Earth Day Books

According to this book, every day in this world 364,321 people are born and 147,137 people die. That means that every day there are 217,184 more people on this planet! Each person I know who has looked through this book finds at least one amazing fact that sticks with them long after the book is closed. The facts and figures are illustrated by fascinating pictures, charts and diagrams; for instance, some of the world's most famous buildings and sites are drawn to scale with one another, so you can see how the pyramid of Giza stacks up against the Eiffel Tower... and you'll also find out how many visitors each one attracts each day. You'll find out that the average American watches 7 hours of television per day - but the average in Japan is 9 hours! (Denmark - only 1 hour and 54 minutes.) There is a center spread page about animals: how many miles does a grizzly bear travel per day, how much does a mole eat in a day? From science to nature, to human consumption, it's all here and yes, there is an index. This book is oversize, which makes it pleasant to look at, but unpleasant to fit into a standard bookshelf. "The World in One Day" is a treat for information junkies of all ages.

Barbara Kingsolver's lyric prose is so fun to read, and it's good for you too! It's heartening to see the locavore movement get such attention on a national scale. Maybe American food culture isn't doomed after all. The inserts from her family are entertaining, but sometimes awkwardly placed. I can't wait to lend this out to my friends.

I enjoyed reading this book as a story about a family and how they chose to eat for a year. It certainly inspired me to cook more often, and to head to the farmer's market up the street a little more often. The sections I didn't like were those by Kingsolver and her husband broached bigger societal issues like subsidies for big agriculture companies, problems with feed lot animals, etc. These are all very real problems, but I wish the book had given more details, some statistics, references and footnotes from where her info came from, etc. Also, as a well-informed vegetarian of 17 years, I found the section about how vegetarians are all delusional to be very demeaning and her arguments weak.

Anyhow, read it for the family and farming story. But also pick up "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan for a much better explanation of the bigger issues.

I avoided reading this book for a while, because I had the feeling that I wasn't going to like it. And then a friend brought it to my house. Well, I was right. Two stars for some (but not many) good anecdotes. A bad review for a humorless, avuncular tone. We, consumers, are getting clobbered over the head from every direction with the "locavore" message anyway. Although I am in agreement with the idea that it is important to support our local farmers, it really is a conceit to think that this food is accessible to everyone. Also, I'd like to know more about the economics involved. Is it really more fuel-efficient to have dozens of farmers drive to the farmers market and hundreds of people make a special trip, compared to the economies of scale present in our big grocery store system? Just wondering. . .

You won't find answers to any difficult questions in this book. Instead, Ms. Kingsolver uses the money that she's made from her loyal fan base to look down her nose at us and write a santimonius, preachy book about how we all should be eating. I fail to see how her year of intensive gardening on her large farm in Appalachia has any bearing on the problem of how we average folks can actually best spend limited food dollars. It seems to me, that if she really wanted to make a difference, she would have spent the year dipping into her sizable bank account to buy local farm products from people who truly are trying to make a living that way rather than just ramping up her gardening efforts. Don't buy this book unless you love being condescended to.

I don't even remember how i came across this book, but it was definitely a good read. Not 5 stars as the book was a little repetitive and slow at times, but definitely 4 stars. The book is another of the typical "i'm going to change my life and write about it plus add in statistics and side stories and such". Which is fine because i like books like this. I felt that one of the strongest points of this book were the short essay's and recipes from the authors husband and daughter. These helped the book move along and provided a break from all the local food statistics and preaching. I'm your interested in reading about local food, gardening, and rural east coast life this book would be for you.

I love anything by Barbara Kingsolver and this book was no exception. She made a believer out of me and many of our bookclub members. Even though many of us do not have gardens (this year anyway), we're all haunting the farmers' markets in town and stocking up on organic, locally grown produce, meats, eggs and dairy. The writing was just as mesmerizing as any of her fiction -- one of those books that you just don't want to finish because you don't want to not be reading it.

This book was in perfect condition when I received it and the really cool thing about it is that its WATERPROOF which means you can read it pretty much anywhere-in the shower, underwater, at the beach or even in a fish tank! The book gives you scary insight on how we are destroying our earth and killing ourselves slowly and simultaneously!!!

Apparently corporations are all going green. Even Ford will become perfectly sustainable. Now they abuse their employees & produce thousands of fossil-fuel-burning cars out of a "green" facility built with materials extracted from where, a green, sustainable mining operation?

This book has some good points & quotes, but in the end it's another propaganda piece for greenwashing corporations.

Such an inspiring book! McDonough and Braungart offer much more than just passion for creating a green world--they tell us how to do it. Through their experience innovating new systems with companies like Ford, Herman Miller, DuPont, and many more, they bring serious intelligence to a movement that often feels like another fad. Current enthusiasm aside, Green is here to stay, and we need to start understanding the things we talk about.

Put on your creativity hat and prepare to be dazzled.

The book was delivered in good condition and in a timely fashion. I am very pleased with your services.

this was a fascinating book with a great amount of real life examples and how their theories actually apply to real life and how their design plan of "upcycling" (opposed to recycling) is actually do-able. Even this book is made of materials that fit into their design plans. I've read some books that have great ideas but no way of implementing them, the two authors are already succeeded. it is well written and a good read.

I bought this book for my son as a birthday present, as he and I both like stories with Native American influences. He has read it many times since receiving it, especially when he wants to feel closer to me or to get through a bad day. This book is a wonderful addition to any young child's collection of stories.

This is a book we give as a gift for new babies and their families. It is a beautiful book with colorful illustrations and meaningful text. It is definitely a "keepsake".

RSW/Mechanicsburg,Pa.

My 1 yr old son enjoys having this read to him; however, my tongue doesn't. I find this book miserable to read. Unlike other books which tend to have more rhyme and rhythm, this one just has waaaaaaay too many adjectives and I find myself stumbling over the long sentences. Sometimes I even leave a few words out!

You may argue that it's the message that really counts (albiet this book tends to be a little mushy about it), but at the end of day, after having had my patience tried more times than I'd like to think, having to plow through this book is the last thing I want to do.

The illustrations are wonderful and my son DOES enjoy the book, and so I give it three stars for that.

This is a lovely gift for a new baby (forget the layette items, people get too many anyway!) - this and On the Night You Were Born are the books I send to all the new people I know. The sentiment in this book is perfect. In the prose-like text of this book, the little one is welcomed by the earth - the pictures are bold and fun to look at. I love it.

This wonderful book has become a personal tradition in my family. I give a copy to the parents for each new baby born. What better way to welcome the newest additions.

Stellar story that was painstakenly researched. This is the kind of book that inspires one to take a trip to Antarctica - or read everything available about polar exploration. Nansen, Shakleton, Scott and the mighty Amundsen are not just interesting characters - they are Goliaths of exploration who braved the elements with panache and bravery second to none. Excellent read, try to stay warm while doing it.

Someone who is not British, when encountering this book or the magnificent television series which was based on it, may not understand the "historical baggage" that weighed on Huntford's attitude towards the two protagonists of the story, Scott and Amundsen. Britain has a long history of having an intelligentsia that is either jingoistic/chauvinistic on the one hand, or self-hating on the other. With the break-up of the British Empire in the post-Second World War period, the self-hating sector grew in size, and Huntford seems to be part of it. The tragic failure of Scott's expedition to the South Pole in 1911/1912 has been viewed through the prisms of this historical baggage to this day.
Huntford points out that Britain started going into relative economicand political decline, as compared particularly to the young upstart Germans and Americans as early as 1870, the time when Scott was born. The incompetence of the British Army in the Boer War made it popular already by the beginning of the 20th century to say that the "British race was decadent" and Scott himself referred to this when canvassing support for his British Antarctic Expedition by saying the effort to explore the Antarctic would prove that this accusation was not true.
The failure of Scott's expedition was then held up by official state organs as a "glorious failure" which would serve as an example of suffering and sacrifice in which to inspire the British people, particularly the young. The start of the First World War just 2 1/2 years later with millions of young men "going over the top" into the face of slaughter by gas, machine guns and artillery made Scott's story even more relevant and potentially inspiring.
Decades later, Scott was still viewed as a great man and explorer who was the victim of "bad luck", as compared to his competitor Amundsen and it was considered vaguely "unfair" for Amundsen to have even have attempted to go for the South Pole at the same time as Scott. I myself recall seeing Scott's diary in the British Museum where it was treated something like a holy relic.
It was this distorted view of Scott that Huntford attempted to correct in writing this book and to give Amundsen the credit he was due and which he was not allowed to enjoy in his lifetime due to Scott getting most of the publicity as a result of his "glorious failure" which attracted more attention due to its dramatic nature.
The problem is that Huntford seems to have a lot of anger in him, directed not only at Scott, but at those forces in Britain who, in his view, cynically promoted the idea that Scott should be viewed as a great man and hero who was "unlucky" and "treated unfairly" and viewed Amundsen as something of a pirate. In my opinion, he goes too far and resorts to petty attacks on Scott and his wife.
Having said this, I still think the book is outstanding and his comparison of Scott's and Amundsen's methods and leadership ability are essentially correct, and that Scott really was not fit to lead such an expedition. The fact that some of those critical of Huntford point out that some of Scott's men, such as Edgar Evans and others who came to the Terra Nova expedition after having been with him on the earlier Discovery mission seem to have been very loyal to him does not prove that he was a good leader. The British who served under him simply might not have known anything about how polar exploration was really supposed to be conducted.
I really appreciated Huntford's description of the technical matters that Amundsen excelled in such as his choice of skis, food, fuel containers, packing boxes, sledges, clothing and the such point the way to the different outcomes for the two expeditions. Scott simply did not invest the effort in really trying to understand life in such a harsh environment, and could not cope with things like scurvey, the leakage of fuel from their containers, designing packing boxes that could be opened without untying them from their sledges as did Amundsen, even simplifying methods for doing the complicated calculations for determining latitude so close to the pole, again, as Amundsen did. Amundsen even thought of putting marker flags not just on the supply depots he made, but he also put marker flags several miles on each side of them in case visibility was poor and they were off course. Scott didn't do this and there were numerous panicked rushes wasting much time energy just to find them. These "little things" when added to the big policy issues such as whether to use motor sledges, dogs, ponies or simple, brutal man hauling determined what would be the outcomes of the two groups. Finally, there was the leadership qualities of the men. Scott came out of the Royal Navy which had a harsh system of imposing discipline and he used it on the people on his team, thinking of them as being "officers" or "lower deck"-types. Amundsen, although demanding loyalty from his men, did not lord his position over them and was willing to consider their views, particuarly in difficult situations.
Of course, Amundsen made mistakes, and I believe Huntford tends to downplay the panicked return from the too-early start for the pole in early spring. Had men died there, Amundsen would have been considered a goat, but he narrowly got away with it, in spite of Hjalmar Johansen (whom he never wanted to bring along in the first place) exploding and questioning Amundsen's leadership abilities in front of the other men. However, Amundsen was able to neutralize Johansen's threat and he escaped any negative fallout from this potentially fatal mistake.
In the end, Amundsen was a victim of making his immense achievement look too easy, just like NASA did with the Moon landings some 60 years ago. Technical brilliance leading to safe journeys in dangerous environments apparently don't capture the imagination of the public and interest evaporates quickly. Many people prefer drama and close-calls or outright disaster instead. Huntford's book, in spite of its flaws, draws our attention to the real qualities of these men instead of the propaganda.

I saw a program on PBS about Amundsen and the Northwest Passage and decided I wanted to know more so I bought this book. Much has already been said and thus doesn't need repeating. If you hold to the hero status of Scott then you are apt to be severely disappointed. He does NOT fair well in the cold light of history. Amundsen comes across as someone who was at the peak of his game and was just better at this sort of thing.

One of the best books I've read in a LONG time. Well worth the time spent.

For those who like to read history, this is very well researched.

There are simply too many errors in this book to state here. I can only suggest that the reader look at the notes at the end of the book. Huntford derives almost all of his negative comments from two or three people on Scott's expeditions. Why are so few of the comments collected from hundreds of men who loved and supported Scott. I'd hate to have my life judged before the world by the few people I've pissed off out of the many I've known. And just a note in passing---the Markham diary or jornal he keeps referring to? It's not a diary or journal; it is a collection of notes made by a very old Markham years after he encountered Scott on the street (prior to appointing Scott as leader on the first expedition).

Scott certainly made some serious judgement errors and prevaricated occassionally, but Huntford lies on almost every page of his book by omission and deception.

I have no complaints about his description of Amundsen; Amundsen was the better of the two explorers. In fact, Amundson was arguably the greatest of all polar explorers in the heroc age. Some of the best polar explorers appear almost amateurish by comparison.

These Earth from Above books are truly an outstanding and breath taking view of the the world. They are educational and beautiful all at the same time. They are great coffee table books as well as great resources to show your children amazing natural and man made sites from all over the globe. Highly recommended.

When I turned the page to September 11th just recently, I saw an erie photograph of the destruction of 2 side by side square structures in Florida reminding me of the World Trade Center on that very date. When I checked the copyright and saw that the book was publisher in 2001, I thought it would have to be after September 11th and the author used this photograph intentionally on this date. But by checking the Amazon site I learned the published date was September 1, 2001. Though I know September is hurricane season in Florida, I couldn't help but think this was an erie coincidence.

The images and stories that go with them are compelling and informative about the status of this world we live in. They are beautiful and give a powerful perspective on the Earth from a view we can not see as we walk on the ground. Amazing experience to share. I have now given it as gifts to over 10 clients and friends.

An amazing book of beautiful, thought provoking pictures that swirl the mind. No negative critiques other than the fact that the book should have been published in a large "coffee table book" size. I think a huge disservice was done to both the quality and content of these photos to have them published in a 6.5" x 7" format.

This is the best coffee table book I have seen. It captures the interest of all ages and intelects. But there is a message too, we must take care of our planet. !!!

All in all, James Lawrence Powell did a superb job in writing this book. He is highly opinionated and interprets data in a manner to support his fundamental belief (that an asteroid caused the KT extinctions).
I advise readers to get a balanced view by also reading "The Great Dinosaur Extinction Controvery" by Charles Officer and Jack Page. I felt that Powell covered the topic very thoroughly and provided historical context to help the novice extinctions reader. I felt that the book was very weak in dicussing the paleontological aspects of the extinction. Next revision perhaps.

I did't find this book to be a particularly good review of the dinosaurs-vs-meteorite controversy. The narrative is clear and captivating, and accounts of the several open (or closed!) disputes, rooted in disparate fields of Earth sciences, is made accessible to the layreader or those with just a modest background in natural sciences. Nevertheless, Powell holds a one-sided approach right from the beginning, pointlessly crusading against some supposedly general backward attitude in geologists and paleontologists that actually never was there, except for a very few unfortunate cases. Everyone now agrees on evidence for a massive extraterrestrial impact dated around 65 million years ago, but the main issue is presently whether that was the ultimate cause of the mass extinction or other earth-bound factors and feedbacks played a role in driving interactions between physical environment and the biosphere toward a mass extinction. Powell leaves no room for such developments.
In particular, I'd have two specific objections to specific cases presented in the book: 1)On pages 172-174 taxonomic analysis of dinosaur diversity in the highest stratigraphic stages of the Cretaceous in Montana is reported as evidence in favour of a sudden crisis of the original ecosystem. Pete Sheehan and co-workers carried on their studies at the taxonomic rank of families, which resulted numerically stable with time approaching the K-T boundary. Only, John Horner recently reviewed their work at a species level, likely to be statistically and biologically more reliable indicator of biodiversity, and found out a steady decrease of dinosaur types through time. Such reconsideration of Sheehan's research thus reverses evidence against the impact hypothesis! 2) The section "Did impact cause all extinctions?" introduces the final part of the book which has absolutely nothing to do with the K-T event per se, and presents us with Raup's "impact-kill curve" which was originally just an interesting exercise in statistics, but lacking a solid connection with the actual geo-paleontological database of major mass extinctions (let alone minor ones..) and thus oversimplifies the subject. Yet the author all too enthousiastically takes sides with the "impactors" and loses objectivity, even falling in contradiction (Page 192:"Not enough firm evidence is available to corroborate the claim that impact is responsible for any other mass extinction boundary than the K-T event..." Page 196:"..how are we to escape the conclusion that not just in theory, but in practice, impact has caused many extinctions?")
More poignantly however, scientific arguments and debates against the "impact hypothesis" haven't been introduced thoroughly enough but too quickly glossed over, although numerous in the recent scientific literature...
Without deceiving myself of having read a downright objective account, I'm afraid this is the best available book about the (still ongoing...) debate, together with J.D.Archibald's "Dinosaur Extinction and the End of an Era: What the Fossils Say", which is possibly far more objective though...

This is one of the best science books I have ever read, and a great description of how science works from the inside. Scientists aren't impartial godlike figures, they're human beings just like the rest of us.This book details how a geologist, by bringing his father an interesting rock--a polished specimen that included the K-T boundary layer, deposited when the dinosaurs all vanished--started a controversy that revolutionized and redefined the entire field of earth sciences. Personally, I love it when that happens, that's how science is supposed to work, but people who have built their entire careers on the old view of things can have a very difficult time accepting a new paradigm, and will go to ludicrous extremes to defend the old one to their dying breath. The impact theory of extinctions is one of the scariest concepts I have ever come across, but I am a lot happier knowing how things really work. This is an utterly fascinating read, and I can't recommend it strongly enough. To anyone interested in geology, astronomy, dinosaurs, (who isn't interested in dinosaurs??), or the workings of science, I can only say---READ THIS BOOK!!!!

One of the great scientific revolutions of our times has been the recognition that the biological evolution of Earth is influenced random impacts by comets and asteroids. When this concept was put forward in 1980, it was radical; today it is the accepted wisdom in paleontology, geology, and evolutionary biology. Jim Powell tells a fascinating story of the evidence for this transformation and of the scientists who have been protgonists in the struggle to understand this evidence and integrate it into our broader undestanding of our planet. This is one of the best books ever written to trace the history of a scientific controversy and of the people involved, warts and all.

I was hoping for a balanced analysis supporting the dinosaur extinctions via an asteroid doing a number on mother earth. Instead I got a steady dose of denunciations towards anyone who disagreed with the asteroid theory. The tone is palatable at first but after a while repeating the same canard over and over does tend to get tiresome. Around page 170 or so I realized that I was reading an apologist for the asteroid theory.

I was very disappointed that other theories were given short shrift and at times almost mocked. This is a so so book about dinosaur extinctions but I am waiting for a truly meaty and balanced book.

"Against a Crimson Sky" takes a gripping historical look at the final partition of Poland (1795), it's people, and tells the personal story of the Stelnickis. Martin uses a grand, sweeping style reminiscent of epic storytelling to paint a vivid picture of the era. "Against a Crimson Sky" is a book that can easily be visualized on the movie screen.

The story beings in 1794 shortly after the Russians invade Poland before the country's final partition. Zofia Gonska is pulled from a river escaping death. Switching scenes, Countess Anna Berezowska-Grawlinska (minor Polish nobility) makes her way back home to Sochaczew after the Russian invasion of Praga and reunites with her lover, Count Jan Stelnicki. As Poland is finally taken over by Russia, Prussia, and Austria, Anna and Jan get married and start their family.

Zofia, Anna's cousin, had previously tried to keep Anna and Jan apart. Now, she finds herself drawn to the peasant boy who saved her, Jerzy. Zofia though is like a bird that can't stay still and the peasant life isn't for her. She leaves Jerzy and returns to Praga, a town just outside of Warsaw, and gives birth to her daughter, Izabel.

Anna and Zofia make peace, yet Jan finds married life unable to satisfy his restless nature. When Napolean hints that he would return Poland to the Poles, Jan and his friend, Pawel, join the Emperor's legion, leaving Anna to raise their three children, Jan Michel, Tadeusz, and Barbara. Anna, uncomfortable with the local magistrate, Dolinski, leaves Sochaczew and moves in with Zofia at Praga.

As Napoleon marches across Europe, Anna and Zofia, as members of Poland's nobility, help to entertain various European dignitaries, including Russia's Czar, Alexander, and even Napolean himself. Zofia is always in the thick of Polish intrigue while Anna prefers to keep her eyes on her boys who have gone to military school.

After years apart, Jan is reunited with Anna in Sochaczew as their boys join Napolean's march into Russia. This time it's Anna who leaves Jan to work as a nurse in Praga. As Napolean's march into Russia holds the promise of a reunited Poland, will Jan and Anna's marriage withstand another separation? The end of the novel is surprising and satisfying.

The book's historical backdrop is intriguing and the supporting cast is not only dynamic, but strong in it's own right. Zofia, Pawel, Charlotte, and Dolinski have their own interesting stories to share. Anna is a vibrant lead character in her own right and is a steady, grounding force during the turbulent times of the book. Anna's nobility, whatever the situation, always shines through.

The pace is quick and the writing is sharp. The book is a sequel to "Push Not the River," but stands on it's own. For an exciting look at Poland's struggles and the human condition in the face of war, "Against a Crimson Sky," is a book that will keep the reader turning the page.

Against A Crimson Sky came in the mail today and I couldn't wait to begin reading. I ordered it as soon as I finished Push Not the River and I wanted to know what would happen to Anna. These two books were a great way to learn about Polish history and there is nothing dry about them. From the beginning of the saga you fall in love with Anna and worry about her scheming cousin Zofia. So many unfair things happen to Anna and to Poland. Even if you know the history you still hope for a happy ending. If you like historical fiction or romance or books set in foreign countries this will be an unforgettable read!

Although I did like this book and I was able to continue with the characters I learned to love in the earlier book, Push Not the River, I found myself reminded of way too many years ago in a college lecture.
The history was interesting but far too much detail and not enough story.

I fell in love with the heroine, Anna in Push Not the River, yet in this book, Against a Crimson Sky, she had little more than a walk on part in much of the story. If anything this book concentrated way too much on military minutia and history of Poland and did not balance the original story of Jan & Anna's romance enough.

James Conroyd Martin has created yet another literary treasure with his sequel to PUSH NOT THE RIVER. Once again, his fabulous gift for storytelling has given me deeper insight into the history of Poland and has truly helped me understand how the political events of the day affected so many lives. Well done!

Well written, concise and precise in our fast moving world , of twoo much inofration.

As a subscriber to the weekly Grist email, I bought this for my mom to enlighten her with green ideas. She loved it and immediately started telling me things that she started doing at home and at work to make a difference for her granddaughter's generation. Another reason for them to fall even deeper in love - their environment!

Wake Up and Smell the Planet is nonsence and hard to read. I did not enjoy it.

"Wake up and Smell the Planet" is just as advertised: it details common-sense, and not so well-known, ways to help our planet survive us. The light touch is welcome, and deftly used.

every house in America should have this....
It is written in a manner that is totally doable to some level.
The author has also choosen not to insult your current way of life but at the same time asks you to ponder an alternative that works just as well.

I had no idea how much fun a book of pictures could be. Both my grandson and grand daughter love going through this book with me each time they visit. We all have learned a lot.

The only way I seem to be able get out and about these days is through the internet or books. So I indulge in travel books and books about the world. This is my idea of travel. You might as well be hanging out the bottom of a plane, the view is incredible. The colors so beautiful and the sights amazing. You learn so much about your world through this book. I had no idea some of these places exist and I'm pretty well travelled and knowledgeable so it was fun discovering new places - places I may never get to in my life time. But Yann takes you there. I wish he would do more!

I could give 5 stars for the pictures but becouse of a big mistake, stars come down. Okay the photos are good but somewhere I am very dissapointed. On page August 22, where the comments for the picture were about the genocide of Jewish, it was written that Turks did the same thing to Armenians. But that was a lie. Some nummamorous people told this allegation and the writer believes them. This is very sad. If someone writing a book, he/she must be very careful about his/her words. Books must not contain allegations. Or author must tell that it was an allegation, unless it is proved.

For all intents and purposes this book is no different than the same author's book titled "Earth From Above 365 days". My comments are the same for this book as I wrote in my review of the other book;dated October 7,2004.The only difference is in the pictures. There are both good and poor aspects to this book and I have elaborated on them in my other review.

My husband and I love this book. We look at it every day. The text may be depressing, but it's a wake-up call to the destruction of beautiful areas like the ones depicted. The pictures are absolutely stunning and you will be astounded that there are such places in the world.