Irish Wild Plants: Myths, Legends & Folklore

Customer Reviews:

Lots of scholarship, some excessive speculation.......2004-03-06

There's tons of original source material in there, drawn from the Dindsenchas, the Acallam na Senórach, and the Book of Ballymote, as well as from many other reliable historical sources. But I found much of the first 200 pages of the book really frustrating, because the author makes these guesses about what should be where and what trees should be associated with what letter of the ogham alphabet. There was a mix of "oh, cool, I'd never seen that bit of folklore" and "what an interesting association, that tree never struck me like that" side by side with "what crack are you smoking?" and "where did that come from? I want a citation!". Yet the author has obviously done their research, and done it well and thoroughly, so it's not just fluffbunny Paganism running rampant, bibbling about Atlantis crystal spirit power all the way.

I loved the full page color illustrations; I think they really added to the sensory experience of the book. Mac Coitir does eventually explain "this is why I think Nion is wild cherry and not ash", et cetera, but that section is practically the last thing in the book. By that point, I've already had 200 pages to get all outraged at the apparantly arbitrary and unsubstantiated associations. If the explanations had come first, or at least been mentioned ("later we will explore..."), it would have saved me a lot of outrage. [grin] He explains his reasoning well, but with rather more speculation than I'm comfortable with. He's obviously steeped in scholarship and not afraid to dive into Old Irish linguistics, and that rocks. He constructs plausible theories for language shift and alphabet development. He cites sources I haven't read already, and my Amazon wishlist is suddenly bigger. [grin] That rocks too. But I think that on some of these associations, he's really reaching, and the answer should be "I don't know" or "we don't have enough evidence" or even "this is my pet theory" rather than "This is how it should be/is/was!". Helloooo, Graves!

His biggest sin is perhaps an understandable one -- when the extant body of Irish evidence is lacking, he turns to other cultures. It's a very strong temptation... but I was somewhat annoyed at "here's what the Greeks thought of the pine tree, here's what the Norse had to say about the ash". Those cultures have their own rich traditions, but they don't necessarily bear on Celtic symbolism. If I wanted a book on cross-cultural tree folklore, I would have gotten one. (I own several, in fact.)

Although I don't agree with all of his conclusions, I loved the last 40 pages of the book for its in depth exposition and exploration of Old Irish, modern Irish, botany, and folklore. Lots of interesting little finds in there, and a thousand jumping off points for further research. Now if only he'd told me why he thinks Ogham is a result of the Latin alphabet... I've heard that theory aired before, but would like to see some support for it. I now have lots to think about, and he sent me diving for my dictionaries a lot, but there are also places that I so strongly disagree with him.

Book Description

The ancient martial art thatÂ's swept the nation.

The most popular form of exercise in the world, TÂ'ai Chi can slow the aging process, increase balance and flexibility, lower stress levels, and enhance the bodyÂ's natural healing powers. Now, with over 300 illustrations, this updated #1-selling guide has been expanded so that readers can create a practice for themselves. Based on the latest research, this new edition includes:
-A DVD that demonstrates 64 groups of movements that are difficult to learn from print alone
-A new illustrated format
-An expanded and updated TÂ'ai Chi yellow pages resource
-Expanded health/medical benefits

Customer Reviews:

Excellent reference.......2007-08-10

Ordered this book along with T'ai Chi for Dummies. Both are good and useful resources as a suppliment to formal training. If you are considering taking T'ai Chi, please do so under the supervision of a qualified instructor. The information about QiGong was also good. The video was so-so. It is also a good book to look at if you are considering learning T'ai Chi.

Great Book!.......2007-07-07

This book is easy to read and has easy to follow instructions. It is not only informational, it is also a hands-on approach to learning T'ai Chi. I am delighted with the content and quality!!!

Very Informative but..........2007-05-12

I found this book to be very informative but... there were just too many subtle (or not so subtle actually) advertisements by the author for his full length DVD program. The DVD that was included with the book was a disappointment to me also and was one hint after another to purchase the whole program from the author. The DVD also seemed to lack the essence of Tai Chi/Qigong and was very choppy (since of course it was actually a preview of the author's full length DVD program). I will refer to the book again but I don't ever want to suffer through the included DVD again.

Looking to get into Tai Chi? This is THE BOOK for you!.......2007-03-19

Stress at work. Find yourself sitting in front of the television all weekend. Turning into a zombie? Been there, done that.

Let me clarify this: I've never been 'up' on the Eastern arts, and until I picked up this book, I had no clue about Eastern Medicine. As a 'good Christian boy', that sounded a bit outside my realm.

But, after reading Mr. Douglas' book and watching hte included DVD, I must say that I have fallen for Tai Chi and Qi-Gong 100% !!!

The breathing techniques you learn early on help tremendously, especially when done daily.

Now that I've read the book, I have been actively seeking a Tai Chi class here in my hometown.

Easy to read and simple to follow, Mr. Douglas presents Tai Chi in a way that anyone could understand.

Oh, and if you have physical limitations, DO NOT WORRY! Mr. Douglas includes information that demonstrates how you can participate in Tai Chi, too!

T'ai Chi (Book and DVD).......2007-01-04

No problem with delivery of this item - arrived in good condition and on schedule

Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (RAE)
Average customer rating:

The least complete Spanish dictionary published

Indispensable para todo aquel que habla Español

A Dubious Dictionary of Doubts

Just what I needed.

Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (RAE)
Santillana Rae , and Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Santillana / RAE
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola

Gramatica lengua española: Reglas y ejercicios

Ortografia lengua española: Reglas y ejercicios

Vox Diccionario De Sinonimos Y Antonimos

Diccionario de sinónimos, antónimos, e ideas afines

ASIN: 9587043685

Product Description

The Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts guides users throughout the proper use of the Spanish language. It provides recommendations presented with examples that have been extracted from real texts originating from the databases of the Real Academia Española. It is a work conceived from all the Hispanic countries, which maintains a fundamental balance between the variety of a languages spoken in so many different regions, and the linguistic unity that must be preserved. In short, it gives clear answers to the doubts of those who worry about speaking and writing Spanish correctly. It is the most comprehensive and updated usage dictionary. It includes: Most frequently used words from other languages Solutions to very diverse grammatical problems Information on the rules of accentuation Models of verbal conjugations Lists of abbreviations and symbols Lists of countries and their capitals And a glossary of linguistic terms Description in Spanish: El Diccionario panhispánico de dudas en un diccionario de carácter normativo, esto es, se trata de una obra que orienta sobre el buen uso del español, el ideal de máxima corrección al que un hablante tiende en situaciones formales de comunicación. El Diccionario panhispánico de dudas se basa en el uso real del español y, por ello, todas las impropiedades y recomendaciones se ilustran en él con ejemplos extraídos de textos reales procedentes en su mayoría de los bancos de datos de la RAE.

Customer Reviews:

The least complete Spanish dictionary published.......2007-08-06

The dictionaries produced by the RAE are extraordinary for the large number everyday Spanish words that are excluded or only partially defined.

A fun after-dinner game with friends is to sit down and guess which common words (not necessarily obscene) are not included.

Hours of fun for people who enjoy language - and for this reason alone I recommend this dictionary.

Indispensable para todo aquel que habla Español.......2007-06-11

Justo lo que estaba buscando. La real lengua de academia española aclara de forma normativa todas las dudas del idioma. Tienes duda de como pronunciar la B o la V? El diccionario lo aclara (sabias que no hay ninguna diferencia en sonido?). Necesitas saber de manera autoritativa como usar la tilde? El diccionario lo define de manera clara y detallada. Quieres evitar el dequeismo? El diccionario define. Comúnmente usas una palabra no adoptada de otro idioma, el diccionario no sólo te aclara si es aceptada, sino también te presenta las palabras españolas más adecuadas para reemplazarla. En resumen no un diccionario como los otros, este diccionario aclara de forma normativa todas tus dudas y corrije muchos de tus errores. Indispensable para una persona que habla y escribe en Español

A Dubious Dictionary of Doubts.......2006-01-02

The English language is like a massive tsunami that threatens to engulf, sink or obliterate other ways of speaking. Anglicisms (words migrating from English into other tongues) are so prevalent and powerful that the rulers of other languages have for many years made battle against the intruders. To no avail, of course.

Did I say "tsunami"? There is no such word in Spanish. Nor, for that matter, does "sunami" appear in the last (22nd) edition of the Dictionary of the Royal Academy of Spain. Of course, quite a few Spanish speakers know what a tsunami is, and therein lies the problem with academicians ruling a language: they are always far behind the speech and the knowledge of the people, and ultimately they have no control over how language is spoken, or even over how it should be spoken.

Now comes the Royal Academy to try to gain some control. In conjunction with the 21 other Spanish language academies from former colonies, it has issued its 848-page Panhispanic Dictionary of Doubts.

Certainly an appealing name, but the doubts in question are not of the existential kind, but rather linguistic or grammatical ones. The explicit aim of this volume is to resolve doubts about the correct usage, meaning, spelling, and structure of the Spanish language; but the covert agenda is surely to try to stop Anglicisms before it becomes necessary to speak English before one can understand Spanish.

The efforts of the DICCIONARIO range from the logical to the bizarre, with an unfortunate predominance of the latter. For instance, the dictionary does not like "whiskey" appearing in written Spanish, even though the world in general, including Spaniards, would know precisely the meaning of the word. Instead it proposes that in Spanish we should refer to that substance as "güisqui," which is visually indigestible in any language and an abomination as a word. Or take "blog," a word surely known by any Spanish speaker with a computer: the dictionary suggests that the nautical term "bitácora" ("binnacle" in English) is a better choice. Are they mad? Use bitácora for blog? That is what they recommend.

Nor does the DICCIONARIO address some practical linguistic issues: for instance, the verb "coger" has a seriously vulgar meaning (equivalent to the "f" verb when referring to sexual congress) in most of Latin America, but it is always benign in Spain, where it means "to get." Although this dictionary does have an entry for the word, no mention is made of its vulgar meaning or the embarrassment the word can cause when misused. Yet this is precisely the kind of issue that should be addressed in a book such as this one.

If Spanish is your native language and you read and write it well, the DICCIONARIO is a fun book to have, and one from which one is bound to learn something. For beginning speakers of Spanish (the ones with the worst "doubts" about the language) this is not a book I would recommend; it is entirely too advanced and technical to be of much use to a novice. Students should consult their teachers before investing in this book. Finally, editors of large cosmopolitan Latin-American newspapers should probably keep a copy the Diccionario de Dudas
on their desk.

Just what I needed........2005-12-31

This is a must-have book. It's not just a common dictionary, it's a very nice reference book on how to speak correctly spanish, focusing on those words that usually are written/spoken in different ways and that are hard to tell wich one is the correct one.
It's a very nice effort from the language academies of spanish spoken countries.

Average customer rating:

Excelente!
Indispensible for advanced Spanish students
"Esta informacion esta en la pagina web www.rae.es"
Magnifico diccionario
Imposible de leer

Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Espasa Calpe Mexicana, S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

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Spanish | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (RAE)
Vox Diccionario De Sinonimos Y Antonimos
Gramatica lengua española: Reglas y ejercicios
Diccionario de sinónimos, antónimos, e ideas afines
Ortografia lengua española: Reglas y ejercicios

ASIN: 8467003170

Customer Reviews:

Excelente!.......2007-10-05

Excellent reference source to have at home. It comes in 2 books...with the alphabet split between the two. I have not encountered a word that is not in this dictionary. Excellent price for this also.

Indispensible for advanced Spanish students.......2007-09-14

Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola is an indispensible reference for advanced students of the Spanish language.

I am a Spanish major at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, FL. This dictionary was required by my Latin American History professor for a class on Spanish paleography -- the old handwriting of documents from the 16th and 17th centuries. It has been a vital resource in our researches into the old words and the old usages. It provides both modern definitions and usages and older, now disused, ones. It also includes the latest in technological terms and "popular" language as well.

I recommend this dictionary to any serious student of the Spanish language.

"Esta informacion esta en la pagina web www.rae.es".......2007-08-23

El diccionario de la Real Academia de la Lengua Espaniola es una fuente muy completa de informacion sobre el idioma castellano/hispano... el contenido del CD es lo mismo que esta en la pagina web gratis de la Academia asi que creo que a menos que usted no tenga acceso al internet, no hay diferencia.

Magnifico diccionario.......2007-07-08

Este diccionario es el que dicta las reglas gramaticales del espanol. Es bastante extenso y muy bueno.

Imposible de leer.......2007-03-10

Compré este libro como regalo para mi madre y me lo devolvió a los tres días. La tipografía usada en las pequeñas páginas es tan minúscula que aún con un vidrio de aumento es difícil de leer. Todos los que lo han visto concuerdan que el formato pequeño del libro es totalmente inadecuado para un diccionario de esta magnitud.

Diccionario De Autoridades/ Dictionary of Authority (Biblioteca romanica hispanica)

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Diccionario De Autoridades/ Dictionary of Authority (Biblioteca romanica hispanica)
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Gredos
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Diccionario De La Lengua Espanola/ Dictionary of the Spanish Language (10-Volume Set)

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Diccionario De La Lengua Espanola/ Dictionary of the Spanish Language (10-Volume Set)
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Espasa Calpe Mexicana, S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola (Book & CD-ROM)

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Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola (Book & CD-ROM)
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Espasa Calpe Mexicana, S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Diccionario Practico del Estudiante/ Student Dictionary

Average customer rating:

An exceptional dictionary at an excellent price...

Diccionario Practico del Estudiante/ Student Dictionary
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Real Academia Espanola
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Diccionario del estudiante (RAE)
Diccionario Esencial De La Lengua Espanola/ Essential Dictionary of the Spanish Language
Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (RAE)
Diccionario Larousse del español moderno
Gramatica lengua española: Reglas y ejercicios

ASIN: 8403097468

Book Description

With the Practical Dictionary for Students, the Real Academia EspaÃ±ola (Royal Academy of the Spanish Language) and the AsociaciÃ³n de Academias de la Lengua EspaÃ±ola (Association of Academies of the Spanish Language) set out to provide a comprehensive resource for all students of the Spanish language.

It offers: 30,000 entries, a selection of the most commonly used and extended Anglicisms, conjugation rules, the cardinal rules of spelling, most frequently used synonyms, abbreviations and acronyms, families of words, as well as practical examples of use. It is a work conceived from all the Hispanic countries, which maintains a fundamental balance between the varieties in the language spoken in so many different regions.

Customer Reviews:

An exceptional dictionary at an excellent price..........2007-07-31

I am a teacher of foreign languages and a firm believer in migrating students to mono-lingual dictionaries in the target language as early as possible. This dictionary does a remarkable job of covering a vast array of Spanish in an attractive format.

It is blessed by the Real Academia Espanol, and my experience with it confirms that it meets the high expectations of its pedigree. In addition to providing a respectable variety and depth of definitions, including regional words like "checar", it provides numerous pages of Spanish grammar and fully conjugated Spanish verbs. I am currently using it to decipher some of the less common words in the Spanish version of Harry Potter, and have yet to stump it.

The book is of a manageable (though not pocket) size to fit in a duffel bag or backpack and yet the fonts are large enough to be easily readable. The use of blue keywords in contrast with the black definitions adds to both the ease of using this book and its general aesthetic appeal.

I enthusiastically recommend this book as a first dictionary in Spanish. I suspect it will serve even most college students of Spanish well. I plan on buying a class set for my room.

For those that outgrow this book, I can heartily recommend its larger cousin:
Diccionario Esencial De La Lengua Espanola

Diccionario Escolar de La Real Academia Espanola

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Diccionario Escolar de La Real Academia Espanola

Manufacturer: Espasa Calpe Mexicana, S.A.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 842396809X

Diccionario de Caligrafos Espanoles. Con un apendice sobre los caligrafos mas recientes por Rufino Blanco. Publicalo la Real Academia Espanola

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Diccionario de Caligrafos Espanoles. Con un apendice sobre los caligrafos mas recientes por Rufino Blanco. Publicalo la Real Academia Espanola
M. Rico y Sinobas
Manufacturer: Ediciones del Establecimiento Tipografico de Jaime Rates
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Leather Bound
ASIN: B000KMO6P8

Diccionario De La Lengua Castellana Por La Real Academia Española -En Un Tomo, Decimocuarta Edicion De 1914

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Diccionario De La Lengua Castellana Por La Real Academia Española -En Un Tomo, Decimocuarta Edicion De 1914
VV.AA.
Manufacturer: MPRENTA DE LOS SUCESORES DE HERNANDO
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WWR1VC

Product Description

Leather bound

Average customer rating:

Diccionario de la Lengua Espanola
Real Academia Espanola
Manufacturer: Planeta
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: CD-ROM

English (British) | Dictionaries & Thesauruses | Reference | Subjects | Books

Book Description

It's Chloe's first Valentine's Day with Lennon. She painstakingly plans the perfect evening, and tops it off by telling him she loves him. Imagine her surprise when Lennon doesn't say it back.

Riley has had a string of bad dates. She decides to go on strike for Valentine's Day -- no more guys. Before long, though, she's lovestruck by a boy she never expected she'd like.

So Little Time, Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen, Books 11, 13-14, Boy Crazy, Love Is In The Air, Spring Breakup
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So Little Time, Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen, Books 11, 13-14, Boy Crazy, Love Is In The Air, Spring Breakup
Mixed Authors
Manufacturer: Parachute Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000VROTUY

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