Book Description
From the day it was released in 2000, Keeping a Nature Journal has struck a profound chord among professional, casual, and occasional naturalists of all ages. In response to this groundswell of enthusiasm, we have revised KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL, updated the interior design, and created a new cover. Undoubtedly the most exciting new element in this second edition is a portfolio of 32 illustrated pages from Clare Walker Leslie's most recent journals, reproduced in full color.
What makes KEEPING A NATURE JOURNAL so popular? It is inspiring and easy to use. Clare and co-author Charles Chuck E. Roth offer simple techniques to give first-time journal-keepers the confidence to go outside, observe the natural world, and sketch and write about what they see. At the same time, they motivate long-time journal-keepers to hone their powers of observation as they immerse themselves in the mysteries of the natural world. Clare and Chuck stress that the journal is a personal record of daily experience and the world around us. Nature's beauty can be observed everywhere, whether in the city, suburbs, or country.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent introduction to nature journaling.......2007-06-14
I bought this book unseen hoping to get some good ideas for a curriculum development project for elementary school kids I'm working on. I wasn't disappointed. This is a beautiful book. It's well written by 2 authors who are obviously passionate about the subject matter. Reproductions of Leslie's journal pages throughout the book also help you see the sorts of things that are possible and are a real inspiration. Her images are often quickly drawn and a little on the rough side, suggesting that anyone with a few minutes, a few colored pencils, a blank book, and a love for nature is capable of making a gorgeous nature journal. The book covers ideas for how to start a nature journal, the kinds of equipment you need, things you might want to keep an eye out for, and suggestions for improving your artistic skills. As I'd hoped, there is also a section for eductators who wish to use nature journals to teach people, young and old, about nature and the environment in which they live.
This book contains a lot of great information and the images from Leslie's journals are amazing. I think anyone who is into nature journals (as I am) would appreciate this book, as well as those who wish to start one.
Beautiful and Useable Book.......2006-08-11
I love this book- the art is absolutely beautiful and the general layout really shows it off. It talks about how to begin nature journaling, giving tips on both starting the habit and learning to draw! I love the approach it takes, fostering a closeness and syncronicity with nature and its cycles!
Love This Beautiful Book!!!.......2006-04-29
Our family loves this book - we love the examples from actual nature journals and it has really inspired myself and my children to keep our own nature journals. As we do so, we come to have a better appreciation for the amazing creations all around us. The author really helps to encourage even budding artists to keep nature journals, which helps some of the more timid artists in our family.
Wonderful teaching tool........2004-02-03
I coordinate outdoor workshops for women to provide them the opportunity to learn new skills. We hosted a new class,Nature Journaling, and the instructor needed a book to suplement her curriculum. I selected this book based on the Amazon recomendations and further research. Both the instructor and participants loved the book. It was very helpful and useful once they left the workshop.
I think this book is a great resource in any EE/nature/writing library.
Wonderful, inspiring book!.......2002-11-14
This book inspired me to start my own nature journal and gave me the confidence to draw in it! Wonderful, encouraging and instructional. If I can draw nature, then anyone can!
Book Description
The most complete and lucid nonmathematical study of light available. Chapters are self-contained, making the book flexible and easy to read. Coverage includes such non-traditional topics as processes of vision and the eye, atmospherical optical phenomena, color perception and illusions, color in nature and in art, Kirilian photography, and holography. Includes experiments that can be carried out with simple equipment. Chapters contain optional advanced sections, and appendixes review the mathematics for quantitative aspects. Illustrated, including a four-color insert.
Customer Reviews:
Very good.......2005-09-09
The book arrived quickly and in the condition that was specified. No issues, would use this seller again.
Optometry was never ever so interesting.......2005-08-31
Particularly for a budding Optometrist, this book allows the Optometrist to be acquainted with all the fine arts of optics and the like.
Seeing the Light.......2002-10-29
Book arrived in great shape. Like new!!
most missed book.......2002-08-21
This is the best textbook I ever had, and I sold it for some ($$$) at the end of a semester to buy a bus ticket. Very mad; I miss the book, but it's so expensive. It's amazing the way the author incorporates all sorts of literary allusions in this physics book, such as offering an interesting hypothesis on the optical illusion of the egyptians getting swallowed by the red sea while chasing the jews. Every chapter, light becomes a metaphor for so many things, the way we see, the obstacles, etc.
Physics of light for everyone else.......2000-06-15
I first discovered this book when I asked a physics professor down the hall for an explanation of diffraction and refraction in relation to some daytime sky phenomenon. He handed me Seeing the Light, and before long I coveted the volume. The authors dress down optical physics into explanations that anyone with a rudimentary knowledge of physics can understand, relating optical phenomenon to everyday events and objects. The diagrams and photos help clarify the explanation. And practical, hands-on suggested activities help drive the point home. This book would be great for physics teachers -- or teachers at any level. How about pinhole cameras or illusion drawings for class projects?
Amazon.com
A good observer of nature, walking, say, in an oak forest, may discern that some of the acorns on which he or she is treading are broken into little bits. After reading wildlife interpreter and photographer Paul Rezendes's guidebook to animal signs, that same observer will be able to tell which of those acorns have been split by human footsteps and deer hooves and which have been gnawed apart by squirrels--and by what species of squirrel. A wonderfully thorough, well-illustrated compendium, Rezendes's text covers a wide range of North American animal species, including rodents, hoofed animals, bears, raccoons, opossums, and members of the weasel, rabbit, dog, and cat families. He describes not only the signs these animals leave but also their ways of life throughout the year, and with an appropriately environmentalist purpose. "Ultimately," Rezendes writes, "tracking an animal makes us sensitive to it--a bond is formed, an intimacy develops. We begin to realize that what is happening to the animals and to the planet is actually happening to us." He's right, of course, but one need not take such a macrocosmic view of nature to take pleasure in, and learn from, this fine book. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
In this newly revised and updated edition of his highly acclaimed field guide, renowned nature photographer and tracking expert Paul Rezendes brings the fields and forests to life with his unique observations on North American wildlife and their tracks and sign. Illustrated with hundreds of his original photographs, Tracking & the Art of Seeing provides complete information on the behavior and habitat of over 50 animal species and shows you how to identify animals by their tracks, tail patterns, droppings, dens, scratches and other signs.
Customer Reviews:
Tracking and the Art of Seeing.......2007-05-30
I live in southeast Alaska and this is the book I have been looking for years. I love it! It goes into such depth, but it is simple to understand.
I enjoy hiking and like being more informed of who/what has also pased this way before me. Great Resource for anybody who enjoys hiking. The photo's are excellent.
quite simply excellent.......2007-05-04
I am an old guy-pushing 60-and have examined books on tracking ever since I was a child. No other book compares to this one. I purchased it based on the positive Amazon reviews and on this book they were right on the mark. I mean, this guy not only provides excellent photos of tracks, he has photos of the ANIMALS' FEET! What a simple yet sensible idea! I very much like his philosophy of tracking, his emphasis on looking at the whole picture of the impact an animal makes on its environment. Good job, Mr. Rezendes.
Excellent introduction.......2003-08-22
This book provides an excellent introduction to reading animal tracks. In the first chapter the author explains why we should try to understand the tracks around us in the forest, and what we might see. He then delves into the kinds of observations we need to make, such as trail widths and trail patterns and scat. The rest of the book is divided into chapters by animal family, including chapters for rodents, rabbits, weasels, dogs, cats, bears, and hoofed animals. There is also an extensive bibliography and index.
Each chapter is comprised of short articles about the specifics of tracking the individual animals that make up the family covered in the chapter. Rezendes provides a short informative description of the animal with a color photograph. The descriptions cover behavior, range, and diet. Rezendes also includes black and white photos of the animal's feet, both front and back. The next section of the article covers tracks and trail patterns, and it includes illustrations or diagrams, photographs, and typical trail width and stride measurements, as well as a lot of information to help you sort out this critter's tracks from all the others out there. He also includes short sections on signs, such as dens, food caches, kill sites, and scat, also with photographs or illustrations.
I purchased this book after moving out into the country because I wanted to identify the critters that visited at night leaving their tracks in the snow around our house. I found Rezendes' approach captivating and easy to understand, even as a beginner. Rezendes explains how tracks can tell us much more than just the identity of an animal- -through a careful study of tracks, you can determine how fast the animal was moving, whether it was browsing, being chased, or chasing another. This book is a highly informative reference; it's also a delightful read on a blustery winter afternoon.
Best Tracking Book to Be Found.......2003-02-17
This is a truly magnificent tracking book. The book has no pseudo-spiritual dribble about tracking ants across rocks or pressure points; it is full of useful information, and it is clear that the author is as genuine of an expert naturalist as they get. He shares an incredible wealth of information on how to examine and analyze the wilderness from a microcosmic level. The photography is outstanding and the descriptions of animal signs are excellent. Being a survival instructor, I have read many fine books on tracking animals and observing their signs, but I have never read one that I learned more from than this one.
My First Choice.......2002-02-23
I do a lot of tracking, both animal and human. I have read most books on the subject in print. This book is excellent for the beginner and expert and focuses on animal tracking. Rezendez helps the tracker learn both the animals track characteristics and its living habits. If I had to recommend only one book on tracking, this would be it, hands down.
Customer Reviews:
CONTAINS DISTURBING PICTURES.......2006-01-06
I haven't read much of this book, because it contains images of the most awful thing I have ever seen, the 'death by a thousand cuts'. These pictures still haunt me, and the author uses them, claiming that they are disturbing because they represent somebody who is halfway between being alive and dead - I disagree - they are disturbing because they are scenes of an atrocity inflicted on a living being. (The victim was a woman who allegedly committed adultery in China, I'm not sure when the photos were taken but they look quite old).
Those four pictures have destroyed any faith I ever had in human beings, they will probably do the same to you if you are unfortunate enough to ever see them.
Critical and very accessible at the same time.......2005-10-16
James Elkins has a wonderful way of opening our eyes to the world. He explains the way we see, or maybe what we don't see, in a witty and extremely accessible way. Elkins uses his knowledge of Art History and mixes it freely with neurology and psychology to bring us readers at a different level of understanding of the world. I'm already a true fan!
My second copy because the other has gotten so beaten up.......2005-09-21
James Elkins is a masterful writer. His work is very philosophical, though he is an art historian. I heartily recommend all of his books, but The Object Stares Back is my favorite. The books makes me sad, angry, creeped out, proud, excited... Elkins is masterful, clear, and insightful. He forces you to reconsider your ideas about what it means to see and to be seen. Great book.
Reads like a wordy blog from an art critic........2004-05-07
I was hoping for something more researched, like a compilation of several articles I have occasionally read in "Scientific American" and "Discover." Not only was this book merely opininated ramblings, the prose didn't make for easy reading. (For example, over half of his sentences begin with the letter "I." It gets dreary after a while.)
All in all, this book reads like a ten page research paper stretched out to book length with a lot of non-pertinent information and pointless conjecture tossed in. The photographs are interesting, although many of them (the polish woman with the arrows describing directions for putting on make-up, for example) provide just enough information to intrigue me, and then leave me with unanswered questions.
Considering how long this book is, I would have hoped he would have touched on refraction, color blindness, the sighted blind, optical illusions, etc. Instead, he mostly describes non-art objects the way an art critic would. He has a few interesting points, e.g. his brain has been permananty trained to recognize moth-like shapes because of a fondness for the insects in childhood, but even this interesting fact is couched in long, rambling prose.
If you've never ever read anything about vision, and don't mind that most of his conjectures aren't verified, you might find this interesting. If you, like me, were hoping for a layman's explaination of a fascinating subject, you will be sorely disappointed.
Not what I expected but still a good and interesting read!.......2004-04-15
I agree with the other reviewers, however I do not feel that the book deserves a low review because people's expectations were not met. I expected a more scientific explanation of seeing, but this book is not about that. I was impressed by the writing of Elkins because it is very thought provoking and insightful. I would recommend this book to someone who is interested in seeing the world in a different way, because this book will encourage you to look at things a little more carefully and realize there is much we see, do not see, try not to see and try hard to see but fail to do so. Very interesting book!!!
Average customer rating:
- wonderful book
- Seeing at many levels
- A masterful, lucid explanation of what the human eye does.
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The First Steps in Seeing
R.W. Rodiek
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Similar Items:
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The Retina: An Approachable Part of the Brain (Belknap Press)
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Foundations of Vision
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Color Vision: From Genes to Perception
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Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology
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Visual Perception
ASIN: 0878937579 |
Book Description
The First Steps in Seeing is about the eyes, and how they capture an image and convert it to the neural messages that ultimately result in visual experience.
A full appreciation of how the eyes work is rooted in diverse areas of science—optics; biochemistry and photochemistry; molecular biology, cell biology, neurobiology, and evolutionary biology; psychology and psychophysics.
The findings related to vision from any one of these fields are not difficult to understand in themselves, but, in order to be clear and precise, each discipline has developed its own set of words and conceptual relations—in effect, its own language—and for those wanting a broad introduction to vision these separate languages can present more of an impediment to understanding than an aid. However, what lies beneath these words usually has a beautiful simplicity, and it is the aim of The First Steps in Seeing to describe how we see in a manner that is understandable to all.
In this book, the use of technical terms is restricted, and several hundred full-color illustrations ensure that the terms that are used are associated with a picture, icon, or graph that visually expresses their meaning. Experimental findings have been recast in terms of the natural world whenever possible, and broad themes bring together lines of thought that are often treated separately.
Fourteen main chapters form a "thread" that tells the main scientific story and can be read without specialized knowedge or reliance on other sources. This thread is linked to fourteen discussions which explore certain crucial topics in greater depth. Notes link the material presented in the thread and in the special topics discussions to important review articles and seminal research papers.
The First Steps in Seeing is an innovative, authoritative work that belongs in the library of anyone with an interest in visual perception.
Customer Reviews:
wonderful book.......2007-02-19
christof koch recommended this text in his Quest for Consciousness if one wants to understand the details of how light is processed within the retina. koch's book takes up the story subsequent to that. rodieck takes a spiral approach, starting with a general tour of the entire retina, then returning to each stage in more and more detail. his description of the action potential is for me much more understandable than the typical explanation in a neuroscience text. i consider this book priceless -- it is informed by intelligence and humor and a deep knowledge of the material. i wanted to understand how a molecule could absorb a photon and communicate that to the brain, and it's all here in remarkably clear yet precise prose. what a treasure.
Seeing at many levels.......2002-01-20
There are many books on vision, but this one is truly unique. The illustrations, organization, and writing make it an example of everything a good text book should be. It can be read as an introduction to vision, to neurobiology, or simply to biology. The real beauty of this text is that it makes this elegant field of biology accessible to so many. A natural progression of chapters leads you through the field of vision, while a series of interludes and topics help you think through fundamental issues such as scale, measurement, and kinetics. Finally, an epilogue does what so few texts do: it outlines what we don't know! I read this during a week-long vactation in Tuscany, and it went down like the fine wine of the region.
A masterful, lucid explanation of what the human eye does........1998-12-15
Whoever you are and whatever your line of work: if you are interested in how your eyes work, this book will fascinate you as much (or more) than the hottest bestseller. The author, Bob Rodieck, spent much of the last decade of his career in science assembling and designing this amazingly lucid, accessible, and sophisticated account of what humans do with those photons that are lucky enough to hit their retinas. The figures are works of art--informative without being cluttered. The book is more than just an account of how the eye work: it is also a case study of the scientific method, with numerous wise asides on how to think about, and solve, scientific problems. The publisher, Sinauer Associates, is noted for careful editing and beautiful book production, and this 562-page book is a superb example of the craft that belongs right next to Edward R. Tufte's classic "Visual Explanations." If you are teaching a course in Sensory Psychology or Neuroscience (any branch), quick, get this book. Just the appendix material is worth the price.
Download Description
"""I confess that I am an unreconstructed optimist. Not a
naive one; I've lived too long for that, long enough to have experienced a resounding case for pessimism. I have vivid memories of the Great Depression, and I've lived through several wars and those international anomalies that we call police actions. I've watched what has seemed to me to be a rather steady decline in both public and private morals, and a growing confusion about ethics. And of course, I've watched the increasing prevalence of both evil and inanity (sometimes they're synonymous) in television and on the Internet."" from the Introduction But: There is God. And because there is God, there is goodness. I profoundly believe that God is at work in our world and that our planet has not yet been written off as a lost cause. History seems to tell me that though our human race appears so often to dedicate itself to its own destruction, God is always at work, usually, I think, behind the scenes. And because of God, faith, love, and goodness keep being reborn. So I write about Life from the Up Side.
Twelve sessions:
On Being Born with a Rusty Spoon: For those who've had a bad start
When Life Is at January: Who knows what wonders lie ahead?
A Woman Who Lived with Scorn: For those who suffer rejection close at hand
Don't Blame the Donkey! Capitalize on your adversity
When You've Been Given a Bad Name: Don't let others define you
Color Her Moses: Never give up. Never.
Plot for a Life: More than success
Party Gone Flat: What to do when life loses its flavor
Suppose You're Worth More Than You Think You Are: It's time you calculated your worth
How Wide Is a Boat? Gladness is nearer than you think
Strange Victory: The gains in our losses
The View from Mount Nebo: And then, there is heaven "
Average customer rating:
- Sky Tree
- Science Through Art
- Teaching Science Through Art
- One to look at over and over again.
- Sky Tree is a beautiful book
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Sky Tree: Seeing Science Through Art
Candace Christiansen
Manufacturer: HarperTrophy
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Water Dance
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Cloud Dance
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Where the River Begins (Picture Puffins)
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A Drop Around the World
ASIN: 0064437507
Release Date: 2001-08-07 |
Book Description
A tree stands on a hill by a river. As the sky changes, so does the tree, its branches filling with clouds, stars, snow, birds, mists, and the golden spring sun. One tree can mean many things.
Thomas Locker's lyrical text records the changes in the tree's world just as simply as a child might observe them, and his magnificent paintings crystallize the natural phenomena that embellish the tree on each page. Questions at the bottom of each page lead to a unique discussion in the back of the book, where art and science are intertwined, and further depth is added to the wonder of Sky Tree.
Customer Reviews:
Sky Tree.......2006-02-23
I am creating curricula that integrates the visual arts and science. This book has it all.
What a gorgeous book to look at!
Science Through Art.......2004-11-06
Sky Tree shows how a tree growing on a hill by a river changes through all four seasons. Locker's oil paintings are beautiful and accurate. The text records the changes the tree experiences in simple language. There are questions at the bottom of each page where text appears that provoke discussion. At the end of the book, Locker gives a scientific explanation of each of the paintings: the summer tree, the change tree, the autumn tree, etc. This is a great book to use for teaching about the world of nature.
Teaching Science Through Art.......2003-10-14
The artist Thomas Locker studies a tree through a year. The paintings are beautiful. Realism never looked so good in a children's book before.
One to look at over and over again........2002-05-20
I read this book with my 3 year old. The questions were over his head, but he still loved it. By simply discussing the pictures he learned about seasons, weather, the life cycle of a tree, and how painting techniques contribute to the mood of a piece of art.
Sky Tree is a beautiful book.......2002-05-19
I absolutely love Thomas Locker's art and share his love of trees. Each page of this book presents the same tree in a different light or season. Candance Christiansen's scientific and teaching background add good information to Locker's books. However, for me, it's still Locker's beautiful oil paintings that are the primary draw.
His painting of the tree with a night sky transports me to Georgia O'Keeffe's tree at night or Van Gogh's Starry Night. I'd have been just as thrilled with it at 3 as I am at 53.
Average customer rating:
- Start watching the sky!
- A picturebook introduction to a remarkable collection of constellations and star figures
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Seeing Stars
Dandi Daley Mackall
Manufacturer: Little Simon
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Constellations: A Glow-in-the-Dark Guide to the Night Sky
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The Night is Singing
ASIN: 1416903615 |
Book Description
Discover Orion the Hunter,
Draco the Dragon,
Cassiopeia the Queen,
and other familiar constellations,
and learn how to recognize
them in the night sky.
Constellations are outlined in sparkly foil!
Customer Reviews:
Start watching the sky!.......2006-12-04
My kids and I love this book. About once a month, we take it out at night and look for the constellations. The drawings are very clear about the actual stars in the shapes and only lay a picture over the pattern off to the side. It has nice simple rhymes...Next find the Big Dipper in seven stars there. It's part of the shape that we call the Great Bear. Very nice and this page has pictures of polar bears playing under a night sky. This is a favorite book in our home.
A picturebook introduction to a remarkable collection of constellations and star figures .......2006-07-14
With superbly drawn illustrations by Claudine Gevry, Seeing Stars by Dandi Daley Mackall is a picturebook introduction to a remarkable collection of constellations and star figures ranging from Orion the Hunter, to Draco the dragon, to Cassiopeia the Queen, to so many more, all tied together with a charming set of verses commenting on each featured star pattern. Providing a fun understanding of what can be seen when children look up at a clear night sky, Seeing Stars will captivate and entertain young readers with the deftly blending of informative illustrations and rhythmic texts. An ideal introduction to basic astronomy for preschool children and kindergarten students, Seeing Stars is very highly recommended, especially for parents and teachers searching for an informative and easy-to-read compendium of the endlessly enticing stars and constellations to share with children.
Book Description
The third in the series of books of correspondence with students of the direct path by John Wheeler "There is no ordinary life. Life is a grand display or flowering within the vast and clear presence of the divine intelligence. Every leaf and piece of dust is cradled in an expanse of light and presence. That presence-awareness that contains all things is also the deep presence of love and peace always. It is your own real being. The universe being revealed in each moment is aflame with the presence of exquisite love. In that, even the most ordinary thing is a unique and wonderful expression of the underlying oneness of all." From chapter 82, The Waiting Game
Customer Reviews:
Nisargadatta for Western readers.......2007-09-01
John Wheeler has a unique ability to clarify the teachings of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj for a western audience. He hammers home his dual message that we are not the separate isolated beings we take ourselves to be and that our true nature is present awareness. Highly recommended.
Awareness and Presence.......2007-08-02
The author's message is this: Against all appearances, we are not separate people. We are ONE. And what we all are is Presence-Awareness. Thoughts come and go, but we remain clear, and are always here now.
Our experiences/thoughts are flashed out as on a screen, and we are not the screen or actors but the background. The background is permanent.
We don't need to become enlightened because we are already that and have forgotten it. Our Real Nature is shining right now.
It makes me think of the Hawaiian Islands -- seeming like separate islands but in reality are connected at the base.
Follow the Pointers and Know - .......2007-05-06
I have read hundreds of "Spiritual Books," from Advaita to Zen. From Ramana Maharshi (Who Am I?) to Nisargadatta Maharaj (I Am That) ... with all manner of practices, and Gurus (like Baba Muktananda who I still love,) as well seminars, therapies, and meditations ... which went on for over 30 years.
Meeting John Wheeler was the beginning of the end of all that seeking, confusion, mistaken identification, and the attendant suffering. It's that simple and that real, what John points to.
I had a long struggle with the uncompromising nondual pointers John shares, until awareness began to dawn, and the suffering began to lessen, then subside as the Truth revealed itself. This cannot be attained, as the brute fact is that the one who wants to attain is a phantom. This is made crystal clear in John's sharing. But it is not something John gives a seeker - that very dualism is what is false and as John reminds the reader over and over, only through our OWN rigorous and committed investigation can this Innate Truth of our Aware Presence be seen to be the ground of all being and then the seeking evaporates, along with the seeker-identity. All is clear then and it is as obvious and bright as a sunrise that what we are IS this presence of awareness ... simply, Being Itself. It was never absent - so the search itself was the real problem!
I have known my now very good friend John Wheeler since November of 2004; we met first through his writings and website, and then through in-person meetings and e-mail exchanges (John may well be the most generous and forgiving human being I have ever known; I was a hard case and never once did he give up on me!)
In my view only one with a sharp sense of self-awareness can point to That Truth of Timeless Being in ways that the seeker can see for himself or herself. This sharp clear loving energy comes through between, and before, the `words' in the book. I was totally skeptical that words could lead beyond words ... but when the words are viewed not as "the truth" but rather as "signposts" or Arrows that show us, stop and look here! can there be a dawning of the innate intelligence-energy that lies at the heart of all creation.
I'd suggest to not dismiss this as merely a book! Take it up with a commitment to discover what the words are pointing to (NOT describing or representing, but indicating the direction for our own looking) and you will be amazed at the resonance and heart-felt affinity for your own true Self that arises.
Over and over we are reminded by the ancient sages and saints, the great word: "You Are That." That - Sat - Chit - Ananda, which can be translated as Being, Awareness and Pure Love - THAT is what you are.
Some call this Awareness-Presence God. Know this as you look in the ways John suggests: As the great Word - the "Mahavakya" - states: That, Thou Art. That, I Am. All That Is, Is That.
With love and respect for who you are, I humbly suggest that you read this book, as well as others by John, and follow the pointers back into your True Self. That Self is eternally free, Self-knowing, and brimming with affection and respect for all that is, as it is.
Five stars ain't enough!
In love and Gratitude, to The One appearing as Mr. John Wheeler,
I Am.
Gets a gold star for unrelenting self-consistency .......2006-08-18
Here we go again. I don't mean that pejoratively. But anybody landing on this page must already be somewhat clued to Non-Duality. Life is but a dream. Nothing is real but awareness. This book is a clear, consistent, unremitting, repeater-beacon on that theme. No matter what the question, there's only one answer from John.
However, some of the questioners retain a bit of their humanly spiced vacillation and weakness as they step up to the plate one more time with their little doubts and quibbles. They all take John's relentlessly polite slapdowns with good grace and are quick to blame themselves for not quite getting it yet. Both students and Master (just kidding just kidding!) all seem like nice people (if rather colorless, but after all that is entailed by the nature of their enterprise).
In one sense, what Wheeler asserts must be true. It has to be. What else could consciousness ever experience, in this world, the next world, or any world, other than "sensations, emotions, and thoughts"? There couldn't ever be anything else... see 'The Matrix' if you have trouble with that. So all the contents of Awareness are just the meaningless stream of sensory events and automated reactions occuring nowhere, to nobody. Fine, that simply must be true, it is a tautology anyway.
But a more interesting question remains. Since apparently there is no escape from this SET-stream (Sensations, Emotions, Thoughts), even after you see the empty chair behind the curtain, now the question arises, can it at least be made more pleasant? I would assert that this question might be a more practical take on the whole thing.
In other words, even though I accept the essential truth of Wheeler's bare epistemology, I think another question lurks behind it. I'm still human enough to be interested in suffering. Like The Matrix's Cypher character.
Book Description
Environmental history has traditionally told the story of Man and Nature. Scholars have too frequently overlooked the ways in which their predominantly male subjects have themselves been shaped by gender. Seeing Nature through Gender here reintroduces gender as a meaningful category of analysis for environmental history, showing how women's actions, desires, and choices have shaped the world and seeing men as gendered actors as well.
In thirteen essays that show how gendered ideas have shaped the ways in which people have represented, experienced, and consumed their world, Virginia Scharff and her coauthors explore interactions between gender and environment in history. Ranging from colonial borderlands to transnational boundaries, from mountaintop to marketplace, they focus on historical representations of humans and nature, on questions about consumption, on environmental politics, and on the complex reciprocal relations among human bodies and changing landscapes. They also challenge the "ecofeminist" position by challenging the notion that men and women are essentially different creatures with biologically different destinies.
Each article shows how a person or group of people in history have understood nature in gendered terms and acted accordingly-often with dire consequences for other people and organisms. Here are considerations of the ways we study sexuality among birds, of William Byrd's masking sexual encounters in his account of an eighteenth-century expedition, of how the ecology of fire in a changing built environment has reshaped firefighters' own gendered identities. Some are playful, as in a piece on the evolution of "snow bunnies" to "shred betties." Others are dead serious, as in a chilling portrait of how endocrine disrupters are reinventing humans, animals, and water systems from the cellular level out.
Aiding and adding significantly to the enterprise of environmental history, Seeing Nature through Gender bridges gender history and environmental history in unexpected ways to show us how the natural world can remake the gendered patterns we've engraved on ourselves and on the planet.
Books:
- Land, Ecology and Resistance in Kenya, 1880-1952 (Expert Series)
- Landscapes of Power and Identity: Comparative Histories in the Sonoran Desert and the Forests of Amazonia from Colony to Republic
- Lapland: A Natural History
- Lives Of Grizzlies: Alaska
- Living in the Environment: Principles, Connections, and Solutions (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)
- Lone Wolf and Cub, Volume 18: The Last Kurokuwa
- Math Games to Master Basic Skills: Time & Money: 14 Reproducible Games That Help Struggling Learners Practice and Really Master Basic Time and Money Skills ... Concepts (Math Games to Master Basic Skills)
- Methanogenesis - Ecology, Physiology, Biochemistry & Genetics (Chapman & Hall Microbiology)
- Methods to Study Litter Decomposition: A Practical Guide
- Michigan Trees: A Guide to the Trees of Michigan and the Great Lakes Region (Biological Science Series)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
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- History: Fiction or Science
- When Evening Comes: The Education of a Hospice Volunteer
- Divorce and Domestic Relations Litigation: Financial Adviser's Guide
- The Economist Style Guide, Eighth Edition
Handbook of Nature Study
Nature Journal: A Guided Journal for Illustrating and Recording Your Observations of the Natural World
The Sierra Club Guide to Sketching in Nature, Revised Edition
A Charlotte Mason Companion: Personal Reflections on the Gentle Art of Learning
The Burgess Bird Book for Children (Dover Science Books)
