Washington Books

I don't know anything about the book or E. O. Wilson. But the service I received from the vendor was first class, it arrived on-time and I saved a ton of money on this book.

As we all know, E.O. Wilson is a giant of modern biology. Though his work has not always been quietly accepted, his ideas and opinions are undoubtedly an invaluble resorce to the world. In this huge book, Wilson presents what he believes are the 57 most important essays on the current state of Earth's biodiversity.

Being assigned summer reading, my teacher was convinced that I would love this book. He obviousely thought highly of it and so I began reading with an open mind. I'm so glad I did because the issues presented took my breath away. We are living in the middle of the largest mass extinction Earth has ever seen. Right now. These essays bring the reader completely up to speed on what is being destroyed, what efforts are being done to save the Earth, and what further efforts need to begin.

I can honestly say that my career path may have been steered more in the direction of biology after finshing Biodiversity. Everyone should read this book - I can garrentee that it will be a great enlightening experience.

Charles Birch is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney and draws upon his years of research and thought in the philosophy of biology and the relationship of science and religion to provide a seminal rethinking of both science and religion allowing each field to expand its unique contribution to our study and understanding of life in Biology And The Riddle Of Life. Birch argues that while biology has an impressive history of explaining the objective, measurable aspects of life, it has not been able to deal effectively with life's subjective phenomena. What is need to address the issues surrounding a search for meaning in life must include seeking answers to such questions as what it is to be alive, experience pain, to be in love, is God necessary as an explanatory principle for life (and if so, is it a naturalistically understood deity, or an interventionist supernatural deity). Highly recommended reading for students of biology, philosophy, and religious studies, as well as the nonspecialist general reader with an interest in the conjunction of science and religion, Biology And The Riddle Of Life is scholarly, insightful, articulate, engaging, and at times iconoclastic.

Charles Birch is Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney and draws upon his years of research and thought in the philosophy of biology and the relationship of science and religion to provide a seminal rethinking of both science and religion allowing each field to expand its unique contribution to our study and understanding of life in Biology And The Riddle Of Life. Birch argues that while biology has an impressive history of explaining the objective, measurable aspects of life, it has not been able to deal effectively with life's subjective phenomena. What is need to address the issues surrounding a search for meaning in life must include seeking answers to such questions as what it is to be alive, experience pain, to be in love, is God necessary as an explanatory principle for life (and if so, is it a naturalistically understood deity, or an interventionist supernatural deity). Highly recommended reading for students of biology, philosophy, and religious studies, as well as the nonspecialist general reader with an interest in the conjunction of science and religion, Biology And The Riddle Of Life is scholarly, insightful, articulate, engaging, and at times iconoclastic.

This book is a great historic full of history and triumph that has made radio/ disc jockey's /music and players what it is today. It allows you to understand and feel what Black muscians had to go through to be noticed and recognized. I recommend all muscians to read this and appreciate the very men and women that have certainly paved the way into the new Millienium. A good read with great pictures.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I have it on my coffee table for everyone to see. The book tells you all about the first black Disc Jockey in Chicago all the way up to the mid 60's. I enjoyed the pictures which also told their own story as well.

I am a former student of Arno. His work captures his brilliance for a split second that everyone gets to look at. But he is so much more than that. Traveling with him across Europe to make Body Land seemed almost dream like. His love, passion and dedication to his work and his students is like nothing else one can describe. Master!!!

Just when you think you've seen everything, you see Arno Rafael Minkkinen's book, "Body Land". He has tapped into a truly new form of image in nature. His photographs are intensly creative and will inspire even the most inexperienced photographer. The form of the nude body blends perfectly in nature with images that will leave you gazing. Everyone needs to see this collection.

From 1955 to 1957, Boise, Idaho, was caught in the grip of a full-blown Gay panic that made national headlines and gave Idaho's judicial system a black eye. This study of the panic, published in 1965, is both of its time and decades ahead of it. Gerassi brilliantly dissects the (chiefly economic) motives of people involved in promoting and prosecuting the scandal. He also displays a sharp eye for character and incidental detail.

A must-read for anyone interested in GLBT history, and also a classic piece of investigative journalism, Gerassi's book is an astonishing piece of work. (Neil Miller covers a similar scandal in Sioux City, IA, with the somewhat inferior _Sex Crime Panic_.)

The Boys of Boise is one of those books that anyone interested in understanding the issues besetting those living an alternative lifestyle must read.

John Gerassi writes an editorial history of a series of politically motivated arrests and harrassments of those in the homosexual community in Boise, Idaho in 1955. Gerassi writes from a mid-1960s perspective in the midst of the sexual revolution looking back on a different perspective when homosexuality was even less accepted than it was in the 1960s.

The book explores several issues as they impacted a prosecution of a given portion of the homosexual population: community politics, the input and influence of a religous community (in Boise - the LDS), the role of the popular local press, a grab for power by those outside the main community power structure, the role of law enforcement and the courts.

Why is this book a must read for understanding issues facing those living alternative lifestyles today? The events covered could happen in any community today - to those who are exploring poly relationships, BDSM, and Gor - as well as to those who continue to simply live within the Gay community. There are laws on our books in each state and locale that could be discriminatively enforced to bring problems to individuals or groups - in violation of protections they believe they have under the Bill of Rights.

The only possible negative in the book - and for some it is not a negative - is the amount of space devoted to reproducing the entirety of court dialogs and certain other primary sources. While I personally enjoyed having the sources there - other historians would prefer they be relegated to either appendices or simply referenced and summarized. It should be noted that when Gerassi wrote this book - he was a reporter/editor for a news periodical rather than a university professor.

The book definitely belongs in the library of scholars devoted to Urban studies, gay studies, the sociology of alternative lifestyles and the like.

If you enjoy skillfully-crafted character studies, this is the perfect book for you. You will fall in love with the town and people depicted in this excellent read. My only disappointment with this book was that it ended. I found myself missing the characters and wishing I had lived then and could have known them in person. My daughter actually introduced me to the book when it was on her required reading list for an English class when she was in high school. It is a book worth having in your collection to read over and over again every few years. When you read it again, it's like meeting up with an old friend who you haven't seen in years, but can converse with like you had never been apart.

Captivating book that grabs you on the first page and doesn't let you go! Realistic tales of love and loss that hit close to home. Wonderful when read with her autobiographical collection of essays "Chain of Hands".

I read this book over 45 years ago while completing my undergraduate studies in Engineering. I have never forgotten it!! The significant substories within the book describe the development of wire rope; the construction of the first successful suspension bridge across the Niagara Gorge; the details of construction of the Brooklyn Bridge; and the comparison of the sway bracing of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and its ultimate fate. These could all have been the subject of separate books and each was facinating in itself.

This fascinating book descibes the the story of the brooklyn bridge in New York, and the story of their builders, the roebling brothers. Roebling had the great idea of building a bridge not with stiff beams, but with two big soft ropes made of fibers of strong and elastic steel. An idea, which now is used with nearly all Bridges of wide span. I love this book, because it is not an engineering report, but the touching story of the life of mainly the elder Roebling brother, who dedicated his health and his life to this bridge.

I could read this book nearly 40 years ago, and still it is one of my favorites. I do not posess it, and I deeply regret that it is not available any more. Hopefully AMAZON can find some and put them on their stock...

Is the United States funding Counter-revolutionary groups in Venezuela? Yes, says "Bush vs Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela". Claiming that American taxpayer dollars are funding, albeit indirectly, organizations that fund the counter-revolutionary groups of Venezuela, in hopes for gaining favor with Latin America's most oil rich nation. More frightening, there is a build up of US troops in the Caribbean that are ready to threaten the Venezuelan people and their governments. "Bush vs Chavez: Washington's War on Venezuela" is highly recommended for community library social issues collections and for anyone who wants a look into the shadier actions of the Bush Administration.

The author, a lawyer and a dual citizen of Venezuela and the United States, has literally risked her life to publish this book. She has received numerous death threats and plenty of insults. A sequel to her previous bestseller, "The Chávez Code: Cracking US Intervention in Venezuela", it examines secret US documents that reveal how hard the Bush administration is trying to overthrow the democratically-elected Venezuelan government.

"Follow the money trail" is good advice for any investigative journalist, and Golinger does just that. By studying thousands of US government documents obtained through exhaustive requests of every relevant department through the Freedom of Information Act, she is revealing proof of manipulation and covert operations to overthrow Chávez.

Historians generally do this work decades after major upheavals in Latin America. Golinger is doing this research now, in "real-time", to break the secrecy of Bush's imperial designs and to prevent a coup in the making.

I have two copies of this book.

It opened my eyes to things I had never seen wandering the Coastal Range and Cascade Mountains of Oregon and SW Washington.

This field guide is well organized with beautiful photos. Each butterfly listed has a key for recognition, variations, life history as well as habitat range and the time of year you are likely to see this butterfly on the wing. A particularly nice feature is is the list of names for each as butterflies often have akas (also known as.)Dr. Pyles broad knowledge of nature allows him to include additional information about the history of butterfly study. This book will supplant other field guides whose scope intends to include the entire continent. The beautiful durable cover will look good on your desk and will function well in your field pack.
The tremendous amount of data collected in these pages reflect a dedication to the study of butterflies that is inspiring to the amateur and professional naturalist.

BY THE SWORD is a touching Revolutionary War story told from a unique perspective. A young teacher, just twenty-two years old, is moved to enlist in George Washington's army. Neither he nor his beloved horse, Highlander, is prepared for battle. As Selene Castrovilla begins her story, "Benjamin Tallmadge had never killed before." When he fires his musket for the first time, he takes off, "not looking to see if he'd hit anyone." Young readers will identify with his reluctance.
The Battle of Long Island unfolds with breathtaking intimacy. We are close to the man and his horse as they weather a British assault, the lack of sleep, poor food, drenching rains, contradictory orders, and their own fears, in order to help save Washington's army from annihilation. Selene Castrovilla's prose evokes the anxiety of war with painterly details, but without drenching young readers in the carnage.
When Benjamin, in the heat of retreat, forgets Highlander, he receives permission to go back, by boat, to retrieve him. So this story is also about a brave young man who risks his life to save his beloved horse. As cannonballs from the fierce, advancing Hessians (mercenaries on the British side) narrowly miss Benjamin's retreating boat with Highlander safe on board, readers of all ages will be cheering.
Bill Farnsworth's expressive oil paintings on canvas enhance the text, from the flash of musket fire to the thick blanket of fog that kept the British fleet idling long enough for Washington's army to escape. Detailed endpaper maps enable readers to follow the troops. The author's research notes, timeline, suggested places to visit, and detailed bibliography of sources makes this an absolute must-have book for all teachers and students of history, for anyone interested in the birth of the United States of America. .

Do you want your kids to actually read a book, enjoy it and learn something too? Well, this is the book for them. It's a good read, action packed, interesting and surprise, surprise ... you learn some local history. Selene Castrovilla sucks you into Benjamin Tallmadge's world even if history is not your thing. Coupled with wonderful illustrations by William Farnsworth this book is a must have.