Field Books

Ruffed Grouse hunters can't miss this one. Anything by Spiller on grouse hunting is a joy to read and this is the one to start with.

Another great nostalgic look at the "good ol days" of upland bird hunting.Definitely a must-read for grousers!

This is a very well-written book with abundant good humor and dry wit. It is one of the classics of grouse hunting literature. It is not a natural history or a how-to book, but is literature written in a very accessible style about one man's adventures while hunting grouse over a period of many years near his New England home.

I am 44 years old. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, and so did my 80-year old Uncle who had hunted ruffed grouse for many years in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania.

But beware. This is not just a useful guide for the Southwest. Most of the birds of the Chihuahuan Desert (the largest desert in North America, covering from parts of TX, NM and AZ to Central Mexico) are depicted in this guide.
I would go as far as to say that this guía is the best Spahish guide for North Central Mexico. I live in Torreon (SW Coahuila) and this is much better for this part of the country than Peterson's Aves de México.

Kenn Kaufman has done it again, taking bird guides and birding to new heights by creating a field guide for Spanish-speaking audiences in the United States and abroad. For English speaking birders, having the names of all the birds in Spanish is a great resource, but translations of the introductory material on birding, bird plumage topography, identification, and conservation are also invaluable. Opening this book is like seeing the birds of North America again for the very first time, as I learn to differentiate the Cuitlacoche de Pico Curvo from the Cuitlacoche de Pico Corto. Can you tell the difference between machos y hembras? Have you ever seen a Gorrión Arlequín? Any English birder with even a smidgen of Spanish should get a copy and enjoy their familiar birds in this new cultural world.

Now that Kaufman and translator Fischer have done the hard work of bringing this book to press, the birding community needs to step up and get the book into the hands of people who can most benefit from it. If demographics is destiny, the growing U.S. Spanish-speaking audience for this book will only make this book grow in importance as our Hispanic population expands in size and distribution across the U.S. Thanks to Kaufman and Fischer, the language barrier has been broken. Now it remains for the rest of us to help break down the cultural barriers separating birders and observadores de aves. As we learn to give nombres to our familiar birds, hopefully we can share them with our new amigos de las aves.

Kenn Kaufman, along with Patricia Manzano Fischer, have produced an outstanding field guide of North American birds in Spanish. It is a translation of the English field guide, and gives all the names of the birds in Spanish along with the scientific name (as well as the English name in parentheses.) I believe this book will allow many Spanish speaking birders to more fully enjoy birding in the U.S. and Canada, and especially here in the Southwest. This new edition will also help break the language barrier between English and Spanish speaking birders, and should be an important overall enhancement to birders since it is the first of a kind.
Los nombres en Español de las aves son nombres mexicanos. Por ejemplo, en Chile se usa el nombre Jote de Cabeza Colorada (Turkey Vulture) y en este libro se usa Zopilote Aura. Estoy totalmente de acuerdo con esto, porque la guía es para norteamérica!
It is interesting to see the bird calls and songs in Spanish. I do wish that the Pibí Mayor (Greater Pewee) could still whistle Jo-sé Mar-í-a in Spanish instead of uwirí y ti, pi,puríu......but this vocalization makes sense too.
This is a must have book for birders who want to expand their birding horizons. Thanks again, Kenn!

The new fourth edition of "Health Care Job Explosion!: High Growth Health Care Careers and Job Locator" is a brand new comprehensive career guide and a job locator for health care jobs. Health career data can be accessed at multiple internet sites, with one created especially for this book (http://healthcarejobs.org). The book is very user-friendly and is conveniently organized into 10 chapters. The first, "the Health Care Explosion," is an overview, while the second, "the Nexus - Making a Connection," is helpful to increase chances of obtaining the desired job. Chapter three, "Job Sources for Everyone," is an invaluable key to many resources, including job advertising services, job fairs, job hotlines, internet sites, associations and directories. It even includes pages on the Internet, Surfing lessons, LIST SERVERS, search engines, and education and career resources. A handy system of symbols connects the reader to the desired resource. Chapters four through ten cover general health care job areas, from health technologists and technicians to dietetics, pharmacy, therapy, nursing, health and social services, health diagnosing occupations and assistants, and home health care jobs. Each of these chapters begins with an interview with a practicing health care worker in the listed field. Job descriptions include significant points, a description of the nature of the work, working conditions, training, qualifications and advancement, job outlook, earnings, and related occupations. This is followed by an exhaustive listing of additional special resources pertaining to that occupation/area, again using the helpful icons established in chapter 3. Finally, Appendices A and B present information about health care corporations and sources for tuition and scholarships for specialized health care job training. "Health Care Job Explosion!" is an updated resource that will serve all who seek to build a career in one of the many areas related to health care in the United States. It would be a valued addition to the shelves of libraries and education institutions.

I knew I needed a change in life and a new career. But I new it needed to be something that paid decent and would give me job security. So I bought this book, read about the different fields and then handed it over to my teenage daughter to get her thinking about her future....This book guided me in the right direction and now I am in school and will graduate in early 2008. I will have job security and a decent salary until I retire. If you are interested in the medical field then this book is a great guide in helping you decide what you would like to do and how much education you need, where to go to school and what exams you must pass. Great book for those looking for a career change or just thinking of trying something else in life.

You can't find a better book for the healthcare industry. A must for anyone looking to land that first job or a better one.

JM-15217

This book was pathbreaking when it was wrttien in 1996. I am using it as part of an article I am writing on health care regulation today.

While the title is Health Care Regulation in America, this book is about much more than how health care is regulated. It traces the complex interrelationships among providers, payers, consumers and patients from historical and policy perspectives. The prose is less that of a textbook writer and more that of a storyteller. The success of this book - and its readability - come from the author's clear understanding of the stakeholders involved, their individual points of view and the conflicts between them. He is also not afraid to express his own opinions, while doing so in an evenhanded manner.

The book carefully reviews the regulation and policy conflicts that affect every component of the healthcare system as they relate to the care that patients actually receive. Each section begins with historical context, establishes the relevant stakeholders and their interrelationships and finishes with a synthesis of relevant regulations and health policy. The historical perspective is the key - in healthcare, as in many other areas, context helps understanding, and understanding affects relationships and the potential for future change. I strongly recommend this book not only to students and professionals, but also to anyone with an interest in how our healthcare system actually works and where the opportunities lie for real reform.

This book provides a comprehensive look at the many facets of health care and the factors which influence the imposition of regulations in an industry already over-regulated. Field includes a chapter examining the potential clash between old/present policy and additional regulatory issues impacted by increasing technology, baby boomers, HIPAA and the intersection between public policy and private interests. A must read for those interested in health policy.

Traditional knowledge in the use of plants, and the whole cosmology behind the use, have long been neglected by western societies. Fortunately, this is beginning to change, and such practioces are being valued again. Not too early though, as much knowledge has been lost with old healers passing away.
Herbs of Southern Ecuador provides a great insight in the uses of plants in this sacred valley, reknown for the health of its inhabitants. Important medicinal species are describes, depicted, their use, indication and preparation are explained. The fact that the book is bilingual mekes it even more an absolute treasure!

Herbs Of Southern Ecuador/Hierbas del Sur Ecuatoriano is an unique, impressive, highly accessible, English and Spanish bilingual field guide to the medicinal plants of the southern Ecuador region of Vilcabamba (where the native population has a deserved reputation for longevity). The "reader friendly" text is enhanced with black-and-white illustrations of each plant, a straightforward list of facts about each plant, along with its ethnobotana and its traditional applications. Herbs Of Southern Ecuador/Hierbas del Sur Ecuatoriano is an excellent and practical field book, and a welcome addition to personal, professional, and academic botanical reference collections.

Harbs of Southern Ecuador provides an excellent overview on the most important medicinal plats of the Vilcabamba area in Southern Ecuador - popular for the longevity of its people. More than 140 plants are describes in detail - in english as well as in spanish, and are shown in black and white images.
Traditional uses as well as preparation are carefully explaind.
A must for everybody interested in the use of andean medicinal plants!

While this book is supposedly for children, it's a quick read that still has meaning for the inner child of we adults, as well. I love uncle Thich!

In The Hermit And The Well, Vietnamese Buddhist monk, poet, scholar, and human rights activist Thich Nhat Hanh has written a story of a young Vietnamese boy who climbs a mountain in the hope of meeting a famed hermit that lives there. What the boy finds is the secret of his own happiness. The ethnic artwork of Vo-Dinh Mai is a perfect complement to Hanh's marvelous tale showcasing the importance of slowing down and appreciating the beauty that is always around us -- if we would only see it.

This is a very lovely, charming book. Deceptively simple, yet ultimately quite deep. In that sense, it reminds me a bit of the famous serious of drawings of an ox and his master; this is the series that serve to remind us of the search for, and discovery of, ourselves -- wisdom -- whatever.

In this short book, a young boy and his school class learn that they are to visit a hermit -- the boy wanders away from the group, looking for the hermit. Whre he finally discovers the wise man is the point of the book. This is a very sweet book with excellent drawings. I highly recommend it.

A welcome addition to family, school and community library collections, How Mother Nature Flowered The Fields Of Earth And Mars by Tom Schwartz is the fun and creative tale of the Supreme Queen Bee Bluefire and her decision to quit working for the almighty mother nature and instead, just have fun and relaxing idleness. As the dilemma of un-pollinated flowers becomes more and more calamitous, How Mother Nature Flowered The Fields Of Earth And Mars carries its young readers through Mother Nature's action against the defiant Queen Bluefire and her followers as trickery and situational innovation make up the fate of them all. Through the format of a fairytale style presentation, young readers are providing with some very "real world" information about environmental issues and Earth's interdependent ecosystems. Ideal for family, preschool, and community library collections, How Mother Nature Flowered The Fields Of Earth And Mars is very highly recommended for its originality, its entertainment value, and its informational content.

My sons love "The Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches" by this publisher so I bought "How Mother Nature Flowered the Fields" for my youngest daughter Anna as soon as I saw it. Besides the cover is so adorable. This book is about the creatures of the earth and how Mother Nature gets them to help the earth. It is a charming story of bees, beavers, and earthworms and how these creatures help the earth.

It is well written and even my older daughter enjoyed joining in when I read the story aloud to Anna. Anna just wrote her own review of the book too! Highly recommended.

Tess

my dad got this for me and i read it and read it. i love bees and beevers. it is a great book i think.

Former park ranger and award-winning poet Lucia Perillo presents I've Heard the Vultures Singing: Field Notes on Poetry, Illness, and Nature, a memoir of the ups and downs in her life. When Lucia was in her thirties, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis; I've Heard the Vultures Singing recounts the difficulty of coming to terms with losing the ability to walk. She had to give up some of her favorite outdoor activities, such as hiking and skiing, and learn to enjoy the wilderness with lowered expectations, as well as how to apply her poetry to access and experience the wilderness. A thoughtful, reflective, autobiographical narrative about adapting to severe change, highly recommended.

It used to be one could recommend only three books that dealt with the complexities of multiple sclerosis in a manner both truthful and stylish: Diary of a Disappointed Man by W.N.P. Barbellion, Baroque 'n' Roll by Brigid Brophy and Lost Property by Ben Sonnenberg. Now I've Heard the Vultures Singing must be added to the list. Like Barbellion, Lucia Perillo is a gifted naturalist; like Brophy, a wit; like Sonnenberg, an ironist. More important, Ms Perillo is an accomplished poet. She commands a variety of voices: slangy, sexy, sublime. All of them are on show in this book of prose which is, in equal measure, hilarious and poignant.

I read everything Lucia writes and am never dissapointed. Both her poetry and prose flow beautifully on the page like a spring stream. Her deep insights on life form a back-eddy that will keep your brain swirling in thought for days after. Because of common interests and experiences: Buddhism, birds, east-coast Italian childhood, former park ranger, western-Washington state resident, etc., I delight in reading her take in these similar areas. Perillo always has unique and facinating insights that make me want to slap my forehead and go, "why didn't I think of that."
This book like her others is both tragic and funny. Maybe a little more sad because of the progression of the disease. Her husband Jim, who is mentioned several times in the book is a comic inspiration; not only because of his dedication, but his comic wit removes the chance of too much sentimentality.
I would recommend this book to anyone who appreciates good, thought-evoking prose and especially if you have a medical condition where your body is changing and moving toward its final end - well, I guess that's all of us.

I can identify with the author, I lost my mother last year. The book offers hope for a brighter day. It makes me remember the unique relationship I had with my mother, who I also spoke to everyday. Looking forward to the author's next work.

What a outstanding work. I had the priviledge of meeting the author. What a great person. Such a gifted talent

WOW!!! So much inspiration for such a great price. This is truely the best poetry book that I have ever read. Every women should own at least one copy (maybe even 2, because if you lend it out it's so good that you probably won't get it back)....

This is the second of Carol Field's books that I've read (the first one I picked up was "Celebrating Italy") and her hallmarks seem to be meticulous, yet loving, research and a writing style that manages to evoke the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and flavors of Italian cooking to a mouth-watering degree.

"In Nonna's Kitchen" is a cookbook that Field researched by going to Italy and culling time-honored, taste-tested recipes from several authentic Italian grandmothers. I have not yet tried any of the recipes, but reading them feels like good eatin'. I usually dislike cookbooks that don't feature a picture of every recipe. "In Nonna's Kitchen" contains no pictures of food, but the recipes and Field's writing on Italian cuisine and culture make pictures unnecessary.

Ah, yes, culture. It's easy to see Field not so much as a food writer, but as an eager and loving student of Italian culture. She does much honor to the Italian grandmothers who contributed to this book by providing a lengthy, colorful profile of each of them. In these profiles, the "nonne" discuss how they learned to cook, what their lives have been like, how cooking has changed over the courses of their lifetimes, etc. In addition to these formal profiles, Field includes little anecdotes about several of the grandmothers within the recipes they provided.

These are not your stereotypical black-shawled, muttering Italian grandmothers, either. They range in age from 40s-90s, and a good many of them are classically beautiful, stylish women. All of them, however, are quintessentially Italian in that they place great importance on good, simple food made from the freshest local ingredients.

I plan to buy copies of "In Nonna's Kitchen" and "Celebrating Italy" for myself; they're too good not to own. Carol Field now has the distinction of being my favorite food writer!

For lovers of Italian food in particular, but for any lover of cooking and Italy, this is a must have for your collection. Every recipe is preceded by an introduction to the Nonna (Grandmother) whose speciality it is. These Nonnas run the gamut, from sophisticated Roman and Florentine women to women from small villages, still cooking as their own Nonnas did. I've tried several of the recipes and each has been spectacular. I'm buying another copy to take as a gift for a week-long 60th birthday celebration at a villa near Sienna. Ciao!

When my mother gave me this cook book, and I saw the word 'Nonna' in the title, I got a little choked up. I also whispered to myself, "this better be good." Well...'Bravo! Ti hai fatto bene!' You have done well. Yes, the recipes are wonderful, but the mood, the stories, the history of each of these Nonnas made me smile, and made me proud. Just as in my Nonna's cooking, these ladies are the best at turning leftovers into elegance. Wonderful subtle flavors - Crostini, Polpette, the Chocolate Ameretti Pudding...all we need is a deck of cards for Scopa! I made my Nonna write down her sauce recipe for me, because if I didn't, it would have died with her, recipes are verbal traditions handed down for generations...this is cooking history. Thank you. My wife thanks you too...books like this motivate husbands to cook more often.