The Earth Books

Primitive peoples once shook their spears at the heavens and chanted to entice the gods to favor them with rain or otherwise change the weather. Around the turn of the century, experimenters began seeding clouds with various chemicals that sometimes encouraged a much-needed downpour. That was a hundred years ago.

Technology has advanced.

In WEATHER WARFARE, Jerry E. Smith reveals technology so sophisticated that it can alter weather patterns, trigger earthquakes, shake volcanoes into eruption, and initiate tsunamis. Massively budgeted projects play with powerful environment-busting science, and the militaries of various nations are the biggest users...and abusers.

So potentially devastating are environmental modification (ENMOD) threats that U.S. Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) submitted legislation to Congress in 2001 that would have banned such systems. Other political leaders have similarly expressed concern that militaries are experimenting with and even deploying environment-altering technology that may be globally destructive.

Smith's heavily researched and thoroughly documented book tugs the reader along like a novel, unveiling frightening technologies, conspiracies, and agendas that may be altering our lives and generating a host of negative environmental effects throughout the entire planet.

WEATHER WARFARE is easily understood by the layman and avoids dense technical explanations. Even so, this reader would have been fascinated to see more technical detail in some areas, such as how earth-penetrating electromagnetic waves are theorized to interact with certain types of geology and cause earthquakes.

Mixed with the hard facts are some scary conspiracy theories that range from the highly believable to the outlandish, and Smith neither endorses nor dismisses them. (They're all interesting anyway!)

WEATHER WARFARE is an important book; required reading by those who wish to remain vigilant in their support of democracy (and survival!); and entertaining reading for those who enjoy their conspiracy theories frightening and laced with a heavy dose of truth.

The book has interesting points. A bit clumsy and jumpy. Would have been nice to have more solid referencing, instead of a few quotes here and there used multiple times.

Have you ever been at a party and REALLY wanted to impress your friends during their conspiracy conversations with a dissertation on weather warfare? Yeah me neither, usually my interest in the subjects of the conspiracy kind relegate me to the dark corners while other speak of football and politics (although politics are fun too..). But if you did you need to read this book!

After reading Weather Warfare you'll be like a rockstar on the subject of weather warfare. Jerry Smith does all the heavy lifting for you, and what resulted is a very well written, easy reading book which walks you through not only the current state of 21st century weather modification but also a step by step history of the subject. From the barn stormers of the 20's to HAARP to beyond, its all here.

And that brings me to another subject..

One of my biggest personal pet peeves in conspiracy/ufo/alternative information books is that you pickup a book out of interest in hopes of learning something interesting and new. But the author of the book assumes you have some level of knowledge about the subject and this makes the book harder to interpret and understand.

Jerry Smith on the other hand starts at ground zero, and takes your hand. Then together you walk through the whole subject step by step, and when you are done, you know where we've come from and where we are going. He also provides plenty of additional resources to keep learning as well as a wonderful website which will further your education. If you travel in these circles that continuing education and the resources he provides are priceless as this kind of subject is constantly evolving.

Well footnoted, and illustrated Weather Warfare is a wonderful book I'd recommend to everyone interested in HAARP, DARPA, and black projects.

My final word on this book - When you finish Weather Warfare you will not only feel like an expert on Weather Modification you will be one. It's that good. Really!

Whether it is to weaken hurricanes or to create better snow fall for ski resorts environmental modifications certainly go against the grain of ecological ethic. The question that must be asked by everyone now is how much modifications and manipulation can our earth endure before she starts to rebel. Weather Warfare takes the reader into the dark world of chemtrail conspiracies, UFOs and earth quakes on demand! The book also revisits Tesla and HAARP. The book ends with the conspiracy that the chemtrails are due to some type of additive "they" are putting into the jet fuel. Could this be the new world order or an attempt to dehumanize the world? Issues like HAARP, Chemtrails, and Environmental Modifications must be brought to the attention of the public ASAP for the well being of this planet. All people must do is read and Jerry E Smith is my recommended read for everyone. It's up to everyone to do their small part to make this world a better place. You can start with educating your self with literature. I also must state the any book published by the Adventures Unlimited Press is of top quality information. I am patiently awaiting Mr. Smith's next book.

This book is amazing. The information in is very thought provoking. The opening quote by a top government official on how the US needs to participate in biological and environmental warfare is shocking, except for those of us who know what the US Gov't has done in the past (i.e. 9/11 was an inside job). It explains in detail ways that the US has attempted to manipulate weather and earthquakes in the past and desires to do so with even greater effort in the future. HAARP is a sci-fi style weapon that will likely be secretly used against the American people by their own government.
Excellent information.

An easy to read book with several relatively short narratives on chasing storms and other events. Included were some great pictures while others were a little disappointing-strictly because of the nature of the book.

Im so glad that Mike is finally getting the recognition he deserves. I started hanging out on his website when I was going to college at Dana in Blair several years ago, and you can see his photography and tracking skills grow over the years. The pics in this book + the commentary take what you have seen every summer and bring it down to you in a way that a straight science text can never do. Kudo's, Mike.

Excellent photography, and interesting real life stories from people who chase mother nature at her worst, make this book a must have! From tornadoes to ice storms, this book covers ever mode of severe weather. A must have!

If you have ever...

Watched 'Twister' a million times
Tuned into the weather channel just to see what's happening
Sat outside to watch a storm, when you know you shouldn't
Marveled at the awesome power of mother nature...

Then this book might be right up your 'alley'.

With all playfullness aside this book is a brilliant collection of naritives and photographic art. The purpose of the book was to chronical storm chases yet, with one masterful click of a camera, Mike Hollingshead, and Eric Nguyen have created so much more than that! One read of this book can make you feel like were there and will change your outlook on natures fury forever.

Stacy Cole,
Gilbert, AZ

A fantastic book with consistently great photographs from two of the best lensmen to roam the Plains. Everyone who likes striking high-quality photographs of Nature at her fierce finest will enjoy this book. It includes a nice dictionary of storm chaser terms as well as a brief but informative section on how these amazing storms work. I had high expectations for this book and it met or exceeded every one.

This title is a must for educators of young children. The illustrations are beautiful and the language is understandable even for the youngest of school children. Reading and discussing this book with a classroom will help children discover that differences are what make us special and differences are a reason for celebration. Love builds the bridges that create community within any and all societies.

This book relays the differences of people in a simplistic way with beautiful artwork. When teaching, this book can be used with different age groups. It can be used as a story-starter for writing with students.

Buy this book if you love all people.

~Shauna Schoenborn

Recently a close friend with mixed race toddlers appealed to me for advice on how to respond to her children's questions about color and difference. She lives in 'monocultural' rural Spain and thought that based upon my own experiences I could share some insight. We chatted for a bit, and then after we hung up I started to search through the old forgotten children's books belonging to my (now teenage) sons for appropriate ones to send her. My boys were happy to part with the picture and early years storybooks I'd found until,that is, I showed them this book 'All the Colors of the Earth'. Individually they both said a categorical "No way!" to the idea of parting with it, and I was both shocked at the level of affection they held for this gorgeous but seemingly discarded book, and secretly proud that in their new worlds of computer games and Manga and loud music that they still harbored a secret place of childhood memories where this fabulous book holds such a special place. My eldest surprised me further by speaking of wanting to share it with his own children in the future-imagine! So I had to buy my friend her own copy and have it shipped to us in the UK, so that we could give it as a present when they came to visit us. The moist-eyed smiles and gasps of delight that both she and her partner gave while flicking through the pages said it all. Looks like yet another family has an heirloom for future generations.

I was fortunate enough to receive this as a prize in a local contest for my kids; they love it! The text, the images, and the meaning are all wonderful. It promotes tolerance without the heavy-handed approach that some books take by simply presenting the reality that children are all different, and yet are bound by love and youthful innocence, and that *that* is a beautiful thing. I highly recommend this book.

This, along with A MIRROR FOR OBSERVERS, are the 2nd & 3rd volumes of the Complete Edgar Pangborn to be released by Old Earth Books. The books are quality editions: sewn signatures, acid free paper, real cloth on the boards. The books will last longer than you! Pangborn's signature is stamped in gold on the front board too.

DAVY features a full cover cover by Michael Kaluta.

If you've read the earlier comments, then you know the story.

Here's what others have said:

"I was delighted all the way through." - - Robert Heinlein

"Somewhere in Writer's Heaven, Edgar Pangborn and Mark Twain are conversing as equals, and this book is one of the principle reasons why. Davy is a kind of Tom Sawyer or Huckleberry Finn for a new age that fortunately has not come to pass, so far: the age of postnuclear apocalypse which a whole generation was once certain was inevitable, the only possible future-and which a new generation seems equally certain is impossible, even though all those missiles are still out there, and U-235 still fuses when bid. Pangborn rose to the artistic and spiritual challenge of finding hope even in holocaust, and spent most of his writing life examining those aspects of humanity and human nature which even thermonuclear fire might find difficult to extinguish. This novel is his masterpiece, one of the great works of science fiction. Over the past thirty years since I discovered it, I have often found myself having conversations with more than one of its characters, and I commend them all to you with warm pleasure." - - Spider Robinson

"DAVY is one of the very best books of its time, vivid, engrossing, sexy, funny, clear-eyed about human folly and yet deeply compassionate, a masterpiece that belongs on the exclusive short list of the three or four best After-The-Holocaust novels--and which may well be the best of them
all." - - Gardner Dozois

Order early, order often!

Long out of print, this is one of the best science fiction novels of the 1960s. Pangborn was a very good writer and this is the best of his books. Davy is a very well written bildungsroman/picaresque novel set in northeastern North America after a nuclear holocaust. Like a number of such novels, the implicit analogy is with Europe emerging from the Middle Ages with a rebirth of science and secular knowledge.
The publisher, Old Earth Books, deserves praise for their revival of Pangborn's work. Pangborn is only one of several good but neglected writers they've chosen to republish and I recommend taking a look at the offerings on their website.

Many seasons has the earth gone through since the days of my early youth, but this book stirred inside me the memories:
walking next to Davy I was young again, I loved, I made promises I knew I
would not keep, the world is again such a beautiful
and fascinating thing to discover. I found myself again
dreaming of distant lands...

This is one of the best post-holocaust novels I have
ever read (the other is "A canticle for Leibowitz").
Somehow as time goes by,I like this novel more and more.

I first read this remarkable novel when I was 14 - about the age Davy was at the start of the book. It was 1964, and I was heavily into science fiction - it offered a loner full of teenage angst an escape from the everyday world. I made some amazing literary discoveries - most of them accidental, but some of the works I flipped over back then still ring true today. DAVY is one of those works.

The story is classified as science fiction mainly, I suppose, by virtue of the fact that it takes place in the future, after a brief (but devastating) nuclear war - a theme touched on by a great many works of the Cold War era. Beyond that, it could easily fit into the broader genre of literary fiction - it's well-written and imaginative enough to appeal to a wider spectrum of readers. The sci-fi label is enough to put some people off, and that's a shame - there's a lot of great literature that's filed there, and a lot of folks are missing out as a result.

Pangborn fashioned a very believable world in which Davy and his friends (and foes) could dwell - and he peopled it with characters that are easy to accept as well. Science and learning have fallen by the wayside in this setting - the once-mighty USA has crumbled into a number of smaller nations and city-states, most of them operating under what they term as democracy. They're a far cry from it. The Holy Murcan Church is very powerful, and exerts a lot of control over both sacred and secular matters - the governments, such as they are, bow to its will generally without much grumbling. Books have been banned as evil, leading as they did to sin and destruction in the Old Times (pre-war). The Days of Confusion followed, during which the Church arose from the ashes with the rest of the survivors, and consolidated its power.

Davy is a bondservant - born to a prostitute and left in a Church-run orphanage to grow up, he runs away from his job at an inn after losing his childhood (or finding his manhood, take your pick) with the innkeeper's daughter. The book recounts a number of his adventures - he travels alone in the wilderness for a while, falls in with a small group of other outcasts, joins up with Rumly's Ramblers (a sort of post-apocalyptic American version of gypsies) for a bit, journeys to Old City in Nuin where he meets the love of his life, falls into a place in the government with her (her uncle is a progressive regent), fights in an uprising, and goes into exile. He writes his story from that vantage point, looking back over a period of twenty years or so.

Along the way, Pangborn manages very deftly to make quite a few astute comments about the state of things in the world as it exists today, by way of `looking back' at them from Davy's perspective. He does so with a serious eye, but also with a large dose of humor - he's not afraid in the least of poking the world in the gut and then giving it a good Dutch rub on the head as it bends over, something it could mightily use now and again.

A lot of the place names that are used can be easily linked to current ones - `Murcan' is probably meant to be a bastardization of `American', `Nuin' is `New England', `Moha' relates to `Mohawk', &c. Others, like `Conicut', `Vairmant' and `Penn' are more obvious. It's also hilarious the way history has been twisted over the time of the Days of Confusion - with no books to keep it alive, many, many events are tied up together and confused, and these confusions themselves make for very wry and astute observations by both the author and his rough but lovable narrator.

It's a shame this book is out of print - it's one that should be made available again, a classic not only of the sci-fi genre, but of 60s literature. It should be on the shelf right alongside Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s astonishing A CANTICLE FOR LIEBOWITZ. DAVY is a dark vision of a `possible future' - one that we could all stand to learn a bit from in order to prevent it.

Four centuries after the nuclear holocaust the United States are no longer united. What exists now are separate feudal countries who sporadically wage war against one another. Ruled by the ascetic doctrines of the Holy Murcan Church, society is deprived of technology, held in thrall by ignorance and fear. The holocaust still claims its victims with the high incidence of genetic mutations ("mues"), which must be killed on sight. The lack of hygiene and decent medical care also makes people susceptible to disease.

Red-headed Davy was born into this world and describes his life over the years, growing up as an ill-educated orphan, forced by the welfare system to work as a bond servant, until he runs away at 14, spending the next few years travelling with an assortment of wandering minstrels. Davy writes his account from an island in the Azores. He's one of a group of exiles who dared to question the teachings of the Church. Despite the improvement in his education, Davy's spirited writing is still riddled with slang.

Davy's world is so convincingly backward there were times when I forgot this book was set in the future. Another story people may be interested in is John Wyndham's novel "The Chrysalids" (1955). There are certain similarities between that book and "Davy". Like "Davy", "The Chrysalids" takes place in a post-holocaust world centuries hence, where life is strictly governed by the Church and mutants are treated as the spawn of the devil. The story is set around eastern Canada, not that far from the places mentioned in "Davy". Even the narrator's name is similar. (His name is David.) Although the character is not so preoccupied with sex and has less adventures than Davy, "The Chrysalids" is my personal preference; a book I read when I was 14. A lot of school kids hate it.

Overall, "Davy" is a light, easy read. I bought my copy second-hand, a 1976 edition, printed the year Edgar Pangborn died.

This simple but profound book brought me back to my immigrant grandparents and their gardens. My father's father always said "Never plant anything you can't eat', and having known hunger on two continents grew tomatoes, beans and escarole of immense size and sweetness. My mother's mother, having fed her children from her garden, had turned to flowers by the time I knew her. Her yard was a joyous riot of color and fragrance with delicious places for small children to hide beneath the blooms.
The author reminds us that for so many people becoming an 'American' meant severing an intimate relationship with the Earth as our nourishing and sustaining source of life. We cover her with asphalt, grow acres of grass that demand fertilizer, water and constant attention yet gives nothing of substance in return. We abandoned our role as stewards and exploited with a reckless sense of entitlement.
I recommend this book to those who want to be reassured that the Earth is forgiving but it is now essential that we reconsider our relationship to consider first what she needs and deserves so we may continue to be nourished in body and spirit.

I loved this book. I just wish I could get it back. It is so beautiful that my sister hasn't yet returned it, she just keeps rereading it. I wanted to write Patricia, thank her and plead with her to write the rest of the stories she collected. I could use two or three more of these books. She did such a beautiful job collecting the stories of people who don't feel part of the mainstream American culture, but rather part of the soil itself. Her writing is sensitive, lyrical and haunting. It sticks with you, uplifting you and helping you understand that you are not alone in your love of the land. Absolutely and perfectly beautiful.

My 85 year old mother, who is a small gardener, has been raving about this book since I gave it to her last July for a birthday gift. You need to realize that there are no color pictures of gardens in it, but the writing is exquisite and goes into family details from people who have attempted to recreate family gardens, that they once had in their countries of birth, here in the U.S.

This is an interesting, beautifully written book describing the connection between a culture and growing food, using specific individuals in different parts of America -- Native American, Hispanic, Japanese, Italian, and so on. Gardening breathes life into the culture and the person. It is an unusual, heartfelt theme.

Last summer I received this book as a surprise gift from my son's partner. Its author is a like an aunt to her, and she thought I might enjoy it. I was very touched by this generous gesture and certainly hoped to like it; its vivid cover looked inviting and the topic intriguing, but my expectations were modest at best. Dutifully I delved into it - lo and behold, I didn't just like it. I loved it. The writing is lyrical, the stories are powerful. Its narratives, chronicling the experience of people bringing forth food from the earth, put this book squarely on the shelf with Kingsolver's Animal Vegetable Miracle and Pollon's Omnivore's Dilemma.

English lacks a word for people who grow their own food while working a day job: hence the book's dissertation-length title, The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture, and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans. "Gardener" connotes flowers more than edibles; "farmer" and "grower" suggest fulltime professionals, and "subsistence farmer" conjures up hardscrabble sharecropping. Our closest term is kitchen or cottage gardeners. The author highlights eight gardens, each created and nurtured by people whose pleasure in growing things and deep reverence for the earth are powerfully and poetically expressed - especially captivating since few of them would be comfortable writing their observations and experiences. The reader feels privileged to sit in on the dialogue between author and subject - lush descriptions jump off each page, allowing us to see, smell, taste, and feel the bounty of these gardens. Each day's sequence of harvesting, preparing, preserving, and eating, along with endless garden tasks, including saving the best seeds for the next year's planting, come to life.

Klindienst skillfully recreates the narratives of these gardeners speaking their truths and sharing their intimate knowledge of producing sustenance; their garden labors sustain them spiritually as well as physically. Most of them are immigrants who bridge their old homes and their new by connecting with the earth. Meet the Khmer growers of Western Massachusetts, aging immigrant survivors of genocide. Over time they have created a flourishing New England community garden featuring South Asian fruits and vegetables. In their garden these two sisters are at home, at peace. From early spring to late fall they are busy every minute nurturing both their plants and the younger family and community members who help out; their organic produce is in great demand by local fans and restaurants. When the harvest season ends, the garden's proceeds fund wat restorations and schools in their home village in Cambodia as well as new local Massachusetts Buddhist communities. When winter settles in their aches, traumas, and flashbacks reappear. Cooped up indoors all winter, they long for their garden, a surrogate for their past lives, only feeling hopeful again when spring revives their spirits.

Visit with Klindienst in Ruhan Kainth's Punjabi garden in Fullerton, California. Had she stayed in her comfortable home in India, Ruhan would have enjoyed the many privileges of high economic status, but she would not have been free to garden - in her home culture, such work is considered beneath her. She learned about the wonder of growing things by collecting tenant farmers' rent for her physician father who worked abroad. In California she can, and does, grow everything she wants. Her South Asian American friends find it all very puzzling. Why would she want to get dirty? A visit to her recreated semi-tropical garden answers that question - she has her own private paradise, a quarter acre with over 50 fruits, vegetables, and herbs, including the centerpiece, a neem tree, one of only a few in North America. I gave a copy of this book to my South Asian friend Meenal, a newbie gardener, and recommended this particular chapter. When her parents recently went back for a visit to their native India, they asked Meenal what she might like them to bring back. Her answer: "Seeds!" So Ruhan already has already raised up a disciple. Perhaps one day Ruhan and Meenal will even trade their best seeds along with their stories, who knows?

The last of its eight chapters chronicles the wondrous story of Whit Davis, an 11th generation Connecticut farmer who has recently presented revered Indian white flint corn to the descendants of the Native Americans displaced by his colonial ancestors. Along with the seed corn, he sends the following instructions via the author, who is doing the actual presentation: "Tell them they should plant two, three fields of it and to keep them separated. After three, four years, they should take the best seed from all three and mix them together and start again. That way they keep the corn strong. Tell them that I wish them well. Tell them that I wish them good luck in all their endeavors." I gave a copy of this book is my nephew Neil, a PhD in eco-biology, now a plant biologist developing drought resistant corn, and directed him to Whit's story. Neil was astounded to read Whit's instructions, because they describe precisely the methodology he and his team utilize in their experimental fields.

We live in a time of keen interest in food politics and increasing ecological concern. One of the books strengths is its subtlety in these matters. The stories tell themselves, but they also enhance the reader's awareness of the need to support local farmers, preserve open space, and protect seed banks from corporate, monopolistic control. This book is suffused with deep and ancient wisdom. It is more than just an oral history book; it is a sacred text, helping us to relearn deep reverence and spiritual connection.

Considering how drawn in I was by Klindienst's work, it came as no surprise to me when I learned that she has won a 2007 American Book Award for The Earth Knows My Name. This prize highlights writing which expresses America's multicultural heritage. Just one suggestion: read the prologue after reading the main body of the book, at which point you will have fallen in love with all her subjects, and realize what an artful volume Patricia Klindienst has created. By then, reading her own story will make more sense. Another reading tip: there is a coherent order to the chapters, but each stands on its own, so no need to read them in sequence.

Warning: this book is powerful. Don't be surprised if, come spring, you find yourself planting a cottage garden....

People who know Didi through the food in her restaurants will be shocked to find out how easy she makes it to cook the bold flavors she puts into her dishes. I LOVE this book. I find myself using other cookbooks less and less, and using this one for guests, parties, and simple meals at home. I think if this book had a different title and cover it would have received the popularity it deserves.

This book is worth the price for her pan-fried tofu recipe alone. Indisputably the BEST way to prepare tofu. Even people who are confirmed tofu haters love this method.

My only minor quibble with Didi is that she (page 219) eats fish on occasion and thus considers herself a "95% vegetarian". For a vegan, the suggested use of "fish sauce" in a vegetarian recipe book is annoying. However Didi does suggest alternatives - and her recipes are fine without it.

A good friend suggested that the lone negative reviewer may have substituted some other yeast for the nutritional yeast called for in many recipes, I'm sure she's correct. Folks, there is NO substitute, you need genuine nutritional yeast (mild and cheesy) - NOT brewer's yeast (bitter), and definitely not (shudder) baker's yeast!

Both of Didi Emmons cookbooks are among my most reliable recipe sources. As someone who's been a vegetarian for years and who also cooks for serious carnivores, I love that I can find recipes that pair ingredients I would not come up with on my own. Favorite recipes in this book include cambodian tomato soup, pomegranate walnut dip (muhammara,) hazelnut mushroom burgers,and chard and eggplant salad.

the best recipe book i have ever read and used

The recipes in the book are fabulous. I have tried several recipes and they have all been a hit - the kind that will get your friends to ask for the recipe (even the non-vegetarian ones!)
The recipes are very simple yet creative. I have "read" the book cover to cover, and everything looks so delicious and interesting that I cannot wait to try more of them out. Sometimes I find when I buy a cookbook that I only wind up caring for a few recipes in the whole book. I don't think it'll be the case with this one!
I have bought several copies of the book to give to friends, meat eating ones included.

I read this book when first published - and it has remained one of the most interesting, thought provoking and passionate books I have ever read.

With the recent interest in quantum physics (What the Bleep do I Know) and the resurgance of interest in application (the Secret) - it fascinates me that in this book - written a full 30 years before either of these two recent phenomena achieved cult following - Watson wrote about his observations as a scientist, of things he could not quite explain, and which make perfect sense after exposure to quantum physics and the power of intentional thought.

Best of all, Watson writes in a clear, easy prose - with beautiful descriptions, gentle humor and an ability to express himself without attemping to convert the reader towards thinking 'his way'.

You draw your own conclusions - and yet - this book also dares you to dream.

Absoltuely loved this book. Mr. Watson inspires me to search further for my lost connection to the world around me.

I read this for a psychology Senior Seminar class at Univ. Maine @ Farmington... The intersection of scientific knowledge and inexplicable phenomena was awe inspiring... It is amazing how the natural world has yet to be sufficiently explained by science. This book was extremely easy to read, as I read most of it backwards (the chapters are broken down into sections). This is one of those books you can easily read twice!

Biologist Lyall Watson travels to Indonesia in search of magic... and finds a 'dancing island' and a girl who comes of age to become a shaman and healer. For those who simply enjoy a good story, this is an excellent book. For those who realize that the magic described in this book is real, it's even better. Watson is a first-rate story-teller, and I would give this book ten stars if such a thing were possible!

This is an incredable little book on the "magic" of other lands. I like the writings of Lyall, but this was a late comer to my list. It has absolutely captivated my imagination and heart. I am one of those that believe that what is narrated is "real" - is just that is in that other realm of "other ways of knowing". I constanly quote it and suggest it as reading for others. It is an eye and mind opener. It is a book that challenges our "Western" ways of knowing. It is a book that easily can be denied as true, but if one has read other books impossible to believe or has had similar "weird" experiences in life, then it has that intuition that it might be true and it can then be accept it as patentable possible.
I highly recommend it to anyone, you will be surprised!

Excellent information on the history of gemstones, understanding color and cuts. Exquisite examples, beautifully photographed. A must for anyone interested in gemstones or the history of jewelry.

This is a beautiful book with lots of interesting information on the gem collection.

This review is for the paperback version of the book, which I loved. It has a lovely balance of terrific photos & explanations of the various sources of the featured gems. It serves as a nice beginning reference when you have heard the terms sapphire & red sapphire (huh? I thought red gems were rubys or spinels) and would like to know more about which gems are related to others.

And did I say the photos are just wonderful? Enjoy!

If you have visited the National Collection and want a souvenir to remind you of the stunning array of unique World Class Gems then this is the book for you. Both the format of the book and the superlative quality of the photography make this book the next best thing to being in the exhibition hall. There is a fairly light weight coverage of the gemmology in the text, but it mostly focusses on the history and ownership of these fabulous gems. The National Collection is unique, no where else in the world is there such a concentration of fabulous jewels with such an interesting history, with the possible exception of the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London. This book is a fitting celebration of such a marvellous collection.

"The National Gem Collection," by Jeffrey E. Post, features photographs by Chip Clark. The book is a beautiful celebration of the title collection, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The informative text discusses the history of the collection, facts about types of different gemstones, and specific pieces in the collection.

The full-color photography is really stunning, and brings a rich assortment of gems to glorious life. Some of the historic pieces pictured are the blue Hope Diamond, the diamond Napoleon Necklace, the Hooker Emerald, and more. Also shown are a colorful collection of "fancy" diamonds, a rare red diamond, the 858-carat uncut Gachala Emerald, the delightful "pink tutu" (a band of dainty rose quartz crystals on a large smoky quartz crystal), a dazzling group of fire opals, a lapis lazuli carving from Afghanistan, and more.

I appreciate how the book celebrates gemstones at various stages: uncut, cut, and set in artfully crafted pieces of jewelry. Many different types of gemstones--aquamarine, garnet, spinel, chrysoberyl, turquoise, etc.--are covered. Features such as a scanning electron microscope photo of the inner structure of an opal give the reader a deeper understanding of the science behind gems. From start to finish, this book is a marvelous feast for both the eyes and the brain.

John Boyer never fails to make the learning experience a fun one. I can't recall enjoying a textbook in my leisure time before picking up Plaid Avenger's World. Not only will you boost your global IQ and increase your knowledge of your world neighbors, you'll learn an exciting new drink recipe for every chapter! Who else could combine alcoholism so flawlessly with an undying love for global justice?

A EXCITING GEOGRAPHY BOOK THAT IS BOTH REVOLUTIONARY AND EDUCATIONAL. JOHN BOYER IS GENIUS. HIS WAY OF EXPLANING HOW THE WORLD EVOLVES DEFIES ANY OF TEACHING I HAVE RECIEVED AT COLLEGE. IM SO GLAD THAT HE WAS ABLE TO FINALLY SHARE HIS KNOWLEDGE THROUGH THIS TEXTBOOK. I HIGHLY RECOMMAND THIS BOOK TO ANYONE WHO WISHES TO EXPAND THEIR INTELLECTIAL PROPERTY. I LOVE THIS BOOK AND YOU WILL TOO!!

This book is A-mazing! It keeps you reading and do I dare say...Interested in what is going on in the world and it's history. Also, the writer (John Boyer) is the man, I took his class...and I feel like I have learned sooooo much.

The Plaid Avenger really does break the textbook mold. Most of the time, I try to read my textbooks, and end up falling asleep at my desk. This book, however, is incredibly informative about the world we live in, and manages to keep the reader awake, paying attention, and even laughing. So what if there are a few expletives and references to alcohol? This is a book that will actually be read by students, and will provide a much-needed understanding of the world as they prepare to go out into it. I know I won't be selling back my copy after exams...

This book is MONEY! I have never read a textbook this amazing. I read this book just for fun. I recommanded this book to my friends in other colleges. This book is packed with so much useful and up to date informations, you will feel as if you traveled every corner of the earth. I highly recommand this book to anyone, even to all the geography teachers!!

Teague Bohlen's "The Pull of the Earth" is an especially satisfying read. I'm from the Deep South, not the Midwest, but I feel I know these characters. They live, they breathe, they make you want to know what happens to them. Bohlen has a real feel for small-town life, and the story kept me turning the pages. My only regret about the book is that I have no more of it to read.

A very gripping tale that kept me interested througout. I highly recomend this book.
-jameshowlett

I have to say I loved this book! A great read from start to finish! The characters are extremely well written. The past and present are both displayed in this book in a way that keeps the readers attention on what is important, and what matters. The book shows that although times have changed, and what is accepted now, was not always the norm in the past. While it also shows that some things haven't changed at all and will always remain the same. However, one thing remains true in this fantastic read: Blood is thicker than water, and that somehow, all of us will eventually come back to our roots and return home, and the people we love are what matters most.
A great book, and I highly reccommend it! I will be looking forward to more from this author!

Great job, Mr. Teague Bohlen! You've got yourself another loyal fan!

"The Pull of the Earth" is a gripping tale of life in the rural Midwest. From start to finish this book had me in awe of Mr. Bohlen's ability to place the reader right in the middle of the plot. Living in the Midwest myself, I felt a real connection to the description of the town in the novel.

The novel spans events over a fifty year time period effortlessly. It makes one wonder what kind of skeletons are lurking in the closet of the person sitting across from you at any given time. Even the most benign type of folks have a few, as this book so eloquently points out.

Do yourself a favor and give this book a read. And Mr. Bohlen, if you are reading, keep writing fiction, I will keep reading.

"The Pull of the Earth," like the natural force from which the title draws its name, inexorably draws the reader into the lives of a Midwestern farming family, marvelously rendered as we follow the lives of two successive generations running in parallel through this book, juxtaposed to each other from one chapter to the next. This novel deals with love, death, guilt, pain but possibly most of all with responsibility. A man's responsibility to his friend and how far, in good conscience, he can take it. A husband's responsibility to his wife and his children. A son's responsibility to his mother and his past, two sisters' responsibilities to each other, and the responsibility each of us has to how we choose to live our own lives and what we do with the time we have. This is a powerful story with characters so real you feel like you know them yourself. Their lives become your concern as you read this beautifully written novel. Bohlen, a writing professor, contradicts the cliche that those who can't do, teach. I hope for his students' sake that he can, in fact, teach as well as he practices the very art he teaches. It's incredible that this is his first novel and I greatly look forward to his next. He's made a new fan out of me.