The Cichlid: An Owner'S Guide to a Happy Healthy Fish (Happy Healthy Pet)

Book Description

Cichlids are often described as "fish with personality." A favorite of many hobbyists, members of this family include the ubiquitous Angelfish, the colorful Firemouth Cichlid, and the much sought-after Discus and Oscar. Cichlids includes tips on caring for, breeding, and setting up and maintaining a tank. It also presents a thorough overview of the many varieties of Cichlids. It is the perfect resource for the beginner hobbyist, but it is also an essential addition to the library of any expert breeder or keeper.

Customer Reviews:

OK, but not the best.......2007-07-01

the book does a fairly complete job of describing the chemistry of fish tanks (pH, DH or hardness, etc.).

It does an OK job describing the various fish. There is a chapter on Dwarfs, African, and American Ciclids. There are a few pictures. It was an annoyance that she described one particular cichlid as being one of the most beautiful, but didn't include a picture of that one.

Some of the descriptions were more complete than others. Some just had a few sentences. This is a cichlid. It likes this water. It is aggressive during mating. Some had a page long description.

There is a fairly complete chapter on cichlid behavior and the various reasons for aggression. That was a very interesting section.

It's an OK book. I'd give about 3 stars. I would call it a beginner book, except there are several important things missing (like cycling and acclimation). It's not an expert book either because of the general knowledge and the lack of significant species details.

excellent beginner book to cichlids.......2005-10-15

easy to read, excellent introduction to these type of fish, covers the basics of cichild keeping, excellent photographs, touches all aspects of being a cichlid aquarist.....the downside is that each section is very brief, if you desire a more in depth discussion on certain topics you will need to find another book to go along with this one, the other downside is that explanation of different kinds of cichlids is very general and brief...overall, a good beginner book, but much to general for the experiences aquarist

Book Description

Here is a collection of Joe Bayly's best-loved stories: The Gospel Blimp (which sold over 200,000 copies in its original edition); the famous Gooley stories; How Silently, How Silently the classic Christmas Parable; and others.

"A long-overdue, embarrassingly accurate commentary on the feverish futility of too many sincere but pathetically misguided evangelical Christians. The power of this provocatively written, first-person narrative explodes unexpectedly as one breezes through the all-too-familiar situations." Eugena Price, Novelist

Customer Reviews:

Good Evangelical Fiction.......2007-07-04

The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables is a good book to give to thinking evangelical friends. Mr. Bayly makes his points without offending traditional churchgoers. My only major complaint is that Mr. Bayly is too safe and irenic for my taste; I would have preffered a bit of edgy, righteous indignation. That being said, this book is helpful in gently pointing out errors in the contemporary evangelical subculture.

This book will make you think!.......2007-04-04

I'm using this with my high school English class, trying to help them get ideas for their own short stories, and the stories in this book are real discussion starters. Because they are parables, they have a surface meaning, which often causes laughter and ridicule for the strange characters and situations that unfold, but they also have a hidden meaning for the Christian which usually calls for a little uncomfortable soul-searching. It's so much fun to see the light dawn in the eyes of the students as they "get it."

Why doesn't anyone write parables anymore?.......2006-07-05

Joseph Bayly had a unique perspective as a story teller. So often we are told a writer should just tell a story and not try to make a point, but that sure isn't the way Jesus told stories. Bayly understood you could go into a story with the intention of teaching a lesson, and yet still make his characters and his stories rich. The Gospel Blimp is, of course, the main attraction and still has much to teach about mistakes made in evangelism. The two Gooley stories are great fun, poking fun at the uncomfortable balance of being in the world but not of it. How Silently is one of the best stories ever in the "what if Jesus lived in our time" genre. But I think my favorite story in the book is Remembering John, I story that makes it clear why we mustn't forget Joseph Bayly.

Bookblog: The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables.......2006-03-03

From my blog: russreaves.blogspot.com

Looking for a lightweight read to rest my mind over recent days, I picked up The Gospel Blimp and Other Modern Parables by Joseph Bayly. Being one not given to idle thinking, I also thought that this might help me to creatively think God's thoughts after Him as I endeavor to teach seven students at Winston-Salem Bible College in the subject of evangelism. Now, having completed the book I confess to having laughed and cried (sometimes without even turning a page), and having misjudged this book by its whimsical cover -- it is no lightweight read. I had heard about The Gospel Blimp at times before, but I was unfamiliar with its author, the late Joseph Bayly. I was not one of the "thousands of people" who "for over twenty years ... looked forward to his monthly column in Eternity magazine" (back cover). Although I have used some of the fine material published by the David C. Cook company, I did not know that Joseph Bayly had been president of that company before he died.

A little less than half of the book is devoted to its title story, "The Gospel Blimp." This story is humorous, painful, convicting and compelling as it chronicles the adventures of a group of well-intentioned but misguided believers who desire to reach their neighbors for Christ. Rather than being personal witnesses to them, they devise the plan for The Gospel Blimp, a flying billboard which spells out the gospel, announced the saving message through loudspeakers, and blankets the city with tracts dropped from the blimp's lofty heights. And thus begins the misadventures of the IGBI -- International Gospel Blimps, Inc. Without giving too much of the story away, let me just say that their capers strike closely to the nerve of evangelicalism's big business parachurch ministries. And it is not without the scandals that often accompany these ventures. In the end, there is fragmentation at the leadership level, which ends up being the best thing that can happen in the reaching of the lost in that city. This story is an encouragement to us to not look for bigger and better ways to do it, but to just be faithful to the simple personal sharing of the life-changing gospel of Jesus Christ with our friends, our neighbors, and the strangers brought into our lives by the providence of God.

Not all of the "modern parables" are of equal quality, though I would have missed a blessing by putting the book down after the saga of the blimp. The story of Gooley is one of the most creative and refreshing stories I have read in a long time. Gooley is a young man who learned to fly. Not in an airplane, not with some apparatus -- the guy actually learned to just fly. It soon becomes apparent that this is Bayly's parallel to being saved. But rather than teaching fellow students at his secular university the secrets of his flight, Gooley transferred to an "All Flyers School," where the student body had become bored with flying and some had even begun to doubt the authority of Aerodynamic Theory -- the primary text for flying and flyers. It is a great story for Christians to read to keep the fire of their zeal for Christ burning hot.

Picking up on similar themes of "The Gospel Blimp" are the shorter stories of "A Small Happening At Andover" and "Black Gold". "Mayday" is humorous, and "Rehoboam's Gold Shields" is a heartbreaker for Christians who know people who have drifted away and shipwrecked their faith. "How Silently, How Silently" is a convicting look at how we have croweded Christ out of Christmas. I reflected on this story as I drove to Myrtle Beach this past weekend. Somewhere north of Bennetsville, SC on Highway 38, there is a little family cemetery on the right hand side of the road across from what appears to be an abandoned church. Even at 50 miles per hour or so, I was able to make out the name -- one name on every tombstone in that little burial ground: CHRISTMAS. When I saw that, I reflected on "How Silently, How Silently," and said, "Oh Lord, forgive us. We have killed Christmas, and buried it here in a shallow grave in South Carolina. Please resurrect it in the hearts of your people so that we will treasure Christ more than any of these trappings that we often substitute for Him at what should be a very special time of year for Your people." I will try to post the photo of that cemetery I took on the return trip at a later time.

The most painful story of the collection for me was "The Saving Message." Every preacher needs to read this story. Pressed in the strait between knowing the message that he must preach, and knowing the fallout that will result when he does, the preacher of this story wrestles with the recent news in his town and what his responsibility is before God to address it. The conclusion is shocking, alarming, and convicting, because ALL OF US, even the best of us, have been guilty of the same sin as this preacher in the story at some point.

The final chapter of the book is a very good look at the art of the parable. Bayly does not romanticize parables as some are wont to do. Though I do not think that we need to abandon exposition in exchange for story-telling in our day (that apathetic spiritual anorexia that plagues our churches is the consequence of a century of this), I do think that we could enhance our exposition with some very pointed parables told in the style of Jesus and prophets like Nathan.

On the whole, I would recommend The Gospel Blimp to believers who can tolerate a little bit of self-depricating humor and imaginative storytelling. But beware, these are not lightweight tales. They cut like a knife if we read them with ears to hear the message that underlies the engaging characters and their exploits.

"He began to fly again. On campus.".......2004-05-05

Proving that only a true idealist can be a successful cynic, Joseph Bayly's novella and his short stories remain some of the best-written Christian fiction available. Bayly writes amusedly of the religious world and its quirks, free from the sledgehammer moralizing of most of his successors. Part Woody Allen, part Ray Bradbury, Bayly manages to laugh at a great deal that isn't terribly funny until he gets his hooks into it; the title story is a fantastic treatise on evangelizing in bulk, and most Christians will probably spot themselves somewhere in the cast of caricatures. This is a must read for those who are looking for something a little more meaty than the Left Behind books and a little more modern than the Narnia Chronicles.

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Blimp

Blimp
Cavallaro
Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Weight | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Baby-3 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0525671390

Customer Reviews:

Blimp.......2001-11-13

Blimp is about an obese girl named Kim's struggle to raise her self-esteem and lower her weight. Weaved in with Kim's seemingly shallow concerns is Gary. When Kim meets Gary, she knows nothing about him, or his past. As Kim learns more and more about the death of Gary's twin brother and his alchoholic mother, her own story begins to unfold, a story that had remained unknown even to Kim.

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Blimps (True Books: Transportation)
Darlene R. Stille
Manufacturer: Children's Press (CT)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Ages 4-8 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

All 4-for-3 Deals | 4-for-3 Books Store | Stores | Books
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ASIN: 0516261630

Airships: A Popular History of Dirigibles, Zeppelins, Blimps, and Other Lighter-Than-Air Craft

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Airships: A Popular History of Dirigibles, Zeppelins, Blimps, and Other Lighter-Than-Air Craft
Robert Jackson
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Transportation | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Average customer rating:

Hollywood-ho!
Hollywood: listen up!

Roo Kickkick and the Big Bad Blimp
Ryan Gattis
Manufacturer: Sceptre
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0340828331

Customer Reviews:

Hollywood-ho!.......2006-02-02

The cover of the book looks, and reads, like a movie poster, doesn't it? That's kinda because it is.

The book tells the story of how the story of Roo Kickkick, a nice boy from the tiny fictitious town of Bargus, is made into a big-budget Hollywood movie.

The story of Roo is fairly simple - he got badly beaten up by a guy who was a bit of a bad egg; said bad egg and his likewise dubious friend then die in a freak accident involving a runaway blimp, hence the title of the book. Anyway, once the story gets out, Hollywood rushes to make it into a movie, getting all sorts of local people involved to play themselves, or other minor characters, or write the score, and various other items.

The story flits about like a butterfly at times, it must be said. In fairness, it is written from the perspective of a rather lackluster duo, The Twins as a single entity, whom you never get to hear much about other than they were friends with Roo and Thorp and Florence - all the main characters of the novel and subsequent film - and they are fairly run-of-the-mill teenagers, so quite rightly, their attention span is limited and their narrative capability is not always quite Newsweek-quality. The story told is as much about the movie as about the life of Roo, and the life of Bargus the town, complete with dodgy cops, local legendary heroes, local legendary hangouts with wacky names like the Taco Coleslaw Hamburger HotDog Candy-apple, where you can get dubious local specialities and the like.

The book is wacky; the narrative style different, if not distracting at times - character names, for instance, are beyond way-out - and the tale told is outrageously OTT. In fact, one almost can imagine the Hollywood hype-machine warming up were something as unexpected as this to take place. I guess the aim of the novel is satire; however, unlike the equally brilliant This is Spinal Tap mockumentary, it is achieved differently, since the story is not focused on one entity, fly-on-the-wall style.

Because of its style, though, it is a book which is likely to be either a big hit or a bad miss with the reader. If you can get through the synopsis on the back cover without putting it back in disgust, I'd say you have a winner. I found the novel to be brilliantly off-key, delightful in its quirkiness, and a remarkable achievement. I shall look forward to the author's next offering.

Hollywood: listen up!.......2005-08-15

Blimps & U-Boats: U.S. Navy Airships in the Battle of the Atlantic

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Best Book written on WW-II Airships
Complete coverage of USN Lighther-Than-Air in Atlantic WW2

Blimps & U-Boats: U.S. Navy Airships in the Battle of the Atlantic
J. Gordon Vaeth
Manufacturer: Naval Inst Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Naval | Military | History | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Best Book written on WW-II Airships.......2002-01-30

Of all the books written about the participation of U.S. Navy blimps in protecting our convoys and other individual ships during WW-II, this is the most entertaining and authentic book out
there... Gordon Vaeth should know, he was there and did it all.
Never was a ship lost to a German submarine that was escorted by a U.S. Navy blimp. They were always there and the German subs
were truely scared of them. Yes, we did cause the sinking of
several subs, regardless of what others say.

Complete coverage of USN Lighther-Than-Air in Atlantic WW2.......2000-09-10

I knew of Mr.VAETH work thru his National Geographic article about the discovery of the wreckage of USS Macon (a rigid airship capable of launching and recovering aircrafts in flight) off California. I found he was a passionate lover of a forever gone era of silent giants of the skies. This book skips very quickly on the first days of USN airships, just to give an overview of the previous experiences and focuses on the WW2 years. By the way, I'm very fond of experiments and developments in airships from WW1 thru the '30..., nevertheless, I appreciated Mr.VAETH work even if he analyzes a less fascinating moment of LTA history. In this book, indeed, he explains in details the maturity era of airships: mass-produced (relatively to their specific mission), reliables, with a well defined operational doctrine, USN WW2 airships scored a good success. After the maturity, however, the decline was inevitable and, despite some occasional notices of "Airship renaissance", nowadays Blimps are only adverising vehicles. So, like dinosaurs (a big, powerful, mythical, disappeared species) Blimps are full of interest. I reccommend this book to everybody interested in Airships and Naval Aviation history, because it shows a lesser known aspect of antisubmarine warfare, describing training, operations, units and history of men and machines deployed to defend Allied Convoys against German Submarines in the "Battle of Atlantic" patrolling from above.

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The gospel blimp
Joseph Bayly
Manufacturer: Windward Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Spirituality | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007E1M4M

Average customer rating:

Ahh its okay
Great Book for Teen Girls

I Was a 15-Year-Old Blimp
Patti Stren
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

Weight | Issues | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0060260580

Customer Reviews:

Ahh its okay.......2003-02-22

This book was totally good i couldnt put it down i even faked sick to finish it i read it in a day and you could to this book totally get to the point of where teens and the weigh problems are. I think that anyone should pick up a copy now

Great Book for Teen Girls.......2000-06-02

This book really addresses a concept that hits home for many teenaged girls. I strongly recommend that every adolescent girl read it.

Aboard A Blimp Hunting U-Boats; A Day Above The Atlantic Reveals Navy Talk And Navy Ways, Creeping Convoys And Torpedoed Wrecks

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Aboard A Blimp Hunting U-Boats; A Day Above The Atlantic Reveals Navy Talk And Navy Ways, Creeping Convoys And Torpedoed Wrecks
Mason Sutherland
Manufacturer: Kessinger Publishing, LLC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1432594869

Average customer rating:

Never received

Excellent book

My Orchid Bible

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids

Best orchid species encyclopedia - 1100 species!

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Alec Pridgeon
Manufacturer: Timber Press, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Orchids | Flowers | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Reference | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Gardening | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
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Botanica's Orchids: Over 1200 Species (Botanica's Gardening Series) (Botanica's Gardening Series)

Understanding Orchids: An Uncomplicated Guide to Growing the World's Most Exotic Plants

Taylor's Guide to Orchids: More Than 300 Orchids, Photographed and Described, for Beginning to Expert Gardeners (Taylor's Gardening Guides)

Flora's Orchids

The Practical Encyclopedia of Orchids: The Complete Guide to Orchids and Their Cultivation

ASIN: 0881928011

Book Description

This handsome reference, now available in paperback, is sure to delight gardeners with a casual interest in orchids as well as the committed enthusiast and professional. Encompassing a wide spectrum of orchid genera, over 1100 species and hybrids commonly in cultivation are detailed. With an authoritative but accessible text written by acknowledged experts of international renown, the book features all the pertinent topics which guide the reader to an understanding of these wonderful flowers: orchid habitats, distribution, classification, hybrids, pollination, cultivation, and conservation. The alphabetical "Orchids A–Z" section includes descriptions, taxonomy, currently accepted names and synonyms, geographic distribution, notes on culture, and hundreds of color photographs of the best-known species in cultivation.

Customer Reviews:

Never received.......2007-08-23

I never received the book from Amazon. My order was cancelled after I had paid for it. I was refunded. I bought it from someone else and its great. Really good pictures and informative.

Excellent book.......2007-03-08

This is one of the Orchidbooks that anyone who loves orchids should have. Its filled with a lot off information of botanical orchids.

It's one of my favorites.

My Orchid Bible.......2002-11-07

This book is truly my orchid Bible. There is some information about almost everything you want to know orchids. I find this book useful when trying to find the general characteristics of a genus or even to identify a plant by its flower. Many, many pictures, and they are all beautiful. They lack in the growing tips category, but make up with the fairly detailed species descriptions for the species they cover in the book. Hope this is helpful!

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids.......2002-09-05

This is an excellent reference book for orchid collectors. The photographs of the orchids are wonderful, as well as the complementary description. It makes ordering orchids on-line easier as well as purchasing orchids at a nursery.

Best orchid species encyclopedia - 1100 species!.......2002-07-19

Book contains about 298 pages divided into three sections. The sections are Orchid Cultivation & Description (15 pages), Species Encyclopedia (270 pages), and Glossary & Index (13 pages).

The focus of the book is the orchid species encyclopedia. Each orchid is listed with information on genus, tribe, etymology, and a paragraph describing the characteristics of the orchid and its history. About 2/3rds of the species also include a photograph.

Photography is excellent. Hundreds of clear, crisp, and properly identified images fill the book. It is truly an illustrated encyclopedia.

I love this book! It is exactly the kind of reference book I needed. Being new to orchids, I have a difficult time seeing a name in a catalog and relating it to an image of an orchid flower. This book is great, it has helped me discover many new and interesting species. Well, at least they are new to me :-)

My library contains several books on orchid culture that gives me clues to growing the plants. But this book identifies hundreds of genera, and 1100 species. Best orchid species encyclopedia that I've seen. Great reference book!

Average customer rating:
The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Gardening (Volume 13 (Ole to Pep))

Manufacturer: Greystone Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Gardening | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000HYN9I4

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Encyclopedia Of Cultivated Orchids An Illustrated Descriptive Manual of the Members of the Orchidaceae currently in Cultivation
Hawkes Alex D.
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UIGUTM

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Encyclopedia of Cultivated Orchids An Illustrated Descriptive Manual of the Members of the Orchidaceae Currently in Cultivation
Alex D. Hawkes
Manufacturer: Faber and Faber Ltd.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0000CMU41

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Illustrated Encyclopedia of Orchids
Morrison Pridgeon
Manufacturer: Bookpoint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Gardening & Horticulture | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
Gardening | Encyclopedias | Reference | Subjects | Books
Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Jardinería y Horticultura | Hogar y jardinería | Libros en español | Formats | Books
Referencia | Educación | No-Ficción | Libros en español | Formats | Books
ASIN: 0074720635

Book Description

This work is based mainly on documentation preserved in the archives of Umbria. It illustrates the political and socio-economic history of the Jewish community from the second half of the thirteenth century, when Jewish settlement in the region became permanent and continuous, to the expulsion of the Jews in 1569 decreed by Pope Pius V. Umbria was an important geographical and political entity in central Italy during the late Middle Ages and was always linked to the Papal State. The documents provide us with important information that enables us to appreciate correctly the Jews' economic role in the region and their relationships with the political powers (the communes and the popes) and the Mendicant orders. Furthermore, they enlighten us on aspects of the Jews' daily life, and on their relationship with Christian society.

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