Reviews Books

If you call yourself a Janeite then you must have this book! It is a great recipe book from the period with many that can be easily reproduced in your own kitchen! (How better to experience the times than to try to recreate a touch of it?) The commentary is interesting and useful and each author, I find, sheds some light on the life and times of Jane in a way that no one else has quite managed, and Ms. Black is no exception. I am just beginning my culinary jaunts using recipes from this book, and I have already highlighted a great deal of "Must tries". If you like cooking, experimenting in your kitchen, vintage recipes, or JA herself, you will truly appreciate this book!
Linore Rose Burkard
Author, Before the Season Ends
(A Regency Romance)

While this cookbook may not be exactly suited to the demands of every day dinner making, it does serve as a great lesson in early 19th century custom and way of life. The recipes it contains are fun as well as elegant, and many of them are taken right from the pages of EMMA, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and the rest of the Austen classics. Most of the ingredients are simple and relatively easy to find, and you'll find that making Mrs. Norris' Strawberry Creme Pudding is worth every effort. So, put on some Madrigal music, don a linen frock and your best English country accent and fall into the real world of Austen-- as only food can create it!

I haven't tried any recipe yet, but any Jane Austen's reader will enjoy such a fun way to get into her world. It's a good reading and I hope it'll be practical too.

This cookbook is charming. It has useful recipes in it, along with modern-day interpretations of the recipes, and interesting stories about food. It even explains how people preserved and bought food in Jane Austen's day. That is quite interesting, I love to learn more about lifestyles in different historical eras. It's not only a cookbook, it's a history book. It's worth it, you won't be disappointed!

This is a lovely and shortish introduction to cooking and culture of eating and entertaining for the late Georgian period when Austen was alive. I loved the fact that this was about cooking and eating rather than some of the less universally approachable subjects (letters, literary criticism). Maggie Black and Deidre Le Faye have both written Jane Austen style and culture type books before so both understand the period and are able to draw on a large resource of appropriate information.

The introduction is very much about how people ate - what was available, how it got to houses, and why this was so. There is some division by class (upper class, middle class and lower class are all discussed) but also the divisions by Geography - whether coastal with access to fresh fish, or inland - how food was transported, and even in terms of access to market towns. Even 5 miles away was almost impossible for those trying to get up a dinner from 'scratch' so to speak if someone was coming around.

The introduction also talks about the types of food and dishes which were eaten, and that the whole culture of dining was completely different. Not only were meal times different, but how they dined. The explanations are simple and there is good use of quoted material throughout, the diaries and letters of the time providing a strong and occassionally humourous voice.

Where possible leFaye and Black have used diaries and 'receipts' from Austen's friends and family and point out that in the days before recipe books were published these books of receipts would be handed down from mother to daughter and one family's speciality would be renowned - they were truly heirlooms.

The last section of the book is a collection of recipes - these are taken from books of reciepts. The original receipt is usually fairly interpretative, that is the measurements are not generally noted, nor how to put them together or cook them. So there has been experimentation and the recipe is re-written with the details put in. These essentail details would have been handed down in a practical manner, but in the days before temperature gauges you would have needed to rely on simple temperature variations, quick, moderate and slow oven to dictate just when to cook it.

Most of these recipes are actually very useable for today - they don't have many potted meats, but mostly roasted meats, cakes, egg dishes and still room crafts. There are some things we dont' see these days like Syllabub - which is quite tasty

There are other books of this kind around - Margeretta Ackworth's cookbook for instance, which is interesting too - but I would recommend this is a good modern cookbook and an interesting historical look at the culture of food in this period.

This book is perhaps the most elaborate statement of general living systems theory yet to be written. Not recommended for those not well versed in both systems terminology and biological concepts. However, if you are adept in these areas, you will be rewarded with incredible insights.

Despite this is a book with an enormous and difficult text, since the very first chapter it enlightens the most basic message: that sciences, and knowledge, can be integrated, in a sort of unified theory, the "general theory of living systems", as the author puts it. And it does; since I began to understand the hole thing, it really makes me easier to think, and to view the world, like somekind of natural phylosophy, or organic phylosophy. It's really helpfull. (My email is galfroid@hotmail.com)

Although reading such a long book in its entirety seems at first measure a daunting task (and one that few people's academic credentials hold up to....), readers daring enough to try are pretty well rewarded across the whole of this book. This book is an introduction to systems theory (i.e. that the result of a conglomeration of small scale processes can be seen to accumulate into larger, predictable processes at macro levels, similar to how a person who makes individual knots can end up with a rug...) that straddles the mark from physics to political economy (which is running far indeed!!!)

This is a really big book besides having a lot of pages, and I have a hunch that not too many people are going to buy it outside of researchers or university librarians. But, I suppose, if you're either of these (though if one were going to research they'd probably look to a sucession of smaller books, no?) I'd buy this book.... your collection would be enriched through having it....

This is the Bible on the living systems we see around us in today's world. Years ago, a reviewer described Miller's theory as "fundamental yet capable of elaboration in great detail." No one has explained it better.

Here Miller lays out 19 processes which every living system needs to perform in order to compete and survive; eight processes for information, nine processes for matter and energy, and two processes for both. Miller also sees that there are billions and billions of different kinds of living systems in the world from microscopic cells to international organizations. So, he has categorized them into seven levels from the simplest and tiniest to the most complex and largest. And, he frequently makes interesting comparisons across these different levels.

Miller weaves volumes of information about the life sciences into his theory, particularly the biology of evolution. The concept of "emergence" appears to be its bedrock. New characteristics emerge as living systems become more complex, miraculously it would seem. In that sense, the book appears to be a detailed proof of Aristotle's famous conclusion that "the whole is more than the sum of its parts."

Many readers of this book have described it as a reference book, which it is. But, that description sells the book too short. Miller's prose is graceful and readable. I would say this book is enjoyable and well worth reading even if you have only enough time to read one chapter.

Two interesting companions to Living Systems would be Kevin Kelly's Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and Economic Order and also Ruppert Sheldrake's Morphic Resonance: The Habits of Nature. It might be said that Living Systems is a sequel to Alfred North Whitehead's famous book Process and Reality.

Don't let the size of this book stop you from exploring it. The author has designed the book so it (slowly) reveals itself, working from basic concepts of how dynamic systems work through levels of biological and social complexity. It is a brilliant work, a must for anyone involved in any sort of analytical work. It is one of the most important books of the 20th century and, if attention is paid, will be an important guidebook to the 21st.

To see more of Miller's work and its implications, see the web site Principia Cybernetica.

Years ago, I stumbled across a book by Edward Eager (Knight's Castle, I believe). This guy wrote books for his children when he ran out of E. Nesbit stories to read to them. So, I discovered E. Nesbit through Edward Eager. When I started reading her, it rapidly became clear that many of my favorite authors were likely influenced by her, so when I found a book that I had not read yet, I was excited.

It's good. It's not as good as her more famous books, and it does not age well. However, there is more creativity in this work than in anything of hers that I have read. Sadly, I'm also older now, and was able to see things in this book that I would not have noticed when I was younger.

The story introduces two children who are forced to live together when their caretakers marry. (Unlike The Ogre Downstairs, I don't find fault with this plot device because the book is set around 1900. Culture was quite different then.) The girl (Lucy) quite likes the boy (Phillip), but he does not return her affection because he's upset that his life has changed. This continues when they both get magically sucked into a world that was created when Phillip built a city out of various things around the house.

This is where it gets difficult to read, due to cultural differences. See, the city is populated by the toys that the boy used to build the city. Additionally, the things in the books that he used for walls sometimes come out. So, there are a LOT of references to toys and educational materials that simply aren't common any longer. However, her writing more than makes up for the cultural divide. I am going to share some with you. If you do not wish the spoilers, buy it and read it yourself.


'I was about to tell you,' said Mr. Noah, 'and I will not answer questions. Of course it is magic. Everything in the world is magic, until you understand it.
(Mr. Noah is a character from the Noah's Ark toy set.)


'Because,' he said, 'I'm more likely to meet Lucy. Girls always keep to paths. They never explore.'

Which just shows how little he knew about girls.
(This is after Philip loses Lucy due to a strange series of circumstances.)


'But laws can't be useful and beautiful, can they?'

'They can certainly be useful,' said Mr. Noah, 'and,' he added with modest pride, 'my laws are beautiful. What do you think of this? "Everybody must try to be kind to everybody else. Any one who has been unkind must be sorry and say so."'
(Mr. Noah is also the Chief Judge, so he gets to make the laws.)


'Is it something we shall be afraid of too?' Lucy asked. And Philip at once said, 'Oh, then she really did mean to come, did she? But she wasn't to if she was afraid. Girls weren't expected to be brave.'

'They are, here,' said Mr. Noah, 'the girls are expected to be brave and the boys kind.'
(That fact that I grew up reading stuff like this goes a long way to explain my attitudes towards gender, I suppose.)


The sun was shining--there was a sun, and Mr. Noah had told the children that it came out of the poetry books, together with rain and flowers and the changing seasons--and in spite of the strange, almost-tumble-no-it's-all-right-but-you'd-better-look-out way in which the camel walked, the two travellers were very happy. The dogs bounded along in the best of spirits, and even the camel seemed less a prey than usual to that proud melancholy which you must have noticed in your visits to the Zoo as his most striking quality.
(It's true, camels are quite mournful beasts. I'll try to take photos for you some time.)


'Oh, anybody can steer then,' said Billy; 'you if you like.' So it was Lucy who steered the ark into harbour, under Mr. Noah's directions. Arks are very easy to steer if you only know the way. Of course arks are not like other vessels; they require neither sails nor steam engines, nor oars to make them move. The very arkishness of the ark makes it move just as the steersman wishes. He only has to say 'Port,' 'Starboard,' 'Right ahead,' 'Slow' and so on, and the ark (unlike many people I know) immediately does as it is told.
(I probably picked up my proclivity for parentheticals from E. Nesbit as well. Oh, and who can not bask in the awesomeness that is the word "arkishness"?)


* * * * * *

I'm sorry this chapter is cut up into bits with lines of stars, but stars are difficult to avoid when you have to tell about a lot of different things happening all at once. That is why it is much better always to keep your party together if you can. And I have allowed mine to get separated so that Philip, the parrot and the rest of the company are going through three sets of adventures all at the same time. This is most trying for me, and fully accounts for the stars. Which I hope you'll excuse. However.
(Nothing special to say here. I'm just going to let the beauty of that paragraph stand on its own.)


'The more a present costs you, the more it's worth,' said Mr. Noah. 'This has cost you so much, it's the most splendid present in the world.'
(Look, a moral lesson - just hiding in there waiting to jump out at the unwary reader.)


'Oh, dear,' said Lucy despairingly, 'aren't there any women here? They always have more sense than men.'

'What you say is rude as well as untrue,' said the red leader; 'but to avoid fuss we will lead you and your fierce dog to the huts of the women. And then perhaps you will allow us to go to sleep.'
(More gender-preconception correction. Also, note the presence of "red leader". George Lucas must have read E. Nesbit as well.)


So there you go, excellent writing and a story about creativity, magic and the imagination. How can you go wrong?

Well, you can make reference to numerous things that are no longer commonplace (Noah's Ark set, motor veils, white dominoes, draughts, blotting pads, lead soldiers, wooden dollhouse food, etc). You can also casually accept the fact that, at that time, there was a strict social hierarchy in England and only address this book to young children of the upper class. (This is very slightly addressed in the end, but not by much.) Oh, and you can suggest that it's a good idea for children to lick lead paint off of wooden toys.

However, if you can accept the book as a product of its time, and one that did try to address inequality and prejudice, just not everywhere, it's a very enjoyable read. I burst out laughing several times (especially at the end, which I shan't spoil for you). If you like reading children's stories, it's a delight. If you have children, this would be a good read-aloud book. It's not a good children's read-on-your-own book, because of the cultural differences.

I'd give this book six stars, but E. Nesbit already did

I loved this book as a child and still read it from time to time now. I think children who like to create imaginary worlds with their toys will enjoy this book.

Edith Nesbit is one of the most imaginitive children's writers around - and she's been around for a hundred years!

This is her best book. A boy dreams and finds himself in an equally real world, made up of the pretend cities he's made while awake.

I read The Magic City back in 1989 and spent years searching in second hand books stores for my own copy until I tracked it down on amazon.com!

Years before I even heard of Harry Potter, my mother picked up the 1910 Macmillan hardcover version of this book at a garage sale for a mere fifty cents. (Imagine, a turn-of-the-century copy of a great book for fifty cents!) At first I was put off by its volume (333 pages with illustrations) but I managed to lap up every last word of it...about seven times, I think.

Philip Haldane, our hero, and his half-sister Helen are orphans. Helen has been Philip's sister, teacher and playmate for what seemed like all his life, and there wasn't a shadow of a doubt in his mind that this would go on for ever; he wanted it to. But the unimaginable happens -- Helen marries and goes honeymooning around Europe, leaving Philip at his new residence, friendless and bitter. But soon his new, seemingly dreary life is changed by his embarking on an exciting adventure, so splendid and picturesque that he never would have dreamed that he had built it with his own hands. You see, Philip had always played building games, and he built not with plain old building blocks but with...well, everything -- everything from ink-wells to bronze Egyptian figurines! And it was while he was in the depths of his misery and pining harder than ever to see his sister again that he, the Creator, discovered it -- his Magic City -- and its delightful secrets.

Now, to look at it from a Harry Potter fan's viewpoint. I shouldn't be giving any clues, you really should have read this book at least once before comparing it with HP, but I'll just say...Philip is of course the Harry Potter of this book, but he is also the Ron Weasley because of his initial malice towards his new stepsister, Lucy -- the Hermoine Granger of this book. The Grey Nurse is the Snape/Malfoy/Voldermort figure of this book. The Great Sloth is rather like Scabbers, and Polly is somewhat Hedwig-like. And Mr. Noah is almost EXACTLY like Professor Dumbledore; if you look at the part of the book when he goes to visit the prison, you'll know what I mean :)

If that still doesn't grab the average Potter fan's attention, how about this: J.K. Rowling favours E. Nesbit as one of her must-reads! Enjoy...

More than a quarter of a century ago my sisters and I were captivated by E. Nesbit, and particularly by THE MAGIC CITY. Long unavailable (I have scoured used book shops and the Net for copies for various children) it is great to have it easily available once more. I am happy to report that my own daughter was as taken with it as her aunts and I a generation earlier, and like us she at once began building magic cities of her own. I realize that I risk the wrath of Potterites everywhere, but I suspect that in a hundred years children and their parents will still be enjoying The Magic City while Harry is at most the subject of earnest dissertations on odd trends in the early 21st century. If you have a spark of imagination and an eager child handy, grab this book.

when i finished this book, i just wrote 'the great book' on its first page... it was very helpful to build up my historical and economical knowledge.(but it's not boring. rather the author has some sense of humor)
and you can find some kind explanations and illustrations of the writer for your better understanding within pages... i would recommend this book for high school students or freshman students of college.

The late Leo was a master of popularization. He makes the "dull" topic of economic history and theory come alive! A real Marxist classic, even though his chapter on "Russia Has a Plan" is sketchy and weak. He's too uncritical of Stalin. He should have read Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed." But he does give us a wealth of valuable information and theory. E.g., "The Church taught that there was a right and wrong in ALL man's activities... [Nowadays] a manufacturer will do anything in his power to squeeze out his competitor... St. Thomas Aquinas, the greatest of the religious thinkers of the MiddleAges, condemned the 'lust for gain'... Traders were denied the right to get more out of a transaction than would pay them for their labor." (p.40) Complex material is simplified so that it is very easy reading. History has always been the strong suit for Marxists!

In this fantastic well written book, history is made easy to understand. Forget school books, the old pedantic approach. Leo Huberman has a way to make the reader understand the changes that occur in the world and be interesting and amusing at the same time. I read it while at school and when my daughter was studying the subject at high school I gave a copy to the school library. Needless to say that it was photocopied by the teacher and given as a compusory reading to all school students. Great book. One of the gems of the century!

How com that the moviestar never pay the cabdriver? Where did royalties get their fortune?, from heaven? Huberman explain in a very simple way how the great fortunes where made. How it come to be that the existing economic system come to happen. He point out the actual facts of where welth were created and who rely did it.

Leo Huberman's masterpiece is a fantastic work, unfortunately out of print abroad but published in India and available in select bookstores.

In an age where belief in the Left is scorned and the free market rules supreme, this book is as relevant as ever, reminding one of the perils that can arise when a market is too free.

Huberman explains economics in its historical background and shows the user the reason why he is against free markets.

A valuable work from a brilliant American economist! His bibliography is also excellent

This book is still available in India!

I find this book beats FA hands down. The material is orgnaized in logical manner and goes through each science for every system. It has more pictures and explanations than FA which I thought was a jumble of information. It also has a lot of COLOR images, which FA lacks. It has some information that FA doesn't have and vice-versa. Really, get it and FA both before the start of year 2 (or earlier) add notes in it as needed. If I had to choose just one of the two books, I would go with this one.

Medessentials is a great book. Slightly more detailed with better charts compared to First Aid. Both books though have information not contained in the other, while a large majority is in both. I would recommend any first years considering books for studying for Step 1 for their second year to consider buying this and using both First Aid and Medessentials together (annotating 1 or both of them) as you go through your courses/review throughout the year making the 4-8wks/study before boards easier.

I have to disagree with the reader who gave this book one star review. This is a REVIEW book, not a text book. It's true all the tables, diagrams and illustrations come from Kaplan lecture note(the note alone sell for $600, you may get them used from ebay for $300), but medessential picked out only the highest yield material from these notes to include in this comprehensive review book. I only studied Kaplan and Goljan patho and got 234(98)(I will try to upload my score sheet here). I didn't like FA myself, b/c it's too boring and it's just piles of disorganized facts, there is no comparison like Kaplan did.

I suggest you visit your local Barnes and noble to read this book first before making the purchase and see if it suit your style.

I graduated from medical school 13 years ago from another country, just passed my step 1 last year, Kaplan and Goljan definitely are critical to my success.

Good luck for your boards!

The book was wonderful for a quick Anatomy, Embryo, Histo, Phys and Biochem review. Basically it's good for everything but Path. And lets face it - most of us use Goljan Rapid Review for that. If you have used or like the Kaplan lecture series books, this will work for you. Its a high yield review of lecture material in Kaplan mainly in chart format. Its main advantage over FA is the use of pictures that help to illustrate the anatomy and embryology. I love it and have pushed FA2008 aside in favor of this book. In quick review - you WILL need a different Path review book, but this is more detailed and better as a high yield review of general info!

THIS IS THE BEST AND MOST COMPLETE BOOK YOU WILL EVER NEED TO PREPARE FOR USMLE STEP 1!!! FOR THOSE WHO NEED A GRRRREAT REVIEW BOOK FOR STEP 1. YOU ARE GOING TO SHOT YOURSELF IN THE FOOT IF YOU DON'T BUY THIS..IT SHOULD BE WITH YOU WHEN YOU ARE IN BASICS!! IMMERSE YOURSELF IN THE BOOK LEARN IT LOVE IT UNDERSTAND IT!!! I GUARANTEE YOU WILL RAISE YOUR SCORE!!!!
I AM 100% CONFIDENT ABOUT THIS BOOK AND HOW GREAT IT IS!!! BUY IT!!!!
ITS A MUST!!!!

Yes first aid is there but it doesn't cover the depths of Medessential..The uniqueness about KAPLAN MEDESSENTIALS is that it goes by organ system. IT starts with the Embryo, and finishes up the chapter with Pharm and Path!!!

It is the complete thing!!! And No I don't work for Kaplan, I just had the pleasure to use this book for step 1. I was blown away with how it fit the real style of USMLE!!!

I wish I had it when I was in basics, because it helps draw out the most important facts that are a must for step 1 instead of bombarding your head with useless facts.
Thank you KAPLAN!!

The image of the warrior women has been a staple of the movies almost from the beginning. Scantly clad, or perhaps in a skin tight suit, these women have fought the bad guys (or been the bad girl) in movie after movie. Here is a profusely illustrated (400+ pictures) description of the female in some 150 (many not well known) films. Here is Wonder Woman and Batgirl, Princess Leah and lots of pictures of Xena.

Along with the pictures is a discussion of warrior women in history, myth and literature, and a from this a discussion of how they have been portrayed in film over the past forty years or so.

This is a discussion of an aspect of pop-culture that has not been covered very well in the literature. It's most interesting to see this aspect of films covered in a serious way. And the ways that the depiction has changed over the years.

Co-authored and compiled by Hollywood film experts Dominique Mainon and James Ursini, The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women On-Screen is a profusely illustrated compendium of the actresses and the roles they played as fighters, warriors, and combatants in the past fifty years of filmmaking. Ranging from iconic image of Raquel Welch in the prehistoric adventure fantasy "One Million Years BC"; to Pam Grier as the first African-American woman in such films as "Coffy", "Foxy Brown", and "Sheba, Baby"; to Lucy Lawless' six-season portrayal of "Xena: Warrior Princess"; to Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft in two "Tomb Raider" movies; to Sigourney Weaver as Ripley in the sci-fi "Alien" adventures, to the women who have played vampire slayers, superheroes (and villains), as well as assorted television, cartoon, comics, and video game fighter characters in the various movie action/adventure genres. The Modern Amazons is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended addition to personal, film school, and community library Film Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

This is really a fun book to look through...lots of photos and interesting history on the development of 'power girls' in TV and film. It covers old TV shows (Sheena, Queen of the Jungle), movies (One Millions Years BC) all the way up to 'Kill Bill' and 'Xena, Warrior Princess.' An illustrated filmography and alphabetical list of warrior women finish off the book. In some ways, this is more of a 'guys' book - chock full of scantily clad women. But interesting nonetheless. Also Fun to see how each decade's fashion/style influeneced the wonder-woman look. Female superheroes were definitely a little meatier back in the day.

After briefly citing some references to women warriors in ancient mythology and history, the authors with broad backgrounds in film studies and popular culture note their book does not speculate "about the possible existence of Amazon women in the past, but rather document[s] the proliferation of the warrior woman archetype in popular culture, film and television in particular." An encyclopedic filmography and another back section on women warrior movies and television series records the varieties of this proliferation. Used loosely, the term woman warrior encompasses not only women warriors like men soldiers, but also women detectives, science-fiction characters, prehistoric humans, cowgirls, spies, martial arts experts, athletes (e. g., "Million Dollar Baby"), and more or less ordinary women who at moments accomplish extraordinary feats such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Though such extraordinary women characters transgressing the conventional image of women can be found in films from its beginning in the early 1900s, the overwhelming majority are from the post-WWII years with the numbers of films increasing exponentially in recent years as gender roles have weakened and popular interest in the potentials for women has grown. The approach is to classify the categories of "warrior women" and discuss the women characters and the films or TV shows in each category. Like the term "warrior women" itself, the categories are loose. But the aim is not strict definition, rather recognition of the expansion and diversity of this genre involving unconventional, in many cases quite imaginative women characters. Photographs on almost every page picture the women in their various costumes or engaged in their exploits.

What this fun, engaging book lacks in depth, it makes up for in breadth. I did not find this especially helpful in gaining a deeper understanding of the changing roles that strong female characters have been playing in popular culture in the past several decades, but no book I know can match it for its range and scope. I've done a great deal of reading about women in the movies and on TV, but this books goes way beyond that to show how women have appeared in a vast array of media during recent years. I give the book 4 stars instead of less simply because it provides an incredible services by calling attention to strong women in a number of areas that have been neglected in previous surveys. Nonetheless, I think the book can at best serve as a jumping off point for further work. But by helping map out the areas where strong women can be discerned is an invaluable service. It was very close to being a near complete cataloging of the most important female figures in popular media. There were a few minor omissions, but as far as I can tell only one major one: the inexplicable failure to mention FARSCAPE, the show above all others that not only features multiple strong female characters but places these in a non-patriarchal universe. No show I know engages gender issues so interestingly and few female characters on TV are as pertinent to the authors' discussion as Claudia Black's character Aeryn Sun.

This is also one of the more lavishly illustrated books that you can ever hope to own. There are photos on nearly every page of the book, many of them full page.

There are, however, a number of problems with the book. First, the sheer breadth means that nothing can be discussed in much depth. I was ecstatic when the authors bring up Third Wave Feminism (many TV critics look at shows like BUFFY or DARK ANGEL and describe them as post-feminist, when in fact they are better understood in the light of the Third Wave), but not much more than that is done with it. Still, kudos for bringing that up at all! More troubling is the utter lack of critical distinction in bringing up all the various "Amazons." The brute fact is that many of the shows and movies mentioned are just flat out awful. CHARMED is discussed as well as BUFFY, with no indication that CHARMED is critically reviled while BUFFY is by consensus one of the masterpieces of television. BLADE: TRINITY, ELEKTRA, and CATWOMAN are mixed in with THELMA AND LOUISE and BLADE RUNNER, with no mention that the first three were universally trashed. There is a long discussion of Linda Carter's turn as WONDER WOMAN, but no mention that 1) the show is bad and 2) Wonder Woman on the show is distressingly subservient to men and spends most of her time trying to make her boss look good. I can fully understand a discussion of Xena in a book like this, but there is no acknowledgment that the show has always been a cult favorite, but has been universally considered a not very good show, while she doesn't by contrast bring up the enormous critical acclaim of BUFFY, ALIAS, and BATTLESTAR GALACTICA.

Finally, there is that term "Amazon." The book wants to celebrate the various warrior women in popular culture, but roping the majority of the women into that category is a bit of a stretch. I absolutely love Emma Peel in THE AVENGERS, but I have a lot of trouble viewing her under either the category of a warrior woman or an Amazon. A very strong female character? Absolutely. But I think the book stretches conceptual categories a bit more broadly than is advisable.

Nonetheless, I definitely recommend the book. The panoramic scope outweighs weaknesses. At the very least it has mapped out the terrain to be explored in any discovery of strong female characters in popular culture.

This book is magnificent! It's wonderful to read & the photos are fantastic! This is the perfect gift for both movie-loving adults & kids who will be transfixed by the almost full-page photos! Zach Zito, Michael Lederman & Mel Neuhaus have crafted a perfect homage to most of the greatest movie monsters...They immediately remind you of why you loved the films you've seen and entice you to watch the films that you haven't seen yet! I can only hope that the authors will publish more books like this, in the future!

It is obvious that Zach Zito has thoroughly researched this subject and he knows it well! The pictures are classics and evoke great memories of unforgettable monster movie moments! The behind the scenes facts and trivia will more than satisfy all you classic monster movie fans. Keep on writing Zach! We're looking forward to your next one!

It is obvious that Zach Zito has thoroughly researched this subject and he knows it well! The pictures are classics and evoke great memories of unforgettable monster movie moments! The behind the scenes facts and trivia will more than satisfy all you classic monster movie fans. Keep on writing Zach! We're looking forward to your next one!

Zito, Neuhaus and Lederman have written a book with beautiful photos and graphics and lots of fun facts for classic film fans. It is very entertaining and the film synopses are detailed enough to please hard-core film buffs, yet straightforward enough for novices. The authors obvious love for their subject is infectious.

It is obvious that Zach Zito has thoroughly researched this subject and he knows it well! The pictures are classics and evoke great memories of unforgettable monster movie moments! The behind the scenes facts and trivia will more than satisfy all you classic monster movie fans. Keep on writing Zach! We're looking forward to your next one!

This is the best, most extensive book on Native American crafts for children I have ever seen. Teachers doing a unit on Native Americans will find this book a tremendous resource for creating all kinds of not authentic, but good semblances of Native American crafts. Using mostly ordinary materials, there's enough here that you can create a classroom museum and invite others to see it. In your display you can have: miniature teepees and wigwams, an "adobe" house, pottery, "bark" boxes (made of brown paper), chamois and bead pouch, coup stick, breechcloth, leggings, grass anklets (made of yarn), warbonnet, headband, breastplate, and much more. These clothing items can also be used in a play or other enactment. In addition, there are some interesting recipes, including: corn soup, steamed clover, fried squash blossoms, roasted pumpkin seeds, and other more familiar foods.

In planning Native American Stand for a day camp...this book is awesome. Has wonderful games, crafts, foods etc and it breaks it down into which tribe was known for each...very educational and a wonderful resource.

I am a K teacher and I found this book a great resource for my Native American unit. It has so many activities for that could be used at any grade level! I learned many new things and loved that the children were making and learning about actual Native American games, garb and food. They loved it!

This was the most valuable toolwe found to help my 3rd grader make her diarama herself. The directions are clear and simple, she was able to build evereything herself. A MOst, Great!

More than Moccasins is this homeschooler's dream come true. Homeschooling a six year old, who is also a very hands-on learner, this book fits the bill. Each section, from Indian dwellings to pottery to traditional games, has activities that are fun and EASY TO DO! Very general household items can be turned into bakeable clay for pottery, teepees, etc. So many books with crafts require tedious materials that are difficult or cumbersome to obtain. Plus each section has a bit of information and history on that particular area of Native American culture ~ short enough for the younger set but detailed enough to provide accurate historical information to go along with the project. There are MORE activities, games, crafts and recipes than you could ever do in an entire unit. This is a book I will return to over and over. GREAT JOB!

This book was actually fun to read, the scenarios were challenging, and made you really think about patho-phys. The situations were not the "typical" EMS scenarios, to be honest, some of them were rather difficult and complex. As a review for the NEMT-P test (I took my re-test two weeks later), I am not so sure of its value. The NREMT-P test tended to be very detail oriented and about "what step comes next", while this book tends to be "big picture". A great education tool for any level paramedic, but should be used an an adjunct to another testing review source.

This book offered a good review of each chapter and had multiple case studies after each review. A great buy!!

This book is written in a case study format that helps practicing paramedics and paramedic students focus on the presenting signs and symptoms of various illnesses and injuries. In addition to that, each case is followed by a number of questions that one can use to study each illness or injury that is covered in the text. Having been a practicing paramedic for almost a decade, I have found that this book is a great way to refresh some of the "not so common" things we in EMS may be called upon to see in a refreshing, new way. I used this book to prepare for the National Registry of EMT's Advanced Level Exam Oral stations and found it to be wonderful. I'd recommend it highly as a source for teaching scenarios for EMS educators as well.

This is an excellent refresher/review for Paramedics. I like it especially since it teaches/refreshes by giving about 50 patient scenarios. You get to do the assessment, then flip the page and see how well you have done. What is also cool is that the book provides a follow-up paragraph that describes the final outcome for the patient.

This is good to review for your paramedic test, even if this is your first time. It has a little review at the begining of each section and then it tells a case and asks questions with the answers on the next page. I think it is a good book.

It is always humbling to discover how limited my education is in key areas, especially geography. Names on a map that I have seen dozens of times, cities and towns I have visited but never given deep thought to, and the evolution of language are all present in this slim volume. I found myself surprised that I had read thirty or forty pages without realizing any passage of time. I lost myself in this book -- like exploring familiar territory for the very first time. An engaging, worthwhile, illuminating book.

So far I'm only about 1/3 of the way through "Names on the Land," but I'm enthralled. The sub-title, "A Historical Account of Place Naming..." is right on. The book approaches it subject from a historical perspective. The reader travels with the early explorers as they encounter landmarks on their journeys, so one learns about the namers and their times, as well as about the names they left behind them. Based on my reading so far, I can strongly recommend this book.

Names On The Land is narrative almost to a fault but it is a FASCINATING exploration into how and why we name the landscape, and how as we name the land, we give it meaning, just as the landscape give meaning to us.

Anyone that is interested or works with geography (especially historians or natural scientists) will find this book a very powerful perspective.

A very cool book. I think it is a shame it is out of print!

Wallace Stegner was not only a great writer ("Angle of Repose") and teacher (Stanford English Dept. who mentored people like Harriet Doerr), he was also a great lover of writing. His UC Berkeley colleague and friend George Stewart appeared on Stegner's list of "must read" Western American writers for "Names on the Land" as classic non-fiction and for fiction ("Earth Abides" that he recommends as reading in tandem with Miller's classic "A Canticle for Leibowitz").

Dr. Stegner points out that Stewart was not prolific as a writer and, for that reason, is sometimes overlooked as a star in Western American literature. "Names on the Land" underscores the painstaking process of good writing as it was practiced by Stewart and very much appreciated by Stegner. The research is incredibly precise and reliable; the language is as clear and fast running as a mountain stream; and the effect on the reader is overwhelming.

In an era of instant gratification and 10 second sound bites, "Names on the Land" doesn't seem "contemporary." But for a thoughtful reader of books, Stewart's masterpiece merits a place of honor in his or her permanent collection and (as Stegner admitted) a lifetime of periodic re-reading and reference.

In this unusual little book, George R. Stewart has compiled an endlessly intriguing account of the whys and wherefores of American place-names. The book as a whole provides a haunting, curiously oblique perspective on American history, as he delves into the cultural, historic, and (sometimes) military themes behind the names we use every day. The book goes into the names of cities, states, rivers, mountains, streets, and more.

I think you might get more out of this volume if you are aware of the way it is organized. I myself half-expected this book to be organized by state, perhaps in alphabetical order. This is not the case. Stewart has organized his data by THEMES in naming, and how these themes have emerged in our history. Therefore, the book (very roughly) follows our history chronologically, as various naming trends have come and gone, in the context of various cultural waves. This pattern tends to approximately follow the "peopling" of the continent (by descendants of Europeans) from east to west. Some chapters are mostly devoted to single states, but this is the exception, rather than the rule.

The chapter titles are not necessarily always very helpful, which is the closest thing I have to a caveat about this book. I'm telling you right now that the chapters roughly follow the settling of our continent, from east to west (and from south to north in the far western states). So, this should help you get oriented if you are browsing around... You might want to think of each chapter as a little independent essay. That might help you break the whole text down into digestible parts.

Some themes in naming include: the popularity of the name "Columbus," during and shortly after the Revolution; the tendency to adapt feminine names for the Southern plantations; Greek or Latin names; ancient indian names; English town names given new life on our shores; and many, many more.

One interesting fact I learned, reading this book, is that five of the six states in my native New England should, technically, probably be considered to be spelled wrong. (New Hampshire is the lone, proud exception). Stewart tells the tale of how each state was named, although he doesn't clump the five stories all together. You have to do saome digging... If you happen to harbor an inner, pedantic curmudgeon, who sometimes likes to rail against the stupidity of all humanity apart from him- (your-)self, this is the kind of thing that could give you great, and prolonged, delight. Also, you might be surprised at how many place-names have warm, human stories behind them. This can foster a real sense of human connection to our nation's past -- a connection that is not necessarily to participants in our nation's huge struggles, but simply to quiet, thoughtful people who tried to come up with words that just sounded right.

I would like to post here a private theory I have about George R. Stewart, which may be of interest to you in this context. Professor Stewart taught English at Berkeley, for much of the twentieth century. Concurrently on the faculty at that institution was the great American anthropologist Alfred Kroeber, who today is perhaps best remembered for his work with the last Yahi indian, Ishi, and also for his status as the father of acclaimed science fiction author Ursula Kroeber LeGuin. This last-named person, Ursula K. LeGuin, would have grown up hearing about Professor Stewart, and his odd hobby of place-names. If you read her young adult fantasy trilogy, the Earthsea Trilogy, you will find there a character called the Master Namer, who is a sort of professor in a school for young wizards. He and his classes exhibit many of the traits that we find in evidence within "Names on the Land." I believe that Ursula K. LeGuin probably based this character upon the fascinating George R. Stewart, and his hobby. Therefore, if you enjoy this book, you may wish to read Ursula LeGuin's "A Wizard of Earthsea," to encounter there a thinly disguised fictional version of Professor Stewart.

At any rate, this book is really something special. I recommend that you seek out a copy, and if you know a local history teacher, maybe you could lend it to him and suggest that he fashion some lesson plans from its singularly neato contents. Two thumbs up!