Cutting edge Chicano poet Juan Felipe Herrera and young master print maker Artemio Rodriguez of Michoacan Mexico combine as a dynamic duo to produce a book that is more than the sum of its gifts. The two share an obvious affinity of irrepressible hilarity in their work, a Mexican aesthetic of living with and laughing at death present in the darkest issues, the grittiest subjects, simultaneously celebrating in florid imagery in both picture and word the sometimes desperate, sometimes exhilarating vivacity of Mexican American immigrants. At the same time there's enough aesthetic difference between Herrera's hip Bay Area surrealism and Rodriguez's more folkloric technique deliver a friction between the gritty and the sublime, between the dreamlike and the quotidian that depicts well the sometimes dangerous, often moving human drama of exile, immigration and restttlement. Out of the maelstrom of the experience of millions flies this piercing poetry combined, each poem, with a striking print.

"A book about innovation and tradition" is how Rupert Garcia describes this book in the useful introduction. I recommend that this is read first, because it helps one to understand the history of Loteria Cards in Mexico and the traditional iconography associated with them. They are actually the fusion of two games, Patolli a game of chance the Aztecs played, and Loteria a European Version of Bingo. In the game the name of the Loteria card is called out rather than the number. It may be a type person, an element or feature of nature, or something elses, and it is often accompanied by a phrase or poem by the caller to further identify the picture on the card. This is origin of the cards, a fusion like so many things in Mexico, has been put into a contemporary setting in this book.

Artemio Rodriguez uses a mixture of traditional iconography and modern images to produce beautiful Linocuts for the images of the Loteria Cards. They look both traditional Mexican and old (they remind me of woodcuts by Dürer), yet contemporary and modern at the same time. Each is distinct and unique.

The poems by Juan Felipe Herrera go very well with the Linocuts, and they too are a mixture of traditional Mexican, Chicano and modern subject-matter. They show that beliefs, feelings, and emotions carry over in time, space, language and culture. Some remain the same, while others change. The mix they create is in a constant state of metamorphosis, becoming undefinable, yet staying distinct.

The presentation of the book is beautiful, the cover, binding, paper, and printing are al well-done. Each page has a Loteria Cards and a poem that accompanies it. I really recommend this book. It is a thoughtful and beautiful present to give to someone who appreciates the combination of tradition, modernism, art, poetry...

I bought this book last year to give to a friend and after leafing through it, decided I couldn't part with it. Rodriguez's prints are rich, beautiful, terrifying -- but it is Herrera's words I fell in love with. Each poem is it's own mystery. These are perfect pieces, perfectly married to their accompanying images, and make one incredible poetic whole.

The delicious recipes in this book are beyond compare. You will find mouth watering and nutritous entrees, salads and desserts. A varitable cornucopia of the very best from the Northwest and from around the world.

Being a Northwest native, I truly appreciate the recipes from the 'locals'! I am constantly referring to this wonderful book, and reminscing about my childhood in Anacortes, Washington. When is the new San Juan Classics II coming out? I saw it advertised at the new Guemes Island country store last week! How can I get this new cookbook; as I have been "transplanted" to the East Coast for a few years...........Sad but true!

I have used many cookbooks in my time. After wasting much time, I now only use The Joy of Cooking and San Juan Classics. Also, I heard that they are coming out with another one!

Absolutely tremendous. It is my favorite book of color Colorado photographs.

Photographers are a dime a dozen. Kathleen Norris Cook with Western Relfections Publishing shows that there are a few good photographers. Get the book!

How then does light return to our world in the San Juan Mountains after the setting of the sun? Miraculously. Boldly. In broad stripes. It hangs like a glass cage. It is a hoop that seemingly cannot be captured.

Next moment a flash of a camera. Then an image is recorded as if earth were breathing in and out, once, twice, as if for the first time. In this camera sharp place where the only electricity is in such thunderous lightning, there are no sounds in an afternoon save the hum of a rainbow. It is so spectacular, so luminous, so fresh, that we intruders feel also quiet, intense and strangely tiptoe, as if in anticipation.

The mountains throb purple and green, and gradually the valleys below drink in red, brown and gold. Suddenly a mountain stream snatches a blue light. The earth absorbs color like a sponge, slowly drinking the mountain sun. It puts on weight; rounds itself; hangs pendent; settles and sways beneath our feet through the lens of Kathleen Norris Cook. There's no telling what a collection of such beauty, power and insight might inspire.

The photography and the text of this book has been described in other reviews, but I want to add that this is now one of the most beautiful books that I own. The typesetting is flawless, the paper is of a much higher weight than I have seen in other monographs, and, of course, the reproductions are class. These points are magnified by the sheer size of the book-- check the dimensions given in the details above. The book is a work of art.

This book clearly deserves many more than five stars. It is one of the most remarkable expressions about and by an artist in any genre that I have ever seen.

Before going further, let me caution those who are offended by all forms of nudity that this book contains many female nudes. These are all tastefully done, and will not offend those who look with a desire to see the essence of beauty.

Alfred Stieglitz was a seminal figure in 20th century art. One of the foremost photographers in the century, he also helped other photographers define what the aesthetic means in photography. He also was a champion for many of the best known photographers, and seriously boosted their careers. In painting, he was an early advocate of important 20th century artists like Arthur Dove and Georgia O'Keeffe. In addition, he published two influential journals about photography, and exhibited art in his famous gallery in New York. Clearly, though, photography was his first love. "I have all but killed myself for Photography."

This book focuses on his central vision of photography ("search for objective truth and pure form") which increasingly was about "antiphotographs" or images that move beyond simple representation. This concept is examined both in 73 of his best images and through numerous excerpts from his voluminous writings on the subject (over 200 essays).

This book is based on the famous 1983 show of Stieglitz's work, and has been reproduced with amazing care and quality. The images are produced in tritone to give more texture and detail. The paper is of archival quality. Most people's diplomas are not on paper this good or this thick. There is a luxurious feeling to just hold the pages.

The 73 images were selected by Ms. O'Keeffe, Juan Hamilton (her friend and assistant), and curator Sarah Grenough from approximately 1600 images in the collection of the National Gallery of Art. Ms. Grenough selected the writings to be used, and wrote the wonderful introduction.

From looking at these remarkable images, I came away with the impression that Stieglitz was at his best (for my taste) when he was doing portraits, abstractions, and cityscapes. Those subjects seemed to allow him to strip away the unessential better than the others he used. My favorite images in the book are:

Sun Rays -- Paula, Berlin, 1889

From the Back-Window -- 291, 1915 Self-Portrait, 1907

Marie Rapp, 1916

Arthur G. Dove, 1911-1912

Charles Demuth, 1915

Hodge Kirnon, 1917

Marcel Duchamp, 1923

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918 (3)

Margaret Treadwell, 1921

Waldo Frank, 1920

Dancing Trees, 1922

Music -- A Sequence of Ten Cloud Photographs, VIII, 1922

Equivalent, 1931

His writings are as rewarding as his photographs. I was particularly interested in his ideas about how humans make progress. "Progress has been accomplished only by reason of the fanatical enthusiasm of the revolutionist . . . ." "Experts . . . are the result of hard work."

After you have finished enjoying this astonishingly revealing volume, I suggest that you think about how you like to express truth and beauty in your life. How can you be more direct and simple in this expression?

Be sure to live a life of "constant experimenting" like Stieglitz did!

This is far more than a picture book; it contains 73 high-quality plates and its real treasures can be found is the twenty page introduction and the fifty pages of selections from his writings about his work and views on photography. As a full time artist, I found this book to be both rich and inspiring. If you have lost sight of why you shoot pictures, try this as a reminder of clearer moments.

The Apprentice is a wonderful and breath-taking book. Arduino wanted to be an artist and not a tailor. His father granted his wish and sent him to be an apprentice to Cosimo di Forli, a famous artist. But one night, Arduino found out a terrible crime that his master had committed and what he was hiding in his attic. Would Arduino give up his dream of being an artist and reveal the terrible secret? Read and you will find out.

I am surprised that this book only has two reviews so far. It deserves many more.

Pilar Molina Llorente is an explendid writer. She describes the atmosphere of Florence in a detailed and enthusiastic fashion that brings the story to life. The author creates credible and consistent characters. Is a very appealing story for both kids and young readers. An attractive and dynamic book.

The Apprentice is a truly wonderful, well-written book. The story is about a boy in Renaissance Italy who decides to quit his family buisness and become a painter. He goes through many ordeals and mistreatments as an apprentice, and has an unjust master. There is also a mysterious attic that the other apprentices say noises have come from, and cannot be discussed in front of the master. If you like historical fiction and books about freedom, this book is for you.

This book does a great job of telling the story without the profanity. Good reading for all ages who want to know the soldier's story. A great book for Vets too. the story of a combat Medic.

As a Donut Dollie with the American Red Cross in Viet Nam in 1970 - 71, I found this book to be a great representation of a Viet Nam vet. It is factual, easy to read and entertaining. The book evokes emotions and helps the reader feel the life of the vet. I am currently a teacher and plan to use this book when I teach about the war.

This story follows the life of a young american boy from childhood, through being drafted, sent to vietnam, the 1970 Cambodia invasion, and the after shock of it all. It is written primarily to give the younger generation a first-hand report of the experience, and is suitable reference material for history classes in the middle school years.

este libro, hace revivir la fe del creyente , en que nada es imposible para Dios. Y hace que te maravilles de los milagros que el puede hacer en los lugares y con las personas mas inuscitadas. y te hace comprender, que a pesar de las manifestaciones lo mas importante de un avivamiento del Espiritu Santo, es el llamado a Santidad que este produce en tu vida. Y lo que este opere en tu corazón, para siempre.

Este libro inspira a cualquier cristiano y reconocer que Dios anhela manifestarse al mundo usando TU vida, por medio de portentos y milagros, de la misma manera que lo describe en Su Palabra. Este libro narra la historia de un nuevo creyente en Indonesia, que al ser visitado por El Espiritu Santo, comenzo a ver que Dios tenía grandes planes para su vida. Mel revive acontecimientos del libro de los Hechos y termina hablando frente a multitudes en Ingles (sin el jámas habelro estudiado)de como el amor de JESUS y la mano de Dios guardaron su vida para inspirar a todos los que leen su biografia.

Este libro muestra el poder del Espíritu Santo sobre la vida de aquellos que se someten a él. Milagros grandiosos e inimaginables sucedieron cuando llegó un avivamiento a Indonesia. Y los que se sometieron a Dios por completo comprobaron que Jesús no mintió al decir: "El que en mi cree, las obras que yo hago, él las hará también; y aun mayores hará..." Este libro lo recomiendo a cualquiera que quiera ver que grandemente Dios puede manifestarse a través de los que le aman.

Despite the time elapsed since this book was published, with all the changes that occurred in Cuba during these years, Medea Benjamin's conversations with Juan Antonio Blanco remain extremely topical, even in the discussion of present-day Cuba. Juan Antonio Blanco, very possibly Cuba's best historian, has always been someone passionately 'inside' the Cuban Revolution: in fact, for many years he has been struggling and fighting in order to keep 'inside' that Revolution, endeavouring to push and squeeze his own thoughts and views into the boiling pot of the Revolution's changing view of itself. Even today, from his self-imposed semi-exiled in Canada, Blanco remains a faithful revolutionary servant, attempting to change what may be wrong with the Revolution, rather than ever dissenting from it. That makes him a 'dissident' inside the system, let's say a potential Gorbachev or Havel. As we read this fantastic book, and even more so as we read it backwards, we discover more of Juan Antonio Blanco's thoughts, concerns, criticisms, passions, concerns, views for the future. We read what he said and criticized of the Revolution at the time, we read his predictions, and thus we find to what extent his ideas were or were not incorporated into the new revolutionary thinking, to what extent his concerns were listened to and implemented. Overall, we can assess to what extent Blanco may really maintain his claim to have remained 'inside' the Revolution. But of course, this is not only a book about the great mind of Juan Antonio Blanco. Author Medea Benjamin provokes Blanco on a lot of points, giving rise to passionate conversations on so many aspects of Cuba's life, from the most theoretic issues of thought, to practical matters of the everyday life of Cuba's citizens. An impressive amount of topics and issues are covered, ranging from philosophy to health system, from economic crisis to nutrition and international relations. All these are discussed in a way that make it easy to read for everyone - for the scholar of Cuba and the student alike, as well as anyone interested in Cuba, without requiring any academic knowledge. The prose is excellent, and the contents very well edited. Overall, it is one of the books that should not be missing from anyone's Cuba library.

This is the one! learn about the history, the ideals and the future of the revolution. Medea Benjamin asked the questions I wanted answered. And the answers were sometimes surprising. Juan Antonio Blanco is an incredibly intelligent and articulate person. If you are curious at all about Cuba... begin here. It is a short fast read.... perfect spring break or weekend material.

Medea Benjamin's interviews with Juan Antonio Blanco are a fair and nuanced portrayal of the struggles of the island's people during the economic crisis brought about by the collapse of the USSR. The book is a must read for those visiting or revisiting Cuba. If there is a "dissident" on the island with a sense of both the country's human suffering and potential, it is clearly Blanco.

Overall, very well done.

While Juan Flores is perceptive in his discussion of the Puerto Rican component of Latino culture, and discusses other major critics like Perez Firmat and Stavans, I was frankly surprised not to see any discussion of William Luis's Dance Between Two Cultures: Latino Caribbean Literature Written in the United States, which in my estimation is as important as those written by the critics Flores discusses. The value of Luis's study is that he addresses the same Puerto Rican community mentioned in Flores' book, but Luis also contextualizes this community by considering its relation to the Cuban and Dominican components of Latino culture. Anyone interested in understanding Latino literature and culture should also read Dance Between Two Cultures, which contains perceptive readings of Latino Caribbean literature unavailable in any other study.

The title of Mr. Flores' book might be a little deceiving for those who are not familiar with the subject matter. Mr. Flores uses music as a jumping off point for some very thought provoking themes that pertain (in my opinion) to all Latino's. Juan Flores goes from scholarly themes like colonialism to thoughts on the funeral of Cortijo and the history of the Boogaloo phenomena in New York City.

Mr. Flores makes you stop and think, then think again about issues you may have had preconceived notions about. I really enjoyed being challenged intellectually as I read this book.

I recently attended a lecture/performance (at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City) of "From Bomba to Hip-Hop" conducted by Mr. Flores, music historian Rene Lopez and Mike Wallace (who won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "Gotham.") True to form, it was a very unique, educational and entertaining experience.

As a beginning graduate student in Latina/o Studies, I have been asking myself a simple question over and over: "Where have I been?" I have gone through public education in the United States for 17 years of my life, and have only recently found that there have been people writing since the start of the 1900s about the issues, experiences, struggles, and passions that I have thought were uniquely mine. Piri Thomas published _Down These Mean Streets_ in 1967. I just read it this past summer, my mother--right after I gave it to her. And the thought that has wondered in is, "why wasn't I told about his book earlier?" Is Piri Thomas' experience, a bond with African American culture that Juan Flores addresses in his book, such a marginal experience in American life, that it took a suggestion by Amazon.com for a man with 4 years of university education to be aware of the book? As the population of Latino/as in the United States grows to the levels of being the largest minority group in the country, there will have to be a shifting of Latina/o literature, theory, and any cultural products from the margins of American life to the center contemporary discussion. It is these products that Juan Flores probes and analyses with keen insight that places the Puerto Rican aspect of the Latino experience into mainstream intellectual thought. From "the Madonna incident" in Puerto Rico, to the ties that Puerto Ricans have with Hip-Hop, and the current status of Puerto Rico that he sadly calls a "Lite Colony," Flores' book is one that should be read by anyone interested in the affairs of American culture.

This book was enlightening! I dont know if it was the book itself or the topic, but the history of the world and evolution of man and his surroundings has always fascinated me. The book is precise, clear cut, easy to comprehend, and very informative, providing many hypothesis to particular uncertainties. Occasionally it can go off on short tangents or go from one topic to seemingly another with the snap of a finger, which might cause you to back up and reread a paragraph every once in a while, but if you dont have trouble paying attention like me, lol, then you should have no problem. This book seeks as many questions and answers from within you as you do from within the book. It brings you internally closer to history and to the past of which we have all derived from. You begin to wonder about the whys and hows of that which might be considered the most insignificant things in everyday life, topics and subjects that are illuminated for you, while subsequently intensifying your interest, through this introspective-like book. It will certainly assist you in developing a more meaningful outlook and comprehension of life and this world we have continually grown alongside with and a part of. You may be left with more questions than answers, but you will be thoroughly amazed that you possess the capability, consciousness and awareness to simply ask the questions to begin with!! Id give the book a 5 if not for 2 chapters in the middle of the book that dealt primarily with the types of vegetation and trees populating the spanish peninsula over the years. It would be interesting to those individuals who contain some knowledge of these things or whoe would like to, but for myself I purchased this for the rest of what the book elaborated upon and it was well worth the purchase. I hope to read more books equivalent to this quality and its topic in the future. I could go on forever but Ill let you read all the astonishing facts and acquire your new found intelligence on your own. Just imagine co existing in the world with what is paramount to another species of human beings!!I give it a 4.5 from NY, USA

This is a fine book that sheds further light on what the Neanderthals were like and what happened to them. Written in an engaging, clear and almost poetic style (the translation by Andy Klatt is first rate, his surprising use of "irregardless" on page 182 notwithstanding), this book gives us a sense of the latest understanding with an emphasis on evidence from the Sierra de Artapuerca excavation site in Spain where paleoanthropologist Professor Arsuaga is co-director. The black, white and gray illustrations by Juan Carlos Sastre nicely augment the text.

Arsuaga begins with the observation that today we exist almost alone in the sense that there are no very similar species extant, the last one being the Neanderthal in Europe. Arsuaga then traces our descent until he arrives at "Domesticated Man" in the Epilogue. His detours and asides are very interesting. I was especially pleased to learn that there are well-preserved wooden lances (or spears) used by archaic humans fully 400,000 years ago. (p. 182-183) I also found interesting his digression on what caused the extinction of the megafauna of America some 10,000 years ago (in Chapter Six, "The Great Extinction").

Primarily, though, this book is about the cultural, behavioral and conceptional abilities (as derived from the archaeological evidence) that separate humans from other living creatures, especially the Neanderthals. Arsuaga reveals his purpose on page 280: "I have been trying to summarize the evidence available concerning the thorniest problem of human evolution, the development of consciousness, which is the defining characteristic of humankind." He had asked in the Prologue on page ix, "Apart from us, has there ever been a life form on earth that was conscious of its own existence and of its place in the world?" In short his answer is yes, the Neanderthal, whom he defines as our contemporary, not as an archaic human species. (p. 278)

Arsuaga's story begins about 2.5 million years ago when Homo habilis emerged in Africa (presumably from another post-australopithecine species) with a noticeably bigger brain than the first upright walking apes. "A short while later" (geologically-speaking) Homo ergaster (probably the same as Homo erectus) appeared. Arsuaga sees Homo ergaster as the first hominid to migrate out of Africa about 1.5 million years ago, spreading to Europe and southeast Asia. Not only did these proto-humans have a significantly larger brain than Homo habilis, they had also begun "to create a social and cultural environment...that afforded them ever more independence from the physical environment," which is one of the reasons they were able to survive in diverse climates, especially in the cold of the northern latitudes.

Then about 300,000 years ago Arsuaga sees the development independently in Europe and Africa of a "second great expansion of the human brain" producing "somewhat different results." (p. 307) When modern humans again emerged out of Africa about 150,000 years ago they arrived in Europe to find the Neanderthal. The somewhat different results of their independent evolution prevented the species from merging and eventually the Neanderthal died out.

Although some authorities have emphasized competition with modern humans as the reason for the Neanderthal's demise, Arsuaga believes we need more information before we can say "in a convincing fashion" what happened. (p. 292) He does say somewhat imprecisely that the Neanderthal was "defeated by the cold" while the Cro-Magnons due to "superior technology," especially with bone awls and needles to fashion well-fitting animal skins, etc., were able to survive the glacial maximum 25,000 years ago. (p. 302) However on page 78 while noting that the Cro-Magnons had developed physical features that made them look relatively childlike--a gracile build and a "small, minimally protruding face," ("neoteny" is the technical term for this phenomenon)--Arsuaga may have tipped his hand. He observes, "Cro-Magnons must have looked cute to the Neanderthals! They may have discovered later, to their dismay, what kind of people they were dealing with, and as sweet as the Cro-Magnons may have looked, what kind of behavior they could expect."

(I had a sudden vision here of an abandoned Cro-Magnon child found by a Neanderthal family. They tenderly take the child in, nourish it and bring it up as their own. At a certain age, the child realizes that it is not Neanderthal and... Well, I'm sure there are a few science fiction stories that resolve this premise for better or for worse.)

Arsuaga's account therefore presents the Neanderthal as a co-existing species, not our ancestor, with whom there was little to no interbreeding. Nonetheless Arsuaga has great respect and affection for the Neanderthal. He writes on page 284 that "It would thrill me more than anything if I could say that I had even a drop of Neanderthal blood to connect me with those powerful Europeans of long ago." His portrait is of a "human" species different from (not less than) ourselves that had culture and ritual and self-adornment (as evidenced by, e.g., the Neanderthal's necklace found at Grotte du Renne in France), a being that had achieved consciousness, although of a sort undoubtedly different than ours. In one particular, Arsuaga argues that the fossil evidence suggests that the Neanderthal's phonetic apparatus would not have been able to produce "sounds as distinct as ours," (p. 268). This physical characteristic may have reduced its ability to develop a culture as extensive as the Cro-Magnon's which we know about in part through the cave murals that they painted in France and Spain.

What one feels strongly from Arsuaga's account is the sense of loss that the Neanderthal is no longer with us. How much we could have learned from a being that was at once much like ourselves, but intriguingly different.

The Neanderthal's Necklace: In Search of the First Thinkers

It's a rare book that delivers more than it promises, but Juan Luis Arsuaga's _The Neanderthal's Necklace_ does just that. The book jacket presents it as a story of the 10,000-year-long encounter between the Neanderthals and our own Cro-Magnon ancestors, a story that ends with the disappearance of the Neanderthals some 27,000 years ago. Arsuaga discusses that epochal culture clash at length and with many fresh insights. However, he weaves that narrative into a much grander story--his expert take on the evolution not just of the Neanderthals and our own very young species, but of all the other walking primates that preceded us back to whatever great-grandparent species we shared with organutangs, gorillas and chimpanzees some 6 million years ago. For good measure, Arsuaga throws in his original and highly readable takes on many key evolutionary issues, on the nature of consciousness, and--really the theme of the book--on when, where and how our own "hypersymbolic" human consciousness emerged.

Arsuaga, a leading Spanish paleoanthropologist, has strong views on many topics. He's convinced that modern humans are unique. "Anatomically, we are but erect primates . . ." he argues. "At the same time, we humans are radically different from all other animals due to the astonishing phenomena of our intelligence, our capacity for reflection, and a broad self-consciousness of all aspects of our behavior." Accordingly, he denies consciousness, at least as he defines it, not only to non-human animals, but even to many of the upright, tool-using species that preceded us. " . . . animals lack both self-awareness and perceptive awareness, or consciousness. They are no more than biological machines." (Immediately after this hackle-raising statement, Arsuaga is perceptive enough to apologize "to all cat- and dog-lovers," whose beloved pets, he concedes, may possibly have "perceptive consciousness.")

After in-depth discussions of almost every line of evidence, Arsuaga comes to several very interesting conclusions about the development of the fully human consciousness he so highly values. Surprisingly, he grants first membership in the consciousness club to a truly ancient ancestor, _Homo ergaster_, whose 1.8 million-year-old fossils have been found in modern-day Kenya. Not only did _H. ergaster_ have a body closer in size and shape to our own, but a brain that was a significant chunk larger than our first tool-using ancestor, _Homo habilis_. Unlike _habilis_, _ergaster_ fashioned biface stone tools--"chipped on two surfaces with obvious skill and concern for symmetry. "These primitive human beings were conscious of what they were doing, and they cared about the tools they carried in their hands," Arsuaga writes.

Like most current researchers, Arsuaga is clear that Neanderthal's were not our direct ancestors, but a relatively recent, parallel, and ultimately extinct human branch. Still, he grants them a mental world nearly equal to our own. After all, he points out, they made tools just as carefully as their archaic human neighbors, made fire, and buried their dead. Still, he concludes from anatomical studies that they could not produce fully articulated speech, and that they never entered the richly symbolic world that we inhabit (with rare exceptions such as the necklace-wearing Neanderthal referred to in the book's title). Arsuaga focuses on two clues to this consciousness gap. It was the Cro-magnons some 32,000 years ago who began to represent the world they saw and imagined in those haunting cave paintings, and who devoted enormous amounts of time and effort to personal adornment. That's when, he writes poetically, "the world was made transparent." By that he means that with their newly re-tooled minds, our immediate ancestors projected all their intuitive understanding of each other, all of their deep immersion into symbols, onto the entire world. "All of a sudden and unexpectedly," he writes, "the spirit of our land, old _Europa_, came alive. The rocks, the rivers, the sea, the trees, and the animals, also the clouds, the sun, the moon, and the stars above; all sang to humankind, and the wind carried their song."

It's a lovely summary of a lovely and deeply informative book. Anyone who is interested in a well written, well thought out and non-standard view of how we came to be the way we are will enjoy it thoroughly.

Robert Adler, author of _Science Firsts: From the Creation of Science to the Science of Creation_ (Wiley, Sept. 2002), presenting highlights in the history of science from the ancient Greeks to the cloning of Dolly the Sheep.