Wood Books

It's really great to see a fine book like this one on a corner of nature that is often overlooked. It really cleared up some mysteries for me. Very well done.

This is an excellent, well-illustrated compact field guide for its specified region. While the range maps cover only the region surrounding MI, WI, MN, the nothern part of Iowa, and the area of western Ontario lying immediately north of Lakes Superior and Huron, many of the species in the guide may be found over a much wider range -- making the guide of some use to others living beyond this region. The photographs are excellent. Notes pertaining to each species' appearance and life cycle are concise. Diagrams of abdomens are clear. Phenogram charts appear with each species. The introductory chapters on anatomy, natural history, behaviour, and observation of damselflies are quite brief but contain much useful information. Certainly a useful guide for anyone interested in damselflies of the general Great Lakes region.

As a 4-H entomology leader in Michigan, this book is indispensable. Dubois follows Mead's dragonfly work with a much-need volume in the same exacting, yet accessible style. The pictures are references are terrific. More importantly, like Mead, Dubois takes great pains to write a layperson's explanation of the suborder. Thanks !

This is a great little guide for this region. It has very clear photos of both males and females of the species that occur here (adults, no larvae). Additional photos show variants or distinguishing features. There is a key to the three families at the beginning, but not within the families. There are black and white drawings of the tips of the abdomens, a great feature but it should have been in colour!
Range maps do not extend beyond MI, WI, MN & w. Ontario. Charts show abundance through the season. A table lists suitable binoculars. A checklist is provided, along with notes on behaviour and morphology.

Henry Pettigrew was the best wood-carver in Tennessee. Everybody loved the animals he carved. One day Daniel said he wanted to carve animals too, all he needed was a good knife and a good piece of wood. His brother Jeff laughed. His father bought him the knife and gave him a block of wood, because sometimes it's important for a father to believe in his son.

Every year people made things for the fair. Jeff made a box, Mom made a quilt, Dad made moccasins and Daniel said he was going to carve something. He made a duck looking backwards. At the fair, people laughed at his work. He was ashamed, took the duck and ran, but someone followed him, said he loved the duck, told Daniel the people were not laughing at the duck because it was bad, but because it made them laugh and that was a good thing. He offered to buy the duck, but Daniel gave it to him instead. Can you guess who the man was?

Sophie Cacique Gaul

Daniel has a quiet life. He dind't have eny friends except
his mom,brother and dad.He and his family are good at art their are going to have a fair.Did Daniel do a good duck for the fair wish people like it?
I like this book because Daniel did a beutiful and funny duck.
I recomend this book for all the people who like art because is fun.

This book has a lot going for it - not only is it written by Clyde Robert Bulla, a prolific and talented writer whose books are slowly (and sadly) going out of print, it is also "An I Can Read Book", which is my favorite series of readers for young children.

While the setting of this book is well over 110 years ago, the emotions portrayed in this book will be accessible to every child. Daniel is the youngest child in his family, and wants to make something for the spring fair. Despite some well-intentioned "wait until you're older" discouragement from his family, he carves a duck and is quite proud of it. He brings it to the fair, and then sees people laughing at it. Embarrassed and angry, he grabs his duck and runs to the river to throw it in, but is stopped by the best wood-carver in Tennessee. Their conversation is simple and effective, without being sacharine or artificial.

My kids have picked up this book more than once to read on their own.

This is a great book to use when you help enhance your students' prediction skills. You could have the students guess what they think will happen next as you orally read the story. You could also have the students write their own ending and then read the book's ending to see if they guessed right or if they like their own ending better! I would use this in grades 1-3.

I think the title of the review says it all.
I am glad I came across this book after knowing and studying the Divine Comedy for many years; Otherwise it may have been pearls before swine.
But if you are a novice, get it and keep it on your bookshelf, and go back to it every once in a while. As your love of Dante, and your faith deepens, you will appreciate it more and more, and like, me may find you need to buy a second copy after the first became so dogeared and fragile.

helen luke is dead now but i wish she wasn't. this
is the best book i ever found about dante. if dante's
comedy seems a mystery to you, if it seems hard to
reach, or if it seems like it has nothing to say to us
now, you need this book. helen luke used dante's poetry
to write a magnificent jungian deconstruction of growth
and love. it makes everything simple. it is magnificent.
i was interested to see that she liked dorothy sayers'
translations (of all the dante translations that there
are) the best. if you have this book, you don't need
any other growth book, you don't need any other literary
analysis of the comedy. she knew dante very well.

The moment I saw the references to Charles Williams and Dorothy L. Sayers I was hooked. Culturely familiar with, but never having studied, Dante's poem, I had always understood it as an allegory of life after death. Wrong! The intersections between Dante's journey as portrayed by Helen Luke and portions of my spiritual journey were intense, meaningful, detailed -- and totally unexpected. The reality of the passage through Hell and Purgatory in this life points to the hope of a portion of the feast to come also in this life. It is not an easy read, but I found myself unable to put it down -- except when the power of a passage would so resonate in me I had to pause to mark it and reflect on it.

This marvellous book opens up Danteland for the contemporary reader. Helen Luke's masterful guidance on the paths of Dante's three-tiered cosmos not only helps us to reenter and relish the Divine Comedy - the towering literary achievement of the medieval imagination - but to use it to enter deeper levels of reality through meditation and active imagination. I have based deeply moving group meditations on this, along the lines of those decribed in my own book "Dreamgates", and we have found that Dante's gates can actually take us into imaginal realms that people appear to inhabit after physical death. As the life dreamer she was, Helen Luke reminds us of the way the radiant guide keeps calling the seeker through dreams, which are so often ignored or forgotten until the BIG moment of spiritual trial and eventual initiation. I would recommend using the middle section of the book in tandem with W.S.Merwin's excellent recent translation of the "Purgatorio", which is more readable than the older versions quoted by Ms. Luke.

The continuing story of Matty Roth and others in in the DMZ in another great volume covering some the earlier events in the DMZ.

This has fasr become one of my favorite comic series. It's right up there with Y The Last Man and Fables. This volume in particular brings the realities of war to a harsh and bitter light. It will make you question where you stand on war and politics and justice.

I can't really say that this book is getting better and better, because Volume 2 (Body of a Journalist) was probably better... but man, this is good stuff! It's a fast read, extremely relevant, fairly stand-alone, and one of the few books I'm recommending whole-heartedly lately.

The book consists of different takes of a bloody event taken place in DMZ. If you haven't read any DMZ before, you can still jump in and enjoy this volume. Different artists that worked on this volume are also amazing to clearly show different POVs.

Check it out!

I came across this book at a friends house and found myself sifting throught it. It has ALOT of useful information on so different many topics. It has useful tips on everything from how to clear a drain with cheaper products to how to save money on gas...I had to order a copy of my own ASAP, you should to!

This is the title that every person needs to own!! It has wonderful commonsense information about a huge amount of everyday household problems and topics with easy solutions. For instance, in reference to a mouse problem in my house, it gave me at least 4 different ways to deter the little critters. All of the ways consisted of items which I already had in my cabinets, but didn't know would solve the problem. The diversity of topics absolutely amazed me and encouraged the immediate placement of this title on the most accessible shelve in my bookcase. I know that it will be indispensable!! The price is perfect too. Thumbs up!

There are hundreds of items of advice in this volume, and they are applicable to topics as diverse as gardening, household cleaning, the entertaining of guests, caring for pets, simple mechanical care, and many others. Who would imagine some of them! Did you know, for instance, that dressing in clothing that contains vertical stripes makes you look taller? Or that vinegar can clean and deodorize your coffeepot? Or that you can avoid smashed fingers, when driving in a nail, by first sticking the nail into a piece of cardboard before driving it home? Or that a licked and closed envelope can be re-opened, without damaging it, by freezing it first? Or that olive oil can substitute for shoe polish?

Much of the advice presented in this book centers upon foods. There is a ranking of peppers according to their spiciness. The flavor of coffee can be prolonged by keeping it at a freezer (since chemical reactions, including those that degrade feedstuffs, tend to proceed more slowly at colder temperatures). I found this to be the case.

Finally, the advice presented here is not merely relevant to household conditions. For example, there is a suggestion to re-use plastic egg cartons for the holding of paint--a different color in each chamber. As a teacher, I found this especially useful in children's art projects. What's more, the messy egg-carton "palettes" can be disposed after the project is over.

I have used this book on an as needed or reference basis. It gives several ideas and solutions for each problem I have looked up. The solutions I chose worked and were helpful.

La mejor y mas facil de interpretar baraja de tarot que he visto. Me encanta!

...This is a great way for English speakers who want to practice spanish in unusual ways! Robin Wood tarot in English is also a great buy!

I've been a fan of Robin Wood's artwork for years, and I have loved her tarot in English (how better to get so much great work by a favorite artist in such a small package and good price!) for nearly as long.

The deck's images, along with printing in Spanish, make this deck an invaluable way to practice thinking more intuitively in Spanish (like flashcards, only full of rich imagery). Even the little book explaining the deck and card meanings is in Spanish, for extra practice material.

And if you just love tarot, you are probably already familiar with this deck's well-earned reputation. She put a lot of love into it, and it shows.

Leer con esta baraja es como confiar en una amiga honesta y cariñosa. Es mi favorita de todas las barajas del tarot que tengo (sea en español o en ingles o cualquier otra idioma) porque tiene aspecto muy simpatico y lleno de calor humano, aún cuando esta explicando situaciones difíciles. Las ilustraciones son muy bonitas y llenas de detalles significativos, los cuales hacen fácil adivinar.

In other words, this is a terrific deck to use in any language!

This author takes the time to not only share the experience of the practical practice of yoga poses, but also shares the deeply spiritual side as well. She advises how to experience yoga in a fuller way with breath and spirit, all the while promoting the splendid side effects that yoga has on day to day life events. I found the book easy to read and instantly developed an intimate, friendly relationship with the author's style. I would recommend this book to novice and proficient yogi's alike -it will wake up your practice in a beneficial way.

This is an easy to read, experiential and practical book. I used many of the practices described in this book in my daily life and have seen positive results. The lay out of the book makes locating what I am interested in easy. I really like all the personal stroies within the context as well as all the educational material. Thank you for this wonderful book.

i have at least 30 yoga books on my book shelf. if i had to take one of them to the proverbial desert island empowering your life would be my pick. its different in a very good way. its not just poses but poses in action in life. the stories of poses in action are very, very inspirations. bliss wood lives the life that she writes about. i just love this book and pick it up any time i need inspiration.

This is a wonderful book. Bliss Wood's writing is at once intimate, down to earth, and practical. For example, throughout the book she has included quotes from both her own journal, and from those of friends, family, and students. Often those quotes really brought home the idea of integrating yoga into one's life, but not in some sterile theoretical way, but rather from the perspective of very real day to day living.

The book is written in two parts. The first part describes what empowered living is, while the second part describes the path to empowered living through Patanjali's eight limbed path of yoga. Again, what I especially liked was Bliss's fresh perspective on this eight limbed path - intimate, down to earth, and practical.

Throughout the book Bliss emphasizes looking within yourself to find what is right for you, rather than trying to live by some arbitrary standard. Also, at the end of each chapter she concludes with an asana, a real life story, a journaling exercise, mantras for daily living, and closing thoughts or questions that really bring the whole chapter home to one's daily life.

One other aspect of the book that I really liked was the emphasis on how one's physical yoga practice (through asanas) provides a guide into other aspects of yoga, and how important it is therefore, to pay attention to your body and listen to it during one's asana practice.

Bottom line is this is an easy to read, wonderful little book that really brings yoga concepts into one's daily life in both an intimate and practical way.

Expand The Pie is a useful and practical book for anyone involved in any kind of negotiation. I've found it to be extremely helpful in both business and personal situations.

Collaboratively written by professional business negotiators Grande Lum, Irma Tyler-Wood and Anthony Wanis-St. John, Expand The Pie: How To Create More Value In Any Negotiation is a straightforward and "user friendly" guide to improving one's skill at negotiation and bargaining. Individual chapters cogently address the importance of abandoning preconceptions and readying oneself before approaching the negotiation table; the 4D process (Design, Dig, Develop and Decide) to see discussion through to closure; using objective standards; and much more. An excellent self-help guide useful in both business and daily life, Expand The Pie is especially recommended for those new to negotiating business contracts.

Collaboratively written by professional business negotiators Grande Lum, Irma Tyler-Wood and Anthony Wanis-St. John, Expand the Pie: How To Create More Value In Any Negotiation is a straightforward and "user friendly" guide to improving one's skill at negotiation and bargaining. Individual chapters cogently address the importance of abandoning preconceptions and readying oneself before approaching the negotiation table; the 4D process (Design, Dig, Develop and Decide) to see discussion through to closure; using objective standards; and much more. An excellent self-help guide useful in both business and daily life, Expand The Pie is especially recommended for those new to negotiating business contracts.

.Excellent ...

Over twenty years ago, Roger Fisher and William Ury published a thin volume entitled Getting to YES and immediately and fundamentally changed the field of negotiations. They called their new approach "principled negotiations" and its central tenets are taught and practiced throughout the world, often labeled as "interest-based," "win-win" or "collaborative" negotiations.

In their work, Fisher and Ury recognized that one of the greatest weaknesses in the traditional positional approach to negotiations was that it operated on "... the assumption of a fixed pie" (Getting to YES, p. 58). Negotiators in this setting spent their resources on dividing it.

Fisher and Ury then postulated that if negotiators turned from positions to focusing on the interests of the parties and then worked together to seek creative options to satisfy those interests, negotiations offered an unlimited potential for adding value for all the parties. It was a true break through.

"How you negotiate may determine," Fisher and Ury wrote, "whether the pie is expanded or merely divided" (Getting to YES, p.177). Their approach offered the promise of changing negotiations from a zero-sum game to a collaborative effort to create new value.

When Fisher and Ury published Getting to YES in 1981, it was far more than a theoretical treatise. Their work provided multiple examples of negotiating situations and interactions to illustrate their approach.

In the two decades that have passed since their book appeared, however, author after author has written a primer on how to do collaborative negotiations. Training programs have abounded on the subject.

Why, then, the reader might ask, is yet another book on how to achieve the promise of the collaborative approach important. It is vital because negotiators continue to struggle with practicing the concept.

Expand the Pie uses the experiences of its three authors in consulting, training and coaching to teach the reader "what to say and do" on order to successfully practice collaborative negotiations (Expand, p.2). Two of the authors of this companion piece to Getting to YES, Grande Lum and Irma Tyler-Wood, were students of Professor Fisher. Fisher calls Expand the Pie "...perhaps the most useful book you will find"(Expand the Pie, p.i). This reviewer fully concurs.

At it's core, collaborative negotiating requires careful and thorough preparation, an orchestrated process towards clearly defined objectives during the negotiations and the patience and skill to keep the participants focused on creating value. Expand the Pie provides a tested, clear and easily understandable step-by-step guide to the process. I am convinced you can become truly a successful collaborative negotiating leader by using this complementary volume to Getting to YES.

The key to collaborative negotiating is clear in the Getting to YES and reinforced by the authors of Expand the Pie. "Prepare, then prepare some more, and finally, prepare again" (Expand the Pie, p.185). This said, what do we need to know?

The writers begin by focusing on the key elements of the negotiation and introduce a preparation model they call ICON, standing for Interests, Criteria, Options, and No agreement alternatives. It is these elements that the negotiator must explore in detail to ready themselves for negotiations.

Using their model, the authors clearly define and discuss the importance of each of the elements and offer solid suggestions on how to prepare fully. We follow real negotiating cases, use simple negotiating worksheets and encounter quick summations and review questions at the end of each chapter as we move along. It is a brilliantly constructed self-learning approach.

When the first section is completed, the reader will have identified the interests of all the stakeholders, prioritized them and tagged complementary and opposing interest clusters. Also, the reader will have searched for potential options, identified criteria that might be used to evaluate various options and analyzed their position and alternatives in the event that no agreement is concluded.

Having planned the basic elements of the negotiation, the reader moves to the next section on formulating a strategy for conducting the negotiation in a collaborative manner. The authors present another organizing device for this phase that they call the 4D Process: Design, Dig, Develop and Decide. At this stage, the reader is setting goals for the negotiations, devising methods to probe for interests and brainstorm for creative options and learning to develop decisions through a variety of interim steps.

Once again, the reader examines accounts of actual negotiations, explores clear expositions of the essential steps in each process and employs negotiating worksheets and review questions to reinforce the learning process. It is practical and clear direction that the reader will find absolutely on target.

Finally, recognizing that even the most carefully planned negotiation may go astray, the authors address a litany of "difficult tactics" the negotiator may encounter and offer a strategy for dealing with each of these ploys and tricks. Additionally and importantly, they focus their strategies beyond merely countering these tactics and give the reader some solid ways to redirect the negotiation back to a collaborative format. The redirection advice is particularly valuable.

You will find much more in this book including some valuable observations on the nature of negotiations in general. The authors correctly point out, for example, that "the reality of negotiating is that the parties involved are advocates for their interests or the interests of their organization" (Expand the Pie, p. 142). As advocates, negotiators, of course, owe it to themselves and their organizations to "aim for the best possible agreement" (Expand the Pie, p. 139). Implicit in that need are the two key messages of this book:
"Until you create value, any price is too high," that is, expanding the pie (Expand the Pie, p.64)
"Prepare, then prepare ... (Expand the Pie, p.185).

Expand The Pie will show you how to negotiate, guide you as you do it and pay-off in creating more value in your negotiations. It is not just a follow-on book, but a true companion piece to its intellectual wellspring.

I strongly recommend it.

John D. Baker, Editor
The Negotiator Magazine

Once the thesis that Santos are art "is established and proved, the word comes alive, the image reveals itself in all its splendor, its meanings and power amplified, and the reader, who now believes in the beauty and expressiveness of the Santos and is able to participate in the enjoyment of them, wants to continue the 'fiesta', to inhabit for a while longer the temple that the book has built for the carvings." (From comments by Antonio Martorell, artist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, delivered at the Museum of Puerto Rican Art on June 25th, 2003.)

"Is it possible to take advantage of the extraordinary conceptual development of the euro-centric academic disciplines...in order to study...the 'art of the other' (be it in terms of civilizations such as non-european or in socioeconomic terms such as the rural or 'popular')? Irene Curbelo's book represents "the most important Puerto Rican contribution to this incandescent international debate." (From comments by A.G. Quintero Rivera, sociologist and professor at the University of Puerto Rico, delivered at the Museum of Puerto Rican Art on June 25th, 2003).

"In this bilingual edition, with magnificent illustrations, Irene Curbelo questions the way a work of art that obeys canons different from those accepted traditionally in european art is judged and evaluated...In Chapter V, titled Understanding the Santos, this scholar contributes powerfully to increase...the pleasure that contemporary art lovers feel when viewing the Santos...It offers a fascinating account of the whole artistic vocabulary constructed in terms of their function...The reading of this chapter offers an opportunity to observe the Santos more closely as it analyzes the elements that particularize them. It clarifies the ways in which the artists interpreted their world and utilized their artistic materials expressively...As a result, these pieces acquire an expressive value that places them on an artistic plane well beyond the mere artifact." (translated excerpts from the literary review by Carmen Dolores Hernandez published in San Juan by El Nuevo Dia, June 8, 2003, pg. 14).

For anyone interested in art (not only in Puerto Rican art, but in learning to read a work of art in general) this is a marvelous book. The language is straightforward and concise, managing to convey a complicated subject matter with refreshing clarity. The santos -- charming, colorful, whimsical -- make an interesting case study. They also grant us insight into the character, religious and otherwise, of the 18th and 19th century Puerto Rican. The historical background of the santos and the folklore surrounding them make for very engaging reading. The book is well-illustrated by many period photographs.

It sounds crazy, but Carter really did a good job of capturing these horses' feelings. What's more, is that he photographed them so well. This is a must have for horse lovers and for people that are wanting a great coffee table addition.

You'll love this.

iKnow

Whoa! No one can begin to describe Keith Carter's style and vision. You have to experience it. It's not just what he sees, it's how he renders it, making it new and timeless too. This is a book you'll want to open often.

i admit i was skeptic when i first heard about this book, and i had no intentions of buying it. i'm not that crazy about horses. but i got a look at an advanced copy, and i saw the the work was just beautiful and i had to have it. be sure to look at orange tree and nude and arabian, which are my two favorite pictures.

I appreciate a good horse as much as the next guy. Looking at horses through Keith's eyes makes me love them. I'm not going to run out and buy tight pants and a helmet because of this book, but you get the idea. The images are well made and seen. Not all of the pictures have the tilt-shift look which has been overdone so that's good. The layout is great. A square book for a square image. Keith's little ditty about Ezekiel's Horse is a warm piece of writing. If you're a Keith Carter fan, buy the book. If you like horses, buy the book. If your interested in photography, buy the book. If your name is Mr. Ed, look for your portrait on page 29, then call your lawyer.