Book Description
In one of Theroux's most magnificent novels, the paranoid, brilliant, and self-destructive Allie Fox takes his family to live in the Honduran jungle, determined to build a civilization better than the one they've left.
Customer Reviews:
The Pain.......2007-07-21
I only give this thing 4 stars because it awakens such pain in me. You have here several pretty good reviews that explain the external circumstances of this story. But what knocked me to my knees were the "internal" circumstances, mainly because it made me relive the hell of being a child and totally at the mercy of the so called "adults" who were legally in charge of you. And that is what happens to the kids in the story; at first Dad seems to have his *hit together somewhat, but due to exhuastion, overexertion, or his personal biology Dad starts to lose it, and it's painful to see the kids eventually realize this. If you have been around insane people, you realize the father's touch of madness before a trip to "Buzz Palace" is anounced.
Dad appears to be undone by finding out that the hand of civilization has been there before him - he seems to have need of thinking he is bringing it there himself, for the first time, from scratch. There is no place in this world that hasn't been touched by western civilization - too bad he does not know that. And then, during his stay in his paradise, refugees from Nicaragua come through there, running for their lives, and in the back of your mind, you are thinking of Dole and other produce growers in the country that have their own military death squads and basically run the country. Never mind.
Read it. They say it's humerous, and I'm possessed of a black sense of humour, but I didn't crack a smile once. In some ways this book is highly derivative, and you can pretty much tell what is to come, but never once do you feel as if you reading something that is a "warmed over" retelling of an old story. It's a huge story, actually, this story of "civilization" and it's impact on presumedly uncivilzed worlds.
A Masterful Exotic Adventure.......2007-06-10
An eccentric father packs up his family and moves from the midwest to the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. His plan is to make a wondrous change in the lives of the Maya Indians by providing them with ice. What a character! What an adventure! A compelling story told with humor, a modern voyage into the heart of darkness.
The "Chicago Sun-Times" book review said, "The 'Mosquito Coast' is rich beyond compare...exhilarating and provocative, fun and terrifying."
Highly recommended!
Genius or Madman.......2006-06-09
When I first heard about this book, I doubted whether the characters would be believable. However, once I started, I could not put it down. The story appeals to anyone who has ever wondered what it might be like to just pick up and leave to go live in a wilderness somewhere. The perspective of the son makes this story compelling, touching, frightening, and fascinating. I couldn't put it down.
A man gone over the edge.......2006-05-21
Allie Fox is an American inventor who decides the "civilized" world is morally bankrupt and flees with his family to the jungles of Honduras. In Honduras, he buys the deserted town of Jeronimo and goes about installing some of his inventions. His greatest invention is a giant ice machine (Fat Boy, ironically similar in name to Little Boy, the nickname of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima) that operates without electricity. When the family experiences trouble with three soldiers who arrive and never leave, Fox induces them into Fat Boy and they are killed when it explodes. Now Fox goes off the deep end and begins to bully his family, who are already scared silly of him, into more extreme forms of jungle existence until they are all facing the Heart of Darkness. He is finally shot and the family is saved from certain annihilation. The best part of the book is the early part while the Foxes are still in America: Theroux nails the insanity of late 20th-Century America perfectly. Some of the later scenes in Honduras are almost surreal in their intensity. It's a powerful book, though, for the most part, and Allie Fox is an obsessed man not soon to be forgotten.
Allie Fox --"He's the worst kind of pain in the neck -- a know-it-all who is sometimes right".......2006-02-16
The "Mosquito's Coast" is a book about a boy named Charlie Fox that is recounted to Paul Theroux; Paul Theroux being a noted travel writer. I found the book to be a cross between "The heart of darkness" (or "Apocalypse Now", for the movie generation) and a coming of age story. The classic conflict analysis of drama: Man vs. Man, or Man vs. Nature, or Man vs. Himself/herself; seems appropriate to this tale; in that the main character Allie Fox, charlie's father, seems to fight everything and everybody he comes across. Allie Fox is a wonderful character, who shines and glows on the pages of Theroux's book; an iconic character that resonates in part due to the truth of his character. Paul Theroux's writing is exquisite with a heighten sense of simile and metaphor; he almost abuses the use of simile's in his descriptions of the jungle and the United States. This is a wonderful book with a harrowing story line about a man who becomes fed up with America and decides to move his entire family to Honduras. Allie Fox is no ordinary man; he is a mad genius type, he dropped out of Harvard in his Freshman Year and has sustained his family, two boys and twin daughters, through the mere brilliance of his intellect, specifically his ability to invent. The depth and profoundness that Paul Theroux is able to uncover with his characters and settings is staggering; needless to say I was blown away by this book. Though some characters, Charlie's Mother and twin sisters do come off flat, I can't decide if that was Charlie's telling of the story or a ploy by Paul Theroux. Either way, the book is wonderful; though I know some readers might have trouble with the overbearing quality of Allie Fox or the callowness of his family. It was a pleasure to read this novel and it is always surprising how insightful and thought provoking good writing can be.
Book Description
The Mosquito developed into one of the most versatile aircraft of World War 2, entering service with Fighter Command in early 1942. The 'Mossie' was soon defending raids on Britain's Cathedral cities and became an integral part of the country's night defences. Its airborne radar gave it the ability to 'see' the enemy at night, and its speed and devastating fire power made it the finest nightfighter deployed by any side during World War 2. This book examines the infamous Mosquito, the nightfighter that was used by many leading RAF, Commonwealth and American aces.
Customer Reviews:
Tales of DeHavilland's Deadly Mosquito! .......2005-12-15
The exploits of the 50-odd aces who scored with the Mosquito fighter bomber are chronicled by author Andy Thomas in this Osprey Aircraft of the Aces volume.
Whether operating as a nightfighter, day intruder or Coastal Command strike aircraft, DeHavilland's elegant but lethal wooden wonder racked up kills over Ju 88s, Bf 110s, He 111s, V-1s, Ki-46s and assorted Axis aircraft in the ETO, Pacific and Mediterranean theaters. Thomas succintly covers these kills, scored by such Mossie aces as John Cunningham, Bob Kipp, Branse Burbridge, Roger Bannock, Bob Braham and others. Ten pages of color profiles by Chris Davey and dozens of photos of aircraft and crews complement the text.
As always, good value at a modest price. Recommended.
Will delight any avid scholar or WWII student.......2005-12-03
Andrew Thomas' Mosquito Aces Of World War II focuses on the all-wooden Mosquito aircraft, which entered service in early 1942 and was an effective fighter in Britain. It went on to counter the V-1 flying bombs in 1944 and made a name for itself with its ability to locate the enemy at night and develop hard blows with four cannons. Vintage black and white photos are packed throughout but it's the written history of the Mosquito and its 59 pilot fighters which is the meat of Mosquito Aces Of World War II, which will delight any avid scholar or WWII student.
Book Description
This breakthrough volume by award-winning poet Kimiko Hahn is her most rigorously "female" work to date as she reclaims the female body and reinvents an ancient Chinese correspondence. Mosquito and Ant refers to the style in which nu fu --a nearly extinct script used by Chinese women to correspond with one another --is written. Here in this exciting and totally original book of poems the narrator corresponds with L. about her hidden passions, her relationship with her husband and adolescent daughters, lost loves, and erotic fantasies. Borrowing from both Japanese and Chinese traditions, Hahn offers us an authentic and complex narrator struggling with the sorrows and pleasures of being a woman against the backdrop of her Japanese-American roots.
Customer Reviews:
A collection of humor, pathos and biting wit.......2006-07-05
Sly wit and biting observations on contemporary womanhood couched in the context of Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book and ancient Chinese and Japanese poets. I loved these poems, the adventurous avenues, the casual everyday activities juxtaposed with the startling image and wrenching confessions.
Great Poetry.......2002-04-26
I loved this book by Kimiko Hahn--the range, the inventivenss, the sense of play. I appreciate how her writing is enlivened by contemporary criticism and cultural studies while still being grounded in history and literature and apt observations of the world and its inhabitants.
Direct and subtle.......2000-08-14
Those familiar with Kimiko Hahn's previous collection, The Unbearable Heart, will find the same deeply personal quality but slightly brighter; no longer only on the subject of grief, Hahn shares other longings and speculations. These works are beautiful language without any of the unnecessary; simple and meaningful images, and direct ponderings.
Book Description
In the tradition of Audre Lorde’s The Cancer Notebooks and works by Lucia Perillo, Linda Gregg, and Jane Kenyon, Mosquito uses a literary format as a way to deal with serious illness and recovery. Lemon underwent brain surgery as a young man, and Mosquito turns that life-changing event into a vibrantly imagistic, poetic autobiography. The book is arranged in four parts. The first part tracks the emotional journey of the speaker during a grave illness, meditating unsentimentally on the grim details of hospitalization and surgery. Part two expands into the speaker’s erotic life, plunging into sexuality as a realm that resonates with both life and death. The last two parts explore the speaker’s world, historical and familial, as he is transformed by his trials. Lemon’s magnum opus is an anguished, observant, and resilient meditation as much zen as it is explosive, as clinical as it is philosophical and lyrical.
Customer Reviews:
"Mosquito".......2007-05-18
Alex Lemon's first book of poetry, "Mosquito," presents a raw and vivid read. Lemon's particular word choices and intense syntax drive each of his poems into the reader, making them uniquely attuned to each of their five senses. The experience of Lemon's surgery, a common theme throughout the poems in the book, seems to have fueled him into a poetic fury. He describes his hospital experiences with heated verbs and sharp images. Leading the first section, "MRI" describes "I'm half-/ naked, shivery with chicken skin,/ napkin-gowned." In "Other Good," he writes, "Anesthesia dumb, scalpel-paste/ Rawing my tongue, I found/ Myself starfished in sky." Other poems in this collection highlight his experiences with lovers, family, and companions. In "Plum," Lemon writes,
by the time the fake had finished
you were half-undressed, trembling, hypnotizing me
with your bones, the sound of rain on the sofa.
Your lips moved, and I stopped you, put a finger
in the air like I had an idea that could save the world
or a secret I swore to tell but instead, unmoving, I sat
like a jackass, finger in the air, and you,
beautifully naked and absolute, smiling
away my incompetence, shaking your head
and biting a plum, juice streaking to your chin,
dripping like steam condescending on the shower mirror.
Each of Lemon's poems, whether discussing tumors or lovers, displays such raw intensity and emotion that it becomes impossible to stop reading.
My only qualm with "Mosquito" was its lack of clarity throughout the poems. Often Lemon's imagery would be so intricate that the poems would become confusing rather than illuminated. Such was the case in "Who Finds You," where Lemon depicts, "While the sink overflows/ With voice - will you follow/ Into the dark but what is/ That way the body suffers/ Your eyes you are all wishless/ And bewildered mouths of black/ Berry fists pumping ribs they say/ Come running with a star/ Bright needle there is/ Bound to be damage". His imagery evokes feeling, but the images have become too complicated to truly understand, and in some cases, even visualize.
Although Lemon's complex images occasionally mystified me, his stylistic language and heated verbs kept me interested in the book. I forgave him when his poems lost me, mainly because he still managed to induce feeling from me despite the lack of clarity. His ability to brutally evoke all five senses remains one of his greatest gifts as a poet, and must be continued in further collections of poetry to come.
One of the great new voices in American Poetry.......2007-05-07
Lemon's first published collection is one of the best debuts of any contemporary poet I've read. His experiences, most notably going through brain surgery, are told in a meticulously lyrical language; he does an incredible job translating a harrowing experience into something neither trite nor overly-aesthetic; a masterful showing of what cunning word-choice, meter, an honest, bare introspection can achieve. Nothing short of brilliant.
probing restless through the guts.......2006-10-17
Alex Lemon's poems come from the youthful "school" of linguistic daring, probling often painfully (but always bravely) for truth. He reaches down so deeply into himself, his world, that he brings up what most poets couldn't dare to unearth. We all--poets, readers of poetry, life-livers--need accumulated layers peeled as often as possible from our eyes, but we don't usually know where to go for the operation. Lemon has the scalpel and wields it deftly. He leads us to fresh reflections on his world and ours. Between the covers of "Mosquito" we live at times on the edge of a precipice, then plunge to underwater depths. It's all renewing, invigorating, death-defying, and stimulating. No reader can remain unmoved.
Mosquito.......2006-08-08
four years ago alex lemon said "i believe life is saturated with grief but at times its the most beautiful thing possible."
life. and this book. both more beautiful than i could imagine.
Book Description
This up-to-date electronic book on CD-ROM provides the best collection available anywhere of official Federal government information and documents on the subject of West Nile Virus, a potentially serious emerging infectious disease now established as a seasonal epidemic in North America. This CD-ROM uses next-generation search technology that allows complete indexing and makes all files on the disc fully searchable. For patients, practical information is provided in clearly written patient education documents. For medical professionals, doctor reference tools and texts have detailed technical information and clinical background material.
WEST NILE VIRUS: West Nile virus belongs to a group of disease-causing viruses known as flaviviruses, which are spread by insects, usually mosquitoes. West Nile virus was first isolated in Uganda in 1937. Today it is most commonly found in Africa, West Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. In 1999, it emerged in the Western Hemisphere for the first time in the New York City area. Most human West Nile virus infections are mild, causing fever, headache, and body aches, often accompanied by a skin rash and swollen lymph glands. If the virus crosses the blood-brain barrier, however, it can cause life-threatening encephalitis (inflammation of the brain) or meningitis (inflammation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord).
This thoroughly researched collection presents vital information from many authoritative sources: Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Department of Defense, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). Contents include:
* Clinical and Medical Information - Risk Groups, Symptoms, Testing, Treatment, Prevention, Clinical Practice Guidelines
* Maps of West Nile Virus Activity, including Human Cases and Birds
* Mosquito Control, Avoiding Bites, Mosquito-Proof Your Home, Help Your Community
* Reporting Dead Birds, Virus in Squirrels
This CD-ROM has over 10,000 pages reproduced using Adobe Acrobat PDF software and Reader software is included. Advanced search and indexing features are built into our reproduction, providing a complete full-text index. This enables the user to search all the files on the disk at one time for words or phrases using just one search command! The Acrobat cataloging technology adds enormous value and uncommon functionality to this impressive collection of government documents and material. There is no other reference that is as fast, convenient, comprehensive, and portable!
Our CD-ROMs are privately-compiled collections of official public domain U.S. government files and documents - they are not produced by the federal government. They are designed to provide a convenient user-friendly reference work, utilizing the benefits of the Acrobat format to uniformly present thousands of pages that can be rapidly reviewed or printed without untold hours of tedious searching and downloading. This book-on-a-disc makes a superb reference work and educational tool for patients and their families, physicians, and other medical professionals. (Information on this CD-ROM is not a substitute for professional medical advice; of course, readers are urged to consult with a professional health care provider for any suspected illness.)
Customer Reviews:
Amazing photography.......2007-09-22
Astonshing photographs of the mosquito in all stages of development will captivate readers. The images are colored to enhance the insect's physical featuress. Facts are interspersed with black and white photographs of children playing hide and seek at dusk, during mosquito prime hunting time.
I was sharing this book with some elementary aged kids and one boy commented that the insects looked like aliens.
This is a fascinating look at worlds too small to be seen with our own eyes.
Average customer rating:
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Dottings on the Roadside, in Panama, Nicaragua, and Mosquito
Bedford Clapperton Trevelyan Pim, Berthold Carl Seemann
Manufacturer: Adamant Media Corporation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 General
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Nicaragua
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Panama
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ASIN: 1402188730
Release Date: 2002-07-29 |
Book Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1869 edition by Chapman and Hall, London.
Amazon.com
Far from being just an itchy annoyance, a mosquito bite can also mark the transmission of a deadly disease. Millions worldwide die of malaria, yellow fever, and West Nile virus every year. Scientist Andrew Spielman tells the story of the tiny, ubiquitous insect, the diseases it carries, and the fight against them both in Mosquito.
Spielman, who has spent much of his career battling mosquitoes and mosquito-borne illness, knows his subject intimately--perhaps too intimately, as the section on the different species drags a bit. Better is his handling of various historic epidemics, from the malaria outbreak that caused the French to abandon the Panama Canal to the 1999 West Nile virus outbreak in New York City.
Spielman also recounts stories of how the tiny pests were thwarted, including the way DDT came to be used as a weapon in the cold war (take our side and we'll get rid of your mosquitoes)--and why these efforts ultimately failed. Most important, Spielman details how cities should prepare themselves for the inevitable epidemics ahead. --Sunny Delaney
Book Description
From its irritating whine to the sting and itch of its bite, the mosquito ranks near the bottom of mankinds list of favourite creatures. But these tiny insects, once merely a seasonal annoyance, now are capturing headlines worldwide as new information emerges about the diseases they carry, their migratory population, and their growing resistance to pesticides. Harvard professor Andrew Spielman has dedicated his life to understanding this insect, a passion that makes him the perfect guide to their amazing world and the perfect author of this lively, accessible book that offers an intriguing and horrifying mosquito-eye view of nature and man. He explains where mosquitoes breed, and how they die, showing us their natural foes and man-made enemies while explaining the myriad diseases they bring to all corners of the world. Spielman offers colourful examples of how the mosquito has insinuated itself into human history, from the defeat of Sir Francis Drakes fleet to the death of thousands of Frenchmen working on the Panama Canal to the recent widespread West Nile panic in New York City. Filled with little-known facts and illuminating anecdotes that bring this tiny being into larger focus, Mosquito offers fascinating, alarming, and convincing evidence that the sooner we get to know this little creature, the better off well be.
Customer Reviews:
Moquito: A review........2007-03-13
Mosquito: A Natural History Of Our Most Persistent And Deadly Foe
by Andrew Spielman, Sc.D., and Michael D'Antonio
Hard cover - 226 pages (June 13, 2001). Hyperion Books, ISBN;0-7868-6781-7; Dimensions: unknown.
Reviewed by Keith Jackson.
On a warm summer's evening, the persistant hum of a mosquito sends us into a frenzy of flailing arms intent on squashing out her existence . A simple pest in our eyes in this day and age, and yet just a few decades ago, in this country, that same hum could be a precursor to weeks or months of painful suffering or even death at the "hands" of microscopic pathogens she harbored in her mouth (I use a female pronoun, as for the most part, only the female mosquito does the biting).
"Mosquito" takes the reader on a journey through time from ancient Greece, Rome and Africa through contemporary times in the United States and South America. Spielman and D' Antonio seamlessly incorporate world history with a crash course in biology, focusing mainly on mosquito vector borne diseases. Malaria, Dengue and Yellow Fever occupy many of the pages, as do their specific species of vector.
The book is organized into three parts, each with three chapters. The first part, the "Magnificent Enemy," portrays the mosquito as more than just another biting bug. It shows the reader how well adapted, truly beautiful, and wonderful she actually is. The life cycles are explained in terms that the layman can easily follow, and some illustrations are furnished as an aid.
One of my favorite chapters in the book, "Tigers and Tires," depicted how extremely well this insect can adapt to an ever changing world, and how humans are an enormous factor in how well the insects can spread to and flourish in nonnative habitats. The chapter focuses on the Asian Tiger Mosquito (Aedes albopictus) which is usually an insect that breeds in dark holes beneath tree roots and the like. They came to this country from Asia in large vessels that carried tires that had been re-treaded in Japan and returned to the US for use. The tires make excellent substitutes for dark, wet holes in which the tiger found to be a perfect breeding ground; the tiger mosquito quickly invaded the southeast U.S. She can play host to some virulent pathogens like, Dengue, Easter Equine Encephalitis, and West Nile virus, among others. She feeds on animal as well as human, which as the author points out has positive and negative effects. While she can acquire pathogens from her mammalian blood meals and transmit them to humans, her chance of feeding on human blood is lowered by having other options to nourish her egg laying (Spielman and D' Antonio, 2001).
The science behind the discovery of the mosquito being the vector to many pathogens is addressed in part two of the book. Spielman (et al) uses many stories throughout the book to tie the entomology into situations that were occurring during each time period that he speaks about; from the development of the compound microscope, in times when man didn't believe that a miniscule bug could transmit a disease, through the discovery of the sporozoites of Malaria in Anophaline mosquitos. During which time, the authors share stories of brave men and their survival in the Ivory Coast (where Malaria is thought to have originated) and more personal stories of letters between scientists like Manson and Ross from across the globe working toward a common goal (establishing the life cycle of Malaria).
Part three consisted of more current times, when political leaders used their knowledge of insect vectors and pathogen transmission against the Mosquito. They waged wars against the vampiric insect to dispel the horrible diseases she caused using chemicals such as DDT without concern of ecological implications . They changed the landscape by creating drainage ditches, or changed the grades of river banks, depending on the type mosquito they were faced with. A story about using that same information for more villanous effects came during W.W.II when it was noticed that vector borne diseases seemed to aid in battle by weakening enemy forces. In one of the chapters in this part, Spielman elaborates on how the military (German in this case) destroyed flood gates around Rome, which changed the salinity of the water and created a perfect breeding ground for Anopheles species which resulted in an epidemic of Malaria.
I enjoyed this book for the most part; while I am not a history buff in the least, the way the authors tied the history to the biology was beautifully done. That being said, in a few chapters, I felt as though I was reading about politics rather than the beautiful insect vectors at hand. I would also like to have seen more photographs of the insects, their larvae, and pupae. The couple visuals that were supplied were either of rare species or illustrations and maps of disease prone areas. I also felt the background behind the pathology was lacking, many cases were described and symptoms discussed, but I was comfortable understanding them only due to my medical background; Im not sure how well a lay person would follow. On a whole, I recommend the book to anyone who has ever stopped and looked at the mosquito in all her beauty before swatting her away, to the biology lovers of the world, to any historians who would like to see how a tiny bug can help shape or destroy a society, or to anyone who just blindly slaps when they hear that tell-tale hum.
Don't bite on this one!.......2003-12-05
As far as I can tell, this is essentially the same book as "Mosquito: The Story of Man's Deadliest Foe." The first couple of chapters are interesting, but after that, the writing becomes vague, repetitious, and inconsistent in tone, diction, and quality. What should have been a fascinating book filled with both technical information and personal anecdotes (one of the authors is, after all, a leading researcher in mosquito-borne diseases) instead is filled with generalities and handwaving and reads like a C+ term paper hastily pulled from the internet (really!). Don't waste your time!
The Deadliest Insect of Them All.......2003-08-22
Mosquitoes are perhaps the most dangerous of all insects. Somewhere around 2 million people die each year from mosquito-vectored human malaria alone- many more than are killed in traffic accidents (source: WHO.) Andrew Spielman and Michael D'Antonio have now produced a book that documents the life history of and human association with these tiny vampires and they have generally done a very good job. If you want to know some fascinating facts about mosquitoes, this is a good source.
Unfortunately the maps of the distributions of both mosquitoes and the diseases they carry are somewhat out of date. Aedes aegypti is now in Tucson, Las Cruces, and El Paso in the Southwest U.S., and West Nile is in almost every state. Also the information about the vectors of West Nile Virus is an oversimplification. In the western US at least, Culex tarsalis my be a more efficient vector than C. pipiens.
Despite these minor flaws, I highly recommend this book. It is one of the best general work on the subject since J. D. Gillett's book "The Mosquito." Unfortunately both are now out of print.
"If you are really unlucky, you might die".......2003-03-18
"The saliva that they leave behind might make you itchy, or if you are really unlucky, you might die".
If you are like me and seem to attract these buzzing beasts you will enjoy this book, although bear in mind it is rather technical and written mainly for the scientifically minded.
Some useful information includes:
-carbon dioxide and heat attracts them, (but it doesn't seem to be explained here why they seem to like some people more than others, or whether it is just that some people react to bites more than others),
-various species attack different parts of the body (eg some the ankles, some the head),
-some don't attack humans at all,
-some attack only humans and monkeys,
-colours vary-some are black and white striped, (these cause yellow fever), others are brown, others dominantly grey.
-the mosquito has had a significant effect on human history through various mosquito borne diseases (eg Dengue, Yellow Fever, Malaria, Encephalitus, and Rift Valley Fever).
-various mosquito-borne diseases are exclusive to birds, some cross from birds to man, some from horses to man, some from monkeys to man, etc.
Some historical plagues and the diseases transmitted by mosquitoes are described eg Dengue, Yellow Fever, Malaria , Encephalitus, and Rift Valley Fever. Historically, it was initially ridiculed that tiny organisms could carry tiny diseases, but careful observation and scientific method eventually won the day over 'folk psychology'. Mosquitoes, through recognition of their association with yellow fever and malaria, played a major part in the development of germ theory, and by association much of modern medicine. Pasteur's germ theory, partially based on work done on mosquitoes as disease carriers, contributed much to humankind's better general health in the latter 19th century in particular. Good sanitation and community health went hand in hand with ongoing scientific research, including that done on mosquito-borne diseases.
Sanitation has been surprisingly effective against mosquito-borne diseases. Limiting stagnant water and widespread use of household netting has been proven to greatly reduce disease rates. The presence of marshes and wetlands increases prevalence, but so does the presence of the longer- lived and more aggressive species (Incidentally, Alaska has amongst the most aggressive mossies of all-which anyone who has been there in the summer will tell you).
A useful read, scientifically astute, but perhaps a little dry, along with most other medical-style texts I have read. Worthwhile.
A page turner..........2002-01-28
It reads like a fast paced novel and I could not keep it down...
One is surprised by how much they learn from the book and it is a great read for anybody who has ever thought "Why can't we just get rid of these things?"...
If you like this also see 'Level 4 - Virus Hunters of the CDC'
Book Description
A private venture aircraft, the much-loved Mosquito was possibly the most versatile of all British aircraft of World War II. Revolutionary in its wood construction, the de Havilland Mosquito played a vital role in the war combining the maneuverability of a fighter with the payload of a medium bomber. It contributed to the war as a fighter; an unarmed bomber, a reconnaissance aircraft and its different variants included the Sea Mosquito, the first British twin-engined aircraft to land on an aircraft carrier. De Havilland Mosquito An Illustrated History Volume 2 traces the fascinating development of the Mosquito from its construction through to operational fighter and bomber in frontline, Operational Training, Ferry and Maintenance Units. Human stories of RAF aircrew, ground crew and Commonwealth Air Forces are detailed in addition to coverage of the Mosquito operated by the Russians and that captured by the Luftwaffe. This volume is a comprehensive pictorial record of the Mosquito aircraft and the people who worked with and flew in her. Extended captions include performance tables, nose-art, advertising and a summary of preserved Mosquitoes. Aircraft numbers, specifications, dates, personalities, and background information coupled with over 500 black and white photographs, many previously unpublished and a color section, make this and its best selling companion Mosquito An Illustrated History Volume 1 a must for researchers and historians alike.
Customer Reviews:
DH Mossie.......2007-03-20
Excellent book for the Mossie fancier, even better for the scale modeller. Fantastic view of various stages of construction, great number of revealing photos, and beyond that a good read.
Average customer rating:
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Mosquito (Little Nippers: Creepy Creatures)
Sue Barraclough
Manufacturer: Heinemann Library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Zoology
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ASIN: 043193259X |
Books:
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- The Perfect Wedding Details: More Than 100 Ideas for Personalizing Your Wedding
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- The Ring of the Nibelung
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- Train Your Mind, Change Your Brain: How a New Science Reveals Our Extraordinary Potential to Transform Ourselves
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