This is a well written book, but it is somehow disappointing. For the begginers in the study of Darwin, if you don't care about the constant repetitions in this book.

I bought this book at Bethany Beach, Delaware for a summer read-- and enjoyed it as a biography first-- with historical perspectives of the science. I will leave it around for my daughter as she enters high school-- a perfect introduction to Darwin and the scientific method of observation.

I bought a copy of this book at the Natural History Museum in London last week, and did indeed read it on the plane back to Seattle. While I did notice some discussions repeated in more than one chapter, I actually found these brief repetitions helpful, as they saved me from leafing back to review material that hadn't sunk in the first time.

I had been looking for a light, quick introduction to Darwin's obstacle-laden pursuit of verifiable truth to give my son as he tackles "On the Origin of Species" in college this year, and I found it in this book. It's not a substitute for reading Darwin's own best works (which are the 1845 edition of "The Voyage of the Beagle" and the first edition [1859] of "Origin"), of course, but that's okay, because that's not its purpose.

I was subjected to this book as a requirment for an Engineering Management masters degree course. I've seen a lot of textbooks in 7 years of college, but this one has got to be the most frustrating! There are MANY typos, not just mispellings - but problems done incorrectly. Also, many of the chapters are taken from other text, so there's not a good flow to the book. You'll probably only buy this book as a requirement for a class, but beware!!!

We were required to buy this textbook for our Engineering Economics class at UT-Austin. I found this book helpful as an introduction to business. It gave us quite a number of examples and review questions to help us understand the major concepts. Even though the book may have contained a little too much information, I really liked it since I learnt a lot from it.

This book provides no instruction about how to call deer. It is just a bunch of tall tales made up to convince you to buy the authors deer call. You should not have to pay for this book at all. They should pay you to read this infomercial.

this book was a pleasure to read. it is well rounded and informed me of things i was looking to learn. i will definately put the authors experience to work for me.

This book, like others in this series, is really a set of easy walks, not hikes. Admittedly, I am an avid hiker, but nothing longer than 8 miles is present (not a single overnight hike). Also, many of these hikes are somewhat roundabout. While I'm all for loops, these are on not-too-clearly labelled areas with quite a few road walks. It seems like there must be more in Massachusetts than this.

This book is great, especially for a beginner at hiking (which I am). It gives you great spots to check out, lets you know how long the distance is and about how long it will take to hike it. You can find hikes from .6 of a mile to 8.5 miles. There are plenty of hikes for every level. The only thing I wish the book had slightly more detailed trail maps, but usually you can get them easily enough.

This book is terrible, that's all there is to it

Leonard's only fault is that he is too clever. And that's not a fault.

Mesoamerican archaeology is a little world by itself - I know, because I used to live in it. It has a very cosy relationship with museums and the "art" collectors who buy the objects that are looted from archaeological sites, which lie destroyed, torn into shreds under the forests all over Central America and Mexico. But it has almost no touch with reality any more. The things they say about the ancient Olmec are almost fantasy, because in truth we know so little about these people. Almost all the objects in this book were stolen from Mexico, ripped from the archaeological context that might tell us something about their real meaning. These are probably religious articles - we may never know. But imagine trying to reconstruct the rich life of rennaisance Italy by looking at reliquaries in Catholic churches! If you are still persuaded by the "mysterious Olmec" propaganda spouted by Coe and his looter buddies, go read Flannery & Marcus in the first 2000 issue of the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, and think it over.

The Olmec World is an amazing resource for those who study or have an appreciation of early Mesoamerican Art. At its most basic level The Olmec World is the catalogue of the 1996 Olmec Exhibition at the Art Museum at Princeton University the first comprehensive show of Olmec art in America. Drawing upon nearly all of the major Olmec museum collections in North America from Dunbarton Oaks to Princeton's own expansive holdings, the exhibition also drew heavily from many private collections never before shown to the general public. For instance, John Stokes' amazing collection of ceramic babies and jade masks are showcased in this catalogue. However, almost as impressive as the pictures are the essays in this collection. Michael Coe has done a marvelous job of soliticing and editing a myriad of papers on the mysterious Olmec.

It is a kind general book on the art history of Italy, but it is a very good introduction to it and it will certainly serve a new student.

This relatively short and well-illustrated book presents brief portraits of three contemporaries from the turn of the last century: bodybuilder Engen Sandow, escape artist Harry Houdini, and the fictional Tarzan (as well as his creator Edgar Rice Burroughs). Kasson's thesis is twofold: that the popularity of these three characters was emblematic of the insecurity that white males felt in an increasingly bureaucratic world that threatened racial, sexual, and cultural hegemony and that their semi-mythical qualities were instrumental in changing the collective sense of the ideal man.

These stories are undeniably fascinating and informative, and Kasson's thesis seems equally indisputable. Because Kasson's argument is so uncontroversial, he is able to focus more on biographical rather than thematic details and includes much information that is not necessary to his argument. As a result, I found myself wishing several times that I were reading instead the three major biographies on which much of his narrative is based: David Chapman's "Sandow the Magnificent," Kenneth Silverman's "Houdini!!!," and Irwin Porges's "Edgar Rice Burroughs."

A terrific storyteller, Kasson is likewise unable to avoid including several vignettes that have no direct bearing on his thesis. This is not necessarily a bad thing: his account of female impersonator Julian Eltinge is certainly intriguing, but this section seems peripheral to his discussion. Likewise, he discusses Houdini's obsession with debunking spiritualists, especially Mina ("Margery") Crandon, but it's never really quite clear what this has to do with societal perceptions of the white male body. Kasson attempts, unconvincingly, to present this as a battle of the sexes, but admits that Houdini directed his ire toward all psychic charlatans, regardless of their sex. Margery just happened to be among the most "talented" of the spiritualists. When he does finally return to his thesis, the prose turns to semi-parodic academic-speak: "In exposing Margery's fraud, Houdini also exposed her as a woman who, despite all her guides and talents, could only sham the phallus." Yikes.

Fortunately, these occasional faults seldom mar the overall presentation. Not only did I enjoy these tales, but Kasson has piqued my interest enough to make me want to read more about these three paragons of "masculinity."

I find this book clear and easy to read on machining topics. The photographs and illustrations fit well with the text. Generally a worthwhile beginners to intermediate book for pre apprentice to 3rd year. However in future editions I would like to see ISO metric information on topics such as threads and tapers along with limits and fits. I would also like to see a change to more up to date toolposts and tool holders for the lathes.

The magic school bus always teaches you lessons while making it exciting and quite zany. In this particular story, they are teaching you how to use computers, how computers work, and also why they are good to know about. The students in Ms. Frizzle's class go on another fieldtrip, this time into a computer. The class wants to find an easy way to do all of their jobs before school starts, so they use the help of a super computer and carlos' brother, Mikey-a very computer savvy person. When they start to program the computer to do their jobs for them, they are in for a surprise. Ms. Frizzle decides the best way for them to learn about the computer I s to actually go inside of the computer. They are then taken on a wild ride in the mind of a super computer. This book teaches about computers, and a good way to learn the hands on way. The book, for younger kids, might be boring because of its length and storyline, but I think it's a good book for children who want to learn about computers.