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Natural Light: Visions of British Columbia
Manufacturer: Harbour Publishing
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ASIN: 1550172735 |
Book Description
From frosted mountain peaks to the low-lying farmlands of the Fraser Valley, from the Sahara-like sand dunes of Farwell Canyon to the dripping, moss-bedecked rainforests of the Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia is a province of startling contrasts. Its beauty has inspired many photo collections, but none quite like David Nunuk's.
Natural Light is a spectacular, jaw-dropping collection of Nunuk's best photographs of British Columbia in all its moods, accompanied by his often wry observations about the settings and his unorthodox methods of capturing them. In the tradition of Wade Davis, Nunuk writes about his experience hiking into an area, planning a shot and digging in patiently until the light and weather co-operate to make the perfect picture. He becomes intimate with the subtle variants in a landscape over an hour, a day, a month or a minute before he captures the images with his camera. His pictures are composed with a naturalist's eye for scientific detail and an outdoorsman's affection and respect for nature.
From the warm Mediterranean tones of an Okanagan vineyard to the crystalline twinkle of an ice cave, the striking radiance of Natural Light makes this luxuriously produced, oversize coffee-table book the perfect gift for lovers of outdoor photography, naturalists, armchair travellers or anyone who wants to see BC in a dramatic new--and entirely natural--light.
Book Description
Meir Schneider teaches his innovative methods for exercising your eyes back to health. Use these proven techniques to see your world with less strain, greater acuity, and a more spacious visual field. The Natural Vision Improvement Kit offers everything you need for vision improvement that you can do at home. This kit includes: A Series of daily exercises on CD to help correct near- and far-sightedness, cataracts, and eye fatigue, including yogic techniques to increase your sense of eye movement and balance the muscles around your eyes. An especially for computer users who suffer from eye strain, an additional CD offers relaxation and restorative exercises you can do at your desk. The kit includes: 25 photo-illustrated cards offering instruction on fundamental eye exercises you can do at your desk, 2 standard eye charts to test your vision and monitor your improvement, and an illustrated study guide to take you step-by-step to better vision.
Customer Reviews:
from the heart.......2007-08-24
this man walks his talk. a wonderful purchase. Very nicely presented. I would buy one for everyone.
Wow!.......2006-10-01
Perhaps more importantly than anything else about the kit, this vision improvement kit has taught me that my eyesight is NOT a static thing, I am NOT damned to poor sight; my eyesight changes every minute - and with the help of Schneider's activities and thorough guidebook, I've come to be very aware of that. Schneider explains to us that our eyes are a very integral part of our mind and our way of thinking (he goes as far as to call them a part of the brain), and that like any other part of our body, only if we take good care of them can we expect them to perform well. The exercises, included CDs, and guidebook are intended to teach us how to "pay attention" to our eyes, and he is right when he says that they'll respond!
I've been using the exercises on and off for two weeks. You're supposed to do them daily but I haven't found the time; even so, I notice not only a marked improvement in my eyesight, but also a closer and more constant awareness of them (when they're tired and so forth) and a better understanding of how to respond to their state. If your leg twinges when you walk, you generally rest a bit or massage it or go to the doctor; but a lot of people don't even rest their eyes for a minute if their eye is hurting. Now that I understand better how the eyes work (entirely thanks to this package and experimenting with the exercises), caring for them is just a matter of common sense... if you care at all about your physical and mental well-being and have even a half-hour per day to dedicate to yourself, this kit is well-worth the $30!
Not worth it.......2006-03-13
This is like doing Yoga for the eyes, bottom line it sucks and is in-effective.
I've tried these eye exercises and they work.......2005-09-07
Born without sight, Schneider has devoted his life to learning about sight and self-healing systems. Based on natural vision techniques pioneered by ophthalmologist William Bates, he created his own total approach for self-healing and used it to reverse his own blindness. This course has a variety of eye exercises and other health recommendations.
Book Description
This book takes an empirical approach to language processing, based on applying statistical and other machine-learning algorithms to large corpora.
Methodology boxes are included in each chapter.
Each chapter is built around one or more worked examples to demonstrate the main idea of the chapter. Covers the fundamental algorithms of various fields, whether originally proposed for spoken or written language to demonstrate how the same algorithm can be used for speech recognition and word-sense disambiguation. Emphasis on web and other practical applications. Emphasis on scientific evaluation.
Useful as a reference for professionals in any of the areas of speech and language processing.
Customer Reviews:
Needs a second volume which explains the first.......2005-05-20
This book is by now an accepted classic in the field. It is basically the only textbook that covers so much of computational linguistics, so I have had no choice but to use it for the past several years. Just the same, I'd rather not use it for teaching linguistics students. While the book has much to offer the professional, including a broad range of topics extensively researched, it is much more useful in this "handbook" capacity than as a textbook for the uninitiated. The chief reasons for this are: 1) It is pedagogically very poor; the majority of concepts are either explained in a confusing and obfuscatory manner or are not explained and are simply left in algorithmic form. This is not usually edifying to the linguistics student with no computer science background. 2) There are too many mistakes in its algorithms and method overviews. So far as I can see, even the famed Earley parsing algorithm is wrong here, it will not yield the correct output. 3) It is not written in a language that linguistics students can understand. With no background in mathematics, computer science, or pseudocode, such students need much more coddling than is provided by this book, and they are virtually unable to read it. Basically, as the title to this review states, what is called for now is a book to explain the contents of this book. Perhaps if my students keep encouraging me to write it. . .
I looked for.......2003-11-06
something which I can use - I am a linguist - and found it immensly readable and useful
The a good introduction to NLP, but could be improved.......2003-04-16
This book helped me accomplish what I set out to do; namely to obtain an overview of the field of natural language processing, with an emphasis on language understanding (as opposed to recognition). And I can recommend it on that level. The weakness of the book however is that it left me asking, "OK, now what?". The book started off strong with a number of dynamic-programming algorithms, finite automaton models, and N-grams that one could sink his/her teeth into from an algorithmic point-of-view. But when it came to actual techniques for natural-language understanding (chapters 14-17) the goods were not delivered. The algorithms disappeared, and the best I could find was in Chapter 15 an incomplete, and unconvincing treatment of Hiyan Alshawi's semantic parsing techniques which fueled the Core Language Engine last decade. Chapter 16 dealt with lexical semantics and was almost entirely devoid of algorithms.
My gut feeling after reading this text is that parsing techniques will likely give way to statistical and probabilistic learning methods that will in some sense bypass the need to correctly or accurately parse language. I cannot fault the authors for not exploring this in more depth,as this represents the cutting edge for both NLP and artificial intelligence. In any case, I'm off to read Schutze and Manning's book which will hopefully provide a bit more focus on that perspective. What intrigues me is that most people can understand some language, but very few people understand the grammar of their own language, especially if they have been deprived of a formal education. So why should computers need to know all about grammar rules and parsing? Could they instead be trained by simply being exposed to enough interactions between language and objects? I teach in a department dominated by both foreign and immigrant students. I understand them most of the time, but I would estimate that half the time their sentences or utterances would not fail to be parsed correctly.
Good oveview, slightly overrated: broad and shallow.......2002-05-26
GENERAL IDEA: Broad coverage, it lacks depth and details - particularly practical details. That is, the presentation is often sketchy, mainly because it approaches too many subjects for its available space. I would not say that this book is strong on theory either. It is quite obvious that it avoids getting too formal and precise, probably to remain attractive for non-specialists too.
CASE STUDY: One specific problem I had with the Hidden Markov Models, that are supperficially presented (or spread I could say) in several separate sections of the book, so it's not been a pleasure trying to actually understand them properly and completely as a fundamental concept, to make them work in my particular application.
TITLE: The book's title IS misleading because it starts with "Speeech" and this book's main subject is not speech but (written) language. Actually there are only a few chapters on speech.
CONCLUSION: Get this book if you are looking for a good overview of the field. The book will introduce you to a thousand of topics. As soon as you need in-depth coverage of some particular topic, you will look for additional resources.
Good, but many errors.......2002-05-20
This book is a great general introduction to NLP, covering a broad range of topics. Unfortunately there are many errors in the mathematical formulae and the algorithm descriptions, so do make sure to download the errata list from the book's home page.
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- finding your way around vision
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A Natural History of Vision (Bradford Books)
Nicholas J. Wade
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
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Eye and Brain
ASIN: 0262231948 |
Amazon.com
Nicholas Wade takes a daring approach in this collection of documents from the history of optical studies. In it, he compiles a curiously structured anthology of writers, from the 5th-century B.C. Greek philosopher Democritus to the 19th-century English musical instrument maker Charles Wheatstone, including such famous students of light and vision as Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, and Albert Einstein. These thinkers are grouped by theme ("Light and the Eye," for example, or "Space") and by date, but only very loosely by immediate subject, giving the book a hop-around feel. Wade freely admits that the organization of the anthology requires work of the reader; it may indeed call for effort, but his collection is of signal usefulness to students of the history of science and the optical sciences. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
This illustrated survey covers what Nicholas Wade calls the "observational era of vision," beginning with the Greek philosophers and ending with Wheatstone's description of the stereoscope at the end of the 1830s (after which vision became an experimental science). Although there are other histories of vision, this is the first to present extracts of the works of scholars, organized both topically and chronologically. In what has become the author's signature style, the book juxtaposes verbal and visual descriptions. Many of the over three hundred illustrations are derived from engravings--of portraits of the scholars cited, as well as of scientific diagrams.
Each portrait appears beside a significant quotation by the scholar, along with the dates of birth and death, and the source of the original illustration. The author's commentary provides the context for the quotations and traces the scientific development within each topic. The book is organized around the principal topics within the investigation of visual phenomena: light, color, subjective visual phenomena (such as afterimages and pattern distortions), motion, binocularity, space, and visual illusions.
Customer Reviews:
finding your way around vision.......2003-11-29
I'm a photographer who thinks about photography and its relationship to human vision. Wade's book is an inspiration for that kind of thinking. What is remarkable about this book is the way it reveals that understanding HOW we see did not come easily to humanity.
Customer Reviews:
Not Real Impressed.......2007-01-12
I was doing research on Macular Degeneration as my father has just been diagnosed with it. This is one of 6 books that I purchased on it. Had I been in a bookstore looking through it I probably would not have included it in my purchase. However, if you are in to Natural healing, I guess it would be a worthwhile purchase.
Essential info for all Eye Doctors.......2004-02-18
I practice Nutritional Optometry (educate my patients on any and all supplements that are beneficial for their particular disease, or family history of disease). This book gives the reader an exceptional overview on the do's and dont's of nutrition as pertaining to the eye.
The information contained in this book is necessary info for all eye doctors, so they may relay the info to their patients.
A misleading title providing false hope.......2000-04-25
I suffer from Macular Degeneration and bought the book, hoping to find, as the title suggests, a way to reverse the disease. There was no proven cure in the book. Plus, the book has only one chapter on MD, not the whole book as might be construed from the title. Millions of Americans suffer from MD for which there is no definite cure. The title is a good sales booster. People like me who have been told by numerous physicians that there is no cure, will buy the book. If you are a patient of MD, eat a lot of bilberry, antioxidants and lutein( found in leafy greens like spinach) and most of all, pray. God made us and He only can cure; we can only try, it is He that can make it happen.
snake oil for a vulnerable community.......1999-08-18
The theme: that nutrition ought to accompany any medical regime, is sound. But the silly sixties warnings about "processed foods" and other health food myths make one wonder if this is a book designed to make a buck for the authors rather than to help those with vision problems.
This is a note to a previous review.......1999-04-06
Hi - This is phyllis eyres - I did a review on this fabulous book but you have my email address incorrect - it should be eyres@inf.net.au. Thanks a lot - Phyllis
Book Description
Recounting the spiritual odysseys of an Apache scout known to him as Grandfather, Tom Brown emphasizes the need for spiritual healing of the earth and delivers his own message of healing and redemption to the world.
Customer Reviews:
A powerful book and more powerful message.......2001-10-14
All of Tom Brown's books are written on many different levels. As a just-starting-out naturalist, I read most of Brown's books with interest, but the deeper I go into the naturalist's world, the more powerful messages I get between the lines.
The book offers many insights on modern man- most of all, the notion that if one simply lets the world drift by, with all sorts of damage, trouble, etc. being done (mind you, yourself doing none of the actual damage), the message is clear- Why didn't you do something?
Probably the most powerful message in the book is, "There are no small things." To quote Bruce Lee, if you throw a rock into a pond, you get ripples- soon the ripples cross the whole pond. Every action we do has implications, good and bad. Make your impressions positive and beneficial.
For those lucky enough to attend Tom Brown's school, reading any of his books after taking a class- no matter how many times you read them previously- it's like reading an entirely new book. There are countless messages and powerful teachings in The Quest, and I give it my highest recommendation.
Man's Environmental Holocaust.......2000-11-01
Dear Sirs, I hope you reconsider your decision not to publish this review. On October 7, 1998, the NY Times reported on the biggest Ozone Hole yet seen. To quote the article: "Government scientists said today that the gap in the planet's ozone over Antartica was greater than the size of North America and was the largest ever observed." In addition, on August 13, 2000, a frontpage article in the Sunday NY Times reported on how a formerly benign fungus which has been found in the US from time immemorial was suddenly killing millions of acres of oak trees in California. The article ends on a puzzling note with scientist unable to explain why this disease had become so virulent. However, it is well known that UV radiation affects plants earlier than Humans and one documented effect of UV radiation is a weakening of the immune system. It is not a far stretch of the imagination to theorize that UV radiation may be responsible for this latest plant die-off. I hope you give these issues consideration. -----------------------------------------------------------------
Like many people, I used to read the grim newspaper accounts of environmental destruction and wonder what it all meant. Then, in the late 1980s Tom Brown published The Vision and in the final chapter of that book provided the first glimpse into a future most of us want to deny. Now here in The Quest, he lets out all the stops and makes plain for the first time that mankind may very well be doomed.
Brown reveals that as far back as 1962, Grandfather, his Apache Native American Teacher, had warned that the appearance of holes in the sky would mark the beginning of the end of mankind on Earth. Sunlight would become deadly killing everything it touched. Plants would shrivel up and die, crops would fail and starvation would sweep around the world. People would be hunted like deer for food. Many events would foreshadow the appearance of the holes but finally there would be a time of peace. This would mark mankind's last chance to reverse his endless destruction of the Earth. If instead, he concentrated on material gain, all would be lost and the end would come as surely as the Sun rises.
From this beginning, Brown takes us through a series of personal visions wherein he is transported to the future and sees for himself the horrors that await us. In one account, he visits a city where human limbs hang in shop windows and walking skeletons covered with sores roam the streets. Everything reeks with death and Brown watches as a roving band of armed men hunts down an abandoned child, and without remorse, guts and skins him like an animal. Brown makes it clear that this an America city and not some distant third world nation.
Not all the stories deal with the future. Brown relates his own efforts to deny what he knew and avoid taking up his Vision of teaching the ancient tracking and survival skills. At one point, he witnesses a brutal father rob his young son of a promising future. Grandfather then asks Tom what obstacles will stop him from fulfilling his vision ? The question is clearly not meant for Brown alone and foreseeing an excuse many of us will use to deny our share of responsibility Grandfather points to a graveyard and asks `what will be the measure of your life Grandson? Will it be a lifetime of meaningless toil or one filled with purpose and meaning?'
This is by far Brown's darkest book but how does one sanitize such a horrifying account? There is no science here and those who believe ozone depletion is a figment of some environmentalist's imagination would be better off reading God's Last Offer, by Ed Ayres. Mr. Ayres presents related doomsday scenarios but with the science to back them. To those who are sensitive to the Earth, however Tom Brown's book needs no proof. Its truth is obvious.
The only question left open by Brown is when all this will take place? The question is important because many people will shrug off this account as part of some distant future. Although this book does not provide a timeframe a little reading in the scientific press will. It takes thirty years for CFCs to waft through the atmosphere and reach the ozone layer. If all CFC production ceased today, and it hasn't, we would still face 30 more years of degradation. According to NASA, there is already enough CFCs in the upper atmosphere to blow away 70% of the ozone layer. Take a equal amounts of ozone and CFCs, expose them to ultraviolet radiation and one can easily measure the rate of breakdown. The answer you will find is that we have a mere score and ten years left.
Grandfather made it clear that once the holes appear there would be no physical way to heal the Earth. Indeed, Time Magazine writing in the early 90s said that `the entire world's fleet of 747s operating around the clock, 365 days of the year' could not replace a fraction of the ozone that has already been lost. But Brown does leave us with a ray of hope: if enough people become aware of what is happening, combined we can achieve what technology cannot. Brown is a great believer in the combined efforts of many people working together. Seldom does he speak of grand heroic acts. Each of us, doing a little, can achieve a lot. Be forewarned that if you read this book you will never be able to look at your children in the same way again. Most of us adults living today will not bear the brunt of this horrible future but our children and grandchildren will. If you read this book and do nothing, the Time of Peace will pass and you too, like Brown, will have to answer the screams of your children as they clutch at you in the grave yelling "YOU KNEW, YOU KNEW! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING?"
A unique culteral view of universal truths........1999-11-10
This book presents principles of growth that we find common across time and cultures. Highly recommended both as interesting reading material, as well as an opportunity to reconsider values, meaning (and all that other existential stuff) and our own perspectives through a differant path. In recent popular venacular, "getting out of the box" of western culture.
This book is INCREDIBLE!.......1999-06-12
I read a lot of spiritual books and I've read lot's of Tom Brown's books, but I have rarely been so blown away than I was by The Quest. For one, let me tell you that this book will scare the heck out of you. But at the same time, it is really shocking what Tom learned from the fear he had to face. While reading it, I was dying to be able to sit down and share with someone what I was learning. It will blow your mind and change the way you think about the Earth.
This book has been an incredible help and inspiration to me.......1999-04-04
I first read this book about 5 years ago. I thought it was great but I couldn't grasp alot of it. Then I re- read it after taking Tom's first philosophy class and it really hit home. It is a guide book for walking a spiritual path in modern society-which is one of the most difficult things any of us could choose to do. I've found that I get more from it every time i read it. The lessons go far beyond the words. It is an insiring work that shows the human side of the spiritual path. Thanks Tom. Thanks Grandfather.
Customer Reviews:
Not useful, few directions, wouldn't recommend.......2007-02-27
I found this to be a joke. It didnt' come with directions. Seemed to be part of a system and if you didn't know the system you were out of luck.
Book Description
In this brilliant, gracefully written, and important new book, former Secretary of the Interior and Governor of Arizona Bruce Babbitt brings fresh thought to questions of how we can build a future we want to live in.
We've all experienced America's changing natural landscape as the integrity of our forests, seacoasts, and river valleys succumbs to strip malls, new roads, and subdivisions. Too often, we assume that when land is developed it is forever lost to the natural world--or hope that a patchwork of local conservation strategies can somehow hold up against further large-scale development.
In Cities in the Wilderness, Bruce Babbitt makes the case for why we need a national vision of land use. We may have a space program, he points out, but here at home we don't have an open-space policy that can balance the needs for human settlement and community with those for preservation of the natural world upon which life depends. Yet such a balance, the author demonstrates, is as remarkably achievable as it is necessary. This is no call for developing a new federal bureaucracy; Babbitt shows instead how much can be--and has been--done by making thoughtful and beneficial use of laws and institutions already in place.
Babbitt draws on his extensive experience to take us behind the scenes negotiating the Florida Everglades restoration project, the largest ever authorized by Congress. In California, we discover how the Endangered Species Act has been employed to restore regional habitat. In the Midwest, we see how new World Trade Organization regulations might be used to help restore Iowa's farmlands and rivers. As a key architect of many environmental success stories, Babbitt reveals how broad restoration projects have thrived through federal- state partnerships and how their principles can be extended to other parts of the country.
In this inspiring and informative book, Babbitt offers a vision of land use as grand as the country's natural heritage.
Customer Reviews:
babbitt always knows best.......2007-01-10
Bruce Babbitt continues to labor under the self deception that he know best in determining the future of the "common people" his ideas always consume like serfs found to be useless in the feifdom. Read it for the future it suggests of an end to private property and a beginning of the sort of Stalinism and federal tyranny that Babbitt favors. Don't think it was written by any true westerner who "grew up on a ranch." It was written by a political lackey and opportunist who was kicked off his grandfather's spread in Arizona and has always yearned for power--especially power over what he calls the "agricultural apparatchiks."
Rational Thoughts on a Typically Irrational Topic.......2006-06-23
Babbitt begins by telling us that relentless building of highways have spearheaded landscape destruction as land speculators and developers follow. Local governments generally have neither the political will, expertise, nor financial resources to stand up to well-financed developers and their political contributions. Babbitt then goes on to make the case for federal leadership in making land use regulation more effective, and uses examples from his experience involving the Everglades, Southern California, and the Chesapeake Bay to make the point.
The shrinking Everglades problem was caused by farms, canals, dikes, housing developments; its solution began during the early '90s, and moved forward despite Congress' tilting towards reduced spending. The first step occurred when then Interior Secretary Babbitt met with the Army Corps of Engineers, and reached agreement with them to develop a study and proposal on changing the drainage system. There was also a problem with excess fertilizer draining from sugar plantations into the Everglades - causing cattails to displace natural saw grass. They agreed to cut their fertilizer applications in half (were using too much - at the chemical companies behest), and to plant cattails at the draining end of their fields to soak up the rest of the excess. (Babbitt points out that the "ideal" solution would have been to simply end expensive sugar subsidies, allow foreign sugar into the U.S. at much lower price, and allow the sugar plantations to revert to the Everglades.) Another requirement was buying out landowners "suckered" into buying swampland that were clamoring for more levees so they could use their land. The happy outcome was a proposal backed by all sides that was enacted by Congress in 2000. (Side Note: Everglade bog land used for sugar growing has a limited life anyway - it had already dried out, was blowing away, and sunk 12 feet, and had not much further to sink before reaching limestone.)
Babbitt learned in other efforts that it was much simpler to work on a project limited to a single state, and the importance of using sound science in administering the Endangered Species Act.
Babbitt points out that the federal government has always been involved in land-use planning - improving river navigability, surveying, staking out, and subsidizing transcontinental railroad routes, flood control projects, dams, interstate highways. While these efforts were all aimed at land development, he believes that it now time to also boost land conservation as well.
A good prescription for a "realistic" 21st century environmentalism.......2006-04-11
I use "realistic" in scare quotes as an alternative to "idealistic" environmentalism without commenting on the moral value or desirability of either approach.
Babbitt, Clinton's sole Secretary of the Interior, and governor of Arizona before that, is a career politician with a non-extractive industries Westerner's love of nature of his native land.
Those two come together in his thoughts for how the Endangered Species Act and the 1906 Antiquities Act, used in new ways, can be two of the cornerstones of a 21st century environmentalism, primarily in the West, but indeed nationally.
The other cornerstones are state lead-taking in land-use planning, in conjunction with federal support, and a new day in federal-state environmental cooperation in general.
More obvious observations about the anti-environmentalism of people like President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and Congressman Richard Pombo aside, Babbitt offers a moderate amount, but not a great deal, of prescriptive specifics on how to do this.
His own success as Interior Secretary was constrained by the change of administrations.
Babbitt pushed Clinton into "new-style" national monuments remaining outside National Park Service control, such as Grand Staircase-Escalante NM in Utah and Giant Sequoia NM in California (not to be confused with Sequoia NP). The idea was that the landholding federal agency of record (the Bureau of Land Management in Utah and the National Forest Service in California) would develop a better conservationist ethic through being committed to national monument management of a monument that retained multi-use characteristics.
While this might be true to some degree of the BLM, it certainly isn't of the Forest Service, and likely won't be unless that agency sees a MAJOR shake-up. (My prescription: Move the Forest Service out of Agriculture and into Interior.)
That, and the book's relative slimness, keep it from a better rating, as it barely hits 4 stars.
Book Review.......2006-03-24
Cities in the Wilderness
By Bruce Babbitt
Book Review
By Dan Warren
In today's republican political arena with the Bush administrations compelling interest in land expansion the outlook for Environmental causes let along protection would appear to have a dark and gloomy cloud atop any progress. However, Bruce Babbitt the author of Cities in the Wilderness has some new innovative ideas about land use in America. As the U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1993 to 2001, governor of Arizona from 1978 to 1987 and as Arizona's Attorney General for three years he brings with him experience and a most impressive track record of success in an effort that is largely opposed and unsuccessful; Environmental land preservation efforts and even restoration.
Within the pages of his book Babbitt gives illustrations of success and of failure. He provides detailed rational in each instance drawing on history, public opinion, media, legal requirements, county state and federal involvements, as well as a plethora of other mitigation factors that explain the success or failure. From these Babbitt pieces together an extraordinary working illustration of how we can be better stewards of our land in America.
Furthermore, whether directly or indirectly Babbitt addresses the political climate and gives examples of how to over come the counter movements that oppose his unique vision of land use. Within the confines of his five short easy to read straight forward chapters Babbitt is clear, concise, and well structured in order to piece his ideology together followed by appropriate explanation. His thesis is essentially a parallel, contrary to much of his opposition's belief, as will be detailed later in this review, that our country has historically viewed land development not as a local, county, or even State matter, but as a Federal matter. As such Babbitt will contend that we need to continue to have a Federal interest in land use and development while making a joining effort with more localities but still governed by Federal legislation and direction.
As a native Floridian the everglades are a state treasure. Anyone who has ever driven route one through this magnificent area will feel immersed in nature. For anyone who has not experienced this, all you have to do is watch CBS's hit show CSI: Miami and in most of the episodes as well as in the shows introduction can get a glimpse of what the everglades are from viewing it across their television sets. However, this schema that will be created by this in no way gives justice to the real thing. While either which way will introduce you to the Florida Everglades, it will not reveal its unique history.
In Babbitt's first chapter he uses his experience with the preservation of the Everglades as an introduction to his idea. The devastation caused by hurricane Andrew in the early 1990's also included the destruction of Homestead Air force base in Florida. In the aftermath the government came to the decision to not to rebuild this base, but rather to sell the property commercially for redevelopment. The proposed plan was initially to make the property into a jet port thus generating jobs and commerce. While at first glance this idea makes serves to help the many who became jobless with the closure of the Air force base, it was highly controversial because the proposed site was only miles from the entrance to the everglades.
The balancing of these two conflicting interests: land preservation and development for the sake of commerce is the first conflict that Babbitt faces. It is within these conflicts that are the heart of his book and subsequently in looking at each of these that the most benefit for policy and future decision can be justified on. In this particular issue Babbitt allied with the Army Core of Engineers, a most unexpected partnership. The Army Core who wants to build and Babbitt whose interests are to protect creates a uniquely original idea; the two can actually achieve preservation by essentially constructing preservation.
As pointed out by Babbitt, in earlier years it was the Army Core of Engineers who by direct engineering was in-directly causing devastating affects to the Everglades. As such the remedy was to undo that which was previously done by the efforts of the Army Core of Engineers. While this sounds simple in concept it was very costly and took great effort before it would be later approved for its application. So what exactly would this "undoing" so to speak entail? It would set a new precedent, we would actually spend money not to development but essentially to UN-develop already developed land and for what cause, to preserve the Everglades. This is essentially a step in a new direction in favor of environmental preservation. However, this did not come easily or without coincidence. It was a project that took over eight years, had an eight billion dollar price tag, and according to Babbitt, "the everglades success was an aberration, a case of being in the right place when in came to make a down payment on a presidential election" .
So what is there to be learned from this experience and success in the Everglades? Babbitt goes on to say,
"is there an urgent lesson to be derived from the Florida Everglades, it is that we must invent new federal-state partnerships for managing and restoring our lands, partnerships that have sufficient charisma and public support to withstand destructive efforts by later administrations. Which leads us back to the central question posed: could the Everglades effort mark the beginning of a national commitment to large-scale restoration of degraded ecosystems" ?
The answer to Babbitt's question is two fold. In law when a case is decided the decision is called stare decisis which essentially equates to a precedent that other cases can be decided upon. In the same this narrowly tailored example does in its most simplistic form create a sort of precedent that may act as a catalyst or at least a reference to which other matters related to land conservation can be decided upon.
As Babbitt moves on in his book he provides another success story in California however this is contrasted with a failure Mississippi. In a later chapter Babbitt faces a new conflict of interests. The issue at essence here is a legal one, it involves the interpretation of what constitutes an endangered species and how exactly the Endangered Species Act is used in conjuncture with the rights of landowners. The discussion centers on an endangered bird. What is truly interesting in this example drawn from Babbitt's personal experience is that it utilized a scientific research study in order to investigate the natural habitat of the endangered species so as to have an information base to which decisions can be based off rather then guestimating. Again Babbitt's efforts were successful; however he cited that this is due to good press and public support.
The Endangered Species Act was the legal key to success according to the author. It provided the legal authority to act and to protect in this case. What seems difficult about this is the actually application of the act itself. From the text it does not appear that there is a guideline as to how to implement the acts authority and for the most part serves as a guideline that is to be implemented on the local level and the only Federal participation is to create the act itself but does not provide any governing agency to enforce the act. Rather it relies on its compliance at the local level who it seems in most instances are the ones opposing the act as it in most cases reduces expansion and thus tax revenues for that city, county, or even state.
An interesting remark made by the author is that when it comes to The Endangered Species Act, it is not proactive in protecting but rather reactive in that it does not take affect until after the damage is done. What is gained from this is the ideology that perhaps we need to be proactive with our environment, land use, and species conservation. As with youth we try to teach intervention programs that seek to solve the problem of juvenile delinquency before it starts, in the same we need to solve environmental concerns before they start. Again with this parallel prevention programs cost far less and have much less damage when successful with juveniles as this applies to our environment. We spent 8 billion to undo land development that we had already paid to have developed. Here if we add the research and science base before we make a decision we can avoid these types of environmental concerns before they even exist.
In subsequent chapters Babbitt applies the concepts thus far discussed to the Midwest in regional restoration. He does a great job of finding money in already current budgets to use towards restoration efforts. For instance he mentions a fifteen million dollar account used for a farm program account. Babbitt also explains that all that needs to occur for this to work is to make it into the farmer's best interests to embrace this program and with the requirements of the global economy they will be more then willing.
One molecule of oxygen and two of hydrogen create the world's universal solvent and the substance that sustains life on earth: water. The tragedy is that we are wasting it. Again returning to the argument that we need not leave matters to a localized government, but rather we must make them a federal concern, water with all of its importance needs be a chief central concern. As brought up by Buttell, one avenue in promoting environmentalism is a global view point. Babbitt does a good job emphasizing the importance of making water a Federal matter in the U.S. (as his book's title contains the phrase "Land use in America", I feel that on a matter as internationally important as water it only makes sense to start at the top being Federally regulated and then enforced on each level. Again how we Federally regulate it is just as important but I think we can take this a step further and Internationally regulate water as it is more important then any petroleum based resource, everyone globally needs it to survive and I think more emphasis should be given to this concern, not specifically to this text as again it seeks to speak out about U.S. policy, but rather in other avenues.
While Babbitt's text has a feel good syntax to it, his conclusion brings reality back into play. He finishes up by giving an impressive history and emphasizes the importance of our land. He goes so far as to call it an "American Treasure". Despite this he ends his text with
"Today, however, our public land institutions are under unprecedented attack from both the president and the Congress. This is a season for all Americans to take renewed interest in defending their heritage- the freedom and glory of wide open public spaces."
This call to action that he ends with is a powerful one. However, I am doubtful that with the low voting rates of my generation and the ignorance we as a country have towards our Environment I am weary of our future. Will we use the powerful tools that Babbitt has empowered us with; will we be proactive and preventative rather then responsive after the fact before we have done irreversible harm to our Continent? These questions are serious and meaningful and will affect later generations of Americans.
Excellent Read About Land Use.......2006-03-18
I enjoyed reading about bruce Babbit's interpretation of where land use should focus in the years to come. He also laid the groundwork for the development process for several urban areas and national parks. I found it to be a very worthwhile read and I would recommend it to othere.
Customer Reviews:
Frankly, to keep your eye balls in peak condition, learn & practise the natural vision improvement exercises in this book!.......2006-10-10
NATURAL VISION IMPROVEMENT
by Janet Goodrich
I have owned this wonderful book since the late eighties, when I started to have an ardent desire to learn more about the eye-brain connection. I have deliberately bought it despite its new agey connotations.
I have learned that, whatever we learn in a lifetime, as much as 90% will enter us through our eyes. Our brains are stimulated more by visual cues than any other senses. Our eyes also form a very significant part of our brains, some two-thirds of which are fully dedicated to vision & associated processing. Jokes aside, sexual attraction relies greatly on vision! Despite its comparative size, each eye ball has more significant moving parts than the Columbia space shuttle!
I love to read & I am an avid as well as a voracious reader. (From early '92 to mid-2004, I actually owned a small bookstore. It fueled & bankrolled my reading pursuits.) Naturally, I want to keep my eye balls in peak condition.
I was introduced to the book by chance. I did not buy the book on the grounds that I had wanted to get rid of my glasses. Today, I still wear my glasses, only when I drive or watch action movies on TV. When I read or work on my laptop, I don't need my glasses at all. This is inspite of the fact that my laptop screen display has been configured with small font size, especially my Internet Explorer, which allows me to read large chunks of information at one glance.
The most productive learning experiences I got out of this book are the 'natural vision improvement' exercises introduced by the author. They are:
- Palming exercise;
- Sunning exercise;
- Near/Far Focus exercise;
- Peripheral Vision exercise;
I have done these exercises for more than fifteen years. Oftentimes, I could amaze myself - & my friends - particularly when I could read relatively small prints on distant sign-boards or posters. I have also combined the vision exercises with some of the 'Brain Gym' exercises, namely, The Owl, Neck Roll, Cross Crawl & Brain Buttons. Additionally, I do a lot of diaphragmatic breathing exercises. I find all these exercises very useful in maintaining my active physiological frame of mind as well as my sharp mental focus when I read.
I have also taught these exercises to professional adults in my creativity classes, as well as to students in the schools. I have also shared them with my own friends. The feedback from them has always been positive.
Of course, from the book, I have also achieved a much better understanding of the eye-brain connection. If you are interested in this book, my suggestion is to read it with an open mind!
Frankly, if you want to keep your eye balls in peak condition, learn & practise the natural vision improvement exercises in this wonderful book! They have been field tested by me for more than fifteen years!
Worked for me.......2006-09-14
This is an excellent book, and it worked for me. I went from being near sighted and needing glasses to 20/20 vision (to the amazement of my eye doctor). I have also been bothered with light sensistive eyes since my childhood, and my eyes are now comfortable even in brilliant sunshine.
New approach to medicine.......2005-01-25
This well conceived and instructive volume combines empirical data and wholistic methods for just about every kind of eye condition short of blindness.
I met Janet Goodrich at a vision improvement course at Crystal Waters. She is one of the most interesting and eccentric ( in a pleasant way) people I have ever met. At the course I not only improved my vision, albeit marginally, but also lost weight. I don't know if she still lives in Australia.
These natural methods are intense and so a lot of people probably won't have time to use them but I can testify that they work, although very gradually. Few people have the patience these days to stick to these routines unfortunately.
If you ever read these reviews, Janet, best wishes.
Regards, Mike.
I don't have to wear glasses because of this book!.......2002-02-24
An excellent book! When I first started looking into alternatives to contacts and glasses I was lucky enough to have a friend refer this book to me. I started reading it and immediately began to apply some of the simple vision exercises. My eyesight improved radically! - About an immediate 75% improvement (towards what I remember from youth). This book had lots of simple eye exercises I could do during short 2 - 5 minute breaks during my workday. It was also really helpful in showing me how to deal with the other mind/body issues related to my deteriorated vision as well as simply helpful instruction on how to avoid eyestrain and the blurriness that comes with it now and in future. Due to these methods, one of my friends who has worn glasses for half their life has totally repaired their eyesight to the point they feel confident enough to have thrown out all their glasses et al! I was lucky enough to find this book early and I've only just begun! Five stars for the lady that keeps me from having to wear glasses!!! Thank you my friend and thank you Janet!
pretty good.......2001-06-22
The author goes over the mental states associated with clear vision and includes a lot of vision games to help stimulate relaxed seeing. I needed more than what's here, but it's a good book and goes over some great stuff.
Book Description
Long gone are the days of drinking naturally pure water from flowing rivers and streams. It is already common today for people to use bottled water or home water filtration systems for their drinking water. How have we come to such a predicament, and what can be done about it? Continuing pollution, ever increasing population and industrial demands, destruction of the rainforests, overpumping of the ground water are all responsible for the deterioration of water quality— but the underlying reason, as William Marks shows in this wide-ranging, thoughtful book, is a lack of understanding of and respect for the nature of water itself.
Marks covers such diverse topics as water's role in the origin of the universe and of life, cosmic rain and water in interstellar space, water in the myths of various peoples and religious traditions, the power of water in the many forms it takes in the natural world, vortex energy and living water, water and the human body, water healing, and a history of water pollution. He offers hope for the future by discussing the work of such visionaries as Theodor Schwenk and Viktor Schauberger. Marks shows us that finally water can be understood only when seen as the mediator not just between life and death but between the physical world and the spiritual world as well.
Customer Reviews:
The Holy Order of Water.......2007-04-23
I am an artist and read The Holy Order of Water about three years ago when I was painting a body of work about water. This interesting mix of personal anecdotes, mythology, and science, supports the realization that I've had after living on a lake for 14 years that water is alive. It gave me lots to ponder while working and I've since decided to focus all of my work on water. Thank you, William E. Marks, for your efforts to raise awareness and preserve water resources.
You'll Be Restored.......2006-09-22
Hello H2O Lovers,
As a layperson on the path of being a true leader in the H2O movement, I am very glad to have been offered this book to open my eyes about the elixir of life.
This book is astounding in its clarity and authenticity. Its fun to read and brings home my actual deepest feelings about water.
It brings you a masterful tapestry from the authors life story, the science, the philosophy and even the spirituality of water.
Read it. I promise it will trasform your life and it will transform your relationship with water.
You will never relate to a cup of water in quite the same way again.
Truly,
Leslie Gabriel aka WaterMan
Host Of "And So It Flows"
WBCR 97.7 FM Great Barrington, MA
The most important book you will read this year.......2006-01-20
This book is as important to the Earth as Water itself. Many of us are increasingly concerned about what we are doing to the environment. Our concerns about the plight of water and its importance to the survival of life on this planet are addressed magnificently in this book that describes powers of water of which even I was unaware!
Water is a mystical, magical substance, and oh how we take it for granted; filling it with carmel coated sugar substances for profit; tossing our waste products into it as if it had no value of its own, wasting it on "the perfect lawn" which servies absolutely no purpose or function, or even washing our cars, which cry the death knoll of Earth daily.
Care enough about Water to read this book. Pass it on to your friends. Give it as a gift for Arbor Day, Earth Day, Valentine's day. It's the most important book you will read this year.
The Holy Order of Water:Healing the Earth's Waters and Ourselves.......2006-01-14
William Mark's book, Holy Order of Water is extraordinary. It has given me soulful connection in understanding water and what it really means for us, as humans, and for myself, personally. The book is filled with fascinating scientific information that I can read (and have chosen to re-read, time and time again), as it enlightens even a non scientist, like myself, to understand what is happening with our water and what we can ultimately do to survive. The wealth of content on rituals and traditions with water throughout the world and time makes this book a valuable resource. Mark's bold statement of "polluting our planet's water is the same as poisoning the blood in our bodies" illustrates his strong passion on the subject and his ability to awakens the reader to the urgency for change. Marks' intimate relationship with water touches on all levels from the physical, mental, to spiritual and is awe-inspiring. It is sublime and yet profound. Holy Order of Water is truly an enjoyable and intriguing read.
Some of my favorite quotes from the book are:
"As we continue to evolve, we will learn how water was, is and always will be the source of our awakening and survival;" "The more of us who believe in the idea that we can create a world that lives in harmony with the teachings of water, the greater the possibility that it will happen in reality;" "You, and your offspring, as members of the human race will either survive or die according to your relationship with water;" "Whatever your situation, there are opportunities available for you to help yourself, your family, and humanity to enjoy a better life through water, and to reduce your life's negative impact on our sensitive water world."
I highly recommend this book.
Living Water .......2005-05-15
The Holy Order of Water is a beautiful orchestra of science, spirituality, healing and hope. Throughout the book, William Marks weaves his awe-inspiring adventures of life and love with water. While Marks makes the interconnectivity between mankind, water and the universe utterly clear; you get that his relationship with water is special. He is not just giving us information or telling the story of water; he loves it deeply. His commitment and passion is beautiful and it makes this book wholly unique and fascinating. I read this book in a day and I continue to go back to it for specific water-related facts, quotes, and information on people/places referenced in the book.
Books:
- O'Donnell + Tuomey: Selected Works
- On Persephone's Island: A Sicilian Journal
- Orleans Embrace with The Secret Gardens of the Vieux Carre
- Passage to Liberty: The Story of Italian Immigration and the Rebirth of America
- Petra Blaisse: Inside Outside Reveiling
- Photographing on Safari: A Field Guide to Wildlife Photography in East Africa
- Photoshop Lightroom Essential Training
- Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
- Planet Earth: As You've Never Seen It Before
- Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman: What Men Know About Success that Women Need to Learn
Books Index
Books Home
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- Preston Sturges by Preston Sturges: His Life in His Words
- Critical Essays on Piero Sraffa's Legacy in Economics
- St. Thomas More at the Millennium
