Product Description
This book presents the research results on landslide disaster mitigation in Three Gorges Reservoir, China. It consists of three parts. (1) Regional properties of landslides in this area, (2) Case studies about some typical landslides, and (3) New methodologies applied in this area. It provides useful information to academics, practitioners, and university students working on landslide disaster mitigation, especially for large engineering projects. This book can also be used as an information source for geo-hazards in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area. ... Read more

Product Description
The beginning of the 20th century: 13-year-old Conxa has to leave her home village in the Pyrenees to work for her childless aunt. After years of hard labour, she finds love with Jaume - a love that will be thwarted by the Spanish Civil War. Approaching her own death, Conxa looks back on a life in which she has lost everything except her own indomitable spirit. This story presents a fascinating timeless voice, down to earth and full of human contradictory nuances. Its' the expression of someone who searches for understanding in a changing world but senses that ultimately there may be no such thing. The Catalan modern classic, first published in 1985, is now in its 50th edition, and has sold over 50 000 copies in the last two years in Germany alone. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

One lifetime
Maria Barbal, author of eight novels, is widely acclaimed as the most influential living Catalan writer. First published in 1985, her seminal work "Pedra de Tartera" ("Stones in a Landslide") has since gone through fifty editions and sold over 50,000 copies in Germany alone.

"Stones in a Landslide" covers the complete lifetime of Conxa (short for Concepció) among the isolated farming villages of Catalonia. The book opens at the beginning of the twentieth century, when 13-year-old Conxa was sent to live with her childless aunt and uncle. She eventually marries Jaume, a builder and carpenter whose work takes him away for long stretches of time. Although Conxa remains tied to farm and family, Jaume's travels expose him to new ideas regarding government and citizens' rights which will land him on the wrong side of the Spanish Civil War. But it is his widow who will live with the subsequent tragedy for decades afterward.

There are essentially two distinct narratives here: the chronicle of a traditional rural culture and an emerging story of revolution and modernity which will eventually overtake it. Both strands are personified in the characters of Conxa and Jaume, whose marriage, though happy, comes to represent the difficult union of past and rapidly-changing present. Of the political turmoil that will ultimately consume them, Conxa is uncomprehending. "When we talked about such matters the same thing always happened to me," she explains. "A thick fog came over my brain and from there it passed to my heart. It left me frozen and in the dark. . . At moments like this, Jaume and I were as different as night and day, and that difference made me tremble more than when he left to go away for a whole week's work." To Conxa, the female role is the very foundation of agricultural life, and her entire being is consequently bound to the timeless rhythms of planting, harvesting, livestock, and family. She is accustomed, above all, to perpetual labor broken only by the occasional festival. Barbal's prose is the clear and unadorned voice of a woman who may lack sophistication, but not insight and acuity. "No, I didn't say anything to the girls. They needed to move on," Conxa says later. "What happened was a huge blow to them but there was no point in thinking about it. You have to keep going." She had learned long ago that too much depends on her to be paralyzed by death and upheaval.

In the end, however, it is not the war but the inevitable march of progress that threatens to leave Conxa behind. Farming is no longer viable in a world that has come to value novelty, speed, technology, and the city. Although Conxa modestly denies being any real source of history, the story of her life nevertheless reflects the growth of Catalan society - indeed, of many societies - in the twentieth century. And that, I believe, is the main reason "Stones in a Landslide" enjoys such strong international resonance. There is a universality to Conxa that is beautifully highlighted by Maria Barbal's vivid writing and I can see "Stones in a Landslide" appealing to a wide variety of readers. Recommended.

* Review Copy * ... Read more

Product Description
Channel Islands National Park, immediately adjacent to millions of southern Californians, sees relatively few visitors because of the logistical and physical challenges involved in visiting any of the islands. This guidebook provides detailed advice on planning a trip, what essential items to bring, expected weather conditions, sketches of the natural and cultural history of the island, and detailed descriptions of possible walks on the island, ranging from strolls of a few minutes to overnight backpack trips. The author describes several routes that are not listed among the official maintained trails on the island. Routes are rated by relative difficulty and safety measures and skill levels are described for the prospective visitor. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Helpful in the face of little competition
I found it a useful book to visit one of our National Parks that seems to discourage visitors strange as that might seem. The hikes are well documented and the overall level of information seemed consistent with reality. I'll use it again on my next trip there. ... Read more

Product Description
Every year a landslide disaster occurs somewhere in Europe. Destructive events are fortunately infrequent but when they do occur they are often tragic in their effects. Europe is heavily populated and development is expanding into areas where natural events are more likely to happen. Landslide Recognition is written by specialists from several European institutions and is designed to portray the diagnostic features of landslides as they would appear in the field, on maps or in photographs. Brief descriptions are provided and some guidance is given in the area in which different landslide types might be expected. This book will assist planners, developers, engineers and earth scientists to recognise where a problem may exist and to diagnose what type of failure may occur. The correct investigations and remedial measures may then be applied. ... Read more

Product Description

Is the President the boss of the country?
What happens if there's a tie?
How does a voting machine work?
Who belongs to the electoral college?

Election fever is never higher than when the country is electing a president, but how does it all work? In a fun and snappy question-and-answer format, this book tells you everything you want to know about our democratic process in action. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Boring
Bought this book for my homeschooler prior to the last election, but it was boring.We found better material for free online at Time Magazine.

Doesn't answer most important question
Hey, a handy little book for kids, but I think that it neglects to explain to them why they can't vote. It has a small section that says "When can I vote?". It would have been good if it would have been "Why can't I vote", although there would be no good reason, so I'm sure that's why they forgot this question.

Oops! Also, I was forced to mention that I was over 13 in the little checkbox. Neat. Way to promote rights of the people.

Answering over a hundred basic questions about an election
Do not let the fact that this is the 2000 Edition of Dan Gutman's "Landslide! A Kid's Guide to the U.S. Elections," because except for the appendix that is devoted to the candidates for the Presidency four years ago (Bill Bradley, Albert Gore, George W. Bush, and John S. McCain), Gutman's discussion of how elections work refrains from anything that would make the information outdated.More importantly, the first thing Gutman says when he introduces his topic is that "Every four years, the grown-ups of America go a little crazy."With that sort of understatement, Gutman properly sets up the more than 120 questions that children could (or should) ask about a presidential election, all of which will be as relevant four years from now as they were four years ago (even if what happened in 2000 repeats this year the other way around, there will not be any significant changes).

The six chapters of the book are devoted to: (1) The Presidency, (2) Our Government, (3) The Campaign, (4) Candidates, (5) Voting, and (6) The Election.So "Landslide!" begins with explaining why we have a President and what they can do, before moving on to the process of selecting candidates for campaign for the office.Gutman, who wrote "The Kid Who Ran for President" and "The Kid Who Became President," keeps a lot of his explanations simple and to the point.He also anticipates a lot of questions that kids would have that most teachers and adults might not think of, such as "Do you have to vote for your political party candidate if you don't like that person?" and "If I was eligible to vote, could I vote for my teacher instead of the candidates?"From my perspective he also works in a good deal of Presidential trivia as well that students will not get from their history textbooks.

The best test for "Landslide!" is to look at what Gutman covers that would have been of help to teachers and parents the morning after Election Day 2000.In Chapter 6, covering The Election, Gutman addresses such questions concerning the press getting the winner wrong and why the Electoral College determines the outcome and not the popular vote.In fact, on page 95 Gutman asks, "But isn't it possible to get the most popular votes and lose the election.Obviously the name of George W. Bush will have to be added to the list of John Quincy Adams, Rutherford B. Hayes, and Benjamin Harrison, who all won the presidency even though they lost the popular vote.

I think this is clear indication that Gutman has covered all of the bases in this book.The only area where Gutman might have some shortcomings is in his glossary of "Words You'll Hear in an Election Year," which runs from "ballot" to "veto," but avoids anything along the lines of "negative ads" and "smear campaigns" that unfortunately seem to matter more and more each election cycle.Teachers will find this book useful for answering a lot of the basic questions and they can even turn the tables on their students and ask them to answers these questions on their own before being provided the answers.That would certainly be interested indeed, especially if they have had the misfortune of being in a swing state where they are bombareded by wall to wall political ads.

Great book for teaching elections facts
I am a 5th grade teacher and I found this book very helpful in providing explanations to my students about various elections processes.The kids really enjoy as it is written in a question/answer format.I recommend this to anyone who wants to know more about our elections! ... Read more

Product Description

This unique volume contains papers based on presentations and discussions at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Massive Rock Slope Failure; New Models for Hazard Assessment held in Celano, Italy in June 2002. 32 papers by 64 engineers, geologists, and geomorphologists from 16 countries address the issue of landslides from massive rock slope failure and associated phenomena (landslide tsunamis and landslide dams). Authors include some of the world’s leading authorities on the subject.

Amongst the thematic topics discussed are global frequency, impacts on society, analysis of initial rock slope failure, monitoring of rock slope movement, analysis and modeling of post-failure behaviour, volcanic landslides, and influences of massive rock slope failure on the geomorphological evolution of mountain regions. Regional contributions include reports on rockslides and rock avalanches in Norway, western Canada, the Andes of Argentina, the Karakoram Himalaya, the European Alps, the Appennines, and the mountains of Central Asia.

Rockslides and rock avalanches in the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union are discussed in detail for the first time in an English-language book. These landslides include the 1911 Usoi rockslide, that dammed 75 km-long Lake Sarez, and the 1949 Khait rock avalanche that may have killed up to 28,000 people. Both landslides were earthquake-triggered and both are located in Tajikistan. An additional highlight is a detailed description and analysis of large-scale artificial rock avalanches triggered by underground nuclear explosions during the testing programme of the former Soviet Union.

The volume is a contribution to defining the state-of-the-art in hazard assessment for massive rock slope failure and to global knowledge of the occurrence of landslides from massive rock slope failure in time and space. It is dedicated to the memory of noted Italian engineering geologist Professor Edoardo Semenza (1927-2002).

Product Description
Landslide pits a desperado, Black Spade, against Padre Silver, two determined men and natural enemies. Both are fast-draw artists and each wants to change or eliminate the other.The colorful cast includes a dance-hall queen with a deeply buried heart of gold; a buxom, red haired bartender and Sunday preacher; a sheriff with a nagging wife, constantly in pursuit of any and all wrong doing; last of all, the citizens of JumpinÂ’, the home of the padre-- and of all the god-fearing citizens who are more than motivated in their church-going by the persuasive accuracy of the padreÂ’s guns. All play a part in tipping the scales of justice, now one way, now another. People might think the scales of justice are unequally balanced. Not so in Landslide, a small 19th century mining town perched on the side of a mountain. The story begins in the bar. ... Read more

Product Description
This text gives an overview of the main landslide field sites. It covers aspects of recent landslide research at the University of Wollongong.
Topics: An overview of the main landslide field sites in the 9th ICFL; Aspects of recent landslide research at the University of Wollongong; Infiltration of rainwater and slope failure; Landslide hazards and highway engineering in Central and Northern Jordan; El Niño 1997-98: Direct costs of damaging landslides in the San Francisco Bay region; Mass movement features in the vincinity of the town Sorbas, South-east Spain; The movements and the countermeasures of the Choja Landslide; Interest in landslide hazard information - Parallels between Kingston, Jamaica and the San Francisco Bay region, USA; Slide activity in quick clay related to pore water pressure and weather parameters; Old and recent landslides of Barranco de Tirajana basin, Gran Canaria, Spain. ... Read more

Product Description
Large landslides affect many mountain valleys in Europe. They are characterized by a low probability of evolution into a catastrophic event but can have very large impacts on population, infrastructures and the environment. This impact is becoming more and more pronounced due to increasing tourism and the construction of new roads and railways in mountainous areas. Methodologies for the assessment and mitigation of risks are therefore a major issue. Since very large slope movements are quite often directly or indirectly implicated in disasters, like landslides, secondary slides or debris flow, their early identification is essential to an adequate risk assessment of the zones involved.

The assessment of risks due to large landslides in the alpine environment is the first activity carried out within the IMIRILAND Project. This project involves seven partners representing five European countries and is funded by the European Commission within the Fifth Framework Program (Research and Technological Development, Activities of a Generic Nature: the Fight against Major Natural and Technological Hazards). The objective of this cooperation is to develop risk management methodologies and mitigation strategies that can be applied at a European level as useful tools for administrators and land users.

To this end, by means of a multidisciplinary approach the hazard analysis of some selected large landslides was examined with a particular focus on geological, geomorphological and geo-mechanical methods. In addition, vulnerability and risk analyses were carried out to enable the consideration of direct and indirect consequences, as well as technical and social impacts. The developed risk assessment procedure was critically examined through application to some selected landslides.

Identification and Mitigation of Large Landslide Risks in Europe - Advances in Risk Assessment presents the risk assessment procedure developed and the case studies that were performed within the framework of the IMIRILAND Project. It is edited by Arpa Piemonte, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne and Politecnico di Torino

This book is intended for geotechnical engineers, engineering geologists, geomorphologists and planners who are involved in landslides and in assessing the stability of natural slopes. ... Read more

Product Description
A reprint from Pure and Applied (PAGEOPH), Volume 157 (2000), number 6/7/8. A collection of studies producing a clear understanding of the earth surface processes that generate tsunamis. Also discusses how tsunamis cause damage, destroying property and producing fatalities. Softcover. DLC: Tsunamis. ... Read more

Product Description
NATURAL DISASTERS uses a case study approach to investigate the devastating effects of natural phenomena. Each of the 6 titles includes spectacular images and examples from LEDCs (less economically developed countries) and MEDCs (more economically developed countries) that explore the causes and impacts of recent major disasters. You will learn how people were affected and how they coped with, and recovered from, the dramatic disruption to their lives. Each title also looks at how we can prepare for and predict disasters in the future. ... Read more

Product Description
This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more