Pet Books

To even call this a book is an unimaginable stretch.
I love dogs and thoroughly enjoy reading almost any book having to do with them and their exploits.
This "Book??" is 83 tiny pages composed of 53 pages of photos of various dogs...cute... and 30 miniature pages of Fluff. And all this from a supposed #1 selling New York Times Bestselling Author!!!!!..And all for ONLY $14.95!!!!
When was the last time you paid $.50 per page for this kind of exploitation?
Anna Quindlen ought to be ashamed of herself

It's true - I must admit: I just don't like books about animals. Until I read this one! This is a sweet, short honest book about the love of a dog. It's not necessarily about sweet Beau (though really it is), but about how Beau completes a family. And very nice touches about how it completes a woman! A wonderful read that can be read in one sitting - on the sofa with your own Beau sitting beside you. Enjoy.

This is a 45 minute short story about Anna's dog, Beau. I am not a fan of animal stories as they usually either end up getting hurt or dying. The same is true in this one. It is the life story of Beau and as all life stories, the end is death. That brings tears to me which is why I don't like these types of stories.

I believe Anna wrote this as a way to heal from her lost of Beau more than trying to tell a readable story. This is not to say the story doesn't make sense. It does. I just hear in Anna's own words how much she and her family cared for Beau and how much his loss meant to them.

As with all stories, there are the good times and the "bad dog" times, laughs and tears and general day-to-day life. If you want to hear about a good dog's life, this CD will provide that.

Short and oh so sweet!

Yes this is more of an essay than a full blown novel, but the writing is worth every dime. There are so many phrases in the book that I read and re-read. Spend the money and keep this book for revisiting over and over.

I bought this book for my husband as part of the grieving process after our 14-year-old black lab died. I expected Anna Quindlen's usual wisdom and frankly I was disappointed. The text was very short; not enough in quantity or quality to justify a book in my opinion. Worse, every page featured those awful cutesy stockhouse dog photos that seem the antithesis of the honest and straight style I expected based on reading her wise columns in the NY Times for many years. The book came across as a celebrity milking something very thin for some extra cash. Come on, Anna, you can do a lot better than this!

Kuo's 100 Edible Mushrooms is a fantastic addition to any mushroomer's library. Fairly new to mushrooms, I found this book to be very easily read and understood; the information is very thorough. The focus points were a great addition to the text.

As an avid schroomer and an educator in collecting and identifying mushrooms most folks I know always ask the question "is it edible?". This book helps to answer that question. The author also put enough caution into his book that a reader would find out that one can never be too careful when consuming wild mushrooms. The pictures and descriptions are excellant. The author also goes into the relationship between certain trees and the mushroom itself. This helps the new schroomer know where to search for a certain species. A great help on this subject!!!!!!

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R22HXMMHK1G5BB This is my book review of 100 Edible Mushrooms, by Michael Kuo.

I like the book; but didn't learn a lot of new stuff from it. I did a PhD in micro; and I've been foraging for mushrooms for over forty years. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good information in this book....for someone who is just getting started. Kuo just doesn't go into enough detail for my tastes.

Kuo is an amazing writer making this book one of my best purchases this year. Thorough and yet and incredibly easy read even for a layman. Recommended for anybody studying mushrooms regardless of experience level.

Cool book. Very practical about how to survive in the wilds of North America with nothing but the clothes on your back. Maybe not even that!
A little bit of "be at one with nature" stuff, but otherwise very informative. Good choice for a Boy Scout, or anyone wants to "go lite" when hiking and camping - using natural surroundings for cover, shelter, and food.

Again, this is an excellent field guide put together by Tom Brown Jr. Another must have for anyones personal library. Excellent, life improving information in these pages. Great work!

good book to have in the field. Very informative. a must have for wilderness survival. Great price.
john rich

This book has many far fetched tales and only a few good survival tips. The author talks alot about what seems to be a fictional character called stalking wolf and tries very hard to make him sound real. I liked a few of his shelter ideas and some of the traps, but there was nothing in this book i havent read before. If you want to read some interesting survival tales and dont care to learn survival skills, this will be a good book for you. my advice, look else where for a good survival handbook.

Tom Brown has a writing style that makes otherwise "dry" techniques come alive and stick in your mind like glue. That's where you want the know how to be- in your mind- not left in the pages of Tom's book. As you read the stories, your mind will be filled with colorful movies, complete with sounds and feelings- and when you are through, you'll be confident that you stand a better chance at surviving in the harsh outdoor conditions than before. Get it, you'll be glad you did.

Very good and complete information for someone like me who knows nothing about raising dairy goats.

This book tells you just about everything you would need to know about raising goats. I highly recommend it!

THIS BOOK IS VERY HELPFUL IF YOU ARE CLUELESS ABOUT GOATS LIKE WE WERE WHEN MY DAUGHTER BROUGHT ONE HOME. GREAT LAYOUT AND FULL OF GOOD INFO TO HELP LEARN WHAT TO DO WITH A GOAT AND WHAT NOT TO DO.

A great book for goat beginners-- lots of good, practical information. However, it does not seem geared toward those not pursuing the natural/organic approach to farming/livestock rearing, which we are. We're glad to have this book as a reference. But we are also glad to have a great friend who has been naturally/organically raising dairy goats for three decades as a good, solid resource for our "natural" questions.

Good and reliable information. If you are looking for an all around book that accurately covers the bases, than this is it.

Not only did I receive this product faster than expected, it was brand new and it was one of the most amazing books I have ever read with some of the most exquisite photography I've ever seen!

if you believe in God or not, i dare you to look at this book and not be in awe of nature. my husband and i enjoy looking at this book any seeing God's wonderous creation. anyone who has children should get this book. they probably won't read every word, but they will learn a lot from the pictures.

I have not had the chance yet to review this product. I'd thought I'd purchased the dvd set for this same title, so was surprised to receive a book. I decided not to return it, but I know I will enjoy it.

BEAUTIFUL BOOK TO HAVE. NOT ONLY IS IT INFORMATIVE, BUT THE PICTURES ARE TRULY A PIECE OF ARTWORK.

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"The authors of [this] book (producers of the [Planet Earth TV] series) are extremely grateful to the [TV series'] production [the production team consisted of almost 25 people], post-production, and camera teams [the camera team consisted of more than 55 people] for their talent, dedication, and determination. The result of their hard work on this challenging series is not only obvious in the television programmes but in these pages. The stories they unearthed and the trips they organized were the inspiration for much of the text, and many of their unique images [or photographs] illustrate this book."

The above is found in the first paragraph of this book's acknowledgements section. According to this book's cover, it is authored solely by Alastair Fothergill, one of the TV series producers. However, according to this book's title page, there are five more co-authors (all producers of the TV series) making it thus authored by six people altogether.

This book (a "New York Times" bestseller and endorsed by Oprah Winfrey) is supposed to be a "companion" to and a "mirror" of the TV series which "took four years to make [and was] filmed in more than 200 locations worldwide." However, don't get the idea that this book is simply a rehash of the TV series because it definitely is not.

This book consists of two outstanding features:

(1) exquisite, revealing, and unique colour photographs (of which I counted more than 360 captioned ones)
(2) text (which is quite comprehensive and informative)

To give the potential reader a "feel" for this book, I will give the chapter titles and a brief description. Note that the first chapter should be read first and subsequent chapters can be read in any desired order:

(1) The Whole Earth (Gives a general overview of the entire planet and orientates the reader.)
(2) Frozen Poles (The ultimate places of extremes, the Artic and the Antarctic.)
(3) The Great Forests (Between the poles and the equator lie huge tracts of forest. These forests have great effects for both the wildlife living there and for the health of the entire planet.)
(4) The Great Plains (These plains cover more than a quarter of the planet's land. They support the greatest gatherings of wildlife anywhere on Earth.)
(5) The Great Sands (Deserts are the hottest, most arid regions of the world. Only the hardiest of plants and animals can survive in these areas, each with a special repertoire of tricks.)
(6) Mountain Heights (Mountains epitomize wilderness--remote high-altitude places, where only the hardiest of animals survive the cold.)
(7) The Underworld (Caves are the least known environments on land, are home to some of the strangest animals, and offer unique landscapes and thrilling experiences. **This is my personal favourite chapter.)
(8) Fresh Water (All life on land is dependent on fresh water. It is the most precious resource on Earth.)
(9) Rain Forests (Reliable year round sunshine and regular rain downpours result in a rich rain forest with a variety and complexity of life unmatched by any other habitat on Earth.)
(10) Shallow Seas (These are by far the richest parts of the ocean. It's in these seas that you find the coral reefs, the sea grass beds, the kelp forests, and 90% of the world's commercial fisheries.)
(11) Open Ocean Depths (The deep and open ocean covers more than 60% of the Earth's surface. It regulates the climate, conditions the atmosphere, and contains some of the least known and most extraordinary animals on Earth.)

Finally, there are some problems with this book. Note that these problems in no way affect its readability but are irritations (at least to me):

(1) In the book's front material is a world map with the names of the continents, oceans, selected seas, and other selected landmarks printed directly on it. (This map is not indicated in the table of contents.) As well, there is a numbered list of almost 55 features whose numbers are printed on the map. This map is untitled and there is no explanation of how it's to be used.

When I first came across this map, I assumed that it was unimportant and forgot about it. It was not until I was well into the book that I discovered accidentally what it is and how it's to be used.

This map is a locator map. The idea is that when you come across a place, feature, etc., in the main narrative, you look it up on the map. For example, if you came across in the main narrative the Himalayas, you then go back to the map to see where these mountains are located.

The numbered list of selected landmarks is used in the same way. For example, the list of landmarks indicates that the Great Barrier Reef is #52. When you come across this reef in the main narrative you are then supposed to find this number on the map to discover the Reef's exact location.

I think this is a good idea since this actually adds another dimension to the book. However, I found another problem. The reader is not told when to refer to the map. So what you end up doing is guessing if a particular place, feature, etc., is on the map. I guessed wrong many times and thus became frustrated.

My question is why is there no instructions on this map of how it`s to be used? As well, in the main narrative, why isn't the reader told when to refer to this map?

(2) The same problem goes for the photographs in the book. The reader is not told when to look at a particular photograph. You either have to read the entire narrative on a page and then look at the photograph (many pages have more than one picture per page) or you have to guess when to look at a photograph when you come across the name of a particular animal, feature, etc., in the main narrative.

(3) Much of the material in the text gives some highly specific detailed information. Why isn't there any credit given as to where this information was obtained?

(4) All the back material (most notably the index) in this book is not indicated in the table of contents.

In conclusion, this is a fascinating book where you truly get to see the planet "as you've never seen it before." I leave you with the final paragraph of the book's Forward (written by (Sir) David Attenborough):

"This remarkable and beautiful book should stand not just as a revelation and celebration of the wonders that our planet retains at the beginning of the twenty-first century. It surely must also be seen as an eloquent rallying call to all of us who care for the Earth's welfare to redouble our efforts to protect those wonders that still survive."

(first published 2006; foreword; locator map; 11 chapters; main narrative 305 pages; index; copyright; names of some people that made the television series possible; acknowledgements; picture credits)

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With the plethora of dog-training books and television shows available to consumers today, it was natural to believe this book would be the superstar amongst them - just as its subjects are superstars of the canine world. However, though the stories conveyed in this book remain inspiring - and the book's message (that rescuing orphaned animals from shelters and supporting that worthy cause) comes through loud and clear - the book reads more like a chronicle of events rather than a grab-the-reader-by- the-seat-of-their-pants- with-amazing-tales-of-unbelievable- feats-by-dogs story. It rather reads like a journal kept by the trainer to recall the events of each dog's story and the anecdotes sometimes associated with each (and these anecdotes, again, while interesting in content are told so robotically as to become I-guess-you-had-to-be-there moments. It's too bad. This book, in the hands of a more skilled writer could've become a classic. Still an interesting read; but be prepared to add your own 'umph'.

Marta Williams has done an excellent job of organizing, presenting and providing scientific back-up for her information, where appropriate. She is a teacher in the true sense of the word and patiently guides students through all the pitfalls of negative mind traps, suggesting methods to overcome initial fears of failure.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all who are truly interested in animal communication and feel it will be a good investment for you.

This book helped me to understand the experiences I have had on my ranch with several of my anamals. I now know what took place and I agree with the author fully. I have actually used her tichnique on my "Best Friend" a Chocolate Lab, and it worked! I have also been the RECEIVER of messages.

I just finished Learning Their Language, and am getting ready to re-read it, highlighter in hand. It is that good, if your goal is to gain expertise in animal communication. I began with Carol Gurney's book, The Language of Animals, which I felt was a good starter book. It sort of primes the reader for this book. Learning Their Language was extremely well written for use as a text book/learning tool (which is the reason I wanted it in the first place) using a good combination of Ms. Williams own experiences, the experiences of her students, and liberal "homework" assignments.

This book goes a step further than most, offering techniques for communication with plants, rocks, and mountain ranges (to name a few) but Ms. Williams herself invites you to skip over any sections that are out of your range of comfort or your belief system. At the very least, when reading the plant/nature/landscape sections, you will come away with a sense that God can't be too happy with modern man's stewardship of all that we were graciously given. And that, in my humble opinion, is a lesson we should ALL learn.

This is such a fascinating topic. If you want to dive deeper I recommend "Adam's Task: Calling Animals by Name," by Vicki Hearne, which combines animal training with philosophy, linguistics, and literary criticism. It'll certainly expand your understanding of human-animal communication. If you are an animal trainer-- or even just an animal lover-- it's definitely worth checking out.

As a writer of cat mysteries, I often speak to large groups of people, and they frequently ask about animal communication, since Marmalade, an orange tabby cat, (a major character in my mystery series) speaks in italics throughout the books. I answer that I know we can communicate with animals and hear what they say to us. As evidence I cite the story of Polly, my alarm clock cat. Whether people express belief or they raise their eyebrows at me, I send them to this book.

I like the way Marta Williams emphasizes that we would get further by listening than by constantly telling animals what we think. They know what we think, because they're very good at listening already.

When we take the time, as she suggests, to tell an animal "I admire your intelligence and beauty," we grow in the process. LEARNING THEIR LANGUAGE is a lesson in life skills that we all could use.

I found this book to be fairly well written with only a little bias toward evolution, an unproven scientific theory.

the book arrived in a better condition than i expected, and there was no trouble with delivery. however, i use this book for my ap environmental science class and find it lacking in details. in my opinion, it offers only a cursory overview of the concepts. to its credit, it is very easy to understand, but if you want something with more information, this may not be the best book to choose.

The state of Washington mails each registered voter a "Voter's Pamphlet" with statements for and against each initiative and candidate.

This book has the same format as a page for initiative X complete with rebuttals, but no page against initiative X.

This is completely one sided political rhetoric.

Why are high school students being given 815 pages of brainwashing?

I can understand some political extremest writing this book, but why would the Mercer Island school district buy this book?

I know science.
This ain't science.
Maybe political science.

Being a chemistry student, I've read this book as part of my classes. I've got to say, it's an excellent book, definitely worth reading by itself. It offers concrete, pragmatic solutions and an unbiased collection of scientificly supported descriptions of environmental problems and how to deal with them. It's also almost completely devoid of gloom and doom, as opposed to some of today's green movements. Very much recommended.

I have not read the whole book yet, and I have the 2004 edition (#13). I truly hope the newer editions are better. This is a review of Chapter 1 only.

The chapter annoyed me. It even made me angry. It is milquetoast, unable to just say we, the human population, is depleting too many resources to be sustainable. Adding the statement "other analysts do not believe we are living unsustainably" to an Environmental Science textbook is like saying "some people believe the earth is flat," in a geography textbook, or, something that unfortunately seems to happen in some biology textbooks these days, "evolution is just one theory, there are other theories as well, some experts believe god created all life on earth as it is today." A similar statement was made in part 1-6, "Is our Present Course Sustainable?." "Are things getting better or worse? Experts disagree..." Experts paid by huge resource exploiting corporations? Experts who like to bury their heads in the sand?

There were a number of interesting facts in the text that the general statements did not reflect. These inconsistencies really got to me. It seemed as if it were trying to write about what was outside the box but writing from inside the box. I particularly disliked the sentence that included: "... how much more we need to do to help make the earth more sustainable..." Wait a second, if you were writing from a viewpoint that "Nature does not exist just for us and we only think we are in charge. We need the earth, but the earth does not need us," how can you talk about "making the earth more sustainable?" The earth is what it is and is bountiful, it is our resource exploitation and pollution that are not sustainable for human survival.

I found the first part of the side bar "Free-Access Resources and the Tragedy of the Commons" quite interesting, but the second part on solutions seemed to missing a lot. The first of the two listed solutions was: "Use free-access resources at rates well below their estimated sustainable yields or overload limits by reducing population, regulating access, or both." It then went on to say how this is rarely used since it means we would have to establish and enforce rules and regulations, and it is hard to figure out a sustained yield. But it doesn't mention that educating people about these resources that they take for granted could go along way. Also not mentioned is that regulating the devices that allow people to exploit these resources (such as clean air, the atmosphere, water and wildlife) so easily and unthinkingly would be much easier than regulating their actual use. A lot of the resources mentioned are being depleted by pollution not use in a strict sense. The other solution listed is: "Convert free-access resources to private ownership," since if someone owns something they will protect it, has so many problems which are not addressed. The books lists the problem with this solution as being that "it is not practical for global common resources (such as the atmosphere, the open ocean, most wildlife species, and migratory birds) that can not be divided up and converted to private property." What about the fact that people do exploit the resources that they do own, and the fact that it would no doubt cause even more problems with poverty, and sharing things in common is what brings people together as a community (e.g. they all go to the park and see each other), and so many other problems that I get overwhelmed just thinking about them.

There was a lot of talk about overpopulation as a major problem, but not so much talk about overconsumption by certain parts of the population, even though there were sections on this. There was a section on ecological foot print and how the people in the USA have such a large one, but this didn't seem to get integrated into the text. There was also the statement: "Thus poor parents in a developing country would need 70 - 200 children to have the same lifetime resource consumption as 2 children in a typical U.S. family," but there was a lot of emphasis on population as a major problem and how in underdeveloped countries populations are growing as such a fast rate, when slight rises in US middle/upper class populations can make so much more difference. It felt to me like too much blame poor people in poor countries when it is people in the US and corporations based in the US enriching people in the US who are causing so much of the problems, even exporting our TV and advertisements to other countries which makes people want our unsustainable lifestyle.

There was also no mention of empowering women as a major tool to deal with high birthrates. There is overwhelming evidence that when you empower women to choses when they want to get pregnant and give them education and job skills birthrates do down. The paragraph on why poor people have so many children basically says the reason is to have their labor, with no mention of lack of birth control or power of women to make choices. It also seemed racist and disrespectful.

While we are on the subject of racist and disrespectful, what is with the developed and developing labels? The societies in all countries are developed, it is just industrial manufacturing and certain kinds of resource exploitation that are not as developed.

One last perhaps picky complaint. Figure 1-13 mentions "Traditional decision making" and "traditional societies" but it really does not mean traditional, it means modern industrialized hierarchical societies. This may seem picky but I feel it really does matter, we need to keep remembering that these societies we are living in are new, not traditional. True traditional societies did merge social, economic and environmental issues when making decisions, in fact, they did so in all aspects of living their lives. What we need to do is get back to them.

I'm so glad my professor made this a required textbook! Mark Oldach's insights into the process of concept development are so helpful. This should be in the graphic designer's library. I will return to this book again and again!

This book packs a lot of punch. It's written in an easy to understand format that is very creative with handwritten notes from the author in the margins. It's a great source of ideas with the numerous full-color case studies that are included. This book does an excellent job of providing graphic designers with step-by-step instructions on how to ask the right questions at the initial client meeting, go back to the office and download the information, then take the information and begin generating ideas, and finally, select which ideas should be developed. It's an invaluable tool for new designers.

I love my mac, but I also love not using it. This book tells a lot about a designers prosess outside the mac. I found this sentence in the book: "Designers have a responsebility to do what they are paid to - design .... To many designers use the (mac) for a substitute for thinking". So right!

Unlike design books filled w/ eye-candy & no direction on processes, Mark Oldach steers the reader through well defined concepts & thoughts. An excellent book for all designers who wish to communicate through design.

I found this book to be very helpful in getting you to think of the box. Instead of being like a picture book with not much information, it tells you how to come up with ideas and explains the process of making a good design. This is a great book to have if you already have those picture books with just designs and need something to help you with actually creating your own designs.

I saw this book at a friend's house and couldn't believe the story of a dog left alone to take care of the baby while the mother goes out. It's quite funny - but, I wonder what a kid would make of it!

I found this book to be an excellent guide for child rearing. It affirmed by choice as a parent to leave my toddler in the ward of a large canine for hours at a time. It offered a further benefit of teaching my child how to leave his crib so that he would not get too bored while I am at work for the day. Carl is indeed a good dog and this book will make you a good parent, too.

I wasn't so sure about this book but my 4 year old ADORES it. She laughs out loud every single time we "read" it. I say "read" because there are only about 2 sentences in the whole book but we have a great time discussing all the pictures. We have the hard back board book which has held up extremely well and the pictures are very clear and beautiful. She goes to sleep with it every night and totally "gets" that it is a silly story (i.e. people do not leave their babies with the dog in charge!!) For the joy it has brought my children I give this book with its beautiful illustrations a 5 star review. I had no idea there were other Carl books but will likely pick some of those up too.

Great books with just a few words at the beginning, then even little ones who can't read yet can help you tell the story by looking at the illustrations. Highly recommended for animal lovers.

This author shows her love and appreciation for a great big rottweiller. It is great to see a rottweiller shown in a positively interacting with a family. This is a must have book for anyone with small children and a beloved rottie.