Biology Books

Hair of the Dog is an immensely interesting tale of the life of an American translator aboard Soviet fishing trawlers during a Joint-Venture in the late 1980s. The story gives insight into the lives of the Soviets and how they lived with constant observation by the political commissars and KGB agents while working alongside the Americans. The friendships formed by the author and the experiences she had as both a translator and representative of America were solid and left me wishing I could have joined her out at sea. The story flows well and was an extremely easy read for anyone interested in Russia, the Soviet Union and the people of both great countries.

She gave a detailed of how the journey would go through out the ship voyage and gives reader a great idea of how brave she was on the ship. This book does not only show the readers that even you only spend most of the time on the ship that you can still have fun and this a once a life time experience. You can imagine how people who sail or working on the ship most of the time, and how they spent their time. It's a great and fuuny book and gives me a imagination of how her journey is.

This is a special book and a very enjoyable read. Oakley perservered in getting it published and we are all the beneficiaries. Give yourself a treat and get a glimpse of US-Soviet relations that few Americans have witnessed. This book is not just a factual account of life at sea; it is a view into the Russian soul and psyche. You will not regret it.

This is a great introductory field guide for tidepoolers and beachcombers. I grew up on the west coast but was still able to use this reference on Pacific sea life. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book is the author's willingness to eat just about everything he finds, evoking a marine Euell Gibbons. (If you plan to do this yourself, please research local regulations for collection permits!)

If you love strolling on the beaches of the Atlantic Coast but want to make some sense of where you are & what you are seeing, seek out a copy of this book. You won't be disappointed. Zinn shows how the world of the beach, from the water to the dunes, is packed with life seen & unseen. & he shows us where to look.

This is a great Handbook that contains many well written papers on various aspects of Confocal Microscopy, with emphasis on biological samples. There are basic and tutorial articles as well as some detailed specific studies. Many color photographs and charts are also included where appropriate. I highly recommend it to novice and expert workers in this field. For the former, it will provide a decent foundation, especially with references that are in each article; and for the latter, it serves as a compendium of good practices.

This is a great reference book. A great place to start if you want to learn about confocal microscopes. The chapters are written by experts in their specific field of confocal microscopy. The book is also well referenced so that you can easliy continue your search for knowledge on confocal microscopy. I also found the appendix interesting, they list most of the existing confocal systems and there specs. This is useful if you plan on purchasing one. This book is also useful if you plan on building your own.

Computational is a new and rapidly changing field as new research and techniques are being developed on an almost daily basis. It is to the credit of the author and publisher that they have been able to put together such a complete and well organized handbook this early.

Clearly this field is not ready for a standard text to have been developed, indeed it is clearly too much for even one writer. Instead, the editor calls this 'truly a community effort, with the chapters authored by leading researchers widely recognized for their research contributions and expertise.'

In all there are 38 specific chapters organized into eight major parts. The parts are: Sequence Alignments, String Data Strctures, Genome Assembly and EST Clustering, Genome-Scale Computational Methods, Microarrays and Gene Expression Analysis, Computatinal Structural biology, Bioinformatic Databases and Data Mining. The authors represent a who's who of the major American research establishments as well as from Germany, Italy, Russia, Canada, Japan, Isreal, and India.

The book could be used as a text but is probably more useful to the researcher looking for either an introduction to the field in general or go learn about areas outside his particular area of expertise.

Bioinformatics is too big a field to cover in one book, but this thousand-pager comes close. Its 38 chapters give good summaries of just about every major topic in bioinformatics. Since the table of contents isn't visible here (as of this writing), I'll list the major headings into which the chapters are divided:
* Sequence alignments
* String data structures
* Genome assmebly and EST clustering
* Genome-scale computational methods
* Phylogenetics
* Microarrays and expression analysis
* Computational structural biology
* Bioinformatic databases and data mining

A few things are missing, such as RNA structure prediction and mass spec analysis of proteins. Regulatory networks get only brief mention, perhaps because the topic is still too researchy for any body of accepted practice. These are quibbles, though. The book does a very good job of providing brief surveys of many topics, with an extensive bibliography at the end of each chapter.

This doesn't replace other books that examine specific topics in greater depth. Instead, it provides quick surveys of many topics, and lots of pointers for further information. For the subjects it covers, it's a great starting point.

//wiredweird

This is a standard reference that everyone involved in winemaking should own. If more wine journalists bought and read these volumes we would not have to see so many myths and misunderstandings in print. My only objection is the high price, making it almost impossible to buy for the amateur wine enthusiast that is interested in wine chemistry.

I am currently working as a enologist in a wine producing company. I am actively involved every day with winemaking as well as wine research. To know the latest research being done on wine is thus very important to me. This book presents the latest research and facts in a scientific way, which should be helpful for both the scientist, winemaker as well as the novice. The wealth of enological knowledge which the French acquired over many years is now also available to the non-French speaking wine community through this book. The different chapters in this book cover a wide field of enology and I can recommend it.

We have used successfully the "Handbook of Radioactivity Analysis" as a reference for training courses on Liquid Scintillation Analysis. The material in the book has been useful for course participants from a wide spectrum of fields including the biochemical, nuclear and environmental sciences, and health physics. The sections on Semiconductor Detectors for those interested in radiation spectral analysis, and Radionuclide Imaging for researchers using electronic autoradiography in the biosciences are also packed with lots of practical information. The book is highly recommended as a reference for anyone who uses radioisotopes as tracers in research or must analyze radioisotopes in all types of media including low-levels in the environment.

The text is very readable. Many illustrations and tables throughout the book provide useful information. Hundreds of cited references and state-of-the-art concepts and procedures are included. Even the most experienced and knowledgeable scientists in the field should find the book useful. I highly recommend the book to anyone interested in the absolute activity analysis of radionuclides used in research or low levels of radioactivity encountered in the environment.

This is a must have for any elementary teacher! Easy to follow experiments, including required materials. What I find most beneficial is the scientific explanation of what 'occurred' in the experiment - this is crucial if you're not sure how to explain the scientific concept to students.

This book is a must-have for any elementary teacher. In fact, the entire series of "hands-on science activities" books is outstanding. Each book addresses specific areas of the science curriculum in an organized fashion. The experiments are guaranteed to get kids interested in science.

Dana Gardner illustrates this survey by ornithologist Skutch, who here provides a general science guide arguing that principles of increasing harmony drive the living world. From biological concepts of how evolution proceeds despite paradoxes to issues of preserving biodiversity and understanding compatibility, Harmony And Conflict In The Living World provides a scholarly, involving analysis of concepts of nature, exploitation and conflict.

This is a fine example of intelligent but accessible writing in which science, philosophy and theory combine to inspire hope. Dr. Skutch has studied aggression and behavior of avian species,and he has witnessed a great deal of destruction in Meso-America. Amazingly, he is able to use his experience to illustrate a path for harmony in contemporary society. I may not agree with every detail, but his overall concepts and optimistic viewpoint are compelling and worthy of serious study by anyone concerned with our planet's future.

I am teaching a unit on the body and found this book to be most helpful and informative. My class thoroughly enjoyed the experiments as well. I will be using it for years to come with my students! Great find!

Easy to use directions. Keeps kids excited. Activities are grouped into sets, and explore each topic from many angles.

There hasn't been such an intimate look at New York Harbor since
Joseph Mitchell's classic "The Bottom of the Harbor". John
Waldman captures the mystique and dark romance known only to a few
New York bayman. Readers will become familiar with New York events
like "Floaters week", underruns, blow out tides; fishing holes
with unlikely names such as Aquatic Appalachia, Tin Can Grounds, Acid
Grounds, and Cholera Banks; flotsam that will never be found in any
dictionary like "Coney Island Whitefish" and "blop-blops";
nautical entrepreneurs like the "Belford Pirates", illegal
pinhookers, Kenney's Killer Killifish, headboats and even an urban
sports fishing guide. John Watchman takes you to backwaters and
commercial dead ends where the "Fiftteenth Ward Smelling
Committee" once searched for the source of health-giving vapors,
sludge bubbles, perfume wagon stenches; and a criminal defense lawyer
even tried to use the black, bubbly water of the bay as a possible
neurological "The river made me do it" defense.

I spent many
of my early years wandering New York Harbor and it's many tributaries
in search of stripped bass, jacking for blue claw crabs, ice boating,
racing sailboats or simply drifting down the Harlem River on a warm
summer night listening to the urban mixture of steel bands, fire
engine horns, police sirens and elevated trains. It was a treat to
hear that you can still do many of these things and the hostilities to
this great body of water are being addressed by special people like
John Watchman. We owe him a lot.

Richard Quis now lives in Southern
California where the colorful flotsam is oranges, lemons and tennis
balls.

Perhaps not as much as it used to, New York City has always been dependent on its waterways. From the get-go in the early 17th Century, it was a port city. However, no sooner did development expand the city when the East and Hudson Rivers became sewers, dumping grounds for tanners, chandlers, and dyers. By the late 19th Century, the pollution extended all the way out to the Harbor, the Narrows, and then the Atlantic. John Waldman's HEARTBEATS IN THE MUCK traces this sad history and then, to the surprise of many readers, describes the comeback staged by these waterways.

In a way, this book is quite inspirational, in as much as that it gives the reader hope that, when confronted with an ecological crisis, local and state governments can and will intervene, even if it needs to be put under pressure. Villains abound, but so do heroes, and the anecdotes about local seafarers do more than just entertain; they make you proud of them for their determination.

Lastly, even to the most seasoned New Yorker, this little tome will provide information about his/her city's remarkably complex network of rivers, streams, "kills", and canals. Having grown up near the Gowanus Canal, I remember how awful it smelled even on good days. Now, it is so clean, it seems strange. In any event, Mr. Waldman deserves a great deal of credit for his dogged research and his sea legs.