Customer Reviews (1)

Bigfoot, Yesterday and Today
Call this a labor of love. While browsing about Amazon I was surprised to see that John Napier's book Bigfoot has no reviews. This is little short of sacrilege. Admittedly this is an old book, it was first published in 1972, but it isnone the worst for that. At the time this book was written Dr. Napier was director of primatology at the Smithsonian Institute and he combined a scientist's mind, a believers awe and a little wit to produce a highly intelligent book that manages to be thought provoking and entertaining at the same time.

It is not a long book but he still manages to cover almost the whole range of the Bigfoot phenomenon. Beginning with a discussion of the role of the monster myth in today's world he progresses to some of the most classic stories that were then known. After discussing the Bigfoot phenomenon in Asia (the yeti) and in North America ( Sasquatch) he then subjects the evidence to a scathing scientific scrutiny. As a primatologist Dr. Napier brings an understanding of primate behavior and physiology that is the envy of many other authors. Since footprints are the principle evidence for the existence of Bigfoot these are treated first and by the time he is done you may have learned more than you want to know about foot prints. This is followed by similar treatments of natural history and the fossil evidence along with an analysis of the Patterson tape. His treatment of the Minnesota Iceman alone is worth the price of the book.

If you are looking for a thoughtful sifting of the evidence by someone with no ax to grind this is a book that is still worth reading. There is a lot of sloppy thinking present in many of these tales and he was not shy about exposing it in a manner that some people may find uncongenial, yet doubt remains. In the end he admits that it is not possible to prove absolutely that Bigfoot does not exist. What it does show is that it is possible to subject the evidence to a thoughtful analysis that allows anyone to separate the wheat from the chaff.


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Product Description
As the inventor of Logarithms, John Napier made one of the greatest advances in the history of mathematics in simplifying expression of figures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

John Napier: Logarithm John
What there is of it is very good. Personally I'd have liked it better if it was expanded more. It might be nice to see more material about how to actually use logs in problem solving, or how logs were used in problem solving in the past.

John Napier by and large without his logarithms
The ordinary lives of famous mathameticians rarely prove to be as interesting as their professional activities and such is the case with John Napier. This slim volume is, at least to my way of thinking, a disappointment in that it provides only the most superficial insight into Napier's thinking concerning the period during which he conceived the idea of the logarithm and produced the first table of such numbers.
For centuries thereafter they significantly simplified the multiplication and division of large numbers. Until the advent of the scientific calculator tables of logarithms were in wide use. Napier's contribution was recognized for its value by the major natural philosophers of his day and an indepth presentation of this aspect of his life would be a worthy contribution to the literature. Napiers bones, an abacus like device without wires or beads is also rather poorly covered in the book. The bones were the precursor of the slide rule and may, indeed, be among the earliest forms of mechanical calculators. ... Read more

Product Description
Intended for all readers--including magicians, detectives, musicians, orthopedic surgeons, and anthropologists--this book offers a thorough account of that most intriguing and most human of appendages: the hand. In this illustrated work, John Napier explores a wide range of absorbing subjects such as fingerprints, handedness, gestures, fossil remains, and the making and using of tools. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Amazon.com sells refurbished items as new
This book was a great read.It has a wide variety of applications (law enforcement, anthropology, medical etc) and is suitable for even a novice reader.

On the hand, I purchased my book "new" from Amazon.I received a book with a dog-earred page and highlighting.Because I needed this book for a college assignment, I could not just send it back.Afterwards, I found another person interested in my marked up book and bought another for myself (to keep for later reading/reference).

I've recently purchased yet another item from Amazon that was used and is being sold as new.I called their support (well they call you after you request a call) and complained.I ended up getting a refund (only for items under $40 they say) and didn't have to return my item.

Exceptional science and witty writing
As a physician and ergonomist I found this book to be stimulating, fun, informative, and very useful. The hand is too often overlooked or treated shabbily in our work and daily living. Though it connects us to our world, we tend to take it for granted. This book helps all of us to overcome that error. Get the book, enjoy it. It is worth the money and the time reading it.

hands-down the best book on hands
This is a great book for anyone who loves hands, and appreciates how perfect a perfect hand can be. There is nothing like it on the market. In the evening, when I'm done reading Friedrich Hoelderlin, I like to relax with this book. It really helps me understand hands.

Good hands
This book is a fascinating account of the most "human" parts of the human body, the hands. Worth owning. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is produced from digital images created through the University of Michigan University Library's large-scale digitization efforts. The Library seeks to preserve the intellectual content of items in a manner that facilitates and promotes a variety of uses. The digital reformatting process results in an electronic version of the original text that can be both accessed online and used to create new print copies. The Library also understands and values the usefulness of print and makes reprints available to the public whenever possible. This book and hundreds of thousands of others can be found in the HathiTrust, an archive of the digitized collections of many great research libraries. For access to the University of Michigan Library's digital collections, please see http://www.lib.umich.edu and for information about the HathiTrust, please visit http://www.hathitrust.org ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Bigfoot, Yesterday and Today
Call this a labor of love. While browsing about Amazon I was surprised to see that John Napier's book Bigfoot has no reviews. This is little short of sacrilege. Admittedly this is an old book, it was first published in 1972, but it is none the worst for that. At the time this book was written Dr. Napier was director of primatology at the Smithsonian Institute and he combined a scientist's mind, a believers awe and a little wit to produce a highly intelligent book that manages to be thought provoking and entertaining at the same time.

It is not a long book but he still manages to cover almost the whole range of the Bigfoot phenomenon. Beginning with a discussion of the role of the monster myth in today's world he progresses to some of the most classic stories that were then known. After discussing the Bigfoot phenomenon in Asia (the yeti) and in North America ( Sasquatch) he then subjects the evidence to a scathing scientific scrutiny. As a primatologist Dr. Napier brings an understanding of primate behavior and physiology that is the envy of many other authors. Since footprints are the principle evidence for the existence of Bigfoot these are treated first and by the time he is done you may have learned more than you want to know about foot prints. This is followed by similar treatments of natural history and the fossil evidence along with an analysis of the Patterson tape. His treatment of the Minnesota Iceman alone is worth the price of the book.

If you are looking for a thoughtful sifting of the evidence by someone with no ax to grind this is a book that is still worth reading. There is a lot of sloppy thinking present in many of these tales and he was not shy about exposing it in a manner that some people may find uncongenial, yet doubt remains. In the end he admits that it is not possible to prove absolutely that Bigfoot does not exist. What it does show is that it is possible to subject the evidence to a thoughtful analysis that allows anyone to separate the wheat from the chaff.

Good Examination - Fair Treatment of Topic
This is a great examination of the facts behind the Bigfoot legend.Keep in mind that this book was written in 1972, but much of the basic information is timeless.The book lacks in the more recent facts in the quest for a North American primate.The book could have also used a little tighter editing, Napier repeats himself several times and the book is full of misspellings.Napier also seems to focus on the lack of evidence for the yeti rather than focus on the North American sasquatch.More recent evidence for (and against) the existence of the yeti is worth examining after reading this tome.DO NOT let these little issues dissuade you from buying this book.It is still a GREAT read.Overall, I feel fortunate to have found this fair and accurate examination of the evidence to date (1972).The conclusions are fair, but the reader can draw and reach their own conclusions.Highly Recommended!

Scientist investigates the evidence for Bigfoot
Dr. John Napier was Curator of Primates at the Smithsonian Institution.At the time this book was written in the early 1970's, it was unusual for a Scientist to publicly show interest in this subject.Dr Napier was aleading Primatologist who took an interest in this subject and beganinvestigating further.He examines the evidence for the existence of theNorth American "Bigfoot" as well as the Himalyan"Yeti".Also discussed is the 1967 Roger Patterson film.DrNapier analyzes the footprint evidence also.Dr Napier also discusses thecultural aspects of man's world wide belief in man like monsters.In hisfinal chapter Dr. Napier concludes that he feels there is something to theSasquatch reports and further states that if even one of the tracks arelegitmate than the Sasquatch does exist and as Scientists they have someexplaining to do. This book is out of print, however it was a mass producedpaperback and is relatively easy to find.Anyone who is interested in thissubject should read this book and have a copy in their library.

bigfoot: the yeti and sasquatch in myth and reality
I found this to be a very well thought out and written book. It is one of the best that i've read on the subject. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... 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

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
The book has no illustrations or index. It may have numerous typos or missing text. However, purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original rare book from the publisher's website (GeneralBooksClub.com). You can also preview excerpts of the book there. Purchasers are also entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Original Publisher: Edinburgh, London, W. Blackwood and sons; Publication date: 1889; Subjects: Logarithms; Spherical trigonometry; Mathematics / General; Mathematics / Algebra / General; Mathematics / Trigonometry; ... Read more

Product Description
This delightfully written book tells the story of William John Napier, 9th Lord Napier of Merchiston, who was sent to China in 1834, not to stop the opium smuggling (by which all local officials profited hugely), but to seek a settlement between the British sea-traders and the Cantonese authorities. He was at once seen by the Chinese authorities as a dangerous spy - a 'Barbarian Eye'.

Although his attempts to find an agreement were unsuccessful, Lord Napier noticed a rocky island occupied by only a few fishermen's families, and guarding one of the world's finest harbours. Why not arrange to trade from here, rather than up river at Canton, where ships could be boxed in at whim? The island was called Hong Kong.

Based largelyupon Lord Napier's letters and journals, the book gives an admirable insight into the story of Western contacts over the centuries with China, as well as life in England and Scotland in the early 19th century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Concise, accurate history of Lord Napier
Priscilla Napier was a wonderful author, not only of the Napier family (which she married into, not descended from) but also of primate study (under the name PH Napier).She died early in 1999, and will be missed.Her books, including Barbarian Eye, were a result of her historicalresearch into the conditions and events which take place in them.Herhusband was in the Navy, so you can be assured that her use of navalhistory is accurate, and her descriptions of foreign places are bothstrange and true. Perhaps she does write with a kind eye towards her maincharacter, but which writer does not?

Being an account of Lord Napier's Travails in China
This book is about Lord Napier's mission to China, its subsequent failureand the unexpected founding of Hong Kong. As he sails off on his ownmission, the author interweaves in, between an edited version of Napier'sletters and diaries, stories of earlier attempts by the West (mainlyBritish) to make contact with China, and their relevance to anunderstanding of why Napier's mission was doomed from the start. This takesup about half of the book before Napier even lands in China. An attemptto recreate the exotic and mysterious Far East setting by invoking animpression of cadavers, unwanted babies and the mournful wailing of thedugongs (mammals) amidst the junks, warships and bustling trade activitiesall floating together in the bay of Hong Kong seems a little surreal.According to the author, the Chinese, bless their inscrutable littlehearts, will not lift a hand to assist strangers for fear of being drawninto a perverted world of Confucian logic of somehow contributing to thatperson's plight in the first instance. Nor was opium such an odiouscommodity in the 19th Century. And even if it was, Lord Napier was anenlightened and politically-correct gentleman (who wasn't?) but was unableto right things in his time. This is pure hokum and a bit of eye-washconsidering that the author is a direct descendant of Napier.There is nodoubt that Napier failed in his mission to liberalise trade with China butthe author's premise is that history should not pin all the blame forfailure on him alone. There was also the King of England, Lord Grey, therogue traders and of course, the inscrutable Chinese. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent Research, as Per Usual for Hilbert
John Hilbert is a well-known writer of chess biographies. He is a meticulous researcher who will leave no stone untunrned finding the most about his subject. In this book, Hilbert--as usual--tells us everything that we could possibly wish to know anout William Ewart Napier--in his words, "son, brother, choir boy, chess phoenomenon, editor, columnist, international chess competitor, British champion, insurance company exeutive, husband, and father".

Hilbert tells us all there is to know about Napier in each of these roles. As far as the chess is concenred, he unearthed 321 Napier games (for comparison, Chessbase's enormous "magabase" database has 170), and provides us with a very detailed account of all of Napier's tournaments and chess career. Not all of those "Extra" 151 games are of sterling quality--they include many offhand games, for instance--but they are all interesting.

But Hilbert also tells us much about the connection between Napier and other chess figures--in particular, the millionaire Rice (the inventor of the Rice gambit) and Pillsbury; he also tells us much about Napier's childhood and, in a final chapter, about "the final 50 years"--why Napier quite chess early and what he had done afterwards. He is interested in the man, not just the chessplayer--and it shows.

Anyone interested at all in Napier--or anyone who wants to see how a chess biography should be written--will not regret getting this book. Forget the latest "winning with" or "how to play" opening manual and immerse yourself in the life--and games--of a brilliant, if relatively obscure, player. ... Read more

Product Description
In his book, Charismatic Challenge: Four Key Questions, John Napier demonstrates biblically, reasonably, and with sound scholarship that the sign and revelatory gifts are not for today. Yet, he holds firmly to the conviction that our God is still a miracle-working God! ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Phenomenal Book!
John Napier has done a thoroughly biblical study on the Charismatic Movement. If Jesus himself wrote a book on the Charistmatic movement, it would be quite similar to Napier's book because Napier goes to extreme links to use scripture accurately and effective. I highly recommend this book!

Not Too Great A Book
Reviewed by Ed Vasicek, Author of The Midrash Key: Pinpointing the Old Testament Texts from Which Jesus Preached

I am a pastor who is not charismatic, so I am somewhat sympathetic to the author's viewpoints. But I cannot recommend this book because, in my opinion, he strains the Scriptures to prove his point. We all may have agendas when we go into Scripture study, but one must arrive at conclusions the right way (with a genuine openess to the meaning of Scripture).

John MacArthur's book, "The Charmismatics," would be a much better read. MacArthur comes to similar conclusions but treats the Scriptures with fairness, not straining them.

A HORRIBLE BOOK WRITTEN BY A ONE-SIDED AUTHOR!
Don't buy this book!John Napier knows absolutely NOTHING aboutCharismatic theology, but yet he tries to debunk it.He completelygives the reader stereotypes, misconceptions, generalizations, and complete prejudices of what Pentecostals believe.This book is fiction...NOT fact.He uses a verse in 1 Corinthians that talks about believers being baptized into one body (the body of Christ) by one Spirit.He uses that verse to try to completely disprove the Baptism in the Holy Spirit doctrine.However, he doesn't do a very good job of it.If he knew anything about Charismatic doctrine in the first place, he would know that Charismatics consider that verse to be talking about a different baptism.Here's the reason.In 1 Corinthians 12, it talks about believers being baptized into the body of Christ BY the Holy Spirit.In John, however, it says that Jesus (not the Spirit) will baptize us IN the Spirit (not Christ).It's reversed roles.These two can't possibly be the same baptism.It must be two separate baptisms if the Spirit baptizes us into Christ, and Christ also baptizes us into the Spirit.Two separate events, two different baptisms.The baptism that Mr. Napier is talking about in this book is what Charismatics call the believer's baptism or the baptism BY the Spirit...NOT the baptism IN the Holy Spirit.Anyway, enough with correcting John Napier's misguided definition of the baptism in the Holy Spirit.Back on subject, this is an extremely bad book.If you want an HONEST study of what Charismatics REALLY believe, read a book by someone who is a Charismatic...not an anti-Charismatic like John Napier who knows absolutely nothing about what he's talking about.Recommendation: The Beauty of Spiritual Language by Jack Hayford ... Read more

Product Description
"The tasks which fill'd beginners with dismay
This little book has banish'd clear away."

John Napier had already discovered and published an epoch­making treatise on logarithms when in 1617 he turned to "rabdology" or rod-reckoning as yet another means by which to confront the problem of simplifying the huge calculations involved in multiplication, division, and the extraction of roots. This first English translation of Napier's Rabdologia provides a clear and readable introduction to a group of physical calculating devices, which, long overshadowed by Napier's logarithms, have their own intrinsic interest and charm.

Book I describes the first device, a set of rods known as "Napier's Bones," which were inscribed with numbers forming multiplication tables and used in conjunction with pencil and paper. Book 11 presents a series of simple calculations that readers can solve by using the rods, and a series of tables of ratios useful for division. Napier then describes the second mechanical device for calculation, a forerunner of the modern calculator that he named promptuary or "place where things are stored ready for use."

The third device, similar to a chessboard, allowed calculations to be performed by moving counters around the squares. Observing that the numbers had to be represented in what would now be called binary form, Napier provides instructions for changing from ordinary to binary numbers and back again, a method that worked equally well for multiplication and division and that had a particularly elegant symmetry when applied to the extraction of square roots. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Early Elementary Handbook For Aviators
This book is an early elementary handbook for aviators,
written in 1917 by Captain N.J.Gill of the Royal Artillery.
Published in New York by E.P Dutton and Company.
The book gives a view of the very early understanding
and a very elementary primative idea of avaition and
flying technology of the day.
Chapters are:
I. On Taking a Ticket
II.Practical flying
III.The Construction of Aeroplanes.Thier Care and Maintenance.
IV. The Theory Of Flight
V. Internal Combustion engines
VI. Ignition Devices
Good for an aviation historian interested in the early
days of flight.
153 pages

... Read more