I loved this book. The whole concept is amazing and the pictures were dynamite. Tim is a genius writer!

The book starts with a 26 word sentence, then a 25, then a 24 and so on. Hard to write, especially in such great rhyme!

One Belfast Boy begins with An Old Story, a very brief history of Northern Ireland. It then continues with A New Story, which is about young Liam's life in Belfast. The text follows Liam through several of his days at home, in the neighborhood, at school, and with the boxing club. The photos which illustrate this book tell their own story, sometimes illuminating an event such as the pre-school soccer game; sometimes chilling the reader with a terrifying contrast: boys leaving school / soldier watching through his gunsight. Touching, moving, excellent book which gives new meaning to that sometimes hackneyed term, "cross-cultural."

This book is a real find, original and funny and deep all at the same time. I've had friends from age 9 to 84 read it with a lot of pleasure.

Do the names Cavaille-Coll, Cahman, Compenius, Marcussen, and Arp Schnitger sound familiar? If not, this book, most likely, is not for you. If you do recognize them, and are appreciative of their work, you will really enjoy The Organ as a Mirror Of Its Time, which is a collection of articles skillfully edited and arranged by Kerala J. Snyder. These prominent and historic European pipe organ builders, along with some of their more famous instruments, comprise the theme around which the contributors collectively construct an intriguing historical, cultural, political, and artistic context. The scope of the book spans four centuries, and concentrates on six specific representative instruments in Sweden, Denmark, and Germany. While the composite of all the articles achieves the intended overview, each article has a life of its own and can be enjoyed outside the surrounding framework of the book.

After reading this book, you will have an insatiable desire to hear the instruments that you have just learned so much about. Fortunately, the book comes with a CD, which has performances on each of the six subject organs. One piece by Bengt Hambraeus, called Riflessioni (played on the Marcussen in Oscar's Church, Stockholm, Sweden) will blow you away.

Obviously, this book is for real devotees of classical European pipe organs and their milieu. If you fit in that category, I highly recommend this book to you. However, you will find that a couple of the articles were written BY academics FOR academics (bless them....they can't help it), but the effect is softened by their being intermingled with articles written for the rest of the human race. The only other disappointment involves the last of the six instruments, the North German organ in Orgryte New Church, Goteborg, which was built with the combined efforts of several university research and development teams, scientists in the fields of Metallurgy, Fluid Dynamics, and Applied Acoustics, and all of it coordinated by an international team of organ designers, builders, and voicing specialists. The instrument was conceived as a composite of several Arp Schnitger organs in Hamburg, Zwolle, Lubeck, and Alkmaar. It was completed and subsequently inaugurated in August of 2000. From the picture of it on page 343, it looks magnificent. After such a build-up, you really want to hear what it sounds like, which you can do by listening to the last cut on the CD. However, due to the selection of a particularly dreary piece (a Chorale by Weckmann), and the organist's uninspired choice of registration, the organ unwittingly comes across sounding like what it really is.....an organ built by a committee.

Absolutely the finest book about an Indian Tribe in the U.S. that I have ever read,,, and it was written by a member of that Tribe... Fantastic!!!

It goes without saying that the year 2001 will not be remembered as one of the best years on record for whitewater boating in Northern California. In fact, according to Bill Center at Camp Lotus, 2001 is the lowest water year since 1977. Other authorities on the subject seem to generally agree. Yet in the midst of all of this yawning and rock scraping, another new guidebook to paddling in this great state has arrived with very little fanfare. The new guidebook is titled Paddling Northern California, and it was written by long-time paddler, Charlie Pike. Charlie's new guidebook uses a fresh new approach to paddling and combines knowledge from several different disciplines of paddling, including sea kayaking, and describes paddling on both flatwater lakes and whitewater rivers, in both canoes and kayaks. The book was also written with an audience of novice and intermediate paddlers in mind. There is probably no better guidebook for the beginning paddler in Northern California. And while Charlie's new guidebook is not the most comprehensive book on the subject of whitewater runs in Northern California, it is quite informative, has a well-organized layout, and is extremely easy to read. In short, it is a joy to read and use this book as a reference. In fact, one of the most outstanding qualities of his book is the use of combined paddling disciplines. In his new guidebook, Charlie takes the reader on a paddling tour of Northern California, and shows you the joys of each discipline. I personally consider myself to be an advanced paddler in my own realm, but it seems that the more you know, the more there is to learn. While reading this book, I found myself getting really excited at the prospect of doing some other forms of paddling that I had never tried before, like paddling with the tides up and down coastal esteros and sloughs, sea kayaking across the bays, and canoeing across those beautiful and serene natural lakes in the High Sierra. In this book, I also found great information on some of those obscure paddling trips that I've never had the chance to take, like the continuous Class II nature of the Bear River near Colfax, the remote and stunningly beautiful Juniper Lake in Lassen Volcanic National Park, those elusive runs on the Truckee River, the beautiful Albion River along the Pacific Coast, and paddling the Cosumnes River Preserve in Central Valley, where one can enjoy world-class bird-watching. Charlie's Northern California paddling tour begins in the Monterey Bay, sea kayaking amongst the marine mammals, while enjoying those great views of Cannery Row. And his paddling tour ends at the take-out of the East Fork Carson near Minden, Nevada. And the middle is filled with only the finest paddling runs in the state mentioned between Monterey and Minden. There are 65 wonderful paddle trips documented in all. Like I mentioned earlier, this is by no means a comprehensive guidebook to all of the rivers in Northern California - quite the contrary. For instance, I found it interesting that Charlie would document the Class IV Chamberlain Falls Run on the North Fork American, while never even mentioning any of the Class II or Class III runs in the over 100 miles of the Lower Klamath, which are much more within the abilities of novice and intermediate level paddlers. However, sometimes quality is better than quantity, and this is one of those times. Charlie only documents those paddle trips that are the very best in terms of quality of experiences. His book is a treasure trove of the best experiences to be had through paddling, and the information and the maps are presented in clear and concise terms, making it a joy to use this book. For instance, for certain rivers with which I am intimately familiar, I compared Charlie's information against my own knowledge and found that Charlie's information was not only completely correct, but it was also better explained than I could have explained it myself. Besides the obligatory International Scale of River Difficulty, with which we are all so familiar, Charlie explains the Sea Conditions Rating System (or SCRS), of which I must admit that I was totally unaware. I also appreciate his treatment of the subjects of environmental protection, low-impact camping, and water safety. One of the best parts of this book is the four Appendices, which explain how to get accurate information from a variety of sources, including the Internet. This information includes such specifics as dam release and river flow gauges, tide tables (something I know very little about), and other nice-to-know items, such as weather forecasts, wind velocities, and wave heights. He also has the addresses and telephone numbers for almost all of the managing agencies of the government, as well as popular commercial outfitters and local paddling clubs. Regardless of your specific paddling interests and skill level, Charlie Pike's book is a necessity for the bookshelf of every person who paddles in Northern California.

His brother, James, wrote 'Revolution by Night'. Do not go past this book if you want to learn about Aboriginal Art; a book compiled by a bloke who loves the Aboriginal people.

Prior to reading this book, I'd not known much about the Northern Irish problem--just that there was one. Shillue has opened my eyes to the culture and the deep-seated and intractable issues at play here. She perfectly captures the warmth, natural intelligence and enormous humor of these people. One comes to know and appreciate people on both sides of the divide and realize how difficult this situation will be to reconcile. A wonderful place to begin learning more about this culture and issue.

Hugh Brody's The People's Land is an articulate and sympathetic study of relations between the Inuit and Whites in Canada's Eastern Arctic region. Since first contact with the Inuit of this region was made by European, the latter have attempted to assert authority over them, first as missionaries and furtraders, later as government officials. The result has been truly detrimental to the Inuit, so much so that it is extremely difficult for them to live their traditional way of life. Also important is the psychological effect that White dominance has had, an issue that is still far from being resolved. In turn, Brody also discusses the mentality of the Whites who came to the Eastern Arctic. While they were enchanted by the seemingly romantic manner in which the Inuit lived, they also regarded these people with a profound distaste because of their skin colour and religious practices. Although a couple decades old now, The people's Land is still a very insightful work, well worth reading by anyone interested in the Arctic.

This work draws from journals, reports and books, compiling the findings of much obscure research and making it accessible. It is a great introduction to northern Ghana.

Other ethnographies on Ghana that may prove interesting include works by Madeline Manoukian, Eva Meyerowitz (especially, The Akan of Ghana), David Tait (The Konkomba of Northern Ghana), R. S. Rattray, Meyer Fortes, Ivor Wilks, Nehemia Levtzion, and Esther Goody