No other book is more explicit on identifying heliconias, It is the best on the subject and should be used as a guide for other to further explain botanical subjects, on this or another species of plants.

Excellent book. Great help in cultivating and identifying Heliconia. Wish some commercial growers would read this then label their plants accordingly. One can only hope for a ginger book in the future.

I grow heliconias and some other tropical plants. It's become very difficult to identify them since they are known to many names all over the world. Berry and Kress are very clever suggesting to use thier classification and popular names so everybody would understand what others are talking about.

a great visual journey into john lennon's life with plenty of intimate photographs

i bought this book after seeing the rave reviews it got, thinking it was a real reading book. turned out to be a HUGE, glossy pictorial account..... but it's just as good probably better. awesome rare photos and quotes by the man and friends, and packed full of priceless memories. get it.

All I can say is that this book is the best I've ever owned on any member of the Beatles. Jammed full of pictures and a detailed bio, this book is everything that you need to know about John Lennon's life, work, and social standings. I give it an A++++. Forwarded by Yoko Ono.

I can't put it down. The book is concise and to the point. It feels like Mr. Sestina is speaking directly to you. This is not a book you just read and put down to collect dust. You definitely need to have a pen, highlighter, and paper so you can put his principles to work immediately. It's no wonder John Sestina is the BEST Financial Planner in the country. Get the book.

This book is an absolute pleasure to read! Not only because learning the fundamentals of successful financial planning from the most qualified financial planner in the country but also the information in this book is written in a very easy to understand, very structured, not confusing language. It certainly takes the fear and myth out of financial planning. Regardless of your current financial knowledge and status, you can start to apply John's most insightful experience and valuable advice for the price of a book. This cost of this book will, for sure, give you the highest ROI. Get one today if you don't already have one and read it! Believe it or not, you will enjoy reading it too!

A great book for persons of any income to help get started on the path to financial freedom.

This book is one of the best among those in the Dover Art Library. I really like this book because the selection includes many beautifully executed portraits. Sargent's style is at once both romantic and incisive. The portraits are so highly expressive that one is compelled to assume accurate likeness.

John Singer Sargent is a great master of portraiture. This very enjoyable collection does him justice.

Sargent was very talented in the art of drawing. He drew at least 1,500 drawings throughout his long, busy artistic career. His portrait drawings of prominent people are beautiful and very realistic. I liked his drawing of Consuelo Yznaga, Duchess of Manchester. That drawing captured the expression of a vibrant middle aged woman. His nude figures are still the most magnificent expression of manhood. I recommend this book to those who are interested in the many talents of John Singer Sargent or artists looking for inspiration.

The Amazon page-listing for this volume is somewhat misleading - there ARE two pages of text (Selector Trevor J. Fairbrother's brief, insightful introduction), but there are also 42 pages of (paper) plates.

Often dismissed as a mere society portrait painter, the real poignancy of John Singer Sargent's work lay in the truth that the society he recorded was on the point of vanishing with the Great War. This sense is heightened by the form of the works reproduced here - drawings composed in pencil and charcoal. Their Cheshire-Cat-grin sketchiness, the way faces seem to materialise or dematerialise bodiless or skeletal on the page, gives them an overwhelmingly ghostly feel.

The most moving pictures here are of the now-forgotten heiresses, young wives, fresh-faced soldiers, and indulgent or austere parents, refugees from the fiction of Henry James, Edith Wharton and Proust, denied the immortality conferred on Singer's more famous subjects, such as Nijinsky, Myra Hess, Faure or Kenneth Grahame. Singer may not be as remorselessly analytical as his literary peers, but he has a wit, satiric sense and emotional empathy all of his own, burrowing out the melancholy behind the glittering facades. Singer seems particularly inspired by long, swan-like necks, as if their owners' beauty already sang their death. The notorious hostess Mme. Pierre Gautreau reclines on a sofa, bored and miserable as a beached mermaid; Nellie Huxley stares at us with sad, tired eyes.

Conversely, the portraits of imperious grandes dames, such as the Myrna Loy-like Mme. Eugenia Huici Errazuriz, are surprisingly sexy; while the Duchess of Marlborough flirts with gamine charm. Portraits of friends, such as the eccentric composer Dame Ethel Smyth, are more informal and playful. Androgyny is another favourite theme, while the unsigned portrait of working class Italian youth Olimpio Fusco glows with sympathetic homoeroticism. In fact, Singer's defining temperament, judging from this collection, is one of amused curiosity, as he sketches the garish and the gloomy, the restless and the resigned, the social and the solitary.

The sketches of notables are often great fun - a shadow-darkened W.B. Yeats as self-regarding buffoon; Jascha Heifitz in an intense tondo of fiddle-like scribbles, encircling a still white face rapt in concentration; Viscountess Astor lost in folds of Napoleonic grandeur; and a young Ernest Thesiger, displaying impish hints of his most famous future film role, as Dr. Pretorious in 'Bride of Frankenstein'.

and who knew he was just a professional photographer? the level of information is so in detail, i thought he was a biologist! GREAT BOOK!!!

Hawaii isn`t just big waves or sunny beaches.
For a fish enthusiast,it is a heaven of beautifull animals.
And this book is very helpfull when knowing what animals that hides beneath the surface of the ocean.
Practically every habitat is invaded by creatures creeping,floating,crawling or swimming.
Over 500 species are identified here. Scientific & common names,natural history,size,cultural importance,ecology and suitability for aquariums - everything can be found here!
The habitats are also presented,before the ID section begins.
The book begins with a chapter about sponges,which are not as diverse here as in many other areas,but nevertheless,they are very colorfull. Then,we will see some jellyfish in the next chapter. My favourite is the white-spotted one. We also have Hawaii`s corals here. They are not well-known and not so colorfull as their relatives in the Indian Ocean,but it is good to know their names. The anemones are also quite anonymous,but very colorfull. After the huge coral chapter,the worms are presented,both the bristleworms and the nudibranch-like flatworms. The latter are the most beautifull creatures of the reef,with all of their colors,but not the cutest. The worm chapter is rather small,but the next chapter is covering the molluscs. They are very diverse,with more than 110 000 species worldwide. Both clams,shells,nudibranchs (=sea snails)and octopuses are presented here. The cowries are famous here,and I can`t understand why their shells are so famous - it is the living animals that covers the shell that are really amazing!Other shells included here are the venomous cone shells,the huge triton and many more. The nudibranchs should not be forgotten either. Their colors and shapes are endless in variations and beauty. Black,white,green,yellow,purple,pink - every color exists!They are even beating the fishes in beauty. The octopuses,of which only 8 species are presented,are rather similar to each other,so it`s not much to say about them. Then,I jump to the second of the book`s big chapters - about the Crustaceans. The crustaceans are my favourite invertebrates and therefore,this section is very interesting. Many rare species of reef crabs,lobsters,shrimps,mantis shrimps and unusually colorfull hermit crabs are presented here. My favorite is the rock lobster. The last chapter treats the echinoderms,which are highly developed although they lack head!The seastars,sea cucumbers,urchins and featherstars are included here.

After you`ve seen that chapter,the wonderfull book is over!
And it has been really great.
REMEMBER: This is just what I have told you!Now it`s your turn to dive in and get your own invertebrate knowledge!

I just returned from a vacation in Hawaii. I took this book, along with a reef fish book also by Mr. Hoover. While I highly recommend both books, the comprehensiveness and quality of this book make it a real standout. How Mr. Hoover managed to include photos and descriptive text of so many common reef invertebrates is amazing enough, but I was really impressed with how much fun this book was to read. I found myself taking it to dinner and reading (much to my wife's chagrin).

Mr. Walker is clear and concise in his depiction of how the options markets work. He details various strategies and makes options investing understandable to those new to it.

In my 11 years as a futures investor, broker, and author, I have never seen someone with as much grasp of options investing as Mr.Walker and have the capability to explain it.

Comprehensive, simple, full of examples - worth the money.

Yes, As a beginner I can confidently say I know what option is, it's uses and the risk involve. The Author did not only explain the principle but gave practicable example everyone can relate to. All in simple and plain English, you don't need to have been to a school of economy to know what an option is. With the help of this book, I can't look stupid when others uses terminologies relating to option. Keep up the good work Joseph.

I haven't read this version, only the original 1896 copy that I happened to pick up at a book sale because I liked the title. John Kendrick Bangs has become one of my favorite authors now. I recomend this book to everyone. It is witty and actually itelligent humor. I would say find the original though, it's usually cheaper than the $...for this copy.

I ran across an 1896 copy of this book in a nearby used book store and snatched it up. A lover of Greek mythology, anything with Styx in the title had to be worthwhile. To my delight, Greek mythology was bombarded with some of the most delightful historical and literary characters ever known, thrown into delicious turmoil. Where else could Napoleon throw a pool cue at Shakespeare. A must have for any reader.

No book more wonderfully captures the wimsey and foibles of mankind, while providing a perspective on historical thought like this book. Delightfull conversations in which P.T. Barnum berates Noah for not saving the more interesting animals, in which Shakespeare and Bacon argue about which of them really wrote Hamlet (and Hamlet responds) are just some of the delightful by-play of this romp in a Gentleman's Club in Hades.

This collection of photographer John Drysdale's extensive catalog emphasizes unexpected juxtapositions of animals and people or both. His almost understated images draw you in for more than a passing look, and you wonder how did he come upon some of these depictions. Are they posed, staged, or natural?

Ultimately, that does not matter, for the overall effect indeed suggests a peaceable kingdom, which, if not truly attainable, can still inspire and intrigue.

Mr. Drysdale takes his subjects seriously, even if the result seems almost comic, and there is a refreshing lack of pretension mixed with a dry wit throughout this collection.

This is book you will want to carry to the back porch on a lazy, rainy day or share with your children while dinner is in the oven. It's fun to hear how children react to some of the images that run counter to how we have conditioned to expect animals and people to behave.

Some of my favorite photos, however, are those of just people, timeless and frozen in yesteryear's pursuits.

John Drysdale's delightful photographs will charm any age. Looking at "Excert 1" will give you an idea of his subject matter. In addition to the unusual photos of animals and children, there are fascinating stories, such as the cat who befriended a mouse with 2 photos of them together--one of them napping together and another of them sharing a saucer of milk. The photos and stories are precious and leaves one with a feeling that we do indeed have a "peaceable kingdom." A great gift for anyone who can see--animal lover or not.

This is a fun, entertaining book which would make a great gift for animal lovers. My only wish is that the description for each picture had been placed with the picture and not in the back of the bookl.

Fantastic photography in another large book from Versace. This book captures the 'rock chic' glamourama which the late Versace excelled at creating. The association between 'Rock and Roll', and art is full indulged here creating a empirical illusion to the Versace dynasty. The glossy presentation of the images also adds to an overall feeling of luxury. The only reason I have not given this book the top rating is for its inclusion of Elton John - who makes me sick. So what if its expensive, luxuries like this don't come cheap. ciao,

Maureen Farquhar (maureenfarquhar@yahoo.com)

Gianni Versace was a designer who loved to push the envelope. His clothes were a mixture of extremes: sexy, sleazy, colorful, tacky, and elegant. One adjective you'd never find in a sentence with the word Versace is "boring." His clothes commanded--and often got--attention, which is why he was such a favorite among celebrities such as Madonna, Elton John, Liz Hurley, Courtney Love, Prince, Jon Bon Jovi and even Princess Diana. This book is a fabulous, eye-opening collection of vivid photographs of models and rock stars in Versace: from Prince to the members of British boy band Take That. Some outfits are more releaving than others, but they're all unmistakably Versace. Diana herself is also included in the book, along with a few words of praise for the designer. Tragically, Versace was murdered in the summer of 1997, but his spirit and influence live on. This book comes highly recommended. Drop it on your coffeetable, and your guests won't want to put it down.

A must have book for all Versace fans.

You will not find another book with such a variety of beautiful photos of daylilies. For daylily growers that want the most comprhensive photo gallery available to date. I would have enjoyed more details about the parentage of these beautiful daylilies. Munsen and Hill are tops for information but Petit's Encyclopedia is by far the pick for beautiful photos. I am sure the five stars this book received from reviewers was based on the hundreds of excellent color and variety of daylily types. If you like lots of top notch photos this is the best!!!

This book is full of daylily descriptions and beautiful photos. Very good reference book.

Excellent book full of eye candy for the daylily lover. The basics have all been covered in other books, but what really makes this book stand out is the pictures. And what pictures! The organization of the book was nice too - chapters to reds, pinks, purples, unusual forms, etc. I have found this book helpful when shopping for daylilies (especially on-line) since I can often find a picture reference for a plant I am considering. My one complaint? While the whole book shows efforts of a wide range of hybridizers, quite a few of today's well known and/or top hybridizers are not shown in the chapter "Daylilies of the Future". Were they not asked to contribute? Did they choose not to contribute? I'm not sure of the answer but they were much missed by me. Otherwise - excellent reference and fun!