Getting to Know Your Puppy

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Getting to Know Your Puppy
Gill Page
Manufacturer: TFH Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0793812003

I Am Your Puppy (Getting to Know Your Pet)

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Good Dog

I Am Your Puppy (Getting to Know Your Pet)
Gill Page
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill Children's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Literature | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0613749294

The Japanese dry landscape garden has long attracted—and long baffled—viewers from the West. While museums across the United States are replicating these "Zen rock gardens" in their courtyards and miniature versions of the gardens are now office decorations, they remain enigmatic, their philosophical and aesthetic significance obscured. Reading Zen in the Rocks, the classic essay on the karesansui garden by French art historian François Berthier, has now been translated by Graham Parkes, giving English-speaking readers a concise, thorough, and beautifully illustrated history of these gardens.

Berthier's guided tour of the famous garden of Ryoanji (Temple) in Kyoto leads him into an exposition of the genre, focusing on its Chinese antecedents and affiliations with Taoist ideas and Chinese landscape painting. He traces the roles of Shinto and Zen Buddhism in the evolution of the garden and also considers how manual laborers from the lowest classes in Japan had a hand in creating some of its highest examples. Parkes contributes an equally original and substantive essay which delves into the philosophical importance of rocks and their "language of stone," delineating the difference between Chinese and Japanese rock gardens and their relationship to Buddhism. Together, the two essays compose one of the most comprehensive and elegantly written studies of this haunting garden form.

Reading Zen in the Rocks is fully illustrated with photographs of all the major gardens discussed, making it a handsome addition to the library of anyone interested in gardening, Eastern philosophy, and the combination of the two that the karesansui so superbly represents.

Praise for the French edition:

"A small book of rare depth, remarkably illustrated, on one of the most celebrated and beautiful rock gardens of the monasteries of Kyoto."—L'Humanité

"Through Le Jardin de Ryoanji, Berthier teaches us to read the zen in the rocks, to discover the language offered by the garden at Ryoanji. Enigmatic, poetic, and disconcerting, an enriching journey through a work of art of surprising modernity, Le Jardin de Ryoanji is a work that will interest all the amateurs of Japanese art and Eastern philosophy."—Lien Horticole

Zen - Without the Wait!
You get a 64 page book which details the semi-ancient techniques of The Art of the Bonsai Potato.

Rich in history: "within a 24-hour period all of the trees 'leapt from their pots like (untranslatable Chinese simile).' The growth spurt killed the entire ruling class as their palaces collapsed upon them."

Pragmatic: "(research) found that by using potatoes not only could you create astonishing (bonsai) in months rather than decades, but the plants did not require re-potting, fertilizer or even water. The Art of the Bonsai Potato was born."

This kit also contains a state-of-the-art, full-scale replica of an actual Bonsai Potato altar and a package of non-reflective irregular geo-particulate support medium.

Everything you need to achieve patience and inner peace FAST! All you supply is the potato!

Everyone knows ponds are beautiful to look at. But most people don’t realize how beneficial they are—enhancing your well-being, cleansing and controlling the environment, humidifying dry air, and removing airborne pollutants. This focus on the healthful and spiritual advantages of both indoor and outdoor water-features is what makes this pond building guide so unique. Of course, it delves into all the construction basics with a stunning variety of lavish images, and explains how to stock the pond with fish, select plants, and install atmospheric lighting. But it also includes delightful personal stories from the author that illustrate the power of water, thought-provoking quotations and parables, and scientific analyses of exactly how water neutralizes negative effects on our body and mind.

These inspirational meditations will reconnect you with the earth, water, wildlife and natural forces of the seasons to create harmony and tranquility within both you and your garden.

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Zen and the Art of Gardening.
GILL HALE
Manufacturer: See notes
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000RQRV2W

While many parents will find this book a bit controversial, I think once they read the contents for what it is, it will in fact help them to decide what they want to tell a child and when. It is my understanding that this is a guide for parents to help them answer questions, so that is my word of caution to parents.

Each parent will have to decide what they want to tell a child or what they don't want to tell them. I do not advise this book for reading with a child. It is way too detailed for the earlier ages. Plus, don't you want your child to think you really know all this information and look up to you with great awe. I am joking, but really some of the information presented was a bit much to tell a child.

The sections on sex are very graphic and tell all. Now that you are all pulling out your credit cards.....shall I go on? Well on a more serious note, do I want my children to know the mechanics of sex if I want them to abstain until they are married. Then on the other hand, do I want my child to be prepared to fight off a molester? Yes! So, what do I tell a child at a young age so they are safe. That is the trick question and this book will help parents to know what to tell a child and at what age. This book deals with very difficult issues, ones that even adults don't want to deal with, like divorce.

It is sad that children can't grow up in a perfect world and what is a parent to do when their child comes home with questions about life as they know it. In this day and age, children sometimes have to learn "survival skills." Subjects like drugs and alcohol are things you have to discuss with a child in order to protect them from getting physically harmed. Dr. Miriam Stoppard has a very open policy. She believes in keeping the lines of communication open between the parent and child from a very early age. She believes this helps to prevent the typical teenage withdrawal.

Where did I come from? Does the baby grow inside you? How does the baby get out? What is sex? (then a bunch of sexual questions I will let you discover on your own) Why can't I take my clothes off? What happens when you die? Why do some babies die? Who is God? What is Religion? Where did Mommy/Daddy go? What's a divorce? Why am I adopted? Why can't I make friends? Why do I have to go to school? Why is my skin color different? Why can't she walk? Do I have to eat meat? Why can't I talk to strangers? What is a bully? What does violence mean? What is alcohol? Why is smoking bad for you? What are drugs?

As you can see these are issues children have to deal with. I can't think of a subject this book doesn't cover. While the guidelines are practical, use your own moral standards to decide how much you will tell your child. The age chart is helpful, yet I recommend this book with a word of caution. Dr. Miriam Stoppard says this: "To no child is my whole answer necessary. Pick and choose; discard and invent; reject and create." I can heartily agree with that advice and in that way this book can become very useful as a tool for parents to use to help a child understand the world around them.