Book Description
s a field biologist, Heather Heying has been to some of the most remote, creature-filled places on the globe. But nothing she had previously experienced quite prepared her for the three seasons she spent in Madagascar studying poisonous frogs. An anciet island, it is also a scientists paradisealmost all of the wildlife there is endemic. However, Madagascars society is almost as unique as its nature. Language and cultural barriers, combined with bureaucratic red tape, can make it a scientists worst nightmare. Through anecdotes that are in turn hilarious, insightful, and beautiful, Heather recounts her adventuresfrom run-ins with naked sailors and unusually hostile lemurs to tropical hurricanes and greedy tourist entrepreneurs. As she carefully navigates a path through many obstacles, she not only reaches a gradual understanding of her place as a female Westerner in a foreign society, but reaffirms her intense love for and desire to save the stunning wildlife that surrounds her there.
Customer Reviews:
Transporting.......2007-08-20
A writer who can transport someone from the hard concrete unnatural world of NYC to a bambo well thousand of miles away in a remote tropical forrest has to be one I love! Really loved the connection to nature this brought for me. I'd love to read another travel log of Ms. Heyings.
A great look at Malagasy culture from a western viewpoint........2005-07-19
This book is focuses on what it's like for a western biologist (herpetologist) to go to Madagascar to study frogs. Heather Heying has a wonderful way with words that creates vibrant images of what she saw, heard, and felt while living there. Most of the focus is on cultural issues, including her own culture shock. Wildlife is used as a means of conveying her experiences and the experiences of the Malagasy people, not as the thrust or purpose of the book. I highly recommend this if you are at all interested in the people of Madagascar. This is a very well-written, engaging account.
A great read.......2003-12-08
Heying is a terrific writer and a keen observer of the world around her. She has traveled to Madagascar to research the behavior of tiny poisonous frogs but finds herself equally challenged by the strange behavior of the island's human inhabitants. The book is a thoughtful exploration of the predicament faced by forest creatures, the Malagasy people, and ultimately, the author herself. For those not lucky enough (or brave enough) to live in a remote tropical forest, this book provides a vivid portrait of the experience.
Book Description
For many young nature lovers, observing, catching, and studying wood-land frogs and toads represents their first exposure to wildlife. Now the world of these homely yet intriguing creatures is explored, with beautiful, full-color biologically-accurate illustrations. The accompanying text describes each species, from the plain backyard animals we're all familiar with to their colorful and exotic relatives.
Customer Reviews:
A great guide to frogs and toads for the young reader........2004-06-05
This is a simple small book for young readers and those just becoming acquainted with my favorite amphibians, frogs and toads. It is a good size to fit in your pocket. It is not a regional guide though. It includes frogs and toads from around the world. This book would be great for the middle school student working on a frog project. The drawings are bright and beautiful, but I do wonder how realistic they are. Photos may have been more realistic but I enjoyed the colored drawings. This is a great addition to any animal lovers library.
Book Description
A captivating adventure about life's mysteries, The Golden Frog follows the friendship of two boys in a series of enchanted childhood summers . . . and beyond. Though each pursues his own quest for truth, Bruce and Nathanial's paths entwine throughout their lives. Witnessing Nathanial's remarkable journey from ordinary to extraordinary, Bruce is changed forever.
Customer Reviews:
Possibly the best book I ever read..........2005-09-11
I was suffering from a deep depression brought on by situational stresses....this book pulled me completely out of it.
I'm still feeling quite well and optimistic. I have read many books of this genre and this is the best by far.
REVOLUTIONARY.......2005-04-01
This is a spiritual teacher destined for the history books. His teachings will change the planet. This book is the work of a true Enlightened Master quietly saying hey-i'm over here.
READ CAREFULLY
The art of the novel meets the meaning of life.......2004-10-25
Throughout history, spiritual thinkers have turned to the art of the story to convey their experience. Jesus used parables, the Torah came to us as narration, and THE GOLDEN FROG sings us an aria tuned to the symphony of instruments contained in the orchestra of life. Michael Mamas introduces us to characters so real we can't help but recognize pieces of ourselves in each of them. He takes us on a journey, down a river, where two childhood friends navigate the waters of existence. Though they each tack toward opposite shores, both are driven by the same divine current -- a desire to delve deeper into the understanding of what it means to be human. There are many reasons to read this book, and even more to reread it!
Answers for seekers of Truth.......2004-10-22
The Golden Frog is an inspiring look at the growth of two men, one who knows there is more to life than what you get in school. And one who is helped to that discovery... And it shows that there are people out there to help each of us along on our journeys. I loved the book!
A HEARTWARMING STORY.......2004-10-22
This book took me back to my childhood and those special memories, reminded me of the joy of a special friendship and inspired me when I looked at the changes in Bruce and Ashley's relationship. It is a thought provoking, heartwarming story and I recommend you buy it and discover for yourself the magic that is within us all.
Amazon.com
Marty Crump, adjunct professor of biology at Northern Arizona University and conservation fellow of the Wildlife Conservation Society, has tromped through many a rain forest and hunkered in many a swamp during her 31 years of herpetological field research. In her travels through Ecuador, Argentina, Costa Rica, and Brazil, she's studied harlequin frogs, golden toads, and predaceous tadpoles; encountered conga ants, electric eels, and bushmaster vipers; and dined on rat, parrot, and guinea pig. Her memoir, begun as a gift for her children, is now a treat for anyone with a taste for travel, nature, and a story well told.
Crump's tone is always friendly, never pompous, and the vivid details provide for the best sort of armchair travel, where you can almost (but happily, not quite) feel the oppressive humidity, taste the decayed banana wine, and smell the fetid vegetation, while picturing the astonishing glories of "over one hundred Day-Glo golden orange toads poised like statues, dazzling jewels against the dark brown mud."
She juggled the rigors of fieldwork with the demands of motherhood, learning to express milk for her 6-week-old infant Karen while hiking in the rain to study frogs in the lush mountains of Costa Rica. Her field experience has certainly contributed to her herpetological expertise (not for nothing was she honored with the Distinguished Herpetologist Award), but it has also created a bountiful supply of exceptional travel stories. Crump has combined her choicest stories with ample herpetological annotation, creating a unique collection of travel tales liberally spiced with naturalist lore. --Stephanie Gold
Book Description
Marty Crump has searched for salamanders along the Amazon River; she has surveyed amphibians and reptiles in hostile Huaorani Indian territory; she has been stung by a conga ant and had run-ins with an electric eel, a boa constrictor, and a bushmaster viper. In the course of her travels she has dined, not always eagerly, on wild rat, parrot, guinea pig, and chicken foot soup. And for those among us who prefer our experiences to be vicarious and far away from biting insects, venomous snakes, and inhospitable surroundings, she has written In Search of the Golden Frog.
The book is a detailed and fascinating chronicle of Crump's adventures as a field biologist—and as a wife and mother—in South and Central America. Following Crump on her research trips through Costa Rica, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile, we learn of amazingly diverse landscapes, equally diverse national traditions and customs, and the natural history of her subject of study, the frog. In leading us through rain forests and onto windswept coasts, Crump introduces us to such compelling creatures as female harlequin frogs, who pounce on males and pound their heads against the ground, and also sounds an alarm about the precipitous decline in amphibian populations around the globe.
Crump's perspectives as both a scientist and a mother, juggling the demands of family and professional life, make this highly readable account of fieldwork simultaneously close to home and wildly exotic. A combination of nature writing and travel writing, the richly illustrated In Search of the Golden Frog will whet travelers' appetites, affirm the experiences of seasoned field biologists, and offer the armchair naturalist vivid descriptions of amphibians and their habitats.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent Biological Tourism!.......2004-05-17
This book was great if you are interested in exploring the tropics through the eye of an academic. It was interesting to see how the world of academia has changed since Crump was a graduate student.
I liked this book because Crump teaches interested tidbits about the life of amphibians and tropical ecology interwoven with her stories of fieldwork. It was great to learn how Crump deals with the challenges of motherhood and fieldwork at the same time.
I thought everything about this book was great, but could see how some might think this book is a little dry if you aren't into biology. Other than that, the only reason this book did not receive 5 stars is because the ending just sorta leaves the reader with a giant question mark.
Excellent Biological Tourism!.......2004-01-15
This book was great if you are interested in exploring the tropics through the eye of an academic. It was interesting to see how the world of academia has changed since Crump was a graduate student.
I liked this book because Crump teaches interested tidbits about the life of amphibians and tropical ecology interwoven with her stories of fieldwork. It was great to learn how Crump deals with the challenges of motherhood and fieldwork at the same time.
I thought everything about this book was great, but could see how some might think this book is a little dry if you aren't into biology. Other than that, the only reason this book did not receive 5 stars is because the ending just sorta leaves the reader with a giant question mark.
Mire through the Muck with Marty Crump.......2000-09-26
This is my pick for favorite nature/travelogue of the year. As a cube dwelling computer jockey who enjoys getting out in the field whenever possible, I was able to savor the excitement of field herpetology in the verdant green and brown neotropics with Dr. Crump. After reading "In Search of the Golden Frog", I want to go a froggin', I want to lift a log, I want to wallow in a bog, and most of all, I want to help conserve the wonders of the amphibian world. Dr. Crump's autobiography supplies the reader with an entertaining account of adventures in the field while encouraging involvement in preserving both local and global eco-systems which sustain these veritable princes of herpetofauna. Read it, enjoy it, and help preserve it !!
My search for the golden frog.......2000-09-08
After having finished reading "In Search of the Golden Frog" by Martha Crump one will realize the opportunities that arise from extensive field work and hard work. This well written journal like story covering a period of 30 or so years of Martha's life describes her early experiences as a young undergrad student working in the tropics to a highly recognized researcher with a family. Martha's great interest and enjoyment in field work and discovery is so apparent in her tales, I couldn't put the book down until I found out what she was doing to this present day. One who has shared similar field experiences will find the detailed descriptions uniquely parallel to that of their own stories. Martha tells of a journey that has lead her to many interesting discoveries but only through time, patience and the desire to handle the difficulties of field work. Martha tells of the troubles and treasurable memories of travelling throughout both Central and South America in search of the creatures she finds most fascinating. Fortunately, in her journey she has also unfolded the nessesity to concentrate on the declining numbers of certain amphibian species. I recommend the book to any individual interested in field work and conservation. The book shares true experiences any field biologist will someday fall upon, preparing those willing to follow in Martha's footsteps.
Average customer rating:
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My Little Book of Frogs
Golden Books
Manufacturer: Golden Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 General
| Ages 9-12
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0307024741
Release Date: 1999-12-31 |
Average customer rating:
- Great Gift for newborn baby
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Frog - Nature Shapes (Nature Shape)
Golden Books
Manufacturer: Golden Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Board book
Zoology
| Science, Nature & How It Works
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Baby-3
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Literature
| Children's Books
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0307132501
Release Date: 1993-10-15 |
Customer Reviews:
Great Gift for newborn baby.......2001-09-27
Shaped like a frog this makes a great baby shower gift and new born baby gifts. Decorate the package with this book on top instead of a bow. Children love the Frog shape. Mothers will delight in the size of the book. Great to throw in the diaper bag for moments of enjoyment waiting at the Doctors office or other appointments with little one. Having the hardboard pages little ones can easily learn to turn the pages.
Book Description
cclaimed by science fiction writers like Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker, and by eminent futurists and digital visionaries like Howard Rheingold, Mitch Kapor, and Jeff Bezos, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a wonderful tour de force, the alternately edgy and charming tale of youngJules's coming of age in a world that has conquered scarcity and death. The 'Magic Kingdom' of the title is the same one you're thinking of.For in this future, the great theme parks of the 20th Century are maintained by ardent artistic preservationists, who fight bitter battles over the most appropriate way to keep them going. Now a new group has taken over the Hall of the Presidents-and they've had Jules killed. This upsets him. (It's only his fourth death and revival, after all.) Now it's war-a war of shifting reputations and technical wizardry for the soul of the Magic Kingdom itself.
Download Description
The debut novel from 2000's winner of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.
Customer Reviews:
Free SF Reader.......2007-09-03
I will admit to being biased, I can't stand Disneyland, so that left me predisposed to dislike this book. As it turned out, that bit wasn't too horrible, but plenty of fetishising of a place you have to pay me to go to.
The society parts are interesting, where reputation is everything, and there is no need to work for subsistence as such, and you can check people's reputation on a network as it ebbs and flows.
Personality backup is also available, and there is the odd slaying in this book.
It also seems a bit like ghosts of ex girlfriends are haunting Doctorow here.
Quirky and fun.......2007-08-23
Fun, quirky, characters are complex enough to be interesting. I've read a LOT of science fiction (probably well over 1,000 books) and I enjoyed this. Was it earth-shatteringly meaningful and thought-provoking? No. But it was fun to read.
Short and Rich.......2007-07-21
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is a short novel, only just clocking up two hundred pages. This is an entirely welcome thing at a time when twice that length seems to have become a bare minimum. It's quick and snappy, pared of all flab. It is not, though it has often been called it, a fun book. This perception is probably due to Doctorow's sprightly, bantering style. The story itself however is concerned with betrayal and mental breakdown. In this, Paul Di Filippo is right on the money when he identifies Doctorow as being aligned with the axis of serious jocularity (he could also have been describing himself.)
Cory Doctorow meshes all of these outlandish ideas into a novel of power and skill. His story is told on many levels, with a surprising complexity and the perfect touch of humor. Like all good science fiction, Doctorow tackles the issues of today, tomorrow. Morality, cloning, socialism, poverty, right to die, freedom of choice, pratfalls of hubris, and the cult of celebrity are all explored in what may be the best debut science-fiction novel since Neuromancer.
Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom is not for everyone. If you prefer your literature linear or your ideas staid, then give this one a pass. Using the tropes of the genre to blaze a new path, it showcases the talents and skills that popular literature needs to survive and thrive in the 21st century.
read this guy.......2007-06-29
read Cory Doctorow. anything and everything. this guy rocks. he takes science fiction to the next level, reality as it may be and probably will be but might not be or could be already.
Love the future, but Cory's got some Tinkerbell dust in his eyes.......2007-03-09
Cory Doctorow is a fascinating guy. He's a digital-rights activist and co-creator of the fantastic blog Boing Boing, so anyone interested in the topical theme of the intersection of art, digital management and public domain should read this book.
Besides being well written, Doctorow offers an optimistic outlook on the 22nd century (complete with immortality, peace on earth and shared wealth/post scarcity), all using technology that is either currently available or right around the corner. That's pretty exciting stuff.
What's not so great is that he sets much of it in Disneyland, a corporation that has become a metaphor for homogenized cultural banality. Let's face it, Disneyland doesn't represent the best society has to offer - either as a company or on the artistic front.
That being said, overall I think Doctorow's book is definitely worth reading. He's just a little kooky on the mouse, that's all I'm saying.
Average customer rating:
- Makes a wild idea plausible
- Great Potential
- Idea-driven SF
- Good Read, worth visiting
- This is a terrible book. Skip it.
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Thrice Upon A Time
James P. Hogan
Manufacturer: Baen
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Hogan, James P.
| ( H )
| Authors, A-Z
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Adventure
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
High Tech
| Science Fiction
| Science Fiction & Fantasy
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
-
Voyage From Yesteryear
-
Cradle of Saturn
-
The Two Faces Of Tomorrow
-
Paths to Otherwhere
-
Star Child
ASIN: 0671319485
Release Date: 2000-10-31 |
Book Description
SOS FROM A FUTURE THAT WILL NEVER BE
It's amazing enough when Murdoch Ross's brilliant grandfather invents a machine that can send messages to itself in the past or the future. But when signals begin to arrive without being sent, Murdoch realizes that every action he takes changes the future that would have been...and that the world he lives in has already been altered!
Then a new message arrives from the future: The world is doomed!
Customer Reviews:
Makes a wild idea plausible.......2004-05-31
Thrice Upon a Time is my first Hogan book, but I have followed up by ordering more. Time travel is a favorite topic of mine. I've read so many I've lost count. This one stands out in that it is very heavy on science and theory. If you like to ponder the possibilities and ramifications of communication across time, this book will appeal to you as it did to me. It has an excellent treatment of the paradox dilemma. One guage I use to measure a time travel novel is believability...Hogan has managed to be creative while at the same time presenting a plausible scenario. The consequences of altering the future are explored in a satisfying (and believable) manner. Those reviewers who found the book dull are not people who have spent a great deal of time pondering the theories. The book involves the reader in trying to figure out the theory, because once the ability to send communication back in time is discovered, the next step is figuring out how it's done and how the paradox situations fit into the equation. The true nature of time is explored thoroughly. It is not a book of rip-roaring action, but definitely a book for those who are enthralled by the idea of communication through time. I found it immensely satisfying.
Great Potential.......2003-04-30
This book starts with a lot of potential, but unfortnately the author gets bogged down in ad infinitum descriptions and details of the "science and theory" of his device that is the heart of the story, and the real story gets lost. I thought this book was written in 2000, but it was actually first copyrighted in 1980, so the science is somewhat outdated. His later books are better, such as The Legend That Was Earth.
Idea-driven SF.......2002-08-15
One of the things I like about James P. Hogan's fiction is that it's so largely idea-driven. He makes plausible projections from present-day science and uses them as the basis for a story (which generally includes the story of the discovery of the scientific principles at issue).
This is one of my favorites. In it, Hogan explores a mind-blowingly cool scientific concept: what if it were possible for information to travel from the future to the past?
"Classic" SF treatments of time-travel themes leave something to be desired -- even Robert A. Heinlein's fine short story "By His Bootstraps," which depends for its success on several narrative tricks that work in the story but aren't very realistic elsewhere. (The protagonist has to relive the same series of events several times, from different points of view, without really being able to _make decisions_ as this happens.) Others allow the possibility of changing the past but allege that _actually_ changing it would somehow make the universe go blooey. A few allow the past actually to be changed but don't explain how it's possible (in particular ducking the obvious paradoxes).
So Hogan started from scratch and tried to provide a plausible scientific basis for his own tale. And what he came up with was a way that information from the future _can_ change the past -- with, let's say, _very_ interesting consequences for his characters, including a host of brand new moral problems and hard choices. As I suggested above, the story is (like most "hard" SF) fundamentally idea-driven rather than character-driven, but Hogan's characters are believable and interesting all the same.
If you enjoy this sort of thing, you'll also want to read his later novel _Paths To Otherwhere_ for exploration of the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics. And check out _The Proteus Operation_ for yet another fascinating twist on the time-travel/changing-the-past theme.
Good Read, worth visiting.......2001-09-04
I've read this book twice. Once when I was younger, and again recently. It was what I would consider a Good book. Hogan always seems to turn out an entertaining book, a book worth reading, but not a Snow Crash. I could read this book again when its turn comes up. Worth buying and reading.
This is a terrible book. Skip it........2001-08-23
Mankind, through stupidity and misuse of science has destroyed the world. Hogan gives this hackneyed and, unfortunately, nearly ubiquitous science fiction premise only a slight spin by contriving a story in which Man wipes himself out not merely once but twice simultaneously.
The "science" in this science fiction story is not true speculation but Star Trek style technobabble. The "characters" are wooden puppets carried along by annoying, cliche-filled naturalistic dialog. The "dramatization" appears to have been edited out and replaced by long-winded, repititious exposition. There is virtually no sign of a plot for at least the first 100 pages. The plot, such that it exists, would be nearly invisible were it not for the frequent diversions into totally irrelevant, meaningless patches of dialog that seem to go on for pages at a time.
This story might have made a passable novelette or short-novella, but at novel length it is too much to bear.
Average customer rating:
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THRICE UPON A TIME
Manufacturer: Del Rey
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000HQNUP4 |
Average customer rating:
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Thrice Upon a Time
James P. Hogan
Manufacturer: New York: Ballantine Books, 1984
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LVHU06 |
Average customer rating:
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Thrice upon a Time (New Canadian Novelists Series)
Genni Gunn
Manufacturer: Quarry Press (CN)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Poetry
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Canadian
| World Literature
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Mystery & Thrillers
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0919627811 |
Book Description
Forty-three stimulating essays to help you discern, celebrate, and express your hidden potential and reverse limiting thought patterns.
Customer Reviews:
A great essay collection.......2006-02-11
Short essays on many uplifting subjects presented with a "new thought" bent. Wonderful for daily readings.
Life is a Celebration.......2002-02-13
Religion, or, put it in other words, a living connection with God, have nothing to do with doom and gloom. It is not about repression of ourselves - it is about an expression of all the good things that God put in us. It is not about boredom of outworn dogmas and traditions - it is about discovering life as it is, in all of its beauty.
In this book, Eric Butterworth, one of the best Unity authors (he was called by someone a "modern-day Emerson"), shows to you some practical ways how you can turn your life into a celebration through using of the spiritual principles. Our life is what we make it through our choices, and this book will be for you a wonderful guide in making the right choices and developing the right attitudes, the ones that will make you truly happy.
Some of Eric Butterworth's writings were translated by me into the Russian language.
Books:
- Baghdad Journal: An Artist in Occupied Iraq
- Balling the Jack: A Novel
- Beginner's Shona (Chishona) (Hippocrene Beginner's)
- Blessed are the Merciful (Mail Order Bride Series #4)
- Bluesman: A Novel
- Bombingham
- Bruges-La-Morte (Atlas Press)
- Checkpoint: A Novel
- Chinese Takeout: A Novel
- Ciudad De Dios / City of God (Andanzas) (Andanzas)
Books Index
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Madagascar Wildlife, 2nd: A Visitor's Guide
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