Books for/about - jaguar

Publisher: Hyperion
Authors: Roland Smith

ISBN: 0786813121
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Summary: Jaguar
Jaguar is about Jacob Lansa going to Brazil with his father. His father plans to set up a jaguar perserve with another woman named Flanna. Jacob's big worry was that his father wouldn't let him stay with him and he would have to go back to Poughkeepsie. Then he forgot all about it when bigger problems occured. Before they even begin their journey upriver their boat exploded and on top of that Jacob got attacked by a man. Things get going and they get up river to find that more problems occur. Jacob finds out that their new boat driver, Silver, is looking for the lost mines of Muribeca and leaves their camp site. Jacob's father then goes out on and expedition in the woods for a couple of days to get more jaguars collared for the perserve. One day he came stumbling back to camp very sick and weak and they were going to leave if only they could find Silver to take them. Jacob walked out of the tent one afternoon and found 2 men. They had sabatoughed Silver's boat and they were also looking for the lost mines. They tied Jacob and Flanna and left Jacob's father in the tent, then they went lookinbg for Sliver. The rest of the book you will just have to read to find out what happens to everybody and if they found the lost mines.

Summary: Jagur Review
Jacobs father was going off to the Amazon to help a friend set up a jaguar perserve. Jacob stayed with his grandpa, Taw, in Poughkeepsie. Until he got a fax from his father asking to come down to Manus. Jacob went and before the triip up river Bill and Doc's boat for the epedition blew up killing Bill aand burning Doc's arm and breaking Buzz's leg. Jacob learns how to fly a morpho, when Doc and Flanna are getting the permit switched. Silver a boats man comes up to Jacob and intreduces himself and Doc and eceryone else decide to use Silvers boat to go up river. They start their journey up river when something happens to Silver's boat and they have to go get it fix in a gold mining place, that is were they meet Raul which helps them find 3 jaguars for the preserve. In return he comes with them. They take a tributary to the middle of the preserve and find a big waterfall and a lake aroundthem and the start setting up. Not long after Tyler and Fred come and ruin their expedition and trash their boat. But then Tyler kills Fred for not showing a little jaguar gold figure. So Tyler goes and trys to find Silver before he finds the last Mines of Muribeca.

Summary: The Best Jaguar
Though this story was written for a younger audience it remarkably contains orignal characters and a fast paced yet believable plot. If you're an adult definity buy it for your kid and maybe even read it yourself, because surprisingly most adult novels lack the realism that Smith brings into his stories.

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Secrets of the Talking Jaguar

Publisher: Tarcher
Authors: Martin Prechtel

ISBN: 0874779707
List Price: $13.95
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Summary: beautiful & intelligent book
I give this book as a gift to everyone I know who has read Marlo Morgan's appalling book of lies about the Australian aborigines. Here is a story that actually HAPPENED, has none of the racial arrogance of many "new age" books where some rich whitey goes off and lives "with" the natives and grants them recognition. (Morgan's 'Mutant Message Downunder" has made +100 million, even though the woman made the whole thing up, stole a whole lot of religious symbols out of some anthropology journal that shouldn't have published them in the first place, stole the end sequence from a film called "Quigley Downunder", wrote absolutely absurd and stupid things about the Australian landscape and when the real aborigines demanded that she stop spreading lies and saying they want to die out and are no longer real aborigines, and to stop pretending she is the true guardian of their culture, she admitted the fraud, but her publishers sheltered her and told her to keep going.)

Prechtel's mother was a native american, and he suffered being brought up on a reservation. This book is a solid dose of reality, not sugarcoated with esoteric fantasy, but full of reality. Grief and beauty are in western culture (he says) seen as a side show attraction, but actually they are the right and left hand of the goddess of life.

It is really one of the most beautiful books I have ever read.

Summary: Don Juan wearing jaguar skins
As genuine Guatemalan scholars have written, "a self-puffing volume without any scholarly basis whatsoever". With more blatant commercialization but far less scholarship, Prechtel adopts the fantasy writing style of Carlos Castenada to take cultural banditry to new levels.

Summary: Enlightening and Entertaining
This review refers to "Secrets of the Talking Jaguar" by Martin Pretchel...

This book is a rare treat. It's a look at the Mayan culture as never revealed before and is told in a way that will keep you involved and entertained as you become enlightened by Martin Pretchel's remarkable story. It's an incredible journey, one you may not want to end.

Pretchel's own journeys of travel and self-discovery are the basis for the first part of the story. He'll keep you smiling(and maybe even chuckling out loud sometimes) with his wonderful sense of humor, as he describes his wanderings and the fantastick encounters along the way. He is down on his luck when out of the blue he is "found" by an old Shaman who tells him it's about time he arrived. The Shaman takes him to a remote Guatamalan village, that is not yet ravaged by modern civilazation. It becomes the home he has been searching for, the people he felt he belonged to, and while training to be the next Shaman of the village, learns the wonders of a deeply rich and rewarding life. The ways of the villagers may seem primitave, but everything they do and believe in has great meaning,and is never self-serving. Their sense of the earth and everything connected with nature is incredibly intuitive and complex. Pretchel's, vivid descriptions of the ceremonies, the costumes, the land and even the food will bring wonderful pictures of this world to your mind.The detalied description of his training to become a Shaman are amazing and adventurous.

This book was a wonderful journey to the "heart of the indigenous soul". It's a precious history of an important culture, that had to give way to the modern world. I could hardly put it down and wanted to start it over the minute I finished it. Pretchel's written account is an invaluable history lesson and a lovely tribute to all indigenous souls!

enjoy...Laurie

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	Learning Cocoa with Objective-C, 2nd Edition Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Authors: James Duncan Davidson Inc. Apple Computer
ISBN: 0596003013 List Price: $34.95 Amazon Price: $23.07 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 5 Reviews: Summary: Great Start to Learn OS X Programming This book is a great start to learn the best OS X programming technology. As a professional developer. The title says it "Learning Cocoa with Objective C". Avoid the book "Cocoa in a Nutshell" until you know Cocoa and Objective C and want a good refeerence. I also plan to read: "Programming in Objective C" and "Cocoa Programming", but only after mastering the material in this book. Summary: OK... While this book is very detailed and has a lot of information in it about Cocoa programming, it starts off too quickly. You might be discouraged by the assumptions the author makes about how much C (and programming in general) you know. If you are experienced in computer programming, then you will find this book to be a blast and will learn objective -C in no time at all. However, if you aren't too good with programming, start off with some online tutorials or other books, as you will get lost after reading the first two chapters or so. Summary: A good book, but not the best book A very popular book, and greatly improved in its second edition. Very example and tutorial oriented; somewhat out of date at this point, however.� Helps the user learn Interface Builder, ProjectBuilder and Objective-C, too. Possibly a bit shallow to get the reader writing their own Cocoa programs from scratch, but a good introduction. Ultimately, probably not as recommended for a first purchase as Cocoa Programming by Scott Anguish or Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X by Aaron Hillegass. Summary:

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The Jaguar's Jewel (A Stepping Stone Book(TM))

Publisher: Random House Books for Young Readers
Authors: Ron Roy John Steven Gurney

ISBN: 0679894586
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Summary: Where is the Jaguar's Jewel???
I didn't like this book . I disliked it because it was not a good book for a fifth grader. It's a good book for a first or second grader. The illustrations were my favorite part. They almost looked like cartoons, though they were a lot better looking. The illustrations were very suitable for the story. As you read it, you can tell it's fantasy.

Summary: I loved it,
Im nine and this book is the best A-Z mystery ever. If you want to read a good book read A-Z mystery and the Jaguars Jewel. I loved it because I love mysterys and I licked the name Dr pitts [...].

Summary: The Jaguar's Jewel
Once again Ron Roy managed to keep my 7 year old in suspense. The plot was a little more predictable than usual, but this did not detract at all from the fun and mystery! WE highly recommend this book for all young readers. We can't wait for "The Kidnapped King"!

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Jaguar E-Type: The Definitive History (Foulis Motoring Book)

Publisher: Haynes Publications
Authors: Philip Porter

ISBN: 0854295801
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Summary: It doesnt get any better than this!
This book is huge! Anyone who loves these E-types will love this book.From concept to the series 111 this book covers the lot and in great detail.Beautiful b&w and colour photos and an amazing story and in so many glossy pages make this the ultimate book on these Jaguars.If you want to buy a real gift for the E-type lover this book is it.They'll love you for it.

Summary: The greatest of all works on the magnificent Jaguar E-type.

Rarely does a book's title reflect accurately on its contents, as does Phillip Porter's "Jaguar E-type, The definitive history". One's initial impression is of physical presence, for this is a massive work in all respects. Leafing through the book for the first time, one is immediately struck by a sense of awe that this could possibly represent the work of one man. There can be no doubt this is Porter's legacy, for which he laboured long and hard and gave much of himself.

The foreword is written by sportsman Briggs Cunningham, hinting that the car's racing heritage will figure prominently within. This is indeed the case, for fully a third of the content is dedicated to competition. The greater volume of the book, however, deals with the production car, against an historical timeline that begins with its evolution and conception and extends, rather than ends, with the E-type as it continues to exist today.

It is clear that Porter is unabashedly passionate about this greatest of all sportscars, but he masterfully avoids what could have been a eulogy and creates both a powerful reference work and an entertaining read. "The definitive history" brings together a multitude of colourful personalities and anecdotes and weaves these into a framework of facts, insights and specifications. There are literally hundreds of photographs and illustrations, some of which will be familiar to those who have read other books on the subject but the vast majority of which have never been published before.

History and objectivity are often mutually exclusive and if there can be fault found in this work it would be historian's soft disdain for cars which diverged from the pure lines of the Series 1 two-seaters. This, however, does nothing to detract from what is an otherwise magnificient accomplishment. There will be no other comprehensive histories written about the legendary Jaguar E-type, for none could possibly better this one.

Nick Saltarelli 1968 E-type OTS

Summary: Massive tome, excruciatingly detailed.

Phillip Porter's reference on the Jaguar E-Type that other authors cite as their source. This is a must read if you are at all interested in E-Types. Some of it may not be too flattering to Sir Wm Lyons or Jaguar but it tells the story as only an insider could. You will learn about the inspiration, design, developement, manufacture and end of production of the model

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	Cocoa in a Nutshell (In a Nutshell) Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc. Authors: Michael Beam James Duncan Davidson
ISBN: 0596004621 List Price: $39.95 Amazon Price: $26.37 Usually ships in 24 hours Buy this book from amazon.com or from amazon.co.uk	Avg Cusomer Rating: 4 Reviews: Summary: A Good Reference -- Not a Tutorial!!! This book may be recommended by Apple Computer as reading for programmers aspiring to be OS X Cocoa programmers, but these "In a Nutshell..." books from O'Reiley are like the dictionary. They are good references, but not good to learn from. A much better starting place to learn Cocoa programming -- the best OS X technology for new Mac-OSX only software -- is the book "Learning Cocoa with Objective-C'. This book is also on Apple's recommended reading list for programmers aspiring to master Cocoa. The ISBN number of "Learning Cocoa..." is: 0-596-00301-3. I plan to continue my study of Cocoa with "Programming in Objective-C:A Complete Introduction to the Objective-C language". I feel that I need this book even though I know C and C++. Objective-C is quite a bit different. ISBN 0-672-32586-1 Then, I plan to read: "Cocoa Programming" ISBN 0-67232230-7. That brings me back to the book that I started with. "Cocoa in a Nutshell". Then, I'd be ready for a reference book, and I would also use Apple's web reference, and on-disk reference materials that are on your hard disk when you install Apple's free development tools. Summary:

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The Jaguar Knights : A Chronicle of the King's Blades (Duncan, Dave)

Publisher: Eos
Authors: Dave Duncan

ISBN: 0060555114
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Summary: The Jaguar Knights....aaaahh...Ok.
The book was fine. Nothing special and not as good as previous titles.

Summary: Good book, not great
I've had the pleasure of reading all of the blade books, and enjoyed each and every one in a unique way- for each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

In each of the blade stories the blades are mind warped with powerful enchantments which make them into unswerving patriots- and the accompanying evil which comes with such simplicity of purpose. And true to form as in the other books, the characters in "Jaguar Knights" struggle with their conscious as they perform abhorrant tasks in the name of their ward. This complexity of purpose- the conflict between serving their enchantment and higher goals- makes each of these books an interesting read.

Among the collection, this is not the strongest or best, but it certainly has shining moments and is well worth reading. Duncan comes through with his witty reparte between characters and byzantine political machinations which makes his worlds spin. (And your head spin if you actually try to follow the political motivation of every underling).

Like "Lord of the Fire Lands" much of the action takes place in lands far from Chivial, and part of the excitement of reading is in exploring these new worlds with the characters. Thus, this is like travel writing, but traveling to places far more exotic than anything here on earth has provided.

There are three main characters here, Wolf, Dolores, and Lynx. Each of them figure promininently in the unfolding action, and true to form the combination of loyalties and mind bending enchantments each of them are involved with make up a good part of the story (and each characters motivations).

I actually would have preferred to see more of the conflict which the character Lynx undergoes as he participates in two societies- this was interesting.

Overall, I think the book could have used another run through by the author. Parts of it are a bit sloppy compared to his other offerings. However, even with its flaws "The Jaguar Knights" stands tall among most contemporary fantasy writing and is well worth a read.

This book is the third of the first three, but its connections to the other books is largely tangential (characters that appear within appear in other books, but your familiarity with them and their events is not necessary to understand what is going on at all).

Summary: Interesting and different alternate history
Wolf was the ugliest of the King's Blades. If that wasn't bad enough, he was also the King's least favorite. Which meant he got the very worst of the jobs the King had to offer. Because of the magic of the 'binding' he couldn't refuse. When a strange and impossible invasion of a remote castle results in the kidnapping of the King's former mistress, Wolf is sent to investigate--along with the beautiful but dangerous Dolores Hogwood, a professional spy and informer.

The invaders corpses (since there were King's Blades defending the ex-mistress, there were corpses left behind) matched vague descriptions of a distant land--similar to Aztec Mexico of the 16th century. But no ship had carried them to Chivial--if appearances are to be believed, they came by magic. And that scale of magic could make the difference in their nation's survival. Wolf, along with Hogwood and a small band are sent to the new world to investigate.

The story bogs down a bit in the part of Mexico occupied by Distlain (Spanish) who were making war on the native Yazotlan. With the traditional emnity between Chivial and Distlain, an alliance might benefit both nations--especially if Wolf and Hogwood can discover the secret to the Yazotlan magic.

Author Dave Duncan tells an engaging alternate history story. If their magic had worked, would the Aztec (Yazotlan) have survived Cortez's invasion--and formed an alliance with Spain's European enemies? If so, would that magic have been spread to Europe? The character Wolf is sympathetic and interesting--but Hogwood is really the more interesting character in this story--I would have liked to see more of her, learned more of her background and discovered what made her tick.

Fans of the KING'S BLADES series and of alternate history will definitely want to add THE JAGUAR KNIGHTS to their collection.

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Mac OS X Panther Hacks (Hacks)

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Authors: Rael Dornfest James Duncan Davidson

ISBN: 0596007183
List Price: $29.95
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Summary: Very nice and useful reading!
OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used it before type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. I paired this book with that "UNIX Essentials" DVD I found here on Amazon and it is complete UNIX course recorded and this book and a video they contribute one another greatly. You improve the reading and by reading you improve what you have seen.
The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.

Summary: For the Adventurous and Curious

"MacOSX Panther Hacks: 100 Industrial-Strength Tips &Tools" is an updating of the earlier "MacOSX Hacks" to address the newest operating system from Apple, OS 10.3, popularly known as "Panther". The Panther OS update continues to provide opportunity for basic users and power users to customize, tweek, and hack their machines. Unlike all previous Apple operating systems, the OSX iterations incorporating Unix underpinnings, legacy OS9 and Classic components, and a continuing evolving Mac GUI, provide unusually rich and complex textures allowing for all kinds of customizations.

The book is a compilation of 100 ideas, hacks, tips, and tweeks contributed by a large handful of developers and power users covering mostly productivity-enhancing items, but also security and maintenance items, and some fun and geeky items. It is designed for the adventurous spirits who may need some guidance in customizing their machine and applications.

There are nine chapters of such hacks. Chapter 1 covers the user interface including how to customize the Apple-provided animations like the "genie-effect". Available third-party applications for customizing the user interface, like Konfabulator, are noted and evaluated (Hacks #2).Others include launchers, desktop applications, keyboard shortcuts and the like. (Hacks 3-9).

Other sections include an introduction to Applescript, Safari tips and tricks, multi-media tricks, file and device synchronization, and Unix tips and tricks, including how to use the Terminal application. Hack #27 is a guide to the hidden debug menu, which provides access to otherwise unknown Safari and browser features. Hack #30 informs how to use RSS with the Mac. You can learn to build your own MPS server from Hack #41 and build an emergency boot volume with iPod in Hack #52.

Many of the hacks are quick and easy. Some require geek-level knowledge. The most interesting and perhaps most valuable sections deal with Panther maintenance and security. Hack #93 is a 19-page security primer useful for both basic and power users.

Summary: I didn't know I could...
....do that??!!

Once cracking this book open, it didn't take me long to have a "eureka!" experience. "I didn't know I could do that!" I heard myself say to myself. I learned something new that I bet no one else knows....or do they?

My favorite hack so far is using the services menu under the application menu. It's an amazing thing and has been used more often than anything else I read in the book. The next thing I'm going to do is use more scripting and attach those scripts to my file folders. Fortunately, the authors provide lots of great examples. Whew...I don't "do" Apple scripting.....yet. I will after reading this book.

The authors don't exclude the use of other applications in "hacking" the OS but they sure do provide a lot of helpful ways to use them. My very favorite hack in that way was their suggestion to "Clutter Your Desktop with Music." In that hack, #42, they suggest using a little iTunes add on called Clutter. Ohh...I don't want to give all of it away. I want everyone to have a copy of this book. You just have to use this little app. It's a great helper if you love your iTunes.

Some of these chapters will require return visits for me as I managed to find out that I knew very little about some aspects of "hacking" Panther. The book now resides on my desktop and will for the foreseeable future.

No one will lose by getting Mac OS X Panther Hacks and will surely be surprised at what they don't know when they get through this wonderful volume. Be sure to check one out for yourself very soon. You won't regret it.

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