William H Keith Books

Just what I was looking for in a field guide to birds of the Carribean.

This book is an excellent field guide. The descriptions are great and the colourplates are high quality. The book includes plates which features endimic species from the largest islands - a very valuable part of the book. Another fine thing is the locality index. The index is a great help when identifying species on localities where you have never been before. For my part I used the book on my first trip ever to Cuba, and I will bring the book with me again if I ever returns to Cuba. The text is very informative and descriptions of both juvenil and adult birds are included which is a great help. Furthermore the illustrations are very good. The book have a size that makes it possible to use it in the field. The only problem as far as I can see is that it could have been usefull with more illustrations e.g. more flying raptors, ducks and waders. All in all: A book worth using and buying.

Just slightly smaller than 8.5 x 11 inch letter size with 500 pages and an inflexible, non-weather resistant cover, this book is too big and rigid to fit in anything other than a back-pack. It's not a quick reference field guide than you can quickly pop out of your coat pocket, and you'll ruin it if it gets caught in an otherwise lovely tropical drizzle. Additionally the way the book is organized does not facilitate quick on-the-fly identifications, the very kind that you most frequently need in the field. For instance, the first 200 plus pages contain color plates of the birds (86 full page plates in total, each containing between 1 and 15 species). If you open the book flat you're looking at the color plate on the right page and a numbered list of the birds on the left giving common name, biological name, size in centimeters and inches and a page reference number. It's this last point - page reference number - where A GUIDE TO THE BIRDS OF THE WEST INDIES really shows up its weakness in the field. The range and distribution maps, distinguishing characteristics, flight, voice, habitat and nesting information; basically all the data you'll need to pin down a firm sighting, are all on a different page than the birds picture. This information comprises the second half of the book.

Birders will have the same problem with this book as we do with all those guides that present illustrations and/or photographs of the bird on one page and it's range map and other vital information somewhere else. A typical example. The bird takes to the air. From the glimpse we get we know it's a hummingbird with green back and white underparts. The most likely candidate we come up with is a female Streamertail. Fine, except that once we flip to the back and read about range we realize the Streamertail in endemic to Jamaica and we're still in Puerto Rico; I guess it did look more like a female Antillean Mango afterall! It's worse with warblers, flycatchers, and especially vireos. There is much flipping back and forth between pictures and descriptions, particularly so for novice birders who may not be familiar with endemics and the very limited ranges that are major factors to be aware of when dealing with bird species in islands.

This book is very colorful and informative and very up to date. It's just not very well laid out for work in the field. I wish I could be more helpful by recommending another book but unfortunately there are issues with most of the regional guides. Rather than a West Indian guide you may want to use island specific ones (some available locally) for your field trips and leave this one in the hotel for detailed reference later.

Raffaele's book is a very good one for the birds of SOME THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS ONLY. He specifically states that he is not including birds of the islands off the Venezuelan coast or birds of Central America. We went on a cruise that included Aruba, Curacao, Panama and Costa Rica and my Birds of the West Indies was not useful at all. It's for birds of the Greater and Lesser Antilles only excluding islands off Venezuela. None of the rainforest birds we saw were in the book. So just be sure of what you want.

This book is THE authority in the region. Yes, it is a heavy little sucker, and no, it is not a field guide per-se, but this book has so much useful information for the serious birder (not the coffee-table birder, but the take-it-to-the-toilet-with-you-to-read birder) that these handicaps are largely overcome.

Though recent hyperactivity by taxonomists and ornithologists working the region have made just a tiny teensy bit of the info in the book outdated, it is still a must-have for the no-nonsense Caribbean birder.

I have just read this book and I think I could place it among the ones I liked the most (together with Gerald Durrell's ones): what I prefered was the poetic that filled the whole book , in the descriptions of landscapes, and people, that poetic you can't find in modern writers.

A window into a time and place where men culture and tools were formed by a harsh natural selection process. The wide open range wild herds of cattle and horses a few men isolated from civilization. Henry Hudson was there, his first impressions are from the viewpoint of an educated Englishman examining barbarians. He then gets immersed in the environment and sees the deeper human experience and the effects of total freedom and self reliance on the character of men

If you are a fan of turn-of-the-century literature as I am, you will find this narrative a good read. I had never heard nor read anything about this Hudson fellow until I recently began to read "The Sun Also Rises", which, as you may know, is Ernest Hemingway's first novel. Hemingway nonchalantly mentions Hudson and the travels of Lamb briefly in his story. I was intrigued as I gathered Hemingway himself had read the book and apparently liked it well enough to mention. Or perhaps I am mistaken. Regardless, this book is really as series of tales of adventures in the jungles of South America. You meet the natives, the food, the lifestyle and the beautiful girls (as you might expect; latino woman are notably lovely, in my experience). It should be noted, however, that the author, being a product of his times no doubt, is not particularly sensitive to political correctness.

"Dangerous if read too late in life", Hemmingway.

This is an excellent book if you can find it.

This is a great book for anyone who has not yet been subjected to the battletech universe. Betrayl, Murder, Love, Action, Adventure; this book has it all. The first book in the GRAY DEATH LEGION saga. Read all of the gray death legion saga!!

This is the story of a young Mech warrior, who having lost all his family, a regiment of mercenaries, due to "games of power" of a cruel and sadistic Duke, was able to survive in an hostil and treacherous world, almost whitout help. When i read this book, i considered it one of the best books i had ever read. Now, some years after, i continue to enjoy reading it like it was the first time, even if i already know all the story, but i continue to think that this story is one of the most involving stories i have read in my all life....

This is the first novel in the Gray Death trilogy that starts the greatest achievement in science fiction - Battletech. It's a series playing in a long future when the known human universe is divided between five superpowers engaged in a constant struggle for dominance. The main characteristic of the Battletech universe is the use of a new form of superior war machines called the BattleMech's. The BattleTech novels are stories about MechWarriors - men and women who operate those devastating metal giants.

The BattleTech universe's social structure is some kind of neo-feudalism, and in the new kind of warfare, individual courage, cleverness and performance are of great importance. The five superpowers resemble of certain nations of today's Earth and have very different political orders and ideologies. "Decision at Thunder Rift" is the book you should start the lecture of BattleTech with. A must-read for every SF fan!

This is an interesting collection of essays on the Shenandoah Campaign of 1864. Gary Gallagher has pulled together a set of essays that, even if they sometimes contend with one another, helps the reader get a better understanding of the 1864 conflict.

The dramatic personae in this action include Lee's "bad old boy," Jubal Early, the combative but capable Confederate commander, versus Phil Sheridan, the hyperactive cavalry commander given charge of the Union forces in the Valley. Key players on the Union side: John Crook, leader of the "Army of West Virginia," William Emory of Sheridan's army, the cavalry (Torbert as head, with Merritt and Custer, and Devin as key subordinates). On the Confederate side: infantry commanders such as Gordon, Rodes and Ramseur and cavalry leaders Lomax, Munford, and Rosser. There was a lot of talent on each side, but Early's army was heavily outnumbered (maybe 40,000 troops under Sheridan and 14,000 or so under Early). Such numbers presaged an almost inevitable defeat of Early, with as combative a Union general as Sheridan on the other side (it can safely be said that prior Valley commanders such as Patterson, Hunter, Sigel, and so on may well have wasted such an advantage; Sheridan, despite his flaws as a combat commander, was unlikely to lose under such conditions).

What is nice about this volume is that the authors of the individuals chapters try to assess what actually happened and how good (or bad) commanders actually were, rather than repeating commonly understood judgments. What about the "Woodstock Races" after the Confederate cavalry's disastrous defeat at Tom's Brook? Confederate ineptitude? Or Union overwhelming force? What about Early versus Sheridan as commander of an army? Gallagher's chapter addresses this in a sensitive manner.

At Cedar Creek, what happened? Did Early's so-called "fatal halt" lose the day? Or were the Confederates so outnumbered and outgunned that--aside from total incompetence in Union leadership--they simply could not triumph? Another essay explores the generalship of the 6th Corps commander, Horatio Wright. The conclusions is that he did a good job as commander after the surprise attack while Sheridan was absent and may not have received the credit due him. Still, his performance in other venues in the Civil War was uneven. Here, however, he probably deserves good grades.

And so on. The essays in this volume provoke some thinking about the Valley Campaign of 1864. This is a good work to look at. The chapters are somewhat uneven (as to be expected from an edited volume), but--all in all--this is a useful examination of the subject.

Another one of Gallagher's collection of great essays of a campaign while touting the greatest historians on the subject. The authors in this case cover the 1864 Valley situation from Early's arrival to save Lynchburg to his run at Washington to Sheridan's final mobilizing drive that is momentarily derailed by Early's great shock attack at Cedar Creek that crushes the unprepared Federals. But of course, the Union's regrouping at Cedar and counter attack virtually destroys Early's army. The essays cover the key battles and strategies including the make up of Early, Sheridan and a respectful view of the not so flamboyant and thus unappreciated General Horatio Wright who held things together at Cedar Creek when Sheridan arrived on the field. The latter part of the book also includes the social effect the war had on its population particularly as the means to feed the Confederate war machine was destroyed as part of the grand union strategy. Early and the Confederate Army no doubt fought heroically enough to challenge the record of Stonewall; however, they were literally overwhelmed by numbers and better horses and equipment. Of course, once confident, Sheridan keeps the pressure on with his young lions, Custer, Merritt and Torbet. A grand example of that is Robert E. L. Krick's essay on the battle of Tom Brook between the Confederate and Union cavalry that is extremely one sided, resulting in a total crushing of the Confederate horse. It's amazing that the Confederates were able to reorganize and launch what was at first a highly successful attack at Cedar Creek 10 days later. This recovery and attack is a tribute to Early, who unfortunately used his infamous tongue lashing too harshly afterwards demonstrating one of his worst character flaws. The other great aspect of these talented authors is their research, which is so impeccable that they sort out the historical misrepresentations and get to the truth of the matter, albeit at the expense of some such as John Gordon, the great fighter and embellisher. The only negative, I wish there was a summary of the battles in date line fashion along with a map that showed where all the key battles were fought. I also wish the summary of the situation prior to Early's arrival included a discussion of General "Grumble" Jones battle of Piedmont where he lost his life trying to stop General Hunter's attack of the valley. As an additional note, these fine historians get together almost every summer and provide excellent tours of the valley, a treat worth considering.

This book of essays covers aspects of the Shenandoah Valley campaign of 1864. As is the case with all the volumes in this series, a number of military, social, and political issues are discussed. The essays are generally well-written and provide insights into some topics not evaluated in general histories of the campaign. Particularly good is the essay comparing the general performances of Sheridan and Early. One is left realizing that, given the resources available to each, Early actually did better than could have been expected and Sheridan made more errors than he should have. Worth the price of the entire volume, is the excellent biographical monograph about General Horatio Wright. This is the first attempt ever to provide a biographical sketch of this important but overlooked officer. The essay is balanced, well-researched, and very worthwhile to the serious student of this period.
This book is not for someone unfamiliar with this campaign but, as is the case with the rest of the series, is of value to the experienced Civil War reader.

When people say, "Oh, you read sci-fi?" this is the type of book they must have in mind. Space pirates! Evil stellar spanning corporation! It's a workmanlike effort which trots over the ground it covers without purple prose, true. The characters aren't totally cardboard but neither do they live and breathe after the final page. Ever read the one about the back alley young thief with telepathic talent who gets drawn into an interplanetary intrigue? Yeah, I thought so. Having said that it's an average science fiction page turner, it should be noted that "Two of Minds" is outstanding as an example of tarot in SF. There's a holodeck which is a traditonal Rider-Waite which projects 3-D moving images and has sound when placed down in a spread---they can even interact with cards placed across them. There are also two new suits: Minds and Machines. Tarot coverage is accurate, specific and integral to the plot. For tarologists, what compares to a planetary projection of a card as an example of a reading on a VERY large scale? The author also discusses why tarot works as a trigger/collector for intuition. That aspect is quite satisfying and makes me hope for a sequel even if I don't think this is a Hugo contender.

A fast-paced, well parsed story with a constant involvement with the main character,"Spacer", and his jauggernaut ride from almost adult to full participation in mature life. The characters and scenes live, with excellent fleshing-out, remarkable clarity, and four separate threads woven into a really good tale. The action scenes are vivid and done so well you glide through the action believing the context, like watching a 'Trek' or 'Wars' film in your mind. The final thread of Storm really grabs your imagination at what-if levels. It's apparent that this 'Verge'Novel from William Keith Jr., at Wizards of the Coast isn't the last one in this series or his next, and hopefully it won't take long to arrive. A Book from the Fraal point-of view would be a nice addition to the Verge series. Telepath novels are great conduits for secondary threads in a story and this one is no exception. Looking for a good, solid, fast read...? Enjoy this one as soon as you see it!

A fast-paced, well parsed story with a constant involvement with the main character,"Spacer", and his jauggernaut ride from almost adult to full participation in mature life. The characters and scenes live, with excellent fleshing-out, remarkable clarity, and four separate threads woven into a really good tale. The action scenes are vivid and done so well you glide through the action believing the context, like watching a 'Trek' or 'Wars' film in your mind. The final thread of Storm really grabs your imagination at what-if levels. It's apparent that this 'Verge'Novel from William Keith Jr., at Wizards of the Coast isn't the last one in this series or his next, and hopefully it won't take long to arrive. A Book from the Fraal point-of view would be a nice addition to the Verge series. Telepath novels are great conduits for secondary threads in a story and this one is no exception. Looking for a good, solid, fast read...? Enjoy this one as soon as you see it!

I strongly recommend this book over the big book by Moore. This book (Essentials) contains all the most important information you need to know about the systems. It is thorough and straight to the point.

This book seemed like a nice quick read, but I found it rather insufficient for my anatomy course. The big Moore is much more elaborate and better suited for medical student. I ended up buying the the big Moore instead, which was great for thorax, abdomen, and pelvis. I wouldn't recommend it for head and neck or limbs--Snell's Clinical Anatomy for Medical Students is much better for that. Having both Moore and Snell is a lot of books, but it was well worth it for me.

This text provides basically the same info as the big Moore book but is much easier to carry around and read through.

This is what you should read for medical school anatomy. I started our reading big Moore and discovered that it is quite wordy and slow to read. Overall not an efficient way to learn or use precious study time. This condensed version contains most of the information in big Moore. It has illustrations, tables, and clinical correlations. I switched my study method to reading this book (baby Moore) from cover to cover and studying it in detail. I then used big Moore as a reference for additional details and would skim big Moore and note things that seemed of possible importance not included in baby Moore. You can then use Netter, Grant, and/or Rohen atlases as a supplement.

Why I hate the Book:
1. The text is often painful to read. I remember I once spent half an hour on just 1 page full of text because it was so boring. Some of it is still "too much" for a med student to know casually, but you'll probably feel guilty if you don't read it.
2. The Text, Figures, and Blue Boxes are scattered, so you constantly half to flip the page to see what the text is referring too. This gets highly irritating.
3. If you've had no previous exposure to anatomy (like me) this text has no mercy and forces you to catch up to speed on your own.
4. It's a horrible book to study from, class notes and other resources are better
5. Much of the book was spent defining the minutiae of the specific local anatomy and there was no appreciation for the "awesomeness" of anatomy, which added an aura of tediousness to the book instead of appreciation.

The reason why the book managed to get 2 stars in my rating

1. There were abundant clinical correlation blue boxes which saved my sanity (although the depth of these blue boxes was very superficial--they are going for breadth not depth).
2. Some of the information is of relatively high quality
3. Chapter 9 on Cranial Nerves is actually pretty good/helpful/high yield.

If you can avoid this book, I would. Instead I'd suggest going with something like Gray's Anatomy for students which has gotten great reviews and doesn't look as painful as ECA.

a sure cure for insomnia. It took a committee to produce this?

Hilariously written, entertaining, and somehow plausible, this story is much better than the one borrowed... er... written for a movie with a similar plot. The authors obviously had a great working relationship with Keith's technical mastery and humor paired with Jurasik's Hollywood insight. If you like humorous sci-fi and fantasy a la Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, this is a must-read!

After a slightly slow start this book takes off making a lot off fun of those who believe in vice all knowing super intelligent aliens. Also one gets a bit of a hilarious alien perspective of our world, i.e. those who like to see a litle fun being made of Hollywood may get a few laughs. In addition, those believing in alien conspiracies get to know one thing that these bigheaded, bigeyed, small, gray ones ultimately may be doing over here.

Since I like both the authors I decidec to pick up this book. Despite a somewhat slow beginning, this was an excellent book. The wonderfully thoughtout alien that is just not a human in an alien suit is a William H. Keith hallmark. Delightful Alien aliens make this book a keeper. The advanced technology is not used as a crutch to cover a lack of story. This book gets better the second time around, and I found things that I missed the first go 'round. While somewhat implausable, the suspension of disbelief is complete, and you find yourself identifying with the various aliens in this hilarious romp through Hollywood's darker side. Well worth the price.

I'm a fan of Sci-Fi, although not particularly interested in Babylon5. But Pete's an old friend so I thought I'd give his book a try. It takes a little while to get started, but it's great entertainment once you do. The Hollywood and standard space alien cliches are wonderful targets for satire. What emerges is a warm and amusing story. The alien-on-earth and human-in-space storylines were juggled very well. I really had a great time with this one. Way to go, Pete!

Am reading the first and second books in this trilogy for about the third time. They both get better with every read. When will the third one be out? I anxiously await it. Quinn Yarbro looks at vampirism from a different angle than Ann Rice. Excellent read no matter how many times you read them.

I have to agree with one of the other reviews. This was a good book, but not as interesting as the first and certainly not of the caliber you'd expect if you're a CQY fan.

i loved the first novel in this series when i was seventeen...i loved this one almost as much when i was 19, now i'm 25 and dying to read the third and final novel in this series which she seems to have choosen not to write, which is a shame, beacause these novels are fluid and beautiful....

I was really looking forward to this book, having enjoyed "The Angry Angel" quite a bit. However, this second volume in the series defintely lags behind Yarbo's initial offering.

She spends the first several chapters telling us in many different ways what we already know: that the heroine, Fenice, is bored and frustrated with her life of Venetian privilege and yearning for adventure on the high seas and elsewhere. Enough, already! Let's cut to the chase! But no - these points are belaboured for a while longer; her disapproving family, her boring fiance, her desire to postpone marriage for as long as possible, etc. etc. etc.

In contrast to "The Angry Angel," for most of this book Dracula is basically absent. There seems to be little real connection between him and Fenice, and little reason for one. Unlike Kelene who was trapped in a situation of dire poverty and physical danger, Fenice is in the lap of luxury. How many people in real life are desperate to flee lives of privilege for the squalor and "adventure" of street-life? This motivation is not realistic.

Finally over halfway through the book things begin to pick up, but by this time finishing the book is an act of will. My ennui was completed by the discovery that Kelene, the heroine of the first novel, has somehow morphed from a wise-beyond-her-years, interesting teenager to a spoiled, petulant brat. What?!

Let's hope the heroine of book 3, whoever she might be, realizes there's more than enough of Dracula to go around.

Fenice is the second virgin that Dracula decides to seduce and bring back to his castle for companionship or maybe for the amusement that the rivalry between her and the first virgin Kelene produces. Fenice having been brought up as a wealthy young maid has had a different background than Kelene, but after the initial battles for Draculas favor, Kelene uses her superior mind to form a truce with Kelene. Very good book. Can't wait for number three. Despite the need for feeding, for blood, a true rivalry and believable relationships ring true.

It's a complicated book and it forces you to follow a line of order and one of the advantages of this game is that you can make your story

Riven was a super challenge and I hate cheating. This book was so awesome because it gave you ONLY the help you wanted when(if) you get to the point that you get really stuck. It is well divided so you don't see clues/info that would give away something that you didn't want to know. These people should get hired to write solution books for all the top games!It keeps you from being tempted to cheat because it is so well written & laid out. A true asset to the game of Riven! Honest!!

I liked the pictures and the walkthrough and all the other things in the game, but in some real important places it "failed me". I couldn't understand how it meant to enter the number into the domes or the star fissure portal and had to figure it out myself.

I liked the format of the book, with different chapters that gave either subtle hints or full solutions. It says right at the beginning of a chapter what type of hints are in the chapter. The only chapter I was dissapointed in was the "Journal" walkthrough chapter. In the Myst Strategy Guide, it had headings over each section, so if you only wanted help on a certain puzzle, it was easy to get it. The Riven book doesn't have headings, so when you glance through, looking for the right place, you see the solutions to other puzzles you don't want help on. Other than this, it's a great book.

I couldn't of done better without it.The book makes you witness stuning graphics and exelent sound.Riven fans that cannot get anywhere without this book,this one is for you.

Okay, I'm a sucker for anything with the Gray Death Legion in it. I've always like Grayson and his band and even the totally formula routine of betrayal, overwelming odds, and final triumph, didn't ruin the fun for me. I must admit that the plot is the same basic one used in the first two books in this trilogy (Decision at Thunder Rift, and Mercenary's Star) but it contains some key elements that are fundamental to how the Inner Sphere "finds" the scientific breakthroughs brought about by Hanse Davion in later Battletech books.

The problem I have with this book is a continuity problem that leaves a hole in the plot you could fly a jumpship through. Ricol had a company of Battlemechs with him, clearly discussed when he and Grayson decide to cooperate and try to retrieve the Star League weapons cache. But in the final showdown when the Gray Death has its back to the wall, outgunned and facing a numerically superior foe, those 12 Mechs would have made all the difference in the world. But to make the final battle more "skin of the teeth" Keith reworks the plot and suddenly Ricol has no battlemechs with no explanation where they went. This error is really annoying but what can you do. Long live the Gray Death!

This book is nice, the action parts are good, but AGAIN? Once more Carlyle is betrayed, once more the Legion suffers, once more they lose their dropships, once more they face unsurmountable odds, just like in " Decision at Thunder Rift" and "Mercenary's Star".

The Gray Death Legion has just finished a year-long campaign for House Marik, but when they return home, they find their reputations destroyed. Accused of killing twelve million civilians, the Legion must prove themselves innocent of the heinous crime. Pursued by the enemy, the Legion flees. In order to survive, they must trust Grayson Death Carlyle's nemesis, Duke Hassid Ricol. The discovery of a Star League treasure raises the stakes, with the victor claiming the spoils, and the loser claiming their graves. Will the Legion survive? I found this book to be interesting, and this new chapter into the Gray Death was very informative. Unfortunately, this book was unable to win a perfect score because of a few dragging parts. This book may be a bad investment for those who have never read a Battletech novel, as there is little to no introduction about the world of 31st century combat, or the history of the wars that grip the Inner Sphere. But if you're a Battletech fan, you won't be disappointed. The interesting story, subplots, and brilliant depiction of the Gray Death will make you put this novel on a bookshelf for treasured finds. A must-read!