The first paragraph of the Preface is herein quoted:

"This is a book about the behavior of light in crystals. Since it is written for people with no previous training in either the subject of crystals or the subject of light, the first six chapters tell what sort of thing a crystal is and the seventh tells about some of its physical properties. The remaining chapters describe some of the effects produced on light, mainly polarized light, by crystals and so constitute an introduction to optical crystallography."

My copy of several years ago came with a piece of polarizing film; don't know whether this is still included, if not one can order a sheet from Edmund Scientific catalog. This little book is clearly, lucidly written for the student and the amateur.

This book, by a new author is a very good read! It is a very refreshing change, about love and tragedy, and how the human spirit can cherish the good times, yet triumph over the hard times of life. The foreward hooked me and I read it in two evenings, because it was hard to put it down. A real page turner!

As a child I always eagerly awaited our summer vacations at Grandma's cottage in the woods off Lake Michigan. From walks along dusty roads bordered with Queen Anne's Lace- where even the most commonplace item sparked fascinating tidbits of information- to assisting with with her bird banding- so aware of the rapid heartbeat under my fingers as I cradled the small bird so the numbers on its tag could be read- time spent with my Grandma embued me with a sense of wonder for the natural world and the science of its study.

Reading her book these years later bring back that feeling with suprising clarity. The rich visual description in each vignette flows around the drier scientific facts, drawing you in to the world that surrounds that plant, animal or location. Her own love of nature draws you into the details and leaves you with a fascinating snapshot built from history, observations and facts.

Of Woods and Other Things is an ideal book to leave lying around. Though grouped in sections, each vignette stands alone, creating a microcosm of life in a just few pages. I found I actually preferred to just pick it up, randomly flipping through to stumble upon some new find, much as I had on my walks with grandma.

Queering the Pitch is the first anthology to be published in the new field of queer musicology (although it does draw from works like Solie's "Musicology and Difference" collection.)

The quality of the fourteen essays here varies greatly. Some, like Philip Brett's "Musicality, Essentialism, and the Closet" are absolutely earthshaking-provacative, well-written, and inspiring. Other essays seem a bit out of place, and show how much work their needs to be done in this field. It occasionally feels as if the editors had to scrape around to find enough material for the collection.

The three editors, all well-known musicologists, are to be commended for this effort. The book is already something of a classic, and has certainly helped to legitimitize this field of inquiry.

This book was good, but is intended for younger children. It was extremely easy to understand and I would recommend it to any young readers interested in beginner's magic tricks.

I have read this book and i would deafinitaly say it is for kids. It has easy reading and lots of pictures to help you out.

This book has just been reprinted and is a detailed retelling of the life of a plantation owner's family. The author was the daughter of a SC Governor, owner of 13 plantations, and leader of his community. This diary kept by his daughter shows how she learned from his example, and was able to carry on the family plantation even after the devistation of the Civil War and the loss of so much. The day to day events are retold in enough detail to understand life of the times. There are lessons to be learned about coping with life that are as true today as they were then. Elizabeth comes alive as an interesting, thinking, caring woman determined to save the best of the culture and the education of the Carolina Low Country. Through her eyes you see the eventual degradation of the society from it's previous level of political and economic leadership in the United States to the genteel poor lucky enough to have resources in the land and water to sustain life. If you want to understand the real role of the south before the war and the effects of reconstruction on society today, then this book is a must read.

I don't dominate English very well, but I am very easy of understanding and of carrying out the projects that he explains, everything it is useful and easy of carrying out