Directories Books

We're all used to using the net to get information, with the end result often being too much material with too little information. This book gets right down to the "nuts and bolts". It saved me time (which I don't have enough of) and money and took away a lot of the pain. A must read!

This book offers up a fantastic, old-school approach to trail running. There's a great section on the history of trail/adventure running, a fairly simplified section on what gear you need and how to train, and a lengthy section describing the 100 best trail runs in North America. The 100 best runs are mostly fairly long (20+ miles in length) and the ones that I have done myself really are the best runs in Washington and BC.

This is NOT a training book or a beginner's book, but it is a great how-to book that gives you what you need to get out there and do some fun, epic runs!

LIFE SHOULD ALWAYS BE AN ADVENTURE! Ever wanted to paraglide, bungy jump, free fall parachute, climb mountains, ski the backcountry, dive the depths, cross Africa on horseback, sail the globe...but don't know how? Try this directory. It contains info on about 50 different adventure sports - the how, the where and the who. (Current edition has a predominantly UK/European focus but there are plenty of suggestions for those of us elsewhere in the world.)

Ruah Donnelly's informative and easy banter make this guide a pleasure to use. The Adventurous Gardener covers NY and NJ's plant suppliers for the afficianado. I used it to visit my now favorite garden shop: the Peconic Herb Farm (talk about a labor of love!). I'm slightly concerned that the material might become dated, but Donnelly seems to have chosen farms, suppliers, and centers with longevity in mind. Her quotes from the owners' themselves and the little factoids she includes made the text entertaining and I was eager to meet (or observe) the shops and their owners. Nicely done. My only complaint is that the listings are alphabetical within each region. And while each region has a map, I'd love it if the listings followed a driving order whether east to west or north to south, but that's because I hate using Mapquest to organize my trips. Or Donnelly could include more detailed maps within those regions showing how proximate the farms or centers are to each other. (Ease my navigation pains!) But that's nitpicking; The Adventurous Gardener has served me well.

This book is wonderful if you are looking to get in the advertising world. It gives descriptions of jobs and companies.

The Aerail Photo Sourcebook by Mary Rose Collins is a great reference book. As a person who has an interest in aerial photography this book satisfied my needs. This book is also a very good resourse for any one interseted in the subject. From the begining it helps you to find the aerial photos you would like. It provides information about the use of aerial photographs (ex: during cold war). Also the author's expreience in the subject matter, makes her accuracy sterling. If you want a book on Aerial Photography get the Aerial Photo Sourcebook by Mary Rose Collins.

The AFB Directory of Services for Blind and Visually Impaired Persons in the United States and Canada is the definitive resource book for agencies serving this population. This 575 page collection of services is divided by state/province and service category. It has a very useful index, and is well laid out and easy to use. Each agency entry contains information on the mission of the arency, geographic area served, budget, staff, number of clients, hours of operation, fees, eligibility, types of services, as well as basic contact data. Each state is divided into sections including state rehabilitation services, state educational services, early intervention services, low vision clinics, libraries, instructional materials centers, information and referral, This Directory is of tremendous assistance to persons involved in national social services, information & referral, research and direct service to persons who are blind or visually impaired and their families.

I have just purchased an updated copy after using my old one to guide me on a boating trip from Vashon to Olympia and back with a number of detours up the many inlets of South Puget Sound. What I like about this series is that the Muellers have created hand drawn "maps" of most of the harbors, parks, inlets and attractions. They don't have the clutter of charts and aren't meant to be navigational aids, but they give you fast, no nonsense tips to approaches, mooring buoys, guest moorage, facilities, sights and activities. Since the books concentrate on a specific area of the Sound they tend to have more in depth descriptions than some others. I have used them in both the car and the boat The books are small, flexible and logically organized. A great guide for anyone exploring the Puget Sound region.

Paula K. Byers (editor), African American Genealogical Sourcebook (1995) is an excellent general reference book - but, at $95, also the most expensive. Its strength is that is gathers the expertise of several specialists; each chapter is written by an expert with specialized knowledge of different types of records and historical eras. There are numerous illustrations and examples. The separate contributions are expertly edited and transitioned, so that the book moves smoothly from chapter to chapter. The result is an authoritative book of uniformly high quality from cover to cover.

This biographical profile deals with the lives and scientific pursuits of 160 African-American scientists, mathematicians, and their inventions. It is a very well-done piece of work, and an excellent fact book for libraries both public and private. Individual entries can be read independently, which makes it an easy and suitable source of inspiration for young students seeking role models. Individuals covered go back to the 18th century when Benjamin Banneker was the only recognized African-American scientist/inventor.

What I particularly like about the book is its insightful introductory chapter. From it two things stand out. First, the insights of that chapter and the individual entries I read together paint vividly the difficult path many of those included in the book followed. The path was difficult not only because any scientific activity is a difficult pursuit, but also because these people faced very high artificial barriers-to-entry. Second, denied formal education and training, the scientific endeavors of African Americans progressed in a unique way; they began with invention, then science, and math. This is almost the opposite of what happened elsewhere, where the language of math advanced science and led to inventions.

It is quite clear that success in science, as elsewhere, was a function of political freedom. Many of the early African-American scientists, mathematicians, and inventors were people who somehow gained their freedom from slavery. As political freedom increased so too did the number of scientists, mathematicians, and inventors.

I like this book, I like it very much.

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465