This was a good book. I enjoyed learning the minutia of life in the 1500s and learning about Luther from Katarina's perspective. I'm not Lutheran, so knew little about his history. I was curious about the sexual innuendos about Katie and Ave...seemed a little gratuitous to me - and may be offensive to Lutherans, but I would certainly recommend this book to others.

This book provides a very very good overview of fossils in all categories -dinosaur, reptiles, sharks, mammals, ferns, problematica, etc.

Nicely done with a very good color image of a representative fossil, as well as classification, a drawing of what the animal would look like, and typical size. This is true for every specimen.

Certainly depth of information is limited, however is still represented in small descriptions of habitat, locale, feeding habits, and occasionally quips of special interest.

Drawback is simply that more dinosaurs, reptiles, mammals could be represented. An inordinate amount of specimens are mollusks, snails etc.

However, again this book still does a good job of showing the many types of specimens in the fossil record which does grow on you.

A more extensive library of possible fossils could have been optioned to show a more choice fossil selection in some cases.

Good amount of information (concisely represented), with images and drawings very professionally done.

A larger, more in depth hardcover edition would be welcome.

I had a copy of this book that I bought when it first came out, but somebody around my office liked it so much that they have yet to tire of it and return it to the shelf.

The information is highly useful to us now, especially since we are looking at bees in the Amazon as indicators of total biodiversity. The photographs are sufficient to dive right into generic identifications and the plant-bee associations are a big help.

David Roubik has written a classic. (A classic is defined here as a book that must be repurchased when your first copy turns up missing.) Every entomology department should have at least one copy. (The Goeldi Museu's entomolgy department will soon have two.)

It was a very good book. It had to do with a mystery at a space station. There was a space ship and several battles. I really enjoyed the book and recommend it for young readers.

But let's be clear right up front. My 5-star rating of this book applies only to the original unabridged version in Johann Wyss' own words. The modernized versions are watered down, time-wasters for word wusses.

When I was nine years old I spent months struggling through this book for the first time. The old style language made for rough going, but I persevered. In the end I was rewarded with more than a classic tale marvelously told; I discovered a love of books and earned self-respect for tackling a tough read.

If I was a teacher whose task it was to introduce students to classic literature, I would skip Dickens and use this book. Kids love adventure, animals, and action. Swiss Family Robinson has it all. It's really a thriller disguised as a literary classic. All book lovers should read this one at least once.

And please don't watch the Disney movie and claim you've "been there, did that" on this story. The movie is totally different and in no way compares.

Never mind the film versions; the original unabridged Swiss Family Robinson is an exciting epic with a lot in it for the whole family.

Our third grade teacher read to us from this book every day and I could hardly wait for the next installment. Finally I got my own copy for a birthday gift, sat on the couch and read it cover to cover in one go. I still have this book, decades later.

From the opening, thrilling tempest scene to the very end and the "rescue", this book has plenty of action as well as creative solutions to problems. There is a lot of material for discussion, how the family solved problems, how they handled disagreements, adversity, disappointment, building of character.

This book definitely teaches values along with the adventure and the values are linked in such a way as to be an integral part of the story.

And Swiss Family Robinson is never boring. There is always an exciting new beast to be discovered, a new plant to use for food or clothing, a new machine or tool to be built, a new part of the island to explore. This is a wonderful book to read out loud to kids until they are old enough to enjoy reading it themselves. If you are bored with re-runs on TV, turn off the box and spend a half-hour or hour every evening reading this aloud. Everyone will have a great time, and kids who are read to, become readers themselves.

There's not many classic books that are more well known than "The Swiss Family Robinson." A Swiss family is stranded on an uninhabited island and there doesn't seem to be any rescues that are lingering around the corner for many years. Soon the family is taming tons of new pets, fighting off animals such as anacondas and lions, and learning how to basically survive off the land the best they can. The Robinson family must keep an eye out for danger while also starting a whole new way of life for themselves.

I thought "The Swiss Family Robinson" was a spectacular adventure/survival book. You can say that the book is pretty much a long diary that is kept by the father of the family of everything that happens to them on the island. The book I read did have many references to God unlike some of the abridged editions. The only thing I didn't like about "The Swiss Family Robinson" is that when the family starts collecting and taming many animals that they find on the island, it gets a little tough to keep up with all the animals' names, but that wasn't bad enough to take anything away from the book for me.

I recommend anybody who likes survival or adventure books, especially if you like reading the classics, to get "The Swiss Family Robinson." I would recommend getting an unabridged version of the book if you can so you won't miss a word.

The most incredible thing about this book, and other books written by David Barton is the history of Lying and distortion of facts, while claiming a moral arguement.

Barton book is claiming the loss of religious principles since the 1962 Supreme Court decision declaring force prayer in schools unconsitutional.

Barton main arguement is the founding fathers never meant for a seperation of chuch and state. Barton makes this point by using quotes from famous historial figures supporting Christian views and the need for god.

But in Barton own newsletter, Wall Builders, he was forced to admit twelve of the passages he quoted were either false or questionable.

Barton did not do this for Moral reason; it was done because of the growing number of historians saying those quotes and other claims were false.

Even more ridiculous is Barton use of "Junk science research" to claim that the majority of the many social problems we have in our society today happened because of the decision to take out prayer in 1962.

Barton, and gulible supporters of this book, ignore the real reason for these social problems just to make the false claim that lack of school prayer is responsible for these events.

Barton book claims a number of false religious Myths; here is five of his false claims:

1. THE MYTH THAT THE COURTS STRUCK DOWN RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES:

FACT: What the Supreme Court struck down was forced prayer in schools and other public institutions.

The decision they made kept within the framework of the seperation of church and state.

No churches have been shut down, people still worshiped at the church of their choice, bible study is still taught and different denomination continue to expand and grow.

None of this would be going on if the Supreme Court struck down the practice of religion, or religious principles, which was never true.

It was the continuing, and forced Christian Reconstrction views that are rejected.

THE MYTH THAT KEEPING PRAYER WOULD HAVE STOPPED MOST OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEMS WE HAVE TODAY:

FACT:Barton and the Religious and Conservative Right make the same claim that this would have been a better society if school prayer had remained in school.

This arguement ignores the history of this country before the decision to take out prayer in schools.

This country practiced slavery, committed genocide on the Indian nation, racism, lynchings of blacks, criminal behavior and corrupt politicians.

All of these events happened long before the decision to take out school prayer.

THE MYTH THAT RELIGIOUS PRACTICES IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS HAD NEVER BEEN CHALLENGED BEFORE 1962:

FACT: This claim is made in the opening pages of barton's book, but it is false.

Before the 1962 Engle case the Supreme courts in three different states struck down mandatory religious practices.

The Wisconsin Supreme court ruled against it in 1892, The Nebraska Supreme court did so in 1902, and the Illinois Supreme Court removed mandatory worship from public school in 1910.

THE MYTH THAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT RELIGIOUS CONCERNS:

FACT: This book is not about Barton concerns over religious principle, but the continuing agenda of the religious and conservative right who want religion praciced their way.

Barton books are tailored for the Christian Right, and he also is a celebrated speaker and lecturer at their events.

Another, on-going, problem with both the Conservative-Christian right is turning a blind eye to those in their ranks who support racist organizations.

Barton was twice a guess speaker at Pete Peters Christian Idenity Church.

Peter's openly expressed his anti-gay, anti-black and anti-semitic views for years as part of his church doctrine. He also has connections to other hate groups, including the one who gunned down talk show host Alan Berg in 1984.

Barton claimed he did not know about Peter's racist views, but since Peter's has been very vocal in public about them it is difficult to believe that barton did not know about them when he chose to speak at Christian Idenity Gatherings.

The main fact is David Barton is not a legitimate historian, or a professional researcher. His goal is to present a one-sided arguement against the seperation of church and state.

He ignores the basic religious principles of honestly and truth, he claims to believe in while writing this book and other religious based material he has, falsely, presented over the years.

Robert Butler

Barton is a proven (and admitted) liar in dealing with quotes of the founding fathers, now he had found it necessary to lie about prayer in schools. One of the most popular lies of the religious right is that it is against the law for students to pray in school. Of course, this is silly and has never been the case--anyone can pray in any school at any time. Barton and people like him want simply to force their narrow religious views on captive schoolchildren. Doesn't seem very christian to me.

This is an excellent account of historical fact. The repercusions of our actions, or inaction, leaves a distaste in the pit of our stomach. The social reality of where our country was before the 9/11 attacks has been laid out in a way that only those who refuse to see reality can argue against Barton's research. The writer from Ohio who was embarrased to reveal his name is one such person. I hope that you will disregard his adolescent ranting and name-calling because this book is excellent!

The City is grand. The book does an adequate job in describings sites and getting you around town. Was it the best book? It worked well for us although we were looking for more definitive 'must see's.

Like most R&D books, it's overpriced. It does have a lot of good code, however. And the text is very easy to folow.

I had to use this book for an undergraduate Numerical Analysis class. I'm a Computer Science major with a math minor and this is my last semester. I found this book to be horrible when coupled with an instructor that is equally as horrible. The explainations are too short and lack examples, the problems in each chapter are hard to solve based on the chapter's explaination; they seem to deviate far beyond what was explained in the corresponding chapter. There are some formulas and theorem's mentioned that have no examples to show how they work.

The book is not totally at fault in my case. I also have a horrible instructor and have to rely soley on this book to learn the material. This book just makes it very, very hard to teach myself. My only praise of the book is it's pseudocode for implementing the methods explained. They can easily be used to program them in C++ or other languages.

Overall the book is very confusing but it is still far better than my instructor who doesn't explain anything or answer questions.

This is a good, basic, undergraduate text covering scientific computing. It gives a nice, broad overview of some basic topics, problems for the student to solve, and is generic as far as programming languages are concerned.

That being said, for my use this book was not detailed enough and failed to go into sufficient detail into many different areas (such as the eigenproblem). It is definantly an undergrad text and would be an excellent choice for a 300-level math or computer science class, it also provides a good general background in numerical computing. In that regard this book is a fine choice.

The description "it looks like they cut the 2nd edition in half and labeled it '4th edition'" would be approximately correct if you talk about the 2nd edition of the much more advanced text by approximately the same authors, "Numerical Analysis: Mathematics of Scientific Computing" by Kincaid, Cheney and Cheney, which was published in 1995 and does conform to the description "covered so much in detail". If you expect graduate level coverage, that is the book to get, not this one, which is an undergraduate text, and aimed at students that don't major in math.

Is this how the Double Diamond Triangle Saga functions? By lumbering noisily through every single plot point? This segment could be reduced to 20 pages, instead it's 96. Kern and Miltiades, so interesting in "Pool of Twilight", are here now reduced to squarejawed paladin stereotypes and are barely interesting. The way Piergeiron's illness is introduced is so amateurish that it seems like an afterthought. The tanar'ri subplot (since when does 96 pages allow suplots?) is incredibly dull, and our nominal hero is too klutzy for us to believe he would be sent on a rescue mission under any circumstances. And didn't anyone notice that a paladin dies solely because Kern's resistance to magic didn't allow Khelben to teleport him? Disappointing.