Well written, beautiful pictures and artwork and informative; that sums it up. My brother, who is accustom to seeing much more academic books on my desk, commented that it did not look "too technical". For technical, I recommend Dr.Grossnickle's excellent "Ecophysiology of Northern Spruce Species: The Performance of Planted Seedlings," but for a good education on the distribution and range of California's conifers then I recommend this book heartily.

I've seen many, many dozens of tree books, and this, by far is the best I've seen for a particular region- for California is so large and diverse that this is truly a regional book. California has more species of coniferous trees than any comparable area in North America- most likely in the world! The eighteen species of pine and all 7 of the western true firs give some idea of the extensive conifer flora. The arrangement follows that of most tree books: an adequate introduction to get one started - followed by text on each of the 52 species. There is a beautiful painting for each tree - very detailed and accurate. For each species there's a detailed range map and ample color photos to accompany the exacting and quite complete text. Lanner includes interesting details of uses, taxonomy and ecology to augment the botanical descriptions. California conifers include the world's tallest tree(redwood), it's most massive(giant sequoia) and ceraintly the oldest tree(Great Basin bristlecone pine) - these and 49 others are excellently presented - a feast for tree enthusiasts from California and the rest of the world. Both amatuers and experts will find this book both very enjoyable and eminently useful. And at this price, believe me, its a bargain.

An exceptionally creative and interesting book on California conifers. The prose is extraordinary as are the voluminous number of images, all in color. Inclusion of a Griffin and Critchfield distribution map for each species is a vital part of the book and singularly honors these scholarly authors. The objective coverage of the various species, with candid personal insight, makes the book particularly delightful to read. An ideal gift for a friend.

Despite its small size and paperback format, this is one of my most treasured books. I am a resident of Michigan, and the fall is always a highlight of our year. Michiganders, as an army, await autumn leaves and "leaf peeping", as young children await Christmas morning. This is the ONLY book I've ever seen that really gives its reader a good understanding of this beautiful phenomenon.

The first 17 or so pages give a physical, chemical, and biological discourse on why leaves change, and on what goes into the makeup of the various colors. The next 100+ pages cover all deciduous trees of northeastern North America, in turn, with a good discussion of each species being attended by excellent four-color photographs of the subject tree in various formats, including group, solo, and partial shots. Finally a sixty-page section gives the same ememplary treatment to northeastern North American evergreens. These, too, form part of the fall patterns, albeit in a more subdued way.

If you live in the area bounded by Ontario, Minnesota, Missouri, Tennessee, Virginia, Maine, New Brunswick, and Quebec, or are planning to visit any states or provinces in that area this fall, buy this book now, and read it over. You'll be glad you did, this year and every year. I would give this book a ten-star rating if I could, and recommend it highly. An invaluable bargain.

This is really well done. There are numerous color photos (both closeups, some whole tree shots, and often a shot of a grouping of trees showing the characteristics of the tree being described. I highly recommend this for anyone wanting a guide to Fall trees or even for planning your plantings. It's also reasonably priced. My only misgiving is that it isn't longer and cover the entire eastern US!

I found this book at the library and cried when I read it. The story is that of a young family coping with the loss of their special tree that died from poisin someone had dumped nearby. The daughter is confused and asks the philosophical question,"Why did it die?" and the father answers "Trees get old and die." To which she replies "But not like this." You see the tree was healthy and full of life. It was sudden and unexpected as death often is. The book has an inspirational ending when the daughter remembers her acorn collection and decides to plant one so that the tree lives on in some way.

I bought this book for a friend whose husband died suddenly at the peak of his life, his young daughter only six months old. I think this book would be great for anyone who needs some help explaining death to children. It would be a great stepping stone especailly for kids reluctant to discuss their grief. I wouldn't be surprized if child psychologists have reccommended this book for just that.

A great book!This talks about growing up and planting atree. As the tree ages, so does she. One spring, the tree doesn't makegreen leaves. They call a tree doctor. The doctor tells them that their tree is sick. Every day they go visit the tree. They talk to it and tell it to have hope. The family does everything possible to help the tree. Others stop and leave notes and gifts for the tree. I found this book to be great. It is a real life situation that could happen to any tree. Even though it is almost a picture book, I found it to be a great book. If you have kids or younger siblings, read it to them. I am pretty sure that they will like it too.

I think of it as one of the best masterpieces

If it so good why would SOMEONE bother writing the same review over and over again. I have written many of covered calls and 25% is a bit lofty for a return. Look into more honestly reviewed/written books for details/strategies and see what you can do experientially. Start small and watch what happens to your returns on an annualized basis. Have an exit strategy before you start.

I found this book to be very interesting and powerful in that it not only provides a simple covered call strategy but a stock selection method that complements the overall strategy. The book gives any one the basics to set up a conservative covered call portfolio that should provide a comfortable income. You can order a set of CD's that implements the book's basics and the CD's are very reasonable.
I have set up my IRA account to implement the covered call/ stock program set forth in this book.

Over the last five years, I've examined hundreds of schemes for making money in the stock market. Now, I don't want to say anything bad about all those schemes, but I will say this: The concepts in The Money Tree actually work as advertised! I am retired, and need to make my meager resources last out my lifetime. My lack of success in the market had me ready to put my money in a 2% savings account and hibernate. But then I read this book. It has literally changed my life.

Ronald Lanner is a professor of Forest Resources at Utah State University. He became fascinated with the ecology of the whitebark pine, the only member of the "stone pine" family in North America, commonly found in high elevations. Its wide distribution, and that of the other stone pines was puzzling, because they tended to have large pinecones that did not open by themselves, and their seeds were large and wingless, and could not be distributed by the wind. Clearly some other agent was responsible for the way these trees would appear in fire ravaged areas, and at very high elevations. But what?

Lanner concludes that Clark's Nutcracker, and related birds around the world, were and still are the instruments of these trees distribution throughout the northern hemisphere, and that this might well be a case of co-evolution; two entirely different species (in this case of two entirely different kingdoms of life), adapting to fill each others needs, to the ben! efit of both.

This is a short and well argued analysis of this relationship, clearly and entertainingly written. Lanner draws not just on his own work, but on the studies of many other scientists and field researchers, and it is one of the hallmarks of his book that he describes their research in some detail, giving you a feel for how science works, with seemingly unconnected studies of plants and wildlife around the world being put together in an increasingly coherent answer to Lanner's original question. It is impeccably scientific, but not dry in the least.

Lanner concludes, as almost any student of nature has to do in this era, with a warning that this beautiful relationship between birds and trees is endangered from several quarters, most notably a virulent man-introduced fungus that is devastating the whitebark pine, and thus also endangering the future of the creatures that depend on it.

The book has color photographs and is elegantly illustrated. As is the cas! e with any really well done book of this kind, you feel as ! if you have learned about a lot more than just the specific topic at hand. The book is really about interdependence--how different life forms, over time, create a network of relationships, so that removing any piece of the puzzle disrupts the whole. It's one thing to hear this line endlessly parroted in the media; it's another thing to have the intricacy and beauty of such an ecosystem laid out before you.

My only quibble is the title--I like it, but as a birder, would have preferred "The Nutcracker Suite." Oh well. (g)

Bob Chandler uses evidence gleaned from U.S. military and international open sources to convincingly demonstrate that Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War wrote the 'how-to' manual for Third-World dictators who want to use biological and chemical weapons effectively. Chandler argues that the U.S. and its allies dodged the bullet of weapons of mass destruction by not pursuing Saddam, but that we will not be so lucky next time. Biological and chemical weapons, in addition to being stockpiled in the heart of Iraq, can be easily developed using available research and technology, by available personnel, in relatively modest space. Chandler argues that the U.S. must recognize that the era of weapons of mass destruction has arrived, and strategize accordingly. Today's military must acknowledge the issue and make decisions today that enable us to counter tomorrow's war