Specialized Books

This book was easy to read, and had very good basic information. It would be great for the first time gardener and/or composter. Recommend!

Como resolver o problema dos residuos provenientes das retiradas de fruta

This is a rarity of a book since it doesn't spend a lot of time telling you stuff you don't need to know, but is what it says. A book about the various means of composting whether you live in an apartment or have an acre for an organic vegetable or flower garden.

The illustrations are helpful and easy to follow. And if you think you cant compost or that it will just be to hard, this book will change your mind. It is also an important book in my opinion, because Americans throw away so much useful compost material or grind it down the kitchen garbage disposal. By composting your kitchen and garden wastes you not only produce rich soil but you build up the entire eco system. And with garbage dumps becoming full and new ones harder to find I think that composting of kitchen and garden wastes should be a law.

I have to say the photography in this book is BEAUTIFUL. The photographer somehow catches the best angles, and thus creates a deep sense of inspiration in the reader. The book also gives good recommendations of different species and what can be used in different environments (terrariums, submerged, etc.). Awesome book.

This book gives many helpful tips and very good illustrations. Very helpful for indoor gardening.

Tabletop Gardens: 40 Stylish Plantscapes For Counters And Shelves, Desktops And Windowsills by gardening expert Rosemary McCreary is profusely illustrated with photographs by William Holt. Tabletop Gardens is an informative introduction to creating and maintaining an indoor miniature garden. Guiding readers through a all the germane issues for watering, fertilizing, pruning, repotting, and propagating plants suitable for a miniature garden, Tabletop Gardens deftly reveals a remarkable understanding of the exotic flowerings and plants that it contains. A unique and original addition to any personal, professional, or community library Gardening Studies reference collection, Tabletop Gardens is especially recommended for its innovative ideas and sound advice for those wishing to incorporate more serenity and nature into their personal household or business office environment.

I just love this book. I can't imagine having houseplants without it. I have it all marked with the Post-it flags so I can find my plants quickly. I'm going to get a little wordy here, but this is a great book with a lot of great features. I use it more that any of the other plant books I own.

The book has 4 sections: Introduction, The Color Plates, Encyclopedia of Houseplants and Appendices. The introduction runs you through the basics. It gives you a botany lesson that is neither too detailed nor too short. It gives the basics of the book. It tells you how to care for your plants (from water to reviving to saying good-bye to repotting when your plants out grow their current container) and how to propagate and have MORE plants. The Introduction also has a Plant Chart that shows you all the things you need to have healthy happy plants in one convenient easy to read chart. The only catch to using the Plant Chart is knowing the scientific names of your plants.

Don't know the name of your plant (let ALONE the scientific name!)? No problem, just look at The Color Plates. These pictures are wonderful. I have identified MANY of my plants with these pictures. Sorted into sections by type (Hanging Plants, Small Foliage Plants, Orchids, Bromeliads & Flowers, Showy Foliage Plants, Lacy Leaves, and Succulent & Other, you are sure to be able to find your plant quickly. The pictures show something that you would see in someone's house. If the plant flowers they will show it with the flowers (just so you can see it). The scientific name, the common name, plant height, light, temperature, how easy the plant is to grow, and the Encyclopedia section page reference.

The Encyclopedia of Houseplants has a short biography of the plant, How to Grow and Species information. I wish this section was combined with the pictures, but since many plants have many species - one encyclopedia reference may have several pictures. This section gives good information on how to grow your plant. It tells you if you plant likes to have a lot or little sun, a lot or little water, when to water, what kind of soil to use, and when and what kind of fertilizer to use. It also gives you a description (average size, flowering potential, foliage coloration, etc.) of the most popular species and a small black and white drawing.

The Appendices include sections on Orchids, Decorating with Plants, Buying Plants, Pest and Problems, Glossary and Index. The Orchid section tells you all about orchids and how to get more information on them (I haven't read this part). The Decorating with Plants give you tips on where to place your plants, how to use your plants, and give you tips and ideas on using a group of plants together. The Buying Plants section tells you what to look for when you shop for your plants. Pest and Problems is a handy section that gives you a background on pest and plants diseases. It tells you how to control the problems and how to recognized signs of plant distress. It has a handy chart with black and white drawings. The chart tells you the pest/disease name, a description of the pest or disease, the damage the pest can do and how to control the pest or disease. This is a very handy section (hopefully you won't ever have to use it) and I suggest reading it. The Glossary is a handy list of terms used through out the book. Last but not least is the index of both common and scientific names of the plants.

An excellent & concise houseplant reference. It will show you what is commonly done wrong with plants and what you can to to promote growth/flowering. Also included is a cross reference for temperatures and other environmental variables that you may wish to choose plants for. There are also many good quality pictures that can help you immediately identify 'that plant you've killed over & over' and a reference to the instructions that can make the difference. Good book.

With the literally thousands of different types and varieties of houseplants available on the market, it's no surprise that there are some that are missing from this book. However, most (all?) of the main ones are here, and so too is a wealth of information on how to grow them. I bought this book 10 or 15 years ago, and it helped me go from perennial plant killer (it was the killing that was perennial, not just perennials that were killed), to a reasonably green thumb. I'm not a super gardener or anything. I just like houseplants and needed some basic info on how to care for them. It's all here.

Abu madyan is my teacher and my parents teacher. He is the great master of sufi in west

Mr Cornell has made an exellent contribution to the study of both Islam in the West and Islam in Africa with this work as until recently little had been translated with regards to African Islam especially regarding primary sources.

Abu Madyan was perhaps one of the most important Sufis in North West Africa and this work covers both an exellent biography of the Sheikh and an introduction to his works. What is also of great benefit is that it is complete with the original Arabic text.

An extreamly important work especially in that much of the study of Islam in our current time is under the influence of either Saudi Arabia or groups with political agendas. I would also recomend Cornells book Realm of the saint.

The growing interest in the historical and doctrinal aspects of Sufism in the scholarly world continues to yield fruits that make one hopeful of the advent of a new scholarly tradition. The paradigmatic remainings of the classical Orientalist categories are now being put aside and a new emphasis is being placed on the meaning what of a tradition is and what kind of perspectives and methodological tools one should have to understand that tradition. The new trend in question turns its face to more authentic, deeper and vertical aspects of Islamic civilization - a breakthrough that marks off the newly rejuvenated current from the established scholarship. Since it is the intellectual and spiritual schools of Islamic thought that have suffered the most from the reductionist and historicist approaches of modern academia, it is a pleasant coincidence that this newly emerging set of perspectives makes its first appearance in the field of Sufism. Vincent J. Cornell's recent work on the leading North African Sufi Abu Madyan deserves to be placed under this new scholarship. Cornell's successful attempt to bring to daylight one of most prominent figures of North African Sufism is a significant step in mapping out a comprehensive picture of Western Sufism.

Cornell's work begins with a lucid account of Abu Madya's life. Based on original sources and the accounts of Abu Madyan himself, the biographical sketch of Abu Madyan presents a vivid description of how a simple and illiterate countryman sat out a journey that was destined to culminate in a fresh flourishing of Sufism in Muslim Spain. Abu Madyan's travel to different parts of Spain and North Africa, and his final settlement in Bijaya carries the common characteristics of North African Sufism. Throughout the socio-political difficulties that Abu Madyan faced because of his outward reaction against the issues of social and political injustice, the Shaykh pursues a life that combines both the ascetic and metaphysical aspects of Sufism. Abu Madyan stands out as the `yardstick' of spiritual as well as social affairs of his time.

In the second part of his introduction, the author provides a comprehensive account of Abu Madyan's spiritual lineage. This part is valuable not only for the crucial aspects of Abu Madyan's life but also for the spiritual map of North Africa until the time of Abu Madyan. In this part, one also finds a concise analysis of the ideas of the `Junayd of the West' on such cardinal issues as fana' and baqa', futuwwah and ithar, being a faqir, and the manifestation of the Divine names Jamal and Jalal. Abu Madyan's way of life provides some clues about the nature of his `thought' or mashrab, to be more precise: His is more pietistic and less metaphysical. This aspect of his path can easily be seen in his insistence on taking al-Ghazzali's Ihya' as the central work of his training. The ever present hadith component of North African Sufism makes itself abundantly felt in Abu Madyan's short treatises.

The translation part contains the main extant and so far available works of Abu Madyan. These are the Supplication for Forgiveness (al-Istighfar), the Blessed Creed (al-`Aqida al-Mubaraka), Basic Principles of the Sufi Path (Bidayat al-Murid), the Intimacy of the Recluse and Pastime of the Seeker (Uns al-Wahid wa Nuzhat al-Murid) and the eight qasidas. The three prose works of Abu Madyan edited and translated in the book reveals his mashrab: They explain, in a concise and direct language, the divine unity and the manners of behavior that the spiritual seeker has to follow to grasp deeper meanings of this unity. `Speculative thoughts', if any, are allowed only if they do any good to the perfection of the soul. Abu Madyan's Uns al-Wahid wa Nuzhat al-Murid, on the other hand, continues the marvelous hikmah tradition of the Sufis. His work is by no means less moving and insightful than Ata'ullah al-Iskandari's Hikam-i Ata'iyyah. Abu Madyan's poetic works included in Cornell's edition presents a salient example of the poetico-mystcical language. Some of the seminal ideas that could not fit in the strait-jacket of the formal language of philosophy or theology are expressed in these verses with an elegant use of language. The symbols, metaphors and allegories bring about a higher world of meaning with the aim of elevating the soul to the higher levels of reality.

The last part of the book contains two a ppendixes: The first one is al-Qasida al-Nuniyya by `Ali ibn Isma'il b. Hirzihim, and the second one is Risala fi al-Tasawwuf by Abu Ya'za Yalannur ibn Maymun ad-Dukali. These two short treatises are important for any study on Abu Madyan because both of the treatises belong to Abu Madyan's spiritual masters. Besides his comprehensive analysis on Abu Madyan and West African Sufism, Cornell also stands out as a highly successful translator. His lucid English rendering does not betray the original Arabic. Cornell's knowledge of Sufi terms and concepts which are, to say the least, elusive to the outsider is certainly an important reason for his successful translation. The full texts of the original works published with a beautiful Arabic style and side by side translation are probably the best gift for all students of Sufism. The Way of Abu Madyan deserves a warm congratulation as a lucid as well as rigorous scholarly work. Our hope is that new works of this kind will follow.

With debates about energy at the political forefront in most countries, everybody should read this book before they open their mouth so that they know what they are talking about.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) had a brilliant career as a scientist, teacher, and writer. Best known for his science fiction novels and stories, he also wrote poetry and nonfiction, and prepared guides to several important literary works

Dr. Asimov has taken a difficult subject and made it interesting and easy to read. Even those who aren't science students will find this book about the universe around us dramatic and entertaining. I just wish there were a way to give this book 10 stars instead of only 5.

Like other Christopher Lloyd books, The Adventurous Gardener is a pleasure to read for any gardener. He has any number of tips for making cuttings, pruning shrubs and trees, foundation planting, color combinations and other subjects fascinating to gardeners. This book is directed to those who garden for pleasure--and both experienced and novice gardeners will learn something from it.
Negatives: He writes for the British climate which is milder than most of the USA, so gardeners here must take that into account. A good plant guide will help a great deal, to look up plants he mentions (the black and white illustrations aren't particularly useful) and to see whether they'll grow in your area. He also has an enormous yard, seemingly unlimited time, large greenhouses of his own, and people who help him garden.
Nonetheless, this is a wonderful book I've gotten lots of ideas from--and it's always fun to read again.
I can't give it less than give stars; as the previous reviewer said, I can't judge it for not being something it wasn't intended to be. I will judge it by Lloyd's intentions, great ideas and techniques, and the joy I had in reading it.

The Adventurous Gardener provides a brilliant gardener's take on any number of practical, as well as aesthetic, judgments. The first 11 chapters concern maintenance and propagation, such as "Unusual Ways with Rose Cuttings," "Maintaining Mature Hedging," and "Some Reactions to Cutting Back" (which covers the results of radical pruning on scores of genuses of shrubs and trees).

The next 8 chapters cover trees and shrubs, Lloyd's experience and opinions of hundreds of species and cultivars, and the best ways, culturally and aesthetically, to use them in the garden. The rest of the book covers a variety of herbaceous plants, design concepts, the theories of Gertrude Jekyll, "Planning a Border," you name it. Of course, the book, at 250 pages, is not comprehensive. For that matter, Lloyd's "The Well-Tempered Garden" is in a sense basically the same book, except that there is very little overlap. Each is a series of essays which stands on its own. (Similarly, the estate of the late Henry Mitchell has 3 such books out, made up of his newspaper gardening columns; but Mitchell's columns are shorter, more about literary style than detail, and his 3 books overlap each other considerably.)

This book's greatest weakness: it only has 18 low-resolution black & white photos. These are in the book's center, and do little to illustrate the text. So in order to follow many of the chapters, which concern specific varieties of, say, crabapple trees, or concern combinations of plants, you will have to have the "A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants" or a similar reference at hand. That said, this keeps the book small and dirt cheap. I suppose I could, for lack of hundreds of glossy color photos, rate the book less than the perfect 5 stars, but I can't see criticizing a book for not being what it is not, especially when it is so good at being what it is.

Alpine Operations provided me a complete understanding and experience of Green Acres, wilderness living, backcountry travel, mountaineering, mountain rescue and mountain survival.

The author's experience with motorola telecommunications in a cold weather environment with his thourough knowledge of survival was enlightening.

One of the best books I've ever read.

Another prospective book for the followers of the tactics of military and police operations, not even is not another material that is as complete as this, the FM's. Lonsdale has us accustomed to very practical material, technician and effective. Alpine operations will become one of the best (but the best) and more complete treaty on the topic that also proposes solutions to the most frequent problems and it guides on the course that should be taken in actions of this type. A necessary book in their library!

Great book, lots of pictures and ideas for creating amazingly beautiful oriental gardens.

I ordered this book somewhat "blind" without having seen it in a bookstore, etc. When it arrived, I must say that I was thrilled with the quality of the text, photos and other illustrations. The book thoroughly covers the basic history, principles and aesthetics of Japanese Gardens. Then it takes an in-depth look at some of the finest gardens of each type found in Japan. Highly recommended.

It's not as weird as it sounds. Okay, there are references to astrological connections and such, but there's also theory around water levels and tides driven by the moon.

At any rate, I have been through the Master Gardener program and tried various methods to increase yield (red plastic mulch for tomatoes...you name it, I've tried it), yet the planting scheme outlined here has created the best gardens of all. A combination of companion planting (expounded on more in Carrots Love Tomatoes and Roses Love Garlic) and planting by moon phase and sign, this guide brings great results.

This is a considerate and commonsense book that will sway many critiques of Astrology, and aid people's understandings of gardening greatly. It really is tragic how many people dismiss astrology as everything from nonsense to evil.

The introduction introduces sufficient astrology and its origins etc, yet does not delve into the complexities that will dazzle the non-astrologer.

The unfortunate things about this book is that the information can be a bit overwhelming at points, and will require more than a couple of sit-downs to digest. Also it has much information on useful plants, making it great for the self-sufficient or even those with a hobby vegge-patch, though not a great deal on plants kept for other reasons.

This is besides the point as I really like this book and will keep it on my shelf and get friends to read it etc.

The rewards of reading is the forgotten, timeless information of the world and mind.

Having completed a 3week trip to Australia for shelling...I was overcome with the variety of my collection...82 new species....so I immediately turned to Amazon for rescue...this book has proven to be totally covering of all the Gastropods I found.....I liken this to R. Tucker Abbotts "Compendium of Seashells"....it is definitely a Classic!!! Roz

We deal with Australian seashells and often get asked by collectors around the world about more information and images of Australian (particularly the endemic) shells. We usually recommend this 2 volume-book as it not only contains the latest information and numerous excellent colour plates on the subject, but is also beautifully designed and a real joy to browse through for beginners and advanced collectors alike. The text is very exhausive on all major Australian gastropod families and provides the first ever published comprehensive info about the fascinating Zoila group (Western Australian endemic Cowries).