Iowa Books

This book provided an excellent introduction into the basic principles of prairie reconstruction. The book is concise, informative, well-written, and leaves the reader with a new appreciation of the prairie habitat. I purchased this book as an introduction to establishing prairie habitat on my own farmland, which is currently in the government "CRP" and "wetland restoration" programs. It enhanced my education and helped focus my efforts.

This book provides a good, concise overview of health issues of lambs and pregnant ewes. Though written for a British audience, much of the book applies to North American sheep as well. Very useful pictures and straightforward information, including likely prognoses...always helpful when managing an ill animal.

I absolutely love this book and I am just reading it through for the second time. The grammar and format take a bit to get used to but the descriptions of her time homesteading are just fascinating. I am encouraged by her stories of living in a sod house and raising children there. She perseveres and then finds her "voice" in the politics of the time. Wonderful read!

As a result of decades of conservation research we now understand the basic underlying value and fundamental necessity of sustaining prairie wetland ecologies for the overall well-being of the ecosystem, with implications for wildlife habitation, and the impact of human activity (including agriculture) upon natural resources. Henry R. Murkin, Arnold G. van der Valk, and William R. Clark have successfully collaborated in summarizing the findings of the Marsh Ecology Research Program (MERP) in Prairie Wetland Ecology: The Contribution Of The Marsh Ecology Research Program, which also reflects the contributions from ten field experts. This comprehensive and long term prairie wetlands research project was a joint effort of Duck Unlimited Canada and the Delta Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Station. Prairie Wetland Ecology is a superb and highly recommended introduction to prairie wetland ecology research in general, and MERP in particular, as well as providing a superbly informative background for further ecosystem research.

Primary Care: More Poems by Physicians is the second anthology of its kind edited by Professor of English Angela Belli and medical practitioner and teacher Jack Coulehan. Compiling (mostly free-verse) poems from fifty-two contemporary physicians, Primary Care expresses views on medical practice, interpersonal relationships, and the modern world. Marked by sympathy for the suffering, recognition of the toll that trauma and death take on life, the poems speak with an authentic reality and unforgettably powerful tone. An introduction, set of thumbnail biographies of contributors, and index of titles round out this superb collection. Also highly recommended is the previous anthology in the series, "Blood and Bone: Poems by Physicians". "Kindergarten Physical": 6th of 8 children / he stands, / stripped to his superman / underwear, / round scars on chest / and back, / one thick straight scar / (razor cut) / down the trunk, / and, removing his sock / the ring: / "Mama use to chain me / down the basement."

And so goes the American food supply.
You've probably seen those bumper stickers "Fed Your Kid Today? Hug A Farmer", but no one would probably let their kid hug a suspicious looking guy covered in dirt, alone in a field, busy probing and measuring soil quality. Critical field work that allows those huggable corporate 'growers' to keep their rice yields up for those Cocoa Krispies hyping up your child in the morning.

This book pays homage to those in-the-scene workers who've mapped and maintain the National soil data base we depend on for food, forests and fun (recreation, for example, on BLM lands, however improperly managed by current conservative crats).

As someone who likes to explore the history of the discipline he's reading, I honed in on chapter 9 "Soil Survey and Soil-Geomorphology" authored by some of our best soil geomorphologists.

Note that one of the authors of this chapter, Holliday, covers just about the same ground in FOOTPRINTS IN THE SOIL (see section 2, "Soil as A Natural Body"), which is also highly recommended for an international perspective.

It was about time (plus parent material, climate, relief, and organisms) that someone wrote a history of the Survey. Soil scientists, agronomists, geographers, geologists and historians will benefit from the long view of those who've faithfully studied one of our most important resources.

You can't own too many projectile point guides because they are all different and vary so much in the information they present. This one has a lot of information (good information) and should be on the desk or shelf of anyone in the Upper Midwest who has to identify projectile points.

Helpful and concise analysis of the process of educating pilots. Includes practical techniques for making the flight instruction and understanding flying more effective.Among the topics, pilot judgment training, cockpit resource management and situational leadership.Excellent.

In this beautifully edited book, Garlock shows everyone his brilliant skills in editing and interviewing some of the best authors of feature stories of our time. Everyone should read this book and be enlightened with wonderful reading material. And we should all be able to learn a little bit from teh professor of knowledge, brilliance... Mr. David Edward Garlock !!!

Dr Irene E. Loewenfeld dedicated her life to the study of the pupil - the body's most exquisite esthesiometer and the only living tissue to be seen with eyes only. This monograph is a knowledgeable feast in the ophthalmological tradition of Sir Duke Elder - author of the most comprehensive known medical treatise in all fields, except perhaps for Vinken' manual of neurology ( which is not the work of a single person ). Of course, as readers of these reviews can testify, I can only dream about this glorious tradition to be continued... For after we shall take no more time to dedicate our lives to knowledgeable fields of study, we would form anything else but soul and character. Alas, I'm not unaware of the Zeigeist, now by and large dead since Dr Loewenstein's disappearance. Perhaps it will rise again one day.

With an almost baroque preoccupation with detail, this book, a magnificent masterpiece, shows what a monograph should look like, even in the crowded world of ophthalmology.