Iowa Books

The perfect book gift for the poetry lover. A wonderful introduction to a new leading voice in poetry.

This collection of poems is a rare find and I was so happy to have found the author's website (jeansirius dot com) that led me to have this exceptional book.

It is the type of book you expect to see at the women's book store at check out, you snap it up & take it with you - the quality of content is light years better than what you find.

The illustrations by Billie Potts are a nice bonus.

It has a nice variety of prose from whimsical to intense to sensual - all are beautiful. Many will resonate with you for a long time.

In Animal Biology And Care, Sue Dallas provides a comprehensive introduction for animal care and pre-veterinary nursing students in basic animal biology and care, with particular attention to anatomy and physiology. Section 1 introduces the reader to basic animal cell and tissue structure, organ structures and systems. Section 2 focuses on animal health and husbandry, as well as the basic requirements for animal health, disease transfer, and the effect of micro-organisms on body systems. Section 3 covers the nursing procedures for an animal and includes an introduction to medical terminology. Offering a clear, "student friendly" text which is enhanced with more than 150 illustrations, Animal Biology And Care is highly recommended, basic, essential reading for anyone training or working in the field of animal care.

This book must be read by everyone interested in learning more about the nuances of Icelandic culture. The various authors do well in researching their subjects. Their love of Iceland shines through their scholarly research. This book is one of my favorite books on Iceland because it reminds me of what a great anthropological study Iceland is.

Do Baby Boomers grow up, grow old--finally come of age? The answer of course is absolutely. Editor Gemin says that many contributors in this volume were reluctant to be classified as middle aged, yet that "certain age" has become its own symbol of a time filled with so much promise and possibility. Tony Hoagland, in his poem "Are You Experienced" says, after watching a Jimi Hendrix concert that:

... as I studied
the fresco of vomit on concrete,
that one day this moment

cleaned up and polished
would itself become
a kind of credential. 191

These are poems of leaving and coming home, poems of addiction and excess, poems of redemption, of coming to terms, of politics, poems of being lost and being found again and again. These are poems of aging.

Arranged thematically, Gemin has chosen poems rendered in experience. These experiences are transmitted through sharp, sometimes excruciating detail. While most poems in this volume are narrative, nearly all speak to the passing of time--a passage that is all at once sad and joyous--and often bewildering.

While writing these pieces may have been redemptive for many poets, reading these poems can be, in many ways, restorative, proof that all we stood for, all we believed in, has not been lost. In her poem, "Antilamentation," Dorianne Laux's asks that we regret nothing of those days, not the mistakes nor even the triumphs. "You've traveled this far on the back of every mistake . . . Relax . . . Don't bother remembering / any of it. Let's stop here, under the lit sign / on the corner, and watch all the people walk by (200).

Highly recommended for Boomers and wannabes alike.

"Ark" is a refreshing standout among first books, for it doesn't try to clobber the reader with trendy moves or a hipper-than-thou attitude. These are smart, deeply-felt poems that remind me of what I like most in poetry: imagination and emotion. In poems like "General Trees" and "How the Dead Kiss", Isles reminds us of the presence which is absence, the longed-for moment or loved one always within reach and always slipping away. Throughout there are poems that are tender and fierce simultaneously; I know I will be returning to this book for many years to come.

This is a CD-ROM produced for use by college and K-12 teachers with funding from the Department of Education and the National Endowment for the Humanities. It includes 1500 photograhs of art being used in Africa, and 10,000 total images. There are maps and statistics for each of the countries studied, and for each of the peoples in Africa who make art. There are eleven chapters on the ways Africans use art at important moments in their lives, and a slide maker that allows the user to assemble a slide presentation of favorite images.

8. Art and Life in Africa: Selections from the Stanley Collection
by Christopher D. Roy (Hardcover - June 1, 1985)

At Stormy Time is a biographical story of a 19th Century physician, who rode from Ohio to Iowa on horseback in 1855, seeking a place to settle and to start his family. He became the Fayette town doctor, and the first Professor of Natural Sciences in Upper Iowa University. Dr. Charles Coleman Parker served in the 12th Iowa Inf. Reg. as Regimental Surgeon during the Civil War, and had key roles at Fort Donelson and Shiloh. The book contains a series of letters he wrote to his wife from Pittsburg Landing before and after the battle. Parker also served as a medical witness for the defense in Abraham Lincoln's most infamous trial as a lawyer, the Duff Armstrong murder case.

The format for the telling of this story is unusual, in that it attempts to connect the present with the past. It is a factual narrative about life in frontier Iowa, and about a most unusual character who does not fit any of the stereotypes from literature about that period. It is also a story about one of the most interesting and unique institutions of higher education in the country. This story should be of interest to anyone who likes history, education, the Civil War, or a personal search for meaning. It is a high-quality paperback, easy and satisfying read, which will probably entice you to read it again.

This is a huge book containing maps, plats of the townships, rural director, and pictures of schools, churches, hundreds of the people, homes, farms, and articles on agriculture, etc. in Benton County Iowa in the year 1966. My best friend grew up in the 50's and 60's in Benton County, and we had a wonderful time going through this book. She told me about all the farm families, and found the properties that her family owned and everything!