If you're about to take off for a far corner of the globe where for the rest of your life you will hear and speak only Swahili, you won't need this book. But if every day of your life you're going to need your English in order to understand what you hear and read, and to make yourself understood, this book is for you. Language is your chief means of communication with the people around you, the most expressive way of getting your ideas, thoughts and wishes across. Many English-speaking people think they handle the language well. And many are still making the same grammatical errors, spelling the same words incorrectly, overworking the same cliches they were too lazy to correct 'way back.
Raptor biology has evolved enormously since the publication of the original edition of this book under the title Veterinary Aspects of Captive Birds of Prey. With the help of leading international experts, John E. Cooper has updated and expanded this classic reference to include all the latest data on the health and diseases of raptors. While still serving the needs of veterinary surgeons who treat birds of prey, Birds of Prey: Health & Disease also appeals to a wide readership of falconers, avian researchers, breeders, rehabilitators and zoo staff.
The first book in Ledbetter's (West of Bliss, etc.) new historical mystery series, set in 1870s Denver, explodes into action when young detective/self-proclaimed "scientist" Josephine Beckworth Sawyer blows up her tool shed with homemade nitroglycerine. Blowing things up is only Joby's hobby; she pays the bills by manning her dead father's investigative firm. But since no one will hire a female detective, she pretends he's still alive. The intrepid private eye longs for something other than marital dispute cases, and she gets her wish when she's hired to track down a robber who may also be a murderer.
In the earlier volumes of this survey of the historical transformations of those imagined forms that I am calling the "masks" of God, through which men everywhere have sought to relate themselves to the wonder of existence, the myths and rites of the Primitive, Oriental, and Early Occidental worlds could be discussed in terms of grandiose unitary stages. For in the history of our still youthful species, a profound respect for inherited forms has generally suppressed innovation.
This book made headlines in America when it came out in the 1930's. For perhaps the first time a Chinese wrote a book in English about China and the Chinese, and the sympathetic reaction of many Americans to China's plight in the struggle against Japan made this book a bestseller. I still think it is a good book. It sets out in language that is still easy to read the Chinese mind, their history, philosophy, characteristics, etc. A good deal of the descriptions are the author's own opinions, inevitably, but it is a testament to the author's brilliant mind and perceptive eyes that much of the book is still valid today.
