Book Description
James Herriot's Treasury for Children collects all of the beloved veterinarian's delightful tales for young readers. From the springtime frolic of Oscar, Cat-About-Town to the yuletide warmth of The Christmas Day Kitten, these stories-radiantly illustrated by Peter Barrett and Ruth Brown-are perennial favorites, and this new complete edition will make a wonderful gift for all readers, great and small.
Customer Reviews:
We LOVE this book!.......2007-09-08
My 7 yr old son and my 5 yr old daugher both LOVE this book. And so does mom! It has beautiful illustrations and the stories are warm and wonderful.
Excellent bridge to the pleasures of independent reading.......2007-04-24
I constantly search for beautiful books to develop my children's minds, souls, and taste for literature and thinking. There is a struggle for every parent to find books during the period occurring AFTER the child has learned the mechanics of reading and BEFORE the child can read more than the chapter book pablum churned out by most educational houses and curriculum providers. It seems now the "hook" given to young children is magic and witchcraft lore spawned by the Harry Potter books - but that is another topic entirely.
I have a deep appreciation for beautiful, well-chosen words. Very few books are rightly called "literature," but this book is one of them. Each story is written beautifully and powerfully, obviously from the pen of a great master. The author brings out the details of appearance, background and psyche and the stories resonate with beauty and truth.
I like best that the power of the story comes from the beauty and wonder of the simple and ordinary. So much of our modern literature relies upon shock and caters to the overstimulated, easily-bored personality which needs ever-increasing levels of shock and stimulation to be amused. This book nourishes reflection and the meditation upon the things which are true, honest, just, pure and lovely,
Another delightful thing about this book is the rendering of the artwork. The book is heavily illustrated on each page, and the words are IN the paintings. The visual and verbal components are wedded together in a way that the words are friendly and integral to the story - an absolute necessity for the child to cross the bridge from mechanical reading to reading adventures. The illustrations are masterfully done and very much in keeping with the beauty and power of the language.
The book has sophisticated vocabulary presented in an unobtrusive way. The child learns these words without knowing he has done so.
My seven-year-old son has just finished reading this book, and the joy we both have in listening to him read and explain to me his thoughts and feelings about the stories is priceless (as is his pronunciation of some of the larger words).
Life lessons in empathy and compassion........2007-04-24
This is an absolutely delightful collection of stories, generously illustrated and put together with a child's point of view in mind. It belongs in every library, in every home with children, and on every child's reading list. There is so much information about treating animals (farm animals, family pets, and special companion animals) that is interesting to children and adults. As a bonus, the stories evoke emotions that help little ones develop compassion for all living creatures. It's a wonderful book. But don't forget the DVD's: All Creatures Great & Small: The Complete Series 1 Collection
Sweet farm-based tales.......2007-03-29
My six-year-old son loves the stories in this book, just as I loved James Herriot's series starting with All Things Bright and Beautiful. The vocabulary is a bit sophisticated, even for my well-spoken boy, but it's not too distracting.
Love books by this author!.......2007-01-16
My whole family loved this book. My 5 year old especially enjoyed when I read it to her. We have read it several times and she still asks to hear the stories again.
Average customer rating:
- A Scholarly Read Not to Be Missed
- hungry for zhiguai ^__^
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A Chinese Bestiary : Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas
Richard E. Strassberg
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Similar Items:
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The Classic of Mountains and Seas (Penguin Classics)
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Tales from China (Oxford Myths and Legends)
ASIN: 0520218442 |
Book Description
A Chinese Bestiary presents a fascinating pageant of mythical creatures from a unique and enduring cosmography written in ancient China. The Guideways through Mountains and Seas, compiled between the fourth and first centuries b.c.e., contains descriptions of hundreds of fantastic denizens of mountains, rivers, islands, and seas, along with minerals, flora, and medicine. The text also represents a wide range of beliefs held by the ancient Chinese. Richard Strassberg brings the Guideways to life for modern readers by weaving together translations from the work itself with information from other texts and recent archaeological finds to create a lavishly illustrated guide to the imaginative world of early China.
Unlike the bestiaries of the late medieval period in Europe, the Guideways was not interpreted allegorically; the strange creatures described in it were regarded as actual entities found throughout the landscape. The work was originally used as a sacred geography, as a guidebook for travelers, and as a book of omens. Today, it is regarded as the richest repository of ancient Chinese mythology and shamanistic wisdom. The Guideways may have been illustrated from the start, but the earliest surviving illustrations are woodblock engravings from a rare 1597 edition. Seventy-six of those plates are reproduced here for the first time, and they provide a fine example of the Chinese engraver's art during the late Ming dynasty.
This beautiful volume, compiled by a well-known specialist in the field, provides a fascinating window on the thoughts and beliefs of an ancient people, and will delight specialists and general readers alike.
Customer Reviews:
A Scholarly Read Not to Be Missed.......2004-01-02
Geoffrey E.R. Lloyd and Nathan Sivin in, The Way of the Word: Science and Medicine in Early China and Greece, raise the following questions: "In what circumstances did inquiries about the world outside human society begin? and What paths [my own italics] did those inquiries open up?" One such "path" or "guideway" is found in the Shan hai jing , or "The Scripture, Classic, Canon, Warp-text [and now Guideways]--however one wants to render jing--Mountains and Seas," as Robert Ford Campany puts it in his review of Riccardo Fracasso and Anne Birrell's earlier translations. He goes on to say, "The list is the trope of plenitude, and an overwhelming plenitude of anomaly is what this book conveys." The Shan hai jing is one of the earliest Chinese works that attempted to provide a description of what was then believed to be "the world outside human society." It sought to provide an embodiment of taxonomic reckoning of its landscape and all of its natural and supernatural fauna and flora, especially to those who ventured into it. There gradually arose amongst the ancient Chinese intelligentsia a weltanschauung, or "world concept" of their biophysical and socioanthropological environment in which they conceived of themselves as being an integral part of the cosmos and intrinsically interjoined with its spiritual, physical, and moral "influences."
To explore the Shan hai jing is to undertake an odyssey in search of its mysteries. This literary venture can easily boggle the mind, especially when it comes to accomplishing a creditable translation with a plausible exegesis of its contents. Many of the traditional commentaries are, for the most part, useless, since the commentators were themselves ignorant of the folklore and palæozoology that underlies this venerable and probably composite text. It requires a whole critical apparatus built around it before an even reasonably full interpretation can be achieved, especially by the philological unwary. Richard Eric Strassberg, Professor of Chinese in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of California at Los Angeles, offers us an exceptionally fine work of scholarship in his thorough editing, excellent translation, and extensive commentary of this ancient work. He provides his readers with a new and invigorating approach to wandering through this arcane world. He leds us along this jing, or "guideway" and familiarizes us with its passages as a jing, or a "classic." As our guide, he points out in his introductory remarks (p. 5), as a daybook to guide the reader in "choosing auspicious days for travel and avoiding danger from gods and demons." As its expounder, he penetrates its "sacred geography filled with strikingly unusual denizens" (p. xiv) and acquaints us with its mysteries.
Strassberg reminds us that he has "undertaken the risky venture of providing translations whenever possible of the names of creatures, places, and things. Though well aware of the risks involved in the more polysemous case, I offer these translations as reasonable significations that would have occurred to traditional Chinese readers both to facilitate the readers contact with this difficult text and to stimulate further consideration among specialists of what these names might have meant." (p. xviii) One can never be too exacting when it comes to translating ancient Chinese words, nor should such exactitude be so constrained as to preclude the full rein they must be given in order to convey the splendor of their exquisite implicitness. And, again, one can never be too careful when it comes to avoiding renderings which are vitiated by the bland assumption that they meant then what they mean in later dynastic periods; accordingly, such assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. The author has adroitly avoided such pitfalls and he does not misguide his readers.
The contents of A Chinese Bestiary: Strange Creatures from the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas (hereafter cited as A Chinese Bestiary) consists of eight parts: List of Illustrations; a Preface; Editorial Notes; a meticulous introduction, followed by 76 plates of the rare illustrations found in the 1597 Yaoshantang reprint of the earlier Wang Chongqing edition as well as 345 descriptions of its demoniac/theriomorphic denizens; extensive Notes; an inclusive Selected Bibliography; and a thorough Glossary Index to Plates. Strassberg has gone to considerable effort to cull through resources in order to provide his readers with what is regarded as being the earliest surviving illustrations of woodblock engravings from the above rare work, making the illustrations available perhaps for the first time in any foreign publication, thereby, providing his readers with an artistic tour de force into the realm of a Chinese bestiary.
In discussing the origins of A Chinese Bestiary, the author refers to how "the yi-physicians credited Divine Farmer (Shennong) and the Yellow Thearch...with having written important medical and pharmacological treatises." (p. 4) One is reminded of Angus Graham's remarks that "legends of Shennong and the Yellow Emperor develop in interaction as representatives of rival tendencies to political centralization and decentralization...." This political dichotomy within medicine also reflects a gradual division within Chinese society between the illiterati (the bearers of oral traditions, including folk medicine) and the literati (the bearers of written traditions, including what would later become known as traditional Chinese medicine). Consequently, one can with caution suggest that materia medica may have been later more closely associated with folk traditions even though it is referenced in the Huang di nei jing su wen, or "The Inner Canon of the Yellow Thearch, Basic Questions" which forms in part the literary foundation of Chinese medicine.
As for minor suggestions, I would offer the following remarks: It would be more convenient for the reader to have the ideograms side by side with their Romanized counterparts, not to mention having the footnotes at the foot of each page for immediate and convenient referencing; there are a few entries, such as guai, yi, xi, and qiu whose ideograms are missing in the Glossary Index; there is some question to rendering of yu and jin as "jade" and "gold,"or zhen as "minister," since in most texts as early as this they mean "precious stones," "precious metals," and "magnate." Similarly, jing bi shi probably means "azure pi stones" (bi is an unidentified stone in early texts, used for making arrowheads; its use as a color word is much later); and, even given all of Strassberg's extensive footnotes, the undaunting quest for more appears to be an insatiable need (e.g., the guanxiong min, or "the people with perforated chests" (pp. 163-164) may refer to those people who were carried on planks of simple construction before the advent of sedan chairs).
The contents of A Chinese Bestiary are not vitiated by bland assumptions of contextual meanings misplaced in dynastic disorder or by a "highly imaginative rendition" (p. xvii) in which assumptions can be distorted or entirely false. Strassberg's literary astuteness and refined linguistic sensitivity provide his readers with an encompassing grasp of its numerous subtleties and variegated shades of meaning. He has not failed to afford his readers, specialists and nonspecialists alike, with an exceptional opportunity of improving our appreciation and understanding of this fascinating ancient Chinese text. It joins the ranks of Yuan Ke's Shan hai jing jiaoyi, Rémi Mathieu's Étude sur la Mythologie et L'ethnologie de la Chine Ancienne and Riccardo Fracasso's Libro dei monti e dei mari (Shanhai jing): Cosmografia e mitologia nella Cina Antica, as being the best translation in its language--English--as well as a must read for those whose penchant is ancient Chinese studies.
hungry for zhiguai ^__^.......2003-03-26
Dr. Strassberg has done some intensive researches on the zhiguai genre as well as the Chinese Travelogue tradition (the two in fact has a germane connection). This book is to provide you with a collection of pictographs of the strange creatures from Shan Hai Jin, an eerie...no, no, no sacred book about the landscape of si-hai (four seas) and jiu-zhou (nine provinces) of the middle kingdom (ancient China). I have both of his two books (this & Inscribed Landscape) and will be more than happy to recommend them to anyone who either has an interest in the study of ancient mythology, Chinese literature, or the so called "sacred geography" of eastern mysticism.:)
Book Description
For 160 million years, dinosaurs were the most successful and diverse creatures to dominate the Earth. This book is based on the world-famous fossil collections and permanent “Dinosaurs” exhibition at London’s Natural History Museum. Written by two experts from one of the world’s leading Paleontology departments, this book features hundreds of color photos and illustrations that reveal the astonishing variety of life that proliferated in the Mesozoic Era—the Age of Dinosaurs. Tim Gardom has researched several major exhibitions, including The Natural History Museum’s acclaimed “Dinosaurs.” Angela Milner is Head of Fossil Vertebrates at The Natural History Museum.
Customer Reviews:
Awesome Scientific Information.......2001-08-11
Tim Gardom with Angela Milner as Scientific Adviser have included comprehensive data that is known about dinosaurs. The pictures of real fossil skeletons, drawings, and even escavation sites are very interesting and informative. I like how he has arranged the book into categories (8 in all) and then followed up with an appendix, glossary, further reading, and a complete index of this book. He gives an in-depth history of fossil discoveries, while giving explanations from different cultural viewpoints about the bones and what kind of animals they might be. I can see how the Chinese came up with the dragon idea! Our grandchildren love all books about dinosaurs, but they really like this one. I found in my research that it is recommended by a paleontologist as a definite library selection for middle to high school budding paleontologists. If a person in the career of paleontologist likes the book, I think it is a must have! Thanks for this opportunity to review the awesome book!
Amazon.com
You probably enjoy eating codfish, but reading about them? Mark Kurlansky has written a fabulous book--well worth your time--about a fish that probably has mattered more in human history than any other. The cod helped inspire the discovery and exploration of North America. It had a profound impact upon the economic development of New England and eastern Canada from the earliest times. Today, however, overfishing is a constant threat. Kurlansky sprinkles his well-written and occasionally humorous history with interesting asides on the possible origin of the word codpiece and dozens of fish recipes. Sometimes a book on an offbeat or neglected subject really makes the grade. This is one of them.
Book Description
The codfish. Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national diets have been based on it, economies and livelihoods have depended on it, and the settlement of North America was driven by it. To the millions it has sustained, it has been a treasure more precious than gold. Indeed, the codfish has played a fascinating and crucial role in world history.
Cod spans a thousand years and four continents. From the Vikings, who pursued the codfish across the Atlantic, and the enigmatic Basques, who first commercialized it in medieval times, to Bartholomew Gosnold, who named Cape Cod in 1602, and Clarence Birdseye, who founded an industry on frozen cod in the 1930s, Mark Kurlansky introduces the explorers, merchants, writers, chefs, and of course the fishermen, whose lives have interwoven with this prolific fish. He chronicles the fifteenth-century politics of the Hanseatic League and the cod wars of the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. He embellishes his story with gastronomic detail, blending in recipes and lore from the Middle Ages to the present.
And he brings to life the cod itself: its personality, habits, extended family, and ultimately the tragedy of how the most profitable fish in history is today faced with extinction.
From fishing ports in New England and Newfoundland to coastal skiffs, schooners, and factory ships across the Atlantic; from Iceland and Scandinavia to the coasts of England, Brazil, and West Africa, Mark Kurlansky tells a story that brings world history and human passions into captivating focus.
Customer Reviews:
A Tremendously Important Story Well Told!.......2007-09-23
Wars have been fought over it, revolutions have been spurred by it, national diets have been based on it, economies have depended on it, and the settlement of North America was driven by it!
There are few fish more important to man than cod and in this endlessly insightful and colorful history of our obsession with this fish, author Mark Kurlansky, a historian, food critic, and world traveler sheds light on a thousand years of human civilization.
Unfortunately, the vast schools of cod that once inhabited the world's oceans and seas have disappeared, the result of overfishing, and may never return again.
This is a tremendously important story well told!
Cod: a very important book.......2007-08-23
Kirlansky deals with history both in this book and in "Salt" like someone swimming in familiar waters. His approach is thematic and this theme ties continents and centuries together.
Would You Rather Be A Fish?.......2007-07-22
This short book suggests that there is more to the codfish than meets the eye - or the palate. It is not a biography; it traces the impact of cod on the economic history of North America and Europe, starting at about the time of Christopher Columbus or, more properly, the time of Columbus' fellow Genovese, John Cabot. It was Cabot who stumbled across the secret fishing ground of the Basques and who claimed it for England under the name "New Found Land." The waters at the tip of the Gulfstream were teeming with cod and the frigid weather was conducive to drying and salting processes that were necessary to preserve the fish on their journey to European markets.
Cod was a "money crop." It was also a source of nutrition that greatly extended the distances that ships could travel without resupply of food. Like other valuable commodities, the cod spawned greed on the part of fishermen, merchants and nations that wanted the money for themselves. Greed also drove the development of mechanized harvesting equipment that greatly increased the number of cod being taken from the sea. It never occurred to the cod industry that it was dealing with a limited supply of fish until that supply was depleted.
Cod presented a challenge to lawmakers who wanted to develop effective regulation of an international industry in a world that insisted on international waters being open to all nations. Precipitated by the regulation of cod, national waters were extended farther and farther from coastlines. National policies were challenged, economic, diplomatic and military as fishing vessels, coast guard cutters and naval warships skirted each other in the icy waters of the North Atlantic.
The issue is still in doubt. Can the cod be saved? Think about it when you order fish and chips.
Recipes for cod dishes - most of them unappetizing - are sprinkled throughout the book. The final chapter is a collection of recipes. Also throughout the book are many quotations relating to cod.
The style of the book is very readable. The first portion is a bare-bones history with the author's views being stated in an ex cathedra manner that makes the reader wonder whether the author has a solid basis for those views or whether the facts have been stretched to meet the predetermined theory of the text. His statements with respect to the Catholic Church are suspect. Moreover, the involvement of cod is often described without any mention of other more substantial factors, resulting in a myopic view of what happened. For example, the author gives the impression that the American Revolution centered on the cod-fishing industry of Massachusetts and that the War of 1812 was won by seamen who attained their skills as New England fishermen. The last half of the book is written in the style of newspaper reporting which, although undoubtedly accurate, is not as interesting as the ex cathedra statements that may not be correct but that grab your interest.
I liked it.
Intriguing look at the the history and influence of cod.......2007-07-08
_Cod_ by Mark Kurlansky is an intriguing look at the influence on history of the cod and the history and future of the cod fishery.
The Atlantic cod, _Gadus morhua_, had been fished as far back as the Middle Ages by the Vikings, who were the first to cure cod, preserving them by hanging the fish in the winter air until the fish lost four-fifths of its weight and "became a durable woodlike plank," which could be broken apart and eaten like hardtack (without which the epic Viking voyages to Iceland, Greenland, and the New World would not have been possible). Medieval Basque fishermen had salt (which the Vikings lacked), and were able to salt their cod before drying it, making it last much longer (aided by the fact that cod is close to fat-free) and producing a vital trade good for a truly international market, aided by the Catholic Church, which declared Fridays, the forty days of Lent, and various other religious holidays as "lean days," forbidding worshippers to eat most animal flesh other than fish. Basque fishermen ranged so far and wide in search of cod that they discovered the New World before Columbus and were encountered in large numbers in North American waters by such early explorers as Jacques Cartier.
The cod is "the perfect commercial fish;" it thrives in cold waters, will eat just about anything (including young cod), and is found in huge schools in shallow waters and close to shore. Its flesh, prized for its whiteness, has very high protein content (18%) and when dried becomes even more concentrated (almost 80%).
There is little to waste on a cod. The throat (called a tongue) and small disks of flesh to either side (referred to as cheeks) are very flavorful. The air bladder (commercially called a sound) has been rendered into isinglass, which was used to make some glues and clarifying agents (though in the past was often eaten fried or in chowders). Roe is eaten, as is the female gonads, a two-pronged organ called the britches. Icelanders and Scottish Highlanders made sausage-like concoctions out of cod stomachs. Tripe is eaten in the Mediterranean. The skin is either eaten or cured as leather. The British were "great cod-liver oil enthusiasts," using it as a remedy for many ailments. The remaining organs and bones were used as fertilizer (though until the 20th century Icelanders softened the bones in sour milk and ate them too). By the way a number of historic cod recipes are included.
Codfish include ten families with more than 200 species, nearly all of which live in cold salt water in the Northern Hemisphere, though there is one tropical species (the tiny bregmaceros, of no commercial importance), one South Atlantic species, and one freshwater type, the burbot (enjoyed by lake fishermen). To the commercial fishermen, there are but five kinds of gadiform fish, the Atlantic cod, haddock, pollock, whiting, and hake (and increasingly a sixth form, the Pacific cod). The Atlantic cod is the largest, has the whitest meat, and is generally but not always the most highly prized (Icelanders prefer haddock, as do Nova Scotians and those in northern England and Scotland). Cod though "is the prize," in demand for centuries as a cheap, long-lasting source of nutrition and now as an increasingly expensive delicacy.
The Pilgrims settled was then called North Virgina, hoping to make a profit from the cod fishery. Cod shaped the economies of both Newfoundland and New England, though quite differently. The Newfoundland economy was built around Europeans arriving, catching cod for a few months, and then taking the fish back to Europe, but New England, with its ice-free harbors, longer growing season, and arable land attracted far more settlers. Additionally, cod spawned off the coast of southern New England in the height of winter while in the summer in Newfoundland (which would conflict with any Newfoundland farming season). Cod built Boston, as it was a product Europe and European colonies wanted and something that gave the population money to spend on European goods. Eventually Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, lacking internal markets or population, became fishing outposts serviced by and servicing Boston. Salt cod merchants of New England saw a huge market in the Caribbean for their wares, as food for slaves on sugar plantations, enabling the sugar industry to thrive and further enriching New Englanders. So rich did this trade make the colonies that England worried they would no longer need the mother country and sought to reassert control starting with the Molasses Act in 1733 and eventually the hated Stamp Act, one of several things that lead to the American Revolution. One of the seeds for another war was sown thanks to disagreements among American delegates following the war, as Southerners complained that the interests of nine states were being sacrificed by the demands of fishing rights to British waters by the other four, creating one of the first North-South splits in the U.S.
The cod stood little chance against an ever improving fishing industry. Kurlansky covered the evolution of cod fishing, showing how each new innovation -long lining, gill nets, the otter trawl, the steam engine, innovations in freezing food, the advent of the factory ship - allowed for ever larger catches of cod to be landed and sold but also in the end doomed the fishery. Not only were too many fish caught, some of the new methods were quite destructive, as some of the huge trawl nets devastated the seafloor, leaving behind deserts, bereft of cover or animal life.
Many early attempts at conservation failed. Mesh size was tried, but once a net became filled with enough fish, few fish of any size can escape. Quotas were issued, eventually for individual ships, but that was of no help as fishermen would radio the shore to find what the fish were worth and if the market price was too low, would dump the fish - all already dead - and save their quota for another day.
This story is not fishy.......2007-06-11
As the son and brother of fishermen who in his teen years was sick and worked at sea on boats I enjoyed this story. It was recomended by a history teacher. There is a lot of history here. Good read.Lots of old recipes, some historical.
Amazon.com
Tom Lichtenheld knows plenty about monsters, and fortunately for 8-year-olds everywhere, he's willing to share his secrets in Everything I Know About Monsters, the sequel to Everything I Know About Pirates. Presented as a field guide of sorts, the instructive book begins with a diagram of a typical monster, with the usual characteristics from hopelessly bad hair to weird feet. The guide, which delves into monster psychology (very simple) as well as monster hygiene (very minimal), is divided up by type of monster such as: "Under-the-Bed Monsters" (lazy, eat dirty socks, scared by smiley-face night-lights), "Basement Monsters" (Sock Suckers, Ankle Fiends, Tool Ghouls), "Attic Monsters" ("sit around all day reading old National Geographic magazines that your parents are saving for no apparent reason"), and "Outside Monsters" (such as Big Foot "a Boy Scout gone bad" and Swamp Thang). A handy Monster Avoidance Chart may help kids get a good night's sleep.
Monsters are also discussed from a cultural perspective in sections such as "Man-Made Monsters" (Frankenstein, robots) and "TV and Movie Monsters:" "Lots of monsters audition for parts in monster movies, but they never get the parts because they're such lousy actors." Even space aliens, "not officially part of the monster kingdom," are given play, because they're "fun to draw." The Official Mad Scientist Monster Maker includes three columns of words that kids can mix and match to create a monster name, such as Creepy-Eared Knucklehead or Bat-Nosed Belcher. Lichtenheld's comical, color-rich illustrations capture Essence of Monster most gruesomely, and each double-page spread boils and bubbles with funny captions, cartoons, side jokes, and general silliness. And remember, "If you do see a monster don't overreact. It only encourages them." (Ages 6 to 10--not for kids who are still afraid of monsters!) --Karin Snelson
Book Description
Where did all these
monsters come from?
The closet, the basement, under the bed, the outhouse, even the school furnace room! But mostly, they came from a healthy imagination, just like yours!
Using a patented system of made-up facts and educated guesses, Everything I Know About Monsters reveals all the gory details about creatures of creepiness: what they eat (dirty socks), what's in their brains (not much), and how to scare them out of the basement (stand at the top of the stairs, bang pots and pans together, and yell very loudly).
So turn on all the lights in the house and get comfortable. You're about to learn so much about monsters, it's scary!
Customer Reviews:
Ear Wax Is Imagination Coming Out of Your Ears.......2007-01-12
My boys love this book. My boys are like most 4.5 year old boys filled with imagination. There are always monsters in our house usually about 5 years old and under 4 feet tall. The pictures and illustrations are hilariously funny. Even us parents have enjoyed this book. The boys love to make up monster names in the back of the book. This is a book that will be read for many years in this house. And yes if you are wondering everytime there is earwax coming out your ears your imagination must be running wild.
Great Kids Book.......2005-08-09
My son checked this book out from the library. They loved it so much we ended up buying it. It takes any childhood fears of monters away. The book is fun and silly for children and adults.
A boys book.......2003-04-26
My six year old thinks this book is great. I bought this and "Everything I know About Pirates" and he loves both.Recommended for boys aged 5-9.
Everything you need to know about Monsters!.......2003-04-10
This is just a plain FUN book!!! I loved it from beginning to end. I've got to get the one he did about Pirates now! The kids I've showed it to, loved it! The illustrations are well done and very funny. The text is hilarious!
FUN BOOK!.......2003-02-16
Both my 4 year old and 9 year old sons loved this book. The pictures are very funny and so is the story. I even enjoyed it!
Average customer rating:
- Simply The Most Uniquely Beautiful Work On This Subject!
- A truly beautiful pictorial look at the world's silk moths.
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Wings of Paradise: The Great Saturniid Moths
John Cody
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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Discovering Moths
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Caterpillars of Eastern North America: A Guide to Identification and Natural History (Princeton Field Guides)
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Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis
ASIN: 0807822868
Release Date: 1996-08-14 |
Book Description
The lovely saturniid moth, the most majestic of insects, also has one of the most poignant and romantic life stories: born without a mouth, a stomach, or any defensive mechanism beyond camouflage, each moth lives just a few days—long enough only to mate—and then it dies. Because the moths are nocturnal, and some species are endangered, many people will glimpse these beautiful creatures only through the paintings of John Cody, who has been called 'the Audubon of Moths.'
Cody has spent a lifetime studying and painting the Great Saturniids, also known as silkmoths. In pursuit of his avocation, Cody travels frequently to distant and exotic locales to collect cocoons and learn about the moths' native environments. He then brings specimens home; as the moths emerge from their cocoons, Cody has only a brief time to capture and record their distinctive coloration before they die.
Seventy-two of Cody's paintings of saturniids are included here, accompanied by his commentary on the moths' life cycles, habitats, and geographical range and on the circumstances of his finding and painting each moth. A foreword by Richard S. Peigler, curator of entomology and saturniid specialist at the Denver Museum of Natural History, provides scientific background on the Saturniidae.
Customer Reviews:
Simply The Most Uniquely Beautiful Work On This Subject!.......2002-03-25
When I first stumbled onto this impressive book in the store, I could not put it down! John Cody's paintings are masterful. They are full of the most delicate brilliant colors and light. Page after page features the loveliest images of these wonderful creatures from around the World. Attention to detail is second to none, his accurate and perceptive portrayals demonstrate an intimate knowledge of these ethereal insects in a spectacular fashion.
My brothers and I avidly collected these moths at night, in the rural North Carolina mountains. It was thrilling to see them dart around the street lamps like fiery jewels. Unfortunately, most books on this subject feature photos of pinned, faded samples. I've always felt it was a shame people couldn't experience their enchanting magic like we did. John Cody's book does that.
A truly beautiful pictorial look at the world's silk moths........1999-11-05
The paintings by John Cody are wonderfully realistic, lively portrayals of some of our most beautiful insects. The moths are not shown pinned but in flight or real poses with real and appropriate plants and flowers. A must for any admirer of Lepidoptera!
Customer Reviews:
It's always after they're gone..........2000-06-17
Jack was a friend of mine. I first saw him perform Thanksgiving night, 1979, up the stairs at the O-P Screen Room in lower Manhattan. He called it a Jungle Jack radio adventure and he read into a big old microphone from pages stored in a shoebox. He had a belly dancer whom he called Scheherezade Thompson read from Somerset Maughn's Rain. The audience was tiny and appreciative, but it went on for hours and hours. I felt privileged to be there, like I was watching the dust settle at the edge of eternity. This collection of essays about Jack is a necessity, because it can evoke his world, and it was a fascinating one. His humor and his eccentricity and his seriousness are all reflected in this collection. Today he is spoken of as a gay icon, but Jack did not regard his gayness as political. He was about glamor. I wish this book wasn't so expensive, because that will put off some of the folks who would benefit most from this. But it's worth it, folks. And, by the way, thanks a lot, Jack.
Customer Reviews:
Non Fiction.......2007-09-03
Outstanding look at new palaeontology and dinosaur work. Taking the various papers that Bakker wrote for scientific journals and converting them to a book that is slightly more understandable to the public. The basic premise is that dinosaurs were not cold-blooded lizards, but warmer blooded and quite fast at times. See Jurassic Park for an example of the theories in action. Really great work.
Bakker assumed everything before it was discovered, and now he's right..............2006-01-20
This book talks about new theories(at the time) of dinosaurs and their extinction, ranging from warm-bloodedness all the way to dinosaurs evolving into birds. There are five parts to this story.
Part I:The Conquering Cold-Bloods: A Conondum
Basically this part describes reptiles and their advantages/disadvantages when it comes to either cold blooded or warm blooded animals. It even compares mammals to reptiles. It talks about how cold blooded and warm blooded reptiles/mammals how active and how their eating habits are different. Also talks about dinosaurs if they were warm or cold blooded. Here is a short excerpt from this part. "Ornitholestes was an impressive little dinosaur, and even the diehard defenders of orthodoxy yield a little to admit that perhaps Ornitholestes and its kin might have had high metabolism. Such a concession, however, would lead to yet another incosistency in the theory of mass homeothermy. Big dinosaurs, all of them, evolved from small-dinosaur ancestors. The idea that little ancestors had high metabolism and their bigger descendants didn't, would be tantamount to arguing that evolution reversed itself"(Bakker 98).
Part II:The Habitat of the Dinosaurs
This section discusses dinosaurs with their habitat and how their diet/body features adapt to their environment. It discusses dinosaurs who helped use gastroliths for digestion. Also talks about the evolution of plants in relation to dinosaurs. Here is a short excerpt from this part. "Brontosaur teeth, moreover, confirm the heretical idea that they ate a tough vegetable diet. If the brontosaurs dined only on soft water plants, then very little wear would appear on their teeth. But infact the teeth of Camarasaurus, Brachiosaurus and their kin manifest very severe wear, which could only have been produced by tough or gritty food"(Bakker 136).
Part III:Defense, Locomotion, and the Case For Warm-Blooded Dinosaurs
The third section discusses the locomotion of dinosaurs in comparison to lizards,crocodiles,etc. Discusses dinosaur defense, like Triceratops' horns and the "boneheads" of the Pachycephalosaurs. Also talks about Pterosaurs. Discusses Archeaopteryx and it's feathers helping to support warm-bloodedness.
Here is a short excerpt from this part. "Anchisaurs' tails were stoutly muscled and they could easily have reared up, foreclaws at the ready, to face their enemies. Anchisaur hind claws, especially the one located on the large inner toe, could lash out with even more powerful blows than the foreclaws"(Bakker 256).
Part IV:The Warm-Blooded Metronome of Evolution
Talks about dinosaur sex, with threat displays of intimidation. Discusses growth in dinosaurs who were probably warm blooded. Talks about dinosaur lungs, heart, and large brains. Here is a short excerpt from this part.
"How can the dinosaurs' growth be measured? An accurate estimate can be derived from the texture of the fossil bone. A thin slice can be cut from a fossil-bone chip and glued to a glass plate"(Bakker 350).
Part V:Dynastic Frailty and the Pulses of Animal History
This final section discusses the Kazanian Revolution. During the Kazanian Revolution, warm blooded animals exploded in population. Discusses the dinosaur extinction and the animals who died along with them. Talks about the evolution of the Dinosauria and that they should be in their own class. Here is a short excerpt from this part. "A truly scientific skeptic would start assuming neither cold-bloodedness nor warm-bloodedness, and then reevaluate the evidence without prior terminological bias. So long as the DInosauria remain stuck in the class Reptilia, this type of analysis is impossible. Let dinosaurs be dinosaurs. Let the Dinosauria stand proudly alone, a Class by itself. They merit it"(Bakker 462).
Overall, this book is excellent. Bakker did all his own illustrations(which are very artistic) and even assumed dinosaurs were feathered even before they were discovered. Even though some of his theories may be outdated now, I still recommend this book to anyone. I read it back in seventh grade and it took me a while, but reading this book is surely worth the time!
Great book from a major player........2005-08-01
In the second half of the twentieth century the current thinking about dinosaurs completely changed, so that they are now accepted as warm blooded, vigorous alternatives to the mammals, and in fact the ancestors of birds (though not all that bright, whereas birds can be). Bakker was a major player in this change of views, and offers some fascinating anecdotes on how various experiences led to insights which permitted proper interpretation of the fossil evidence. The reader comes away not only with an understanding of the dinosaurs, but with many insights into evolution in general, and all the types of reasoning and analysis necessary to glean the truth from fossil evidence. Bakker has a lively style, giving detail without getting bogged down (well, I occasionally skimmed a bit, but that is because I have little interest in anatomy). There are many illustrations, but I was not always happy with them. Some illustrations serve as hand drawn alternatives to Power Point slides, and are very good. However, the drawings to illustrate anatomy were often not simplified enough for me to better understand the point. I do wish Bakker had speculated why, in the world of the dinosaurs, it was the mammals who apparently occupied all the really small ecological niches, comparable to current day mice and squirrels. Also, his final chapter on the demise of the dinosaurs was stimulating, but not as well thought out as the rest of the book. He points to the development of land bridges (as water levels dropped) which permitted worldwide migration of larger animals, and the consequent extinction of many species which could not compete, and also the spread of pathogens and parasites. Interesting, but competition would not eliminate all species, and no arguments are presented as to why small animals, e.g. mammals, would be more likely to survive than large animals (great numbers?). While this book was published in 1986, I read it based on Richard Dawkin's recent recommendation, and I do not believe it is outdated.
Dinosaurs the greatest evolutionary success story.......2005-03-25
Bob Bakker book describes so brilliantly why Dinosaurs were so successful and ruled the Earth for 150 million years. The Dinosaurs were so successful that mammals throughout this time never grew larger than 1 meter long and many were rat sized. If it wasn't for a giant asteroid that hit 65 million years ago, they would be still around and we would not.
Bakker in this book describes how the Dinosaur's warm blooded metabolism was integral to their success and how cold blooded animals like reptiles back then as now were limited. He also goes to show us how Dinosaurs were fast growing, dynamic animals that were constantly changing, how bird evolved from dinosauts and how dinosaurs were key the spread of flowering plants.
A book you must read before you die.
Astonishing dinosaurs.......2004-06-11
Incredibly compelling book about the possible evolution of velociraptors into birds.
Dinosaur Heresies goes beyond mere dinosaur evolution, however. As an enthusiastic gardener, I was bemused and delighted to learn of the powerful link between Cretaceous herbivorous dinosaurs and the rise of flowering plants, how it was BECAUSE of these saurian herbivores that we have flowering plants instead of a world of gymnosperms (aka pines, cycads, ginko, etc.).
It was a FUN read!
Average customer rating:
- Simply beautiful
- probably not on the bookstore shelf, but it should be
- Kiki Smith is the Neil Young of the art world
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All Creatures Great and Small (Gesellschaft, Geschichte, Gegenwart)
Carl Haenlein
Manufacturer: Scalo Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Modern | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Museum of Modern Art | Exhibition Catalogs | Museums | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Museums | Museums & Collections | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 3908247047 |
Amazon.com
American artist Kiki Smith first received international attention in the 1980s with her sculptures and drawings of the human body. Since the beginning of the 1990s, however, she has expanded her visual vocabulary to include works that portray the larger natural world and its phenomena, such as plants and animals, stars and planets. The daughter of minimalist artist Tony Smith, she has drawn a good deal of her inspiration from the techniques and materials of past epochs, especially from traditions within the decorative arts-and-crafts movements of various world cultures. She uses a wide variety of lush and often ephemeral materials to create her pieces--bronze, gold, silver, paper, wax, glass, felt, ceramics, video, and neon among them. And she combines figuration and abstraction to explore such themes as the vulnerability and reanimation of that which is lost or dead. Smith's pieces, which draw on fables, myths, fairy tales, dreams, and her own Catholic spirituality, evoke in viewers contemplation and a desire for greater perception. Kiki Smith: All Creatures Great and Small brings together works from different periods of Smith's production over the past two decades. At 140 pages, this small, elegant hardcover (approximately eight by six inches) includes 54 color reproductions and a poetic text by Carsten Ahrens. --A.C. Smith
Customer Reviews:
Simply beautiful.......2000-12-05
Kiki Smith's work may seem impossible to document in book form but this book does a terrific job of conveying the power and delicacy of her art. The reproductions are gorgeous, and the essay is extremely readable. A must for any contemporary art book collection!
probably not on the bookstore shelf, but it should be.......2000-02-19
This hardback is small for an art book (measures 6 in. wide by 8 in. long), but it is packed with full-color plates of Smith's work. The book seems to have been published in connection with an exhibition at the Kestner Gesellschaft in Germany. The plates include details and installation shots from what appears to have been a large and fairly comprehensive one-person show.
Smith's work is elegant and direct, wide-ranging in subject but closely related in meaning. In his essay, Carsten Ahrens states "Kiki Smith has ....continually hinted at the close proximity between art and the ideas of Catholicism, which are similar in their belief in the spiritual potential of the physical." Though I found most of the essay difficult to digest, I consider that statement a gem. To me, Smith's art is about the frail, feeling, physical world and the force of life itself.
The back of the book features a selection of Smith's iris prints. I was delighted to discover these, as I was unaware that Smith does work in photography. I think they are quite nice, and I am impressed that she is able to work in such a range of mediums.
Though I do not consider the book a substitute for a monograph, it is an excellent resource. One star deducted for photo quality--well-composed but occasionally fuzzy.
Kiki Smith is the Neil Young of the art world.......1999-11-01
Prolific and out on her own sense of self Kiki Smith is jaunting into areas both powerful and perplexing. She's not who you think she is.
Average customer rating:
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Science and Social Studies Fun Fact Card Collection (Flash Card Collection)
School Specialty Publishing
Manufacturer: School Specialty Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Cards
Nonfiction | Bugs & Spiders | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Nonfiction | Dinosaurs | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
Nonfiction | General | Animals | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | United States | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1588456641 |
Book Description
These flash card sets offer a full range of learning practice at the precise age levels when children need it most! Illustrated in bold, bright colors, the flash cards are based on School Specialty curriculum developed for classroom use. Each card features vibrant images to stimulate visual learning. Children can check the answers on the back of each card. Flash cards included in this collection:
• Animals
• Astronomy
• Dinosaurs
• Insects
• U.S. Presidents
• U.S. States
Books:
- Kingdom Come: The Final Victory: The Final Victory (Left Behind #13)
- Lady of Ch'iao Kuo: Warrior of the South, Southern China, A.D. 531 (The Royal Diaries)
- Letters From a Skeptic: A Son Wrestles with His Father's Questions about Christianity
- Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)
- Magic Item Compendium (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
- Malignant Self Love - Narcissism Revisited
- Mountain of Black Glass (Otherland, Volume 3)
- Never Suck A Dead Man's Hand: Curious Adventures of a CSI
- Nightwing: Brothers in Blood
- Off the King's Road: Lost and Found in London
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches That Changed the World, Special 75th Anniversary Edition
- Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis
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- The Spirit Taker
- Your First Year in Real Estate: Making the Transition from Total Novice to Successful Professional
- Chemistry of Transition Metal Carbides and Nitrides
- AIDS Conspiracy Theories: Tracking The Real Genocide
- The Male Nude: A Male View : An Anthology
- The University of Michigan: A Seasonal Portrait
- Who's Who In International Affairs 1998
The Burgess Bird Book for Children (Dover Science Books)
Fifty Famous Stories Retold (Yesterday's Classics)
Paddle-to-the-Sea (Sandpiper Books)
Handbook of Nature Study
James Herriot's Dog Stories: Warm And Wonderful Stories About The Animals Herriot Loves Best
