Euro

Don't buy this book!Yes there are pictures..good ones at that but besides the names of the plants you know nothing about the plant. It would be well and good as a coffee table coaster and an expensive one at that.

If you are a beginner, and are looking for a very simple, quick, basic plant identification guide, this MAY be the book for you. However, for the price, I personally would want a bit more for my money.

The information in the book is oversimplified to a fault and some of it is inaccurate. While the photography is very good, the masking done to the photos is very poor - you can actually see where they were clipped out of the background in many of the photos - an unexcusable oversight for a publication whose only real strength IS the photography.

If the quality of the photoediting was sufficient, I would be willing to recommend the book - even at the expense of poor content - for those looking for a pretty "coffee-table" type book (which unfortunately is what so many publications in this hobby ultimately end up amounting to). However, due to the poor masking, I don't feel it even measures up to those superficial standards.

This book was meant to be an ID guide, and it IS good for helping the beginner aquatic plant enthusiast identify the more common types of aquatic plants. I just do not think that you are getting a good deal for your money.

dont expect alot in terms of care guides, as they are brief and already, somwhat dated (eg, tepot indicates that metal halides are the only way to light planted tanks: simply not true). but it has an exalent encyclopdia of both true aquatic and terrestrial plants often sold as aquatic. again, its a good referance.

This is a precise, detailed map of the central portion of Brussels. Many of Brussels' suburbs are not included. If you think you will have need of any villages on the outskirts, e.g., Waterloo, you will need a different map.

Again, I have the same problem with this book of black & white images of male nude models as I did with the other's in the Edition Euros Series. I would like to know more about the photographer, Herve Bodilis, and his work. Again, there is no biography of the photographer. That aside, these are standard images of guys alone, some nude, and a few very erotic images of guys together. These are not all pretty guys, and perfect models, but everyday real men. I enjoyed this photographer's work, and have added it to my collection. However, if I had only one or two of the Euros Series books to select & buy, this wouldn't be it.

Of the 230 pages in this book only the last 20 deal with the traditional name and address of which hotel and what restaurants to eat at. The rest of the book consists of short articles by people who have lived in the city. The articles give insight into different aspects of the city and its life, whether it is the history of Byzantium, or the peculiar nature of Turkish graveyards in and around the city. The photographs are taken by locals, and are excellent. All togehter a definite book to read if you are going there, and an interesting look at the city from different eyes.

As a student of Colonial history and a professor of economics, I have often been amazed at the historical errors and myths one finds in Early American literature. Donna J. Kessler has taken on one such myth that will amaze you in its depth. She reveals how some infrequent references by Lewis and Clark to the Indian woman's helpfulness are embellished and just plain ignored by novelists and other writers during the past two centuries. These writers have turned a simple woman into a princess, an early American feminist and maybe a suffragette. I plan to use this material when teaching courses in "Critical Thinking" to illustrate how easily we can be mislead by zealous misrepresentations from the past. Ms Kessler's definitive work is very difficult to read. I suspect it was her dissertation for a Ph. D. Nonetheless let me heartily recommend it to you as a classic example of fine scholarship. It is one that any truth seeker can learn from. Just don't plan to speak on it at a feminist convention.

The guys are good-looking in a generic sort of way, and the photography is perfectly adequate (which, as Dwight MacDonald once pointed out, usually means inadequate), but there's not a smidgen of originality in the whole production. It's all taken right out of Mapplethorpe, Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts. In fact, a couple of the shots are such obvious copies of Weber's work that Weber ought to be suing this guy (if he cared to stoop). Even if you aren't bothered by lack of originality and are just looking for a bit of a turn-on, you won't find much in that department either. Comes complete with a pretentious and near-illiterate commentary at the end ("the answer still alludes us"). Indeed.

Most of these guys photographed in this fourth book of the Edition Euros Series look like they would rather be somewhere else. No one is playing with the camera or showing much emotion. They all seem to be staring off at another planet, trying desperately to avoid contact with the camera. Now don't get me wrong these are beautiful photos of very handsome and beautiful looking guys, both in facial features and body, but the lack of eye contact just left me cold.

As for the commentary at the end of the book, it meant nothing to me. I can only say if you're a collector of this series you will definitely want this book, but I won't be revisiting this one as much as the other photographer's works!

Warning: Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover - you may be disappointed with the results. While most of the photographs show healthy, strapping young men, many of the poses look as though his inspiration came from one of his contemporaries, namely Underhill... its unfortunate seeing that this is the same dude who does the photoshoots for GYM and BURN magazine... let the buyer beware!

Not only this book is poorly written but in fact its also written in a very confusing manner. Dr. Kreinin does not provide us with adequate examples for the topic he discusses and furthermore there is not glossary in the textbook, which is crucial for the students to get some quick facts without memorizing the entire terminology used in the book. I was surprised to find this book as part of the required readings for classes at Michigan State University and Northern Michigan University. I recommend that this bok may not be used as part of the curriculum for the students. It is not helpful and its over-priced relative to its limited use.

This books provides a very low level understanding of the concepts

I am an experienced traveler (30+ countries) who is nearing retirement and plan to travel extensively, who has recently become obsessed about finding "good" guidebooks. So this review is a comparison of the books I looked at for Madrid.

I started with the Insight Guide. I was seeking to get background, history, etc. The Insight Guides seem to vary enormously from one to the next in both quality and orientation. I think they are good for an entire country if you are trying to decide where in the country or what parts you want to see. I thought the guide for Madrid was useless. It provided very little information about the city or the culture. It seemed to be best if you were planning on moving to Madrid and wanted to find out the differences between the various suburban areas. I suggest you forget this one.

I looked at the Mini-Rough Guide. I didn't like the format and it was too terse for my taste. In my opinion, Rough Guide still needs to produce a guide for Madrid that is a regular, not a mini Rough Guide. The LP Guide to Madrid seemed pretty mediocre. The stiff covers also made it awkward to use or hold open to a particular page. The information and descriptions were inadequate compared to some other guides. The Eyewitness Guide to Madrid is, I think, the best overall guide to Madrid. (Generally I prefer Eyewitness guides for City's much more than as a guide for an entire country.) The maps are good, the pictures of the food and other items are very helpful. The hotels and restaurant sections were pretty good, but not great. If you are looking for hostels, you will need the LP guide. Eyewitness does not give great historical depth, but it gives you some, probably enough for most tourists. Guide Books are not the best source for detailed historical and cultural information anyway. The Time Out guide was almost like a tourist's yellow pages, primarily a listing of hotels, restaurants, sites, services, etc. It had the best listing of restaurants and hotels and covered all price ranges. It wasn't as good as Eyewitness is describing the things to see and do.

I ended up getting the Eyewitness Guide to use while sightseeing, supplemented by the Time Out guide for picking hotels, restaurants and being able to look up things. Another reviewer recommended this same combination in order to visit Tapas bars. I'm not that much into Tapas, but I still think these two are the best combo.

Incidentally, the Spain Rough and LP guides Madrid sections do not cover Madrid as well as the Madrid-only guides. You are looking at a 60-page section, compared to the Madrid-only guides of around 300 pages length.

This is exactly what is say it is, an insight into Madrid. This is not a book you bring with you on the trip. It provides background information, usefull before you go; or for armchair travelling. Lots of photos. The text writing does not go far below the surface, but is good for getting an orientation towards the city and the country. One of the books I read about the area before I went, I recommend it.

Clifford Baker in yet another small format series book showcases models we are familiar with and a few that are unfamiliar - all tightly wrapped in photographic cliches. Baker is someone who might want to consider spending a little time reviewing what other photographers are up to before publishing yet another predictable book like this one. As hard as I try to keep an open mind, I find that Baker is, like many Californian photographers, in need of a major wake-up call. San Francisco or Hollywood is not where cutting edge photography is coming from these days.

Baker has one thing that works for him, gay men will spend money on this material and think of it as art, but in retrospect I would much rather refer anyone, gay or straight to photographers such as Bruce Weber, Stephen Meisel, Peter Lindbergh, or the constantly impressionistic David LaChappel. If you research some of these photographers books on Amazon, you will find that they might be more costly, but in my opinion, well worth the investment.

Unless you are a big fan of Clifford Baker's work,I really see no reason why you should buy this book.I bought it,because I liked the guy on the front cover.But,to my dismay,this was the only photo of him in the book.Even worse,his picture was the best in the whole collection!Appart from very few (though notable) exceptions the rest of the material was almost boring.I thought that reading Egbert Hoermann's comments at the end of the book would help me understand and appreciate Baker's work.Far from it!Hoermann claims that Baker's "seemingly unstaged" photographs try to reconcile civilization with nature.On the contrary,the photos seemed overstaged to me,and the models (with their tough street-smart looks) gave me the impression of being in complete contrast with the natural settings Baker uses.For example,there is an image of a long-haired guy sunbathing beneath a glorious sky.Well,the photo is a poor use of both the sky's and the blond youth's beauty!The young man looks like he just came out of a Hollywood beauty salon (perfect hair,perfect skin) and hardly like someone relaxing after frolicing in the sun.Overall,Euros #01 greatly disappointed me and I would not recommend it.Try finding something better to buy.It won't be difficult at all!

This is the first in a series of small format books put out by Bruno Gmunder that eventually grew to total 17 books showcasing the new male nude photographers. Some more well know than others. This first book of Clifford Baker's photography was not the most impressive in the series. These are black & white images of very muscular young men, mostly nude. Many of the models are very handsome & certainly pleasant to look at. However, I had one problem with the all of these images and that is they all too posed. There isn't much feeling or emotion coming out of these photographs. The camera should bring these models to life, it fails in this respect. Most are shot outdoors in awkward situations.

I think this is a good representation of Clifford Baker's work, and with all due respect, you either like his work or you don't. If you're a collector like I am than you certainly should have this first book of the series in your collection. If you're buying is limited check out the other 16 books before you decide on this one.

Given the recent changes in Berlin, I was quite surprised that the published date of this book is 1995. As I began looking through it, I became concerned when I read phrases like "Once Berlin resumes its role as capital towards the end of the century, ..." Other than the publish date, the book seems great: lots of crisp photos, good touring routes and location maps, and concise descriptions. And its all in a nice compact form.