Informative, Not Comprehensive
355875
This book is designed for beginning birders, so it covers only the most common birds. As an intermediate birder I was hoping for something with a larger scope of Texas birds for my recent trip there. However, the information presented for each species listed is more informative than most identification books. It was useful as an additional resource.
2631225
Good for the highlights, but not really comprehensive.
2177920
This book contains some good information, but it lacks detail. A lot of time is spent reading puns and writing that is meant to entertain. Personally I would have preffered a much more straightforward approach without the fluff. That said, the information it does contain is appropriate and I was able to find answers to my questions, or at least relevant information about topics I was curious about (such as caffiene consumption before pregnancy). I took the list of recommended blood tests to the clinic and they are currently being processed.
2413648
Like the previous reviewer I purchased this book because I wanted to learn more about the history of Harmonie and New Harmony in Indiana, a wonderful place that I visit occasionally.

The book does a reasonably good job chronicling the development of Harmonie under Georg Rapp and his followers, although is not very clear why it was ultimately abandoned (sold) by them. I would have thought that manuscripts, letters, etc. kept at the Workingmen's Institute and Library in New Harmony might add some more clarity about this.

The description of the formation of New Harmony under Robert Owen and his followers is less enlightening. The reader does not gain a good understanding of how the community fared economically, the book merely mentions that initially there were not enough skilled tradesmen and laborers to keep all the shops and factories fully occupied. It would be interesting to know whether the adopted Constitution of 1825 actually worked, i.e. how it influenced the economy of New Harmony.
Likewise, the description of the intellectuals coming to New Harmony (the boatload of knowledge) comes across a bit fragmented. The author describes individuals and their lives, but it is a somewhat tedious-to-read enumeration of tidbits and trivia. I wish the author would have first clearly summarized the main events that took place in New Harmony, then expand with more detailed description of the main characters.

What struck me most about this book is the contrast between it and the official New Harmony story visitors get at the Atheneum (visitor center) in New Harmony. The Visitor Center describes both the Rappist and Owenites societies as very successful/enlightened, whereas the book provides a much more critical view of their endeavors.

In summary, despite its shortcomings this is a useful book for anyone who wants to educate himself about the history of Harmonie/New Harmony and its 19th century inhabitants
784476
The book is a decent reference, but not nearly as comprehensive as I had hoped.  Let me down a couple of times when I was looking for information about a particular specialty.

If you are a student, don't buy it.  Check to see if your library, law library, or career services office has a copy and borrow it from them.  There is little need for you to buy a copy of your own.
1368780
The book was less informative than the title suggested.  It was far from complete in its description of butterfly behavior, planting for butterfly gardens and in butterfly identification; however, I found the 2 pages on caterpillar identification very informative.  Overall, for very basic knowledge, the book was helpful and would probably be enjoyed more by children. Children would especially like of the number of large photos.  Also unlike what the title may suggest, the book read more like a magazine in length which may appeal to children more, too.  The book is an easy read and can be completed cover to cover in under an hour.  This book is for you if you have only a basic knowledge of butterflies and want a simple, easy to read reference.  If you're looking for a substantial reference book, you may want to look elsewhere.
4125856
This book has many lovely photographs, but it is short on specifics for actually taking excellent people pictures. The author gives generalized information such as "have your subjcet relax" without giving any clue as to how this should or could be done. While there are some useful tips, the book is not particularly useful as a whole. Most of the pertinent info could be put in two to four pages. It is not a book for serious photographers or for students of photography who are seeking answers. It is not especially useful to suggest that one "focus" your camra beforeing shooting the picture, without details such as appropirate aperture, lighting, angle, etc.

It's a pretty book, but I wouldn't recommend it for anything more than a casual browse.
1822811
This guide gives a great comprehensive write up of each of the regions.  What to see, the history, and discussion of culture.  It does not, however, provide as much info on good tour companies to use, or places to stay.  I still enjoyed reading it, but it should be a secondary read --not a primary guide.
4214777
Very interesting; however, it did not contain the information I was looking for.
960463
PROS:
1. Comprehensive - covers all the islands. It's got a LOT of information on everything (sights, tours, food, history, etc.)
2. Top 20 must-see sights.
3. Nice sample itineraries for 10 days, 2 weeks, and 1 month.

CONS:
1. Not many pictures.
2. Maps are small making them hard to read (but it has a pull-out "driving" map of all the islands).
3. Pages are rather thin (not surprising since the book has almost 700 pages).

BOTTOM LINE:
The book provides a good overview of all the Hawaiian Islands. A nice book to have if you have never been to Hawaii.  If you are a repeat visitor, like other reviewers have suggested, you will probably do better getting regional books on individual islands for more detailed information.
545659
Although the book has a lot of nice pictures, much of the information is basic.  I thought it was not very comprehensive.  The book itself is tiny, and you could easily read it cover to cover in half an hour or less.  I was not impressed. Save your money and go with a more complete book on English Springer Spaniels, like "The English Springer Spaniel", also sold on this website.
3707739
This book has few of the specific learning aids students have been taught to utlize.  There are individual sections for each topic, which is helpful, but within each topic there are no subtopics, bold, underlining, or even vocabulary identification or definitions.  An ok read, but if you have issues with small print, shiney pages, or if you need the extra help that comes from the use the above aids, you are on your own.  Very informative otherwise.
1171579
This is an excellent overview of the field and the options on the market, but it is neither comprehensive, nor detailed.  If you want to know what home automation is, and what some of your options are, then this is a good bet.  You'll find out some of the ways you can control your lighting, control the heating, lock the door, etc.  There are whole technologies left out, such as automatic toilet bowl cleaners, automatic shower cleaners, robotic window washers...  With a book like that, the information is guaranteed to go stale fast, but these technologies were on the market well before the book was published.

Some of the things that were left out were some of the more interesting components.  WeMo Maker, for example, lets you add automation to some devices that don't support it.  It's not listed.  No homemade IoT devices are listed.  No Pi.  No Arduino.  Nothing of the sort.  This book is nowhere near that technical.

Various companies like Verizon offer inexpensive solutions that are partly custom and partly do it yourself.  They are a great option for first time automaters, and are not listed.  You can have multiple elements work together, so for a movie night, you can dim the lights and start the popcorn popper with a single button.

For streaming media, you hear about Apple TV, ChromeCast and Roku, but I'd argue the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick are both worth a mention as well, especially as they bring gaming into the mix.  No mention is made of XBMC, which felt like a shortfalling given the nature of the chapter.

It had some good advise early on about securing your network, but again it falls shy of being comprehensive.  If you're going to do as Dwight Spivey suggests and make an inventory of all devices on your network, add mac filtering so that those are the only devices that ever can get on the network.  Why manually monitor what devices are on the network when you can automate that?

It has next to nothing on details on how to set any of this up, nor how to troubleshoot when things go wrong.  It doesn't get anywhere near that level of detail.  If you want to actually set something up, if you want a book that's going to get that deep in the weeds on the topic, you will be disappointed.  If you want to know what the options are, and some of the kinds of things on the market (and again, the options aren't comprehensive) then this is an excellent starting point.
2543741
This book is very comprehensive and has many excellent photographs, but if you are looking for a book with several pages of information about each breed, then keep looking. Some of the breeds have more information about them than others; most have little more than a handful of lines about them. I am particularly disappointed with the fact that the book does not give much information about the unusual way in which the Saarloos Wolfdog was developed, as well as the fact that it does not include the Dingo (despite the fact that it includes the New Guinea Singing Dog; another kind of dog that cannot be kept as a pet).
Put short, this is a good book for those who are interested in the diversity of dogs, but it is not for professionals.
1442516
Mann does offer some good information and ideas, and I would certainly encourage everyone to read his book. You'll be glad you did. But it's not a 5-star book.
It's not history. It's not even pop-history, but rather a collection of disorganized articles.
The author, a writer for The Atlantic, is obviously intrigued by the subject and has compiled lots of information, interviewed experts, and offers solid facts mixed with good guesses, but after reading it you still won't know very much about the Americas in 1491.
That's not the author's fault, since the destruction was so ruthless, so complete, most of that knowledge probably has been lost forever. Just don't buy the book expecting more than the title can deliver. The subtitle does clarify this, and promises not a comprehensive account, but only "new" revelations. Okay, some of these are 20 or more years old, but if you don't know about them, then fair enough, they count as new.
The style is that of James Fallows, the author's boss, and I found it easy to read. On the other hand, two of my friends (and some reviewers) found it difficult to get through because of the disorganization.
The index is worthless. This isn't the author's fault either, but it shows the publisher never meant for the book to be taken as a legitimate history. Many Chinchorro mummies, we learn, show they lived on seafood, and paleoparasitologists have found eggs in the cadavers from Diphyllobothrium pacificum, a tape worm that comes from eating raw seafood. (No more sushi.) The worm leeches Vitamin B-12 out of the system and can cause fatal anemia. See how long it takes you to find that passage using the index. Most of the key words aren't listed. (It's on pp. 180-181, in my copy.) I could give lots more examples.
379883
Very good summary.  Lots of good information.  Not as comprehensive as I would have liked.
3384804
I was expecting a little bit more thoroughness from the title.  It would be a good book for someone new to the sport, but for someone who is used to training and well versed in the scene, there's nothing new here. The book is essentially an aggregation of information than can be found elsewhere in other books, or online.  It's not the deep detail you would get with Allen/Coggan's book, or even Carmichael's.