Tracking Environmental Change Using Lake Sediments - Volume 2: Physical and Geochemical Methods (DEVELOPMENTS IN PALEOENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH Volume 2) (Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research)

Book Description

This second volume in the Developments in Paleoenvironmental Research series deals mainly with physical and geochemical analytical techniques used in paleolimnology. Other volumes deal with the acquisition and archiving of cores, chronological techniques, and large-scale basin analysis methods (Volume 1), biological techniques (Volumes 3 & 4), and statistical and data handling methods (Volume 5). These monographs provide sufficient detail and breadth to be useful handbooks for both seasoned practitioners as well as newcomers to the area of paleolimnology. Although the chapters in these volumes target mainly lacustrine settings, many of the techniques described can also be readily applied to fluvial, glacial, marine, estuarine, and peatland environments.

Customer Reviews:

Find a better book on the topic!.......2006-07-11

I was interested in modern research relating wavelets to pattern recognition. What I found was a marginal book which had poorly constructed proofs related to wavelets. The book was even more disappointing in its attempt at covering pattern recognition.

The book has little to no new material, and is poor at attempting to explain existing concepts. Overall a disappointing book on a very interesting topic.

Book Description

A cheerfully chaotic spin on a counting book, featuring a very large family

From mealtime to bathtime to bedtime, ordinary activities become extraordinary when you live with twenty-seven owls, eleven dogs, six goldfish, a carsick gerbil, and numerous other furry, feathery, and finned friends. Jaunty text, wonderfully ridiculous illustrations, and plenty of counting challenges make this extraordinary household worth repeat visits.

Customer Reviews:

Oh, Let Me Count the Ways that This Book Is a Pleasure to Read...There Must be 93, At Least!.......2007-01-05

This is a zany story told in lively verse style with descriptive language and totally wonderful illustrations that kids will just eat up...and the story is a hoot too, literally with 27 owls, 10 cats, 11 dogs, that gerbil that's ALWAYS doing something interesting...and sooooooo much more! I didn't know when I picked this up at our local library that it was a math opportunity disguised as a cute kid's tale...but it rather is. Ninety-Three in My Family isn't just a litany of counting animals either...there is a lot of humor here, like the times the WHOLE family goes on a car trip..."I'll tell you, it gets crowded/When we get in the car./And Mom and Dad get cranky/If we have to drive too far!" I would too if I had flamingos with their heads out the window and a squirrel on my head (which makes the dad sneeze by the way)...and the expression on the faces of the people they are driving past...beautifully done!

I give Ninety-Three in My Family five stars, it's a whirlwind look at one very large family that also affords a visual feast through its illustrations and the added math dimension was quite nice, as this book goes beyond the opportunity to count from one to ten and lets your child try out 10, 11, 27 and many more!! There are PLENTY of opportunities to count all the animals and if you didn't find them all in the story pages, at the end there is a two page spread devoted to a black board representation of the who shebang laid out nicely!

For the animal-lover in your family.......2006-12-02

Do you know a child who likes a tall tale? Or a child who loves animals and is constantly begging for just one more pet? Then "Ninety-Three in My Family" is for you!

"Ninety-Three in My Family," written by Erica S. Perl and illustrated by Mike Lester, begins in the classroom. Today's topic? Our Families. The unflappable teacher asks the young narrator, "'How many live with you?'" And he answers, "I counted quickly in my head. I told her, 'Ninety-two.'"

Why ninety-two? Well here's the narrator's rundown:

"There's twenty-seven owls,
Ten cats, eleven dogs,
A pygmy hippo named Bernice,
And eight blue speckled frogs.

My mommy and my daddy,
My sister's gerbil, Ed,
Six goldfish and my sisters,
Darlene and Winifred.

Whenever people ask me
How many live with me,
I tell them true, there's ninety-two.
Plus one (that's me!), we're ninety-three."

Told in lively verse, "Ninety-Three in My Family" makes for a truly fun read-aloud. Mike Lester's illustrations are dynamic and, needless to say, packed with animals. The owls, with their grumpy faces, are particularly (dare I say it?) cute. Each colorful page has plenty to look at and look for. The book concludes with a surprise certain to delight the young reader.

"Ninety-Three in My Family" is highly recommended fun for children ages three to ten.

Count those critters!.......2006-11-01

We had a lot of pets growing up. A dog, gerbils, tropical fish of every stripe and variety. But that ain't nuthin. When the boy in this story is asked how many are in his family, he mentally adds up all the owls, gophers, lions, flamingoes, llamas, and, oh, I forget how many pets.

Honestly, who can keep track? But it's fun trying. My son instantly ripped this from my mitts and has been scouring the book for all its hoofed, pawed, clawed, finned and feathered characters.

Sure, most preschoolers already love counting, but even if they didn't, Perl slyly sneaks it all in with rolicking verses that careen from kitchen to car to bathtub and even the bed, mounded high with sleepy critters.

Lester hand-sketched everything then digitally colored it, but it perfectly imitates the splotchy, impromptu feel of watercolors that just shouts "zany!"

Nothing kills incentive like telling kids math is hard, but you'd never know it here, where you'll be hunting for that poor, carsick gerbil or making sure you've spotted all the tigers (wait, they're not spotted, they're striped. Hah!)

The boy's teacher finally lists them all on the blackboard, and you may be amazed at what you missed.

I want to hire this team to make broccoli taste like cupcakes. I bet they could do it too.

ERICA PERL DOES IT AGAIN!!.......2006-10-02

ERICA PERL has a delightful command of lyrical and comic language, spritely and totally engaging. She never talks down to her readers and keeps us giggling no matter how many times we've read her books. The illustrations in this book are particularly quirky and imaginative. It's a fabulous book and Erica Perl is already taking her place among the truly innovative and gifted writers for children.

they love it!.......2006-09-28

My kids were big fans of Chicken Bedtime (they still crack up over "the hamsters...what hours they keep") and Ninety-Three in My Family is another hit! Hooray for the lyrical, comical illustrations, matching the fun-to-read text. Congratulations to the team!
--Gwendolen Gross (author of Field Guide, Getting Out, and coming in '07: THE OTHER MOTHER)

Average customer rating:

Classic Victor Hugo
Extraordinary and Unforgettable!
One Of The Greatest Masterpieces Of Hugo
He did better
"Ninety Three":Victor Hugo's most perfect work

Ninety-Three
Victor Hugo
Manufacturer: Carroll & Graf Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Classics | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0786705906

Book Description

The events of Ninety-Three occur during (and somewhat define) the period of the French Revolution. For this reason, all the characters' actions are tremendously important. The fate of a large part of the world literally hangs on their actions. Toward the end of the book, during the battle at La Tourgue, you can almost see the future itself, balanced on a knife-edge, swaying back and forth with the actions of the main characters.

The characters in Ninety-Three are giants among men. Lantenac, Gauvain, Cimourdain - all are heroic in their own way. Even minor characters like Radoub the soldier, Tellmarch the beggar, and Halmalo the sailor are honorable and admirable people.

There are scenes in Ninety-Three that are among the best read anywhere. (The "loose cannon" on the Claymore and the fire at La Tourgue being good examples.

Customer Reviews:

Classic Victor Hugo.......2007-05-22

This is another one of those books that has been on my reading list forever, and I picked it up several times before in the past before finally getting around to finishing it now.

Like a lot of classic books, then isn't a bad read at all, but it's not written in the modern style and therefore requires a bit of discipline to get started before you get hooked by the plot. If you can make it past the first 50 pages, you'll be hooked.

Although to be honest, I think it also helped that I'm a little bit more knowledgeable about the French Revolution than I was a couple years before. This is a book on the French Revolution by a French author, and so gets a little more into the intricacies of the Revolution than say "A Tale of Two Cities". The book starts out in the middle of the civil war out in provinces in 1793, and the reader is more or less just thrown into the action. It can be a little bit confusing.

The action then swings back to Paris, and if you don't know who Robespierre, Danton, or Marat were, then it is going to get even more confusing. You don't have to be a scholar to understand this book (I'm certainly not), but a passing knowledge of the major figures of the French Revolution is certainly helpful.

Victor Hugo published this book in 1874, shortly after the Paris Commune, which is one of the reasons usually given for why this book never became as successful or as well known as some of his other classics; the theory being that after the events of the Paris Commune the French public was in no mood for a book which idealized the turbulent times of the original French Revolution.

(Victor Hugo himself, although his radical legacy is often forgotten these days, was one of the leaders of the movement for amnesty of the Paris Communards, for which he once had his house stoned by a conservative mob. He wrote poems about the Commune martyrs, and he had a long friendship (and rumored sexual liaison) with Louise Michel, the most famous of the Commune revolutionaries.)

In fact the quick eyed reader can catch a couple of passing references to the Paris Commune of 1871, such as when Victor Hugo talks about how men were buried alive in the fighting of 1793, and then adds "we have seen a return to this recently" ( a reference to the Paris Communards, who were thrown into mass graves and buried alive by the Versailles forces).

But passing references to the Paris Commune are just that: brief and passing. This is a book about 1793.

Although it has been several years since I read "Les Miserables", I remember one of the major themes of that book was the legacy of the French Revolution, and whether it was possible to separate the ideals of the revolution from its excesses. Needless to say this is a theme Hugo continues even more so in "Ninety-Three".

(Here again a little digression might be in order, because I have noticed in conversation that many people who are familiar with "Les Miserables" only through the Broadway musical seem to think the barricade scene at the end of that book takes place during the French Revolution. It does not. In addition to what we think of as THE French Revolution (1789-1793), France also underwent 3 other Revolutions in the 19th Century: 1830, 1848, and 1871 (the Paris Commune).
But Revolutions do not come out of nowhere, and so in the years in between major revolutions there were growing tensions, street demonstrations, and occasionally failed uprisings. The barricade scene in "Les Miserables" takes place during one of these failed uprisings in 1832, an incident so minor it doesn't usually even make the history books. Which is of course part of the tragedy of the story.)

Many other parts of "Ninety Three" are also reminiscent of "Les Miserables". The revolutionary and former priest Cimourdian, whose strict sense of justice and duty forbid any forms of mercy, is very similar to Javert.

As in "Les Miserables" the characters advocating cold justice are contrasted against other characters using mercy and forgiveness. But in "Ninety Three" Hugo adds an interesting twist. Whereas the Bishops kindness towards Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" produces good results, in "Ninety Three" a beggar risks his life to shelter an aristocrat, only to regret it later when the aristocrat goes on to commit terrible atrocities.

And as with "Les Miserables", Hugo goes off on a few of his famous digressions at points. Fear not, however, they are not as long as the digressions in "Les Miserables" and, in my opinion, this time around they have more relation to the plot. But you just need to forgive him if in the middle of the story Hugo spends 10 pages talking about the Breton forests, or the French Revolutionary Convention.

For the history nerd, Hugo's portrayal of characters like Marat, Danton, and Robespierre are a real treat. When he gets into the sections on the Convention there is a lot of name dropping going on, and I didn't have a clue who most of the people were he was talking about were, but I was still able to appreciate the story.

Although this isn't one of Hugo's better known books, his perception and analysis as a writer are as brilliant as ever. This book is packed with brilliant observations and quotes. I actually wish I had written more of them down as I was reading, because so many of them seem like they would be perfect for framing on the doorway, or using in a paper. My favorite was when he was describing the various personalities of the French Revolution:

"Revolutions have two slopes, ascending and descending, and on these slopes they bear all seasons, from ice to flowers. Each segment of these slopes produces men adapted to its climate, from those who live in sunlight to those who live in lightning."
(As a history major, I think this perfectly describes the way a Revolution works.)

One final note: the edition I have contains an introduction from Ayn Rand who, it turns out, is a huge Victor Hugo fan, despite the latter's socialist leanings. She argues that Victor Hugo's books, in contrast to the Naturalist writers like Emile Zola, show man not as being controlled by his circumstances, but able to rise above them and realize true greatness.

It is an interesting perspective, although parts of "Ninety Three" do appear to directly contradict Rand's thesis at times:
"A Revolution is an act of the Unknown. Call it a good act or a bad act, according to whether you yearn for the future or the past, but leave it to him who did it. It seems to be the joint word of mingled great events and great individuals, but it is actually the resultant of events. Events spend, men pay. Events dictate, men sign....Desmoulins, Danton, Marat, Gregoire and Robespierre are only clerks. The enourmous and awesome author of those great pages has a name, God, and a mask, Destiny. Robespierre believed in God. Of course!"

I didn't quote the whole thing, but Hugo goes on in this way a little more. Looking at parts like this, one might think Hugo is in direct opposition to Ayn Rand. And yet when you look at the narrative as a whole, and the greatness that Hugo's characters aspire to, you just might think Ayn Rand has a bit of a point.

Extraordinary and Unforgettable!.......2007-04-26

No author has come close to Hugo when it comes to creating characters and events that are larger than life. I am blown away each time I enter his world. Nothing ordinary, mundane or boring happens in this book. I recommend all of Victor Hugo's books. I would start with this one.

One Of The Greatest Masterpieces Of Hugo.......2003-08-09

It have to be sayed: "93" is one of the greatest works of Hugo! After reading many novels, poems and plays, and analyse some of his letters and other contents, I think that its almost impossible to say that "93" doesnt have passion and skills of one of the greats poets/ romancists of the XIX century. The message that an good society can be created, that every man can be a great being by his own sacrifice is touching and inspiring. "93" is more them a book, or a revolutionary testament, is an piece of art made by a dreamer that believed in a beautiful and possible society, a real humanity.

He did better.......2003-02-27

In 1793, the immediate after-effects of the French Revolution are being played out: the Republic is beset by assaults both from outside France and by counter-revolutionary forces within its borders. The Marquis de Lantenac arrives in Brittany to lead the counter-revolutionary insurgency which has been centred on the Vendée. The Convention has already sent de Lantenac's nephew, Gauvain, to the Vendée with a force to put down the rebellion.

This is the main thrust of "Ninety-Three", although Hugo weaves several other sub-plots into the novel. The action takes place principally in Brittany, but there are scenes in Paris with interesting vignettes of Danton, Robespierre and Marat.

The main thing to be said about "Ninety-Three" is that it's no "Les Misérables", no "Notre Dame de Paris". It has its strengths, but the faults in the plot and in Hugo's writing made it for me a less satisfying read than those other works. "Ninety-Three" is melodramatic (frequently overly so), the use of coincidence is often outrageous, there are wildly improbable sections (the accurate identification of each ship in a French squadron at night being one early example), there are long sections devoted to descriptions of architecture, and one long part which is merely a list of the members of the Convention.

All these traits are present in other of Hugo's works I've read, and I suppose could be expected of a "romantic" writer, but I felt that in "Ninety-Three" they were out proportion, making up for the ordinariness of the main plot, and outweighing the fine sections of good descriptive writing, of meaningful reflections on morality, political convictions and war.

Overall, not his best, more of a cross between Walter Scott and "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

G Rodgers

"Ninety Three":Victor Hugo's most perfect work.......2001-10-27

I have read four novels of Victor Hugo(and the synopsis of a fifth one)."Ninety Three" is the one in which he has reached perfection.
This specially applies to his plot-structure which is one of the best I've come across.
Hugo's rather naive artrifices and linking devices,which he used for making tight plot structures,but lent an unconvincing coherence in his earlier novels are absent-giving rise to an ingeniously linked sequence of events-where every event,keeping in mind the moral purposes which the novel seeks to achieve and the moral premises and goals of the characters,necessarily leads to the next event,to the climax and the resolution.

The theme,most appropriately pointed out by Ayn Rand is:"Man's loyalty to values."
How every character and every event expresses the theme is the greatest technical virtuosity a writer can achieve.
(However,as I see,Hugo's conscious intention was to dramatize:"The conflict between the logic behind the French Revolution and the philosophy behind the French Revolution.)

The plot-theme is:"The conflict which arises when a ruthless revolutionary(of the French Revolution)-a priest- is sent to keep a watch on a courageous but compassionate revolutionary-the only man he loves in this world- pursuing his granduncle-a proud,haughty,fanatical Royalist-with three innocent children and their helpless mother caught up in the cataclysm of this savage,frantic battle."

The merits of this novel are numerous.First of all,it is one of the best suspense-thrillers among the explicitly philosophical novels of the 19th century.
The neck-breaking speed with which the events suceed one other will keep you biting your nails till the last paragraph.

Secondly,every page-nay,every line in this novel gives a sense of something profoundly important,grand and dramatic.There isn't a sentence,conversation or scene which is trivial,silly or commonplace.Everything is grandiose,with a heightened sense of solemnity and tension.

Thirdly,one cannot overlook Hugo's heroic view of man.Whether it be a literate beggar or an illiterate peasant woman;a wicked rebel who can go to any lengths of inhumanity or a young soldier who has lead an insignificant life-every character has been endowed with such moral courage,focus on one's values and goals,strength of conviction,fearlesness,intransigent integrity and above all,such a capacity to value one's values-that one has to conclude that for Hugo,man was a Titan or a Giant-nothing less than a demi-God.

I would not call "Ninety Three" Hugo's greatest achievement since it's scope is rather small.Further,Hugo's usual obsession to insert long historical and political essays hadn't left him while he was writing "Ninety Three".Luckily,they maybe ignored.Anyway, I would recommend them for their fascinating poetry;compelling,powerful style and tremendous universal significance.

It is strange that although "Ninety Three" is a thoroughly interesting read-moreover glorifying humanitarianism,compassion and non-violence-it is not a well known novel.One of the common criticisms is that,as the critics say,it has "unreal characters" and an "exaggerated sense of heroism".
But let me tell you this reader:If you want to look up with a sense of worship to the image of the Ideal-the Ideal whose essential nature you might not have grasped;if you want to take pride in the fact that you are a man;if you want someone and something to affirm your deep-rooted conviction : "Yes,it is possible",then you ought to read Victor Hugo's "Ninety Three".

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Fun to read

Yum!

Italian Cheese: Two Hundred And Ninety-Three Traditional Types: Guide to Their Discovery And Appreciation

Manufacturer: Slow Food
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Turtleback

Cheese & Dairy | Cooking by Ingredient | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Reference | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Italian | European | Regional & International | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
Marketing | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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Guide to Cheeses of the World: 1200 Cheeses of the World (Hachette Food & Wine)

ASIN: 8884991110

Book Description

Slow Food is sweeping the nation, at a snail's pace. This international organization was started in Italy by people who perceive McDonald's as the symbol of a society that is overshooting its own limits. The greatest loss of all is the pleasure of eating foods that are made without the restrictions of time.
Many of the cheeses portrayed in this delightful book—stracciata, giuncata, formaggio di fossa, formaggetta della valle Argentina—are not household names and they probably never will be. They're a few of the 201 traditional Italian farmhouse cheeses lovingly described in this new book from Slow Food International as a “contribution to the conservation of a vast heritage of local products, born of Italy's extraordinarily varied landscapes, natural environments, dairy breeds, and cheesemaking techniques.”
Starting with illustrated descriptions of traditional and industrial cheesemaking, Slow Food's authors take us through the processes of buying, tasting, and storing cheeses. Dictionaries of tasting terms and the language of cheeses and cheesemaking provide essential preludes for the heart of this book—descriptions of Italy's farmhouse cheeses, traditionally made from cow's, ewe's, and goat's milk.
Organized by region and accompanied by elegant color photographs, each description covers how the cheese is made and matured, along with historical and geographic nuggets.
Written by people in love with farmhouse cheeses, and with everything small, local, slow, and traditional foods and food systems represent, this is an informative and hopeful book, celebrating a rich, rural European tradition. This book will make you start packing your bags for a cheese lover's tour of Italy.

Customer Reviews:

Fun to read.......2007-09-05

This is a fun book to read if you are interested in Italian cheeses. Each cheese has a photo and a nice description. The only improvement I would suggest would be to provide similar consistent information on each cheese such as flavor, texture, etc. While this information is often supplied, it is buried in the text making comparison among the different cheeses difficult. But it's a great little book, very comprehensive and interesting as a cultural review of the country's cheese.

Yum!.......2007-05-13

This is an incredible and thorough resource on Italian cheeses. It doesn't have every Italian cheese known to man, but it comes close. The book is organized by region, and each page is devoted to one cheese. Fun to read if you love exploring new foods and a great resource if you're traveling to Italy.

Salvador Dali-A Panorama of His Art (Ninety-Three OILS 1917-1970, vOLUME 1)

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Salvador Dali-A Panorama of His Art (Ninety-Three OILS 1917-1970, vOLUME 1)

Manufacturer: The Salvador Dali Museum
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000CNQ8G0

Product Description

This "Coffee-Table" book contains and explains 93 oils by Salvador Dali in the worlds largest collection of his serious art.

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Ninety-Three

Manufacturer: Hurst & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000FBV4TU

Dirty Work at the Crossroads; or Tempted, Tried and True: A Gay Nineties Melodrama in Three Acts

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Dirty Work at the Crossroads; or Tempted, Tried and True: A Gay Nineties Melodrama in Three Acts
Bill Johnson
Manufacturer: Samuel French
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KSCYL0

Bright Gems for His Crown: Ninety-three Daily Devotionals to Help Build Qualities of Character in Children

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Bright Gems for His Crown: Ninety-three Daily Devotionals to Help Build Qualities of Character in Children
Maxine Randall
Manufacturer: Essence Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Devotionals | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1553065093

Book Description

Bright Gems for His Crown is designed to help elementary and junior young people love and live for Christ now, and to develop qualities of character that will help them shine for Him. The author seeks to accomplish this with thirty-one topics presented as daily devotionals for the children to do themselves, with each topic presented in a different way for three months. Using simple language, she speaks to the children in a caring and direct manner based on God's Word. Each devotional is accompanied by a response question and an activity for later in the day. The devotionals are also structured so as to provide a forum for parent and child discussions on many issues.

Salvador Dali ... Notes on the Paintings in Our Collections (Ninety-Three Oils 1917-1970)

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Salvador Dali ... Notes on the Paintings in Our Collections (Ninety-Three Oils 1917-1970)
A. Reynolds Morse
Manufacturer: Salvador Dali Museum (Cleveland, OH)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000O0AK5G

Product Description

10"x12"x3/8"

Standard Lesson Commentary Nineteen Ninety-Three Through Ninety-Four

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Standard Lesson Commentary Nineteen Ninety-Three Through Ninety-Four
Standard Publishing
Manufacturer: Standard Publishing Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Africa, Nineteen Ninety Three (Africa (Stryker-Post))

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Africa, Nineteen Ninety Three (Africa (Stryker-Post))

Manufacturer: Stryker-Post Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0943448751

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