Anthropology of Food: The Social Dynamics of Food Security

Customer Reviews:

Glad I Found This Book Again.......2006-03-25

I read this book about 8 years ago and it stuck with me ever since. But for some reason when I wanted to recommend it to other people I couldn't ever remember the title or the author. Finally I looked it up here using various key words. Now I can recommend it to others and read it again!

It's a book about odysseys--in some way comparable to the book "Cold Mountain" in the sense that people are traveling and finding out who they are in an amazing landscape. This book also represents well the politics and experience of Native American life. It's more than that, though--it's a beautiful story.

I consider it one of the best books on my lifetime list.

Well written, but dull concept.......2005-10-27

Solar Storms is about a 17 year old girl who returns to her Native American home, which is an entirely different society than the surrounding American society. She meets with her great and great-great grandmothers, and learns about her mysterious past. Eventually they go on a journey to attempt to stop the construction of a dam that would threaten their way of life.

The problem with this story is that it cannot rationaly make sense. Sure, Native American tales can be nice to hear, but in reality we all know that animals don't posses mystical powers, don't think, and aren't connected to divine beings, which is what is constantly being preached in this book. In a sense, it is a struggle between this irrational thought and the "white men" who wish to build dams to provide power and promote industry. There are many valid arguments against the construction of dams, but the characters in this book wish to stop the dam because it will make some mystic spirits angry, which is not a valid, provable reason. If the characters in the book were more focused on "stop the dam because it will flood our homeland" and not "stop the dam because the beaver spirit will get angry and leave" this book would be drastically better, but as it stands now this book is full of as much irrationality as creationism.

Solar Storms.......2005-10-03

Solar Storms is a compelling and heart wrenching story of heroic Native American women and their struggle for their land and way of life. Join four generations of Native women as they traverse the wild boundary waters from Minnesota to Canada, in search of and to protect their true home.

A Powerful Story of Redemption and Revelation.......2004-11-23

I bought Solar Storms almost by accident; by that I mean I really liked the title and the blue cover illustration and I just bought it. I have re-read this book twice in the two years that I've owned it.

This story really moves me. I don't want to ruin the story for you by offering a synopsis, but it appeals to me because the story is written in gorgeous prose, because it is a story of reconnection with one's heritage, because it leaves me with a feeling of hope in humanity, and because it is a story of community - not only with people - but with all life. It's just a darned good story and entertaining, but I also found a lot of personal meaning in it.

Powerful prose, compelling vision.......2000-10-20

_Solar Storms_ is a powerful novel that should appeal to anyone concerned with issues relating to the environment, Indians, community activism, abuse, feminism, or cultural politics. Its fine writing offers even stronger drawing power.

The story is set 1972-1974 within a Native community threatened with destruction by the kind of economic development that marginalizes and exploits the north country to benefit other communities in the south. It is told from the point of view of one of the central characters. Angel is 17 when she returns home, trying to get a sense of her past and the origin of the scars that disfigure her face. Her quest for identity and information quickly broadens into larger, and more substantial concerns for the people of Adam's Rib. As she finds her place there, she gains perspective leading to commitments that reveal her developing inner strength. She learns that her individual identity finds its best expression in terms of her relationships within a community that encompasses other people, land and water, and all life.

Through the development of Angel's perspective, and the ideas and actions of the women who become her mentors, author Linda Hogan puts forth an astoundingly powerful vision of the relationships among humans and the natural world that sustain life. She does this with a richly detailed text that even readers who may not share Hogan's perspective will find the book enjoyable and provocative.

Book Description

Imagine what an extra-terrestrial Weather Channel would be like, with a professional space weatherman as your forecaster, and you get rather close to the astounding aspects of nature described in John Freeman's Storms in Space. Known only to a handful of space scientists, yet capable of disrupting technical systems as extensive as communication satellites and electric power grids Storms in Space is the first book to unveil the unseen elements of outer space. Opening with a series of vignettes (describing how the Northern and Southern lights [the aurora] are a visible manifestation of space storms, or how satellites serve as weather stations in space), Freeman provides visual analogies to help illustrate the effects of a storm in space on people. These vignettes explore the chain of events that lead to the storm and to connect the facets of the storm with the scenes in the vignettes. Freeman details the state of the art in forecasting space storms, the models that are used, and the prospects for their future improvement. He also describes the hazards of space storms for human technological systems including human space flight. Storms in Space provides both a new understanding and appreciation of how seemingly insignificant disturbances out there can have major effects right here. John W. Freeman is Professor Emeritus and Research Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. Over the past 35 years he has directed a number of satellite instrumentation projects, including the Apollo 12, 14, and 15 projects for which he was awarded the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement (1973). He has also served as Editor-in-Chief of Space Power. Freeman is currently working to develop a model that will forecast the intensity of the Van Allen Radiation Belts and helping to build a National Space Weather Service.

Customer Reviews:

Storms in Space.......2001-12-16

I'm frequently quoted in this book, so have an interest in it
having been well done. John has done a fine job in giving explanations
that will appeal to readers from outside our community
and that should serve as a model for writers in
our field. He conveys technical information easily and makes
it interesting -- but I'm an easy sell. I have found about
6 mistakes in the text, but they are mostly trivial.

Storms from the Sun: The Emerging Science of Space Weather

Average customer rating:

A Great Book!
The space weather story

Storms from the Sun: The Emerging Science of Space Weather
Michael Carlowicz , and Ramon Lopez
Manufacturer: National Academies Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0309076420

Book Description

From the casual conversation starter to the 24-hour cable channels and Web sites devoted exclusively to the subject, everyone talks about weather. There's even weather in space—and it's causing major upsets to our modern technological world.

Space weather is all around us. There are no nightly news reports on space weather (yet), but we're rapidly developing the tools necessary to measure and observe trends in cosmic meteorology. New probes are going on-line that help us monitor the weather taking place miles above the Earth.

But why does space weather matter? It doesn't affect whether we bring an umbrella to work or require us to monitor early school closings. It's far, far away and of little concern to us . . . right? March 13, 1989. The Department of Defense tracking system that keeps tabs on 8,000 objects orbiting Earth suddenly loses track of 1,300 of them. In New Jersey, a $10 million transformer is burned up by a surge of extra current in the power lines. Shocks to a power station in Quebec leave 6 million people without electricity. New England power stations struggle to keep their power grid up. Listeners tuning in to their local stations in Minnesota hear the broadcasts of the California Highway Patrol. Residents of Florida, Mexico, and the Grand Cayman Islands see glowing curtains of light in the sky.

All of these bizarre, and seemingly unconnected, events were caused by a storm on the Sun and a fire in the sky. A series of solar flares and explosions had launched bolts of hot, electrified gas at the Earth and stirred up the second largest magnetic storm in recorded history. Before rockets and radio and the advent of other modern devices, we probably would never have noticed the effects of this space storm. But in today's electrically powered, space-faring world, the greatest space storm of the twenty-second solar maximum rang like a wake-up call.

And we are now in the midst of another solar maximum, the effects of which are expected to be felt all the way through the year 2004. Storms from the Sun explores the emerging physical science of space weather and traces its increasing impact on a society that relies on space-based technologies.

Authors Carlowicz and Lopez explain what space weather really means to us down here—and what it may mean for future explorations and colonization of distant worlds. By translating the findings of NASA and other top scientists into fascinating and accessible descriptions of the latest discoveries, we are privy to some of the most closely held secrets that the solar-terrestrial system has to offer.

Customer Reviews:

A Great Book!.......2004-02-26

I previously reviewed this book in March 2003 and submitted to Midwest Book Review - see Quote:

The Midwest Book Review, March 2003
"...an electrifying challenge for the mind to decipher the seemingly unfathomable secrets of the sun."

And I meant every word I said. It is a great book and a lot of fun to read, and it isn't necessary to be a rocket scientist to understand the material. Homeschoolers will find this a wonderful addition to their educational reference library.

If you would like to read my full review, feel free to visit the March 2003 Midwest Book Review http://www.midwestbookreview.com/rbw/mar_03.htm

The space weather story.......2002-06-12

I recently read this book and found it very engaging and readable. I have been following the topic of space weather for a few years now and read other articles and books on the topic, but this one was the clearest and most memorable of them all.

It explains the technology, the science,and the politics of space weather and is filled with anecdotes. I enjoyed the color prints in it as well. For anyone who wants to learn about this cutting edge topic, this is the place to go. We are becoming more dependent on satellites and technology, but space weather can really mess things up. The book tells you why and how.

Average customer rating:

Extremely readable book for all levels and backgrounds.

Discovering the Secrets of the Sun
Rudolf Kippenhahn
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0471941603

Book Description

Translated from Der Stern von dem Wir Leben, this title is a survey of the current knowledge about the sun. It explains how the sun is investigated, the key people and instruments involved with these discoveries, the results so far and what we still have to learn. Historical anecdotes are used as well as imaginary adventures of the ``man-in-the-street,'' Herr Meyer.

Customer Reviews:

Extremely readable book for all levels and backgrounds........1998-11-25

This book is truly wonderful. Easy and fun to read. It is one of the few science books I have read that eschews all mathematical formulae and still does a great job fully explaining the material. I really appreciated the way he explains background material rather than just glossing over it. For example he does a great job explaining magnetic fields from a very basic level. Unfortunately the price seems almost prohibative, I received the book as a gift from a relative in England, I hope it is cheaper there.

From the Sun: Auroras, Magnetic Storms, Solar Flares, Cosmic Rays

Average customer rating:

requires patience but a good intro

From the Sun: Auroras, Magnetic Storms, Solar Flares, Cosmic Rays

Manufacturer: American Geophysical Union
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Customer Reviews:

requires patience but a good intro.......2005-06-11

Being a collection of essays by writers of varying talent, this book is not what you'd call a page-turner, unless you have a healthy curiosity about sun-earth physics. I found it a very useful introduction to the field, and plan to use it to guide undergraduate research (I'm a physicist with a doctorate, teaching at an institution with an undergraduate physics program.)The authors have avoided the use of equations, and for me that was a drawback, but for undergrads or laymen, it might be helpful. Lots of very interesting physics here.

Glorious Eclipses: Their Past Present and Future

Average customer rating:

Beautiful eclipse photography

Glorious Eclipses: Their Past Present and Future
Serge Brunier , and Jean-Pierre Luminet
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0521791480

Book Description

Stargazers who may have missed the last total solar eclipse of the 20th century this past summer have just been given another chance to observe this "once in a lifetime" occurrence. Inside Glorious Eclipses they will find startling images and rich personal accounts that fully capture this event and other recent eclipses. The book will also insure that readers will not miss another eclipse in the next 60 years! Specially designed in a beautiful, large format, the volume portrays eclipses of all kinds--lunar, solar, and those occurring elsewhere in the Solar System and beyond. Brunier and Luminet have gathered together all aspects of eclipses, and carefully selected a host of lavish images. The authors detail the history of eclipses, the celestial mechanics involved, their observation, and scientific interest. Personal accounts of recent eclipses are also included as well as all relevant information about forthcoming eclipses up to 2060. Complete with NASA maps and data, Glorious Eclipses is the ultimate source for all those interested in these remarkable (and rare) celestial events. Serge Brunier is chief editor of the journal Ciel et Espace, a photo-journalist, and the author of many nonfiction books aimed at both specialists and the general public. Jean-Pierre Luminet is an astrophysicist at the Paris-Meudon Observatory and director of research at the Centre pour la Recherche Scientifique. He is the author of many popular astronomy books, including Black Holes (Cambridge University Press, 1992).

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful eclipse photography.......2001-02-15

I have an extensive collection of eclipse books, and this one really stands out in the crowd. For one thing, it's easily the largest-format eclipse book I've seen; I'd call it a coffee-table book. But what is really striking are the beautiful photographs. The reproduction is outstanding, and the large size makes the photos particularly vivid.

Product Description

The Handbook of the Solar-Terrestrial Environment is a unique compendium. Recognized international leaders in their field contribute chapters on basic topics of solar physics, space plasmas and the Earth's magnetosphere, and on applied topics like the aurora, magnetospheric storms, space weather, space climatology and planetary science.

This book will be of highest value as a reference for researchers working in the area of planetary and space science. However, it is also written in a style accessible to graduate students majoring in those fields.

Ionospheric perturbations, solar flares, and geomagnetic storms--correlations observed by oblique long-range high-frequency probing (AFCRL)

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Ionospheric perturbations, solar flares, and geomagnetic storms--correlations observed by oblique long-range high-frequency probing (AFCRL)
Helen R Baker
Manufacturer: United States Air Force, Office of Aerospace Research, Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Upper atmosphere Physics Laboratory
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

The latitude shift of the storm track in the 11-year solar period;: Storm frequency maps of the United States, 1883-1930, (Smithsonian miscellaneous collections)

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The latitude shift of the storm track in the 11-year solar period;: Storm frequency maps of the United States, 1883-1930, (Smithsonian miscellaneous collections)
Charles Julius Kullmer
Manufacturer: Smithsonian Institution
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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Leonid Storm Research

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0792367383

Book Description

This book will appeal to all researchers that have an interest in the current Leonid showers. It contains over forty research papers that present some of the first observational results of the November 1999 Leonid meteor storm, the first storm observed by modern observing techniques. The book is a first glimpse of the large amount of information obtained during NASA's Leonid Multi-Instrument Aircraft Campaign and groundbased campaigns throughout the world. It provides an excellent overview on the state of meteor shower research for any professional researcher or amateur meteor observer interested in studies of meteors and meteoroids and their relation to comets, the origin of life on Earth, the satellite impact hazard issue, and upper atmosphere studies of neutral atom chemistry, the formation of meteoric debris, persistent trains, airglow, noctilucent clouds, sprites and elves.

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