Blair Books

I have spent many, many of my childhood summers in Florida. Florida's Historic Restaurants is a wonderful taste of the south. In addition, each restaurant has a description of it's history that is captivating. The description provides far more information than an average restaurant review in a newspaper or advertisement. No book of historic Florida restaurants would have any validity without the inclusion of The Columbia, Florida's oldest restaraunt. The Snapper Alicante is delicious. And everyone should try the Nicholson Farmhouse Restaraunt recipe for boiled peanuts for a taste of the old south that should not be missed. Many of the recipes are based around fish and vegetables that are particularly plentiful in Florida such as snapper, grouper and okra. I enjoyed the book because it really reflects Florida cooking and with supermarkets stocked so well I can cook the recipes no matter where I live.

Frank Blair was one of the more significant figures of the Civil War era, helping keep his home state of Missouri within the Union. Blair, who was a son and brother of equally famous politicians, served as a state politician, congressman, senator, and was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1868. Blair also achieved a solid record as a political general during the Civil War serving in the Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta, and Carolina Campaigns. Blair was one of the founders of the Republican party in Missouri, although he held conservative views and switched to the Democratic party after the conclusion of the war. Blair was virulent racist who opposed political rights for blacks. He died at a relatively young age, worn out by a stressful life and abuse of alcohol and tobacco.
Parrish is the leading historian of Civil War-era Missouri. His work focuses heavily on Blair's political life, but also provides details on his subject's family life. Due to the subjects' relative obscurity and the heavy concentration on politics, this work will appeal to Civil War specialists only.

This book gives a good introduction to argumentation theory and its twists and turns over the course of its existence. I found it helpful to get started, especially coming from a completely different field. It gives the essence of Toulmin and Perelman and Olbrechts-Tyteca but I would have liked to see a bit more on Austin and Searle.But then again the references mentioned are very extensive and can be followed up. All in all a good book if a bit pricey for students (whatever happened to the paperback cover?)

This book gives a fascinating overview of viral molecular biology and how to modify it so as to serve useful functions. For readers with a background in biochemistry and genetics, the book gives a solid introduction to the genetic engineering of viruses, although there are places in the book that read more like a literature survey. A very lengthy listing of references though is included when this is the case. The information given in the book leaves no doubt of the power of molecular biology in introducing any type of mutation into a large collection of viruses. The steps for doing this are outlined explicitly, and the history of the discovery of the various types of viruses is discussed briefly. Readers, like myself, who need a background in this topic will find the book very adequate, as it serves to introduce the vast literature on the subject. My main reason for reading it was to gain insight into the possibility of the genetic engineering or creation of 'superviruses' and the role of DNA shuffling. Although these are not discussed in the book, it does lay a foundation to judge whether this type of genetic engineering is feasible, both from a scientific standpoint and a commercial one. The general message that I get from the book is that genetic engineering of viruses is a non-trivial exercise experimentally, with stability issues of the modification being the predominant reason. The book includes an article about safety concerns with the genetic engineering of viruses, so as to assist in the alleviation of any concerns with this technology.

Some of the more interesting discussions in the book include: 1. The discussion on prokaryotic viruses and the use of bacteriophages as gene delivery vectors (GDV). The experiments that attempted to use lambda phages to do gene therapy in the western grey kangaroo, which is deficient in galactose-1 phosphate uridyl transferase (GPUT) (called Galactosemia in the human case) are discussed, and their failure in enabling expression of bacterial GPUT. The promise of using bacteriophage GDV in gene therapy though is discussed with examples of laboratory successes. The use of bacteriophages as antibiotics is discussed and a list is given of the things that should be remembered when considering phage therapy. 2. The use of insect viruses as expression vectors, with emphasis on the baculoviruses. The entomopox viruses are mentioned but not discussed in detail, and this is somewhat disappointing given their importance in grasshopper populations and the current plague of Mormon crickets. The genetic engineering of baculoviruses to control insects is discussed, and their efficacy in comparison to the BT toxin. The scorpion toxin AaIT gene is mentioned as one that has been used to induce paralysis in the feeding insect. Although not mentioned in this discussion, commerical products are being offered recently that make use of recombinant AcMNPV that is egt__ and expresses AaIT. Caution though is expressed by the author in the use of genetic engineering to baculoviruses due to the danger of introducing foreign genes to the environment. The ability of baculoviruses to enter mammalian cells is discussed briefly. 3. In the discussion on plant viruses, the authors discuss the need sometimes for high-level transient gene expression using virus-based vectors, instead of stable plant transformation, giving several reasons for this. Their discussion on agroinoculation is particularly interesting, especially their conclusion on "size effects" in agroinoculation. To obtain stability, genes over 1 kb in length require 'master copies" of the genome, if they are to be expressed by a TGMV-based vector. Small gene insertions, they conclude, give optimal fluidy of the viral genome, whereas large insertions do not and are unstable. However, the authors point out that viruses that encapsidate their genomes in rod-shaped particles, such as tobamoviruses, potexviruses, and potyviruses, are more amenable to larger gene insertions. The tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), was one of the first rod-shaped particles to be studied in this light, but the authors point out that recombination led to rapid elimination of the foreign sequence from the viral population. This motivated the use of more stable TMV viruses for gene expression. 4. In the chapter on mammalian expression systems, the discussion on the recombinant vaccinia virus (rVV), one of the most widely studied of mammalian expression vectors. In light of the current small pox vaccination program, this discussion took on special relevance. The authors do discuss the complications with VV strains for smallpox eradication in the context of replication-defective VV expression vectors. They also discuss the use of rVV expressing the rabies glycoprotein as a wildlife vaccine, and the Wyeth vaccine strain expressing HIV-1 gp160 for inducing HIV antibody and T cell responses. The use of the adenoviruses, for gene therapy and general research, is extensively discussed in this chapter. The authors are very optimistic in their apprasial of alphaviruses for use in molecular biology and medicine. 5. The discussion of the genetic engineering of animal DNA viruses, especially the role of herpesvirus-encoded Fc receptors for in vivo pathogenesis. The author of the article points to the tremendous role played by the genome projects for allowing the virtual prediction of gene function. The exponential increase in the use of computational biology and chemistry shows no sign of abatement, and promises even more advances in the realm of rational drug discovery. 6. The discussion of the genetic engineering of animal RNA viruses, especially the role of the techniques of reverse genetics in learning about these viruses. The genetic modification of both positive- and negative-strand RNA viruses is addressed in detail. 7. In the discussion of the therapeutic applications of viral vectors, the inclusion of the risks of gene therapy. The author is careful to point out the risks of the dissemination of transgenic sequences within human populations. Most interesting is the discussion on 'amplicons', i.e. those genomic sequences that are deleted when using HSV-1 viruses for vectors, so as to suppress their ability to replicate.

This book has helped me find great places to hike and camp for both, my family, and my Boy Scout Troop. Informative and very easy to follow. A must for the outdoorsman/woman in Georgia.

Al, Sabs, Katie, and Randy are ready to cross-country ski at Eagle mountian... but strange things start to happen. They get a cabin with Stacy the Great and her buds, the bus brakes down, and they hear strange noises in the woods! Alison thinks it is a spirt of an indian! Read the book and see what you think.

I am putting together a basic photography class for people at work, to help support a photography contest we are going to host in order to boost our internal stock photography library. Putting together the presentation is easy enough, and defining terms in said presentation is easy thanks to the power of Google and Wikipedia. But how do I deal with things that come up while I am giving the presentation? I am no expert, and I don't want to derail the presentation to go online and look something up. Enter The Glossary of Digital Photography by John G. Blair. The book is 311 pages, and is full of definitions and illustrations of terms ranging from "16.7 million colors" to "bokeh", "layer masks", "ISO" and ending with "zipped" (as in zip file). There are no tutorials, this book is purely meant to define terms and concepts. That said, some concepts, such as "descreening" do include before and after images to show what the results of the concept could be. I have found this book to be an excellent reference as I put my presentation together, and will keep it handy as I continue to learn more about this hobby of mine.

Gothic Short Stories, published as a Wordsworth Classics in 2002, is a literary compilation that ranges from early anonymous tales to stories by noted authors like Sir Walter Scott, Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, J. S. Le Fanu, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Ambrose Bierce, and M. R. James. The twenty stories are arranged chronologically from 1773 to 1912.

Nearly all stories were new to me; I had only previously encountered Berenice (Poe, 1835), The Body Snatcher (Stevenson, 1885), and Canon Alberic's Scrapbook (M. R. James, 1894).

Many early Gothic stories were published as though they were fragments of lost works. The first five tales in this collection are more interesting from a historical perspective than for their literary value. However, innovative writers continue to explore language, plots, and settings appropriate to this new genre. For example, while The Spectre Bride (1822, anonymous) is not entirely convincing, it does chill the reader as a young woman is seduced by a demon lover.

Within a few decades this new genre began attracting established authors. Sir Walter Scott was near the end of his remarkable career when he wrote The Tapestried Chamber in 1829. The three stories in this collection by Poe, Dickens, and Le Fanu were published in the next decade. Le Fanu's intriguing story, Strange Event in the Life of Schalken the Painter (1839), illustrates the rapid maturing of the Gothic tale.

I was most surprised by The Yellow Wallpaper (1892), a disturbing tale of obsession by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, an author unfamiliar to me. I also liked The Lame Priest (1901) by S. Carleton, Luella Miller (1902) by Mary Wilkins Freeman, and The Room in the Tower (1912) by E. F. Benson.

The introduction by David Blair provides a lengthy examination of the historical development of Gothic short stories. I initially scanned the introduction. Later, after I was better acquainted with these stories, I read the Blair's introduction more carefully as well as his brief comments on the various authors in a short appendix.

When bounty hunter Scott Colton befriends frontier preacher Sam Prentiss and helps him build his church, it is not because of the lovely Ruth Prentiss but out of Scott's own sense of right and wrong. The entrenched and moneyed interests who don't want to see a church that might affect their bottom line try to run off the preacher by burning him out. Scott is caught not only in gunplay but in the lure of the lush beauty of Bell Tanner, owner of the Dark Lady saloon, who has made it clear she wants him and will even call off her wolf-dog if Scott will agree. Land Talbot wants to hire Scott's gun. This western tale of good and evil is not between the sheepmen and the cattlemen but between the old frontier and the new one. Once churches and schools come to a town, the violent frontier element has to go. Scott helps it on its way.

This is the third of Daniel Barefoot's "Haunted Hundred" books, which chronicle one paranormal event in each of North Carolina's one hundred counties. The first volume deals with the coastal area, the second handles the Piedmont and this volume takes a look at the mountains of Western North Carolina. As is the case in the other two volumes, this book does contain some good ghost stories that are of a recent nature, but there are also a lot of stories that are simply old legends. As was the case with the previous volumes I really don't like these old legends but for some reason I still liked this book a great deal.

It would have been difficult to write this type of book about Western North Carolina without including at least a few Cherokee legends because Cherokee culture is just so prevalent in this area. Add in the occasional witch and a bigfoot or two and what you end up with is a book that is mostly legend with a few real ghost stories thrown in for good measure. Still, I liked this book.

The best and most interesting chapter in this book tells the true story behind the Kingston Trio's big 1958 hit "Tom Dooley." Tom's last name was actually Dula but was pronounced Dooley and I was surprised to find that the song is basically an accurate account of a true story. Better yet, this story actually does involve a ghost that pays regular visits to Dula's grave.

All three volumes of the "Haunted Hundred" series involve far too many stories that do not deal with ghosts in any reasonable sense. This volume is more guilty of this than the other two and really offers only two or three real ghost stories, but still I liked it. I don't know whether it is the author's obvious enthusiasm for his subject or his excellent writing style but whatever the reason, I liked this book. Now that Barefoot has finished this series of books I hope that he will go out and interview people who have had recent ghostly encounters and produce an all-new book of Tar Heel ghost stories. He has the talent and if he will give up these old legends this author could produce some top-notch ghost books.