Pet Books

THIS WILL SHOW YOU THE REAL DEAL OF THE DOG EAT DOG UNIVERSE OF BUGS, IN YOUR FRONT AND BACKYARD...............

This is a great book it has wonderful pictures so that you may identify the bugs that you are looking for. I purchased one for myself and one for my daughter and we both love them.

I received this as a gift after I mentioned that I loved the Orkin insect zoo at the Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. It was not a book I would have bought for myself, but it has become indispensable bedtime reading! The pictures are vibrant and accompanied by hard-to-forget descriptions and explanations. I especially love the pictures taken by Whitney Cranshaw himself. This book is very accessible to those who are interested in the secret tiny life that exists off of their back porch, people who don't know where to start and therefore keep pushing it off. Even the way the bugs are organized in the book is perfect- Leaf Chewers, Sap Suckers, Gall Makers, Twig Damagers, Branch Borers, Bulb Feeders... doesn't this sound like the most beautiful poem in the world??

This bok is very inclusive in it's content and very easy to look up insect for information or identification. It is used by Master Gardeners in our part of the country wth great appreciation for a book of such quality buyt yet affordble.

one shouldn't take this book lightly, it is a large and heavy tome with lots of great information and photos. i think that the author, whitney cranshaw, did a great job in how he presents the information. one bit that i would have liked to have is distribution map. information is given about distribution, but i like to have maps too.

i would have enjoyed even more information on each insect he covers, but that would make the book at least twice it's size. that probably wouldn't work at it is already 656 pages long.

it would also be neat if this author could do books on different regions of our country in this format.

book is brand new great shape, it got here so fast didn't miss a class without a book.

The content of this book is excellent, but who cares? You can't read the stupid thing because the design is so bad it absorbs all your attention trying to ignore it. I would offer concrete examples of the design flaws, but there are so many it's overwhelming to even begin. Also, the organization of the book is haphazard. For example, the visuals seem to land anywhere but where you'd expect in relation to text flow. I would value this book much more if it were set in Courier and held together with a rubber band. The production team was definitely out to lunch when this monster made it through the approval process.

They may know printing, but the 4th ed of this book is not readable.

Every single left and right page border contains CMYK registration marks. Cute idea, fine for a front page, but the stark color contrast is constantly distracting.

Chapter headings are migraine-inducing 3" x 7" YELLOW hyper contrasted with blinding full-on CYAN. Other headings are set off with CMYKCMYKCMYK color chunks that are twitchiness defined.

All the text is sans-serif font. Please have mercy on your readers!

This is exactly how not to design a book. A kids' cereal box, maybe... a book, no. The 3rd ed is much more refined and readable, why oh why did they assign this design to the amateurs?

My recommended antidotes: 1) anything by Edward Tufte. Start with "The Visual Display of Quantitative Information"; 2) Robin Williams' "The Non-Designer's Design Book".

This book is a great learning tool for printing... production and prepress. This is a great book to have as a graphic designer or design student. There is a great deal to be learned about printing to get the results you want, and this book will help you along the way. There are amazing terms and definitions to aid in expanding your printing industry vocabulary.

It is broken down into 10 chapters:
Chapter 1 Overview: Planning for Results
Chapter 2 The Parts: Type and Graphics
Chapter 3 Assembling the Parts: Prepress
Chapter 4 Outputting the Parts: Film and Flats
Chapter 5 The Magic of Color
Chapter 6 Using Paper and Ink
Chapter 7 Exploring Offset Printing
Chapter 8 Exploring Other Printing Methods
Chapter 9 Techniques for Finishing and Binding
Chapter 10 Working with Printers

I use this book to teach a Graphic Production class. This is a good entry level book to wet one's interest in the broad scope of each part of the printing production process. It touchs on everything from scheduling to design to prepress to actually getting it on press al the way through the bindery and shipping processes. Without this basic understanding, new design students have no understanding of what they are creating. This gives a brief snippet about each process. The early designer then at least has an idea of how their final products will possibly be used.

Each area of print production can have its own book and ideally designers will learn these processes in depth. As an entry level book however this has all of the basics without overwhelming the student. It also delivers the dry information that creative folks need in simple clear form. After thirty years in this industry I welcome the simplicity this book provides.

These books sparked my daughters intrest in reading chapter books. I started reading them with her in kindergarten and by first grade she was reading them on her own. I would read each chapter as she completed it, then ask her questions. She has really good comprehension of these books and lots of laugher while she is reading. She is a rising third grader now and still enjoys the Fairy book series.

Also a great book for kids who WANT to learn more about horses and their keep -- even though Mom is gonna have to read it to them.

There is something for everyone in this book; the professional or amateur. I have been working with horses for 35 years and learned quite a few new tips from the book. A excellant read.

For a used book, this one was literally like new. The seller was prompt and polite. The book arrived in a timely fashion, well-packaged to prevent damage. The contnts of the book are one of the best I have read about horses. Thank you!

I sent this book as a gift to a good friend who is an avid equestrian. She was at a camp teaching horseback riding when she received it and promptly read it from cover to cover. The other instructors were very jealous and want their own copy as well!

Really liked this book, lots of helpful information, some things I already knew and some things didn't know or think of before.

This book is filled with short stories about animals. As a teacher, I am always looking for interesting stories for my students. These stories will capture the interest of my students while I use them as a fabulous teaching tool.

"Every Living Thing," by Cynthia Rylant, is a collection of 12 short stories. Although different characters appear in each tale, the collection as a whole is unified by style and by theme. Each story deals with an encounter or ongoing relationship between a human being and one or more non-human animals. Since the book is only 81 pages long, each tale is quite brief.

This is a gentle, moving book. Rylant has a gift for capturing resonant details. She also writes with great compassion for both her human and non-human characters. Her non-human characters come in many different species: a turtle, dogs, a parrot, squirrels, and more. Her human characters are also diverse: both adults and children, both male and female. I found one of the most memorable characters to be an alcoholic wartime veteran (from "Drying Out").

My overall favorite story in the collection, "A Pet," is about a girl who becomes the owner of a blind old goldfish. I would recommend this book especially to those interested in the short story as a literary form and to those interested in literature about animals. If you like this book, I would also recommend Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's novel "Shiloh."

Wonderful stories!! Life as it is!! Having read these stories aloud to adults in nursing homes on numerous occassion and found them to satisfy our need to hear good resolves, we can all recommend this good read. "A Bad Road for Cats", one of the favorites, that hits the hard realities of human relationships and good resolves in our dealing with others when things aren't right. Stories of people finding there way through realationships with others and the place that animals play in our lives to make bridges. Read them! You will love them if you love people and animals. Write more of these Cynthia!

Every Living Thing, by Cynthia Rylant, is a wonderful read for any middle school student. This book is full of many short stories, each story taught me a great deal of respect and responsibility, which added to my maturity. This book includes 12 stories. The 1st story is called "Slower Than The Rest." In this story a boy wins an award for the first time ever! The 2nd story is called "Retired." Retired is about a retired 4th grade teacher who becomes very mean and cruel and does not like kids after a couple years of retirement. Well, that is until one of her friends end up having to move to France and they can not take their dog with them, so they give the dog to the teacher and then she becomes very kind, friendly, and loving to children again. "Papa's Parrot" is the 3rd story. This story is about a father and a son who become closer than ever when papa ends up in the hospital. This event brought father and son closer together. "Boar out There" is the 4th story. This story is about a young little girl named Jenny, who gets injured badly by a wild boar. But after getting injured the boar tour his nose really bad and he is still running free today. "A Pet" is the 5th story. This story is about a little girl named Emma. One day Emma asked her mom and dad if she can have a pet but they said no. Well one day Emma came home from school and she found a surprise in her room, it was a fish. Emma was so happy she jumped for joy and was happy her parents listened to her about giving her a pet. These are just a few of the tales in this wonderful collection of short stories. Cynthia Rylant is also the author of Henry and Mudge books. Be sure to pick up any book by this fine author.

This book provides detailed information about the development of the musculature of the horse and the effects of different training methodologies. Like many riders, I have often seen training methods that made me feel ill at ease, but I didn't really understand why. This book helped me understand why these methods are technically incorrect and often inhumane. This book is a great tool for those dressage enthusiasts who are concerned about the integrity and humaneness of our sport, and wish to safeguard the well-being of our equine partners!

Tug of War is a must read for all horse owners, especially show, dressage & western riders. This book has opened my eyes about bio-mechanics of horses and why they respond and behave the way they do. The picture on the front of the book looks extreme but just have a look at what is happening in Adult Riding Clubs, Pony Clubs etc, examples of over flexing and extreme bends are there. This book is for people with a driving force within that want change for themselves their horses and within the industry, well written and in basic terms so that you don't need a degree to understand.

This book is a must for all riders/trainers who love and care for horses. Reading it was a rude awakening for me since it showed me how harmful my "modern" training and riding were for my horses. I want healthy and happy horses so no more shortcuts for me.
Pascale

I would that every rider, regardless of discipline, would read this book. It relates excellent information that goes against the grain of much commonly held training. Our horses would move with more freedom and pleasure and have long careers instead of early retirements. Well illustrated and explained. It's actually a quick read. The principles are simple and consistent. Very accessible.

This book is great for riders, judges, and anyone interested in the good of their horse. Pictures are very informative to show correct & incorrect riding, training.

Very good collection. I subscribe to many of the magazines these articles come from and I still love this series. Very often reading about science can be laborious. This is a great collection of wide-ranging topics that give you a taste of many different areas.

This year's Best American series seems to be the weakest one yet, and the science and nature writing is no exception, it too is weaker than the previous volumes I've read (and Preston's intro is dull, droll and seems to just go on and on). That being said, it is still a great volume of essays. There are quite a few really great ones and most were good, though there were a larger than normal amount of dull essays, and one (Rough) that I wasn't quite sure what it was or why it was in there. All in all though, it is worth the price.

Great stuff on science and nature contained in twenty-eight selections, of which I liked most: Plastic Ocean, Notes on the Space We Take, Health Secrets From the Morgue, and the Introduction (by Robert Preston) and least: The Rabbit on Mars, The Final Frontier, and How to Get a Nuclear Bomb. Without necessarily agreeing with all of them, I found the following facts, statements, and/or opinions especially interesting (Pp 12, 47, 57, 96, 100-101, 120, 173, 261, 278 respectively):

"...by weight, [the North Pacific subtropical gyre] contains six times as much plastic as it does plankton;" "...a 65-degree egg cooked for an hour should be quite safe.)" and soft boiling eggs at this temperature "...is becoming the rage with chefs in France;" "A twiffler...is a plate of intermediate in size between a dinner plate and a bread plate;" "...perhaps the thing that should worry you the least [should you wish to get a nuclear bomb] is the American government's war on terror;" "Given the pervasive presence of homosexuality throughout the animal kingdom, same-sex partnering must be an adaptive trait that's been carefully preserved by natural selection;" "A globule of yellow-streaked fat oozed through the gaping wound [of a gryllacridid]. It then curled its head down toward the leaking viscera and proceeded to consume its own entrails;" "The duck is the Trojan horse..." [of the bird flu virus], "...a car driven 10,000 miles a year with a fuel efficiency of 30 miles per gallon (mpg) emits close to 1 ton of carbon annually;" "...what you eat or smoke today could affect the health and behavior of your great-grandchildren."

Great writings on a large variety of science and nature related topics. Other similarly good reads: The Good Rain by Timothy Egan (PNW essays), Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks (historical fiction on the bubonic plague epidemic), Servants of the Map by Andrea Barrett (natural science-related short stories), The Professor and the Madman by Simon Winchester (Oxford English Dictionary) and The Best American Science Writing 2007.

Depending on your viewpoint, the volumes in this series are either treasure houses or minefields. The jewels are essays providing new topics and information to consider. That's also the danger. Most of these articles present the reader with a challenge - "Should I be concerned about this? Should I take some action?" It's almost wearying to turning the pages and be confronted with the need for a decision. Yet, those prompts are not artificial.

Preston, author of "The Demon in the Freezer" and "The Wild Trees" demonstrates his editorial skills with this engaging collection. Covering such diverse topics as the human threats to the seas, the nature of violence and looking for the oldest light, this series of over two dozen articles - with more than four dozen hovering in the wings - conveys how deeply science is penetrating Nature's mysteries. The editor's own writing skills provide a fine standard for assessment and there is nothing either dull or arcane to make the reader stumble. Interests vary, and Preston's choices will meet everybody's requirements. More to the point the subjects chosen and the information provided will stir interest in new areas readers might wish to pursue further.

Each reader - and reviewer - will have particular articles to favour as they wend their way through the anthology. To this reviewer, "Plastic Ocean" by Susan Casey is a foremost choice. Not only is it a fine piece of writing, but the subject - how our plastic products are being gathered into a great oceanic dump, known as the Pacific Garbage Patch - is one of universal concern. Casey interviews yachting captain Charles Moore to understand the immensity of the problem. Lest the reader consider the ocean a fit place to use as a dump, Casey demonstrates how tiny pieces of polymers are entering the oceanic food chain to appear on our supper tables.

In an essay on medical issues, Michael Rosenwald follows researcher Robert Webster as the latter flits from one continent to another in his quest to identify and seek controls on avian influenza. "Bird flu" is but one of many new viruses that were once considered species-specific, but are "learning" to cross over to others, particularly humans. Humans will also be interested in Patricia Gadsby's "Cooking for Eggheads" about how to judge the best way to cook an egg, and why the techniques are important. In a piece rather distant from your kitchen, Michael Lemonick travels to Hawaii's volcanic peak Mauna Kea and the Keck Telescope to watch Richard Ellis pace in frustration at the possible loss of an observing night. Ellis is looking for the oldest light in the universe - light emitted when the universe endured an immense inflation event immediately after the Big Bang.

Each of the volumes in this series contains a title that chains the eye and rivets attention. In this case the commanding lead is William Langewiesche's "How To Get A Nuclear Bomb". Dwelling on the author's analysis of that question will not do here, but his conclusions might suggest some revision of dogmatic thinking. A different dogma is challenged in Ethan Watters "DNA Is Not Destiny". In this essay, he explains how recent research by Randy Jirtle overturns the conventional wisdom of "gene as fate" - although how he derives this "conventional wisdom" remains obscure. Jirtle's work on "epigenetics" reveals how some genes are triggered or quelled from somewhere else. The work is new and still probing, but Watters' article explains the successes and new areas of research.

These books seem to reproduce in my library, with a long sequence of seemingly near clones stretching along a shelf. Yet, they are anything but duplicates of one another. Each editor has made choices of superior standards of excellence, with writing skills and new discoveries in abundance. One doesn't need any more excuse than asking: "What's going on in the world?" to have another collection of essays join its peers in your own library. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

I always enjoy these collections of science and nature writing: The Best American Science and Nature Writing, and The Best American Science Writing. I assume these two books compete for the best articles. That means neither one can be "the best", but there are so many nonfiction science and nature writers that each volume has plenty to choose from.

This volume, with selections made by Richard Preston (The Hot Zone, The Demon in the Freezer), has a wide range of articles. The science essays clearly were the winners here (my favorites: Susan Casey's article on oceanic plastics, and Patricia Gadsby's on the chemistry of food... I've got to start experimenting with eggs). I was less enthused about Brian Doyle's essay on seeing a fisher, and Bill Sherwonit's bear story.

What I really like about this series is that all the articles are short and enlightening. I always feel smarter having read them. So I thank the authors for taking these complex topics and, through the magic of science writing, putting them into a language that even I can understand... like the mutation in the FOX2P gene, and what that means for humanity.

These are great books for trips, and for gifts.

Clinton Anderson has a way of making things easy to follow and explains the reasoning behind the ground work that he does. I like his no nonsense approach in working with horses. He takes you step by step through the lesson, answers what if questions, and talks you through other problems that may arise from the horse and the person working with it. I found his book to be simple, easy to understand, and once you get the hang of the basic concepts of what you're working towards, quite effective.

This book is great at illustration. I have a new horse that is only 5 yrs old and these techniques are working great. The book is very easy to follow and it totally helps to read each section over and over until you get it down. He gives do's and don't's and classic mistakes etc which help you to fine tune your technique because you know what mistakes to watch for in yourself.

I just received the book and am still reading it. I really like how he explains the lesson then has 2 students add their comments after their training session with Clinton. I find this helpful as it gives me insite how I might come across a problem similiar to theirs when I start my program.

My trainer suggested Clinton Anderson's book and it has really been very helpful for me. He is very clear in his instructions and possible problems one may encounter with various horses and issues.

Useful, but only if you're willing to buy the equipment. From his site. For quite a bit of money.

So yeah.

The National Audubon Field Guides are all great and the clear pictures make rock and mineral identification much easier.

We are avid rockhounds and have been looking for a book to help identify some of what we find. This book had great photos and descriptions. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone.

I was really excited to buy this book, but it wasn't as great as I was expecting. The pictures are deceiving to me. I can't really use this book to identify rocks in my collection.

This is a nice compact field guide. There is more technical stuff than this beginer can appreciate for now. The only complaint came from my geology major daughter - "the pictures only depict the crystal forms, you almost never see such good specimens".
I told her to be more optimistic about finding similar examples.

The book arrived quickly and it was like new. Book is in Excellent condition! I am very pleased with this transaction.!

I bought this book along with Handbook of Nature Study to help me start guiding nature studies with my son. I was not disappointed with either book, but I am especially happy with this one. It goes over all the basics of keeping a nature journal clearly and distinctly. There are a lot of examples of the author's own journal pages to help you get an idea of what is possible. There are sections for nature journaling in each season, as well as a chapter dedicated to drawing tips. This section is in addition to all of the drawing examples throughout the book. The section on teaching others about nature study could be a bit thicker, but it does give you the basic theories and suggestions you need to start. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to start nature journaling, it has certainly gotten me to start.

I had to buy this book, Keeping a Nature Journal, for an Ornithology course. Clare Leslie does an amazing job of sketching and just the book is awesome! She writes clearly and concisely and it is sooo easy to understand. It also is written so just your average Joe can feel like he can sketch beautiful pictures and such. Well, when I'm reading and skimming the pictures, I feel like I can be an artist too. Wonderful book.

Not a journaling guide but an inspiration to draw and record in a journal. Her artwork and ability to capture the moment is simply amazing - and should be since she is a professional artist. Better than the pictures is her persuasion that you can also draw and record the world around you. Many types of journals are discussed with suggestions of organization, etc but the strength is not the information but the encouragement to DO.

If you are interested in scientific journaling, or looking for an instruction manual I do not think you'll be happy with this book. It is light on drawing technique but heavy on simple tips to get you drawing. If you desire to draw nature and record what you see/experience but don't think you can or are afraid of what your pictures will look like this will be a book you'll treasure and refer to often.

I should have ordered this book sooner. It gives great ideas on how to keep a nature journal with scetches and notes. I have been keeping a journal for years and this book sent me in a different direction that I am really enjoying.

This book has been very helpful in teaching me how to journal. My preconceived notions on journaling have been changed. The tips and techiniques given in this book have improved my journaling and helped me to teach my children that is is not an art project, but an activity to record what you have seen, heard and experienced. Not written from a Christian world view.