Wagner Books

Living organisms are both robust and evolvable -- two properties that could seem to contradict one another. They are robust in the sense that they can withstand, both as individuals and as lineages, changes in their environment, changes that are sometimes very large. At the same time they can evolve, which means that they leave descendants that remain well adapted to their environment through many generations. Without these two properties life could not have survived from its beginnings billions of years ago to the present, despite huge changes in the earth during that time, such as the change from a reducing atmosphere to the current oxidizing atmosphere, with concentrations of oxygen in the air and the oceans that would be lethal for all of the early organisms.

As Andreas Wagner explains in this important book, the two properties of robustness and evolvability exist at many different levels: the genetic code, the structures of nucleic acids and proteins, metabolism, body plans, and so on. He goes on to analyse each of these and others in different chapters. In each chapter he sets out to answer the same two questions: what characteristic is robust? what is it robust to? For example, the three-dimensional structure of a protein, necessary for maintaining its function, is robust to changes in its aminoacid sequence.

Wagner was one of the originators of the "small world" view of metabolism -- the finding that the number of steps needed to go from any metabolite to any other is much smaller than one might guess without doing the analysis -- and has recent research publications in most of the topics he discusses in his book. As a result he has produced an expert account of robustness that anyone interested in this important topic needs to be familiar with.

They're dangerous, hard to move in, and painful to wear. But most important of all, they're sexy. "Running with Stilettos: Living a Balanced Life in Dangerous Shoes" consists of the reflections of one woman who spends every day in these terrible shoes, but must give it her all anyway. A collection of humorous memoirs in the form of essays of her day to day life, "Running with Stilettos" is charming and lovely, sure to resonate with many career women who must endure this daunting task daily. Enthusiastically recommended.

Modern poetry often becomes so nostalgic that it loses perspective and quite often sounds like self emulation. When one is fortunate enough to encounter a contemporary poet who gathers memories and plants them for all of us to share, without being so general that there is no connection to past or present, it is illuminating to know that readers can identify with those same experiences, even though they may be distant from our own. Mary frances Wagner ties us to the experince of being a daughter, a cousin, a friend, and enables us to share the immigrant's daughter's love of nationality, of race and of gender. In "Thanksgiving Dinner" the writer's technique of capturing through what is not said the essence of what is becomes so artisitc that very few writers will ever do it better. The absence of comment is paralleled by the structure and development of the poem. Such technique is very rare in today's poetry. This book of poetry is a salute to a presence that will always be evident in her life. Through the use of the senses Maryfrances enables the reader to experience the loss and the love that prompted this book..."Yesterday I packed/a dozen black sacks/set them by the curb,/one heartload at a time." captures the loss of a loved one. "Of a thousand hands/I would know my father's/long fingers shaped like oars,/the index scar/the flat, grooved nails,/hands that fixed the doll's arm,/meded Whisker's ear, checked homework." are lines from the poem "Hands" that capture the life of the loved one. This excellent collection of poems is for those who have loved a family, have shared a loss, have retained the love. As poetry it is excellent in form, style, and development.Those who read for enlightenment will enjoy this book. Those who read for illumination into the art of excellent poetry will learn. Enjoy.

This books was well written and a good read. At the same time it can be seen that there are crosses between the war in Vietnam and the War on Terror. It is definatly worth the time to read this one.

I'm always excited when I can find another novel by Bonita Wagner. She has a style that keeps the plot moving rapidly to a surprise conclusion. It's the twists and turns along the way that keep me turning the pages as quickly as possible.

I loved the way this book was laid out... and appropriate for young or old. It is easily used as a guide to preparing a group to go on a mission - each chapter can be used as a weekly meeting for 13 weeks. Questions you need to ask, examples of famous missionaries, the author's personal experience, practical suggestions and Scripture to study are all provided. Plus, it is a small, easy-to-read book. Therefore, it is not overwhelming to a busy person.

Sew-No-More Home Decor (Leisure Arts #33300)

Great book! Perfect for those who might be sewing-challenged! Beautiful color photographs, easy to follow directions with patterns placed in back of book for easy photo copying and getting your project off the ground!

Definite high recommendation!

. . . A brief kudo for this seminal work by a major American cultural geographer and philosopher of human-environment interaction. For over 50 years Phil Wagner has been a leading thinker in the so-called "Berkeley school of Cultural Geography". His 1960's book on "Human Use of the Earth" prefigured much of today's environmental ethos. Earlier, Wagner & Marvin Mikesell edited "Readings in Cultural Geography" which has provided four decades of students and lay readers with the quintessential collection of critical thoughts from pivotal writers in this field. PLW's long time exploration into human communication has brought him to a hypothesis that the desire for recognition and status drives human behaviour. Hence, access to venues for such expression and feedback affect spatial organization of human performance, and render the built environment a stage for enactment of "geltung" or status seeking behaviour. The process of following Wagner's line of reasoning offers an additional range of directions for readers to explore their own understanding of communicative behaviour. Like Thorsten Veblen's 1920's work on elites and conspicuous consumption, or Vance Packard's 1950's work on the Status Seekers, or C. Wright Mills' 1960's querry into power relations, this little book and the Geltung hypothesis has the power to influence thinkers and students for generations to come. It also points to new interpretations of Hegel's question of the master-slave dialectic. Aside from a poor title, weak cover, and equally inept marketing, the book's major fault lies in too much editing intended to reach a pseudo - popular market. Hence the final thin volume leaves out much of the meat found in earlier drafts. Nevertheless, it is well written, easy to read, and bereft of jargon, which Wagner has translated into ordinary language, a hallmark of his down-to-earth erudition and scholarship.

This book not only describes and helps the new teacher in the English classroom, but any high school classroom. It illustrates many common classroom problems, then helps identify solutions. Some of the situations they accentuate are defending a grade, mandated testing and especially for the English teacher-problems with student interpretation, what to do when the students have read the book before, and numerous others. As a pre-service teacher in college, I can honestly say that after all the droll books on theory and pedagogy, this book can teach you so much more in a real-life approach.