistency must always be secondary to the primary objective of recognizing natural groups on the basis of all available information".
Fitting the entire universe of traditional knowledge and current advances of plant systematics into a comprehensive book for students at any level poses obvious problems: How does one cope with limited space to organize the maelstrom of data? Our minds need to create categories in order to control storage and retreival of information. Obviously some omitting is inevitable, but at least the general idea of diversity must come across. In that sense I am especially intrigued by the comment by Michael Donoghue in the foreword "Students will readily appreciate the desirability of abandoning ranks altogether."
Following one of the modern trends, some groups of plants in the book's system, (for ex. used for Orchids in Dahlgren's treatment) are named using formal taxonomic rank, while other are not. If a group is recognized as separate, why not give it a rank? One inherent function of ranks is providing a common language - the only method of sharing knowledge currently used by humans. It must be recognized that the way in which ranks are currently applied is not problem-free: why must there be a defined number of them, let's say, between family and species? Rather than eliminating ranks, we should create new ways to apply them and see them.
No matter how deeply modern views have shifted, we can never entirely erase nor replace the results presented in old publications. Students need to know and understand important footsteps in 2 centuries of botanical investigation, which have paved the way toward current advances. We can now add new characters from an arsenal of chemical and mollecular data, ecological observations and a substantially improved matrix of geographic data. Regardless of academic rank, we are all students with a mission to discover and organize information and convey knowledge, not to ignore, misplace or ommit data. How can a student fit families like the Acanthochlamydaceae, Acoraceae, Boryaceae, Burmanniaceae, Corsiaceae, Costaceae, Didieraceae, Epacridaceae, Lemnaceae, Velloziaceae or Xyridaceae into such a system, when they are not even in the alphabetical index?
A good system must account for every component as best it can. Misplacing taxa (implicitly considered the most common flaw of traditional classifications) is still better than making-believe that odd parts don't exist. The argument of producing a textbook for undergraduate courses does not justify the omission of important plant families. Students deserve to start out at least with a complete set of families and the tools to recognize them. Even a great job of organizing a mere subset of information has very limited practical value, especially if Phylogeny is one of its main goals. Some of the smaller families which were left out are very important from both the taxonomic and the phytogeographic perspectives. Despite some hardships such as dichotomic keys starting with presence or absence of betalains, Cronquist's system remains the most recent comprehensive reference guide to the diversity of flowering plant families, simple enough to be used at the undergraduate level.
Though data from modern sources, such as molecular and chemical, are used in the introductory chapters, it is not quite clear how this data was usen in confecting the classification by JUDD et al., and there is no way of knowing whether the new system proposed shall hold its consistency after all omitted families of vascular plants are included in the data.

The second edition (2002) has been much expanded (from 464 to 576 pages) and has been adjusted to keep up with the (headlong) developments in this field. It also includes more descriptions of families.

In some ways the book has not changed. It very much looks the same since the same illustrations were used. It still has only limited usefulness as a systembook in that coverage is far from complete. The appendix on "Botanical nomenclature" is still a soft spot. Not only is the (badly) erroneous bit on the naming of cultivated plants still there, but the slanted view of the ICBN has worsened (the ICBN even being called "Linnaean" in a bit of blatant forgery of history) and the PhyloCode is plugged.

Nevertheless the times they are achanging, and those desiring to change with the times will find the second edition a work they need to be familiar with.

The book of W. Judd is essential to all Botany student and studious of Systematics and General Botanical. For the ones that still feel difficulties in the comprehension of the concepts of Phylogenetic Systematics, the clear text and explanative allows a very clear vision of the whole process. The approach of the initial chapters, mostly of the chapter 2 is too much elucidative, allowing to the reader if involve with the study themes, learning simultaneously all vision of the phylogenetic systematic current. It is a book that can't miss in shelf of any botanist or studous of plants.

Having read nearly every book on the Michael Teachings this one stands out as one of the best. Not geared for the "new" student it is best aborbed by those who have a fundamental understanding of Micheal's message. Jose Stevens covers all the vital elements we face day to day. Numerous tools to integrate ourselves into our lives are given and have proven to be very useful for me.

A must read for anyone who is interested in Michael's perspective of the game we call life. A great read.

Spritual. Our lives are overgrown! Time to cut the grass and pull out weeds!

I had picked this book off the shelf of Borders sheerly by accident; yet the words inside it were so inspirational, that I read it almost every day. I hope to find more books on the Teachings of Micheal, because the theory is, indeed, the truth I seek in my life. It makes a lot of sence.

Although much of the material in this book hasn't changed since the book was written, many of it has. The reader must skillfully distinguish what was good advice for the '80s and what will not work today. The general overview on sexual techniques is well-written and applicable but does not go into as much detail to actually succeed in the tasks. This is another one of those books that says "all you have to do is this" without really telling you how to do it but is a good start at knowing what other topics you may need to find other books in specific subject areas about.

Michael Morgenstern has written a valuable book here for males whose experiences of sex have not hitherto involved women but now want them to. My only quibble is that this might be a niche market.

I love this book. It is the best book on how to fish in the dating pond. I read it. Used the techniques and had three dates in four days. His methods are sound and yes they work. Your mate will be sexy and desire you more than she did before you read this book. Love By Leo Buscaglia is also excellent.

This book is usefull to birders and listers in delineating how to seek out some of the more unusual avian visitors to the US. At times though you wonder if the information provided would truly help you "get" the bird.

While there is something here for everyone, there is also info that people won't want. The choice of limiting the scope of the book to the lower 48 is interesting. It makes all the locations (relativly) accessable. It also means that some birds which are included (like Ross' Gull) are difficult to pin down in the lower 48 (they can point to no pattern of occurence) but are definitly finadable in North America (Churchill, Canada in this case).

The rarity of the 100 birds varies greatly. There are many birds which are so rare that no pattern of occurence can be given, while others are quite regular in certain areas (ie Pacific Golden-Plover). The book is most usefull for the rare birds which show clear patterns of occurence (like Tuffted Duck in the San Fransico Bay Area or Cook's and Stejneger's Petrels of the California coast). This book is just usefull for listers. Each description includes information on ID, which can be very difficult to find on some of these rare species.

Is this book a must have? No. But for many birders, who seem to lust after every bird book on the planet, this book is a usefull addition to a personal collection.

I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering, since at the time I ordered this book, no reviews had yet been written.

But I'm delighted I ordered it from Amazon!

It is a compendium of the most interesting, funny "pieces" about marriage, from marriage manuals of the 20's to movie posters that as stand-alone objects, are absolutely hilarious.....to songs about love and marriage...you name it, it's in here! The editors/authors really obviously had just a ball writing and collecting this, and their humor and enthusiasm carries, BANGO, right through to the reader.

If you've been reading too much heavy literature, as I had when I ordered this book, this will really lighten you up.

I nearly died laughing over the blurb about "OPEN MARRIAGE" by the O'Neils in the late 60's (or was it early 70's). In my first, most ludicrous marriage on earth, my first husband was a great believer in this, had me read it, and at the time, I took it quite seriously. What a hoot to read it again now and see how truly ridiculous it was! And it was such a sign of the times!

Each and every entry takes you back to the time it was written (even if you weren't around then), and really gives the reader a strong sense of the times.

The only things I'd have changed? I would LOVED to have read more deeply into the marriage manuals of old, would have loved to have read much more in detail on those....and I would have really loved to read at least a longish blurb from the "marriage/romance comic books" they mention only by title. I think lengthening these two aspects would have made me give this book a five-star rating.

No matter how you feel about marriage, you simply won't be able to resist being entertained by this book.

Wedding Bell Blues takes a refreshing look at marriage through a different angle than just another "how-to" or "this is what's supposed to happen" book. It has a vast compilation of movie posters, advertisements, and magazine covers that chronicle the marriages of fictional and real couples. If you are an entertainment buff like I am, you'll like this book as it has many quotes from entertainers and the like. One of the best parts of this book is reading through the obsolete sex/marriage manuals. This book is great for anyone, not just newlyweds or soon-to-be weds!

Yes it is a text book but it is also exceptionally easy to read. The authors were my profesors so it gave me a new look at the book, This book had many relational dialects and a statement of what good speaking is this is a good book if your serious about learning how to speak publicly

Muy completo. Habla de temas que no se encuentran en otros libros

"Decision Point" by Steven Daniel falls somewhere between a solid yarn and a Tom Clancy novel. In a near future of "on-line" virtual reality, Daniel introduces a world where political powers and maneuvering have been altered by technological and geological changes. This works on the one hand, while providing a nagging distraction on the other. "Decision Point" isn't alive with the same sort of "behind the scenes" intimacy that a Clancy novel generates simply because Daniel has replaced current political and technological issues with those of a future that is slightly askew. The results are well-drawn characters but an absence of truly feeling privy to secret meetings and political intrigue. Nonetheless, "Decision Point" still works very well, and is an entertaining and engrossing read. Much like a Clive Cussler novel, the pace and story line readily makes up for minor shortcomings. I think Steven Daniel has done a great job and upon the strength of this novel, I would purchase future Daniel works (especially those involving "Decision Point's" protagonist, President Duncan Miller).

In this book, published in 1992, a group of academics from the Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy have written a series of brilliant and provocative essays on the economic foundations of the next security system, that is, of the XXI century. They define three broad scenarios: a) Controlled multilateralism; b) coexistence of blocks; and c) neomercantilism.

So far, it seems that they were right in predicting that the most likely and desirable outcome would be some form of controlled multilateralism. Certainly, it could be said that coexistence of blocks is also a reality, but we are seeing a lot more interrelation between these blocks than what the scenario took into account. Some countries have built institutional bridges across the blocks, like Mexico, which belongs to NAFTA, but also has a Free Trade Agreement with the European Union, several Latin American countries, Israel, and is now negotiating one with Japan, beyond its membership in APEC.

The security system seems to stay also within controlled multilateralism, as actions on the former Yugoslavia and Irak show. Summing up, the book's arguments and points are still relevant to analyze the world's options regarding this new century. The interplay between the economic and the security systems are clearly defined, and the tone of the book is objective, neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic. It's good analysis, even if not each and every detail is still accurate. Recommended for students of very different specialties: international economics, national security, prospective studies, etc.