Geography Books

I found the book interesting and challenging to read at the same time. The concepts are old but it presents them in a different format.

This is THE REFERENCE book in Heat Conduction which is a must to any Engineering or Science researcher. It covers a wide range of topics related to Heat Conduction. It is necessary to have even if one has other more modern books covering the topic such as the excellent Ozisik textbook on Heat Conduction.

on time, great quality for the money. Would most certainly purchase from this seller in the future

This classic should be on every science and engineering bookshelf. The wealth of elegant analytical solutions is an invaluable resource for analysis as well as for informing numerical solutions.

This book is a masterpiece of a collections of all the known analytical method applied to heat conduction. A must buy and collectable classic.

I've lost my copy of this book, which I acquired while in high school 40 years ago. I loved it! When I saw the old movie with Glynnis Johns, All Mine to Give, based on the book, I was in heaven. I must have another copy to read to my grandchildren.

I first heard this book read on the "Chapter a Day" program from the University of Wisconsin radio station at Madison Wisconsin 48 years ago. I was so moved by it that I HAD to get the book! Since then, it became a family tradition to read it together with the family every Christmas afternoon. As our four children grew and left home, they, too, made it a part of their Christmas tradition. Our oldest son was a pilot in the Air Force. Wherever he was stationed at Christmas he introduced the book to families with whom he shared his Christmases (in the States and overseas). Invariably I would get an S.O.S letter to PLEASE send copies of the book because others were impressed with the story, too. Our daughter taught in grade schools and made the reading of this book to her students a part of "before Christmas" tradition. She, too, requested more copies as students bought the book as presents and wanted to start the traditional reading of the book in their families. The brave children capture your heart. You cannot forget them. And... it is a true story!

You will laugh, You will feel anger, You will be filled with compassion. And you will cry. A very tender account of one family's struggle to cope under devastating and heart wrenching circumstances. This true story is very well written and deserves to be read by everyone.

This is the story of a young boy's decision to honor his mother's deathbed wish. With strong family values instilled in him by both parents, thirteen year old Robbie must decide the fate of his siblings before the town does it for him. With a heavy heart and a commitment to his mother, he sets off on Christmas day to place each brother and sister in a home. This well written true story is excellent reading material for young and old.

This story brings to life the history of the US; poor immigrants struggling and succeeding, raising families, towns pulling together to take care of their own, sons fulfilling the last wishes of their parents. I found this by looking for the source of one of my favorite old movies, All Mine To Give. The movie ends with the children's finding homes and the eldest going off to work in the lumber camps. The book gives more information about thier lives after that Christmas. This is a wonderful combination to use in the classroom to bring history to life for students and to help them see that history is not dates, but people like themselves.

This book is one of the standard university texts in physical geology, along with Understanding Earth by Frank Press et al. The book is well written and very well illustrated. The discription of plate tectonics and it's integration throughout the book is very well done. Like most such texts, it has the disadvantage of being written by lifelong academics with little or no contact with the extraxtive industries. Their treatment of energy extraction is superficial at best. One of the most important developments in geology over the past 30 years, that of sequence stratigraphy, does not even get a mention, perhaps because it came out of the oil exploration industry. (Understanding Earth does devote a paragraph or two to sequence stratigraphy.)

I confess that I did not buy a copy from Amazon. I picked mine up at a Border's Bookstore in London. The only difference in my copy and one bought in the US is a large graphic on the cover saying "Restricted: not for sale in North America". Why the restriction? Like many university textbooks, this one can be bought in overseas at a fraction of the US price. My undiscounted Border's London price was $59.19, a little more than half the US price. Quite remarkable, considering the current weakness of the US dollar to the UK pound.

Not only did the book arrive very quickly and in great condition but I had emailed the seller to ask a question and got an immediate reply within a couple of hours!! Would order from this seller again and again.

This book is for all persons, students and others, who wish to learn geology with over 500 easy-to-read pages. The Earth is a giant machine, a machine that never stops. How the Earth-machine works is the story told in this book, and it is a fascinating story. The science that studies the Earth is geology, and those involved in the study are geologists. Physical processes are shaping the Earth now and have been shaping the Earth over the past 4.5 billion years.

Skinner, Porter and Park give you a richly illustrated introduction to geology. The text spans the breadth of modern geology, and shows an exciting and changing planet. There are numerous photos of examples of terrain, often accompanied by schematics to aid understanding. The latest techniques practised in geology are explained. Especially noteworthy is the extensive use of GPS. This has greatly aided recording the location of interesting geological samples.

Earthquakes are also well covered, and will probably be of interest to many readers, especially if you are in California. The history of the Richter and Mercalli scales is gone into. Unfortunately, predicting quakes is still very uncertain!

The discussion on earthquakes is also used as a good example of plate tectonics, where the latter is probably the central idea of geology.

It was an interesting book that I am going to use also after graduation. Even if I don't speak fluently English, the book was easy to understand. I had the book as recommended litterature in a Geology course. And after reading it I did pretty well on the exam.

Unlike most of the field guides being offered by the Audubon Society and other organizations, this one contains sections on birds, insects, mammals, and vegetation--all in one volume. I have found that I use this one more often than my other newer field guides, simply because everything is in one book. This guide is definitely not as extensive as many other field guides on the market as far as the number of animals and vegitation listed, but it is by far my favorite and most used guide. It's a pity that it is no longer being published.

In doing research for a novel set in Central Kentucky, I find "The Audubon Society Nature Guides: Eastern Forests" to be the perfect resource. The guide covers the Eastern half of North America and will be enjoyed at home or in the field. The comprehensive details of trees, shrubs, wildflowers, mushrooms, birds, butterflies, insects, and reptiles are depicted in gorgeous color plates, and the text is full of lively description that reads almost like poetry. Studying natural history, forest ecology, zoology, botany and forest fauna has never been so much fun! Mary Popham, Louisville, Kentucky

Eastern Forests: The Audubon Society Nature Guides by Ann Sutton is a comprehensive field guide which is fully illustrated with color photographs. Trees, wildflowers, birds, mammals, insects, reptiles, and mushrooms are found within the pages of this field guide.

This comprehensive field guide comprises the Eastern Forests of North America from Hudson Bay to Florida. Here you'll find the majority of what is found in these forests and woodlands. I found it quite useful while hiking in this area of North America. There is a glossary of terms used in the book that is very helpful and the habitat of the animals is found by each picture.

I'm sure that this book will be used if you do much hiking in this area, as I have used it to identify many flora and fauna.

Definitely not a waste of paper! This guide does many things very well indeed. The first part--brief but amazingly informative--gives the big picture about how forests work. It takes a quick and penetrating glance at each of the various forest communties found in Eastern North America, from the boreal forests of the north and the oak-and-hickory forests of the Ozarks to the mixed deciduous forests of the states south of the Great Lakes to the complex and ancient forests of the southern Appalachians. The second part gives the little pictures--hundreds of small but clear photographs of trees, shrubs, flowers, birds and animals. These photos are great for identifying common species quickly (bring the book with you when you walk) and include page-number references to the many informative mini-essays about each species which make up the third portion of the book. The book also contains a helpful glossary and an index. The Audubon "Western Forests" is equally good.

An excellent field guide for Eastern North America (from NE Canada to Florida, USA)... Excellent photos of trees, leaves, fruit, flowers, animals, mushrooms, and insects: they're not *all* there, but the selection is a useful and interesting subset. Highly recommended.

Margie Hunter was moved to write the book Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee: The Spirit of Place when she had a difficult time finding an easy, single source of information about her state's native plants.

Browsing through the book, you will see that, though it is written from the perspective of a Tennessee native, most of the plants featured are found throughout the Southeast. As Hunter notes in her introduction, "native plants recognize no such boundaries" as state lines.

I'll give you a brief tour of Hunter's book, and you will likely find, as I did, that it offers a wide and thorough mix of information that is organized in a logical and sensible manner. You will also see that it differs in some respects from many books in its class, and it is, in essence, a blend of ecology, conservation, and horticulture.

I found the first chapter unique for a book on plants. It is entitled "The Geography, Geology, and Soil of Tennessee." Here Hunter gives an overview of the physiographic regions of the state, including their geology, climate, and soils. It makes perfect sense to have such an introduction in a native plant book and makes me wonder why more authors have not thought of this. At the end of this and every chapter, Hunter provides a list of sources for further reading, which is quite useful if you want to continue your studies of a topic.

Hunter's second chapter logically follows by describing the plant communities of Tennessee. She begins by explaining that plant communities are the result of the five factors of climate, geologic history, topography, hydrology, and soil type. She also explains the different layers of the forest and the process of succession. Hunter then lists plants that will be found in the various plant communities of Tennessee (such as mesic forest, xeric forest, etc.). For the large part, this mirrors communities found throughout much of the Southeast.

As Hunter begins Chapter 3, she says, "All living things are interconnected," which is an appropriate start to this chapter on Tennessee wildlife. She gives a brief introduction on general ways to attract wildlife to the garden. Then she lists some of the fauna of Tennessee, including butterflies, moths, other insects, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals.

Chapter 4 covers the rare and endangered plants of Tennessee and the pest plants that threaten our native plant diversity, with a good explanation of why these invasive plants are such a menace. Hunter helpfully includes a section describing what gardeners as consumers can do to protect endangered plants. Her advice includes how to avoid purchasing wild-collected specimens by looking for suspicious signs at the nursery. Some of the "red flags" she warns us to look for: large quantities of a species for sale; very low prices; bare-root plants; plants in real soil rather than potting soil; tree roots or rocks in the pot with the plant; large specimens for a low price; and plants that are difficult to propagate or slow growing.

The next chapter, "Native Plant Gardening," begins with brief tips on gardening with different categories of natives, such as ferns, grasses, and woody plants. Hunter includes a useful list of native plants that have performed well in trial gardens, which will surely be an aid to gardeners just beginning to employ natives. This chapter also includes some basic botany, such as an explanation of soil pH, the plant life cycle, and light requirements. Line drawings are used to illustrate basic flower parts, inflorescence types, and leaf structure.

Our tour of Hunter's book has thus far taken us about a quarter of the way into the book. The remainder (except for a few appendices) is a compendium of some 450 species of Tennessee's native plants, grouped by plant type: wildflowers; ferns; grasses, sedges, and rushes; vines; shrubs; and trees. Each plant is succinctly described and illustrated with a small color photo. Beyond the basic plant description that you would expect, Hunter also includes propagation methods, cultivation requirements, distribution patterns within Tennessee, and use by wildlife if applicable. Another plus is that she gives the pronunciation for each plant.

Hunter closes the book with several useful appendices, including nurseries that specialize in native plants, agencies and organizations of interest, botanical gardens, and native plant conferences.

For more information about this book, visit Hunter's website: www.gardeningwithnativeplants.com.

On my first gardening day after purchasing Margie Hunter's book, I used it at least three times to make sure I had the right plant in the right growing conditions. Margie has managed to squeeze an amazing amount of information in a small space, using a very pleasing format. Her book, while providing excellent details, presents the information with a chatty, casual voice, as though one was getting advice from a neighbor with a very green thumb. The section on the geology of Tennessee was a delightful surprise for me with its explanation of the origin of the variety of soils within our state. My only criticism of the book is the size of the excellent photographs. While the handbook size of the book makes it easy to take to the garden for reference, these middle-aged eyes of mine find the small pictures a little disappointing. For Tennessee gardeners in particular, and mid-south gardeners in general, anyone interested in gardening with native plants will find this book to be a thorough, well-researched and enjoyable aid to their efforts.

Anyone interested in the botanical history of Tennessee (or for that matter, the surrounding states) will enjoy this exploration of the common plants of the Volunteer State. Crisply written and easy to understand, this delightful book should be a part of any nature library - even if you are non-gardener like me! Margie's enthusiasm and love for plants permiates every page and will leave the reader yearning for his or her own "spirit of place".

This is a lovely book. I'm an experienced gardener in England and my husband bought me this when we moved to Tennessee. It has given me the confidence to understand what I'm doing in this new climate, and to ensure that my efforts to 'improve' the land I garden here won't damage it.

The book has good detailed information on native plants and starting points for acquiring them.

Normally with a reference book on any subject, I would just dip into it as needed. This one I picked up and read cover to cover !

This is one of the most helpful books I've picked up recently. The beginning of the book lays out the geography, geology, and ecology of Tennessee, as well as the reasons behind using native plants in your landscape. The way the author described the state's heritage made me want to return things to natural in my own space.
She also points out a few of the invasive plants in the area and reasons to avoid them. I thought this section could have had more information though.
The remaining 2/3 of the book is lists of all the native wildflowers, shrubs, trees, and vines in Tennessee. It lists which sections of the state they are native to, there preferred growing conditions, whether they are easy to grow and transplant. Also included with each is a good color photograph, although many of the are kind of small and up close, so it's hard to decipher the full plant or its growing habit. I think I'll be doing a lot of research on the internet to find better pictures of the candidates for my garden.
The reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 are 1) the pictures, as mentioned, and 2) I thought the cost of the book is a little high for what it is. Although if I had it to do over again, I would still pay the 23 bucks, because no other source that I know of has such a concise and complete list of this kind. Other states should be envious!

"A Geography of Oysters" is the guide that I've been looking for. I love raw oysters, but they have a mind-boggling number of names and farming methods that I never could sort out. The people selling them are of limited help. I've read books about oysters, but they said little about particular species or origins. Now Rowan Jacobsen has made sense of it all in this practical guide to oyster eating in North America. Like European wines or single malt whiskies, oysters taste like the place they come from, so Jacobsen takes us all over North America to learn how and where 132 common oysters are farmed. Although there are some recipes in the back, "A Geography of Oysters" is primarily dedicated to raw oysters, so this is for those of us who like to slurp the slimy things out of their shells.

The guide has three parts. The first, "Mastering the Oyster", tells us about the 5 species of oyster that are cultivated in North America, explains the life cycle of an oyster, oyster harvesting, farming, and hatcheries, how different methods of cultivation affect texture, taste, and shelf life, how and why season and place affects taste, and how modern aquaculture has created an environmentally beneficial, diverse oyster industry. It's a solid introduction to oysters. The meat of the book is the second part, "The Oyster Appellations of North America". This is where we get an ostreaphilic tour of the continent. For each region, state, or province, Jacobsen provides a history of oysters in that region, followed by how, where, and other particulars for the major oysters in that area.

The final section, "Everything You Wanted to Know about Oysters but Were Afraid to Ask", gives advice on how to choose an oyster, storing oysters, shucking oysters, serving oysters, wines that go well with oysters and those that do not. Jacobsen prefers his oysters raw but offers 21 recipes -which will presumably be reserved for those unfortunate occasional bland oysters. There are several recipes for mignonette to top your oysters, oyster stew, and oysters roasted, baked, fried, pickled, and even drunk. That's followed by notes about safety, nutrition, and a helpful list of oyster bars, festivals, and growers that ship direct. As the man says, we don't eat oysters because we are hungry. We eat them to experience them. "A Geography of Oysters" will help you experience more oysters.

It is salty, sultry and seductive and it is always cause for a celebration."

Rowan Jacobsen knows his oysters, and this wonderful one-subject book can make you an expert too.

He focuses on taste. "Different oysters suit different occasions and different people. If you haven't yet been wowed by oysters, you may well have been dallying with the wrong ones." One of the most useful sections urges you to discover what kind of taster you are; Jacobsen then recommends the types of oysters you should try.

For example, I personally enjoy oysters with wine. "For the Wino: Those potent, briny, musky oysters are as overblown as an Australian Shiraz. You like to savor oysters with wine, so you want subtle mineral flavors, not metal and salt and mud.

"Kumamotos are Sauvignon Blanc's best friend; their clean melon flavors bring out its fruit. Westcott Bay Petites and Stellar Bays are both creamy and mild, not too salty, with no clashing bitterness. Eastern oysters are tougher matches for wine, but buttery Watch Hills have a full-bodied flavor that can be terrific with sharp, flinty wines, and Rappahannock Rivers bring out the minerals in some white wines. Beausoleils have a supreme lightness that is heaven with Champagne."

He makes specific suggestions for other types: the Shrinking Violet (or beginner), the Brine Hound, the Sweet Tooth, the Grail Seeker (or most adventurous), the Connoisseur, and six other types.

He describes many different types of oysters and where they are found. His list of 12 oysters you should know include: Beausolei, Belon or European Flat, Colville Bay, Glidden Point, Kumamoto, Moonstone, Nootka Sound, Olympia, Penn Cove Select, Rappahannock River, Skookum, and Totten Virginica. (These oysters and many more are described fully in his book and also on his website: Google " oysterguide " to find an extraordinarily rich source of oyster information.]

Jacobsen has sound arguments for observing the "R Rule" of eating oysters only in months with that letter because oysters from warmer water do not taste as good and can be a health risk when not cooked. Those who resist the notion of eating a living creature should remember: "Left in their natural environment, most oysters would be eaten by something: why shouldn't it be you?"

Virtually all oysters are now farm raised. Jacobsen is eloquent on why oyster farms are ecologically friendly. "Oyster farms are thriving in Virginia, New York and New England. On these aquaculture operations, billions of oysters spend one to three years in metal cages that function as artificial reefs. They filter water. Their shells provide habitat for numerous species. Sport fishermen have learned that striped bass, shad and other species congregate around them.

"Aquaculture has a bad name. We picture fish farms with tons of feed being dumped into the water, creating the same algae-promoting conditions as pollution from cities and terrestrial farms. But the situation is reversed with oyster farms, because oysters are little filters. The farms provide far more water-cleaning benefits than all the government programs put together, don't cost taxpayers a cent, and support coastal economies. They also make better oysters: a farmed oyster is plumper, sweeter and prettier than its wild cousin." [From a piece on "The New York Times."]

Jacobsen provides excellent advice on shucking oysters. "The New York Times" recently alerted me to "a new protective glove knitted from a polyester fiber used for bulletproof vests. It provides a nice cushioning and a line of defense when gripping a craggy oyster and inserting a knife. It is made by Microplane, the company known for its graters, and is labeled as ''cut resistant.'' I liked it for opening clams, too."

For further reading (or not), Jacobsen discussed three books in an interview with "Seven Days". Oysters by Joan Reardon "is a cornucopia of the worst oyster dishes imaginable. Oyster mousse, oyster pancakes, oyster croque monsieur." Consider the Oyster by M.F.K. Fisher "is the classic". The Oysters of Locmariaquer by Eleanor Clark, "which won the National Book Award back in the '60s, is the best."

Jacobsen provides a couple of dozen recipes, much oyster lore, and an enormous amount of pleasure in these pages. You don't have to be a connoisseur to enjoy this excellent guide to oysters.

Jacobsen has turned the art of eating oysters to a higher level.

You can't wait to finish the book so you can start trying out his great recommendations. Whether you're an oyster novice, blindly feeling your way around the oysters beds, or, a seasoned connoisseur, this book is a must read. Great work Rowan!!

I love oysters. I don't know why, but I just do. Every now and then I get strong cravings and I just have to have them. I also have a lot of books about oysters because of it. "Consider the oyster" a great book, and others. But they are all mainly cook books with very little detail about the oyster, where it comes from and it's history.

This book is incredibly well written, witty at times and very informative. You can learn how oysters are farmed and their various techniques. Things I didn't even find on wiki. I learned how they get to harden those shells. I purchased some Carlsbad Blondes, and those shells would just snap in half. Terrible oysters. I know why because of the book.

I'm not sure how the author did it, but it seems he has had the incredible opportunity to sample a great many oysters. I can see his tax return $1000 spent as "research" for his book. What a great way to do research. Upon one of the authors great descriptions, I ordered three dozen Hama Hama's. They were fantastic.

The author picks five or six farms and gives incredible detail about the location, the owner/farmer and his/her history and the oysters themselves. This is a book to own now, because it is relavent now with the current oyster farmers listed. It is a chance to learn about the worlds best and to learn how to sample them.

The only thing I would have loved to see in the book, would be a travel guide on how to visit the various farms the author so nicely listed. That's one of the things I plan on doing is to travel up and down the coast visiting oysters farms along the way. I would have loved this book to have a guide like that.

There is a section on "what kind of oyster" person are you? But I didn't find that very useful or informative. A very minor drawback for an incredibly informative book on oysters. Every connosieur(sp?) should have a copy. A book for oyster lovers by an oyster lover.

This book was one I bought as a potential reference book, however once i picked it up I just kept reading it. This is far from a dry review of oysters it is funny and insightful. My oyster vocabulary has blossomed.

Three friends have requested that I stop talking about oysters and buy them a copy for their birthdays.

It tells about the oysters and then how to get them delivered to your door for dinner. I love this book.

I've been on an ancient history kick lately, and since it's been about 20 years since I've done a lot of reading in this area, I thought I would check out what's available in the way of good historical atlases of the ancient world, or of world history in general.

This book is one of the five or so big historical atlases out there that are available. Since I've been looking in detail at all of the current ones, I'll give brief comparisons and you can go from there and decide which one might be best for you.

These alases are great for looking up those events, both momentous and not-so-momentous, to get a quick grasp and overview of the situation without getting bogged down in some more detailed and ponderous history. All the current ones do a decent job of that, but they very in terms of readability, the number of, and detail of, the maps included, and the degree to which they integrate the visual maps and materials with the text. Here's the scoop on all of these.

1. The Hammond Atlas is the traditional "big gun" in the field, being literally the physically biggest and probably most comprehensive of the 5 discussed here. It's also the highest priced, and more expensive than the cheapest one I discuss here by a factor of five. It's still a fine atlas despite the cost, and if I couldn't get any one of the others here, I'd still be happy with this one as it's certainly a beautifully done atlas. The book has over 600 maps and illustrations, many of which show such nice details (which not all the other atlases do) as mountain ranges, and in general are beautifully colored with a variety of symbols showing movements and other important historical and cultural details.

2. The Oxford Atlas of World History is also well written, and has lots of maps just like the Haywood volume. I found the writing style somewhat less interesting than the Haywood atlas, who has a nice, deft touch with the material. These two books are otherwise very close, except that the Haywood volume is less than half the price of this one.

3. The Nat'l Geographic offering has some of the most entertaining writing by Noel Grove and Daniel Boorstin I've found in any history text. Some of the tidbits are really great, such as Grove's comment that "Russia's...Peter the Great died at the age of 53 after diving into the Neva River in winter to rescue drowning sailors." Well, I'd read about him liking to cut off citizens' beards as he walked around town, trying to westernize and modernize Russia, too, so apparently Peter was quite a character in more ways than one.

Also, there was "Vikings were not just ruthless killers; they traded as often as they raided, and their wives knew rights that other medieval women could scarcely imagine." This statement also fits in with a similar description I read in another history, that the Viking and Scandinavian free peasants as a class enjoyed rights and priviledges unparalleled in most of Europe and even England.

However, ironically, this atlas contains the least number of maps and illustrations of all the books here, and oddly enough for an atlas, it actually has very few maps. Most of the graphical illustrations are arts or crafts-related, in fact.

4. The John Haywood Atlas of World History represents a great combination of quality and price. The book consists of articles on a particular period or topic which are closely integrated with the accompanying maps. This makes it very convenient to use. The book was written with a team of geographers and graphic illustrators skilled at combining the written word with graphics, and it shows. Also, this book is one of the more reasonably priced. My only complaint about this history is the index could have been more detailed.

5. The last atlas I wanted to discuss is the Times Atlas of World History. Although now a little dated, having come out almost 10 years ago in 1993, it still counts as one of the most scholarly, well-written, and well-illustrated of these works, and it's also intermediate in terms of price.

Hope my little "Consumer Reports" guide to the major atlas offerings helps. Good luck and happy book buying and reading!

The 4th edition of the Times Atlas of World History was published by Hammond, Inc. With the 5th edition, it has been published in the U.S. as the Hammond Atlas of World History and in the U.K. as The Times History of the World. Both have 375 pages and are edited by Richard Overy.

Aside from being updated to include recent events and the inclusion of a few more pages, the index is more comprehensive than in the previous 4th edition.

The binding is sturdy and should last many years.

I would estimate that there are over 650 maps in this book, typically three or four maps to each two-page spread. A variety of projections is used and the maps tend to be rich in detail without being overly cluttered. A striking variety of colors are used to display everything from empires, ethnic populations, migrations, nation-states, etc., using arrows prolifically to show movement. The larger maps often display mountain ranges. Most of the smaller maps show close-ups of regions or highlight cultural/demographic/economic matters using a variety of colors and symbols.

Each two-page spread has a basic theme or subject which is discussed in an essay that fits in the spaces not occupied by maps. Each map on a spread has a numbered accompanying blurb briefly describing its contents.

This is the best single volume world history atlas that I know of, surpassing the excellent but less comprehensive Oxford Atlas of World History. It's one major flaw is its Eurocentrism, but some students of history might find this a plus.

For balance, I recommend the MacMillan Continental History Atlas series:

The History Atlas of Africa by Samuel Kasule

The History Atlas of Asia by Ian Barnes

The History Atlas of South America by Edwin Early

The History Atlas of North America by Philip Davies

Less worthwhile is:

The History Atlas of Europe by Ian Barnes

because of its redundancy with the Hammond.

Please note that as of the date of this review, there is a later edition of this work available. The title has changed, so there might be some confusion, but I have seen both editions and I can confirm that the newer is indeed an updated edition of this work.

The new edition is "The Times Complete History of the World, Sixth Edition," published October 2004 by Harper Collins with ISBN 0007181299. As Geoffrey Barraclogh is now deceased, Richard Overy is the editor of this new edition. It is available from Amazon, just search on the ISBN.

My understanding as to the name change is Langenscheidt Publishing Group acquired Hammond, who published the old Times Atlas of World History (later renamed to the Hammond Atlas of World History). Apparently, Langenscheidt was uninterested in continuing to publish this work and as a result, the name had to be changed. But rest assured that the content is the same, only updated and expanded.

I am a total Amazon fanatic, but I have located this new edition at a much cheaper price than Amazon. Barnes and Noble publishes a "house version" of this work priced at only $39.95 and currently available for 20% off that price ($31.96). The content is identical to the Harper Collins version. The B&N version is also printed in Spain and the paper quality appears to be equal to that of the Harper Collins version. The binding may be of lower quality, but I cannot confirm that. The ISBN of the Barnes and Noble edition is 0760767254. You can even visit your local B&N store and read it before you buy. Note you cannot buy the B&N version from Amazon.

As to the content of the book, it is thorough and highly interesting. If you love history as much as I do, you will spend hours with this book! I highly recommend it!

This is undoubtedly the best of general world history atlases and a valuable supplement for almost any study of history. The maps are generally quite good in both accuracy and clarity. There is some regrettable sloppiness in the editing, however -- as when a table of dates has Muhammad entering Mecca rather than Medina in 622 (page 99)! There is a useful glossary and a good index. The balance is, as some have noted, tilted toward Europe, but this no doubt merely reflects the fact that serious historical research is essentially a European invention. For the most part the editors have done very well in terms of both spatial and temporal distribution. It is regrettable that there are no indications of sources, however, beyond a general bibliography.

To my mind, the strongest competition to this volume is offered by the Penguin history atlas series authored by Colin McEvedy. McEvedy is much better on historical narrative and generally stronger on facts, but his books do not extend to every place and era, his coverage being strongest in Europe and especially weak in Asia. I wouldn't give up either this volume or the McEvedy books.

One thing which may confuse people in Amazon's listing of this book is that Geoffrey Parker is given as the lead editor. In fact, he edited the fourth edition and seems to have had nothing specifically to do with this fifth edition. The title page lists Geoffrey Barraclough and Richard Overy, and makes clear that the revision of this edition was Overy's work.

I would like to add one point to magellan's reviews of atlases of world history. I generally agree with his assessments, and I own every atlas he writes about. But it is important to note that the Hammond Atlas of World History is the LATEST EDITION of what formerly was titled (in the United States) The Times Atlas of World History. I have an older Times Atlas (actually, I have three different editions), and the latest Hammond; many of the maps are the same. The authors are the same; in fact, the publishing information for the Times atlas lists "The Hammond Corporation" or "Hammond Publishing" as the actual company. The Times atlas was "from" the Times of London, and carried that name; the publisher in the United States always/for a long time was Hammond. Now, Hammond uses its own name in the United States. So, if you liked the old Times Atlas of World History, buy the new Hammond. It's worth it.

This is a completely absorbing page- turner with fascinating historical details. I thought Emily, the protagonist, was particularly interesting. Many authors label their protagonists, giving them a certain type of personality that isn't very common among teenagers. Emily is normal in every way, yet she shines. This is because she is very realistic and likable. Though she is a bit downtrodden from major changes in her life (a divorce, a new home, and a new school), she doesn't whine excessively, nor does she take it unrealistically with no complaints. I was also very pleased with the ending. There was no corny parting scene where Emily's seventeenth century friends go back to their time through a swirling vortex with tears in their eyes.

I immensely enjoyed reading this book. My only complaint concerns the title. Although the book's title is The House on Hound Hill, it was originally published in Britain as Here Comes a Candle to Light You To Bed. I think the original title is much more intriguing and should not have been changed.

I've never been so "in" to a book that it made me jump in my seat until i read this. Prince has done a fantastic job of painting history, intruige, and fiction into this story. Everything from visions of ghosts repeating the cycle of their tragic lives, the protagonist becoming lost in the past, the past intertwining with the present, plague pits, and death make this story a favorite of mine.

The House on Hound Hill by Maggie Prince was a very good book. it had suspense, adventure, and history. it is about a 16-year-old girl, Emily, and her experienceswith the Black Plague of 1665. She has just moved into an old house in a London neighborhood called Hound Hill. She starts seeing, hearing and even smalling things from the time of the Black Death. She was transported to 1665 several times. Then she begins getting stranhge symptoms. On one last trip to 1665, she learns more about the horrors of the Plague and her new acquaintances from the time. For this trip, she stays an unusually long time and, like the other times, she doesn't know how to get back.

Emily's new house in London's historic neighborhood is filled with secrets of the past - secrets which bring Emily right into the past as she begins to experience plague symptoms and uncovers a doorway to an era where the Black Death killed almost a quarter of London's people. A challenging, involving story which blends real history with supernatural overtones in a riveting style.

The House On Hound Hill is a wondrfull book about a teenagegirl's troubles and the plague of London. Emily is shattered by herparents recent divorce and her new neighborhood.She is depressed aboutfailing exams.Emily starts to hear whispers and meets an man looking for his cat.Soon odd things start to happen.Emily discovers the past is still alive.She periodically goes back in time and experiences London in 1665.She sees beggars and watchmen.This book describes how it was at the time of the plague.The imagery and details add colorful contrast to this sad story.I enjoyed this book because I learned about the plague.Parts of the book did seem confusing at first, but they were later explained.

The title is "The Improving State of the World" and Goklany shows the state of the world
is improving. By nearly every measure of human wellbeing, we are better off than we used
to be. Life expectancy is increasing. Starvation and malnourishment is decreasing. The air
is cleaner. The water is cleaner. Child labor is less prevalent. Literacy is increasing.
Personal income is increasing. There are many more. The good news applies to the world
as a whole, the developed world, and the developing world. But this is not just cheering
for the status quo. He identifies the exceptions to the general trends, and does it for
each of the measures of wellbeing. Most of the exceptions are in Africa south of the Sahara,
and in the former soviet empire.

The subtitle is "Why we're living longer, healthier, more comfortable lives on a cleaner planet".
The reason is technology, economic growth, human capital, education, the rule of law, and
private property, all linked together in many interconnected "virtuous cycles." For example,
economic growth means more money to buy technology such as fertilizer and tractors which means
more food and less hunger, and time for education so more children can make even better
technology and sell it for less to more well fed, less sick, longer lived people who can use
their energy for economic growth. With better infrastructure, less food rots before it is eaten,
so less land is needed for farms so there is more room for biodiversity. With economic security,
families tend to be smaller. Each improvement makes improvements in other areas more likely.

The book was published by Cato Institute, the well known conservative think tank. Liberals
should consider the message, rather than the messenger. You don't get up before dawn and look
west just because Hitler said the sun rises in the east.

It is easy to evaluate the arguments and check the claims in the 420 pages of text. There are
85 pages of notes. Most of the links in the virtuous cycles are fully explained by statistics.
There are a few places were Goklany resorts to qualitative explanations, but these are clearly
stated to be not quantitative. The statistical data is used more fairly than in any other work
I can recall. Almost all the time series analysis uses all the data available; the few exceptions
are explained and justified. He uses data from advocates of positions opposite what he will
conclude. For example, he accepts the data from IPCC and uses it in his analysis that shows
adaptation to changing climate is better than intervention to try to prevent the change. He uses
consistent rules for fitting trend lines. Sometimes, there are different statistics that seem to
be about the same reality. He sometimes explains why one source might be undercounting or
overcounting. He often will do the analysis with both sets of data.

Some of Goklany's arguments clearly follow Maslow's hierarchy of needs. People do not care about
the environment when they are hungry. People do not care about quality of life next year when
they are concerned about surviving this year. Economic growth allows people to care about the
environment. Technical advances allow them to do something about it.

The tone is level and matter of fact. This is not a hate book, but some will hate some of the
conclusions. He presents the arguments for other conclusions fairly. Those that reach other
conclusions are not portrayed as evil or stupid, or even as paid shills of some vast conspiracy.

The book is optimistic about our future, with the emphasis on what is good for people. He does not
praise or deplore large families, but notes the strong trend towards smaller families as wealth
increases. Wealth brings health and less infant mortality, so an increase in population, but
increased family size happens only for a while.

The conclusions Goklany reaches will seem correct to more conservatives than liberals. The book will
not appeal to the extremes of either political wing, but it could be a big help to most of us
in the middle that wonder what we can do to help humanity.

This is not an entertaining read. There is a lot of information to absorb. There are many steps in
some of the virtuous cycles. Some of the vicious cycles Goklany debunks have to be examined in
detail to show they are wrong. You do not have to read it straight through to benefit from this
book. The next time you are invited on a crusade or bandwagon, pause and check it out. Use the
detailed index and find out all sides of the issue. You might find enough information to satisfy
yourself in just a few pages. But most things influence most other things and you might want to dig
deeper. You might find you have read half the book by the time you cover all the issues that are
related to the topic that was your starting point.

This is an important and excellent book. I highly recommend it.

Finally someone has taken the time to document how things have improved. Easy to read, lots of good information.

Many believe that globalization and growth are degrading the environment and, ultimately, human desires, but THE IMPROVING STATE OF THE WORLD: WHY WE'RE LIVING LONGER, HEALTHIER, MORE COMFORTABLE LIVES ON A CLEANER PLANET is the first to analyze long-term trends from a range of indicators of environmental health, offering up data drawing important links between economic growth, technological change, and free trade - which have actually helped foster a 'cycle of progress' leading to improvements in the human condition. THE IMPROVING STATE OF THE WORLD is a milestone study highly recommended for college-level holdings strong on social issues and environmental and political affairs: it is especially recommended for college-level classroom debate and is unparalleled in its scope.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Indur Goklany has written a very convincing and fact-filled work arguing that Mankind is thanks primarily to technological development on a progressive path towards greater and greater well- being. As the subtitle of the book says he argues that we are living longer , healthier more comfortable lives on a cleaner planet.

In an outstanding review of this book in 'Foreign Affairs'James Suroweicki suggests it is the Industrial Revolution that is at the heart of the economic and social transformation which is the subject of this book.
"In the West, above all, the effects of this transformation have been so massive as to be practically unfathomable. Real income, life expectancy, literacy and education rates, and food consumption have soared, while infant mortality, hours worked, and food prices have plummeted. And although the West has been the biggest beneficiary of these changes, the diffusion of technology, medicine, and agricultural techniques has meant that developing countries have enjoyed dramatic improvements in what the United Nations calls "human development indicators," even if most of their citizens remain poor. One consequence of this is that people at a given income level today are likely to be healthier and to live longer than people at the same income level did 40 or 50 years ago.
But Suroweicki takes objection to the idea that it is unregulated free market which alone can deal with environmental problems and points out that it is only through various government initiatives that the quality of air and water has improved in most Western cities.
This book does a good job of debunking the work of the doomsayer demographers of the Ehrlich, Club of Rome school which were at the heart of public awareness in the nineteen seventies.
To do this it amasses a tremendous amount of evidence as to the generally improved quality of life in most geographical regions. It does note the exceptions in sub- Saharan Africa and Russia.
Yet it does not give sufficient attention to such possibly catastrophic processes as nuclear proliferation. Nor does he consider the full effect of radical fundamentalist Islam both on the standards, level of economic development in Islamic societies- but on their general capacity for bringing through war disruption and even disaster to the world.
Nor does he consider the damage wrought by new technology on the family, and the overall mental health - profile of mankind. The great growth in mental illness, primarily Depression certainly is related to disruptive effects of new technology.
Thus while presenting a very convincing case that technological progress has given us longer, more prosperous lives Goklany does not reckon fully the negative consequences which have also come with this.

Probably one of the most important, well written, and throughly researched books on the topic of human development and the way we interact with our environment to come out in the past decade. It is a detailed and unapologetic look at what is really going on and where we should properly focus our attention in the future.
It is a brilliant answer to the eco-doom "best-sellers" that have proliferated recently. Highly recommended for those who want to KNOW, not just pontificate and pursue a political agenda.

This book is part of a series that looks at cities all over the country. While this book would most likely be of limited interest to non-Hoosiers, I found this book to be riveting. I've lived in Indy for 15 years now and I often visited the city as a child.

The format of the book is side by side photos of an Indianapolis address in the past (from 60 - 150 years ago) and a current (2004) photo of the same building. Sometimes the same buildings and landmarks are still in places, other times there are whole new buildings and landscapes.

Most striking is the changes in the area around Indy's much lauded canal walk, White River State Park and IUPUI. I was also surprised that the Indianapolis Star building is actually quite old - two beautiful buildings with character were merged into one building and then covered with one of the most boring brick facades I have ever seen on any buiding anywhere. Too bad.

Strongly recommended for residents of Indianapolis as a unique gift.

Side by side format of old pictures with the new. My husband saw this at a bookstore during Christmas break, and I made a mental note to order it for his birthday. The RCA/Hoosier Dome/whatever it's called now has a modern color picture side by side with what used to be on the site. The whole book is set up like this: old picture/what it looks like today.

We love Nelson Price, the author, who used to be with the local paper, The Indianapolis Star. If you like local history with pictures, this is a great gift book. I think I'll order it for my school beause my 4th grade studies Indiana history.

I gave this book to my Mother this year (2005) on her 85th birthday. She was born and raised in Indy, but moved away in the 1950's. Mother is enthralled with the "then" and "now" photos of the places she knew. It has brought back memories of "home and family" for her to share with her sisters as they go down memory lane together. The book has wonderful photos and descriptions of the landmarks. We are very pleased with the book!

Indianapolis: Then and Now is filled with wonderful photos accompanied by enchanting narration. It does not matter if you have never visited Indianapolis or are a native (as am I), this book will lead one through neighborhoods, down streets, and capture the allure of "Indy." Highly recommended for either a gift to yourself or others. The quality of the printing, photos, and binding give the impression of a much more expensive book than this.

I have lived in Indianapolis for 3 years now and this book was great. I can see it being boring if you have never visited Indy. But if you know Indy this is a book. You just have to get it. It would also make a GREAT gift for that Indianapolis Friend you might have. I am buying them up for Christmas gifts.