I recently read Mrs. Harper's book on the fabulous banana slugs of the Pacific northwest. I have to say that I was pleasently surprised by the amount of information contained in such a little book. I am currently keeping banana slugs in the zoological institution where I work and needed a little extra information on their daily lives to provide the best care for them. This book contained information from their breeding habits to nutrional requirements to morphology and everything in between. Alice Harper is definately the Slug Lady and hopefully we will see a updated edition of this book with even more information in the near future. Still, I would definately recommend this book to anyone looking into studying these wonderful yet slimy little creatures.

When I'm running out of ideas on how to expand on my son's existing vocabulary and need ideas for lesson planning, I've found this check list very useful.

This collection of articles, essays and interviews is rather diverse, with topics ranging from the longtime worldwide movement against capitalist globalization to more specific events revolving around the protests in Seattle. What I've come to appreciate most about the book is that it comes across rather critical of the movement with several essays detailing some of the shortcomings of the movement and its lack of organization amongst the different active groups, while at the same time not really taking away from their cause, hopefully lending to it by shedding light on what can be done in the future to be more successful.

I subscribe to the notion that Tom Cathcart wrote this particular novel. It has all of his trademarks, after all: the poisoned gefilte fish, the Molotov cocktail douche, etc. But, hey, if Danny wrote it, why that's just fine with me.

Becoming Half Hidden is a fascinating study of Inuit shamanism, with a strong focus on psychological elements. It is very much an academic text and will be a difficult read for anyone without a strong background in psychology and perhaps also philosophy or theology. Elements of the study of folklore and mythology seem rather deemphasized. Merkur treats his subjects with a reasonable amount of respect, unlike some of the scholars whose work he quotes. All in all, this is no doubt an important academic work, but even well-educated nonspecialist readers will find it unapproachable.

Very good approach to teaching Indonesian. Use of the accompanying CD rom, or work with a native speaker is essential to get the most out of this text, however.

Okay, so there's no subtext here. The editors have simply strung together an alphabetized listing of many (but not all) films touching on gay and lesbian themes. But, if you're wondering where to start in this specialized area, "Bent Lens" provides some pointers. A few caveats: the indices are limited to names of directors and genres (what about the stars?), there is no indication of what is and what is not available on video, and there are some factual errors (James LeGros is NOT the psycopathic killer in "Blood and Concrete," for instance), but Daniel and Jackson have provided a valuable service here, and I'm especially grateful for the wealth of information on the many foreign films--from Hong Kong to Reykjavik--that so rarely reach these shores. Thumbs up from this movie fan.

I have reviewed over 60 different translations of Beowulf, . . . Although the Seamus Heaney translation is one of the best available, it is not, despite what all of the marketing people would have us believe, far superior to every other translation ever written. There are at least 10 other translations which rank with Seamus Heaney's translation. I would still rank Frederick Rebsamen's translation as superior to Heaney's.

Daniel Donoghue's choice of essays to include in this volume is interesting, in that he includes the 1934 essay by J. R. R. Tolkien "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics", an essay which has already been made available in many other volumes, and the popularity of which, in my view, is now based mostly on nostalgia. Professor Donoghue has neglected to include any of the writings of Professor Kevin S. Kiernan, who has been described by the British Library as "the world's leading authority on the history of the Beowulf manuscript," and who is the world's leading proponent of the theory that the Beowulf manuscript may have been initially composed after 1016.

This book will undoubtedly be very popular, in that it contains the Beowulf translation which most people believe is the best one available, as well as several essays which related directly to the most popular topics for Beowulf essays: women in Beowulf, and Christian themes in Beowulf.

It is a good book, . . . but don't believe the marketing hype that tells you that you shouldn't bother with any other translation. Try Bertha Rogers, or Ruth Lehmann, or Frederick Rebsamen, or John Porter as well.

Nicely put together under-rated movie.
Although in fairness the film hangs on barkin and quaid's sexual chemistry the screenplay is a nicely judged, well put together affair. i felt it got a little bit full of itself towards the end with the whole policeman takes bribe *gasp* and mafia smuggle drugs *another gasp* bit - but hey there you go.
Anyway it beats 'dude where's my car' into a cocked hat.

Finally, a complete, comphrensive FIELD guide to the birds of India! Gone are the days of hauling 2 or 3 hardcover bird books to the subcontinent just to be able to identify relatively common species. The drawings in this book are excellent, the descriptions very detailed, and the range maps very helpful. My two criticisms are that birders familiar with the common names in Salim Ali's "The Book of Indian Birds" will be confused with the revised nomenclature in this guide (based on the Inskipp's Indian Checklist); some changes are relatively minor, while others are so dramatically different (and frankly puzzling) that cross-referencing is a chore. The second involves the seperation of many of the range maps from the plates and descriptions, sometimes by many pages. This was due to the large number of species featured on some plates- there just wasn't enough room for the maps also. A better strategy might have been to put them all in the back of the book. But the benefits of this book far outweigh the shortcomings- my next trip to India promises to be more rewarding and productive bird-wise (as well as easier on my back)due to this excellent and overdue field guide.