Customer Reviews:
A great find!.......2007-09-09
I was handed Pure Sea Glass:Discovering Nature's Vanishing Gems and asked to review it for an on line magazine I used to write for. Until then I had little or no interest in the bits of glass I occasionally picked up along the beaches visited in the course of my travels.
After reading the book,accomplished in one evening, I went looking for that jar of glass stashed somewhere in the garage and dumped it out on the table so that I could better sort through and identify the various colors and pieces, most new but some very old like a small lavendar triangle picked up along the Oregon Coast and a very dark blue from Hawaii.
Since, I've become an avid collector of beach glass and secret places to find it. What great fun! A good read, informative and totally satisfying.
Learning More About Sea Glass.......2007-08-10
Great book. The photographs were excellent and the information about the origin of sea glass and where it is most likely to appear on the beach was well presented. Our 14 year old enjoyed learning more about sea glass just as we did.
I plan to buy copies for all our coastal friends as house warming gifts this year.
Pure Sea Glass Book.......2007-08-06
I was pleased with the condition of the book when I received it. It was almost like new. Will certainly order more books.
A Real Joy To Read.......2007-06-02
Richard LaMotte did a wonder-filled job of putting together this informative and comprehensive book on sea glass. I honestly have enjoyed reading every page. I had no idea that there was so much history hidden in every piece of glass, and even though I have collected glass over the years, I never understood the relationship between winds and tides and the weather that deposits these beautiful little gems on our shores. Mr. LaMotte shares all this knowldege with such passion that reading his book not only feed my intellect but also inspired the beachcomber in me. And, the photographs are simply beautiful. Every image works to support as well as illustrate all the topics that are being discussed. The entire book is truly a piece of art in itself. I will read and re-read this book. It is a must for anyone and everyone who loves sea glass.
Comments on Pure Sea Glass..............2007-05-13
This book is lovely and interesting to read. It has fueled my passion for collecting more sea glass.
Book Description
How do you recover the past when it was never yours to lose?
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her beloved, widowed father, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiance, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall...until a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret about herself that changes the world as she knows it -- and threatens to jeopardize her future. With Vanishing Acts, Jodi Picoult explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how the people we've loved and trusted can suddenly change before our very eyes; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Picoult handles an astonishing and timely topic with under-standing, insight, and compassion.
Download Description
"New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult is widely acclaimed for her ability to tap into the hearts and minds of real people. Now she explores what happens when a young woman's past -- a past she didn't even know she had -- catches up to her just in time to threaten her future. Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes the world as she knows it. In shock and confusion, Delia must sift through the truth -- even when it jeopardizes her life and the lives of those she loves. What happens when you learn you are not who you thought you were? When the people you've loved and trusted suddenly change before your eyes? When getting your deepest wish means giving up what you've always taken for granted? Vanishing Acts explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how doing the right thing could mean doing the wrong thing; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat. Once again, Jodi Picoult handles a difficult and timely topic with understanding, insight, and compassion. "
Customer Reviews:
Good story with lackluster filler pages.......2007-10-06
The story of this book is really interesting. However, I felt it was much longer than it needed to be. It seemed like the author had a really hard time figuring out her characters and what actions she wanted them to take. As much as I was supposed to sympathize with Delia, the main character, I felt that it was written rather "blah," in my opinion, and therefore, had a hard time relating or even getting to know her.
Other things I found to be wrong with the book (SPOILERS!):
1. All the scenes with Andrew in the prison were totally unnecessary, in my opinion. I know the author was trying to convey certain messages about the person Andrew was/was becoming by the choices he made, but they could have been condensed down a lot further. There were other areas in the novel that were way too long-winded, like the author wanted to hear herself talk through these characters. Ruthann was cool, but a little unnecessary as well.
2. Andrew in the end: Why did the author decide to tell Delia through Andrew that he really had no idea if she was being sexually abused by Victor? Why tell us this in the very end? It was extremely out of place and out of character for Andrew. Again, the author didn't seem to want to make choices about her characters and so decided to over-complicate them.
3. Delia and Fitz - I don't think they should have ended up together. Why illustrate so beautifully how Delia and Eric need each other and their connection only for them to break up and Delia end up with Fitz. She never loved him and never will. I'm usually all for "Un-storybook endings" because that's just life, but this was also very out-of-place for me as well.
Bottom line: The book is long at just over 400 pages, and it really didn't need to be at all. It's extremely boring at times, and overall, the side-stories were lackluster. However, if you devour books quickly like I do, then you may want to fit this one in because the story is awfully intriguing.
Whoa!.......2007-09-26
Delia has endured the surprise of her life after she finds out about her father and what he has done. She also starts to realize what kind of mother she wants to be. With all the discoveries that she makes around the time she found out about what her father did, she comes to a realization about the relationship she is in with Eric, her husband. This story walks you through the bumps of the road that Delia travels down in the hardships of her life.
This book is really bad. .......2007-09-20
Don't waste your money. It is the worst book I have read in a long time.
My first Picoult.......2007-09-01
It has been a long time since a book made me cry. This book made me cry 3 times. It is a good read.
Let's just say I'm glad this wasn't my first Picoult.......2007-08-11
After trudging through the first 260 pages I had to stop reading. I didn't think I could stand another 150 pages of it, especially when she has many others that are a lot better.
I'm not sure what, exactly, bothered me so much. More of a combination of things, really. The font changes from character to character, every scene that Ruthann was in, maybe even the entire plot. Once they got to Arizona, I felt it got worse. If there had been less Ruthann, less Southwest, and maybe more of the legal aspects, I would have enjoyed it more. Then again...maybe that's exactly what happens in the next 150 pages.
Book Description
Are the "culture wars" over? When did they begin? What is their relationship to gender struggle and the dynamics of class? In her first full treatment of postcolonial studies, a field that she helped define, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, one of the world's foremost literary theorists, poses these questions from within the postcolonial enclave.
"We cannot merely continue to act out the part of Caliban," Spivak writes; and her book is an attempt to understand and describe a more responsible role for the postcolonial critic. A Critique of Postcolonial Reason tracks the figure of the "native informant" through various cultural practices--philosophy, history, literature--to suggest that it emerges as the metropolitan hybrid. The book addresses feminists, philosophers, critics, and interventionist intellectuals, as they unite and divide. It ranges from Kant's analytic of the sublime to child labor in Bangladesh. Throughout, the notion of a Third World interloper as the pure victim of a colonialist oppressor emerges as sharply suspect: the mud we sling at certain seemingly overbearing ancestors such as Marx and Kant may be the very ground we stand on.
A major critical work, Spivak's book redefines and repositions the postcolonial critic, leading her through transnational cultural studies into considerations of globality.
Customer Reviews:
The irony.......2007-06-26
I must admit, I did not read the entire book. But it is not because I didn't try.
Spivak is a close associate of Judith Butler, and this text demonstrates the connect -- no person lacking a very specific culural and feminist education can read it.
This is the irony of such texts. Spivak cleary seeks to empower women and individuals of color oppressed by Western hegemony -- ttself a jargon phrase-- yet no one she seeks to liberate could remotely understand her text. Nor could many scholars like myself, who seek to learn from her infinite wisdom.
At some point, I would hope that scholars like Spivak would take a page from the Lawrence Grossbergs of the world and begin to write in more accessible language
To do so is not anti-intelectual -- it is indeed an attempt to ADVANCE scholarship.
A question?.......2006-08-26
how now? a book written about the marginal, the "strung-out", decentered, in a stile one needs a very very expensive education to comprehend? on what side of the pasture are you on?
isnt the appropriation of time one of the nastiest things the elect have done to us? how much time does one have, can have, if one isn't "allowed" to sit in her classes, to have her hand on one's papers, when one has to work, to commute to work, to spend eight hours or more there six days a week?
how does a radical expect the inert to energize when the centrifuge of "modern academia" has separated all the key components of "interaction"?
i want answers.
A landmark..........2006-04-10
As you can already tell by the comments, there is a "clash of cultures" in the academy. It's between:
* People who think philosophy's job is to expand ideas and challenge, versus those who think it should make the present seem more comfortable and make you nod your head in recognition.
* Those who think that gender is relatively unimportant and that work stands for itself; versus those who believe that "to introduce the question of woman changes everything".
* Those who believe that the canon of Western philosophy is adequate to describe the world, and those who believe it has never described the world because it never took the time to understand those that never lived in "the west"
* Those who believe the work of the intellectual should be to outline a philosophy of life to be taken up by others, versus those who believe that it is sometimes "more productive to sabotage what is inexorably to hand than to outline a novel concept that will never seriously be tested".
You get the idea. If you are in the first category of these tensions then there's no point you reading this book. It will confirm all your prejudices.
If the second half of the statements above sounds more like you, then you probably already know this book. But in case you "haven't quite got to it yet", as I hadn't for a while, I can say that this is a book that will reward many detailed readings. It's breadth and depth is breathtaking in an era where the very real problems of generalisation raised by gender/race/colonial analysis have caused many to back away from theorising world systems. As Spivak carefully shows, these systems ("the financialsiation of the globe" - who among the critics could elaborate with such detail on the distinctive impact of informational capital on the rural?) are very much in operation and urgently need to be thought - but never at the expense of forgetting those whose labour is appropriated by those systems. For all the dense theoretical language in the text, Spivak is obviously in a discussion with, for example, the indigenous activist, unlike many of her critics, who complain about her language yet never demonstrate their engagement with e.g. the rural poor.
Let's talk about the language. Yes, it's intimidating. It's philosophy! She's a professional philosopher, that's her job! If you're going to understand the insights of a physicist you'd have to prepare yourself by doing a lot of reading (and experimenting). If you were going to understand a physicist who was pushing the boundaries of the discipline you are probably going to have to be a physicist yourself or be very, very, very interested in the field. As it should be - if I understood what physicists were really doing I'd be worried, given that they study for so long and get all that research money for labs when maybe I could do this in my garage. Despite 15 years of reading social theory (not all the time - I'm not an academic at the moment) I struggled heavily through the first chapter of this book on Kant and Hegel (I know some Hegel, only a little Kant). I'd read two pages and think "I'm not sure I get that, but I'll read it again tomorrow and move on to the next bit anyway." If you're a feminist philosopher I'm sure you'd be going much easier. But the point is, I didn't take it as a reason not to read it - it was a challenge for me to expand my understanding about stuff I thought I knew (e.g., Marx), that she has obviously thought a lot more about than me.
When it got to some things I do know something about (e.g. colonial rhetoric, technology and development), her insights were both revelatory and in accord with my experience at the same time. Anyone with a philosophical bent who has experience in the development field will be troubled by the very convincing case Spivak makes in chapter 4 for development as an instantiation of imperialism. As someone who reads the relevant journals from time to time I have yet to hear anyone with expertise in philosophy and cultural studies outline why Spivak doesn't know what she is talking about, as the Terry Eagleton fan suggets. She does all too well, in a way that intimidates those who made a living pretending they had the answers.
Spivak obviously knows that she's good and the suffer-no-fools tone - some have described it as elitist - might be irritiating for some. I prefer to see it as a persistent frustration with the limitations of language, and an attempt to convey that to the reader. This is not "bad writing". It is very carefully crafted (there are some fantastic, pithy sentences at times) to destabilise the assumptions she knows readers are going to make about the work. If you want to read someone who'll make it all easy, try Andrew Ross (one of my favourite authors, but completely different methodology as befits an American Studies prof).
If you've never read Spivak and aren't completely at home in philosophy and theory, this might not be the place to start. Maybe begin with Landry & Maclean's Spivak Reader and any of her interviews (there's a great one from the journal Signs which is available online). Outside in the Teaching Machinemight be easier after that. But if you are looking for big, challenging ideas that will shift your world-view, this will do it.
As you can tell, I love this book. I think it's a landmark work from someone who is trying to think the world with knowledge and experience of places that previously well-known "world thinkers" never had. It attempts to bring an incredible range of examples and texts into productive conversation. It kind of depresses me because I know I could never write it, yet even by reading it I am no longer as comfortable in subconscious generalisations that Euro-US culture relies on, and that this distances me from some ideas and people. But it has also sharpened my sense of what is important, of where I can make a difference, of what writing can do inside and outside of the academy. It's a great gift if you're prepared to receive it.
This book demands & rewards patience & receptivity to others.......2005-06-08
The indignant and arrogant demands for ease of understanding expressed by so many reviewers here exemplify the passive, anti-intellectual customer service-based epistemology that Spivak educates us against and that drives todays globalizing and enslaving culture. Her book is profound and urgent.
music from under the floorboards.......2002-01-27
Spivak works in the interstices to tease out what has been left out in ideas, in cultures, in histories, in language.
Many people apparently are maddened by her methods because there is no easy "method" to be extracted from her work. Her style is an antithesis to traditional "methods". The only real tool a theorist or critic has is intelligence and that quality is not easily described and perhaps not directly transmittable, especially when the kind of intelligence in question has no precedent and must thus inscribe itself into the language for the first time.
Book Description
Jack Bauer is in Nicaragua to recover stolen military secrets and track down a CTU agent with Colombian assassins hot on his trail, but the killers are one step ahead of him and Jack's comrade is shot down in a hail of bullets right in front of his eyes.
Back stateside Jack must find the out who is leaking all the top–secret military technology, but to do it he must go under cover and wage war against an army of ruthless cartel killers out for revenge and a shadowy Chinese agent who can play the espionage game as well as anyone. To win he'll have to go undercover in Las Vegas, infiltrate Area 51, turn back an all out assault on the Groom Lake military facility and face his past life as a Delta Force assassin in Central America.
Each book in this new series will follow the show's trademark "24" hour format. Our goal is to make them such fast–paced, compelling reads, fans will be tempted to devour them in 24 hours or less!
As prequel novels they will be set in the early days of CTU where terrorist threats loomed large but were nevertheless fought without the kind of inter–agency cooperation the unit enjoys now, raising the stakes for Jack and showing us how he became such a lone wolf in the first place. We'll not only see how Jack's skilled were honed on these dangerous missions, we'll also encounter many of Jack's friends and enemies, providing fans with a history of how key players got to where they are in the elaborate hierarchy of 24. True to the show, Washington politics and policy serve as a background for the stories and intrigues with politicians, lobbyists, and powerful officials cross into the narrative.
This series will give the show's die–hard devotees an opportunity to enjoy 24 during the off–season. As a special added feature for fans, the back of each book will feature a chapter of Jack's 'training manual ' or documents from his briefing files containing accurate information about weapons, equipment, elite military units, and techniques used by special ops units and some of Jack's most effective, albeit unorthodox, tactics.
Customer Reviews:
Good 24 Story.......2007-08-09
A mole inside America's top-secret advanced military testing ground (Nevada's Groom Lake Air Force Base) has been leaking highly advanced killing technology to America's worst enemies . . . who intends to turn its destructive power on an unsuspecting nation before the day is out. Agent Jack Bauer must go undercover with his team in nearby Las Vegas in order to catch the mole and his associates, and stop the deadly endgame from coming to pass.
Curtis Manning: "There's only one road in or out of there. The bad guys are sure to be guarding it."
Jack Bauer: "Then it's simple, don't use the road."
Good read! Jack and Tony Together Again!.......2007-08-04
If you want to see Jack Bauer undercover, playing the role of a *bad dude* in order to catch *really* bad dudes, then don't miss this book. I thought it was a great read.
After an *explosive!* prologue (yes, this is a pun) set in Central America, Jack discovers that terrorists are buying up high-tech secrets that could help them do damage to America and its populace.
CTU plants Jack undercover in Las Vegas. He takes on the persona of an actual gangster (one who is now in custody). Jack builds up a plausible rep as a bad guy managing a casino. A high-tech device had been found on a gambler in this very casino. The dude was using it to cheat the machines--but after he was arrested and let out on bail, he was shot execution style before CTU could quesiton him. In other words, the guy had bought the technology from someone--someone who didn't want him alive to talk about it.
Now Jack and others on his CTU team are watching and waiting for more stolen technology to surface. Meanwhile, Tony is planted undercover, too, but not in Vegas. He's placed nearby in Groom Lake's Air Force Base (Area 51) as a "new member" of the civilian research team. He does his best to appear geeky and non-threatening as he tracks down who on the team has been selling secrets.
During the same time period, David Palmer arrives in Vegas for a splashy international conference, looking for supporters in his bid for the presidency. Hiw wife Sherry is with him and *Lady Mac* is as cunning and sly as ever, too. When David Palmer is brought to Groom Lake to observe the testing of new high-tech bio weapons, his wife makes what she thinks is an innocent deal for a campaign contribution with a diplomat from China. She's going to give him info about the testing that David is witnessing in exchange for big bucks. (Of course, David has no idea his wife is making this deal!)
And the deal is far from innocent. The Chinese diplomat has more on his mind than contributing to David Palmer's presidential run. He has his eye on that secret technology being tested.
By the end of the book, these subplots all come together. It's worthy of an entire 24 season--but in just one book. Vanishing Point also reminded me of the earlier, better-written 24 seasons. It makes Tony Almeida and other CTU members as important to the story as Jack Bauer (who plays a big role, too, don't get me wrong). But I appreciated reading Tony especially because when the TV show killed him, they killed a great character.
This Man Can Write.......2007-08-02
Putting Jack and his CTU co-stars undercover at a casino in Las Vegas was a risky choice for this 24 novel, but it paid off. Frankly, I applaud this writer for trying something different. Vanishing Point has lots of twists and turns, high-wire threats and violent action, and I enjoyed it.
As the number of 24 seasons and books mount up, repeat scenarios are a huge issue. The TV show is definitely getting repetitive, leaning into formula plotting and similar types of Jack Bauer scenes. An unimaginative or lazy novelist could've spewed out more of same. But Vanishing Point doesn't. It's not formula. It's not predictable. And it gives well-written storylines to an ensemble of 24 characters that we've become attached to over the years, not just Jack!
For instance, I appreciated seeing David Palmer again. In Vanishing Point, he's portrayed with the kind of strength and dignity that makes me miss him all the more now that he's been killed off the television show. Sherry's in this book, too, and up to her highly entertaining tricks. Tony and Curtis are also given important roles. Miles O'Brien, who we learned had been at CTU long ago before returning to the Unit in Season 6, is actually quite amusing in his Vanishing Point role.
I noticed one reviewer of this book had a problem with Jack's going undercover for a long period of time. But if you're a fan of the earlier "Days" of the series, then you know that Jack did exactly that in Latin America in order to bust the Salazars for bio-terrorism (that background is in Day 3, an excellent season to watch, either in syndication or on DVD 24 - Season Three)
Jack even carried on an affair during the course of that lengthy undercover work in Latin America, while still married to Teri Bauer. So some of the things that Jack does in Vanishing Point (his affair with Stella) are right in line with what Jack has done in his past on the TV show, and I found it very very entertaining to see Jack Bauer in this nefarious bad-a** undercover role in Vanishing Point.
All in all, I agree with the other positive reviews of this novel. It's a good, fresh 24 tale, and I recommend it for any fan of the TV series 24, especially the earlier "Days" of the series.
24 DECLASSIFIED: VANISHING POINT.......2007-07-13
AS A 24 HOUR TV SHOW FANACTIC IT'S GOOD TO HAVE THE BOOKS TO READ WHEN THE SHOW IS NOT ON. THE BOOK HOLDS YOUR INTEREST AND JACK IS TERRIFIC.
LOOKING FORWARD TO READING MORE 24 BOOKS.
Please... Spare Me.......2007-06-29
I love Jack Bauer, and I love most of the declassified novels. But this one really stunk to high heaven.
There were certain parts I liked... Sherry Palmer up to her usual dirty tricks and David Palmer standing up for his beliefs. But to buy this story you have to swallow Jack being undercover for 3 months away from Kim and Teri and having a dirty little affair as a part of it. It left a bad taste in my mouth. Plus, there is no way Morris O'Brien should have been part of the plot. It blew canon script out of the water. There are much better 24 Declassified Novels.
Amazon.com
In Hide Your Assets and Disappear, a master gumshoe gives some straight information about how to cover your trail and protect your money from the government and creditors. Edmund J. Pankau, a writer and acclaimed private investigator, believes that individual rights, privacy, and benefits are slowly eroding in the United States, but that there are ways--legal and illegal--to beat the authorities. "The choice is yours to make," writes Pankau, "Don't be the one that someday says, 'I wish I could have done that.'"
Pankau despises domestic tax laws. He urges people to hire a good attorney to help plan a move offshore to a sunny clime with low taxes, bank-privacy rules, and simpler, cheaper living. He recommends New Zealand, Belize, Costa Rica, and Honduras, where the island of Roatan is his own personal hideaway. And for those who truly need to disappear, Pankau explains how amazingly easy it is to obtain a second or third passport, become a new person or stage a phony death.
Pankau is also a powerful advocate for asset-protection planning. The book features some nifty moves to block creditors with bankruptcy laws. There are also methods to maximize state and federal tax exemptions and maneuvers to shield a personal residence, real estate, stocks, or pension accounts from taxes and potential creditors or lawsuits.
The book is for hard-core freedom seekers. It's also recommended for people interested in more conventional techniques for protecting money, property, and other valuables. --Dan Ring
Book Description
A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller!
Are you tired of the way you're living? Are you fed up with everyone trying to take your most valuable possessions--your money and assets--away? Are you sick of having creditors, the IRS, or a vindictive ex-spouse nipping at your heels? If only you could disappear without a trace...if only you could resurface in some exotic foreign place with a whole new identity and a brand-spanking new life.
And on the other side, how would you like to track down that ex (and his assets) who owes you money? Want to know his tricks?
For most people, this is just a fantasy. But it doesn't have to be. In Hide Your Assets and Disappear, one of the nation's top-ten-rated private investigators, Edmund J. Pankau, reveals all the tricks of his trade to show you how to hide it all or find someone who has. An experienced tracker who has worked for the government to recover missing assets, Pankau explains step-by-step how to successfully get away or find someone who has.
Filled with vivid real-life stories of both successes and failures as well as an Internet research guide, this invaluable guide outlines exactly what you should know before you go, including the ever-increasing difficulties you will face as the world becomes more tightly linked through electronic networks. Pankau shows you how to pay attention to prevent slip-ups that can give you away, from birthday phone calls to magazine subscriptions to an off-the-cuff comment to a stranger. He prepares you logistically and psychologically to successfully make the transition to your new life and new self in a new world, and gives you the best information on how to go, where to go, how to live, how to behave, and even who to become once you get there.
Should I keep my assets here or move them abroad? How do I create a new identity? How do I stay lost? Can I ever go back? How can I avoid anyone who might be looking for me? And how can I find someone who's disappeared on me? How do people fake their own deaths? What can the government do to catch a concealer? Pankau has the answer for all these questions and many more, and provides the tiny, often overlooked details that can make the difference between lounging on a tropical beach or ending up on the wrong side of the law.
Whether you're in search of a new life or someone who has hidden their assets and disappeared and left you in the lurch, listen to Edmund J. Pankau. With his unique, entertaining, eye-opening guide, he shows you how to go from victim to victor.
Thinking of disappearing without a trace? Want to find someone who has? Consider these questions...
Which is the better place to go, New Zealand or Panama?
How much cash you can legally take out of the country?
What are the hot spots the Customs Department targets as suspicious entrance points?
What is FinCEN and how can it ruin your plans?
Where is it better to keep money, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, or Switzerland?
Should you seek out the expatriates in your new country or lay low?
What should you do if someone recognizes you in your new home?
What happens if you get sick abroad?
Customer Reviews:
Hide Your Assets and disappear.......2007-09-24
Great book, had lots of useful insights. Book arrived in a timely manner and in condition promised.
Dated and not practical for privacy.......2007-01-31
I have read a number of privacy books and this one is not a great read.
Dated and not practical.
Didnt tell me anything.......2007-01-05
Gave alot of ideas on what you should do, but no real advice on how to do it
Utterly useless.......2006-08-23
Before 9/11, this was already a joke among people interested in protecting their privacy and assets (e.g., from litigious lawyers). After 9/11, none of the stuff mentioned in this worthless book even remotely works. BTW, the other reviewers are right: he doesn't really tell you *how* to do things anyway!
Don't waste your money.......2005-10-08
This book is for more affluent folks who already have access to this type of information. Outdated, sexist, even insulting to those who believe in paying their fair share. If you are a regular middle class or working class person who is fed up with paying through the nose to make everyone else richer, you are on the right path but this is NOT the book for you.
Book Description
The worlds preeminent nature photographer creates magical images of wildlife in camouflage. In this astonishing new book, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of natures most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects relying on deception, disguises, lures, and decoys to disappear into their surroundings and so confuse the eye of the predator. In a world where nothing is as it appears to be, a lion blends into the tall grass in the late afternoon sun, a harp seal disappears against his snowy backdrop. Pastel orchids can suddenly morph into predatory praying mantises; lizard heads become tails. What at first appears to be a torn and decomposing leaf on a forest floor in Peru suddenly sprouts legs and starts walking: it is a leaf-mimic katydid. Spotting each hidden animal amid Wolfes clever compositions is both a fun and informative game. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary brilliance of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world.
Customer Reviews:
The Best!.......2007-06-05
This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.
Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.
It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.
Buy this book!
Fantastic nature photographs..........2007-03-09
A mezmerizing coffee table book. It's almost a puzzle to find the incredible creatures in the photos that have natural camouflage. Large format views with lots of detail. A nature lover's must-have.
Astonishing Vanishing Act.......2007-01-27
This photography/nature/evolution/puzzle book was simply astonishing. Everyone I've shown it to, from 8-80, has been both amazed by the photographs and thoroughly enjoyed reviewing it. When I brought it to work, a common response was, "Very cool ... Can I borrow this book overnight to show my husband/wife?" I need to e-mail Art Wolfe to ask him if I could represent him on his next creative effort. That way his work will achieve wider distribution and recognition.
Beautiful Book.......2007-01-22
I saw this book at a store and had to sit down in the store and look at it page by page and since it was a $50.00 book, had to race home and buy it on Amazon. It is a BEAUTIFUL book. If you love animals and nature in general, this book is awe inspiring. I bought it for my family. It shows the miraculous strategy of camaflage in nature. It is fun to see if you can find the animals in their natural settings. There are descriptive text and fingernail pictures in the back of the book to tell you where the animal is in the picture if you weren't able to spot it and a paragraph or two about the animal in general. It is a great coffee table book for guests to look through while they are waiting.
Vanishing Act - an entirely natural puzzle.......2007-01-09
This is a coffee table book with a twist - as you peruse the photographs the animals gradually or quickly appear out of their natural background - exactly the way they are sighted in the wild and giving you exactly the same thrill of discovery. Anyone curious about the natural world from young kids to expert biologists can enjoy it because, while it's a game, it's a very primal game.
Book Description
Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson return in another fast-paced, action-packed sports mystery from bestselling sports writer John Feinstein.
The two hopeful sports reporters have kept in touch after their wild time at the Final Four, and when Susan Carol manages to score a press pass to cover the first week of the US Open Tennis Tournament in New York, Stevie works out a way to be there as well.
The behind-the-scenes action in the world of professional tennis is overwhelming and occasionally bewildering, but it turns downright inconceivable when a young Russian phenom, Natalia Makarova, disappears right before her second-round match. Somewhere between the locker rooms and the Louis Armstrong Court, one of the most-watched players of the tournament simply vanishes.
The media coverage is staggering. Everyone is looking for Natalia--including Stevie and Susan Carol. Was she kidnapped? Did she run? Is she even still alive? The rumors are growing wilder by the hour. But they don't even come close to the shocking truth...
Customer Reviews:
A Readers Review .......2007-01-18
The best book I read this year was Vanishing Act by John Feinstein.
The main characters are Susan Carol and Stevie Thomas who become kid reporters when they win a National Writing Contest. Susan Carol is a 14 year old from South Carolina and is a sports fanatic who seems to know everything about everyone. Stevie is a 13 year old from Philadelphia and plays basketball.
In this story they are sent to cover the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament with a friend reporter, Bobby Kheller. While they are waiting for a match to begin one of the players is kidnapped. When Susan and Stevie dig a little deeper they find that it was all staged to make a movie deal. They must stop the plot before it is too late.
This all takes place in New York City in modern day times.
The themes for this story are Bravery- for continuing the case after being threatened to stop their investigation. Friendship- for when Susan and Stevie stuck together to solve the case. Finally Money- because if the crooks got away with it the movie deal would give them 21.5 million dollars and more if the movie did well.
I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone. I loved it because it included mystery, sports and it was a pleasure to read. This book keeps you guessing and leaves you wanting more.
Vanishing Act by John Feinstein.......2007-01-14
In Vanishing Act by John Feinstein, the main characters, Steve Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson, both have a deep love of sports and are sports reporters.
When Nadia Symanova, a tennis player, vanishes at the US Open Tennis Tournament, Steve and Susan Carol try to unravel the mystery. Has she been kidnapped because someone wants her to stay a Russian citizen and not become an American? Did she run away? The FBI, media and Steve and Susan Carol all try to find Nadia.
The story is written in current time in New York City at the U.S. Open Tennis Tournament.
The themes of the story are bravery, sacrifice, sports and hope. The moral of the story would be to always work together.
I loved the story because it's sports related and it shows the meaning of friendship. Steve and Susan Carol's actions in this book, where they save each other, help each other out on their stories and always work together is a great example of what I would want from a best friend. This story is the sequel to the story Last Shot. If you love this book, you will love Last Shot almost as much.
A fun and fast-paced story.......2007-01-13
Stevie Thomas and Susan Carol Anderson got their "fifteen minutes of fame" after helping to unravel the Final Four mystery involving the blackmailing of Minnesota State University's star player, Chip Graber. Remaining good friends, they keep in touch over email and IM all the time. When Susan Carol tells Stevie she'll be covering the U.S. Open for her local sports paper, she convinces Stevie to come along. Stevie contacts Bobby Kelleher, the Washington Herald columnist who mentored them during the Final Four, and sure enough Kelleher has a job for Stevie too. They're off to New York City, but little do they know what they'll have in store for themselves.
Right before her anticipated first game, young Russian phenom Nadia Makarova goes missing and immediately Stevie and Susan Carol find themselves trying to unfold another mystery. And yet again, there are a lot of unanswered questions. Who are Nadia Makarova's kidnappers? Why does Susan Carol's agent uncle, Brendan Gibson, seem like he's right in the middle of this? Plus, what does this mean for up-and-coming new U.S. tennis star Evelyn Rubin, who is smashing her way through games and scheduled to play Makarova?
VANISHING ACT is John Feinstein's follow-up to the New York Times bestseller, LAST SHOT. The author, a political and sports reporter for the Washington Post as well as Sports Illustrated and National Sports Daily, has written many bestselling sports-related books. In his second effort Feinstein continues to succeed, mixing real-life sports personalities like Bud Collins and Andy Roddick into the fictional world. Feinstein also reveals a behind-the-scenes look at sports agents that doesn't portray them in a very good light.
Like his previous effort, VANISHING ACT provides an almost nonfiction-like look into the professional tennis world and the U.S. Open while mixing elements of a fiction mystery novel. Readers will be happy to see the return of Stevie and Susan Carol, who have clearly grown as friends. (And Stevie's constant eating of hamburgers and pizza in an effort to grow taller is pretty humorous too.) VANISHING ACT is a fast-paced story that whizzes by like a powerful serve. It's a fun read for anyone interested in tennis or mysteries, or both.
--- Reviewed by Kristi Olson
A satisfying mystery evolves........2006-12-10
John Feinstein's VANISHING ACT is set in new York City, where a hundred athletes are competing for millions in prizes - and where a kidnapping changes the nature of the game. Everyone's looking for Nadia - but two eighth-grade rookies have the best chance of finding her - if they're in time. A satisfying mystery evolves.
Get ready to miss the school bus --it's that good!.......2006-09-05
My 11 year old almost missed the school bus this morning because he just had to finish this book. If you have a son that likes sports books, this is a sure bet. My son kept saying, "This is awesome!" and "I hope there's a sequel." all the way through.
Book Description
Though Seattle is still a young city, growing and changing, much of its short past is already lost-but not forgotten. Generations of Seattleites have fond memories of restaurants, local television shows, stores, and other landmarks that evoke a less sophisticated, more informal city. This new book explores Seattle at a time when timber and fish were more lucrative than airplanes and computers, when the city was a place of kitschy architecture and homespun humor and was full of boundless hope for a brighter future. These rare and vintage images hearken back to the marvels of the 1962 World's Fair, shopping trips to Frederick & Nelson and I. Magnin, dinners at Rosellini's, dancing at the Trianon Ballroom, traveling on the ferry Kalakala, rooting for baseball's Rainiers, and local personalities including Stan Boreson, J. P. Patches, and Wunda Wunda.
Customer Reviews:
Seattle & some famous landmarks that are no more.......2007-07-03
I own several of these IMAGES OF AMERICA books and I'm never disappointed.
This particular (picture) book is about Seattle in the past, and shows photos of some past landmarks that helped to create Seattle.
As the book's title stated, this book is about the "Vanishing Seattle", because all the landmarks are no more.
If you grew-up in Seattle, as I did, you will love to look through this book and reflect on some of the famous landmarks that were so wonderful to visit, but that are now extinct.
Vanishing Seattle.......2007-03-11
Great book about the city where I was born in 1943. So I could totally relate to the vanishing aspect of the city.
Great little book.......2007-02-18
This is a book I leave out for the enjoyment of my tax clients. It always evokes a memory and a good story.
Vanishing Seattle.......2007-02-17
A must for those who grew up in the Seattle area. My husband, who did not grow up in the region, also enjoyed it.
Book Description
In the latest installment in this critically acclaimed series, Sharon McCone is hired to investigate one of San Luis Obispo County's most puzzling cold cases. A generation ago, Laurel Greenwood, a housewife and artist, inexplicably vanished, leaving her young daughter alone. Now, new evidence suggests that the missing woman may have led a strange double life. But before McCone can penetrate the tangled mystery, she must first solve a second disappearance--that of her client, the now grown daughter of Laurel Greenwood. The case, which forces Sharon to explore the darker sides of two marriages, comes uncomfortably close on the heels of her own marriage to Hy Ripinsky, and she begins to doubt the wisdom of her impulsive trip to the Reno wedding chapel.
Customer Reviews:
Vanishing Point.......2007-09-24
"Vanishing Point" is the 24th Sharon McCone novel by Marcia Muller. Rae Kelleher, one of Sharon's former operatives who is also married to country music star Ricky Savage, asks her to take a case for Jennifer Aldin whose mother Laurel Greenwood disappeared 22 years ago. Laurel Greenwood is presumed dead although no body was ever found and Jennifer wants closure. Jennifer's younger sister Terry doesn't want her to find out what happened to Laurel. As Sharon investigates she uncovers some family secrets and an attempted murder. Did Laurel Greenwood die? Is she still living and if so where is she? Sharon with the help of Patrick, one of her newer operatives, gets to the bottom of the case. This novel kept me turning pages and long time readers of this series will enjoy this entry into the Sharon McCone series. This novel is highly recommended.
Muller never disappoints.......2007-09-15
I've read all the Sharon McCone books over the years. Muller's stories are terrific and I've enjoyed watching Sharon grow and develop. I always look forward to the next one.
Still the Best.......2007-07-06
All these years later, there's still no one who can hold a candle to Marcia Muller when it comes to writing mystery/suspense novels. Sharon is still the best P.I. out there, and the supporting cast is the best the genre has to offer.
I was dreading this book a little bit due to how the last one ended (I don't much care for the character Hy), so I was glad to see that it focused on the mystery and that Sharon hadn't changed due to marriage.
Now if we could just see the character Rae fade off into the sunset, I'd be very happy.
Mayra Calvani - Armchair Interviews.......2006-12-03
The Vanishing Point is the latest instalment in the Sharon McCone mystery series. This time, just as she agrees to marry her longtime love Ripinsky, McCone is asked to investigate the disappearance of Laurel Greenwood, a mother and artist who vanished from San Luis Obispo County two decades ago. Did the woman commit suicide? Was she murdered? Or worse yet--did she abandon her husband and two young daughters out of her own free will?
As McCone sets out to unravel one of the town's most mysterious, unsolved cases, a grim picture begins to emerge. Then things get more complicated when her client--Laurel Greenwood's daughter--also disappears. Is the story repeating itself all over again? Or is Greenwood's daughter searching for her own answers?
The Vanishing Point is a fine novel written by one of today's most popular mystery authors. Muller keeps an even suspense all the way to the end without too many overly commercial cliffhangers. The dialogue sparkles with authenticity. The best thing about the story, however, is how the author interweaves the mystery element with the psychological one. Sharon McCone is a very sympathetic private-eye--sharply intelligent and intrepid, yet with a soft spot for "kittens, puppies, children, [and] grieving widows." How can you not like a beautiful detective vulnerable enough to drool while sleeping in the back seat of a car during an investigation? Recommended for anyone who enjoys a good mystery with strong characterization.
Positive feedback.......2006-11-06
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I especially like the Sharon McCone character. I would recommend it to my friends.
Average customer rating:
- Glimpse into tribal life in Brazil's Amazon jungle.
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Vanishing Amazon
Mirella Ricciardi
Manufacturer: Harry N Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Photography
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Brazil
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| South America
| Americas
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0810939150 |
Customer Reviews:
Glimpse into tribal life in Brazil's Amazon jungle........1999-04-03
Photographs in black and white, as well as color, document the life of some tribes found in the Brazilian Amazon jungle. Tribes such as the Yanomami and Kampa are shown at work and at play in this endangered rain forest. The reader is furnished with images and words that give a glimpse into tribal life in this most important part of the world.
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- Saving Graces: Finding Solace and Strength from Friends and Strangers
- Schaum's Outline of Beginning Calculus
- Scholarship Reconsidered: Priorities of the Professoriate
- Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea
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