History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place

Average customer rating:

Nothing Unnatural About It; It's Sacred
This verse unlocks the heart.
If you have been affected by cancer it is worth reading!!!
Suprising turn of events
Disappointed

Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place
Terry Tempest Williams
Manufacturer: Vintage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0679740244
Release Date: 1992-09-01

Amazon.com

The only constants in nature are change and death. Terry Tempest Williams, a naturalist and writer from northern Utah, has seen her share of both. The pages of Refuge resound with the deaths of her mother and grandmother and other women from cancer, the result of the American government's ongoing nuclear-weapons tests in the nearby Nevada desert. You won't find the episode in the standard history textbooks; the Feds wouldn't admit to conducting the tests until women and men in Utah, Nevada, and northwestern Arizona took the matter to court in the mid-1980s, and by then thousands of Americans had fallen victim to official technology. Parallel to her account of this devastation, Williams describes changes in bird life at the sanctuaries dotting the shores of the Great Salt Lake as water levels rose during the unusually wet early 1980s and threatened the nesting grounds of dozens of species. In this world of shattered eggs and drowned shorebirds, Williams reckons with the meaning of life, alternating despair and joy.

Book Description

In the spring of 1983 Terry Tempest Williams learned that her mother was dying of cancer. That same season, The Great Salt Lake began to rise to record heights, threatening the herons, owls, and snowy egrets that Williams, a poet and naturalist, had come to gauge her life by. One event was nature at its most random, the other a by-product of rogue technology: Terry's mother, and Terry herself, had been exposed to the fallout of atomic bomb tests in the 1950s. As it interweaves these narratives of dying and accommodation, Refuge transforms tragedy into a document of renewal and spiritual grace, resulting in a work that has become a classic.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing Unnatural About It; It's Sacred.......2006-10-28

The first time I went to Utah, I read Edward Abbey's "Desert Solitaire" and loved it. This time, at a bookstore in Moab, I picked up Williams' "Red" for a contemporary view of the ecological issues around this gorgeous desert landscape, which is unlike any place I have been. Although I liked "Red," people told me "Refuge" was even better.

This is a very special book. I'm no birdwatcher, but it made me want to be. I'm no scientist, but I wished I were. I'm no Mormon, but it gave me respect for a religion I have never been able to fathom. Terry Tempest Williams has profound insights into the natural world. Her observations of the Great Salt Lake and the many migratory birds that visit it are as moving as her account of the death by cancer of her mother and grandmothers. Not surprisingly, they taught Williams awe of birds and sunsets and their own bodies. All of them are brave and spiritual women, and we would be wise to learn from them.

I think what I most admire about Williams as a writer is her emotional courage. Time and time again, she strikes out where more conventional writers would hesitate. She finds redeeming passages from the Book of Mormon. She follows her mother through her long and circuitous spiritual journey with cancer. She follows her grandmother as she moves into Eastern thought and modern physics. She dips respectfully into ancient Indian and Mexican culture. She walks in the desert at some peril to her well-being. She speaks of the intimacy of her marriage and about her decision not to bear children.

Yet his is not a book "about" the desert or cancer or birds or Mormonism, but about life and how it can be richly observed, experienced. shared and redeemed. It's one brave woman's answer to "Desert Solitaire."

This verse unlocks the heart........2006-10-16

Terry Tempest Williams is a national treasure. Her unvarnished verse carries one deep into the mystery of the Earth and sends us helplessly into the depths of our own hearts. The landscape of wildness breaths a spectacular wisdom under the watchful eyes of this keen observer of wind, rock, desert, sky, sage, along with the birds who soar and dance and play in a benediction to non-sentient life.

When I need to recapture my own mortality along with my own humility, I always return to the verse of this elder of silence and truth. Williams stands alone in the power to convey both outer and inner wildness. Her verse is poetic and healing. One does not read these words but are instead initiated into the heart beat of wild nature. Savor its beauty as you might a calming sunset or a wind swept sea shore calling you ever deeper into your own soul.

Read everything she writes and find peace deep within.

If you have been affected by cancer it is worth reading!!!.......2006-06-26

I loved and hated this book. It is beatifully written. I found the author frustrating at times. Some parts got a little long winded about the birds. It takes you on a emotional rollercoaster but the pay off of finishing this book is worth it. Any one who has been affected by cancer will find this book very inciteful to the process of going through treatment and also the death process. Terry Tempest gives the most authentic and honest account of what life is like living through cancer I have every read. She put into words thought and feelings I could never express fully.
The research of the history of the Great Salt Lake was very fun to read about. I have lived in Utah all my life, but I have never been to the Lake I now am very curious to see it and the bird refuge. I think I will find the trip much more interesting now than if I had gone before reading this book.

Suprising turn of events.......2006-03-02

Terry Tempest Williams is a naturalist living in Utah who has the history of cancer in her family. Cancer in this novel is paralleled with the flooding of the neighboring Great Salt Lake. Overall this book goes to show that cancer goes deeper than the person who it is diagnosed to. I would suggest this book on limited circumstances: One-if you can get past the strong feminine presence and domination of this novel. Two-do not read the last 60 or so pages. I approved of this book up until that point. If the book ended at that point, leaving out the harassment of the government it would be ten times better. To anyone who is in the process of reading Refuge, you won't want to read past around page 230. Enough said.
My rating(first 230 or so pages): 7.5/10
My rating(after page 230 or so) 2.5/10

Disappointed.......2006-02-03

Although I found the passages about Ms. Williams relationships with her mother and grandmother and their struggles with cancer to be well-written and moving, I am surprised that she and many other reviewers imply that the cancers were the consequences of nuclear testing. I think of myself as an environmentalist, and I believe that such testing is likely to have been harmful to human health; however, the striking family history of breast and ovarian cancer in this case strongly suggests that there is a genetic disorder (mutation in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene) that was responsible for the cancer in these women. I was living in Salt Lake City during the spring of 1983, and the flooding was indeed dramatic, but I was bored by the rather repetitious descriptions of the refuge and the birds.

Average customer rating:

Rocas Alijos (Monographiae Biologicae)

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792340566

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive description of the site, which is the top of a remnant oceanic volcano 180 nautical miles off Baja California. The book presents extensive details on the observations made during two major expeditions in 1990 and 1993, including the history, rocks, water, soil, and biota. The site is highly significant for biogeographical studies, lying at the boundary between major provinces. It also provides ready access to dating the vulcanism of the region. As a case study, this volume is extremely rich in detail, integrating the various observations into a single picture of the site. The book will be indispensable to researchers concerned with the Eastern Pacific, and to persons involved in the planning of expeditions, resource management, or long-term trends in environmental conditions.

Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay

Average customer rating:

A LIFE CHANGING READ
Attention to Detail
Beautiful Swimmers
Entertaining and Educational
It Takes You There....

Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay
William W. Warner , John Barth , and Author
Manufacturer: Back Bay Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0316923354

Customer Reviews:

A LIFE CHANGING READ.......2007-05-29

Growing up in Northern Virginia I always had a vague sense of the crab's popularity, both for dining and as a sort of a local mascot for people who live near the Bay. However, I had only eaten them at my aunt's house in Benedict, MD. and thought them to be strange and hard to eat. They made me feel inferior some how not knowing the technique and how exactly my aunt was able to come up with these bushels during the warm summer months. I dedicated last summer to learning all about the Bay and the blue crab and the wonderful people who make a living off them. I was transformed with the knowledge from the book that explains so many details about the life of the crab, the watermen and their families. The author is so creative with the insights he reveals. After reading this book, I am equipped to speak intelligently about the geographical areas, crab industry and most importantly-how to get and eat these beautiful swimmers!

Attention to Detail.......2006-06-03

Whereas I found this book to be quite informative, the author's attention to detail about every aspect and apparatus of a waterman's life on the Cheasapeake Bay to be a bit much. I found it difficult to find interest in how many eel baits were used on a trotline and how close together they were spaced. Not being well versed on the parts of various fishing vessels, I found myself lost as to what the author was writing about not to mention the numerous detailed descriptions of every piece of fishing apparatus employed by watermen.

Beautiful Swimmers.......2005-08-18

Beautiful Swimmers was given to me by a relative mixed in with a number of Bay-related books(including Tom Horton's Island Out of Time and several others).
Often, environmental writers stand the risk of in a way reducing the Bay to merely some sort of ecological experiment. Some I have read do not take into account that every little change in the Bay, whether the fault of Mother Nature or ourselves, drastically affects the people whose entire livelihood is fished out of these waters. Fortunately, the author(s) of Beautiful Swimmers does not fall into that trap.
The Watermen have a unique love affair with the Blue Crab. As evidenced by my own home town's "Hard Crab Derby" celebration ever year. This book, I think, gives a very fair and honest portrayal of these seemingly simple people with seemingly simple lives. Its handling of carcinological matters is anything but boring, including an in-detail description of how the crabs make love.
I would highly suggest this work not only for its informative value but for its treatment of the inherant poetry and beauty of the Bay. Even at the time of its publishing, the downward trend in the Bay's health was growing more evident. Today the situation is even more precarious, and requires a very delicate balance between the health of the Bay that supports so many and the people themselves, whose lives have been spent gleaning from these once bountiful waters an income, and who keep alive the traditions of Watermen from over four centuries ago.
Let us protect the Bay, this precious resource of ours, but we must not forget about the people.

Once again, an exceptional book, and one that I recommend for anyone interested in the Conservation of the Chesapeake Bay and the people that depend upon it.

Entertaining and Educational.......2005-01-03

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I spent summers as a kid catching crabs and seeing commercial crabbers outside my grandparents' home but there was a lot about the industry and the bay that I didn't know. I felt like an eavesdropper on an unfamiliar yet familiar world as I read this book, and found my curiousity awakened. The writers clear appreciation for his subject shines through, and it is a delight to discover even many years after it was written.

It Takes You There...........2004-11-16

Beautiful Swimmers will make you feel like you are a part of growing up in the Chesapeake Bay region. If you already did so, it will bring you back home.

Beautiful Swimmers serves as excellent literature for a multitude of readers: naturalists, historians, travellers, and folks who enjoy reading a good novel. It also provides a good blend of natural and cultural resource history.

I moved to the Chesapeake Bay area (Deale, MD) several years ago and was referred to Beautiful Swimmers by several members of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Prior to reading Beautiful Swimmers, I grew extremely fond of living on the bay. Since reading the book, I have that much more appreciation for the culture of the bay.

Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca

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Excellent
A gem of a cross-disciplinary book

Lines in the Water: Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca
Ben Orlove
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520229592

Book Description

This beautifully written book weaves reflections on anthropological fieldwork together with evocative meditations on a spectacular landscape as it takes us to the remote indigenous villages on the shore of Lake Titicaca, high in the Peruvian Andes. Ben Orlove brings alive the fishermen, reed cutters, boat builders, and families of this isolated region, and describes the role that Lake Titicaca has played in their culture. He describes the landscapes and rhythms of life in the Andean highlands as he considers the intrusions of modern technology and economic demands in the region. Lines in the Water tells a local version of events that are taking place around the world, but with an unusual outcome: people here have found ways to maintain their cultural autonomy and to protect their fragile mountain environment.
The Peruvian highlanders have confronted the pressures of modern culture with remarkable vitality. They use improved boats and gear and sell fish to new markets but have fiercely opposed efforts to strip them of their indigenous traditions. They have retained their customary practice of limiting the amount of fishing and have continued to pass cultural knowledge from one generation to the next--practices that have prevented the ecological crises that have followed commercialization of small-scale fisheries around the world. This book--at once a memoir and an ethnography--is a personal and compelling account of a research experience as well as an elegantly written treatise on themes of global importance. Above all, Orlove reminds us that human relations with the environment, though constantly changing, can be sustainable.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2003-04-13

(Planeta.com Journal) -- Lines in the Water (University of California Press, 2002), a beautifully written ethnography of rural fishermen and their families. The book's subtitle "Nature and Culture at Lake Titicaca" specifies the center of action, but the scope is much broader and deeper. It's actually hard to find the words to say how delightful this book is. Author Ben Orlove is an environmental science professor at the University of California, Davis, and his book is based on three decades of trips to Peru and Bolivia. The book is a showcase of fresh writing and a major contribution to the literature about South America. Orlove provides a frank account of the role academics themselves play. He includes himself in this story and shares candid observations -- from his reactions to office politics to daydreaming about museums. This book is highly recommended. Eco travelers visiting Lake Titicaca would do well to read this book in advance.

A gem of a cross-disciplinary book.......2003-02-24

This is a gem, written with great respect for the indigenous people who live aound Lake Titicaca, well-annotated and with wonderful photographs by the author. Orlove has broad interests - anthropology, economics, natural history, environmental issues, to name a few, and a talent for accessing interesting memories. He conveys his astute observations in clear and vivid prose.The book is organized nicely - I especially liked the material in the final chapter, entitled "Paths", which offers an antidote to the sad fact that roads and highways are so often destructive to local people and to biodiversity. Paths, literal or metaphorical, also provide valuable linkages and essential connections among the various components of this remote but very interesting and community with ancient roots. Orlove provides the reader with a sense of having traveled those paths for a short while with him.

Wetlands (Audubon Society Nature Guides)

Average customer rating:

crayfish?
A beautiful, helpful gudebook!

Wetlands (Audubon Society Nature Guides)
William A. Niering
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0394731476
Release Date: 1985-05-12

Book Description

A comprehensive field guide, fully illustrated with color photographs, to the trees, wildflowers, fishes, insects, birds, and other natural wonders of North America's rivers, lakes, and swamps.

Customer Reviews:

crayfish?.......2001-03-30

This is a very beautiful field guide, but where are the crayfish?

A beautiful, helpful gudebook!.......2000-10-05

This is the 3rd book in the "Audubon Society Nature Guides" series that I've purchased, and they continue to be a pleasure to read and use. For anyone who lives near, will be travelling to, or has a general interest in Wetlands, this book is an essential. Not only is it beautifully illustrated and easy to use, but it's also a great general guide to Wetlands in the US. I am in the Chicagoland region, and almost all of the book applies to our area. Highly reccomeded for anyone from the novice to Wetland professional.

Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic

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SUMPTUOUS SIGHTS & TIMELESS TRANSCENDENTAL TEXT
Revisiting Walden
Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic
Self Help At Its Best
A Great American Spiritual Genius

Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic
Henry David Thoreau , and Scot Miller
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0618457178

Book Description

Henry David Thoreau was just a few days short of his twenty-eighth birthday when he built a cabin on the shore of Walden Pond and began one of the most famous experiments in living in American history. Originally he was not, apparently, intending to write a book about his life at the pond, but nine years later, in August of 1854, Houghton Mifflin's predecessor, Ticknor and Fields, published Walden; or, a Life in the Woods. At the time the book was largely ignored, and it took five years to sell out the first printing of two thousand copies. It was not until 1862, the year of Thoreau's death, that the book was brought back into print. Since then It has never been out of print. Published in hundreds of editions and translated into virtually every modern language, it has become one of the most widely read and influential books ever written, not only in this country but throughout the world. On the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the original publication of Walden, Houghton Mifflin is proud to present the most beautiful edition ever published of Thoreau's masterpiece. The price -- $28.12 -- is half a cent less than Thoreau himself spent to build his cabin in Walden Woods. This new edition features spectacular color photographs by Scot Miller that capture Walden as vividly as Thoreau's words do. The book is being published in association with the Walden Woods Project, which is dedicated to preserving the lands Thoreau wrote about. For each copy sold, Houghton Mifflin and Scot Miller are making a donation to the Walden Woods Project.

Customer Reviews:

SUMPTUOUS SIGHTS & TIMELESS TRANSCENDENTAL TEXT.......2007-01-15

* "I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion . . . I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long . . . A lady once offered me a mat, but as I had no room to spare within the house, nor time to spare within or without to shake it, I declined it, preferring to wipe my feet on the sod before my door. It is best to avoid the beginnings of evil."
~ Henry David Thoreau; "Walden"

* "Walden has become as much a state of mind as it is a place."
~ Scot Miller; "Walden - 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition"

For my birthday in 1984, my dear friend, Marty ("rhymes with party"), gave me the 1981 Avenel books hardcover edition of WORKS OF HENRY DAVID THOREAU. This compilation contained all of the famous transcendentalist's most significant writings and the thirty intriguing Herbert Wendall Gleason, black and white photographs that graced the 1906 publication of Thoreau's complete works.

My dear friend died in an auto accident five years later, but part of his legacy is the passion for Thoreau's philosophy that his gift awakened in me, and that book which occupies a prestigious place in one of my bookcases right between my Holy Bible and my 1st edition copy of Mark Twain's 1872, Roughing It. And my book, though yellowed now, looks pretty good for a volume 23 years without a dust jacket (I nearly always trash the things immediately), and for having been completely read twice, and thumbed through hundreds of times!

A couple of years ago, GFM (Good Friend Melanie) gave me a softcover copy of WALDEN AND OTHER WRITINGS, and I was glad to have it as it contained a couple of essays and excerpts I'd not previously read, and it provided me with a copy of Thoreau's best that I could loan out to others.

Therefore, when my friend, Pooh, and I flew into Philadelphia in late August 2005, to visit the birthplace of our nation, and then to drive north to visit Walden Pond and environs, I did not consider purchasing a copy of this 150th ANNIVERSARY ILLUSTRATED EDITION of WALDEN for myself while in Thoreau's hometown. I already had two copies of this true classic and couldn't see buying a third despite the stunning pictures included in this publication. I did, however, bring home a copy as a gift for GFM. (The woman in the bookstore in downtown Concord, Massachusetts, pointed out to me that the original publishing price - printed on the inside flap of the dust jacket - was $28.12, half a cent less than Thoreau tells us it cost him to build his little house at Walden's shore in 1845. (He officially moved into his homemade home on the appropriate date of July 4th, and an American classic was born!)

One day, shortly after returning from my memorable trip, I borrowed from GFM the copy I had given her, so I could gaze upon the nearly 100 SCOT MILLER photographs once again. And I was so awed by the indescribably gorgeous and practically breathtaking pictures of the Walden area and its flora and fauna, that I realized I needed to own this book like Thoreau needed solitude. And that's how I came by Thoreau's WALDEN for a THIRD time! While Marty's gift reigns for sentimental reasons, the 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition is tops in exquisite beauty - a lovelier and more profound coffee table book is simply unimaginable; a richer gift for a valued friend couldn't be purchased at ANY price! This edition is simply a divine marriage of Thoreau's insight into the nature of Man and his place in nature, and Scot Miller's illustrations of the natural world wherein Thoreau made those treasured observations over a century and a half ago. Hey, I even left the dust jacket on this book despite the fact that the jacket's photograph is also reprinted on page 2, and it barely even hints at the wonders inside.

In Thoreau's WALDEN, the naturalist makes the following observation in the chapter titled, "Sounds": "I had this advantage, at least, in my mode of life, over those who were obliged to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theatre, that my life itself was become my amusement and never ceased to be novel. It was a drama of many scenes and without an end." And Scot Miller has brilliantly captured with his camera the splendor of that "drama of many scenes" at Thoreau's old stamping ground.

I'm not knowledgeable in the techniques of photography, so I can't explain to you HOW Miller was able to make photographs like these (it seems obvious to me, however, that he must employ an array of various filters and such). All that I CAN tell you is that words can't describe the virtual explosion of colors (like nature vibrantly celebrating that 1845 4th of July within Herself) and the uncommon degree of visible detail (staring at those rocks and leaves in "Still Life Under Ice", I can almost feel the bone-numbing cold that any one of those stones would penetrate my hand with). "Magical Fairyland Pond" is the perfect caption for that dreamlike picture of Walden's sister pond. I can almost hear a lonely dog barking from across the glittering snow while hidden deep in the distant, wooded shore, when I'm lost in the "Sunrise On Frozen Walden Pond." I'm not even going to attempt to describe the "Nature's Palette, Heywood's Meadow" photograph on page 32. Suffice to say that God is "The" Master Painter. Incredible! (And Scot Miller, you're a wonder, too!)

This five-star beauty of a book represents the pinnacle of the publisher's art, and it includes a shot of the exact site of Thoreau's 1845 cabin (previously obscured by a cairn), and Henry's simple tombstone, which I visited at the Author's Ridge section of the Concord cemetary where our hero's physical body gradually became a part of the nature that his spirit loved so much.

Revisiting Walden.......2006-07-09

On a family vacation many years ago, I visited Walden Pond and walked all around it. In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the publication of Thoreau's Walden, the Walden Woods Project published, in 2004, this illustrated edition of the work with stunning color photographs by Scott Miller of Walden Pond and its environs. The Walden Woods Project is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of Walden Pond and to the legacy of Thoreau. I found this book a fitting memorial of my walk around Walden Pond and of my earlier readings of Walden. The lovely edition, photographs, and memories inspired me to turn again to Thoreau's book.

Henry David Thoreau (1817 -- 1862) lived at Walden Pond, Masachusetts from July, 1845 -- September, 1847, in a cabin he built himself on a tract of land owned by his friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was two miles from Concord, Massachusetts and one mile from his nearest neighbor. A railroad passed near the pond, and it was frequented regularly by farmers, hunters, picnickers, and others. During the two years, Thoreau left Walden Pond at times to visit friends in Concord, to lecture, and to visit other ponds and sites in the area. He made no pretense of being entirely isolated. In his book, Walden, published in 1854, Thoreau described the first year of his life at Walden Pond (he tells us that the second year was much the same) and his reasons for living there. Much of the book was written at Walden Pond, and Throreau also wrote other works there.

The book is short but it is written in a dense, difficult and condensed style with many long, complex sentences. It is also highly allusive and shows Thoreau's learning in classical literature and his interest in Eastern thought and religion. It is filled with many short, pithy, and provocative comments which have become proverbial in American literature.

In the opening and closing chapters of the book, Thoreau describes his motivations for living at Walden Pond and abandoning the life of commerce. For Thoreau, most people are owned by their possessions. He saw a need to live with little encubrance in order to understand himself and find inner peace. "Simplify, simplify, simplify" was his goal. In one of my favorite sentences of the book, he states (p. 67) "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Then, towards the end of the book, Thoreau recounts some of the lessons he had learned in the following passage:

"We should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the influence of the slightest dew that falls on it, and did not spend our time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring."(p/253)

In the middle sections of the book, Throreau describes his life in the woods, again with recognition of his substantial interactions with other people during the time. (He was not a hermit.) He describes the books he read, his activites at his cabin, Walden Pond and woods, the changes of the seasons, and the plants and animals. The pond and its creatures are described with great detail, but Thoreau gives even more attention to internalizing his experiences and explaining their significance to his readers.

Scott Miller's beatiful photographs of Walden Pond add a great deal to this edition. They are well-placed to correspond with the discussion in the text, and they illuminate Thoreau's descriptive passages. The photographs, and the book itself, brought back reading and visiting memories and made me want to see Walden Pond again.

But much as Walden is revered for its descriptions of nature, the book remains for me primarily internalized and intropsective. Thoreau has many polemical things to say which will not, and should not, appeal to all readers. But the book documents the effort of an individual to try to understand his life, to reflect, and to understand change. As I have suggested, it is not an anti-social book as Thoreau was never far removed from friends and company. But it is a book about understanding one's life and learning not to be afraid of solitude or of being with oneself.

Robin Friedman

Walden: 150th Anniversary Illustrated Edition of the American Classic.......2005-08-15

I recently sent this to my daughter because during a phone converstation, I thought she sounded depressed, so I didn't actually see the book myself, but she called me to tell my how much she loved it. I could hear it in her voice as she decribed it to me. She said a friend was at the house when it was delivered and while looking at one picture, in a quiet voice, her friend said "I want to go there".

Self Help At Its Best.......2004-09-26

This is one of the most influential books in American history. I picked it up for the first time in thirty years only to realize that Throreau's philosophy had long ago permeated my being. I remember being blown away by my first reading more than half a century ago, but with each immersion new depths are achieved.

Thoreau sought both authenticity and simplicity in his life. He never abandoned Concord and the real world but merely sought refuge at Walden to plumb the depths of his being. Serious introspection and brilliant writing show each of us the the way to our own core. Can we stand the examination? That is for each of us to determine.

The Transcendentalists may never have been able to define their philosphy, but what remains of it more than a century after the movement's passing can be summed up in Thoreau's always upbeat outlook of "...if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet success unexpected in common hours."

One cannot read Walden without gaining confidence in one's ability to change direction in life and optimism about the future. We do not have to live lives of conformity and quiet desparation. "In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, though they should fail immediately, they had better aim at something high."

There has never been a book that better expresses American optimism, and there is no reason for us to lose confidence now. Simplify and be as close to authentic as you can be and all will turn out well. Oh, and while you're at it question authority.

If there could be a six star book, this would be my candidate.

A Great American Spiritual Genius.......2004-09-09

Reading "Walden" changed my life forever. Thoreau is perhaps the greatest American spiritual genius ever. This book inspired me to write my first book, which took five years--that is how deeply inspired I was by "Walden". So many of today's spiritual gurus are lightweights compared to Thoreau. He offers up a highly original take on the spiritual wisdom of the ages, not the mind candy you often find in today's books. While I found it a challenging read, it was worth it. If you are in the market for a spiritual paradigm shift, read "Walden"--and re-read it if you first read it under the age of 25. The pictures only make this spiritual classic better.

Average customer rating:

small but good book
painstaking 3-d detail inspiring sense of wonder

What's in the Pond? (Hidden Life)
Anne Hunter
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0395912245

Book Description

What would you see if you sat at the edge of a pond and looked into the water? In this hand-size book, Anne Hunter illustrates in loving detail the creatures that live in and around a pond-a water strider, a tadpole, a red-winged blackbird, a painted turtle, and more. Each illustration is accompanied by simple yet detailed text describing the animal's characteristics and habits. Young readers can put this book into a pocket or a backpack and take it with them to the pond. The artwork and simple sense of wonder will inspire children to explore their environment. What's Under the Log? is the perfect accompaniment.

Customer Reviews:

small but good book.......2006-03-17

Small book,too small for reading at circle time to group of children. Hardback cover is approx. 5"x5" with pictures inside much smaller. This would be a nice book for one on one or independent reading, or leaving in science area, it has a lot of good information.

painstaking 3-d detail inspiring sense of wonder.......1999-09-27

These painstakingly detailed, beautiful drawings are serene, pensive, yet light-hearted 3-dimensional renditions of these tiny creatures. The text and illustrations inspire a closer look and sense of wonder for small children and their adult companions. And it fits in your pocket!

Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman

Average customer rating:

Excellent biography, Wonderful photographs and illustrations

Beatrix Potter: Artist, Storyteller and Countrywoman
Judy Taylor
Manufacturer: Warne
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0723233144

Customer Reviews:

Excellent biography, Wonderful photographs and illustrations.......2007-05-23

This is my favorite biography of Beatrix Potter, thoroughly researched and historically accurate, with many wonderful family, home and countrylife photographs (including ones of Beatrix Potter's pet rabbit, dog, and a variety of her other animal pets). The book also contains her many beautiful illustrations, watercolors and copies of some notes and letters as well as portions of her manuscripts. Judy Taylor, an author enchanted with Beatrix Potter stories and art from early childhood, also wrote Beatrix Potter: The Artist and Her World, and two National Trust Guides: Beatrix Potter and Hilltop, and Beatrix Potter and Hawkshead. She's the editor of both Beatrix Potter's Letters: A Selection and Letters To Children from Beatrix Potter.

The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas

Average customer rating:

A superlative tale of the Great Lakes
"We are the earth-divers, and the world is made of stories."
Engrossing and Enlightening Book
Delightful
the best of the lakes!

The Living Great Lakes: Searching for the Heart of the Inland Seas
Jerry Dennis
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Griffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312331037

Book Description

This is the most complete book ever written about the history, nature, and science of the remarkable Great Lakes. From the geological forces that formed them to the greatest environ-mental success stories of our time, Jerry Dennis portrays the lakes in all their complexity. This is the story of the lakes as told to the author by biologists, fishermen, and sailors. It is also a narrative of a six-week voyage through the lakes and beyond as a crewmember on a tallmasted schooner, and a memoir of a lifetime spent on and near the lakes. The result is a meditation on nature and our place in the world, a cautionary tale about the future of water resources, and a celebration of a place that is both fragile and robust, diverse, rich in history and wildlife, often misunderstood, and worthy of our attention.

Customer Reviews:

A superlative tale of the Great Lakes.......2007-09-18

As a displaced Michigander, I am often amazed that westerners are almost completely unfamiliar with the Great Lakes. This book would be best enjoyed by those familiar with the region. But even the less familiar will enjoy the gripping adventure found in the many anecdotes offered here. I am on my second read and can't believe how much I had forgotten from my first read. There are stories that will nearly bring you to tears (the near disaster on the day of the Edmund Fitz sinking) and some that will simply amaze. This should be required reading for all school children from this region. Those less fortunate who live elsewhere will still enjoy the enlightening read. And while it certainly encourages protection of the lakes, I didn't find it preachy. It is a very objective book and doesn't dwell too much on the environment.

If there is a better book on the great lakes I haven't found it.

"We are the earth-divers, and the world is made of stories.".......2006-02-13

An enthusiastic outdoorsman, Dennis has written a comprehensive book on the Great Lakes from the perspective of personal experience, scientific data and historical background. He describes the area in its early pristine beauty, from the Indian tribes to the first European settlers and the dawning of industrialization that almost destroyed this natural preserve of geology, flora, fauna and indigenous species. With attention to the tales of the past, Dennis writes of the gradual evolution of natural beauty into a vast resource for lumber, farm products, shipping and related industries, including the influx of a population that has grown around opportunity, all imbued with the awesome grandeur of these vast bodies of water.

On a four-week voyage through the Great Lakes, Dennis views the area from the water, as opposed to his many travels along the shorelines, the exhausting, but fulfilling days on board filled with the lore of the sea, new friendships make while sailing and the eccentric individuals met along the way. Couched in contemporary terms, the author speaks of the past with reverence, his love of history enhanced by regional details, tales of shipwrecks and the personal observations of a man with great reverence for the bounty of this immense body of water and those who live on the miles of coastline that make up the Great Lakes. History is tangible in Dennis's work, impossible to ignore as the men navigate from one lake to another, reminded daily of the pitfalls of ignoring nature and the pleasures of communing with the elements.

The comprehensive chapters cover: Lake Michigan, from land and water; the Straights of Mackinac; Lake Superior, canoeing, the early voyagers, surviving storms; Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and the wilderness; St. Claire River; Lake Ontario, the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. Each chapter addresses relevant information but is complemented by stories, for example, the "White City" constructed in Jackson Park for the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893, the disappearance of an entire fishing village on the shores of lake Michigan, victim of "walking dunes", Sault Ste. Marie and the rapids of the St. Mary's and The Soo Locks. His eye on an ever-changing environment, Dennis paints a fascinating portrait of nature's bounty in the Great Lakes, past and present, ever vigilant for the dangers of pollution, overuse and the avarice of industrialization: "Bracketed by mysteries, adrift, alone, despairing of our ignorance, we turn to the physical because there, at least, we can know a thing for certain." This is out legacy and the key to the future of a national treasure. Luan Gaines/ 2006.

Engrossing and Enlightening Book.......2005-10-19

I really enjoyed this book because it covers a wide range of topics from sailing to environmentalism to North American history to geology.

As a lifelong citizen of the Great Lakes in Rochester, NY and Chicago, IL, I was surprised at how much I didn't already know -- and that the book taught me.

Delightful.......2005-06-03

Purchased the book because I'm considering a retirement along Lake Ontario and am an avid sailor. The book is centered around the relocation of a Ferro cement schooner from Michigan through the lakes to Lake Ontario, onward down the Hudson and around New England. Along the journey, are many mini stories added for each lake taken from a combination of personal adventures, history and many interesting collection of facts coveraging a wide range of subjects from geology, their early exploration, later exploitation and related environmental problems. My only mild dissapointment is there was not more on Lake Ontario. The trip ends in along the coast of Maine where I was raised. It's a delightful book.

the best of the lakes!.......2004-06-17

I am (like many of those that have written reviews) a native Michigander. However, I am now living in upstate New York, which despite being part of the Great Lakes lacks the appreciation for the lakes that midwesterners have. This book is a must read for anyone who hasn't had the opportunity to grow up surrounded by the greatest natural wonder in the world. This book highlights not only the natural history of the lakes, but the social and environmental legacy of humankind in the lakes. For those who were lucky enough to spend time sailing, swimming, hiking, and otherwise enjoying the Great Lakes, this book will sweep you back in time to the lazy summers of youth (or retirement, as the case may be!) and remind you of why you love the Great Lakes.

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