Columbia Reviews

I would like to review about the Press Conference Proceeding

this book is very informative on what could be termed an "american castle". The book details how our monument of freedom has changed through its existence.

This is in the category of books so elegantly designed as to make one want to strictly buy good-sized hardbound books. It's beautifully laid out with a typefont very friendly to all reasonably able eyes and fits quite comfortably on a lap planted in an easy chair, glueing one there for a good long while until all pages are turned. Half of the pages are text and the rest portrait photography of the chiefs and elders, tastefully laid out with both traditional regalia and contemporary everyday poses. My take on this is that it helps to have some in-depth knowledge of these tribes before attempting to read between the lines of these memoirs. Many of these very ancient folks are no doubt dead by now (since 1991) which adds impact to their impressions of periods of tribal transition. We should all be recording the words of our living elders for the practical use of future generations, as they carry treasures of wisdom and very curious glimpses into times that are unlikely to be seen again. I find oral histories immeasurably fascinating in any case and highly recommend this to anyone with a working interest in Pacific Northwest history.

This was a refreshing change from the majority of canoe guide books. No class V in this one, just fun floats for everyone, and all close to Spokane. Kudos to the Authors.

In anticipation of the lunar new year, I picked up this book. The author had me under his spell by the second page. In his memoir of growing up in the 1940's, as the son of Chinese immigrants in Vancouver's Chinatown, the reader learns that Mr. Choy, while on a promotional book tour in 1995, received a call from a woman who says that she just saw his mother. But his Toisanese mother died nearly two decades earlier, he tells the mysterious caller. No, the caller replies, she means his 'real mother.' And so the memoir and the mystery begin. In descriptive language that is hypnotic and nearly as haunting as a ghost filled home his family lived in, an extremely detailed portrait of his life as a young boy is drawn. In Part 1, his pre-school years are filled with family, Chinglish, mah-jong, lots of single "uncles" to take him for ice cream, nightly Chinese operas (his mother's version are a permanent barrier against pessimism), cowboy films, and his assertively willful tantrums. In Part 2, the author writes of his school years, English and Chinese lessons, stubbornness, truancy, confusion, helplessness, his pet dog, the humiliations his father endured at work, and the other concerns of children. In the last third of the book, Mr. Choy returns as an adult to the mystery of his and explores the hidden secrets of his family. Upon close reading, one learns about the stress of living as an Asian in North America during the War, a time when burials were only allowed in Asian-only cemeteries, when sick Asians were housed in the basement of the hospital, when Asians were offered payments to return to Asia if they promised never to return, and when men were not allowed to bring their families or wives over to the Gold Mountain from across the Pacific. On even closer reading, one can discern how different Chinese identities were crafted in North America by his grandfather, his parents, and finally himself in an in-between'ness third generation.

this book isn't normally something I would pick out for myself, my grandfather gave it to me. after reading it though, I understood a bit more about my grandfather as well as being a southerner. as young native of a big southern city, I gained a new respect for life in a small town, although I still love the conveniences of city life. you can tell that the author very fondly remembers those years and that town. almost makes me hope that I will remember atlanta as fondly someday.

Efros's very important book makes it possible to fully appreciate the Hebrew in the Hebrew translations of Maimonides. Hebrew, having little logical and philosophical vocabulary, often required its authors to recycle old terms and give them new meaning. This is often extremely confusing, especially for the non-native. Thus Efros did us a great service in rendering the Hebrew terminology of Maimonides' Guide more accessable

Nancy Turner's book on plant uses by the First Peoples of British Columbia is a treasure house of ancient knowledge: how the plants of the Pacific Northwest were used by the original inhabitants. In an aboriginal technology, plants were used in almost every aspect of life: housing, clothing, transportation, weapons, fishing lines, basketry--all depended on skillful manipulation of plant materials. Organized by plant group, each plant's uses are discussed. The book will appeal to craft workers as much as anthropologists and other students of native woods lore because the methods of preparation are included.

This book (ISBN 0-7748-0652-4, 548 pages with hardcover) lists all the vascular plants, bryophytes and lichens found in British Columbia, the westernmost province of Canada. The book contains 4,349 species and 604 infraspecific taxa belonging to a total of 1,128 genera and 304 families of plants native in British Columbia. In addition, it includes 582 exotic but naturalized taxa. A total of 16,919 scientific names (including both accepted names and synonyms) and 3,976 common names are given. For the convenience of use, the book consists of three parts: Part 1 includes three lists of plant names, one for each of the three major plant groups (vascular plants, bryophytes, and lichens). Within each group, scientific names are organized alphabetically first according to the family names, second according to the species names. Part 2 presents an alphabetical list of all the plant names listed in Part 1. Part 3 lists the common names used in the province. In addition, a list of 1090 excluded names is provided in Appendix.

I spent the summer 1998 field season working in the Glacier National Park, Montana area on the Greater Glacier Bear DNA Project. Pursuant to our study we were required to analyze Grizzly bear habitat and plant species identification played a key role in the succes of our field work. This book was an invaluable field companion. It functioned as both a key, and reference manual. There was not one species encountered in the field that was not contained in this book. Not only does it contain good photos to aid in identification, but description and background material give both novice and professional assurance of correct identification. This book cover trees, shrubs, perrenials, mosses, lichens, and liverworts. During 3 1/2 months of remote backcountry research, it was always in my pack.