This is a beautiful wildlife art book for children in elementary and middle school; adults will enjoy it also but might like the larger version. The book includes the natural histories of each animal in Bateman's realistic paintings and may be a useful resource for home libraries.

This is a great book for children who like animals. The book inspires children to draw. My six year old son and I have enjoyed this book and have spent many hours reading it over and over. The drawings are incredible. Your "animal loving" child will love it, too.

The initial attraction of this book is the wonderful artwork, but further investigation reveals a thoughtful and fresh look at nature. Robert Bateman tells you enough about himself and his lifes work to make you curious about him. Most importantly, he provides the reader with a close up and personal view of animals we rarely experience. He provides a quick run down of the facts of each animal and where it lives in a small information box. The text provides some very unique information on the animal. I found his information on how a giraffe runs to be facinating. A great read for children (and adults) of any age who appreciate nature and beauitful art.

Sahara Overland: A Route & Planning Guide is the first truly comprehensive guidebook to one of the world's most compelling and challenging environments, North Africa's Sahara Desert. Ranging from the Moroccan Atlas Mountains to the Red Sea, Sahara Overland is ideal for Saharan travelers whether for a weekend excursion, a week long vacation, or a season spanning safari. Thirty-five detailed itineraries are available, covering more than 15,000 miles through nine countries: Morocco, Mauritania, Libya, Mali, Tunisia, Algeria, Niger, Chad and Egypt. The only Saharan guidebook covering all aspects of traveling the great desert by vehicle, Sahara Overland provides tips on how not to get lost, and what to do when things go wrong. Chris Scott's informative, "traveler friendly" text is enhanced with fifty maps and more than 300 b&w and color photographs. If you are planning a trip through the Sahara, begin with acquiring and throughly reading Chris Scott's Sahara Overland.

Chris Scott's book was worth the wait. I've been exploring the deserts of the United States and Mexico for decades, and my wife and I plan to ship our vehicle to Morocco and explore the Sahara soon. This book has left no question unanswered.

Chris's approach is always engaging, but exhaustive where necessary. He isn't afraid to be honest in equipment choices. For example, since he is from the U.K. I expected the vehicle selection chapter to be a Tom Sheppard-esque sermon about the perfection of the Land Rover. Instead, while pointing out the strengths of Land Rovers, he quite bluntly states that anyone needing the utmost in reliability should buy a Toyota Land Cruiser instead. The section on vehicle preparation is full of good, practical advice.

The route descriptions are excellent (and you can visit the author's web site for updates). However, I would recommend this book strongly to anyone considering traveling by vehicle in any desert in the world--there's that much information in it.

This guide is simply fantastic, it is amazingly accurate, and makes traveling across the Sahara so incredably easy! It is truly a fabulous guide, and comes highly reccommended!

The daily life of Kas Maine over 90 odd years on the high veldt of South Africa says more about the history of that part of the world than all the history books and newspaper articles and military actions that could ever be recounted. I felt as though I myself had lived those same 90 years, breathed the dust, lost my crops, driven my livestock from farm to farm trying to find sharecropping work, put up and taken down my corregated metal shack, been hounded by bureaucrats, maintained my dignity and kept my family together against incredible odds. Although the place names and indigenous family names were difficult and their abundance presumed some familiarity with South Africa, I learned to visualize rather than pronounce them, and they became like one of Kas's stony fields in the story and I liked the "rough footing." A unique experience in book form.

I have been taking my time with this book, savouring it while I can. The rhythms of the prose and the world it describes are so seductive, that I have often found myself reading "just a few more pages" at 3AM despite having to get up for work the next day. If you wish to have a sense of what life in rural South Africa was like over the past century, I can't think of a better book (or any other book for that matter). Kas was an exceptionally gifted farmer, a traditional herbalist and healer, and a patriarch who struggled against the almost impossible odds of being a black man in South Africa. As the insanity of apartheid took hold, he and his family were forced to move from place to place, his dreams of agricultural success and land ownership gradually eroding. Yet the book also portrays the rich, multicultural environment of the Transvaal, the varied relationships between Blacks, Boers, Englishmen, Jews and Asians; the shift from a paternalistic but, in many ways more egalitarian society to a racist police state. Kas is a complex man: wise, cruel, patient, tender, pragmatic, apolitical, opportunist, and honourable. The portrayals of his relationships with his ever expanding family are as complex and engaging as one could wish from a fine novel. Van Onselen makes no apologies for him: he simply gives us the man and, above all his humanity. Perhaps his greatest achievement with this book is in bridging the gap between the Western reader and an illiterate African farmer, in underlining our human commonalities rather than our differences. Despite occasional passages that are a tad purple, the author's prose is clear and flowing. He manages to make the ebb and flow of the seasons with their triumphs, tragedies, and ignominies absolutely gripping. I never thought that I could be enthralled by descriptions of the complexities of plowing and harvesting, or the purchase of agricultural equipment, but I was. No it's not too long as the reviewer in the New York Times claimed. In fact one often wishes that one could know more about this extraordinary yet very ordinary man.

I was fascinated throughout. Sounds and looks "dry" when you see it on the shelf, but so full of juicy bits that make his life very real. You cheer for him when he manages to think his way around the obstacles that apartheid and his own nature put in his way and you are continually forced to confront the "What would I have done here?" question.

Yes, it is long. But when you are through you want to know still more. What has happened to the rest of the family since the book was published? What was the effect of those years of scrutiny on their "real" lives?

I stared at the pictures and studied the faces. I have been selectively pushing the book on all the thoughtful people I know. It wakes up your brain.

Septimius Severus (A.D. 146-211) hailed from Lepcis Magna, an African city which traced its ethnic and linguistic roots to Phoenicia and Carthage. Some of his townsfolk still had names that sounded disturbingly like Hannibal. He rose through the Army to become Emperor, following the disastrous reign of idiot-Emperor Commodus and the assassination of Pertinax. The mere fact that an African from the once-hated Phoenician coast could ascend to the principate speaks volumes of how the Roman system had evolved from city-state to universal empire. The early chapers on Lepcis Magna are a fascinating study in how the Roman provinces worked, socially and economically, and how Rome interacted with the outside world (Lepcis Magna greatly profited from its trade with Sub-Saharan Africa.)

Birley's assessment of Septimius's reign is ambivalent. Septimius was a vast improvement on Commodus, and, at massive cost in blood and treasurer, restored internal stability. His campaigns in Mesopotamia and Scotland were spectacular. Birley makes a plausible case that Septimius's ancestors retained a modicum of stability until at least Severus Alexander (208-235), but really the first signs of the cycle of contested rule, internal bloodshed and barbarian invasion that blighted the mid third-century can all be seen in Septimius's reign.

Anthony Birley does an outstanding job at presenting the life of a man who survived the insane rule of Commodus and founded a new imperial dynasty. Birley give one of the best accounts of the Empire under Commodus and the consipracy leading to his assassination. The brief rule of Pertinax is also delt with and the following civil war.

The begining section on the origins of Lepcis Magna are a bit slow. However, it provides a wealth of knowledge on what life was like in the Empire outside of Rome and Italy. Very few books manage to do this as well this one.

Showing the reign of Septimius Severus in great detail the reader can get an idea of how the 'Crisis of the Third Century' was to become almost inevitable. Septimius Severus favoring the soldiers over all else and his advise to his sons: "Be good brothers, grease the palm of the army and to hell with the rest."(not an exact translation of course) The life of Septimius Severus gives the reader a glimpse into what may have made Caracalla such a tyrant.

Prof. Birley has written the biographies of three Roman emperors: Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus and recently Hadrian. "Septimius Severus: the African Emperor" is his finest work thus far. His fluent narrative and relevant remarks make the life of Severus even more interesting. We follow Severus from his native town of Lepcis Magna (in today's Lybia), the member of a family of Phoenecian origin but Romanized for generations. Severus starts his career in an unremarkable way during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, giving us a glimpse of what life was for individual members of the senatorial class. We then follow Severus's life throughout the reign of Marcus's insane son Commodus, Birley giving the best treatment of his reign that I have ever seen in English. The events leading to the conspiracy to topple Commodus, resulting in civil war and Severus's acession as first Emperor for whom Latin was a foreign language, read like a first-class thriller, all the more fascinating because true. As emperor Severus shows himself to be competent and ruthless, and apparently somewhat disdainful and resentful of the traditional elites of Italian background, which led to his starting to convert the empire into a military dictatorship. On the other hand, his support of the great jurists Papinian and Paul make his reign one of the great ages of Roman jurisprudence, which was to have so much influence on Western law. Severus's military pursuits in Mesopotamia and Scotland are also vividly described. To be sure, the first chapters on the origins of Lepcis Magna are a bit slow, but all the rest is fascinating. I could not recomment this book more.

What a beautiful book! I'm so glad I have it.

The recipes are easy to understand and so much fun. I've wanted a book to teach me Indian cooking for a long time, and this book is all I needed, because it has soooooooo many recipes! (Actually, it has *every* Indian recipe I've ever wanted and more.) =)

I wish you could see the inside, because it's so pretty - it looks really authentic and the pictures are so vivid and glossy - I can't believe it's so cheap!!! Oh, and it's got lots of tips and there's a little blurb about each dish that is sometimes quite funny (and always helpful). :)

Gulab Jamun and Butter chicken...two things I love in Indian meals but very hard to make..and I did it in following Taheras simple steps...I love it...now next try ....three variations of rasmalia....I love this book ..150 plus recipes...one can just go crazy ...and the steps ...so easy to follow....

I always find recipes hard to follow and what to really accompany my meals with....and it is even harder when you have an Indian man in your life who likes curries everyday ...but Tahera makes this book soo easy to follow that I wonder where she has been.
Her recipes are so easy and like her title says 'simple'. No fuss, no drama to make it look like I need to be a pro because even an amature can cook like a pro...that is what Tahera's recipes tell me about myself..and I love it.
Thanks Tahera.

What a refreshing, beautifully written book. I felt I was there, inside the mythical Central African country, knowing the people, what they eat, what occupies their minds, how their days are structured...the author's inclusion of authentic detail makes it all live. The gifted child Alinofe Banda and the fat Mamsahib missionary doctor Pia Macloed, will certainly go down as two of my all-time favorite characters in literature. Of course from the title I expected a story about the great plague AIDS, but it in the end is much more a story of people, personalizing the universal themes and questions regarding love, sex, faith, family, morality, death and meaning. It left me wanting to hear much more from this wonderful writer.

Slim was an eye-opener for me. Too often I see conditions such as AIDS as just statistics, and these apply to people in unknown countries far away. People like me need to know of and understand the plague that is moving across the earth. The strength of Whitney’s characters, the captivating story line, and engaging dialogue kept my attention throughout. My outlook on AIDS has changed from dry numbers to understanding the absolute devastation that the disease brings to the individual, the family, the nation, and ultimately the entire earth. This is a must read.

"Slim" is a remarkable work of literary art. Beginning with the beautifully designed jacket which sets the venue perfectly, this novel paints a human face on the tragedy of AIDS and its devestating impacts. The story is set in the fictional country of Zandu, Africa during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The author clearly knows this part of the world and the people who populate it. Whitney does a masterful job of sharing the culture, ambiance, and reality of living in a world where so many have so little in terms of material goods yet live lives of dignity and personal accomplishment. She creates memorable characters who reflect the tensions and challenges of responding to events far beyond their control.

"Slim" has a touch of magic that leaves the reader with the realization that life itself is magic. This is a "must read" for those who appreciate a finely crafted story which adds much to ones understanding of a complex subject. Too bad Oprah isn't still doing her book club!

An excellent read. The book really took me back. I grew up pre-Zimbabwe and was 14 years old at the independence of Zimbabwe. I left in '87. The book is a great account of the "bush war"..you're really there!

His association of music with periods in his life "took me back" too. I remember dancing to ABBA "dancing queen" on a farm in Karoi..I grew up in Karoi and went to the Primary school there..I remember seeing the helicopters landing on the rugby field near the police station, directly opposite the school. I remember talking to the "army guys" and eating "rat packs",...convoys to Makuti, stopping halfway at a motel called "Elephants Walk". I went to school and was a border at Ellis Robins. I remember the seniors bringing rifles to school and handing them in to the house master at the beginning of a new school term....Alot of memories and this book brought them flooding back!...Although there was war, I would not have traded my upbringing, barefoot and running around the farm, for anything!

Once again, it's a great book to read.

This book reminds one of the horrors of war much like All Quiet on the Western Front did. The author starts out a middle class idealist, and concludes a hardened killer who in his early 20's needs to make sense of all the senseless deaths that surrounded his formative years. The Rhodesian "bush" war was bloody, and appears to have accomplished nothing, in that the present state of Zimbabwe almost makes those who fought against the "terrorists" heroes for trying to keep Rhodesian and southern Africa out of the hands of despots like Mugabe. I hope the Movement for Democratic Change really is a movement for democratic change, and that some day all Zimbabwean's will be free to participate in their country.

Great book, and don't forget to read the sequel "Survival Course".

Bloody good book - told as it was. Everyone should read it.

I was introduced to this book by a fiction writing teacher to whom I'll always be grateful. It's a fresh, ingenious selection of ritual and sacred poetry from around the world, translated with irreverence and raw attitude. If you're used to the vague New Age-isms of what usually gets thought of as "ritual" and "sacred," pick this up and get a jolt--Rothenberg finds incredibly powerful language in places where it wouldn't occur to most people to look, and he's not afraid of crudeness and hilarity. Amazing stuff. A friend of mine has worn out copies of both the first edition and this one, and I don't blame her.

Back in the 1970s I discovered this book. It became my companion. Its rich poetry, its multitudes of rituals and images have inspired my batiks and paintings for the past thirty years. What variety and life!

As we begin to see this earth suffer the effects of our presence here, these poems -with roots in every continent- speak together of this planet as a sacred place. One perhaps we might still come to treat well. Read a few aloud, sit in your garden this spring and read a Navajo corn song, stir, stir ... This is well researched, carefully and lovingly translated; it should accompany any studies of native cultures worldwide.

This beautifully illustrated book tells a simple story that can be appreciated on many levels. I used it in a mixed age Sunday School class (4-10 year olds) and I think all the kids enjoyed it AND got something out of it.

Zanele has one big question. Who made her? to help her find the answer, she turns to her friends, the animals of the African bush. What she discovers by the end of the day is wiser than she ever imagined. Cathie Felstead's spectacular artwork is a perfect showpiece for Shirley Tulloch's engaging and delightful story.

I really enjoyed this book - it's written and illustrated beautifully. The US Publishers Weekly calls it 'quiet and reverend', 'a book that captures the vastness of the African landscape'. That is exactly how I felt when the author presented me with a copy! The story is deceptively simple, and becomes ever more beautiful as it sinks in. It makes an excellent christening present.

I have been very interested in African history ever since I took a course on West African colonial history in college, and in the Zulu wars specifically when I read "Washing of the Spears" many years ago. These intrepid warriors faced the British imperialists in defense of their homeland, and occasionally prevailed in battle. This book details the Zulu victory over the British at Isandlwana, a very black day for the Empire of Queen Victoria. The reader receives all of the reasons why the Zulus prevailed, among other reasons the astute planning of their leaders, and the almost casual dismissal of the ability of the natives on the part of the English leaders. Once the tragedy took place, there was a concerted effort by the authorities to transfer blame from the actual commander, Lord Chelmsford, to one of the "colonial" officers. The authors categorically refute the baseless allegations, and show us exactly how Chelmsford was derelict in his duty to his troops, while not taking anything away from the brilliance of the Zulu planning. This is an interesting book, and well worth reading for those whose interest, as mine, centers on the cololnal conquest of the indigenous peoples of Africa.

Zulu Victory is a valuable synthesis of research on the battle of Isandlwana, where a British Army under Lord Chelmsford was outmaneuvered and defeated in detail by King Cetshwayo's Zulu Army. The strength of this book lies in its clarity. Every important personality and event in the campaign is thoroughly weighed and explained, without ever losing sight of the overall context. The result is a fluid, balanced account of a very confused set of circumstances.

This book is equally valuable as an all-in-one historiography of the battle. Serious history readers will appreciate this facet from the Forward, written by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, right through the appendices. The quality of the writing keeps the history from becoming dry. The narrative remains vivid, even after multiple readings. As with Morris' "The Washing of the Spears," the storytelling is flat out exciting.

Try not to be put off by the subtitle: "The Epic of Isandlwana and the Cover-Up." The twin themes of the book are clear. 1) The Zulus did not simply stumble on and overwhelm a British encampment. They made use of their advantages, which included better mobility and communications as well as a superior understanding of the local terrain, to outmaneuver and defeat an overconfident enemy. 2) Chelmsford and his supporters attempted to shift responsibility for the defeat to a colonial cavalry leader, Colonel Anthony Durnford, (Royal Engineers) who was killed in the fray. (You may know him as Burt Lancaster in the movie "Zulu Dawn.")

Perhaps the 2nd point is more marketable, to scholars, but what most amateur historians will find instructive is the campaign narrative. While much has been made in the past of how courageous individual Zulu warriors were, and of their famed "head and horns" battlefield tactics, this is a depiction of how the Zulu lured Chelmsford into splitting his force. It explains the thinking from 'both sides of the hill' without attributing an artificial superiority to European tactics, or shortchanging the sophistication of the native leadership.

The book makes it clear that although Chelmsford was both arrogant and defeated, he was not necessarily the fool played by Peter O'Toole. He operated with tremendous logistical challenges that severely constrained his freedom of action. Moreover, while Chelmsford was overconfident, the British still might have withstood the Zulu Impis had they recognized the danger sooner and employed different tactics...as later battles were to prove.

All the usual debates are covered, including a detailed appendix (C) devoted to the infamous British Ammunition boxes and their (potential) impact on the battle. The book has 11 very clear maps and 75 illustrations, many of which are in color and really capture the battlefield from the perspective of contemporary eyes.

If you have an interest in 19th century imperialism, military history, or even what happens when indigenous peoples and colonials collide, read this book. It's excellent history and a ripping good yarn to boot.

Battle of Isandlwana was one of the greatest victories that native Africans ever achieved against an European power. This book proves to be one of the best books on this battle. The book covers all your usual stuff like political conditons, military conditions leading up to the war and so forth. But key element of the book was how its dealt with the battle itself. As far as I know, it got one of the clearest blow by blow account of the battle if that could be possible. Many myths about what happened at Isandlwana seem to be more clearer now and respect for Zulu military organization grows as you read on. Its amazing how long it took the British to finally realized that they were coming uder a full scale attack. The book also discussed the covered up by Lord Chemsford after the battle. The covered up was basically to protect Chemsford's military carelessness and the fact that he have been out-generaled by the Zulus. In this, he chose Colonel Durnford since the good colonel was already dead. Interesting how blaming a dead people for mistakes have always been a popular habits of all defeated commanders. The book appears to be well research and the authors' distaste for Chemsford become pretty clear as you read the book. It also got very details maps which help understand the battle. The nice photographs helped - including the infamous British ammo box which showed what a pain it can be to opened one up. Well, with or without ammo, British were doomed in this battle anyway. Probably the best book written on Isandlwana right now.