Product Description
Nicholas Cricket and the other members of the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band lead all the forest creatures in a musical celebration of the night. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Dream like images by William Joyce
This is one of the early William Joyce books, not as well known as his later titles. Joyce is the illustrator and author of many wonderful childrens books including: Santa Calls, Dinosaur Bob, George Shrinks, Rolie Polie Olie, A Day With Wilbur Robinson, The Leaf men, and more. In this book we meet Nicholas Cricket, a musician in the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band. Classic art deco and 1940's styles blend with his anthropomorphic books to charm you with its dream like sequences. Ladybugs, turtles, and grasshoppers dance the night away in a forest nightclub. Maxners words really come alive with Joyce's illustrations. I think this is the last book he illustrated for another author, and took over writing his own text after this. The 1989 hardcover is quite rare now, and hard to find in any condition due to its small print run. The book was published before any of the titles I listed above, and is a real treat for Joyce fans.

Nicholas Cricket
This is a tale about a cricket and his band.They play beautiful music for all of the animals that come to the lake.The name of the band is the Bug-a-Wug Cricket Band.Their favorite place to play is at the Little Lake and the Little Stream.This story is mainly about how soft and beautiful their bands music sounds and how it gets all of the animals to dance and have a good time.It is a good book if you would like to read it.

Josh V.

I really like this book
I have to say that I have enjoyed Nicholas Cricket from the very first time I read it to my daughter 9 years ago.I play the banjo myself and have always been fond of "bugs". I find the illustrations to be marvelous and evoke a joyful jazz age when banjos were hot and zoot-suitswere cool! The text is lyrical and very enjoyable to read aloud.I haverecommended Nicholas Cricket to all my friends and to both public andschool libraries. It is a great book.

Beautiful illustrations
This book is full of beautiful, rich illustrations.I enjoy it just asmuch as my 2.5 yr old who insisted we read it every night for a month! ... Read more

Product Description
Kenny Sykes is on a mission. He's determined to make his mark somehow in his new town and his new school. In the meantime, he's appointed himself the secret savior of the hundreds of crickets who seem bound to commit suicide by jumping into Kenny's pool. Why he wants to save them, he's not entirely sure. But once school starts again, Cricket Man finds that there are more important things that need saving. Namely, Jodie Poindexter -- beautiful junior, across-the-street neighbor, and, underneath her com-posed facade, the most troubled and secretive girl in school.

Newbery Medal winner Phyllis Reynolds Naylor has crafted a funny and heartwarming story about how growing up is as much a choice as it is a given. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

"Whether you land on your feet or your butt, it's all up to you"
Thirteen-year-old Kenny Sykes feels like a lot of other young teens --- like most of his life is out of his control. Parents make the big decisions, teachers and principals hold all the power at school --- even the question of whether a kid is popular or not often seems like random chance.

Kenny sometimes feels most in control when he's alone or when he's skateboarding with his friends: "What I think about when I ride the skateboard is control. Middle school, see, is like an ocean, but you don't even ride the waves. You're swept up by the current, one swirling mass of arms and legs tumbling down the halls together. On a board, though, you call the shots. Your eyes, your brain, your nerves, your muscles --- your grip, your speed, your spin, your curve...Whether you land on your feet or your butt, it's all up to you."

Kenny feels in control when he's skating (even though he'd be the first to admit he's no Tony Hawk) and powerful when he's pretending to be Cricket Man in his family's pool. Kenny is up early on summer mornings, rescuing the crickets and other insects who have jumped in the pool overnight. He loves the feeling of saving lives, no matter how small. When his self-designed "Cricket Man" t-shirt lands him in the school psychologist's office, however, Kenny finds his own voice --- and some unexpected respect from the rest of the student body.

Kenny might feel out of control and powerless in real life much of the time, but he's sure that Jodie Poindexter, the gorgeous high school junior from across the street, must be his complete opposite. That is, until he notices that she's spending an awful amount of time sitting on her porch roof staring into space. She's also staying in instead of dating, going to dances, or doing just about anything except studying.

These two lonely neighbors form an unlikely friendship, and as Kenny bonds with the older girl over after-school snacks and New Year's Eve appetizers, he wonders whether Cricket Man would have what it takes to save a life much larger than that of an insect.

Phyllis Reynolds Naylor's CRICKET MAN is an authentic story about a boy learning to believe in his own powers. Narrated in Kenny's wry, matter-of-fact voice, the novel includes humorous observations --- on everything from wedding planning to awkward crushes to clueless vice principals --- even as it tackles heavier issues of sexuality, depression and teen pregnancy. Kenny's story of self-discovery is also about learning to look outside one's own comfortable, happy existence to recognize, support and maybe even save the lives of others.

--- Reviewed by Norah Piehl
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Product Description
Leo, Phoebe, Miranda, and Marcus, the friendly neighborhood kids (and Noodles the dog, their mascot) who started the club featured in THE COOL CRAZY CRICKETS, are back for a second book of easy-to-read adventures. On a quest for summer pocket money, they’re busy little-brother-sitting, pet-sitting, and running a lemonade stand. But when a one-eyed stray cat needs their help, will all their hard work be for nothing? The Crickets and their exploits — humorously illustrated by Paul Meisel — will have beginning readers jumping to join this cool crazy club! ... Read more

Product Description
With a fascinating collection of vintage photographs, and stunning action shots from the modern era, Gerard Siggins tells the story of cricket in Ireland, from the earliest days up to the ICC Trophy final in July 2005. It is the story of a sport buffeted by the enormous social and political changes of the last 200 years, with war, famine, revolution, independence, and economic boom and bust all impacting on Irish cricket. Ireland's cricket history is an extraordinarily colourful one; peopled by writers such as Joyce, Shaw and Beckett; statesmen such as the Duke of Wellington, Parnell, John Redmond and John Hume; and personalities such as Lady Gregory, Thomas Andrews and Colin Farrell. Gerard Siggins was born in Dublin in 1962. He founded and edited "Irish Cricket Magazine" (1984-87) and has written on cricket, since 1985 in the "Sunday Tribune", where he is assistant editor. He is a regular contributor to the Cricket Ireland website and other publications. He was president of Dublin University CC from 1992-97; for whom his senior career consisted of one match in 1988. He did not bat or bowl, but while fielding stopped one cracking drive by Brian Gilmore.He wishes he had more to say about his cricket career, but is more than happy with that. Ireland recently qualified for the 2007 Cricket World Cup. This book includes over 100 top quality pictures of past and present. It is an interesting narrative on the history of cricket in Ireland. ... Read more

Product Description
Features images and biographies of the top 100 cricketers in Ireland's history. This book features - amongst others - Ed Joyce, Jeremy Bray, Alec O'Riordan, Dermott Monteith, Niall O'Brien, Alan Lewis, Sir Tim O'Brien, Jimmy Boucher, Angus Dunlop and Ossie Colhoun. ... Read more

Product Description
Start with Science books introduce kids to core science concepts through engaging stories, fresh illustrations, and supplemental activities.

One day Oscar sees a ball in the grass. "Try pushing it!" says Cricket. Oscar learns that the ball rolls slowly in grass and faster on a path, until it bounces off a tree and changes direction. Some things need a push to move, and others use their muscles to move themselves — and to move plenty of other things, too. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (3)

Dickens' Christmas Stories
This book is one of the Barnes & Noble Classics, reissues of classic books with added notes and in nice trade paperback editions. Most everyone will be familiar with the first story in the book - A Christmas Carol. We have seen theater productions, movies, and other books. We know who Scrooge is, what Tiny Tim says, and what the four ghosts do with Scrooge. We certainly know the expression Bah! Humbug! A Christmas Carol is indeed a classic and would always deserve five stars by itself.

However, the other two stories are not in the same league. Dickens wrote them in the years following the publication of A Christmas Carol because it had been a success and he wanted to see if more profits could be obtained. He made some money but the last two stories have not held up nearly as well as A Christmas Carol over the years.

The Chimes is a story of a messenger named Toby Veck and his efforts to eke out a meager existence and to help his daughter find happiness. Toby is fascinated by the sound of the bells in the bell tower close to where he stations himself each day hoping to find paying customers. In the story he is drawn one night up into the tower itself where he meets phantoms who show him what the future may hold if he continues on his present path. These phantoms are nothing like the ghosts in A Christmas Carol. Toby's primary belief in life is that the poorer people like him deserve their station in life. The phantoms get his attention long enough so that possible events cause him to change his belief and possibly give his family a chance at a better life. The story is fairly dense and is written in Dickens' usual style.

The Cricket on the Hearth is the third story and once again expresses Dickens' point of view that needy people can be and should be helped to lead good, productive lives. The tale takes place around the turning of the New Year. This one does not involve spirits but is more like some of Dickens' popular novels. A hardworking family just getting by finds their situation turning worse. Tensions grow between the husband and wife. A mystery guest appears, and everything works out for the best in the end.

If you like Dickens, you will enjoy this book. I also recommend that you try Les Standiford's new book The Man Who Invented Christmas. It will give you the history of the development of Dickens' Christmas stories and will help you to understand what the atmosphere was like in England when the stories were written in the mid-19th century

Christmas
I snuggle up with this book every Christmas by the tree. However, it is a story to be enjoyed all year round. A pity we all have to wait till December in order to feel ducky about celebrating the Christian faith. A paragraph of Dickens a day will keep the devil away.

A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol
The book I read was a Christmas Carol I love this book. The reason I love this book is because it actually teaches you something about life. Scrooge is an old man who dose not like celebrating Christmas, he's whole family enjoys and they all just stay together and just tell good storied about what good thing happened thought out the whole year. Scrooge doesn't do that like that the whole time he just stays to work. To make words short his nephew who is my favorite character Tint Tim try to change his uncle to like Christmas and try's to change uncle scrooge to like Christmas again there is a really big reason that uncle scrooge dose not like Christmas. The reason my favorite character is Tiny Tim is because try's to show everybody not just his uncle but almost the whole town everything good about life. I really recommend this book to anybody because it's just fun and like a soon as you start to read it you just cant stop reading it you just have to keep on going on. What I dislike bout this book is that they made Tim feel bad well the way his uncle ignored him and his entire family well I know they where poor and everything but it was not for that much.
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Product Description
A collection of cricketing tales gathered from the past 150 years of the game. These stories range from the bizarre to the hilarious. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Must have for cricket fans
If you're a cricket fan, there aren't many books out there for you. However, in this book, Andrew Ward tells about some legendary matches, some of which happened back in the 1800's. If you like cricket, get this book! ... Read more

Product Description

Topics covered: The Domain Naming System (DNS) and how it's implemented by BIND (through versions 8.2.3 and 9.1.0), how to set up BIND, how to configure MX records for mail service, parent and child domains, NOTIFY, and DNS security. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (64)

Excellent, which is why we need a new one...
This update had everything I needed to know and the release was well-timed. With issues around IPv6 becoming more crucial, BIND 9.7, and signing of the root in July to allow for a complete trust chain in DNSSEC implementations, it's time for a good update.

DNS and BIND
Just received this item, planned on using for reference material. Haven't gotten to read it yet though...

Good but dated...
Most all if not all of the principles covered in this book are current although BIND 9.1 is NOT.BIND is at 9.5 now.There is a fifth edition out that is more current.Unless they discount this heavily, I'd pass.

Great Resource
This book is a good in-depth resource for anyone who wants a very comprehensive understanding of DNS hosting and troubleshooting. You can use it as a reference, reading sections as you need them, or read it cover to cover. I've opted for the former and am about half-way through. So, far I've read about things I've never been able to find good information for on the web. Keep up the good work!

By far the best DNS introduction
This book is the best investment I have made in my knowledge of DNS. I think any network admin should have this book on their desk at all times. Itshould become a bed side reading for anybody who is serious about TCP/IP protocols. DNS may be a pretty tricky topic to understand for many people. It uses both TCP and UDP for its queries and gets pretty convoluted as you dive into it. This books demystifies it very well. There is a very clear distinction between zones and domains. I have not seen that many materials clearly explaining the difference between the two. The book gives you a taste of what threats you may face running a DNS server. It explains how to perform zone transfers and zone delegations and clearly defines which suite of protocols is used to accomplish it.
This book can be a reference as well as a textbook read. I recommend it to all people out on the internet. ... Read more

Product Description
Simon Hughes has written an entertaining and irreverent analysis of the history of cricket, taking us beyond the sporting myths of the game to some of its lesser known, more colourful stories and to the heart of what it really means to be English.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Several Chips on Both Shoulders
"And God Created Cricket" bills itself as "An Irreverent History of the English Game and How Other People (like Australians) Got Annoyingly Good at it", and traces the history of English cricket from its mediaeval beginnings on the forests and downlands of south-east England right up to Andrew Strauss and Kevin Pietersen.

The key word in this description is "irreverent", which in this case is not simply a synonym for "humorous" or "light-hearted". Hughes shows a marked lack of reverence for anything or anyone which might be regarded as part of the Establishment, especially the cricketing Establishment. Much of the book is dedicated to airing his various grievances against cricket's powers-that-be. It is said that the definition of a well-balanced man is one with a chip on both shoulders. If that is so, Hughes must be an exceptionally well-balanced individual, as he appears to have not one, but several, chips on both shoulders.

Grievance Number One is what might be called his inverted snobbery, his obvious dislike of the upper-class amateurs who dominated cricket for so long, a dominance dating back to the aristocratic patrons who formed their own cricket sides in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Certainly, the amateur/professional distinction had its ridiculous side, such as the fact that professionals were obliged to use a different gate when walking out to the wicket and that their initials followed rather than preceded their surnames on the scorecards. Many so-called "amateurs" were able to get away with suspiciously generous expenses claims; the professional Jim Laker was only half joking when he said that he could make a better living from the game if he turned amateur. Hughes does, however, sometimes exaggerate the aristocratic hold on the game. Writing about J W H T Douglas, he says "it was illegal for anyone to captain England unless they had at least three initials and owned 20,000 acres of the finest grouse moor in Scotland". In fact Douglas, an East Ender, was far from an aristocrat and did not own a single acre of grouse moor.

Hughes, however, never points out that the cult of the amateur was never confined to cricket or to Britain; it was widespread in many sports throughout the world. Those "Gentlemen versus Players" matches of the fifties which he derides so mercilessly seem less of a ridiculous anachronism when one remembers that during that decade professionals were not permitted to compete at Wimbledon, or in the Olympics, or in rugby union at any level, and that West Germany won the 1954 football World Cup with an all-amateur side. Moreover, without its aristocratic patrons cricket might never have become a major sport, remaining, like stoolball or bat and trap, a pastime played on a few South Country village greens of a summer evening.

Hughes' second grievance is his equally obvious dislike of the county-based system around which English cricket is organised and which he sees as a relic of aristocratic patronage. Yet he never discusses in any great detail what might replace the current system and never succeeded in persuading me that his alternative of city-based teams would amount to any more than a rebranding of Warwickshire as Birmingham, Yorkshire as Leeds or Middlesex and Surrey as North and South London. At one point he regrets that in the late nineteenth century the opportunity was not taken to create a football-type league of town and city clubs playing on Saturday afternoons, along the lines of the Lancashire and Yorkshire leagues. Such a development, however, even if it had been feasible, would have resulted in English cricket developing along entirely different lines to those prevailing in the rest of the cricket-playing world, where the first-class game is organised on the basis of state or provincial divisions (e.g. New South Wales v Victoria rather than Sydney v Melbourne). If professional cricket in England were to be run on basis of something like Haslingden v Ramsbottom writ large, I would not fancy the chances of our Test team against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe, let alone Australia or the West Indies.

Hughes' third obsession is his dislike of batsmen; he refers several times to his thesis that throughout the history of the game cricket's powers-that-be (generally amateurs) have continually rewritten the rules to make it more difficult for bowlers (generally professionals) to take wickets. I have some sympathy with this viewpoint; during Hughes' own playing career in the eighties and nineties the TCCB seemed to insist that every playing surface should be so lifeless that it was impossible to complete a game within three days without the use of contrived declarations. Nevertheless, I cannot help feeling that the book would have read very differently had it been written by a batsman rather than a bowler, and the bat has not always predominated over the ball to the extent which Hughes suggests. He suggests, for example, that cricket's "Golden Age" (roughly 1890-1914) was a batsman-dominated era, but statistics tell a different story. Of the ten batsmen with the highest career Test averages, not one played before the First World War; Victor Trumper, generally regarded as the greatest batsman of that period, finished his Test career with an average of 39.62, which today would be regarded as nothing out of the ordinary.

Indeed, when Hughes does manage to be fair-minded about an issue, I suspect that this is a case of two of his prejudices cancelling one another out. His account of the "Bodyline" series, for example, is much more even-handed than many I have read, probably because Douglas Jardine was just the sort of arrogant patrician whom Hughes the inverted snob loves to hate, whereas Hughes the former fast bowler loves the idea of Bradman, the ultimate run-machine, being put in his place by Larwood and Voce.

The book's most entertaining feature is Hughes' store of anecdotes about the great and the good of the game, especially players of his own era whom he knew personally. I liked his account of Jimmy Ormond's retort to Steve Waugh's piece of sledging (although according to some accounts Ormond's remark was directed at Steve's brother Mark). I also liked some of his barbed comments on some players, such as his description of the famously self-absorbed Geoff Boycott as "not just an island but an atoll in the middle of a vast ocean, the sort of place where they do nuclear testing". Nevertheless, not all of Hughes' attempts at wit come off, and all too often his supposed "irreverence" reads more like puerile humour or bilious sarcasm. Despite my fascination with cricket, this was not a book I really enjoyed reading. Too often I could hear in the background the noise of axes being ground.


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Product Description
As a widely respected cricket historian, with an encyclopaedic knowledge of the game, and also a writer with a great sense of fun, Henry Blofeld is the ideal man to select the great characters of cricket who have livened up the sport. We learn of the exploits of the legendary Ian Botham, a man who made up his own rules and has been at the centre of controversy on countless occasions; Garry Sobers, an immensely popular all-round great; and Dennis Lillee, the temperamental fast bowler who once held up a game with a tantrum when ordered to change his aluminium bat. Henry Blofeld regales us with marvellous - sometimes mischievous - stories to add to the "Boy's Own" nature of the book, and highlights those players who would make cricket lovers cancel their appointments to see them, even on a cold April day. ... Read more

Product Description

Ten years in the making, this book is truly complete and the first of its kind.

The Art and Science of Cricket represents the groundbreaking partnership between international cricket coach Bob Woolmer and renowned sports scientist Tim Noakes, who combined their skills to create this one-of-a-kind encyclopedic guide to cricket.

The author provides exhaustive instruction and guidance, covering the entire range of techniques and strategies. Explanatory illustrations, anecdotes and handy tips from some of the game's greatest players are also included.

Some of the features are:

• Advice on batting, bowling, fielding and wicket-keeping
• Woolmer's personal philosophies
• Unique insights on the required mental skills
• Training, nutrition and injuries
• Clothing, equipment and the rules of cricket
• Cutting-edge research on the science and medicine of cricket
• Action photos of international league play
• Cricketing lore for lovers of the game.

The Art and Science of Cricket is the ultimate book for cricket fans, players and coaches.

Customer Reviews (1)

About the 2009 Edition from Firefly
This is a review for the 2009 Edition from Firefly...

This book is a monster! Large-format hardback, 655 pp, a little under 5 pounds. Pictorial hardback boards with a sewn binding. Illustrations throughout, including some color plates.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Part I: Discovering Cricket
- The Challenge of Cricket
- The Mind Game

Part II: Cricket Techniques
- Batting
- Vision and Batting
- Bowling
- Fielding and Wicket-keeping

Part III: Thinking Cricket
- Strategy and Captaincy
- Statistics: A View of the Future?
- Coaching

Part IV: Cricket Science
- Physiology and Fitness
- Whither Cricket? The Future of the Game

Bibliography
Index ... Read more

Product Description
From Mount Washington to the salt marshes of Cape Cod, a chorus of insects chirrups and peeps and rustles away the golden hours of summer and fall. In "Crickets and Katydids", Vincent G. Dethier invites readers to share in the pleasure offered by these tiny musicians in our midst. A companion volume to G.W. Pierce's 1948 "Songs of insects", this book introduces amateur naturalists and lovers of nature to some of the more common singing crickets, locusts, and grasshoppers of the northeastern United States. Dethier emphasizes the "world" of these insects and their place in it. He presents a glimpse of the ecology of the singing Orthoptera, the conditions under which they are studied, and the people who have studied them. For those who wish to delve more deeply into the classification, structure, and habits of particular species, Dethier includes keys for identification of insects and their songs, as well as a table of seasonal distribution. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Orthoptera of New Hampshire
This book by the author of To Know A Fly recounts Dethier's experiences as a graduate student in the 1930's doing field research in New Hampshire on the sounds made by crickets, katydids, locusts, and grasshoppers.

In order to make recordings of these "songs" it was first necessary to capture the insects and much of this book describes his work in the field tracking down all the local varieties in a wide range of ecologies.He also gives technical explanations of how the sounds are produced.

The technology was not available at the time, but I found myself wishing throughout the book that I could actually hear the sounds while reading about them.A companion CD would be much appreciated!

This book is interesting but lacks the charm of his other books, particuarly To Know a Fly and The Ecology of a Summer House.

Information with an interesting story
Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos chronicles the succession of various "singing" insects through a summer in New England.The book focuses on a young man working for a summer under a professor.Their work is to record the songs of all species of crickets, grasshoppers and katydids present in the habitat surrounding them, and to analyze their music using scientific equipment.The book is very descriptive of scenery encountered wandering through meadows, forests, and the occasional graveyard.The summer starts with a single chirp from a field cricket and crescendos throughout the summer months with the coming of the different types of crickets, the locusts and grasshoppers.The laboratory group takes field trips to Cape Cod in Massachusetts and Mt. Washington in New Hampshire.The young man's ears are always pricked to a foreign tune or pitch new to him, the new sounds usually catch him at the wrong moment, making capture and study difficult, but interesting, some times.Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos is a read that even those with only an interest in etymology can pick up and enjoy.
I found this book to be an easy and enjoyable read, I especially enjoyed that it did not assume that I already knew a lot about crickets, katydids and grasshoppers or really much of anything about etymology.Even though the book was on a basic level I felt that I came away from it with a new knowledge of these loud insects and their diversity.I can appreciate how their sounds are made and differences in their sounds more now than prior to reading the book.The books appendixes were also very good, like a miniature field guide of what was talked about in less detail in the book.I thought this was a nice addition for those who wanted to use the book for more than just an interesting read or to just learn in more depth the insects being discussed through the literature.
It seems that Vincent Dethier's purpose in writing the book was to increase general knowledge and appreciation for the vast "unseen but heard" number of insects living in our backyards, such as the elusive Tree Crickets or the True Northern Katydid.He wanted to show people that these insects are not just pests, but creatures so amazing and so perfectly suited for their various habitats and time of emergence.I think that there is, of course, some bias on Dethier's part as there will always be people, no matter how much they know about insects, that will never come to see them as anything other than pests that they have to shoo out of their houses and cars.
Crickets and Katydids had its boring moments; when you grew tired of hearing the recounting of the terrain in great detail.More often than not the book was quite interesting and did well at holding my attention; the great descriptions were interwoven with the joy of finding the new insect they had not recorded, or various awkward moments relatable to any etymologist, "bug catcher" type. The book ended very nicely with a last tid-bit from a cricket lingering in the encroaching winter.It felt satisfying to be completed, all questions answered and everything pulling together perfectly in the end.
Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos is a book that I would recommend to anyone looking to gain a little more knowledge on the behaviors, habitats, and songs of these insects.The reader, thankfully, does not need an extensive, or even a scientific, background to enjoy this book.The way Vincent G. Dethier weaves together facts and observances with a pleasant story of his adventures one summer makes it an enjoyable book to read.Let Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos take you through a summer in New England marked not in days or months, but in the emergence of new species of singing insects.

Review By: E. Jackson, University of Massachusetts: Boston

A wonderful book that exposes the wonders of the small.
A fantastic book very much along the lines of Sigurd Olson's brilliant nature prose and yet not far from Aldo Leopold's writings.A must if you like or have any interest in sound or insects.You'll never listen to theworld outside the same way again!! ... Read more