Floyd Books

I wish I could have lived even a day of the life Floyd Schmoe describes in this colorful and humble account of life on Mt. Rainier. As a relatively new resident to Western Washington, I bought this book as an attempt to acquaint myself with one of the regions best-known and best-loved landmarks. I was not disappointed. In fact, I was intrigued.

In this four-seasons look at the life of a couple who lived year-round on an active volcano during the early 1900's (ie: 1920 and beyond), I was struck by how honestly every detail was described. This certainly is not a scientific book, nor is it an all-inclusive documentation of Mt. Rainer National Park, but it is a realistic one, one you might imagine your Grandfather sitting down to tell you over several weeks at the dinner table.

Schmoe uses all of his resources to describe life on the mountain; he tells it through his own eyes, his wife's eyes, and the eyes of the visitors who crowded into the Inn every summer. He retells suspenseful stories of lost climbers and park staff, close encounters with bears and cougars, firsthand accounts of hiking the mountain, and large-scale bouts of inclement weather.

But it's not all adventure and action. In fact, many of the most memorable parts of A Year in Paradise are those when Schmoe writes of being overcome by the beauty of wildflowers breaking through snow in spring or the determination of Rainier's smaller wildlife to survive over winter. He also writes about the sometimes-laughable domestic situations that can arise when humans try to play house on a real-life mountain.

When all is said and done, you'll feel not only like you've read a book about the great outdoors, but about the inhabitants (humans, animals, and plants alike) that make it worthy of the name Paradise. Oh yes- and some added bonuses are the home photos and nature sketches throughout.

Today, our youth often rejects the written word and escapes into the techno world of computer games. But, after I read "Yellow Bear" I realized that here was an intersting book that offered environmental awareness, but also political intrigue and murder mystery, so I ordered a classroom set for my science class. I was pleased with the comments and discussions from my students. They thoroughly enjoyed the book and they learned about our environment and how it is managed. A good choice for high schoolers and all!

i love this book it was in excellant condition and i recieved it within a timely manner.

Cheaters was good I recommend it. It was funny the story line was good. The charters were real. It was good, I read it in three days!!!

I did enjoy this shallow, gossipy, all's-well-that-ends-well drama parade. I would normally be very judgmental of much of the behavior portrayed in this book and it had accomplished its goal of explaining the motivations behind it. The Chante's and Stephen's of the world are open enough and insensitive enough to put themselves out there.

I found the author's portrayals of female characters unconvincing, and while the book was fast-paced, it was unfulfilling. None of the characters were likable and the perfunctory happily-ever-after ending seemed just like an easy way out. If such a thing is possible, I feel like this is a bad book written by a good writer.

3.5 stars. ****spoilers***
For the most part I found this story to be entertaining, but in all honesty he could have easily shaved 150-200 pages off this and I do agree that the ending left something to be desired. I, too, kept waiting for Toyomi's to slam Stephen with the ultimate pay back. A lot of material felt like filler-like the whole hooking up with Nicole and Perri scene and didn't really see the point of the dreams for Jake. It just seemed like extra. Chante hooking back up with Thaiheed or whatever... But EJD does have a gift for dialogue and even character development because you clearly see everyone in your mind. I can't believe that Stephen kept frontin' on his boy Darnell after all the mess he had going and after Dawn fronted on his own girl Chante at the family BBQ. Tammy's ghetto family had me in stitches. "Somebody get me my damn pants!" Classic. I applaud Darnell for not cheating on his wife before Tammy left, but thought he took the coward's way out on how he ultimately left. And that's saying something because I didn't like Dawn in the slightest. Overall, again this is an entertaining book, but I started feeling the long pages around pg 300.

This book is the story of a group of male and female
friends that are struggling in their mid-twenties to
define themselves in careers, friendships and relationships.

The main focus of the story though seems to be on Chante,
a black woman with too much attitude. I know that there
are SOME women out there like that but it would have been
nice to show her as two-dimensional and perhaps even vulnerable
without the layers of baggage. That's my only gripe about
the book.

The ending was somewhat surprising and different. I liked that
I could not predict the ending.

Other than that, it was an enjoyable read and for this to
be my first time reading an Eric Jerome Dickey book, my
hat goes off to him.

David Howarth wrote this popular history to describe the life in 1066 England from contemporary sources (Norman, English, and Scandinavian). Any historian has to decide between contradictory stories (p.8). The people of long ago lived simple lives with less knowledge, yet their thoughts and emotions were the same (p.9). Howarth wrote books about the battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar. The `Contents' list no chapter numbers. New Year's Day 1066 saw a prosperous and peaceful England. The warming phase of those centuries was accompanied by lower taxes (p.11). Villages were self-sufficient except for salt and iron. [No mention of money.] It was peaceful, but men avoided the forests at night (wolves and spirits). Independent farmers were unprotected against Viking raids or other disasters (p.13). Most had come under the protection of the armed nobility. Society was stable and ordered (p.14). The thanes could reject their Earl; even the King could be dethroned. The land was farmed as one open field, divided into strips (p.16). There is a record of those times (p.17). Howarth surmises the lives of the women and children (pp.22-24). Were they better off than their industrialized descendants (p.25)?

The death of the King would mean the election of a new King (p.29). These pages tell of the complicated Royal family connections. The "Oath of Godwin" was Norman propaganda (p.40); it never happened. Before he died King Edward the Confessor asked Harold to protect the kingdom (p.48); the witan elected Harold king (p.50). Haworth describes Harold's personality (p.55). The next chapter "Rouen" describes Normany and the violent world when Duke William was young. William had said he expected to be next in line to be King of England (p.75). Harold had made a promise (p.77). Then after Easter a comet appeared in the sky: an omen of doom (p.83). Soon an invasion of England was led by Tostig, Harold's brother; it was unsuccessful. William decided to challenge Harold in battle to claim the kingdom (p.91). Transporting thousands of knights and horses in the boats of that era was an untried experiment (p.92). Lanfranc got Papal support for William's invasion (pp.101-102). Soldiers were promised wealth if they won, heaven if they died.

The English aristocracy banned ordinary men from owning bows and arrows (p.105). Bows had a longer range than spears. English knights could not fight on horseback (p.106). King Harald Hardrade of Norway planned to invade England ("Norway"). King Harold's forced a march to York and destroyed King Harald's army (p.141). A week later William's army landed unopposed. King Harold sent a courier to ask the Duke to leave (p.59). Howarth suggests Harold was shocked by the news that William now had Papal support (p.161)! Harold made two mistakes: he fought before his whole army was assembled, and, assembled them too close to the enemy (p.163). The battle is described ("Hastings"). The defeat of King Harold led to "death, destruction, robbery and bewilderment" (p.185). William was the only surviving adult claimant to the throne (p.188). William destroyed thousands of square miles that were uninhabitable for a generation (p.192). The last chapter says about 20% of the English were killed over the next 20 years (p.198). There were 5 years of active revolts. William looted treasures and raised taxes because of his greed (p.199). Castles were built to oppress the English people. The taxable value of villages tell of the destruction (pp.199-200).

Very readable history. Shows how naive we Americans are because we have been so poorly taught real history.

Like sitting on a star, looking down on the continental world, we get a broad, quick, and enjoyable view of this critical year. Yes, as some reviewers say, it is biased by the author. But what history is not? "History is what men have decided upon," Napoleon said. My view is that what makes a people is geography and religion, and in the end it is geography. "1066" certainly reinforces that concept. What if the wind had blown from the East -- for just one day in the summer, that history would have been written in French perhaps. For those wanting scholarly treatises with lots of footnotes, there are plenty of other big thick books. Howarth has made a valuable historical contribution to the rest of us. A great and welcome read.

Frederick R. Andresen, Author of "Walking on Ice, An American Businessman in Russia."

David Howarth's 1066 is really an essay. There are no end notes, nor learned rabbit trails to follow. Instead, it is a well-written, informative, and at times, personal re-telling of one of Britain's more compelling stories. He deftly reviews the players, sets the stage, and in just a few pages poignantly relates Harold's defeat. All in all, he is kind to Harold and the Godwins but we, English readers, tend to lean in that direction. All the politics and intrigue lie with William and his allies and we only see part of that. However, for what it is, it is excellent.

Ther are alot of new books out about Hastings,particularly ones that cover the Viking invasions of 1066 and the Godwin family.Howarth seems to sink into an idyllic Anglo-Saxon past (which probably never existed)in his work. There are alot of descriptions of rural domesticity particularly in the first part of the book which seemed too pastoral for my liking.(Time for someone or something to shake them up there)!The price for losing contact, even to a lesser degree as the Anglo-Saxons did,with the European continent---A Norman invasion complete with a professional army with some Vikings in the north picking up some table scraps.This tale doesn't say much for Harald's Fyrd(the middle age equivalent of today's militia).So much for Anglo-Saxon fantasyland.Read Bloodfeud and you'll get a more true picture of what Anglo-Saxon was like.Mongrels are usually much smarter dogs anyway.
Anyway Howarth's thesis seems to be that William's attack on the Anglo-Saxons was the result of papal machinations in Europe.The pope had granted William an,"I'm in the right and Harold's wrong" stamp in the summer of 1066.As a result William knew he had to act quickly before the Saxon rulers had a chance to send a delegation to Europe to dispute the pope's decision. Harold indeed was duly elected by the Saxon government of England but William also had a claim due to inheritance rights.With the pope's cyclical against Harold,Harold was diminished in the hearts and minds of the common folk as well as a few of Harold's Saxon and norman enemies.If it's any consolation,anglo-norman England repays Normandy in 1337 with the start of the hundred years wars.

This book is truly the complete book on EJB Specification 2.1 and more. By more I mean to say that not only does it focus on EJB and their real life implementations but also on the underlying technologies of distributed programming like RMI-IIOP and JNDI. It talks about the best practices and performance optimization techniques that can be used while working on EJBs. For me this book the holy book on EJBs.

This for people who do not know about EJB much and for those who are already grandmasters on them. For beginners, this book might look very heavy initially but slowly and slowly as you try to sink into the chapters you will get excellent conceptual knowledge about what EJBs are and how they are used. For masters, this offers the best reference manual available in the market.

The title says mastering EJB...which is ok for a title but this book lacks in content that is needed for a beginner. This book claims that it's audience will be a beginner or an advanced guy and I feel that it is oriented more towards the experienced reader. The first 3 chapters explains the basics of Enterprise computing using J2EE environment and a simple example of the Hello Bean EJB, which is good for a beginner. But once you start delving into chapters 4, 5 and furthur in, you will happen to see things for which you might ask yourself the question "Why have I got to do this?".
I'd recommed this book for a guy who already has a fair understanding of EJB and wants to get a through understanding of the concepts. For the rest of us, I'd recommend Head First as the starting point.

I have the two earlier editions of this book, but this book hardly added any value or did anything better than those earlier editions. The new chapters does not meet the expectations - I suspect the new authors messed up quality of the book. The new examples on EJB Web services is nothing but a hello world and I even doubt the new authors had any expertise to test those examples. Now I find this book does'nt make any help to me and it is no longer fit to call it as a Mastering EJB book. Now this book would collect dust in my shelf, because I find better examples in the Java web site and also at theserverside.com itself.

This is an excellent and complete book on EJB. I read 1st and 2nd edition of the O'Reilly EJB book based on recommendations; I have to say the Ed Roman book is far superior - he covers every detail, including peripheral considerations, and has complete and numerous examples. 1 downside - many typos - but thankfully they are so obvious, it doesn't detract from comprehension.

This is a good book for a newbie with loads of theories though this book stays far behind the enterprise level computing and on implementation of EJB driven applications. There's a huge gap between what this book describes and the real development environment of EJBs.

Never rely on the sample codes and the methodologies have been used in this book for those are not the best development approaches. This book consists of several pitfalls and not suitable to be used as an EJB development guideline (e:g: this doesn't solve the importance of PK classes and creating composite primary keys). Also never assume that this book describes the best EJB development methodologies just by fantasized by the way that the theories on EJB are presented.

If you seek more adventure on EJB this is probably not the best of books for this lacks some depth to the topics included. Apart from that, this book is quite ok for a newbie to get dirt with EJB and to understand the basics with the theories and fundamentals. If you like some fine grained info and you're a newbie, I'd suggest Applied Enterprise JavaBeans by Kevin Boone to brush up with what's missing here

Octavia Butler's book is Part II of Parable Of The Sower. While the first hundred or so pages seem a bit difficult to get through lacking story and motivation, it is a necessary primer and like writers of old, Octavia believes in setting the table first before serving the meal. The meal itself is an utter and shocking page turner. Octavia is a master at creating misery without sounding miserable and pathetic. There is a definite reflection of the US of today. She changes names and augments situations but in many ways, this is an exaggerated U.S. of 2007.
The situation between Lauren and her daughter will lead to an utterly devastating and bone crushing conclusion. I can safely say in reading it, I had to stop, cry, and sit by myself trying to absorb what I have just seen. This is utter tragedy and tore my insides in two. It was that hard to read and imagine but it was an integral commentary about Christianity and belief systems in general. Octavia's message was driving it down to a personal level and it worked.
I would call this one of the greatest books I ever read and would recommend it to anyone.

This book is the continuation of Lauren Olamina's life story, picking up where Parable of the Sowers left off. It has much to say about how one transcends trauma, about what compels human beings to make the choices they do when the range of choices gets narrower and narrower. The reader becomes engrossed in Lauren's survival and what that means to other important characters. Most importantly, the reader is challenged to explore the various ways people choose to cope with destructive forces beyond their control.

The late Octavia Butler is recognized as one of the world's most respected female sci-fi writers, and her book Parable of the Sower (1998) and Parable of the Talents (2000) helped her achieve this status.

Both of these books have to be read to get the full story of Lauren Olamina, the books' African-American heroine. Butler, who loved writing apocalyptic type fiction (books focusing on what happens after the world is nearly destroyed) begins Lauren's story in Parable of the Sower. It is the year 2024 and people (namely Americans) have finally decided to go ahead and half-way destroy the world, resulting in America being reduced to the world's "lower power." Our treasured dollar is now worth pennies, our system of government has collapsed, most American citizens live in poverty, and more than half are homeless. As one would guess, many people go crazy during this time. Besides being concerned about not starving to death or dying from the flu, people also have to worry about being burned alive by stoned druggies or killed for their shoes.

Lauren, nearing puberty, lives in this world with her father, three brothers and stepmother in a walled community in California. As a result of her mother taking drugs, Lauren suffers from hyperempathy, a syndrome that causes her to feel other's pain--real or fake. But that seems to be her only weakness. She is exceptionally intelligent, creative, and strong-willed. Though a preacher's kid, her questions about God and how He could allow this kind of chaos to exist, turn her into an "unbeliever." She walks away from Christianity to create and embrace a philosophy she calls "Earthseed." This philosophy teaches that "God is Change," as change is the only thing constant in the world. The philosophy is humanistic in that is calls for total responsibility of individuals to shape their lives as they work with God--as God is change. For example, an Earthseed verse in the book is: God is Change, God is Infinite, Irresistible, Inexorable, Indifferent, God is Trickster, Teacher, Chaos, Clay--God is Change; Beware: God exists to shape and be shaped.

Beyond preaching just this, Lauren also believed that humankind's ultimate destiny was to settle other planets--no heaven, no hell.
This concept of God may seem weird to many people, and very heathenistic to the religious. When I first read Lauren's idea of God and humankind's purpose I was slightly put off. But in those days and times the world seemed to be coming to a total end. It seems fathomable that a "religion" that calls for total belief in one's self and the hope of escaping earth could be founded and gain followers. After all, religion's main purpose is to give our lives meaning.

After becoming confident that "Earthseed" could help give people renewed hope and purpose, Lauren began to plan how she could reach people. She hoped to one day leave her walled community to do this. However, she was forced out of her community while in her teens, as druggies stormed into her neighborhood, set fires to the houses, and raped, mutilated and killed most of inhabitants. Lauren escaped somehow, and found only two of her neighbors (an older man and woman) that had also managed to escape. She had already lost her father and oldest brother in childhood to druggies, and the rest of her family had been killed in the attack.
Nearly fugitives, the trio set out on the highway to find another community, work where they could get it, or possibly to Canada or Alaska. They faced being robbed, raped, forced into slavery, or murdered while on their journey. As they traveled, Lauren began telling them about Earthseed, as she did with everyone who eventually joined their band--as people liked to travel in large numbers to avoid being robbed. She soon found several other empaths, as well as a man as old as her father that she fell in love with. He had a large piece of land, and although he did not believe in Earthseed, he agreed to let her set up a community to teach this philosophy/religion. The book ends with her trying to build and maintain this community.

Parable of the Sower is one of the most thought-provoking fiction books I have read.
Embracing the Real World (The Black Woman's Guide to Life After College)

The book is set in the post-SHTF world, action taking place in the Pacific Northwest/Northern California. It describes United States in a such a way that Germany leading up to the Second World War comes to mind. Violence, poverty, unemployment, inflation and a general sense of despair pervades the world of this book. Simple existence and the sense of humanity is not taken for granted, as characters in this book are forced to fight for their place under the sun.

Protagonist of this novel is a remarkable woman striving to establish her own identity, and community in a world that seems very scary to us, yet hauntingly plausible. She is a visionary, able to influence those around her through her writings and through preaching of her own religious/moral views.

During times of despair, tough, fanatical leaders often emerge and people tend to follow them blindly, while creating even more havoc in the process. (Hitler and Stalin come to mind) This book is no exception. A militant Christian preacher is elected to be the President of the United States, with disastrous results to follow: more war, persecution and poverty.

Many times I have read posts and emails with their main line of reasoning going something to the extent of: "When SHTF, I will head for the hills and tough it out with my buddies and weapons..."
After reading this book, I realized that it is not going to be an easy task by any means. Even if you manage to establish a community of like-minded individuals. Even if you are well armed and self-sufficient, you are still not going to be safe from heavily armed fanatics bent on enforcing the "Will of God".

This is a painful book to read. Main character and those around her go through some hellish events in the course of this book. These are truly horrific and Butler manages to describe them with just enough of a gritty details for the suspension of disbelief to be complete. IMHO, she goes a bit overboard with this and the book becomes unbearable and depressing at times. Perhaps that was her intention

I would recommend reading this book if you are interested in feeling or imagining "what it would be like" to live in a post-SHTF world. This is a work of fiction, science fiction to be exact, but it is more of a "soft" type of science fiction: there are some futuristic technologies described, but they are plausible and not too far removed from reality.

Overall I would give this book a "B"
Plot: "A"
This is an interesting and engaging story very relevant to modern times and humanity in general.
Storytelling: "B-"
Some lengthy descriptions of various minor characters add little to the story, except they only increase the sense of despair. Perhaps it was Butler's intention, but it seemed unnecessary to me.
Writing skill: "B+"
Her writing is not bad at all, a bit poetic one might even say.

This is the second book in the series, first being [url=http://www.amazon.com/Parable-Sower-Octavia-E-Butler/dp/0446675504/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1200042766&sr=8-2]Parable of the Sower[/url], but can be read out of sequence.
Parable of Talents won a prestigious Nebula award for science fiction.

This book is a sequel to Parable of the Sower. In my review of Sower, I had doubts about the religious writings and ideology of the main character, Lauren. Thus I really appreciated that here, Butler brings other voices into the mix, other narrators who question and even oppose Lauren's vision. This lifts her Earthseed religion out of its starry-eyed beginnings in the first book, and brings it into context as a noble but not necessarily infallible belief system, one that redefines God in quite secular terms.

I still have mixed feelings about Lauren's Earthseed religion, but this book left me turning it over in my head -- even seeking out scholarly articles written about the book to get different perspectives on it. Any work of fiction that is so thought-provoking, well-written, and engrossing deserves five stars.

I have to confess that before reading this book, I had no idea what the word "talent" meant in this context. I read the Parable of the Talents (the actual biblical parable, Matthew 25:14-30), and couldn't make any sense of it. When I finished Butler's book and still found the parable incomprehensible, I searched my library for information about it. (See now why I became a librarian?) Anyway, I realized to my embarrassment that a "talent" in the Bible is a monetary unit! Suddenly the parable made a lot more sense. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to look into that before I'd read Butler's book.

Apparently, Butler planned on continuing her series past these first two books, but sadly she passed away before writing another. The two Parable books stand well on their own, however, and I recommend them to all readers, even those who normally stay away from science fiction.

Floyd's story is compelling, taking you from his days of riding 400 mile weeks, day and or night, to his term in the professional ranks and being shunned by "team Lance" to go unto lead Phonak. He gives an insider's view into the handling of urine and blood samples that is quite suspect at best, making the reader truly question the objective results of these tests that can literally make and break careers. Because of his strong religious and moral upbringing, one truly begins to question whether Floyd had the mindset to use performance enhancing drugs since he seemed to pride himself on racing under his own steam. What is clear is that he leaves the verdict up to the reader, using compelling prose to communicate a heart rending story.

I came away feeling there's no way that Floyd Landis doped or cheated. The anti-doping organizations of the world are so desperate to clean up the sport and prove they're worth the funding being given them. Unfortunately, it appears that they and the labs they use are guilty of bad science and sloppy work. Floyd's talented, trained extremely hard, has a single minded determination and focus, and a phenomenal ability to suffer. The story of his upbringing in Farmersville, Pennsylvania and his road to professional cycling is fascinating. Ride on, Floyd!

Great stuff. Floyd is such a winner, looking forward to seeing him race again. It's an alarming shame the trial process is such a sham.

The book was an eye opener to the world of drug testing - good reading too

One of the best books I've read recently, it was very well written. I believe Floyd was falsely accused, in part because of things he said or did before or even during the race. I feel it was a way to get back or get even with him. Sad but true that sometimes happens. We know Dr. Arnie Baker and feel that if he backs Floyd, Floyd must be innocent. I will be passing this book along to friends so they might reach their own conclusion.

I purchased this book as a Christmas gift for my mother-in-law. The pictures are beautiful with maps showing where the bird live, and is filled with facts from the different species. It is a agreat comprehensive volume.

I've been sitting on this one for a while because I keep telling myself that i must go out in the field and test this guide but alas, I realize that I won't be doing that anytime soon.
Birding is a pastime that likely appeals to pretty much anybody who takes pleasure from being out of doors or who is interested in flora and fauna. The problem is that birds are surprisingly difficult to actually see, much beyond a silhouette or a fleeting look at one before it flits out of view from its temporary perch; birds are, well, flighty and masters of camouflage thus a book or field guide is a logical acquisition for anybody interested in actually identifying the birds one sees.
I've owned a couple of sub-standard guides; the cheap ones because the nice ones tend to cost a lot. Both of them were frustratingly vague or impossibly obtuse (this bird has 7 tail feathers and can be distinguished from the other bird with 7 tail feathers by the two thin black bars that occur on tail feathers four and five, etc.), without satisfactorily describing the distinguishing marks in order for one to make a proper identification. I mean, I had difficulty identifying a juvenile snowy owl that must have been 19 inches tall, based on the description found in one of them.
Another beef I have had is the range descriptions which never seemed to make any sense to me as either over broad or just plain wrong.
This book seems to answer all of my complaints. It has excellent pictures, it does a great job of describing distinguishing remarks. It thoughtfully discusses the different plumage one can expect between males and females, young and old and seasonally, for instance. It also has a really helpful and quite clever series of shorthand descriptions that help one to distinguish otherwise similar species.
The authors have also chosen to take on the range issue and have developed a very logical range spectrum that includes even such things as occasional sightings. Thus one is given a tool that can help him to deduce whether, in light of the season or frequency of sighting, he actually has spotted, for instance, a King Penguin sunbathing on the Gulf Coast of Florida (not likely).
Finally, this book includes something that every birder and bird-addled bystander has been wishing for for years: A CD version of bird name that tune. What a capital idea! For, most of us are more familiar with what a bird sounds like than what it looks like I'd wager. Listening to this CD allowed me to put names to calls and even meanings to calls in a way that caused me to feel as though I could really get to know my birds. Having said that, the CD format definitely needs to be revamped. It isn't easy to use and I don't think that it would be much use out in the field. Don't let that scare you off of buying this book because I think it is smashing. In fact, it probably deserves a fiver but I just haven't been able to go out and actually field test this thing so I withhold that final star until that time.

I am just starting out birding, so this is my first field guide. But as I was picking out which guide to purchase, I quickly realized this was the one to go with. The features that make this guide superior are: actual photos (not drawings), multiple images (juvenile, adult, male/female, multiple color morphs, subspecies, in flight, or anything that helps in ID). And the main thing I liked is that all the text info is on the same pages as the photos (unlike the audobon society guide which forces you to do a lot of page flipping and finding). It may be slightly larger than other field guides, but definitely not a hindrance. And the abundance of pics and info makes up for the size.
The DVD w/ mp3 files are great, but I would not buy the book simply for the DVD of bird songs. -I actually did not realize it was there until after the purchase. But I am excited that I can bird with my iPod and add another dimension to my birding experience.
Overall, I think you cannot go wrong with this field guide!

This is an excellent field guide: well researched and written. The photos are beautiful and the descriptions are clear. A perfect layman's guide.

The Smithsonian Field Guide to Birds of North America is an outstanding contribution to a crowded field. Unlike the Peterson and National Geographic Guides (among others), this guide uses high quality photographs taken of the birds in a characteristic environment. Detailed, well colored maps indicate the yearly range of the bird specifying breeding, migration, winter, year round, and rare ranges. Photographic quality is uniformly excellent. But the biggest advantage of this book is that it comes with a comprehensive CD of bird calls beautifully recorded. This is a feature that the other guides lack and is a very strong recommendation for this volume, for, as any birder knows, we hear many more birds than we see.

Yes Mr. Burrough made a few mistakes with addresses and name spellings but overall I was impressed with how he made all the information flow together so well. This was a huge task to take on and I was surprised how good of a job was done. I did have to dock a star due to the amount Mr. Burrough relied on Alvin Karpis's word for word retelling of events that happened so long ago- it gives the book a bit of a fiction feel to it at times. Overall this was a very good read.

This book has a lot of details and is very good. Don't expect this book to tell you lots and lots about the gangsters of the era... it's more of a detailed account of the FBI and how they got organized. Again, lots of details, making it slow reading, but very good material!

This is a great book. Author infers in his introduction that this was a labor of love and it shows in his writing. At over 500 pages, it shows the relationship of the five major criminal gangs of the 1933-34 time period. Those were the Barker Gang, Bonnie and Clyde, Pretty Boy Floyd, Machine Gun Kelly, Baby Face Nelson, and Dillenger. With the exception of Bonnie and Clyde (who were strictly small time), all knew each other and helped in raids. None of these people were glamourous since they all murdered people. Dillenger killed three policemen. Bonnie, Clyde, and Baby Face Nelson were psychopaths. Why people had admiration for them is beyond me, but the times were hard and many felt banks were as crooked as those who robbed them.

This book also details the rise of the FBI and how Hoover interferred with the progress of investigations. Purvis was mildly incompetent. Why some of these gangsters roomed the streets was due to FBI leads not being followed up. In the end, the FBI became more professional due to this crime wave. Hoover went on to become the Crime Dictator for forty years.

This is a great book and is very readable. For those interested in the Great Depression and the fall of the bank robbers, this is a treasure trove of information. Highly recommended.

A very interesting book. Let's you know exactly what happens back in the old days. Good reading.

For history buffs, this is a find! I could not put this book down! WoW, loaded, just packed with information on the PUBLIC ENEMIES! With all the fuss now, with Johnny Depp starring in Public Enemies, based on this book, I am sure this will be THE book everyone will have to read. The movie is coming out in 2009. Filmed in the Midwest; Wisconsin, Indiana, etc, and even at Little Bohemia, in Northern Wisconsin, where the Feds goofed up bigtime and J.Edgar Hoover covered, or at least tried to cover up their blunder, when innocent citizens were gunned down, instead of the "gangstas". You will love this, you won't want the book to end, it covers all of them, Johhny Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Baby Face Nelson, Ma Barker and her gang, Machine Gun Kelly. It's all here, and of course, Bonnie and Clyde. You will be right at the scenes, even when they met their bloody early demise, and most of them went out shooting their tommy guns. The author did a magnificent job of researching his subjects. You won't be disappointed spending a weekend reading this one!

Gentle Birth Choices lays out the various aspects of childbirth, and explains the drawbacks of medicated birth or birthing interventions that many moms may encounter. This isn't a how-to book (such as Hypnobirthing or Bradley), but it does inform as to why "natural" birth choices are better, both for parents and baby. There are helpful sections at the back, listing questions to ask your health practitioner and your hospital or birthing center so that you can go into your labor and birth better informed (or find a different practitioner while you still have time).

One of the best birth books available, with options ranging from hospital birth to waterbirth. There is also a DVD/video by the same name available by Barbara Harper for those with spouses and/or families to educate, too!

I read this book (and watched the video with my hubby) in preparation for our planned home birth after an "Unnecessarean". I highly recommend it for anyone planning a gentle and natural birth, but also for those who are not sure what they think about epidurals, induction, interventions, et cetera. You may be amazed at how leaving this book lying around the house can turn even a first-time father into a birth advocate, too! ;>)

Suzanne Arms' photography is just breathtaking. This book is worth the price for the pictures alone! It's one you can put on the coffee table.

Thank you, Barbara Harper and Suzanne Arms!!

If you want to be inspired and empowered in choosing the birth that's best for you and your baby, this book is the perfect place to go. Ms. Harper is thorough and honest, she did her research and presents the facts in a way that is concise and easily understood, by even the newest, youngest mom. Too much technology has intruded into the age-old practice of having babies the way nature and God intended - women are strong and powerful and built to have babies, without drugs, without intervention, without doctors. If you think your doctor has 'informed" you, think again. This book has the answers. I used it, I followed it and I recently purchased a copy for my daughter-in-law who is pregnant with my first grandbaby! Buy one for every woman you know who's even considering childbirth, the right way. Find a great midwife and enjoy the ride - it's a joy and a blessing! The bonus with this book was the DVD depicting several births - beautiful!

Gentle Birth Choices

This is an amazing book. It gives complete, accurate information about natural labor and childbirth, and is great source if you have already chosen natural labor or are thinking about it. Though my birth experience was awful and not the way I had planned (planned a homebirth), what I read and what I saw on the included DVD stayed in the back of my mind throughout the entire 37 hours of unmedicated labor.

You CAN do it, and God bless you for giving yourself this option.

I was pretty sure I wanted a midwife when I bought this book. I was hoping for an instruction guide to birthing gently, more naturally, with a CNM rather than an OB.
What this book actually is, is a guide to deciding what kind of birth to have. It's a bit preachy, too, not unusually so, but not exactly openminded, either. So if you are wondering if there is a better way, but don't know anything about midwifery or homebirth, you might learn something. If you have, say, researched it on the Internet, you might already know what this book has to say.
I would recommend one of Ina May Gaskin's great books before this one.