Margaret Leslie Davis, it must be said at the outset, is a gifted writer and, personally, a nice lady as well. However, her effort to popularize an admittedly complicated, sometimes dry (pun intended) history in Rivers In The Desert causes her to publish a story that, though ESSENTIALLY true, is filled with factual inaccuracies. Sometimes they're little, such as saying one could view the entire St. Francis floodpath from the dam clear to the ruined Bardsdale Bridge from the hill above Powerplant #2 (impossible, as Bardsdale is over 15 miles away) to major, such as the scene in her book where H.A. Van Norman goes to Mulholland's home at 1:30 AM to tell The Chief that the dam had gone out (in fact, Van CALLED The Chief on the phone at about 1:14 AM, and Mulholland drove over to Van's house to pick him up). These might seem like silly little details, but when one sets out to write of recent history, there's no excuse for journalistic sloppiness, or for the chaging of facts and even fabrication of certain events such as Ms. Davis has done here. This book is a fine novel, but that's all is... a novel, not a true historical account, and liberally embellished with the author's own editorializing. Too bad; with her fine writing style, she could've done much better.

This is the real story behind the movie "Chinatown." If you're interested in Los Angeles's history, this is an entertaining way to get it.

The water we drink in Southern California still comes from the aqueduct built by Irish immigrant Mulholland. What is amazing is how Ms. Davis brings Mulholland to life; from his stubborn fights with politicians when building the Owen Valley aqueduct to his last tragic days after the St. Francis dam disaster (when he literally pulls out all his teeth with a pair of pliers)! Ms. Davis proves that Mulholland was not responsible for the St. Francis dam collapse. Culpability lies with politicians and graft which forced Mulholland to pick a reservoir site not to his liking. This biography shows that this entirely self-educated Irishman was one of the greatest engineers of his time. The men and women of the East coast get plenty of print; this book is about the American West and specifically about one the engineering marvels of the 20th century--an aqueduct still in use, the largest and longest in the country. Mulholland is more than just a scenic drive. Without him there would be no Los Angeles (for better or for worse!) It is impossible to even begin to understand Los Angeles without first reading this book. By the way, Ms. Davis writes marvelously.

This is a good resource for teachers of debate; however, I found it a little difficult for students to understand without a lot of guidance from me. The language is a little technical, but for my use in the classroom it was adequate.

Focusing on the major types of debate that common for high school students, this book is designed to serve as a primer on debate, although it would be a useful resource for more experienced debaters also. The first several chapters deal with the building blocks for argumentation -- analysis, research and reasoning, with exercises and discussion topics included after each chapter. The authors then turn to a nuts-and-bolts coverage of the three most common types of debate -- Lincoln-Douglas Debate (where the debate centers on a value propositions); Two-man or policy debate (where the debate centers on a broad question of public policy, such as foreign trade or education reform); and Student Congress, or parliamentary debate (where the debate is conducted pursuant to Roberts Rules of Order and the discussion centers on specific items of mock legislation). This nuts-and-bolts section covers the essential elements of a case, the relevant burdens of proof and argumentation, and the particular skills that are so important to each type of debate. The book seems to be designed for easy use as a textbook (a Teachers Guide is also available from Amazon), but it would work well as a resource for self-study, too. I was involved in competitive Forensics through all of high school and college, both as a student and as a coach. Based on that experience, it is even more obvious to me what a difficult undertaking the authors must have faced when putting together this book. Debate is, after all, an activity that really can only be learned by jumping in and doing it. This text is the perfect supplement to that type of a teaching program. Students can get a quick handle on the fundamentals, start having debates, and then use the text as a resource for lessons as those debates present them with problems. This book is an ideal learning tool, with plenty of examples and exercises, and it is written in a straightforward, accessible fashion. I have reviewed a number of these types of books, and Basic Debate may be the best debate book available for teaching and coaching debate at the high school level

I would have liked to have seen some more information about where Bacillus thuringiensis actually came from (Biologically) and what it actually is (again biologically).

Leslie H. Allen's edited compilation of "Bryan and Darrow at Dayton," subtitled "The Record and Documents of the 'Bible-Evolution' Trial," was characterized as a "contemporary history and a ready reference record for a future in which those issues will loom ever larger until in men's minds they have been squared with the truth." In his forward, dated July 27, 1925, Allen wrote that although he had strong convictions towards one side he hoped his readers would not be able to judge if he was a Fundamentalist or a Modernist. However, in characterizing the conflict in terms of a religious schism rather than as religion versus science, Allen gave his sympathies away. Allen included public statements and incidents surrounding the trial and Bryan's undelivered speech, as well as two-page biographies of William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, passages from Genesis, and three pages from Hunter's "Civic Biology" (the state required textbook at that time). While it is fairly obvious Allen sided with the Scopes defense, this does not detract from his attempt to provide a balanced treatment of the trial. Allen refrains from including editorial comments, letting the chronlogy of events dictate the order statements outisde the courtroom are included. Only when Allen writes in his own voice does he betray his allegiances. Of course, his title reflects that in 1925 the Scopes "Monkey" Trial was seen more as a clash of personalities than the resolution of major issues. I did my dissertation on the Scopes Trial and while Allen's book is not the complete stenographic record of the trial published elsewhere, it was certainly a laudable attempt in its day to lay out the trial for those interested in evaluating the rhetoric of the two main figures, if not the legal arguments made by others that determined the actual case.

I am disappointed. This book didn't (first) come out until WELL after I had read the entire series as a child! 8-) I would have loved to have had access to this book (and others like it) when I first read the Wilder books. I wanted to visit where Laura grew up but was unable to do so. With this photo guide you can, without having to make the physical trip. And now there is a new edition (which I haven't seen). Lucky, lucky new readers!

I was surprised by how good this book was.

In 4: A young girl finds herself gaining the skills of her friends as they are offed by Freddy.

In 5: The main from the fourth finds herself caught in dreams as she is awake. She discovers that Freddy's attempt to take over her unborn child is the cause of this.

Both novels were quick, simple, and surprisingly suspenseful reads. The main character was sypathetic as she discovered that her friends are dying because of her ability to join others in dreams. So, every time she sleeps, Freddy pulls one of her friends into the dream with her and forces her to watch as they die. Freddy fans will find this an enjoyable read, as will others. The writting is obviously intended for a teenage audience. This is surprising because of the inclusion of swearing in the novel. Heck, the first paragraph of part 5 details a sex scene between two teenagers. This is not too bad, though, so I will still recomend this read to anyone who can find the book.

Physical Metallurgy of Steels contains basic and relevant topics of Physical Metallurgy.
Perhaps it is an oldy but, this well worths to get it in your personal library.

This book is pretty old, early 70's, but it has some good information on snowshoes and snowshoeing. I like to read how the old timers did things, life was simplier back then. The book has an interesting section on how to build your own snowshoes. There is a better book on this subject by Gil Gilpatrick, but it is still good information. I enjoy reading this book, it is a real pleasure.

Joy Leslie Gibson's handsome book is a strange mixture of useful fact and wishful guess work. Her early chapters are terrific - she summarises in an accesable and interesting way the work of early scholars and extends it by examining the sumptuary laws and dress standards of Elizabethan England.

I feel she is on less steady earth when applying her assertion that the breathing patterns of Shakespeare's major speeches for women were written with boy actors in mind. As a foundation she asks the reader to accept that all punctuation in the plays is unrepresentative of the authors intentions - including the 1623 First Folio (ignoring the fact that the two editors were actors who had worked with the author since 1593!) and then arbitairily replaces it with an assumption that the thought patterns of the speeches can be understood without them and breath points established. Essentially she removes one set of punctuation that does not fit her thesis and replaces it with one that does - of her own making.
She also makes some doubtful assertions about the women's roles always being shorter than their male counterparts, ignoring roles of such depth, range AND length as Juliet and Rosalind.
Some great material let down by some questionable use of information.