Timelines of War: A Chronology of Warfare from 100,000 Bc to the Present

Customer Reviews:

Not really very good.......2007-10-15

If you think that mankind is anything other than the most savage animal on the planet, you might want to read this book to look at the thousands of wars, and countless battles over the millenia as tribe fought tribe.
This book gives a very superficial overview of history, in chronological form, and gets more detailed as it moves into the modern age. but it really isn't much but a listing of wars, and at 500 pages, shows how many there were, but doesn't do much other than show the timelines of events. No context, no analysis, no distinguishing of major vs. minor, and not really very good.
but it is cheap, and not without some merit.

all we are asking is to give peace a chance.......2001-08-26

Those who remember John and Yoko Lennon chanting this implausible nostrum, about the prospects for peace, will see the absurdity of the notion when they read this book. As long as man has existed there have been those among us who ascribe to power and dominion over all. The only way to staunch their ardor is to be ready to fight them. This is the cost of sustaining individual liberty, the touchstone of western civilization. Think of it as facing the bully down so he doesn't take your lunch money. Any other prospects for a solution other than this readiness to do combat fly in the face of all human history and common sense. This book will disabuse those who harbor these fantasies of the peacenik.

all we are asking is to give peace a chance.......2001-08-26

Book Description

This brief version of the comprehensive edition of WESTERN CIVILIZATION retains all of the best-selling features of the larger book in a condensed format. Three versions are available: Comprehensive (Chapters 1-29), Volume I: To 1715 (Chapters 1-15), and Volume II: Since 1500 (Chapters 13-29).

Customer Reviews:

good book.......2000-08-06

this is a good introductory book for western civilization. if u r new to the field of western civilization, then read this book before any more advanced or complicated books...

Western Civilization: A Brief History.......2000-06-15

I used Spielvogel's _Western Civilization: A Brief History_ when teaching a Humanities I course. _A Brief History_ is a shorter, paperback adaptation of Spielvogel's longer _Western Civilization_. Of the Western Civ texts I've used before (including the longer version of Spielvogel, I thought _A Brief History_ was the most successful. Spielvogel did a good job of choosing the most important historical events and cultural developments to include in his shorter version, at least those most likely to be included in a Western Civ course. Important information is clear both from subheadings and from the text itself, and short samples of primary texts that give students a taste of the past are included. Students also seemed to enjoy reading the _Brief History_ more other Western Civ texts I've taught. Women's history is well-represented. Only caveat: Because the text is a shorter version, not much of Asian, African, or Indian history is included.

Western Civilization: A Brief History, Comprehensive Edition (High School/Retail Version)

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Western Civilization: A Brief History, Comprehensive Edition (High School/Retail Version)
Jackson J. Spielvogel
Manufacturer: Wadsworth Pub Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Book Description

Book Description

A stunning look at the amazing fish diversity of Alabama, home to almost one-third of all fishes found in the US.

An enormous, superbly illustrated book revealing the astounding diversity of Alabama's fishes through brilliant color plates by Joseph Tomelleri and incredibly detailed information from the authors. Boschung and Mayden are two leading scientists of biodiversity. Boschung , co-editor of the National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Fishes, Whales, and Dolphins and Mayden, author of over 100 papers on fishes, and editor of the landmark publication Systematics, Historical Ecology, and North American Freshwater Fishes, have dedicated years to documenting the evolutionary histories, diversity, diets, growth rates, reproduction, sizes, distribution, and status of Alabama's fishes, and they present this wealth of information in a helpful, user-friendly format. The identification keys to the species are beautifully illustrated with extremely helpful drawings that provide fast, accurate identification, useful to experts and the general public alike. Whether an angler looking to determine the species of fish he just caught, a biology student interested in stream biodiversity, or a young naturalist exploring North America's hotspot for fish biodiversity, everyone with an interest in the diversity of our world will find Fishes of Alabama ideal. 709 color, 804 b/w illustrations.

Customer Reviews:

Fishes of Alabama.......2007-03-12

This is the most beautiful text book I have ever seen! With this book I am learning to "key out" fish for identification. A whole new world is opening before my eyes!

Awesome.......2006-08-19

This is a very informative book. I would have preferred more pictures and less artists renditions, but one can't be too picky.

Brilliant Book.......2006-03-21

This book is a great reference for any ichthyologists or anyone who loves fishes and art. It contains a lot of information and citations for each species.

Amazing illusrations, packed with information.......2004-08-21

This is an excellent reference book. Joe Tomelleri is a remarkable artist with a talent I have never seen before. His illustrations are so close to looking at the fish in a stream. He is a master at capturing life. The information in this book is very complete and concise. A great buy for the money and just a beautiful book to look at even if you are not extremely interested in fish.

Big Fish : A Novel of Mythic Proportions

Average customer rating:

Big Fish still a Big Thrill
Magical
For once, I like the movie more
Beautiful
A book of UN-mythical proportions

Big Fish : A Novel of Mythic Proportions
Daniel Wallace
Manufacturer: Algonquin Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

Literary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1565122178

Amazon.com

In Big Fish, Daniel Wallace angles in search of a father and hooks instead a fictional debut as winning as any this year. From his son's standpoint, Edward Bloom leaves much to be desired. He was never around when William was growing up; he eludes serious questions with a string of tall tales and jokes. This is subject matter as old as the hills, but Wallace's take is nothing if not original. Desperate to know his father before he dies, William recreates his father's life as the stuff of legend itself. In chapters titled "In Which He Speaks to Animals," "How He Tamed the Giant," "His Immortality," and the like, Edward Bloom walks miles through a blizzard, charms the socks off a giant, even runs so fast that "he could arrive in a place before setting out to get there." In between these heroic episodes, Bloom dies not once but four times, working subtle variations on a single scene in which he counters his son's questions with stories--some of which are actually very witty, indeed. After all, he admits, "...if I shared my doubts with you, about God and love and life and death, that's all you'd have: a bunch of doubts. But now, see, you've got all these great jokes." The structure is a clever conceit, and the end product is both funny and wise. At the heart of both legends and death scenes live the same age-old questions: Who are you? What matters to you? Was I a good father? Was I a good son? In mapping the territory where myth meets everyday life, Wallace plunges straight through to fatherhood's archaic and mysterious heart. --Mary Park

Book Description

FIRST ANNUAL REPS' CHOICE. Edward Bloom is dying, and his son William still doesn't know him. He knows some things about his father: Edward never missed school, even in the worst snowstorms. He could outrun anybody. He was generous. He had a way with animals. He knew every good joke ever told. He was a great salesman. A visionary. He saved lives. He knew how to court and win a woman. He was a good friend. He was an adulterer. These things William knows. But William realizes he still doesn't know his father: how he thinks, what is important to him--or who he really is. Sitting by his father's deathbed, William tries to understand the elusive Edward Bloom, the man quickly slipping from his grasp who is more interested in evading his son's questions than in answering them. In fact, Edward is most interested in running through his repertoire of classic jokes. This is his final performance, he's fading fast, and he's milking those last moments for all they're worth. Who can blame him for that? And so, as the son grows increasingly desperate to know the man about to step over permanently to the other side, he begins to make up stories. In a wonderful sleight of hand, William recreates his father's life in heroic proportions. William reconstructs Edward's life from beginning to end through a series of tales, legends, and myths; in doing so, he finds a way to understand his father's great feats and great failings, and he finds a way to say good-bye. With a mixture of humor and pathos, BIG FISH teaches us about the transformative powers of joke telling and storytelling, and one magical way of moving from life to death. Advance praise for BIG FISH: "A talented and fascinating writer. Daniel Wallace has created a jewel in BIG FISH."--Winston Groom, author of FORREST GUMP; "BIG FISH is going to make a very big splash! It's got everything: heart, wonderful writing, and accessibility . . . a very special novel which may well become a classic."--Lee Smith, author of NEWS OF THE SPIRIT.

Customer Reviews:

Big Fish still a Big Thrill.......2007-08-12

I recently reacquainted myself with Big Fish, Daniel Wallace's impressive tale of a strained father/son relationship, ultimately healed through storied memories on the occassion of the father's death bed. The story still impresses and seems fresh despite having read it before. It is simply magical.

Magical.......2007-04-12

I read this book before seeing the movie, and unlike other reviewers, I found that the movie did not live up to the book.
Sure the book is small, but the stories in it are so large and wonderful. I only wish there had been more to read.

For once, I like the movie more.......2006-10-04

I have to agree with the other reviewers who felt that this was the rare instance where the movie was better than the book. The story in the book just didn't seem to flow as well as the movie. This does not mean that this was a bad book. Perhaps I would have rated this book higher if I hadn't seen the movie first. It is still an excellent story.

Beautiful.......2006-07-12

William's father is dying, and William knows little about him beyond that simple fact. By looking back at all the tales his dad told him over the years, William hopes to learn who his father really is. As readers, we know nothing about Edward Bloom that his son doesn't know; thus, our perceptions of him, like William's, are based largely on surreal, fantastic tales. More than that, though, we get a hint of who William is and how he really feels about his dad.

This is the type of book I could read over and over again. The stories themselves are beautiful, and they are subtle and poignant in the context of the entire plot. Wallace maintains a perfect mystery around the characters that makes me want to comb over the novel sentence by sentence for a glimpse into their psyches. I don't know whether there actually is a deep life lesson to be taken from each and every story Edward told his son, but it feels like there was. So many parts of this book touched me. I came away feeling, for a few hours, like I had been transformed.

A book of UN-mythical proportions.......2006-07-06

This book made me laugh. This book made me cry. This book toyed with my emotions. I found it to be rather short,almost too short. While the book is almost always better than the movie, I honestly have to say I enjoyed the movie better. While this wasn't a horrible book, it could've been a lot longer.

Average customer rating:

Tour de force of the fisheries of Alabama

Fishes of Alabama and the Mobile Basin
Maurice F. Mettee , Patrick E. O'Neil , and J. Malcolm Pierson
Manufacturer: Oxmoor House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Animal Care & Pets | Home & Garden | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Fish | Field Guides | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0848714857

Customer Reviews:

Tour de force of the fisheries of Alabama.......1999-02-15

This superb piece of scientific collection reporting is as through as it is attractive. It has the handsome feel of a coffee table book must for any angler, but is pure field biology, down to the nuanced tales of specimen collection and recording.

Fishing for Gold: The Story of Alabama's Catfish Industry (Alabama Fire Ant)

Average customer rating:

Traces the roots of this essential modern-day part of Alabama tradition

Fishing for Gold: The Story of Alabama's Catfish Industry (Alabama Fire Ant)
Karni Perez
Manufacturer: Fire Ant Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Company Profiles | Biography & History | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Industries & Professions | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Agricultural | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Animal Husbandry | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

A captivating story of the industry's rise in Alabama.

With a wonderful ear for dialogue and in flowing narrative style, Karni Perez weaves together oral histories collected from early hatchery owners, catfish farmers, processors, and researchers to recount the important contributions made by Alabamians to the channel catfish industry. Perez describes the struggles and glories of fish culture from its early days as an experimental venture to the thriving present-day commercial enterprise that supplies warmwater fish for the American food industry.

As Perez states, "The catfish industry started out in Alabama as a do-it-yourself and figure-it out-yourself kind of enterprise." We hear how men who were mostly cattle farmers learned to nudge male and female fish into spawning in crudely constructed aquaria, how growers discovered the dissolved oxygen needs of their "herd" when big die-offs occurred, how Lenson Montz and Otis Breland designed the first paddle aerator to remedy the problem, how farmers eventually trained a bottomfeeding species to rise to the water surface to eat so their numbers could be better estimated. In one dramatic story, we learn how a man experimenting with the first skinning machine lost a piece of his hand in front of a crowd of horrified locals. (After it was retrieved from the skin basket, it was reattached by a town doctor and healed perfectly.) Ironically, the man was a representative of the engineering firm tasked with designing the machine; he had never before seen a catfish in his life. The machine was modified and became an essential component of modern fish processing.

In addition to telling the remarkable stories of individual contributions by farmers and researchers, Perez explains the positive effects played by improved public infrastructure, continued biological research, state legislation, and federal recognition of aquaculture as agriculture.

From Chapter Three:

"You're crazy," the bank officer declared with a friendly chuckle. "Why,

the Warrior River is full of catfish for anyone who wants them. There are

more in there than people will ever eat. And you think you're going to go

sell them when folks can go get them for nothing? That's just a bunch of

dreams!"

From Chapter Two:

“A crop duster's error, a visit by a curious feed company researcher, a

fluke of the weather, a coincidental encounter at a gas station. . . . How

could the three men, or anyone else for that matter, guess that these

chance circumstances would play into the birth of an industry that would

mushroom over the next forty or so years into one of the largest

contributors to the state's economy and that of the entire southeastern

United States?”

Karni Perez is an independent researcher who resides in Auburn, Alabama.

Customer Reviews:

Traces the roots of this essential modern-day part of Alabama tradition.......2006-06-26

Catfish farming in Alabama is a relatively new industry: it began in 1960 when three individuals helped create the industry from scratch. FISHING FOR GOLD: THE STORY OF ALABAMA'S CATFISH INDUSTRY traces the roots of this essential modern-day part of Alabama tradition, revealing the challenges to the enterprise, the maintenance of catfish farms over fifty-four of Alabama's sixty-seven counties, and how the industry has blossomed to be a mainstay of the state's economy. FISHING FOR GOLD will interest both business book readers and especially any with ties to Alabama or fishing.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

Alabama Wildlife, Volume 1: A Checklist of Vertebrates and Selected Invertebrates: Aquatic Mollusks, Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals (Alabama Wildlife)

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Alabama Wildlife, Vol. I

Alabama Wildlife, Volume 1: A Checklist of Vertebrates and Selected Invertebrates: Aquatic Mollusks, Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals (Alabama Wildlife)

Manufacturer: University Alabama Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Endangered Species | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0817351302

Customer Reviews:

Alabama Wildlife, Vol. I.......2006-03-09

Well written and informative.Perfect for the educator or naturalist.I paricularly liked the distribution maps,habitat,life and ecology information.

Alabama Wildlife: Imperiled Aquatic Mollusks and Fishes, Vol. 2 ((Alabama Wildlife)

Average customer rating:

Alabama Wildlife: Imperiled Aquatic Mollusks and Fishes, Vol. 2 ((Alabama Wildlife)

Manufacturer: University Alabama Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Endangered Species | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0817351310

Conservation of the game, birds and fish of Alabama: The duties of game wardens defined (Alabama. Dept. of Fish and Game. Bulletin)

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Conservation of the game, birds and fish of Alabama: The duties of game wardens defined (Alabama. Dept. of Fish and Game. Bulletin)
John H Wallace
Manufacturer: Brown Printing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B00085MF3C

Fifth Annual Report Department of Game and Fish of the State of Alabama. October 1, 1914, to September 30, 1916.

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Fifth Annual Report Department of Game and Fish of the State of Alabama. October 1, 1914, to September 30, 1916.
Alabama. Department of Game and Fish
Manufacturer: Montgomery
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000ITKABW

The fishes of the Birmingham-Jefferson County region of Alabama with ecologic and taxonomic notes (Bulletin - Geological Survey of Alabama)

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The fishes of the Birmingham-Jefferson County region of Alabama with ecologic and taxonomic notes (Bulletin - Geological Survey of Alabama)
Maurice F Mettee
Manufacturer: Geological Survey of Alabama
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Average customer rating:

Freshwater fishes of Alabama
William F Smith-Vaniz
Manufacturer: Auburn University, Agricultural Experiment Station
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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