Central America Books

Book review of behind the mountain

My book is called Behind the Mountain by Edwidge Danticat.
A family is broke and they are trying to get to New York. They live in Haiti. Bombs are going off all over the place. A girl in the family is trying to help her mom from almost dying from a bomb. That was my introduction.

The main characters are the dad, manman which is the mom and Celiane the dater. Manman is almost dead from a bomb. Celiane want's her dad. The father is in New York giving money to the mom and dater and brother who also has money. The brother is working to give them money to. Those were all the characters.

In this book they want to leave there country. There is a lot of bombing happing so they want to leave their country Haiti. In Haiti 2 kiddies died from the bombing happing in Haiti. They finally got to New York and they were happy because they would not die any more. When Celiane got to New York she had a good school and like before. That was my setting.

The family is trying to get courage to move to New York with there dad. They don't want to be in bombs any more. The girl want's a better school. The family is trying to get money from people to go to New York. The theme is courage.

If you read this book you will be able to visualize the book. So if you read it now I won't let you stop. This book is about one big adventure in 2 different countries. If you like weapons I think you should read this book. That was my conclusion.

Book review of behind the mountain

My book is called Behind the Mountain by Edwidge Danticat.
A family is broke and they are trying to get to New York. They live in Haiti. Bombs are going off all over the place. A girl in the family is trying to help her mom from almost dying from a bomb. That was my introduction.

The main characters are the dad, manman which is the mom and Celiane the dater. Manman is almost dead from a bomb. Celiane want's her dad. The father is in New York giving money to the mom and dater and brother who also has money. The brother is working to give them money to. Those were all the characters.

In this book they want to leave there country. There is a lot of bombing happing so they want to leave their country Haiti. In Haiti 2 kiddies died from the bombing happing in Haiti. They finally got to New York and they were happy because they would not die any more. When Celiane got to New York she had a good school and like before. That was my setting.

The family is trying to get courage to move to New York with there dad. They don't want to be in bombs any more. The girl want's a better school. The family is trying to get money from people to go to New York. The theme is courage.

If you read this book you will be able to visualize the book. So if you read it now I won't let you stop. This book is about one big adventure in 2 different countries. If you like weapons I think you should read this book. That was my conclusion.

Read as part of a course on bilingualism & biculturalism this book provided a personal glimpse into a child's life and how it changed.

Not only is this a well-written, interesting story of a young girl's life in Haiti, it truly gives the reader a taste of what Haiti is like today. My daughter, age 10, and I read it together, after my first trip to Haiti on a medical mission. I felt like I was back in Haiti, and loved the description, historical information and perspective of a young girl watching her life and country change. Behind the Mountains is written in diary form, and really draws the reader in, allowing her to see things through the eye's of the young narrator as her family is uprooted and moved to another country.

I highly recommend this to young readers (4th-6th grade) or even adults who enjoy historical fiction, learning about other cultures, or are undergoing family changes.

I give this a 5 star rating for the wonderful prose, easy readability, smooth incorporation of beautiful cultural and historical facts, and engaging characters.

As I walked through the leafy Boston suburb, I saw a uniformed chauffeur waiting outside a big house. He was gazing into the trees, obviously enjoying the quiet spring morning. A nametag on his lapel identified him as "Jean."

"Are you from Haiti?" I asked.

He nodded, surprised.

"I just read a great book about your country," I told him. "I learned about the beautiful mountains and hibiscus flowers there."

I watched the smile spread across his face. Were it not for Edwidge Danticat's young adult novel, Behind the Mountains, I might have walked wordlessly past this stranger. Now I was curious about his journey, and he was thrilled by my knowledge of his country and culture. That's the purpose of Orchard's First Person Fiction series - to create understanding and empathy for the immigrants around us. Using fictional diary entries, Danticat recounts Celiane Esperance's journey from a rural town to Port-au-Prince to Brooklyn. I painlessly learned about Haitian history and politics, and gained insight into why some Haitians desire to immigrate to America.

The book is also particularly written for immigrant teens. Danticat, the acclaimed author of three adult novels, expertly depicts Celiane's high hopes of seeing her father again and the subsequent stressful reality of a family reunion. Reading about Celiane's first miserable days in New York will encourage immigrant teens to welcome other newcomers. As Celiane describes her sorrow over her father's conflict with her older brother Moy, I remembered my older siblings hammering out compromises with our parents. These and other themes common to immigrants from any country make me wish this book had been around when I was reading out on that Flushing fire escape.

The Weekly Standard May 7, 200l Scrapbook, page 3 Book Notes

The Scrapbook is pleased to report the publication of a fine new book by Weekly Standard contributor and weapons-technology expert Henry Sokolski. Best of Intentions is a significant work of scholarship: the first comprehensive history of American efforts to stop the global spread of strategic weapons capabilities since World War II. Any self-respecting grown-up will want to buy a copy immediately.

Best of Intentions: America's Campaign Against Strategic Weapons Proliferation -- A Practical Primer

As reviewed in ORBIS Summer 2001, By Mark T. Clark,Ph.D., Director of National Security Studies, California State University at San Bernardino.

Henry Sokolski, in his Best of Intentions, expressly eschews the search for the causes of proliferation and instead prefers to evaluate efforts to prevent proliferation in the first place. A former military legislative analyst in the Senate and an official in the Department of Defense during the first Bush administration, he currently heads the nonprofit Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in Washington, D.C. His interests, therefore, lie in the search for practical answers to policy questions, not in the development of theory per se. He proposes to determine how effective U.S. and international efforts have been in curbing proliferation, and specifically intends to "identify and weigh the premises of U.S. nonproliferation policies (p. xii).

His book is divided into seven chapters, the first and last of which deal with the history and future of nonproliferation. The five central chapters are analytic histories of the major nonproliferation policies: the Baruch Plan, the Atoms for Peace Program, the NPT, proliferation technology control regimes, and the U.S. Counterproliferation Initiative. According to Sokolski, each of the initiatives had distinct assumptions that were built upon an assessment of the strategic dangers that needed to be avoided at the time, and each was designed to correct the failures of its precursors. He further argues that "[t]o the extent each characterized the strategic threat properly, they produced nonproliferation measures that were sound. To the extent that they did not, they encouraged measures that were impractical or that actually compounded the proliferation threats they were supposed to reduce" (p. xii).

How U.S. leaders characterized the strategic threat makes for an interesting approach to the periods under examination. It also reminds the reader that there is always a strategic context to policy, and favored solution to perceived problems. In other words, policymakers' assumptions about the world tend to influence their responses to it. For example, after World War II, American policy makers worried that the spread of nuclear weapons would inevitably generate undeterrable wars against which no defense was possible. Since the United States would not be able to deflect potential offensive nuclear wars, it sought to retain sole ownership of nuclear weapons. The Baruch Plan that was offered to the United Nations in 1946 provided, among other things, that anything critical to nuclear bomb making be turned over to the control of an international atomic energy authority, a meritorious proposal in itself. However, the United States' exaggerated fears of undeterrable offensive nuclear wars made it crucial for the country to maintain it sole nuclear monopoly until thorough safeguards were in place - and that condition alone provided the Soviets with the reason to reject it.

The drafters of the Nonproliferation Treaty of l968 had their own strategic assumptions, which continue to fuel debate over nonproliferation policies today. At the heart of the first three articles of the NPT are concerns about the horizontal proliferation of nuclear weapons, that is, the spread of nuclear weapons to nonnuclear states. The original Irish proposal in l958 reflected the early fears that the addition of new nuclear powers would lead to international instability, making nuclear war more likely. Before the NPT was finished, however, negotiators began fearing the effects of vertical proliferation, that is, the accumulation of nuclear weapons by the superpowers targets against one another, which could lead to accidental or unauthorized nuclear war. Today some states refuse to sign the NPT unless and until the major powers move more drastically toward disarmament. In the meantime, the dangers of horizontal proliferation continue to grow.

Sokolski's history and analysis would seem to be premised on political realism. In the concluding chapter, however, his prescriptions for new nonproliferation policies reflect a different theoretical bent. Since there are limits and weakness to all the previous policies, he argues, new initiatives must focus on issues more lasting than technological or military contingencies. The next counterproliferation campaign must be anchored in larger policies that distinguish between liberal and hostile illiberal regimes in an effort to broaden, over the long run, the "zones of peace" and shrink "zones of conflict." In other words, Sokolski relies on a form of the "democratic peace theory," which suggests that democracies do not wage war against other democracies. This idea has broad acceptance among American political leaders, from Ronald Reagan to Bill Clinton to George W. Bush.

Sokolski and Best of Intentions deserve credit for accomplishing the politically impossible: Clarifying the last half century of U.S. strategic arms control and nonproliferation in a manner that both the Right and Left can support. This is no mean trick. How many books on this subject get featured not only in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, but the Weekly Standard; get endorsed by Conservatives including Bill Kristol and former CIA Director Jim Woolsey and liberals such as Democratic Congressman Ed Markey; and have receptions thrown for them by both the liberal Carnegie and the Conservative Heritage Foundations? Other than this book, none that I know of. How could this happen? No mystery here: The book is unusually well written and to the point. More important, it makes a very critical, nonpartisan point: Every U.S. effort to control the spread of strategic arms has presumed some vision of the next war that has either been wrong or overtaken by events. As such, the U.S. needs to focus its next arms restraint campaign less on dubious military predictions and more on the political and economic trends toward markets and liberal democracy that are both sounder and more positive. Indeed, Best of Intentions' effort to detail the past assumptions of U.S. policy makers is first rate reading for anyone smug enough to assume that the U.S. has done the best that it can to prevent armageddon. Clearly, it has meant well but there is room for improvement. For any student or official interested in clarifying this point or who is anxious to get on with this project, Best of Intentions is the best (and a most bipartisan) place to begin.

"...Best of Intentions provides a timely and well-reasoned history of U.S. attempts to prevent the spread of nuclear materials. Henry Sokolski has succeeded in setting forth the current dilemmas facing present-day decision makers and making a compelling analysis of where past policies have gone right or wrong."
Representative Edward J. Markey, (D-Massachusetts), Co-Chairman of the House Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation

"...informed and trenchant...offers valuable insights and presents important challenges - not only to those who have advocated prior non-proliferation initiatives, but to those who contend that there are better options..."
Alton Frye, Vice President, Council on Foreign Relations

"Henry Sokolski has done us all a great service by parsing, briefly and succinctly, the tangled history of nonproliferation, and relating it to the problems we face today."
James Woolsey, former director of the Central Intelligence Agency

"This is an outstanding survey, analysis and critique ...a vitally important addition to the reading lists and libraries of scholars, policymakers, and others having an interest in U.S. national security strategy, technology transfer, arms control and proliferation."
Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

"For any Democrat or Republican wishing to rethink what our nonproliferation policies should be, Best of Intentions is the place to begin."
William Kristol, Editor, The Weekly Standard

"...an indispensable primer on a long and crucial battle we may now be losing."
Peter W. Rodman, Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

"A fascinating history and penetrating critique of U.S. nuclear nonproliferation policy."
Frank Von Hippel, Princeton University, former arms control advisor to the Clinton Administration

"...raises fundamental strategic questions that must be addressed...a thoughtful, welcome provocation."
George Perkovich, author, India's Nuclear Bomb, director of the Alton Jones Foundation

"The Scrapbook is pleased to report the publication of a fine new book by Weekly Standard contributor and weapons-technology expert Henry Sokolski. Best of Intentions is a significant work of scholarship: the first comprehensive history of American efforts to stop the global spread of strategic weapons capabilities since World War II. Any self respecting grown-up will want to buy a copy immediately."
The Weekly Standard

"...This sobering analysis is must reading for scholars and policy makers alike."
Henry Rowen, Stanford University, former Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs

"...a reference work no serious student of these matters should be without."
Gordon C. Oehler, former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency's Nonproliferation Center

A history of U.S. efforts to stop the expansion of nuclear arms "ownership" is not novel. One that treats both vertical proliferation, for old owners' stockpiles, and horizontal proliferation, to new owners, is unusual. So too is a work that is conceptual yet succinct. Henry Sokolski, the Pentagon chief of non-proliferation policy in the first Bush presidency and executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, delivers on both counts. Best of Intentions looks at the results of arms control policies, which often involved unintended consequences-but consequences that Sokolski shows nonetheless follow from their authors' thinking. Ultimately, however, the character and designs of regimes owning weapons of mass destruction is Sokolski's most portentous theme.

Best of Intentions is intended, it appears, for undergraduate and early graduate-level students, though policy analysts would do well to read its treatment of arms control doc-trines and instruments-both carrots and sticks. Sokolski has a certain under statement manifest both in succinctness and, occasionally, in subtlety, which may leave the not so nimble behind.

Sokolski draws lessons from five cases: the Baruch Plan rejected by the Soviet Union; Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative, which paved the way for the inadequate" safeguards" regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency; the1968 Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) based on bargaining with nuclear have-nots; proliferation technology control regimes such as the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Australia Group on Chemical and biological weapons; and counterproliferation policy in the1990s, which prepared military means to eliminate emerging weapons of mass destruction (WMD) arsenals.

Sokolski draws three lessons from these cases. First, strategic assumptions shape initiatives. For instance, he attributes the NPT's effort to reward nations promising to desist from acquiring nuclear arms with access to ostensibly civilian nuclear technology to 1960s ideas on "finite deterrence" and an attendant right to acquire civilian nuclear technology. He offers a unique critique of the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea, which he demonstrates shares the premises of the NPT, hatched a quarter-century earlier. Second, Sokolski highlights the risks of basing nonproliferation initiatives on wrongheaded assumptions about the sources and nature of future wars. Finally, he suggests that horizontal proliferation can only be reduced when the nuclear "haves" reduce their vertical proliferation-but only "without increasing the world's access to ever larger and more uncertain amounts of strategic materials and capabilities."

Sokolski offers corrective prescriptions for the future. He insists that quid pro quo for nonproliferation promises must be banished because they encourage efforts to acquire WMDs to get a reward. Also, he calls for a centrist position on export controls between existing voluntary consultation regimes and a new version of the Cold War COCOM, whereby nations "could deny any export (listed or not) to Any destination and expect this denial to be upheld (i.e., not undercut) By other members until they met to learn why the denial was made . . . [so that] incremental agreement might be reached on a substantial number of items and destinations."

The book has several particular strengths. It offers rich portraits of doctrines, such as the Mutual Assured Destruction balance of terror and the early Clinton Administration paradigm of "cooperative security," as alternatives to either export controls or missile defense. Sokolski brilliantly shows how the premises of initiatives like Atoms for Peace led to perverse results. Also, his critique of "carrots" is quite convincing. For instance, he asks about one incentives-based policy of the 1990s:"Wouldn't including both proliferation suppliers and consumers into organizations that had relatively free trade in sensitive technology simply turn existing proliferation technology denial regimes into proliferation breeding grounds?"

Indeed, in style, the book's objective and balanced tone is welcome, despite strong normative implications. For instance, Sokolski writes, "Atoms for Peace may have gotten the relationship between vertical and horizontal proliferation wrong but at least it recognized that there was a connection." And once again, conciseness is a strength of this veritable primer -- including informative documentary appendices on the cases.

The best insight the book offers, though, is emphasized in the last Chapter of the text. The "intentions" highlighted in the title are important when it comes to countries the United States is seeking to constrain from acquiring WMDs. What really matters is not so much the deadly capability of other nations, but their intent in acquiring that capability. As such, regime-type is all-important. Authoritarian states that take the lives of their own citizens lightly typically take the use of supremely deadly force against other countries lightly as well. Therefore, the United States should seek a world filled with more benign neighbors, because "a world of Canadas is a world not at war." Democratic states either forego WMD arsenals, or pose no danger if they do acquire them.

By implication, non-proliferation policy must focus on the demand side, not just the supply side. Sokolski observes that "in the 1980sand very early 1990s, Taiwan, South Korea, Ukraine, Argentina, South Africa, and Brazil all foreswore or dismantled their nuclear weapons or long-range missile programs." Why? He believes that it is because they became more democratic-typically with a little push from the United States. Going beyond reliance on globalized trade to inevitably yield political liberalization, the author asserts that active democracy-promotion is the best nonproliferation policy.

Hence, Best of Intentions contributes to multiple sets of literature. It belongs to the rich literature on nuclear doctrines, but breaks new ground in dissecting U.S. nonproliferation policy initiatives. In particular, the work belongs to an under developed literature critiquing prevailing deterrence and arms control theory by emphasizing how intent, rather than capability, matters most to nuclear peace.

More generally, Best of Intentions contributes to the literature on ideas, and not just books dealing exclusively with nuclear doctrines. It adds to the literature on U.S. foreign policy doctrines. Finally, the work links nonproliferation to the literature on the democratic peace and the importance of democracy-promotion. This final contribution may be even more crucial than Sokolski intended.

A thorough and complete review of all the events, policies, and ideas that this Administration has used to make a person fear that the U. S. is undergoing changes. Changes that would make the average citizen gasp if he or she knew about them and drew the unavoidable conclusions. And the illustrations are great!

I wish to commend "Bushed!" to any person who is undecided about the upcoming presidential election. Dr. Walter Clemens' book will clear up any uncertainties that might accidentally induce a subsequently shaming vote for George Bush.

This book is assured protection from post-election regrets. Every reader should be spared the pain and heartbreak of sending a total scoundrel back to the White House. It is a must-read for the informed voter who cares about his or her own personal integrity.

Read "Bushed!" now; not his lips.

H. Watkins Ellerson
Attorney at Law & Commentator
PO Box 90
Hadensville, VA 23067

Clemens's incisive evaluations of the president's statements and actions over a wide spectrum since 2001, graphically enlivened by Morin's editorial cartoons, tellingly exposes the emptiness of the 'compassionate conservative' mantra and the multiple failures of the administration's domestic and foreign policies. Bushed! pithily encapsulates the concerns of those disillusioned with the administration's foibles. From beginning to end, the book engages as well as disturbs and alarms the reader. It should be widely read. - Hermann Fr. Eilts, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and Deputy Commandant, U.S. Army War College.

I bought this book figuring I knew it was obviously going to be anti-George W. Bush. But I'm surprised at how fact-based it is. By that I mean the author isn't just giving opinions about our current President, he's citing actual documents and official sources in illustrating the many liberties taken by the Bush administration.

It's amazing just how much George W has gotten away with, going back to when he transferred all his papers as the Governor of Texas to his daddy's Presidential Library, away from public view...To giving himself more control over his White House papers than any President before...To allowing the identity of a CIA agent to be leaked after the agent's husband was slightly critical of Bush's administration. That's just a small tip of the iceberg. I haven't even mentioned Iraq! The rest is for you to read.

BUSHED! is actually quite a pleasant read. You can use it almost like a reference tool, especially considering it's extensive table of contents. And the political cartoons seem not only to compliment the words, they enhance them.

While I'd LIKE to recommend this BUSHED! to fans of Dubya, I know better. Instead, I'd recommend this book to everyone else.

Although there are many political cartoons, which made me laugh out loud, the authors cover Bush's not so stellar record from Govenor to President. This book makes no claims of being objective, however the events and issues are referenced lending them at least a minimal degree of credibility. The Authors also take it up an intellectual level by showing how Bush's actions are Machiavellian to a fault and they tie in some quotes of the ancient Greek philosphers on how democracy is supposed to work.

There are no issues here which will surprise anyone who has watched the news for the past four years, but will remind us of things like: how our president wants to promote a cluture of life and thus protect the unborn, but during his terms as TX govenor, TX had the highest number of excutions in the US; ENRON's and Halliburton's ties to the current administration, Environment- what was that Kyoto thing?; Education and how NCLB is mandated, but not funded, the Middle East Debacle, and many more.

If you are already firmly anti-Bush this book will reinforce your sentiment. If nothing else the cartoons are worth it, but the text is not throw-away by any stretch.

The photographs in this book work as both documentary on the state of the Maya in Chiapas and as pieces of art. Turok's visions are sensitive and understanding. One gets a sense of both place and people.

A marvelous visual "walk" through contemporary Chiapas. Antonio Turok's sentiments are palpable in his pictures. A 'must-have' book for those interested in modern Mexico and, particularly, Chiapas.

I went to school with Tony. He was never without his camera throughout high school. He is able to capture the "moment" through his photographs in this book. He is a truly gifted artist.

Antonio Turok prints in black and white all the shades of grey that he has seen in the last 25 years in Chiapas. A brilliamt photographer, madly funny with a wide eyed fasination with Maya culture and an unblinking witness to political tradgedies, this book will give you the clearest vision of Chiapas behind the news.

A marvelous visual "walk" through contemporary Chiapas. Antonio Turok's sentiments are palpable in his pictures. A 'must-have' book for those interested in modern Mexico and, particularly, Chiapas.

...and have been referring to it regularly ever since. (Probably the only refs I use more often are World Almanac, Statistical Abstract of US, and Encyclopedia Americana.) I know of no better first place to go when I have a question about Chicago (which happens often, even tho I've lived here continuously for 33 years.) The illustrations are a little cramped - if you want better, get 'Above Chicago' (but no where near 1,000.) A good mix of pics and intelligent copy. I was surprised to see it still in print, but that just proves many share my opinions.

This is a must read for any Chicagoan (as we all know there are two types of people....Chicagoans and people who wish they were Chicagoans.

I still have my 1974 purchase. Well worn and borrowed often.

This superb book describes the evolution of Chicago with over 1,000 photographs and dozens of maps. Readers see how a combination of geography, industrialization, railroads and immigration rapidly changed Chicago from an 1837 outpost on Lake Michigan to one of the world's greatest cities. Quickly becoming the earth's leading railroad center, Chicago grew to 110,000 persons in 1860, 550,000 in 1880, 1.6 million in 1900, 3.5 million in 1930 - and at this writing some nine million persons call Chicago (or more often its suburbs) home. Readers see how "the Windy City" has always been a magnet for immigrants seeking jobs, opportunity, and/or urban flavor. The authors focus heavily on the many neighborhoods, and show how our city's growth was influenced by architectural, historic and economic trends. There's also solid coverage of downtown and its famous skyline, our differing ethnic groups, plus many parks, suburbs, slums, highways, railroads, the subway/EL system, etc.

You can read this book straight through, use it as reference, or just learn about our city from the many photos. Either way, you'll sense the pride that leads many residents to identify themselves first as being from Chicago, and only later as being from Illinois, the Midwest or the USA.

I first read this book over 10 years ago. it quickly became one of the only textbooks I have read cover to cover more than once. Anyone wanting to learn more about Chicago history will love this book. I continue to use it as reference and as a continous form of entertainment.

This book is a very thorough overview of Chicago's rich history. It also has a very large amount of pictures which make it good as a display book for your coffee table. Anyone who has lived in Chicago can read this and understand the significance of Chicago's past and its influence on the city's evolution.

This is one of the first books we chose to start the process of deciding whether Costa Rica might be the spot where we could retire. The book is very informative - and teamed with some of the other Costa Rica books that Amazon has to offer - has helped us make our choice.

I just finished reading the 6th edition. The book really does a great job of discussing the many aspects of making the move to paradise (aka CR). The advice about importing vs buying a car alone was worth the price of the book -- that's the kind of useful info you just won't find in most of the books about moving to CR. He also does a good job explaining the rather daunting problems of employing people in CR (the rules are worlds different than in the US).

I especially appreciated that the author admits when he doesn't know absolutely everything about a given subject. Makes me feel I can better trust the information he does impart. I also appreciated that he wasn't hawking his services like many similar books (he does suggest you visit his website, which is fine -- no hard sell or anything).

The 6th edition was, I felt, a little light on language issues. I have found that not many Costa Ricans outside the tourist industry know much English but the author seemed to gloss over the fact that you better know your espanol when you make the move (unless you plan to lock yourself up in one of those expat enclaves -- ugh!). If you want to move to CR and not get taken for a ride by shady gringo characters your best defense is to learn Spanish so that you can deal with the Ticos yourself.

This book (8th edition) is a frank and helpful look at the practicalities of moving to Costa Rica. I especially appreciated the information about altitudes and temperatures of the various locales where expatriates tend to live, detailed immigration information, and considerations for renting or buying real estate. John Howells has a wry, self-deprecating wit that I found refreshing and his writing is entertaining as well as very informative. I found this book more helpful and much better written and edited than "The New Golden Door to Retirement and Living in Costa Rica."

I've only read 4-5 books on CR but this is my favorite by far. John gives a lot of detail about what various towns & areas are like & why you may or may not want to live or visit there. That is just what I was looking for.

I'll mention up front that this is the only book I've read on the subject of living in Costa Rica, but I can't imagine many being much better. I spent 10 weeks in Costa Rica (8 weeks in language immersion school, 4 days a week). Having two full weeks plus several 3-day weekends to travel around, I'm familiar with the basics of Costa Rican culture & geography.

Nowhere near retirement age myself, I was impressed to find plenty of information on other topics: Mr. Howells reviews culture & politics, but not in any long and boring sense - really keeping to the necessities. He frequently compares cultural topics with North American analogies, helping to define it better for North Americans. He does take pains to be clear, while concise, about business, legal & immigration matters - all of which you probably find interesting, anyway, if you think you want to move to Costa Rica. He also does a great job covering costs of living for all life styles, health care, transportation, education, real estate and investments. He's interviewed plenty of folks for the content, too. From parents with children in private or public schools to immigration or real estate lawyers. This was clearly not his first attempt at such a book.

One thing I repeatedly found interesting were the details about North American & European expat communities all over the country. I'm sure some of those details change in time, but it really gives you a feel for what to expect in the way of finding English (or other European language) speaking friends & advice. (But you are encouraged to learn some Spanish, of course!) Another specific that he gives several pages to is driving to Costa Rica from the US! I've always wanted to do that, and he's done it several times... I'm inspired already!

My only concern with the book would be for someone who isn't familiar with the geography (thus my disclaimer @ the top) might like to supplement their reading with Google Earth or a map. The book does a fair job of keeping you oriented as he travels around, though, so don't worry if you'd rather not. It does have some maps indicating the regions he discusses.

I found the book so interesting that I actually read most of it while traveling in Ecuador. At no point did I ever feel bored or bogged down and I didn't skip a single page. There's even some comic relief! This book, combined with a good trip, should be a nice spring board into living, retiring or doing business in Costa Rica.

Kevin Schafer's gorgeous photographs and thoughtful and well-written prose make Costa Rica come alive. This beautiful book definitely makes me yearn to visit Costa Rica sometime soon!

Dear Kevin Schaefer: Saw your lovely book about Costa Rica at the Casa Corcovado Jungle Lodge last week and HAD to have it. It was $80 in a San Jose book shop, but I'm happy to see that it's much less thru Amazon.com. I've ordered it and hope to have it soon. Nothing else I ever saw captures CR quite like it. The photographs are beautiful and the text insiteful. It truly is a work of love. I recommend it highly to anyone who loves that country and it's special places and wildlife like we do. Thank you, and I hope it sells well! Kathy Dickey

Costa Rica; Forests of Eden is a spectacular book with spectacular photos. The photos are realistic, they give a good view of how things really look. No tricks are used in the photography, so when you go to Costa Rica yourself you can actually see it as it is photographed. The text that goes with the photos give good information about ecotourism and about the environment and animals that are on the photos. The book is made with care of the photographer.

Costa Rica; Forests of Eden is a spectacular book with spectacular photos. The photos are realistic, they give a good view of how things really look. No tricks are used in the photography, so when you go to Costa Rica yourself you can actually see it as it is photographed. The text that goes with the photos give good information about ecotourism and about the environment and animals that are on the photos. The book is made with care of the photographer.

Here in one book were all the shots of flora and fauna that I missed. Upon opening the first page, I was instantly transported back to the rainforest. At times, I felt the author had stood in the same spot that I did to take his photographs. Glorious color that captures the mood, emotions and life in the rainforest. A beautiful book to give anyone who has been to Costa Rica or who can only be an armchair traveler.

One country, one people, so many moods...so much to linger on.
Like most Americans, I have never been to Cuba so I cannot say for certain, but the feeling from cover to cover is that of total authenticity.
Jack Kenny has expanded my world through his lens and obviously through his heart. His photos are wide-ranging and each one, evocative.
I love this book!

Having visited the area myself, I find Jack Kenny's work to be a true representation of the island of Cuba. Mr. Kenny, however, delves deeper into the soul of the country and truly transmits the character of the people, the atmosphere of the region and,in black and white, the attraction and beauty of Cuba. John Baird, Clearwater, Florida

Jack Kenny's insight into the lives of today's ordinary Cubans offers an extraordinary visual introduction and occasional thoughtful comment on a culture I realize I knew nothing about. His presentation and excellent photography tell a story far more revealing and intimate than one of words alone. If only this examination were afforded to countless other tiny nations equally misunderstood and unknown. This is a fascinating book to all who look.

This is a "must have" book for anyone interested in Cuba, and in great photography. Jack Kenny, a photographer from Ann Arbor, Michigan, has produced an incredible book of photos from his 40+ trips to Cuba over the last decade. His rare views of ordinary Cubans at work and play will dispel any notion you might have that Cuba is a somber and depressing place, and will draw you in to the history and the people that make Cuba our most fascinating neighbor. The photos themselves are clearly the work of a master photographer; the photo entitled "Che Tattoo" is alone worth the price of the book.

Since 1996 photographer Jack Kenny has been a frequent visitor (thirty visits as of the printing of this book in 2005) to the strangely mysterious island of Cuba, mysterious because for most of us since the Castro Regime the island has been off limits, the only information available being from the censored media and from friends who managed to periodically return to their Cuban home to cautiously visit family.

What Jack Kenny gives us in this generous, large-scale book is a series of vignettes of the people and places of the island we know so little. It is obvious from the technically facile, artistically composed black and white images that the people he shares with us have a trust in him. The photographs are from the old monarch of the island Havana, the Playa Baracoa, and the rural villages that dot the island. The players in this volume range in age from infants to the elderly, from lovers, game players, workers, families, and sundry gatherings of people making the best with the little they have.

And in great contrast to the simple beauty of the people Kenny focuses on the grand (if decaying) architecture of the ruins of a city that was once a chief tourist attraction for the world. Certain images feature statuary without heads but with intact wings, fossils of a grander time on this paradise. For those of us who are familiar only with the traditional 'shots' of the 'intended for public viewing' spaces on the controlled island, this collection celebrates an entirely new view of why Cuba remains so dear to the countless refugees who fled the island to live in America. This is a perfect time to turn to Jack Kenny's love affair with Cuba: with Fidel Castro having stepped down, perhaps there will now begin a transformation or return to normalcy that will revive the old Queen of the Caribbean. Grady Harp, February 08

My grandma originally owned a copy of this book and regularly noted sightings of interesting/rare species. I bought my own copy several years ago and it has proved quite useful. The most interesting example was a Java Sparrow sighted in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I couldn't find out what it was from searching around online, but looking in the back of this field guide, under foreign/introduced species, there it was.

I received this book as a gift and have used it constantly. I keep it on my window sill during the feeding season to identify the visiters to my feeder. The book's size and physical construction are excellent. As someone who is a novice it seems to be very comprehensive on the subject matter.

Even when I lived in the city, I liked to feed and watch the birds (mainly sparrows and pigeons). Now that we live up in the woods, we're in bird paradise. Using this Peterson Field Guide for "Eastern Birds" plus a good pair of binoculars for visual identifications, and the "Birding by Ear Eastern/Central" CDs (Richard K. Walton and Robert W. Lawson) I've identified 42 species of birds in just over a month, as a casual observer for the Michigan Breeding Bird Atlas II project.

I have other bird books, but it is Peterson's Field Guide that I use most frequently. Roger Tory Peterson's 'system' "is based on patternistic drawings with arrows that pinpoint the key field marks." You don't have to have the bird in hand in order to make an identification. In addition to 136 full-color plates of Eastern birds (male, female, and immature, or summer and winter plumage if they differ markedly), there are also 390 three-color maps (first introduced in the 1980 edition).

The maps are absolutely essential for an amateur like me. If I've narrowed down a blurry little gray bird to X and Y, and Y never makes it north of the Mason-Dixon Line, I can be pretty certain that the bird is X. Here's an actual example on the utility of the maps: I was trying to distinguish a trilling song that could either belong to the Swamp Sparrow, the Pine Warbler, or the Northern Junco. We do see Juncos at our feeders in the winter, but this is July and according to Peterson's map, the Juncos spend the summer north of here, mostly in Canada. So I've narrowed the trill down to the Swamp Sparrow or the Pine Warbler (actually I'm positive we've got both as I've made tentative visual identifications. It makes sense since we live in the Pine Barrens which is dotted with numerous swamps).

This book begins with a generalized introduction to identifying birds by shape, distinctive features and behavior. Physically, it is tightly bound and just the right size to slip into a backpack. The pages are glossy and 'relatively' waterproof if you wipe them quickly dry. There is even a 'life list' up front where you can check off the birds you have seen.

Don't go birding without it.

The Peterson field Guide to Eastern American Birds turned out to be the best birding book I've ever read. The book was well thought out and had the format that we needed in our suburban environment. The illustrations were concise and made identifying the birds extremely easy. We have a large population of Red-Winged Blackbirds and Mourning Doves, and its great to actually know what in the world we were looking at. It was great!

This is the best of the field guides for the amature birder in my opinion. I purchased a guide that had actual photos of birds in their habitats, thinking it would be the best, but it definately was not as good or as easy to use as the Peterson field guide. If you are looking for a good all around field guide to keep near your binoculars, this one is my pick.

A wonderful book for botanists or any traveler heading to the Galapagos. It covers 436 flowering plants and provides photos of more than half. It also introduces the botanical history of the islands and their varied ecological zones. Its boasts clear text and some exceptional pictures.

I have been intrigued for years by the plants, animals and birds of the Galapagos. Not only have I found the perfect field guide for flowering plants written by Dr. McMullen but, in addition, this book will serve a dual purpose as a guide for my own visit and that visitors to my home will find it on display among my favorite and frequent references. The pictures are beautiful with detail and clarity. Keep up the great work Dr. McMullen and I hope your obvious hard work and labor continue to bear fruit.

This is a GREAT book! The descriptions are concise and accurate, and the photographs are excellent as well. This guide is clearly head and shoulders above all other existing literature in terms of utility. If you can only buy one book about the islands, this is it.

I found the "Flowering Plants of the Galapagos" to be a very useful and user-friendly flower guide. The discussion on how to use the guide was thorough yet simple enough for the botanical novice to understand the information. The "Introduction" section was helpful in acquanting the user with the general characterists of the archipelago and the vegetation zones of the islands. This section not only assists the reader in knowing where specific plants may be located, but also gives some insight into the ecology of the plants. I found the key to be one of the most straight-forward and user-friendly that I have used. Even the most botanically challenged individual could easily work through the logical progression of choices offered in the key. The amount of information given with each plant is also a positive attribute to this guide book. The author clearly outlines the range of the plants and lists the islands in which the plants inhabit, which is a very useful piece of information. The habitat is given along with a thorough description of the plant. Lastly, the additional comments offer a nice touch of the plants natural history, use, or some other piece of interesting trivia. I thought the author did a superb job of presenting the amazing flora of the Galapagos in a simple, easy to understand fashion that any visitor could appreciate. Lastly, the quality of the photos truly add to the attractiveness and effectiveness of the book.

It would have been a lot easier to have been a naturalist guide in the Galapagos if we had only had this book. This is a treat and a treasure! The plant life of these incredible islands has been overshadowed by the antics of the wildlife and threats of El Nino. They can now take front stage with this useful guide that even a novice will find easy to use. The pictures are beautiful and the descriptions accurate. For those that use this book, they will introduced to a special world that has been ignored. Conley - you have made all Galapagos Guides very happy!