The Book of the Sandman and the Alphabet of Sleep

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The Best bedtime story.......2000-06-26

I first ran across this book in a discount bin at the local bookstore. The exquisite illustrations are what caught my eye. Every page is illustrated with some of the most beautiful artwork I have ever seen. It inspires your love of fanstasy and at the same time takes you back to a time when you used to believe in the sandman. I have used this wonderfully captivating book to interest my own son in literature and art while simultaneously helping him learn his alphabet. This is the book that began my love for Poortvliet's work. This is a must have for any lover of the Fanstasy.

The Best bedtime story.......2000-06-26

The Book Of The Sandman And The Alphabet Of Sleep

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The Book Of The Sandman And The Alphabet Of Sleep
Rien Poortvliet
Manufacturer: Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPH8CK

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The Book Of The Sandman And The Alphabet Of Sleep
Wil Huygen
Manufacturer: Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000NPF9HG

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The BOOK Of The SANDMAN And The ALPHABET Of SLEEP.
Rien & Huygen, Wil. Pooryvliet
Manufacturer: Harry Abrams,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MZE5RC

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THE BOOK OF THE SANDMAN AND THE ALPHABET OF SLEEP

Manufacturer: Harry Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H295J8

Book of the Sandman, The & Alphabet of Sleep ( Adventures finding the Sandman and his Secrets. See how " sleeping sand " is mMned, & How the Sandman travels the world every Night )

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Book of the Sandman, The & Alphabet of Sleep ( Adventures finding the Sandman and his Secrets. See how " sleeping sand " is mMned, & How the Sandman travels the world every Night )
122 pgs illustrated in full color, Color endpapers, Editor Joan E. Fisher Text by Wil Huygen - Illustrated by RIEN POORTVLIET
Manufacturer: Publ Harry Abrams
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JD48KQ

Customer Reviews:

beautiful, expressive figuratives........2002-12-01

Born in 1401 at San Giovanni Valdarno, Masaccio moved to Florence when he was 16, and by 19 was already becoming known for his painting.
His first surviving known painting, from 1422, the San Giovenale Triptych, is shown as a whole, and in detail. The harmony between the figures, and the glorious colors, make this a spectacular Madonna and Child, flanked on each side by two saints and an angel.

Masaccio worked with Masolino and Filippino Lippi on the frescoes from the Brancacci Chapel, and the work of all three artists is shown in this book.
My favorite piece is part of the Pisa Polyptych, the "Adoration of the Magi". The delicacy and loveliness of the composition, especially the expressive beauty of the four horses, make this a piece for all to admire and for art students to study.

There is an emotional intensity in his figuratives; in the "Expulsion from the Garden of Eden" one can see Adam and Eve's agony and shame on their faces, and his Jesus in "Tribute Money" is strong and manly.
Masaccio died at the young age of 27, in Rome, as he had just started the Santa Maria Magiore Polyptych; the fresco was finished by his former collaborator, Masolino, and is the final full sized plate in the book.

Book Description

Gorilla recounts in remarkable color photographs the strange and powerful story of the last few hundred members of a nearly extinct species: the famed mountain gorillas of the Virunga volcanoes. These inhabitants of the forested mountain range bordering Rwanda, Uganda, and Zaire, were brought to the attention of the world through last-ditch efforts to preserve their dwindling survival. Told here with rare force and eloquence is the story of a people, the land, the animals, and the environment that struggle to maintain a delicate balance in one remote corner of the earth.

The photographs by Alabama-born adventure photojournalist Michael Nichols were taken during three trips to Africa since 1981. A contract photographer for National Geographic magazine and a former member of Magnum Photos, Nichols is celebrated for stunning color photography, seen in the pages of Geo, Life, Esquire, Travel & Leisure, Stern, Outside, Paris-Match, and the other international magazines. His extraordinary images, both eerie and tender, capture perfectly the fascination of the mountain gorilla.

The authoritative essay by George B. Schaller, Director for Science of Wildlife Conservation International at the New York Zoological Society and author of nine books, including National Book Award winner The Serngeti Lion, summarizes the last two decades in the existence of the gorilla and expands on his own pioneering studies in the late 1960s. Schaller explains how the animals fend off extinction in a beautiful, primitive land, and offers a potent warning of the effects of tampering with a fragile ecosystem.

Since the original publication of this book, the survival of the mountain gorilla-one of the environmental success stories of the world-has been once again thrown into a precarious position due to the unstable political climate in Rwanda. Now more than ever it is important to remember the vital ecological role of these rare animals.

GORILLA: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN THE VIRUNGAS

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GORILLA: STRUGGLE FOR SURVIVAL IN THE VIRUNGAS
George B. Schaller
Manufacturer: Aperture, 1989
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KP5BD6

Book Description

Drawing a completely new road map toward a sustainable future, Jack M. Hollander contends that our most critical environmental problem is global poverty. His balanced, authoritative, and lucid book challenges widely held beliefs that economic development and affluence pose a major threat to the world's environment and resources. Pointing to the great strides that have been made toward improving and protecting the environment in the affluent democracies, Hollander makes the case that the essential prerequisite for sustainability is a global transition from poverty to affluence, coupled with a transition to freedom and democracy.
The Real Environmental Crisis takes a close look at the major environment and resource issues--population growth; climate change; agriculture and food supply; our fisheries, forests, and fossil fuels; water and air quality; and solar and nuclear power. In each case, Hollander finds compelling evidence that economic development and technological advances can relieve such problems as food shortages, deforestation, air pollution, and land degradation, and provide clean water, adequate energy supplies, and improved public health. The book also tackles issues such as global warming, genetically modified foods, automobile and transportation technologies, and the highly significant Endangered Species Act, which Hollander asserts never would have been legislated in a poor country whose citizens struggle just to survive.
Hollander asks us to look beyond the media's doomsday rhetoric about the state of the environment, for much of it is simply not true, and to commit much more of our resources where they will do the most good--to lifting the world's population out of poverty.

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Drawing a completely new road map toward a sustainable future, Jack M. Hollander contends that our most critical environmental problem is global poverty. His balanced, authoritative, and lucid book challenges widely held beliefs that economic development and affluence pose a major threat to the world's environment and resources. Pointing to the great strides that have been made toward improving and protecting the environment in the affluent democracies, Hollander makes the case that the essential prerequisite for sustainability is a global transition from poverty to affluence, coupled with a transition to freedom and democracy. The Real Environmental Crisis takes a close look at the major environment and resource issues--population growth; climate change; agriculture and food supply; our fisheries, forests, and fossil fuels; water and air quality; and solar and nuclear power. In each case, Hollander finds compelling evidence that economic development and technological advances can relieve such problems as food shortages, deforestation, air pollution, and land degradation, and provide clean water, adequate energy supplies, and improved public health. The book also tackles issues such as global warming, genetically modified foods, automobile and transportation technologies, and the highly significant Endangered Species Act, which Hollander asserts never would have been legislated in a poor country whose citizens struggle just to survive. Hollander asks us to look beyond the media's doomsday rhetoric about the state of the environment, for much of it is simply not true, and to commit much more of our resources where they will do the most good--to lifting the world's population out of poverty.

Customer Reviews:

Optimistic but one-sided reframe of planet's plight.......2007-06-23

Rich western nations have done a lot to preserve natural habitats and clean up their air and water. People in poor countries are too busy surviving to worry about the environment, and even if they did, lack the resources to make a difference. This book takes these observations as the basis for a broader hypothesis - the answer to our global environmental crisis lies in the fostering of global affluence. As people get richer the problems of the environment will on the whole sort themselves out. For instance only in the affluent nations have we seen the brakes go on the exponential rise in human populations. The book could also be taken as an antidote to the pessimism that surrounds aspects of the environmental movement. Hollander is relentlessly optimistic. He downplays many of the things that environmentalists worry about like peak oil, the dangers of GM food (a force for good), global warming (current changes may not be secondary to human industrial activity) and over-population (we can feed 10billion with better yields and better distribution).

The problem with Hollander's thesis is that in its optimism it leaves a lot of important considerations unexplored. The word affluence is used throughout but never clearly defined or unpacked. For instance historically the affluence of some tends to depend on the poverty of others. We can't all be affluent - even in the US 15% of its citizens live in "official" poverty. Also though affluence tends to improve local environments it can have the opposite effect at distant out-of-sight locations. Though rainforests get chopped by desperate subsistence farmers they get even more chopped by big firms growing feed crops to raise beef for sale in affluent nations. The polluting industrialists of China are making goods for markets in affluent countries. Hollander concludes "The world's fossil fuel supplies are plentiful. They will neither run out nor become scarce in the foreseeable future". While this may be true for coal it is not true of oil (Hollander doesn't mention important evidence like the artifical hike in purported reserves by OPEC nations in the 1980s) - yet oil is the central commodity underpinning the author's version of Western affluence (including cheap transportation and abundant food).

It is good to be reminded of the environmental dangers of poverty but Hollander is at his best explaining the investments that countries like the US have made in preserving their forests (healthier now than anytime in the last 100 years) and wildlife (implementing the Endangered Species Act has cost billions). The author seems to have quite narrow vision despite his global agenda - I imagine him as happily affluent in a beautiful retirement house in the hills of northern California. But the book feels overly devoted to this ideal with statements such as "earth is not short of cropland - it short of affluence". Only on the topic of road congestion does a sense of pessimism creep in - even hydrogen-powered cars take up space. The book contains surprisingly little direct argumentation around poverty and focuses more on reframes of standard western environmental anxieties such as the role of nuclear, water security and depletion of fish stocks.

It is hard to get excited about affluence, abundance yes, but not affluence. And we need abundance of many things, not only material things, some of which are found in equal or greater abundance amongst the poor.

Very well researched and supported arguments on the subject........2006-08-10

This short book covers a huge amount of ground. In each chapter, the author focuses on a single issue that other authors covered with entire books. If you want to find out more about the oil crisis, global warming, the future of alternative energy, the sustainability of water resources it is all in here.

In each case, the author adopts a most informative approach. He shares with you the data, the scientific foundation, and the environmental outlook. As you read through these chapters, you'll find out we are not likely to run out of oil in the near future. This is because of the combination of increasing energy efficiency and improving technology that renders more geological terrain accessible for oil exploration. Similarly, nuclear energy and alternative energy have still a long way to go to become viable substitute for fossil fuel.

His chapter on global warming is excellent. I have studied several books and analyzed data on this subject. And, the author in just little over 20 pages covered this complex topic extremely well. His conclusion is far less dramatic than the media's. Most of global warming is due to natural long term climate oscillation. The rise in anthropogenic CO2 is unlikely to destabilize our climate. A potential rise of a couple of degrees is unlikely to hurt our ecosystems. Global warming has not been associated with a more volatile climate including rising occurrence of extreme events (tornadoes, hurricanes, etc...). Climate models, so far, are extremely poor predictors of climate parameters be it precipitation or temperature.

The author makes an interesting case that environment deterioration is associated with poverty. Some reviewers of this book argue the opposite, that environment deterioration is caused by the more affluent societies who exploit resources without enough environmental concern. They further argue that as the billions of Indians and Chinese individuals become more affluent, they will in turn exploit the environment to its detriment. The author's argument is founded on his three stages of development. The first one is associated with third world countries relying mainly on wood burning for fuel. The second one is industrialization associated with pollution and little environmental concern. The third one is advanced technology associated with the information age, greater energy efficiency, greater environmental protection that comes with affluence. He makes the case that third world countries have the opportunity to leapfrog the second stage (polluting industrialization) and reach out to the third stage (information technology).

Overall, I found this book easy to read, very informative, and interesting. Environmental activists who may disagree with him will have to accept that his opinions are well founded. Each of his arguments are well supported by references to peer reviewed scientific papers.

The Economic Foundations of Environmental Integrity.......2004-03-03

As I have pointed out in my reviews of this important book (in ENVIRONMENT magazine and in POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT REVIEW), Hollander provides badly-needed balance and perspective to contentious issues of environmental quality and resource adequacy -- issues that, all too often, are drowned out in a swirl of dogmatic and ideological rhetoric and posturing, to which neither the political left or right are immune. The author addresses topics critical to a sorting out of the many strands entering into the environment-resources-economic growth debate: population, agriculture, air quality, energy, transportation, among others. Although the author believes that environmental progress and threats to resource abundance aren't nearly as dire as sometimes depicted, there are indisputably major challenges to be confronted. But improved management, emerging technologies, market incentives, and reforms in governance (especially in developing countries, where many environmental and resource dilemmas will manifest themselves in the years to come) can all contribute to a more reassuring future.

No book can escape some critical dissent. While I agree that rising income typically gives rise, in turn, to a demand for enhanced environmental amenities, it can also make the solution of some problems -- say, traffic congestion -- less tractable. And my "precautionary" instincts would probably have me move more aggressively on dealing with the possibility of climatic disruption than Hollander. Overall, however, this book -- judiciously melding natural and social science, and eloquently written, to boot -- is one I can unhesitatingly recommend.

Joel Darmstadter
Economist
Resources for the Future
Washington DC

Dangerous.......2004-01-13

Despite some very important and true points, The Real Environmental Crisis has the potential to be a dangerous book.

The volume's central argument -- that the environment can be improved by eliminating or reducing poverty -- does at least in part stand to reason. Several important environment-related issues (e.g., water and air quality, deforestation, and over population) clearly improve in countries as they become wealthier. And while I'm not sure I agree with author Jack Hollander's claim that fighting poverty may be the single most important environmental step available to us, it is certainly among the most important steps.

But the idea that poverty is responsible for all of our environmental ills is a simple-minded and counter-productive argument. If that were so, how does one explain that 80 percent of the world's greenhouse gasses (which most scientists link to global warming) are produced by only 25 wealthy and industrialized countries? How many developing countries have had nuclear reactor accidents? Why are cancer rates higher in wealthy nations? What percentage of the world's bunker fuels (toxic transport-related pollution, mostly from jet airplanes) is released by groups based in Africa, Latin America, or unindustrialized Asia?

Even taking all of that into account, the scale is tilted even more toward the environmental culpability of wealthy nations than is apparent. Witness the biggest environmental disasters of the last generation: Shell in Nigeria, Dow Chemical in India, and Texaco in Ecuador, to name three. They all took place in the developing world, true, but only with the money, technology, and personnel paid for by companies from wealthy countries.

The most damning evidence against Mr. Hollander's thesis may be related to climate change. It is accurate to say that the developing world burns unfiltered fossil fuels, which, gram for gram, release more CO2 into the atmosphere than natural gas, refined petroleum, or even coal. But how many small fires designed to keep a family warm during a cold desert night are needed to balance out the smelters and factories of Pittsburgh, Manchester, or Turin? Yes, the third world is still using polluting leaded gasoline that most wealthy countries outlawed a decade ago, but does anyone think that all the old cars on the streets of Havana or Nairobi can produce the same pollution in a week that a single hour of traffic on the highways of Los Angeles or Hong Kong releases into the atmosphere?

Of course, poverty issues must be addressed, but addressing them will not produce an environmental panacea. In fact, it would likely do the opposite: the quickest route to wealth for most poor countries is a rapid industrialization, simply because that takes advantage of cheap labor and it sidesteps the need for a widely educated workforce. But that route usually involves the purchase of outdated equipment, the use of cheep (and usually polluting) fuel sources. And third-world governments bent on industrialization rarely have a desire to pass and enforce environmental rules.

There are important areas where eliminating poverty would help the environment: wealthier farmers are more likely to rotate crops to assure the long-term viability of the land (and give less reason for deforestation) and less likely to pollute the water supply with harmful fertilizers. Population growth rates are lower in rich countries because children cease being an economic asset (free labor) and start to become an economic cost (another person to feed and clothe). And of course there is the incontrovertible injustice of those of us in wealthy countries doing nothing while millions around the world are at risk of starvation.

But framing this in an environmental context is just wrong. Not only is it inaccurate, but it can also be spun into a dangerous diverting tactic, an excuse for rich countries to do nothing about their own environmental sins and instead point a gnarled finger at the Third World and claim those countries must act first.

A Lucid, Educated and Focused Book.......2003-08-22

Jack Hollander has managed to write a book that is not only informative but also speaks to the general public. In an age where environmentalism has turned into either an intellectual debate (nobody can understand it) or a political agenda (nobody cares to understand it), Hollander has brushed aside the traditional jargon and the conventional perspective to find the underlying problem that plagues our planet and its environment. Writing with ease on all environmental subjects, from global warming to fossil fuels to agriculture, Hollander provides a solid and strong argument that poverty is the world's worst environmental problem. The text is lucid and reads like a novel, as it was intended to appeal to intellectuals and laymen alike. Yet the author goes well beyond rhetoric--he backs his arguments up with accurate data and appropriate evidence from reliable sources. Hollander doesn't just provide optimism for the future; he lays down a framework on which that optimism is based. For the avid environmentalist, this book should be read if only to get a different perspective based not on rhetoric, but on hard facts. For the layman, like me, this book will clarify the environmental debate that has been making headline news since the 70's and will continue well into the future.

Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice.(The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is the Environment's Number One Enemy)(Book ... Journal of the American Planning Association

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Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice.(The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is the Environment's Number One Enemy)(Book ... Journal of the American Planning Association
Nicholas D. Martyniak
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of the American Planning Association, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2006. The length of the article is 977 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Moral and Political Reasoning in Environmental Practice.(The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, Is the Environment's Number One Enemy)(Book Review)
Author: Nicholas D. Martyniak
Publication: Journal of the American Planning Association (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 72 Issue: 1 Page: 129(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Poverty and pollution.(Book Review): An article from: Regulation

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Poverty and pollution.(Book Review): An article from: Regulation
S. Fred Singer
Manufacturer: Cato Institute
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Regulation, published by Cato Institute on September 22, 2003. The length of the article is 1598 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Poverty and pollution.(Book Review)
Author: S. Fred Singer
Publication: Regulation (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2003
Publisher: Cato Institute
Volume: 26 Issue: 3 Page: 68(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, is the Environment's Number One Enemy.: An article from: Ethics & International Affairs

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The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, is the Environment's Number One Enemy.: An article from: Ethics & International Affairs
Dale Jamieson
Manufacturer: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Ethics & International Affairs, published by Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs on April 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1095 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: The Real Environmental Crisis: Why Poverty, Not Affluence, is the Environment's Number One Enemy.
Author: Dale Jamieson
Publication: Ethics & International Affairs (Refereed)
Date: April 1, 2004
Publisher: Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs
Volume: 18 Issue: 1 Page: 105(2)

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