A marvellous book, compact enough to be a field guide and yet informative enough to be a valuable reference work at home. As a field guide it is particularly valuable for its superb illustrations and also in showing and discussing things like scats, tracks, dens and sounds for those animals that one would like to see but might not! We'll certainly take it along again on our next trip. As a reference work it is excellent as a clearly and entertainingly written introduction to the natural history and conservation of Costa Rica's many fascinating mammals. It also has a comprehensive list of references to the primary scientific literature.

Most field guides provide very little information other than the features of the animal relevant to identifying it. Wainwright's book, however, contains loads of fascinating natural history information, written in an engaging, sometimes clever but never cute style.

This book is handy for those who want to identify Costa Rican mammals, but it is especially appropriate for anyone who wishes to go beyond the simple question of "What's that?" It contains a wealth of natural history information on mammals' feeding, defecating, and sexual behavior. The author also describes ecological interactions and conservation issues. Hundreds of superb illustrations depict portraits of the animals as well as behaviors, food plants, and interesting details such as scats and penis bones. While the book focuses on species within Costa Rica, much of the information applies to mammals in Central America in general. The Natural History of Costa Rican Mammals serves as a fine reference book and a fun-to-read book at the same time.

This book is several books in one. In addition to his varied personal experiences on the road, it includes some well researched history of the countries he visits, both ancient and contemporary. He talks about the big people in history, like Cortes, Clinton, Subcomandante Marcos, Leon Trotsky, Frida Kahlo and Manuel Noriega. He then gives equal attention to the little people he meets along the way, like the Mexican museum curator whose family had been guarding an ancient relic for several generations. He even travels to Paul Gauguin's house with a Playboy Bunny he met in a youth hostel. But he also engrosses the reader with his thoughts about his personal life, most interestingly, his romance with a Nicaraguan girl. Hurricane Mitch, which strikes when he is Guatemala and devastates the region, adds a sinister backdrop to his odd holiday, but in the end he achieves his goals despite numerous setbacks. It is a little bit like a collection of short stories, since it is written in diary form, so each day represents a new thought, and a new mini adventure. The stories about the crocodile and the monkey I almost wouldn't have believed except that he included photos in the book. I especially liked his description of his climbing of the volcano... and was left feeling it is much more enjoyable - and safer - to read his description of it than to attempt such a feat in real life.

Some years past, a colleague suggested a year of travel instead of my intended return to school. It took thirty years to fulfill that suggestion. David Short didn't require any more prompting than a dull, dirty and dangerous job. His destination, prompted by a world-traveling grandfather, became Central America, specifically, the Panama Canal. The journey lasted just short of six months and resulted in this account of his adventures. A spirited read, An Odd Odyssey should inspire anyone of nearly any age to pull up stakes at least once in a lifetime and venture somewhere distant. Short's account shows how richly rewarding travel can be to those willing to make the effort.

There are two kinds of travel books - the "guidebook" with sights, prices, accommodation ideally suited for those seeking comfort instead of adventure. Glossy photos, usually portraying conditions found on movie sets, detailed maps, prices listed. The other type is the personal journal, which, properly done, imparts a far better sense of "being there" than does the guidebook. Short's chronicle is the second type, a vivid sharing of his thoughts, experiences, disasters, even love. The means of travel was by bus. Just finding one was fraught with hazards - timing, crowding or even just running. Once boarded, there was the issue of finding the proper seat: "Sit in the rear. Bandits will shoot through the front window." On a limited budget the "guidebook" hotels were out of the question for Short. Many havens he found for a night's rest became adventures in their own right. Weather, ever a primary topic for travellers, added its own quirks - a major Caribbean hurricane being the most spectacular.

These minor discomforts aside, Short's recital of his travels points up the many benefits of journeying solo. One of these is that you don't remain alone for long. Not every acquaintance is a welcome companion, but none are dull. They bring their lives into his view, and to ours. Short meets former convicts, travellers from Europe, Canada and Australia. Not limiting himself to fellow "gringos" he deals well with the local residents. Although a few are not as friendly as he - he's robbed twice and has the usual tangles with bureaucrats, cheating taxi drivers and sullen hoteliers. Still, he maintains his equanimity, exhibiting strength in adverse circumstances. In this modern age he can turn to internet cafes, at one point spending more on email and 'net surfing than on accommodation and food.

Short is a learner, eager to know the current and historical conditions of the lands he visits. Teotihuacan, Tikal and the world's largest stone sphere. His account leads you along with him in fine descriptive prose. He shares his learning without becoming pedantic or opinionated. His judgments result of thoughtful assessment and it's easy to agree with them. The book becomes not only the tale of his journey, but a guidebook without gloss or sham. By the end of it, we envy his adventures and his ability to relate them. It's hard not to embark on a similar jaunt with the aim of duplicating his effort for your chosen locale.

Professor Setha M. Low's book On The Plaza-The Politics of Public Space and Culture discusses the interrelationship of public space and culture. She primarily focuses on two plazas in San Jose, Costa Rica, the Parque Central and the Plaza de la Cultura, while also making references to other places such as Tenochtitlan in Mexico. Using ethnographic, ethnohistorical, microgeographical, and statistic sampling methods, Low argues that "these culturally and politically charged public spaces are essential to everyday civic life and the maintenance of a participatory democracy."

Low describes the background of Costa Rica, going into its population, ethnic, religious, and urban proportion distribution. She explains the rise and fall of consecutive monocultural economies, such as cacao, tobacco, bananas, and coffee, its tradition of democracy, and the economic nadir in the 1980's. She then goes into the history of San Jose from colonial times to the present, including the devastating effects of the economic downtown and the trade vacuum created by NAFTA.

She then explores the history of the two plazas. Parque Central dates back to 1761, and is the larger and more densely populated of the two. It became a center for merchants, grocers, lottery ticket sellers, and sundry vendors, as well as shoppers and customers. Also, the trend of regulars sitting in the same benches over time gives Parque Central an ambience of traditional social life and hence less contested space between various social groups.

The Plaza de la Cultura, constructed between 1976 and 1982, was built as a contrast to the closed nature of Parque Central, as a more open space for the middle and lower classes. Central to the plaza was the National Theatre with a museum housing the country's Precolumbian gold. Despite its cultural stance, the new plaza became a haven for underage prostitutes, gangs, and drug users.

Plazas also contain social and spatial boundaries as factors that symbolize differences such as nationalities, race, class, and gender between plaza populations within a capitalist system. Low again contrasted the two plazas in San Jose in the framework of social boundaries:

Parque Central: mostly older men, closed space, clique-oriented, has professional prostitutes, lottery ticket, newspaper, food vendors, less foreigners, older.

Plaza de la Cultura: mostly women and children, open space, not clique-oriented, prostitutes who give services for clothes, nurturing relationships, balloon, popcorn, tourist item vendors, more foreigners, younger.

Another more important function of the plaza is for public protest. Low categorizes them in terms of the kinds of protest and their outcomes. Manifest protests such as strikes and demonstrations usually result in the temporary closure of the public space, followed by a reopening where the space is policed to discourage undesirables. An example of that involved the chasing out of shoeshine men from Parque Central. Latent protests involve conflicts that become apparent in terms of design and surrounding buildings and can result in discussions in various media or a plebiscite. Ritual protests, such as parades, normally involve the temporary takeover of space by a protesting group before it is relinquished to the forces nominally in charge of that space.

Taken in the context of protest, Low sees public space as symbolizing political objectives by those, particularly national leaders, who created them--e.g. the Plaza de la Democracia is a legacy to Oscar Arias Sanchez's Nobel Peace Prize-winning efforts for Central American peace. Plazas that don't fulfill the objectives of their creators or are not deemed valuable are either redesigned or denied access to the public.

Constituting twenty-five years of research spanning from 1972 to 1997, Setha Low's exhaustively researched book depicts the essence of the function of the plaza.

I read this book mainly because as a Tico (Costa Rican) I was very surprised somebody would write a whole book about a couple of places that for me are part of my everyday life. Besides having been to the Plazas of Europe and seen on TV the huge plazas that some other Latin American countries (Mexico, Guatemala, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, etc) have I was curious to find out the reason behind her choosing of the Parque Central and the Plaza de la Cultura for this work.
I really liked what I read, she has the benefit of having seen these two public spaces in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica evolve over the last 30 years, from the days we used to consider the Plaza de la Cultura not a nice place to go to, the days when we were outraged by foreign musicians and artist taking over a ground that was supposed to be for the display of our culture till nowadays that the Plaza has turned the city into a sort of fish-tank from where the tourists and US retirees can leisurely watch Costa Ricans as we go about our daily lives.
I truly recommend this book.

I have often wondered how other women handle the baseball life. I have moved three times in the past year and a half. I looked up as I was driving yesterday and couldn't remember which town I was in. Reading this book has calmed me. I gained energy just hearing the struggles the Hargroves have had to endure. Sharon is correct when she says you have to have a since of humor about it all. You have your good, your bad, and your hope. If you are a baseball wife or fan this book will open your eyes to the other side of the game.

This book should be read by every baseball fan and by anyone else that wants a successful marriage. Plus, this is the only book written with me in it!

Snow In Jerusalem is a thought-provoking children's picturebook written by Deborah da Costa about two young boys who live in Jerusalem's Old City - Avi in the Jewish Quarter and Hamudi in the Muslim Quarter. Though neither boy knows it, both of them are caring for the same, beautiful white stray cat. One day the boys follow the cat across the boundaries between the city's quarters, and something wonderful happens, as unexpected as a snowfall in Jerusalem. The muted, softly blurring yet endearingly memorable color illustrations by Cornelius Van Wright and Ying-Hwa Hu bring to life this gentle parable. Snow In Jerusalem is an uplifting, very highly recommended children's story with a core message of hope and love.

At it's heart, this book is about two children who find a cat, fight over it, and learn to share. But the backdrop of Jerusalem and the conflict between Jews and Palestinians makes it a very special read.

The illustrations are wonderful, and the words exceptional.

The importance of history lies in the knowledge and the lessons that, we men, have learned throught our existance. Certainly, El 48 and it's aftermath is the turning point point in Costa Rica's history. Longley is able to explain how Figueres's policies sought the well-being of the people, without employing extreme capitalistic or socialistic measures. Figueres, the man in the middle of socialism and capitalism was able to convince the ticos and the americans that his policies were necessary for such a poor country as Costa Rica.

The Sparrow and the Hawk is one of the most beautyful books I ever read. It explains how Jose Figueres was able to flirt with socialism and capitalism, but at the same time he knew both extremes were bad. Figueres's tactis enabled him to calm the F.B.I and the C.I.A., in times were the common enemy was communism. Above all this, Longley can be regarded as an authority on El 48.The people of Costa Rica than you (Longley)for contributing with such a work to our history. Certainly, the younger generations of ticos will not forget for what our ancestors fought.

This is a great collection of essays that delivers a consistent message throughout. It begins with a new management manifesto, past theory, and works its way through flexibility and growth and innovation. A great, quick-reading book for those interested in the 'new' strategy game.

Here is an absolutely first-rate collection of essays which, with commendable diversity but consistent brilliance, examine fundamentals of strategy and value creation, strategic flexibility in (heaven knows) a volatile world, strategy marketing in uncertain times, and strategies for growth in fast-paced markets. We should not be surprised by the quality of content selected nor by the quality of editing provided by Cusumano and Markides. As they explain in the introduction, "The chapters in this volume fall into four categories. Part One (two chapters by Ghoshal, Bartlett, and Moran and one by Mintzberg and Lampel) deal primarily with strategy and value creation in the next economy. Part Two (one chapter by Hax and Wilde and one by Eisenhardt) talks about flexibility in a volatile world. Part Three (three chapters, by Pascale, Beinhocker, and Williamson) continues on this theme but focusses on strategy and strategy-making process in times of uncertainty. Finally, Part four (five chapters, by Hamel, Kim, and Mauborgne; Markides, Prahalad and Oosterveld, and von Krogh and Cusumano) concentrates on strategic innovation and strategies for growth, particularly bin fast-paced markets."

Those (such as I) who subscribe to the MIT Sloan Management Review have perhaps already read many of these essays. How convenient to have a single volume in which they are gathered; also, to have such a well-written Introduction by the editors and then a section ("The Authors") which suggests additional resources to explore. (I consider Markides' All the Right Moves: A Guide to Crafting Breakthrough Strategy to be one of the most important business books written within recent years.) Some owners/CEOs of smaller companies incorrectly believe that strategic thinking (at least as they understand it) is not of major importance when, in fact, the opposite is true. Go back and examine the origins of what have since become the world's largest corporations and you will learn that each began with one or two basic strategies. For example, when James Cash Penney opened his first store (named "The Golden Rule") in 1902 in Kemmerer (WY), his basic strategies were (a) to treat each customer as a guest and (b) to offer merchandise of the highest possible quality for the lowest possible price. More recently, in 1983, Michael Dell began to re-sell RAM chips and disk drives for IBM PCs (from his dormitory room at the University of Texas) and by April of 1984, his computer component business was grossing about $80,000 a month. His basic strategy then and now: To sell a limited selection of products directly to consumers and then provide superior service. My point, obviously, is that this book can be an invaluable resource for senior-level executives in large companies but can also be every bit as valuable to decision-makers in small-to-mid size companies.

The authors raise almost all of the most important questions to be asked about strategy and then, together, offer thoughtful (at times highly innovative) as well as practical responses to those questions. For example: How to define a company as a value creator rather than a value appropriator? How can a new management framework address the current business environment of complexity and uncertainty by expanding the spectrum of strategic positions? How can successful business strategy emerge from a decision-making process in which executives develop "collective intuition" and accelerate "constructive combat" while maintaining decision pacing and avoiding politics? You may not agree with all of the authors' observations and conclusions. Fair enough. But I am certain that, after having read this book, you will be a much more effective strategic thinker.

Being new to the bay area need not be daunting anymore. With this book in hand, you can go anywhere you want. All you need is an address. And since the map is in separate A4 size pages, it is very easy to look at different sections at the same time. No need to fold and unfold, no need to be worried about its getting torn.

The maps also have a lookup based on the house numbers. It will be the best investment you will have made in a long long time.

If you live in the Bay Area, the Thomas Bros. map book "Metropolitan Bay Area" is the one volume to keep by your side. It covers just about every single town and street between San Jose and the North Bay. If you're among the terminally lost, this is the book to have...forget those map web sites!

For a location that gets a lot of birders there is very little in the way of recordings available for Costa Rica. Don't let the title fool you, a great number of the birds presented on this set are also on the Pacific Slope. The quality of the recordings is very good, and over two-hundred species are resented. I found it very helpful in learning the calls of the birds of Costa Rica

Want to train yourself to recognize the 25% of the Costa Rican birds species by its voices? Then, you have to listen both CD's. I heard them few months ago when my fauna teacher put emphasis in the bird identification (I'm a forestry student --Instituto Tecnológico de Costa Rica). Sometimes, when you are in a dense forest or thicket you can only hear the birds, so, you need a non-visual way to identify them....and here it is. I bought the "Indicator Birds of the Costa Rican Cloud Forest" (from the same Laboratory of Ornithilogy) and I hear it in my house to train my ears in the identification of non common birds.

Buy it, I'm gonna buy it too.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading it and I have passed it on to Prof. Noar at Fordham University who agreed with me that the translation is excellent. It is not easy to translate poetry but this translation captured the idiom of both languages in flowing, rhythmical, metrical way without loosing imaginative verve and preserving the emotional delicacy and fineness of the language structure. Thank you for this effort.