This is a genuinely disappointing text from West-Eberhard, one of the most well-respected evolutionary biologists around. It reads as if written in a bubble at STRI (Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute), and from the perspective of someone unable to keep up with the explosion of information in developmental and molecular biology of the past 5-10 years. West-Eberhard never convinces me that she even understands much of the elegant work done by these scientists, or if she does, writes so poorly as to bog the reader down not so much in jargon, but poorly defined broad concepts that do nothing to advance the ideas of the book. "Development" appears as every other word in the introduction, yet exactly what the author's definition of "development" is continually eludes the reader. Couple this with the fact that it seems as though she struggled with this book for many years (a scan of the references reveals them to be sadly out of date - my quick look found the most recent to be 1997), and you have a book that may have helped shape thought in this area 10 years ago, but is simply an afterthought in today's booming expanse of scientific knowledge. I look forward to a different synthesis from someone trained as both a cutting edge devo-evo researcher as well as a thoughtful evolutionary theoretician. But this isn't it...

This book is meant to educate - to lead away from the sterile debates of causation as NATURE OR NURTURE. It is a monumental achievement by a careful thinker (recent recepient of the SSE's Sewall Wright award), and it will likely change the way you think about how genes and environments interact through development to affect phenotypic expression. If you have ever been confused about ideas in evolutionary process and how phenotypes arise, this is a book you should read. West-Eberhard's treatment of the more-difficult ideas is comprehensive - with enough examples to appeal to the backgrounds of most readers. The book is full of wonderful details of animal behavior, plant biology, the social wasps West-Eberhard has watched her whole life, and much, much more. It will spark much new research - perhaps for decades to come. It will become a citation classic. She has taken on one of the more contentious of all modern debates. For that, for her exhaustive discussion, and for the power of her conclusions, she will be criticized and rediculed. Take my advice: buy the book, read it, think about what it says, and decide for yourself . I think West-Eberhard's achievement is an awesome contribution.

Did the Boston critic fail to find his or her name cited? Perusal would have turned up references to work published in 2000,2001 and 2002. The review was not helpful!

kind of disappointed. thought i would get a bit more food options, and traditional meals. it was worth buying but cant live with it alone.

This book is a lot of fun to read through -- you get a lot of history, with background on the culture of T&T, the origins of the T&T carnival, along with many calupso rhymes and the origins of many of the foods and recipes. I've always wanted a recipe for true Pina Coladas, and the recipe for Ginger Beer sounds more like a science experiment, but my son and I plan to try it out. Instant island vacation!

I enjoyed this book a lot. Some of the reasons I liked this book is because it was like a real life story, it seemed like this could really happen. I usually do not like to read, but in this story I did not want to put the book down. I have read book by this auther and that is one of the reasons why I picked this book. I also can relate to this book because when I was younger I had a friend that had to move away to another state.

I think that the best part of the book was when Margy was moving. The reason I think that is because that was the most interesting part of the story, and that was where the conflict began. The worst part of the story was the conclusion. They did not really explain what happened and i think that they could of done a better job on that.

Two of the things that the auther explained the best was the setting, and the theme. The theme explained how all frindships do not always work, and sometimes it is for the best. The setting was in or near the city. The auther always explained how many different places they went and where they went. He also did a good job on letting you know what the surroundings were. That is why I think that the auther did the best on the setting, and the theme.

Kayla Redmond has been best friends with Margy McKenna since third grade. When Margy moves downtown to Chicago, Kayla is heartbroken. When Kayla finds out that Margy has a new best friend, Noelle, she gets mad. When Kayla is invited by Margy to a sleepover party with Noelle, she realizes that she is no longer Margy's best friend. Kayla even wishes that she could fast forward past all the other bad parts of her life. She was also having trouble with a science project, so she copied off one of Margy's old science reports! When she finally gets the guts to tell Margy exactly how she feels about Noelle, things aren't so weird anymore. Kayla feels as if she should take her finger off the fast forward button, because she realizes that her friendship with Margy is an example of a true friendship!

This book was hit when I was baby-sitting. The kids loved it. They settled down straight away and I had to read it three times, just so they could hear it again and again. Definatley a good kids book.

I was baby sitting and the kids just loved it. I recommend this book for parents who want to keep the kids quiet or any babysitters that want the kids to be amused.

Elizabeth Jane Howard's career as a novelist has been long and distinguished. Her autobiography is due to be published in 2002. "The Long View" is one of her early novels, dating from 1956.

The author adopts an unusual construction for her narrative. It might be called chronology in reverse. Instead of tracing the development of a relationship between husband and wife over a period of twenty-four years, Miss Howard begins in the present and reverts, stage by stage, to the time of the first meeting.

No novelist known to me is as skilled as Miss Howard at dissecting and displaying the myriad flickerings and quiverings of people's thought and emotions in dialogue with themselves and in interaction with each other. Admiration of this skill is more likely to command your attention in this book than are the appeals of suspense, plot development and setting.

In five parts, going from 1950-1926, "The Long View" propels its reader backwards in the life of its protagonist. By unlayering five separate years, inspecting the acute social habits of English middle-class life, Howard discovers the events and personalities that form Antonia Fleming's destiny. Exceptional accomplishment here is the use of total narrative reverse to effect a compelling, onward flow. Disconnected time sections shift from Antonia's mature to early womanhood. As with any archaeological survey, only by arriving at the last passage can you reconstruct Antonia in full. Throughout, a sound of voices brilliantly veins the novel. Eavesdropping, the reader attends. Listens to Antonia, who thinks, aloud or in reflection. Meanwhile, surrounding characters reveal themselves - in recalled, internal, and spoken dialogue. And we find their perfected self-absorption leaves small heart room for others. At Part I, the final chronological section, Howard underlines the cumulative effect of this on the protagonist by subtacting her given name. Here narrative and dialogue refer to "she" or "Mrs. Fleming." It is during this part of her life that she learns to dine alone: "My life, she thought, and sat down to it. With this apparent end, the larger story begins. The remaining four parts excavate Mrs. Fleming's life, the consistently poignant details of its unrewarded hope and emotional solitude. With no formal education, put forward by none, Antonia possesses unsophisticated passions, honesty, and kindness. These will always be of some use, to someone. Conrad Fleming weds her both for a "hint" of beauty and an "unfinished quality." He hopes this guarantees him the lifetime diversion of perfecting her. Still a girl, Antonia discovers her mother employs her as screen to casual infidelities; her father, as sole repository and scapegoat for his bitterest disappointments. Antonia becomes natural attraction to the callous predator. In later life, even her own grown children will find her useful. To love and be guileless is a fine thing, but worldly unwise. Updating the long tradition of English women novelists headed by Jane Austen, Howard examines the observant innocent, whose superiority in the moral scale now wins her nothing at all. Except the privilege of perceiving her own life in round, living it on her terms: the solitary dinner is on the table, and she sits down to it.

I recently finished reading this book and have mixed feelings about it. I have to give Jane Hamilton a great deal of credit for tastefully tackeling such a delicate and controversial topic. The main charactor Alice chronicles the horrors of being accused of an utterly reprehensible crime. The author was able to write about this event without the use of any gratuitus descriptions or gory details. I especially enjoyed the court scenes and how her lawyer worked hard to protray the child Robbie as petulant and manipulative. You could see that Robbie was also horribly victomized during the trial.

Jane Hamilton's descriptive writing is what makes her stand out as such an accomplished author. However, I felt that perhaps there was too much description in this novel. Even the most mundane and ordinary tasks warrented too many details and narration. There were times that I skipped a few paragraphs and scanned the words to get to the meat of the story. I am glad that I read the book and feel that I learned a great deal of family dynamics and communication breakdowns during tragic times. Sometimes when it comes to getting a readers attention I feel that less description is more.

I read A Short History of A Prince last year and I was incredibly impressed with Hamilton's work. So when Oprah picked A Map of the World for her Bookclub I was anxiously anticipating a good read. I must say that I was far from disappointed for the novel which traces the fall and rise of a farm workers family is indeed a sharply beautiful and elegant work. I feel that the triptych like structure is an excellent way of highlighting the different points of view - Alice, her husband Howard and then back to Alice for the final court room scenes. The psychological descriptions of Alice's inability to cope with Lizzie's drowning are riveting. Also, masterful are the decriptions of her husband Howard as he tries to hold up the "home front" when Alice is incarcerated for suspected child abuse. Hamilton's eye for natural detail is great and her use of metaphor terrific. She has a keen ear for natural dialogue and a remarkable capacity to present wonderfully complex three dimensional characters. She really makes us feel Alice, Howard's and Teresa's pain and hurt. The novel works on many levels: as a "map" of family life which slowly disintergrates; a psychological analysis of death grief and loss; and also as a cinematic court room drama (I can't wait to see the film!). The fragilities of economic circumstance are also explored. Nothing in life is ever guaranteed. Hamilton shows the closed mindedness of small town life: the Goodwins were percieved as different, eccentic and hippyish. They didn't fit in and the "god fearing" citizens of the town new it. By writing this novel Hamilton is perhaps making us not only aware of the shortcomings of being different in a homogenious environment but also the pitfalls of trying to build a life in such an insulated and ultimately prejudiced community. A great, important work of literature.

Michael Leonard

In A Map of the World, Alice and Howard Goodwin own a family farm in a northern midwest town called Prarie Center. They have two daughters and are close to another family with two girls of similar ages, although they are shunned by the rest of the mainly suburban community. Despite their dreams of a simple life, they encounter two serious tragedies that dramatically change their lives, one a terrible accident in which one of the girls dies and another a terrible injustice that lands Alice in jail, accused of child molestation. The book is about how the two families and the community reacts to and copes with the events.

I loved this book. I was on a business trip and hadn't brought a "backup book," and it was a struggle to keep myself from reading too much so I'd have enough to last the cross-country flight home. I loved the book because it was compelling on so many levels. Told from both Alice's and Howard's perspective, it delves into their complex reactions to the events and how it affected their understanding of themselves. It also characterizes the effect it has on their relationship with each other, with their children, and with their friends. It is also an insightful if painful commentary on people's reaction to sexual abuse and how they treat those who are accused vs. the children who accuse them. It richly describes Alice's time in jail and her reaction to the mostly lower-income women who share her "pod." And it has an intriguing description of how the case makes it way through the legal process, culminating in a compelling courtroom drama. At all these levels, nothing seemed contrived or predictable. Even though I don't think I'd react the way these characters did, their behavior always seemed true and genuine, and I felt I learned something as I read about how they handled and came to accept their situation. Usually I find it difficult to read about great misfortune, especially unjust misfortune. But this book was so rich in its understanding of how people deal with such problems that I found it cathartic to identify with the characters and live through it with them. If you like books with rich characters and relationships, and complex social situations, I'd highly recommend this book.

The subject was interesting to me but the author is not easy to read. Her sentence structure is often convoluted, I found myself having to reread many sentences to grasp the meaning. She also refers to people,dates and places in such a way that it is difficult to keep track of what is going on. Finally, her perspective is very sympathetic to MS, its obvious the author is a feminist.

This book is very thick and very difficult to read. I do not reccomend this biography because of how confusing it is to read. There are too many dates thrown in here and there and not enough simple facts to keep the reader focused. I have read many biographies but this one must surely rank as the most perplexing! Try another biography of this interesting woman.

Really enjoyed the book. Agree entirely with Mr Sherwood smith. The research was impressive and one has a sense of the biography being a real labour of love. Miranda Seymour has unearthed a lot of new information and as a longtime fan of Mary Shelley, I was surprised to find out how little I actually knew about her life and motivations. I can't recommend it enough.

This book is great about confusing beginners. I haven't read the whole book yet ,but so far it's been pretty confusing to understand the examples that they show because they don't explain the code clearly. If this book is pretty confusing to me even that i have basic programming knowledge, I can't imagine a total non-programmer learning javaScript from this book.

This is a great book for beginners who want to learn enough to be comfortable with Javascript.

I particularly liked the examples of scripts. The tip, note, and warning boxes were especially helpful. This book gave me a good start on utilizing the capacities of javascript. Well worth the price

This book gives no opportunity to practice what your reading. Some important things arn't explained well. Can't learn Algebra without doing it. Book is useless.

This book does have problems, the lack of exercises being a major one, but it isn't totally useless. It does explain some fundamentals of algebra in very easy to understand language and contains simple examples. I found this good for getting the basics down. I started with "Algebra The Easy Way", but found that it would give simple examples and overly difficult exercises, which only succeeded in frustrating me.
I would suggest Algebra for Dummies as an absolute beginners book which should be used along with a slightly more advanced text with exercises. One can always make up his/her own exercises as well.
Remember, this is a "Dummies" book. How much can you really expect?

This book does not present numerous problems for one to work through. BUT it does explain all the essential concepts of algebra so that a person will not only understand the steps taken in working out a problem, but will have a firm grasp in understanding most everything related to the entire subject. This is a great supplement to those who are learning algebra for the first time, or those who have largely forgotten it.

At the time, there weren't many books on VBS. This was just about the best out there. Now, I would probably go with an O'Reilly book. Anyway, I thought it was concise and info was easy to find when using as a reference. If you already have experience with using VB, even for just MS Excel and Access (not the full blow language version), this book will benefit you. I just needed a lookup reference on how to do stuff with VBS for the web, and that's exactly what I got. This book helped me to create my first online order calculator for a site that I'm webmaster for. However, if you need more coverage of the VB language, then choose another, more comprehensive book. I think the books assumes that you know something about VB already. If so, then this book is probably enough.

I love this book for what it is: a great reference. Both the developer I mentor and myself love this book. It breaks down the IE DOM into easy to read entries. It clearly states syntax and variable ranges. It has only what an experienced developer needs in syntax in an easy to find format.

Not for learning how to program.

If you are looking for a great reference book to get you through ASP and vbscript DHTML, this is the book for you. It lists the syntactical details in a reasonably easy to follow format.

I had trouble keeping this on my desk at my last job.