The New Way Things Work

Amazon.com

"Is it a fact--or have I dreamt it--that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?" If you, like Nathaniel Hawthorne, are kept up at night wondering about how things work--from electricity to can openers--then you and your favorite kids shouldn't be a moment longer without David Macaulay's The New Way Things Work. The award-winning author-illustrator--a former architect and junior high school teacher--is perfectly poised to be the Great Explainer of the whirrings and whizzings of the world of machines, a talent that landed the 1988 version of The Way Things Work on the New York Times bestsellers list for 50 weeks. Grouping machines together by the principles that govern their actions rather than by their uses, Macaulay helps us understand in a heavily visual, humorous, unerringly precise way what gadgets such as a toilet, a carburetor, and a fire extinguisher have in common.

The New Way Things Work boasts a richly illustrated 80-page section that wrenches us all (including the curious, bumbling wooly mammoth who ambles along with the reader) into the digital age of modems, digital cameras, compact disks, bits, and bytes. Readers can glory in gears in "The Mechanics of Movement," investigate flying in "Harnessing the Elements," demystify the sound of music in "Working with Waves," marvel at magnetism in "Electricity & Automation," and examine e-mail in "The Digital Domain." An illustrated survey of significant inventions closes the book, along with a glossary of technical terms, and an index. What possible link could there be between zippers and plows, dentist drills and windmills? Parking meters and meat grinders, jumbo jets and jackhammers, remote control and rockets, electric guitars and egg beaters? Macaulay demystifies them all. (Click to see a sample spread of this book, illustrations and text copyright 1998 David Macaulay, Neil Ardley, published by Houghton Mifflin Co.) (All ages) --Karin Snelson

Book Description

The information age is upon us, baffling us with thousands of complicated state-of-the-art technologies. To help make sense of the computer age, David Macaulay brings us The New Way Things Work. This completely updated and expanded edition describes twelve new machines and includes more than seventy new pages detailing the latest innovations. With an entirely new section that guides us through the complicated world of digital machinery, where masses of electronic information can be squeezed onto a single tiny microchip, this revised edition embraces all of the newest developments, from cars to watches. Each scientific principle is brilliantly explained--with the help of a charming, if rather slow-witted, woolly mammoth.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing.......2007-05-14

Informative and entertaining. I wonder how many engineers out there first got their interest in the way things work from this book.... In Fall 2008 Macaulay will have a new book out entitled "The Way We Work", which will explain the workings of the human body in similar fashion to this book. Can't wait!

Can't put it down.......2007-05-07

My son (10) had borrowed the older edition from the library several times. So I got him this one for his birthday. He sneaks this book into his bed at night. If that's not an excellent testemony I don't know what is.

Looking at Machines Differently.......2007-02-01

Each page of this book opens up a world of how something works. It could be how to make a hologram (of a wolly mammoth of course) or how the valves in a trumpet change the sound. The subject for a few pages might be electricity or it could be how an automatic transmission works. In any case, the pages are a mixture of drawings (usually with mammoth) showing the nature of the subject, combined with text that further describes what the drawings are showing.

Over a period of many years Mr. Macaulay has developed his drawing style and his understanding of mechanical things which when combined in a book like this offer a painless way for the kid in all of us to learn.

This new edition has been expanded in several areas. This includes coverage on personal computers, space probes and other more recent developments. It's one of those books that's hard to put down once you start reading.

GREAT BOOK.......2007-01-12

THIS IS ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS I HAVE EVER SEEN. IT IS EXCELLANT FOR ALL AGES.

One of the densest collections of basic knowledge about our mechanistic world.......2006-12-14

Imagine there were a nuclear war and all of society's accomplishments were annihilated and mankind became a savage race again. If you could have just one book saved through the ages to help you reestablish science and technology, pick this one.

The New Personality Self-Portrait: Why You Think, Work, Love and Act the Way You Do

Average customer rating:

Not recommended - much better books exist for understanding yourself & other people
Fun through navel gazing
A True Self Portrait
WOW! Even better the 2nd time around!!!
good book

The New Personality Self-Portrait: Why You Think, Work, Love and Act the Way You Do
John M. Oldham
Manufacturer: Bantam
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Self-Help | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Personality Disorders | Mental Health | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0553373935
Release Date: 1995-08-01

Book Description

The New Personality Self -portrait is the only guide to personality types based on the American Psychiatric Association's just-published official diagnostic system -- the DSM -IV -- and written by one of today's leading personality researchers. A long-time backlist bestseller in its previous edition, it has now been completely updated to include all the fascinating new information about how we become who we are-and how we can change. The self-test in The New Personality Self -portrait is already used extensively in mental health and business settings. It reveals a profile so personal, so accurate, that it's as individual as a fingerprint. Readers discover their unique mix of 14 distinct personality styles -- and learn how those traits impact their relationships, work and home life. Fascinating case histories show each style in action, with tips on how to live and work with every type, and exercises for turning vulnerabilities into strengths -- plus warnings about when individual differences develop into personality disorders.

Customer Reviews:

Not recommended - much better books exist for understanding yourself & other people.......2007-10-07

Although the introductory chapter of this book started out promisingly enough, I've read half of the book and given up because I was so disappointed with it.

The book's introduction explains that it is based upon the DSV-IV - which is a manual which outlines 14 different types of personality disorders. This book sees each of those 14 personality disorders as extreme versions of 14 normal and healthy personalities.

Unfortunately when you read the personality portraits of each of the 14 supposedly normal and healthy personalities, you'll come to the conclusion that none of these personalities are normal or healthy at all. The book describes personalities which demonstrate behaviours which clearly would impede a person's ability to either hold down a job or form HEALTHY human relationships. All of the personality portraits describe people with problems of self-importance, selfishness and a lack of integrity in terms of their character - i.e. they just act the way they do, even if the way they act is hypocritical because they expect others to obey rules that they themselves blatantly ignore.

The advice and tips on dealing with each personality type amounts to walking on eggshells: i.e. "This is what makes this person react negatively, they cannot be anything different, therefore give them what they want or just avoid broaching that particular topic with them."

When I completed the personality self-portrait questionnaire and read the descriptions of the personalities that I supposedly had within me, I was horrified and outraged to think that the authors of the book (a) thought that I was like that and (b) that this was a normal and healthy representation of a person's personality!

If you are looking for books to read on self-improvement, I recommend books that emphasis self-awareness and understanding other people. Stephen Covey's book "The Seven Habits Of Highly Effective People" is an excellent book that promotes self-awareness and how to develop leadership skills by developing a good character and leading by example.

In terms of understanding how people think, I recommend David Keirsey's book "Please Understand Me II". It's a revised edition of original "Please Understand Me" and explains 16 different personality types which are very different, often conflict, but are all healthy. You'll laugh when you read the descriptions of each personality type, because it will remind you either of yourself or someone you know.

As for this book, the "New Personality Self-Portrait", I would advise you avoid unless you're a psychology student who wants to learn more about people with personality disorders and how that extremeness manifests itself.

Fun through navel gazing.......2007-07-28

If you are a Baby Boomer, as I am, you will find books about knowing yourself endlessly fascinating. I didn't really learn anything new about myself but I enjoyed the narcissism of the whole process. This was a great way to spend a lazy afternoon.

A True Self Portrait.......2007-06-27

I love this assessment and the information it reveals. I would like it even better if it was on line. :-)

WOW! Even better the 2nd time around!!!.......2006-12-03

So I have had this book on my bookshelf for while. I am an avid collector of psychology books, fascinated by people and figuring out what makes us all tick.

So when I picked this book up AGAIN in my bookshelf and started the read the chapter on the Sensitive Style, something just clicked for me. It was one of those rare "AHA" moments where things just make sense.

I picked up this book to learn about other people but what I am learning about myself is incredible. I have decided to go back and cover the book slooooooooooowly....page by page....Highly Recommended Keeper!!!

good book.......2005-11-22

people can learn alot about a few different types of person's mentalities from reading this book and also can take a test to see what kind of person they are. i took the test and felt the results were accurate. it was a fun read

Average customer rating:

Beautiful Pictures and Helpful Tips
beautiful!
Good ideas, however it disobeys its own first suggestion :-(
Great Green Gift Book
365 Ways to Save the Earth is a wonderful book

365 Ways to Save the Earth
Philippe Bourseiller
Manufacturer: "Harry N. Abrams, Inc."
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

Nature & Wildlife | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0810959518

Book Description

Throughout his award-winning photographic career, Philippe Bourseiller has recorded the splendors of untamed nature, from the immensities of the ice floe to the fury of the volcano, from the vast open spaces of Patagonia to the aridity of the Sahara. This experience has given him unique insight into both the richness and the fragility of our environment. In 365 Ways to Save the Earth, he takes the reader on a daily journey through our planet, revealing its hidden face.

For every day of the year he presents a stunning photograph and a simple, environment-friendly action that enables the reader to participate in the protection of planet Earth. Philippe Bourseiller is a true field photographer whose talents as a climber, caver, and diver enable him to move easily through the extreme environments that he frequents and, as we see in these pages, return with extraordinary images.

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful Pictures and Helpful Tips.......2007-03-22

This is a compact hardback book with some incredible photographs of various places and things in our natural world. It does have some good tips for helping the environment although these suggestions are basically repeated towards the middle of the book. The book is worth it for the pictures alone.

beautiful!.......2007-02-22

The pictures are all beautiful! The ways they have to help the Earth are well organized and very practical!

Good ideas, however it disobeys its own first suggestion :-(.......2006-04-16

Good photos and points made, but #1: Recycle?

Yes, yes, that's why not ONE page of this book is made from post-consumer material (i.e., the paper stock that this book uses isn't even recycled, despite recycling being the first point made in the book!)

SO, #1: don't buy this book, get it from a library instead.

Great Green Gift Book.......2006-03-21

I have ordered this book as a gift for numerous friends and family members. It is a beautiful and thought-provoking introduction to environmentally-friendly behaviors in a time when most Americans aren't thinking about the problems we have created in our environment.

365 Ways to Save the Earth is a wonderful book.......2006-02-25

I bought 5 copies as gifts for Christmas.

I gave it to some friends, to my grandmother. The whole family was looking at the beautiful pictures. I had my uncle reading the daily inspiring messages.

"It brings me peace when I read this book, a day at a time" my grandmother said.

Highly recommended! I even kept a copy for myself.

Average customer rating:

Beloved by 9 year olds
Great for Children (and some adults)
Great for Children (and some adults)
Shows younger folks just how much amazing fun science can be

The Way Science Works
Robin Kerrod , and Dr. Sharon Ann Holgate
Manufacturer: DK CHILDREN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

How Things Work | Science, Nature & How It Works | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0789485621

Amazon.com

Do you know that right now 16.5 tons of air are pressing on your body? Or that with a simple experiment you can "see" a hole in the middle of your hand? Have you ever tried turning a bucket of water upside down without the water falling out? With DK's remarkable introduction to science, young readers can learn many of the most important principles of chemistry and physics--and have a whole lot of fun while they're at it. This big, handsome volume contains more than 60 hands-on projects testing key scientific theories in magnetism, gravity, liquid density, sound vibrations, the laws of reflection, and much more. In addition, the book features information about famous scientists, new technological advances, and basic theories behind everyday objects and activities. Gorgeous photos and clear, step-by-step instructions make this a learning experience budding young scientists won't mind a bit. Don't be fooled, though. Every page is packed with accurate, up-to-date information, and readers are encouraged to take their scientific exploration beyond the limits of this well-organized book. (Ages 10 and older) --Emilie Coulter

Book Description

The perfect introduction to how science explains the world around us! Eye-opening experiments and exceptional photography bring science to life. Discover science in action from the principles that explain everyday occurrences to the theories behind the technology in today's fast-moving world. Test the theories in more than 100 hands-on projects. Next-generation visuals and cutting-edge content help illuminate key scientific developments. Packed full of facts about famous scientists, technology newsflashes, and more. An exciting way to keep ahead of the curriculum and discover science for yourself.

Customer Reviews:

Beloved by 9 year olds.......2007-02-19

My son doesn't like reading much, but he loves this book. He comes back with all sorts of odd and interesting facts and is developing a really clear understanding of how things work. I think D&K publishers are consistently good and this is better than their usual high standard. I would definitely recommend, for home and also as an excellent gift.

Great for Children (and some adults).......2006-03-02

Having been trained in science (PhD in Physics) and having taught physics at the university level for 40 years, I think this is the best tool I have ever seen for presenting basic physical principles at a level that intelligent people 8 years old and up can really understand. It has no competition that I am aware of. Outstanding idea and execution.

Great for Children (and some adults).......2006-03-02

Shows younger folks just how much amazing fun science can be.......2002-07-14

Ideal for both classroom and homeschool curriculum supplementation, The Way Science Works is an exciting introduction for young readers to the deductive process of science and the marvels that mankind has discovered about the natural world. Offering more than sixty experiments and hands-on projects suitable for budding scientists age 10 and older (with safety precautions detailed where needed), The Way Science Works offers a fascinating glimpse into everything from the workings of the atom to understanding the true nature of gravity, to optical illusions and magnetism. Hundreds of excellent color photographs illustrate this superbly organized instructional reference. Although filled with fascinating revelations which would appeal to readers of all ages, The Way Science Works is particularly geared to show younger folks just how much amazing fun science can be!

Lose Weight With Apple Vinegar: Get the Ideal Body the Easy Way : Using Powers of Apple Vinegar to Lose Weight With the Successful Four-Week Diet Program (Health from Nature)

Average customer rating:

Blech!
Terrible/Nonexistant Research, People Will Buy Anything
apple cider vinegar - weight loss
Losing weight can be easy
Highly Reasearched!

Lose Weight With Apple Vinegar: Get the Ideal Body the Easy Way : Using Powers of Apple Vinegar to Lose Weight With the Successful Four-Week Diet Program (Health from Nature)
Klaus Oberbeil
Manufacturer: Magni Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

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Accessories:

Tanita BC533 Glass Innerscan Body Composition Monitor

ASIN: 1882330455

Customer Reviews:

Blech!.......2007-09-12

Recipes were awful! There are much better vinegar books out there if you take a look. This one just isn't it.

Terrible/Nonexistant Research, People Will Buy Anything.......2006-06-15

Before spending a single PENNY on this book, take a look at even the SIMPLEST research done on this topic. I looked through a friends' copy, and laughed out loud. In about a minute I was able to explain VERY SIMPLY how this would be an ineffective diet aid.

Vinegar is 5% acetic acid, a VERY dilute and relatively weak acid. Your stomach produces a lot of hydrochloric acid ... an EXTREMELY strong acid (about ONE THOUSAND TIMES STRONGER than acetic acid). Now, whether this tiny amount of weak acid helps you break down carbohydrates faster or differently in your stomach (which all but one study says it does not), makes very little difference, because those carbohydrates are still going to pass into your small intestine and there be absorbed into your system.

The body operates in a very narrow range of pH (how acidic or basic you are). Attempting to make yourself more acidic to destroy bacteria is ridiculous. First, you'd have to drink A LOT of vinegar (the body has a natural buffer system to keep us from killing ourselves, so you'd have to overcome that), and then, of course, you'd be dead.

This book is designed to prey upon people desperate to lose weight, and looking for SOME sort of affordable solution to a very real problem. There may be something easier than exercize and reducing caloric intake, and there may be something cheaper than gastric bypass, but THIS is not it. Please don't give this shyster author your time and hard-earned money.

apple cider vinegar - weight loss.......2005-08-16

I bought apple cider vinegar 1 month ago and it seems that i have not lost a single pound. I thought it would eliminate my body fats but it doesnt.

Losing weight can be easy.......2004-01-04

I bought Klaus Oberbeil's book Lose Weight with Apple Vinegar 3 years ago. It took me 1 year but I managed to lose 75 pounds without feeling hungry or deprived at all. I went off it for a while now am back on it again to lose the other 35 pounds I'd like to lose. I have bought 25 more books and gave them to customers of mine in my beauty salon who wanted to lose weight. It made such a difference in my life that they wanted to try it too. I've been on every diet made and nothing worked and kept the weight off. This is a miracle. Thank you so much for introducing me to vinegar. Pat Hamilton

Highly Reasearched!.......2002-02-07

I was fortunate to recently acquire this book from a learned professor of nutrition who found it within his good graces to purchase this book on the eve of my 40th birthday. He presented the book with a sneer, " Pietro you're obese and you don't listen to me, so try reading this." I figured that Samuel must have found this book worthwhile, beacause he is not give to utter laudatory remarks about the many diet books avaiable. I have followed the instructors of Klaus Oberbeil and it has helped not only my general health, but also my relationship with Sam.

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Review of Water's Way

Water's Way: Life along the Chesapeake
Tom Horton
Manufacturer: The Johns Hopkins University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0801864267

Book Description

Those who know and love the Chesapeake will find the bay they treasure on the pages of Water's Way: Life along the Chesapeake. The story of one of North America's most fascinating regions unfolds through the sensitive photographs and prose of two men who have studied the Chesapeake all their lives. Photographer David W. Harp and writer Tom Horton vividly portray how, as Horton writes, "the edges where land and water meet charm us all, from watermen to watercolorists and beachcombers to duck hunters."

Water's Way will guide you to "those rare, hidden nooks of the bay country where nature still appears as glorious and untrammeled as it did a thousand years ago." It will also take you to less hidden, but equally intriguing sites within the Chesapeake's reach as Harp and Horton depict the worlds of both nature and humans.

An intimate knowledge of and an unwavering reverence for the bay pervade Water's Way. Harp and Horton are as attuned to the romance that still clings to the Chesapeake as they are to the realities that inspire and threaten it. In a time when the region faces tremendous changes and challenges, Water's Way is neither strident nor sentimental. Rather, it is suffused with the fundamental respect for the bay which Harp and Horton see as key to its survival.

"Dave Harp's photography and Tom Horton's text are nothing short of inspirational. Through the combination of each man's art, Water's Way communicates the beauty and essence of the Chesapeake like no other book. It conveys the very reasons why I have dedicated my life's work to saving the bay."--William Baker, President, Chesapeake Bay Foundation

"Three forces have been hard at work in the making of this exquisite piece: the gentle and informed eye of Dave's camera, Tom's inspirited love affair with our language, and the mystery they conspire in, creating a vivid picture and genuine portrait of a life that is greater than ourselves."--Tom Wisner, author of Chesapeake Born

"Harp's photographs, gorgeously reproduced here... have, I think, finally surpassed the late Aubrey Bodine's famously romantic shots of the Chesapeake."--John Goodspeed, Easton Star-Democrat

"Tom Horton has a poet's touch and a realist's frankness as he writes of the delicate ecology of this great aquatic system in chapters whose subjects range from the role of marshes to the life of the watermen to the growing pressures of urban development... This book is a singing tribute to the bay."--Islands Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Review of Water's Way.......2000-08-12

Water's Way is a stunningly photographed, and exquisitely written glimpse of life in the Chesapeake region. The book celebrates beauty, both in the natural and human worlds. Author Tom Horton's essays are insightful, humorous, and well-crafted. His words flow like the many creeks and rivers that he describes on the Delmarva peninsula. Dave Harp's photography defines the people, animals, and landscape in such concert with Horton's words that the book should be considered the National Geographic of the Eastern Shore. This a worthy addition to anyone's coffee table.

CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!

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CCEL Classics CD: works by Saint Augustine, John Calvin, John Donne, Julian of Norwich, Brother Lawrence, Martin Luther, Saint Teresa of Avila, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, John Wesley, and more!
Dr. W. Harry Plantinga
Manufacturer: Christian Classics Ethereal Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

General | Christianity | Religion & Spirituality | Subjects | Books

Product Description

The most important spiritual writings of Christian history are available on this Classics CD by the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) at Calvin College. It contains 118 Christian classics, including three versions of the Bible, several commentaries, Bible dictionaries, readings, spiritual guides, sermons, poems and journals -- all in a convenient, searchable form. Books are available in HTML and PDF formats. The easy-to-use CCEL Desktop software powering the CD enables users to browse and print books and install additional books from the Web. The top-of-class search engine can search for words or phrases in books, in authors works or in the whole library. In addition, it can search for dictionary definitions of words and commentary or references to scripture passages. The interface is a Web browser. The CD is compatible with Windows 2000+, Macintosh 10.3+, and most Linux versions.

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William Stafford: Crossing Time & Distance
Stafford's Voice Makes You Listen
Intelligent and meditative.

The Way It Is
William Stafford
Manufacturer: Graywolf Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 1555972845

Amazon.com

What we remember about a lyric poet is an extremely small fraction of the total work; time, aided by editors, creates a reputation out of about five great poems. In the case of William Stafford, The Way It Is has considerably expanded the field of candidates. His widely anthologized "Ceremony," "Thinking for Berky," and "Traveling through the Dark" are here, along with other contenders, including "Adults Only," which begins, "Animals own a fur world; / people own worlds that are variously, pleasingly bare." A writer of silence, loss, memory, and conviction, Stafford wrote a poem almost every morning, rising at four to eat toast and compose. This is a part of his myth that the Stafford industry--other poets, workshop leaders, old friends--agrees is admirable, the hard-working farmhand who beats the cows to the dairy barn. Stafford's poem-a-day habit certainly made things difficult for his literary executors Kim Stafford, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Robert Bly. Nonetheless, The Way It Is manages to encompass a pleasingly varied survey of Stafford's 35- book career, from his first collection, West of Your City, published in 1960, to the lyric written on the morning of his death on August 28, 1993. Not every poem is as perfect as "The Farm on the Great Plains"; some of them are embarrassingly sentimental, and the editors have curiously omitted a number of Stafford's better and more complicated poems in favor of more recent unpublished ones that he presumably didn't have time to revise. But all Stafford poems are worth reading at least once, and in the absence of a many-volumed Collected Poems, The Way It Is is a useful compromise, making available poems from his moral, religious, secular, maverick, political, and apolitical modes--all of them wise and at once exquisitely rhetorical and deeply imagistic. --Edward Skoog

Book Description

William Stafford (1914-1993) was an earnest, perceptive, and often affecting American poet who filled his life and ours with poetry of challenge and consolation. The Way It Is: New and Selected Poems gathers unpublished works from his last year, including the poem he wrote the day he died, as well as an essential and wide-ranging selection of works from throughout his career. An editorial team including his son Kim Stafford, the poet Naomi Shihab Nye, and the poet, translator, and author Robert Bly collaborated on shaping this book of Stafford's pioneering career in modern poetry. The poems in The Way It Is encompass Stafford's rugged domesticity, the political edge of his irony, and his brave starings-off into emptiness.

Customer Reviews:

William Stafford: Crossing Time & Distance.......2004-06-18

"You are a memory
too strong to leave this world..."

So wrote William Stafford in "For A Lost Child"
but it could apply equally as well to him.
His absence continues to leave a conspicuous void.
Still, there remains his writing, and this definitive volume
contains the majority of his finest work.

"Starting here, what do you want to remember?"

So opens "You Reading This, Be Ready"
and it's somewhat telling of what his writing was predominantly about:

Assuring remembrance. Making note of what endures.
The beauty. The sorrow. The questions.
Marking even the smallest snapshot scene as every bit as worthy of recall
as any grand-scale panorama.
Even as his own life and times become relegated to the past,
his poems ~ indeed, every insight he set on paper ~
forever will remain in the present tense ~
ever as accurate and timely as they were when first composed.
It's not only how things were, but how they are ~ the way it still is.

His based his work on common human experience,
the lessons and questions garnered in the day-to-day world.
Uncomplicated. Mindful. Authentic. Perceptive.
Life-affirming even as they question,
life-enhancing even when they convey a brutal truth.
Certainly no poet or writer should be without his presence on their nearest bookshelf.
His perceptions and voice reach across time and distance so vividly alive
that he easily incites a creative response ~
setting any aspiring writer fast upon his or her own path.
Serving as a literary generator, of sorts,
to paraphrase something Robert Frost once called those rare inspiring individuals.
He had a way of speaking to each reader so directly,
he made of them a friend.

You will never fail to notice every thread of light upon a leaf,
every solitary play of colour across the sunset sky,
every sad passenger in any passing car once you've shared his vision.
Rare was the moment, memory, thought or question,
he let go by without notice, contemplation, honourable mention.

"What can anyone give you greater than now...?"
he once asked and that thought still holds true.

And if you open this book completely at random, right here and now,
letting it fall open to any given page,
whatever line your eyes come to rest upon and read
will be pure gift: your life will be better for it.

Stafford's Voice Makes You Listen.......2002-04-06

When I read the poems of William Stafford, it feels less like reading and more like "listening." There's something about his voice that calls me to attention, that makes me notice not only the words on the page but all the sounds that attend my mornings: the return of the finches to the Hawthorne tree, for example, or the rustle of wind in the new cherry blossoms. As I re-read some of my favorite poems from The Way it Is, I find myself in a strange situation; I feel as though I have traded places with the poet, "partly propped up" on the sofa in his den at 4 a.m., where he wrote every day until he died in 1993. Perhaps it is because he often tells us so much about the writing process itself; Stafford's poems are imbued with that particular room; they arise from that private space he allows us to enter for a few moments at a time. He often brings in the same details over and over, the mundane yet transcendent things he notices in the early hours: sunlight moving across a wood floor, trees "still trying to arch as far as they could," the houses that "waited, white, blue, gray..." The things themselves, as in the poetry of William Carlos Williams, become the containers of ideas, thought, emotion. The diction is simple, the rhythm a comfort; before we know it, we've been lured into a place of transcendence without even trying.
The sun becomes a constant companion to the writing act, a kind of muse that illuminates the hand at work. For instance, the last poem he wrote, just hours before he died, begins with the line: "Well, it was yesterday./Sunlight used to follow my hand." Towards the end, he reiterates: "I listened and put my hand/out in the sun again. It was all easy." Perhaps the knowledge that these are the last lines Stafford will write adds to their poignancy (that hand will soon be stilled, in darkness), but I feel privileged, every time I open this book, to be in the presence of a voice that speaks so simply and yet with such passion. Because of the sheer number of poems and writings Stafford left behind, there are bound to be some clunkers, some lines that seem overly simplistic and sentimental, but the force of Stafford's voice overcomes these occasional lapses. The Way it Is is a "must have" for the writer's library; crack open the book at the start of your own writing session and you'll remember why you ever wanted to be a writer in the first place.

Intelligent and meditative........1998-07-16

This latest and last living collection of William Stafford's work covers the past 20 odd years of his poetry as well as giving the reader some new, never before published work including the poem he wrote on the day that he died. This collection gives us an overview of Stafford's poetry that reveals him to be a man who is both interested and amused by the world around him. The book is divided into four sections, each of which is full of intelligent and meditative work reminiscent of the best of E.B. White's essays. While White was an essayist (not just a children's writer), and Stafford a poet, both men revel in unraveling the intricacies of the world using nothing more than the simple information provided to them in their daily lives. In "Stories From Kansas", Stafford simplifies the voracious egos of humankind into silly yet proud tufts of grass, "Little bunches of/grass pretend they are bushes/that will never bow./ They bow..." "The Way I! ! t Is" is reccomended reading for those who like a little zen with their humility or a little salt with their watermelon.

Book Description

The planet is in trouble. Global warming, record-breaking natural disasters, 9/11, two hotly contested presidential elections, and a war abroad has left many Americans feeling uneasy with the state of our own lives and the security of the planet. We know that life cannot be sustained at the current rate of consumption, yet it is easy to succumb to helplessness and apathy. But if making a difference only required ten minutes of our time a day, how many more people would try to make a difference?

Written in an edgy, engaging style, The Ten Minute Activist, shows how even the busiest person can make a difference. From buying organic milk and bison to switching from free-trade to fair trade; from choosing a Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) retirement plan to car-pooling with colleagues, The Mission Collective has compiled the most up-to-date information on energy conservation, global warming, wildlife preservation, community building, spiritual awareness and political action. The Ten Minute Activist informs and inspires with easy acts that can truly have an impact if engaged en masse.

Customer Reviews:

Great Book .......2007-09-05

This book should be highlighted everywhere in terms of the great and easy ways it inspires one to take back the planet.

Lloyd Dangle has another great book out called "Troubletown Told You So: Comics that Could've Saved Us From this Mess" on Amazon and his illustrations in both books are compelling.

Ten Minute Activist Provides Easy Ideas and Motivation to Improve Planet and Personal Life.......2007-03-07

This book should go a long way towards getting young people interested in doing small things to help our planet. Historically the young have played a vital role in waking our society up to the changes we need to make, but this current young generation seems to be napping. This book is a fun way to wake them up.

My only criticism is that the writers reveal possibly too much of a Mission (the lefty, counterculture SF neighborhood) bias in focusing repeatedly on certain left-wing crusades while failing to criticize other serious, globe damaging habits that strike a bit too close to home. For example, they focus on buying only fair trade coffee and chocolate, because the mainstream versions of both of those products are exploitative, yet they make no mention of the serious trouble and oppression inflicted on many developing countries, not to mention our own communities, by the illegal trade in crystal meth, heroin and cocaine, all of which find many buyers in The Mission. With a less controversial drug like marihuana, perhaps they could have given tips on assuring that consumers assure that their sources are small time, personal growers and not in any way engaged in violence or the trade of more damaging and addictive drugs.

The important point is The Mission Collective has written an entertainingly accessible book full of relatively easy ways to improve our planet. It is sure to play to a younger, politically interested audience, and may motivate the next generation to take action. The illustrations fit perfectly. Each chapter is short and sweet. And every reader should walk away with at least a handful of ideas to make their lives and our planet a little more livable. Great job!

Average customer rating:

Everyone Should Read This Book
A Must-Have Book for Everyone

The Way Nature Works
Macmillan
Manufacturer: Hungry Minds
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0028622812

Amazon.com

How do birds fly? How are sedimentary rocks formed? How have animals adapted themselves to living in caves? Drawing on a series of questions that children might ask, a team of scientists proposes answers in this manual for adult readers. They address large issues such as atmospheric phenomena, ecosystemic relationships, and animal communication with brief essays, each well illustrated with charts, diagrams, and photographs. Their work yields an invaluable resource that will be especially helpful to science teachers. --Greg McNamee

Book Description

Shaping the Planet the Power of the Atmosphere Evolution and Adaptation Reproducing to Survive the Search for Food Movement and Shelter Attack and Defense Senses and Communication the Living Environments

More than 900 color illustrations
100 color photographs
More than 1,000 species illustrated
Extensive cross-references
Glossary and extensive indexes

Customer Reviews:

Everyone Should Read This Book.......2000-02-23

This book should be on the shelf (or rather, on the reading table) of every home -- there is no one who can't learn something from it, and it is written in such a way as to make it interesting and accessible for all ages and academic levels.

A Must-Have Book for Everyone.......2000-02-23

There is no other book that brings together so much information about planet Earth in such a well-organized and readable fashion. Regardless of one's educational background, this book belongs on the shelf of anyone who has the slightest interest in knowing more about the real world.

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