The TWO GARDENERS in question are Katherine White of New Yorker fame and Elizabeth Lawrence who wrote a garden column for years for the Charlotte Observer in North Carolina. White's columns on gardening written for the New Yorker magazine were compiled by her husband E. B. White (CHARLOTTE'S WEB, STUART LITTLE) and published after her death in 1977 in the book entitled ONWARD AND UPWARD IN THE GARDEN. Lawrence wrote a number of books, including THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE and THE LITTLE BULBS. Her book THE MARKET BULLETINS was completed by the New Jersey gardener Alan Lacy. The market bulletins were wonderful publications farm women in the South used to communicate information about seeds, plants, animals, receipts (what they called recipes), and other items they for sale or being sought. Elizabeth shared a good deal of information about the market bulletins which were not published north of Virginia with Katherine whose one interests lay with garden catalogues when their friendship began.

Lawrence and White corresponded for several decades. The two women discussed their gardens, their columns, their books, and their lives. In the early part of their correspondence, they often wrote each other by return mail. Toward the end of Katherine's life, the letters were few and far between as illness began to affect her movement and ability to see. In spite of their suffering, they continued to observe the world around them and relay how things were going in the garden-the latest blooms, the ravenous mice, the unexpected cold snap, the new greenhouse. Their words remind me of the hope and comfort women have long experienced when a letter from a loved one arrives. As my 87-year old aunt with whom I still correspond says, it doesn't matter what you write, the smallest thing matters.

The editor of this collection of letters Emily Wilson, quotes a librarian who remarked after having read the letters Elizabeth and Katherine wrote to each other, "I got a feeling of moral interdependence on a creative level. Somehow I had viewed the creativity of successful people as a strong force that perhaps needed channeling but not encouragement. Now, on this new-to-me-plane, I see again that no man is an island."

As the editor of TWO GARDENERS/KATHARINE S. WHITE AND ELIZABETH LAWRENCE, I welcome hearing from readers. I am now writing the biography of Elizabeth Lawrence and would benefit from hearing others' understanding of her, both in these letters and in her books. Emily Herring Wilson

Delightful! The correspondence of 19 years between White and Lawrence is insightful, informative and elegant! Their letterse (far more elegant than e-mail) give us glimpses into life in the 60's and 70's and beyond. This book, which is expertly edited by Emily Herring Wilson has inspired a perennial garden at our Wisconsin home and a renewed interest in the writings of E.B. White, not to mention the writings of Katharine White and Elizabeth Lawrence. These two career women and ladie were supportive and encouraging of one another for 19 years!

"Beluga: A Farewell to Whales" is definitely one book I wish the title for was not so apt. In this work Pierre Beland does an amazing job in bringing to life a remarkable animal, the beluga whale, and in particular one population of this species, those that inhabit the immense St. Lawrence estuary in Canada. He also brings to life in a sad and sometimes sickening way the plight facing these animals, cetaceans that even though legally protected in the St. Lawrence since 1979 do not seem to be showing any signs of signifcant population increase.

Beland's book in part reads like the current popular medical and forensic autopsy shows, as the author, a dedicated and highly trained biologist, seeks to determine what is killing the whales of the St. Lawrence. Ready at a moment's notice - even on holidays, the dead of winter, or in the middle of the night - to retrieve whale corpses found ashore or adrift, Beland and his colleagues probe each whale carcass for the secrets of its life and its death. With dedication and skill worthy of a criminal forensic team they uncover the truth of each whale's demise, which are often untimely as young whales or even newborns are almost as common in his lab as much more mature adults.

What Beland finds is chilling. The whales appear to be dying from pollution, a case he boldy and definitely makes in this book. Examintion of the tissues from the deceased whales reveal staggering amounts of industrial and agricultural chemcials, including polychlorobiphenyls or PCBs, DDT, dieldrin, mirex, chloradane, and more. Even though some of these chemicals haven't been used in the region for decades, their use banned, they continue to wash into the St. Lawrence, a vast river system that drains almost the whole of the Great Lakes region. Beland writes that beluga whale milk in the estuary has been found to contain as much as ten parts per million of PCBs and six parts per million of DDT; a lot considering fish containing fives times fewer PCBs are considered unfit for human consumption. Ships carrying waste with more than fifty milligrams of PCBs per kilogram (or fifty parts per million) require a special transit permit; sadly, the average male beluga roaming these waters already has that concentration of PCBs in his blubber by age nine. Without suprise, this massive concentration of pollution within the whale's bodies has lead to a host of ailments. St. Lawrence belugas boast the dubious honor of the highest incidence of cancer in any marine mammal, perhaps even a higher rate than that found in man. Beland discusses not only the cancer but also the other health problems that are affecting this population of whale's very survival.

Beland clearly is in love with the beluga, a beautiful white whale that he writes wears that "peculiar beluga smile," a feature that gives the species "the look of an enigmatic wise man or, rather, of a happy imbelice." Remarkable animals, the author spends a great deal of time discusses the biology and behavior of belugas, particularly in a very concise and fact-filled appendix. Among the most vocal of all whale species, their repertoire is more varied than that of dolphins and extremely complex. Highly social creatures, they may surpass dolphins in their potential for social communication. They also according to Beland clearly surpass dolphins in terms of their echolocation capability; in fact this ability is so sophisticated that the belugas have been held for many years by both the United States and the former Soviet Union for studies to aid in the development of sonar technology. Beland discusses this at some length, including the remarkable story of a beluga that escaped from such a facility in the Ukraine and ended up in of all places the Turkish coast, very far indeed from the species usual haunts.

The book is also valuable for its history of the interaction between the beluga whales and the people of the St. Lawrence. Hunted for centuries - from the days of the earliest European settlers and by native peoples before that - Beland discusses the use of weir fisheries to trap whales and of the odd, bizarre, and cruel war fought against the beluga between 1928 and 1939 which even involved bombing the poor whales from the air! Also discussed is the history of the beluga in captivity, covering everything from the early futile attempts involving the likes of P.T. Barnum to today's more sophisiticated modern oceanairums, which although Beland has some misgivings about them, may play a vital role in trying to save the species.

Finally the book is a good one to get for those interested in the St. Lawrence estuary itself, an impressive body of water and ecosystem in its own right. As much a sea as a river, the St. Lawrence flows downstream only half the time, it main current reversed every six hours by the tide in a never ending war between the light brown river waters flowing from the Great Lakes and the green salt water alive with seaweed and all matter of marine animals. Home to a variety of seabirds, fishes, crustaceans, molluscs, and four species of seals - many of which are more charaterstic of arctic climates and are not found as far south anywhere else in the world - even without belugas the river and its life are remarkable and need protection.

A charming, heartfelt book concerning a species not often written about. The sad toll the animal's own environment takes on it's health, and the dawning inevitability of the whale population's demise is shocking. The novel made me not only want to find out more, but it woke me up and made me want desperately to help.

This is indeed an interesting book, the only topic really missing being the debate on competitive banking under 100% reserves versus fractional reserve free banking. Chapters on, among other topics, dynamic inconsistency, monetary rules and competitive supply of fiat-type money-with a lucid critique of the Klein-Hayek model-are absolutely excellent. The math is accessible although at a serious level.

A great book. It is very comprehensive and written in a simple way (regarding the complexity of the themes it deals with). The investigation is very objective, it uses sound theoretical analysis and different mathematical models (which he explains in relatively simple terms), contrasting them with the historical evidence and empirical data. It treats the history and development of money (from commodity money to fiat money), and monetary institutions, doing an exceptional analysis of the gold standard, its costs and benefits. It also analyzes the role of Central Bank's in money and banking, and uses various models used to try to explain the Central Bank's behavior, according to different goals that Central Banks may have. Finally, it discusses alternative monetary proposals from Friedman to Yeager, with its pros and cons. In conclusion, a great book to update and deepen your knowledge about money and banking.

Black Berry, Sweet Juice is "on being black and white in Canada"

I went into this book thinking it would be the same old race diatribes that I've been prone to my entire life. There should be equality between races, there is one race: human, etc. These are all things I believe, but are also fairly obvious, so everytime I read anything about race, I get frustrated by the same things being reitterated.

Lawrence Hill made me think of things that I hav never thought about before. He's well research, incredibly unbiased, recognizes that race IS an issue and that in order to abolish racism Canada must recognize that!

Insightful, well written, and well researched. A must for anyone, and a most definate must for any mixed race men and women.

This is a great book. I keep reading it over and over. A great addition to a short story collection. Shocking endings are at the end of every story.

This book was very good. The main characters are Dakota and Treacle. The main idea is Dakota has to find Medusa's gem covered turtle. Medusa is a weird woman. Her favorite color is green. Medusa thinks that her turtle is her husband. To break the spell, Dakota and Treacle have to find a diamond the size of a pea. When Medusa fits the diamond on the turtle's shell he will turn back to a human. Again this was an awesome book!

This book is a treasure; it is a rare sight to see an art book that faithfully reproduces works, some of which I have personally seen. Gary is a consummate watercolor artist, respectful of his medium and subjects; this is beautifully captured by the incredible color photography and the intelligent, inspired comments by Judith Gordon, This book is a treat for anyone who loves flowers and admires artistic talent...I wish I could find the words...

I liked HARPO, THE BABY HARP SEAL because I like seals and I like snow. I also like the water when it's warm. I learned that baby seals can't nurse off other mother seals.

A vividly strange (and sometimes gruesome) but rich collection of Eskimo folktales from the barren, frigid Arctic. These odd tales weave themes of magic, taboo, old age and death throughout. They are derived from a remote land and a highly imaginative oral tradition.

To give you an idea, some of the specific stories describe men who marry rocks and old people who marry insects, children who grow antlers, children who eat their parents, animals who steal body parts from human corpses and women with iron tails.

This collection is a great read, (...and not for the queasy).

Highly recommended for any kayakers with a fascination for Greenland and Innuit history & culture

This book is the best deer hunting book in print for the Northeast still hunter. Written in the 40's, not much has changed. Big bucks still live the way they always have in these woods and the hunting tatics have not changed.

If you are a tree stand hunter hunting in farmland or small tracts, this is not the book for you.

If you hunt in the big woods, this is an excellent resource.