Books about Reflecting from Amazon.com

Almost a half-century after is completion, the 200-inch Palomar telescope remains an unparalleled combination of vast scale and microscope detail. As huge as the Patheon of Rome and as heavy as the Statue of Liberty, this magnificent instrument is so precisely built that its seventeen-foot mirror was hand-polished to a tolerance of 2/1,000,000 of an inch. The telescope's construction drove some to the brink of madness, made others fearful that mortals might glimpse heaven, and transfixed an entire nation. Ronald Florence weaves into his account of the creation of "the prefect machine" a stirring chronicle of ht birth of Big Science and a poignant rendering of an America mired in the depression yet reaching for the stars..
Price: $15.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Interpreting Art: Reflecting, Wondering, and Responding introduces readers to the varied methodologies of art interpretation without unnecessary jargon, presenting difficult and complex issues in an understandable way for beginning students without alienating more sophisticated readers. ..
Price: $24.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The idea behind this magnificent book is to pair stunning images from outer space alongside meaningful spiritual quotes from here on earth. Ultimately, the two work well together, suggesting the presence of a divine hand, or at least a divine order in the universe. Editor Michael Reagan deserves much praise for his keen visual eye, as well as his selection of quotes from the likes of Albert Einstein, Jane Goodall, Stephen Hawking, Dr. Seuss, Theodore Roethke, Carl Sagan, Mark Twain, and Annie Dillard.

Many of the photos were taken from the Hubble Space Telescope, offering fascinating glimpses into distant black holes and galaxies. Some images are vivid and romantic like a Renaissance painting. Some (such as the Voyager I photo of Jupiter) seem to suggest that Vincent van Gogh had a hand in painting the universe. Each photo has a concrete caption and clearly explains what is happening and where the image comes from.

With a hint of irony, Reagan placed the following quote beside the explosive, womb web photo of "Star Birth Region NGC 604": "Stars are like animals in the wild. We may see the young but never the actual birth, which is a veiled and secret event." - Heinz Pagels, Perfect Symmetry

It is quotes such as these that make readers feel especially blessed. If not yet true voyagers, we can at least become voyeurs into space and spirituality--the far reaches of our final frontiers. --Gail Hudson.
Price: $8.50 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A relationship with God is central to life-breathing theology, but today's culture experiences a barrier of ignorance and misunderstanding of the church's mission. Through stories and illustrations, Ed Cyzewski builds a method for theology that is rooted in a relationship with God and His mission.

Christian readers will find a conversational guide to theology in the postmodernism context and in the emerging church, helping them understand, shape, and live out practical Christian theology..
Price: $9.01 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This is an essential resource for anyone designing or facilitating online learning It introduces an easy, practical model (R2D2: read, reflect, display, and do) that will show online educators how to deliver content in ways that benefit all types of learners (visual, auditory, observational, and kinesthetic) from a wide variety of backgrounds and skill levels. With a solid theoretical foundation and concrete guidance and examples, this book can be used as a handy reference, a professional guidebook, or a course text. The authors intend for it to help online instructors and instructional designers as well as those contemplating such positions design, develop, and deliver learner-centered online instruction.

Empowering Online Learning has 25 unique activities for each phase of the R2D2 model as well as summary tables helping you pick and choose what to use whenever you need it.  Each activity lists a description, skills addressed, advice, variations, cost, risk, and time index, and much more. 

This title is loaded with current information about emerging technologies (e.g., simulations, podcasts, wikis, blogs) and the Web 2.0. With a useful model, more than 100 online activities, the latest information on emerging technologies, hundreds of quickly accessible Web resources, and relevance to all types and ages of learners--Empowering Online Learning is a book whose time has come.
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Price: $22.46 [Notify me when price goes down.]

In the spirit of Horace Miner, this thought-provoking yet accessible collection of articles (primarily written by American anthropologists on American mainstream culture) casts mainstream USA in the role of the "Other". It address traditional ethnographic categories covered by anthropologists--myth and ritual, economy and power, language and ideology-with theoretically meaty articles, geared toward an undergraduate audience. The authors, whether or not their subject matter is ephemeral, arrive at enduring conclusions so that the anthology has staying power; even though there are those who would state that the U.S. is too diverse to have any one culture. (It acknowledges diversity; while stressing how something that can reasonably be called "U.S. culture" emerges from and shapes the cultures of our component populations.) In addition, the collection is headed by a classic short piece, modeled after Horace Miner's "Body Ritual Among the Nacirema.".
Price: $23.65 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Interpreting vestige with the eloquence of a poet and the knowledge of a field archaeologist, Gustaf Sobin explores his elected terrain: the landscapes of Provence and Languedoc. Drawing on prehistory, protohistory, and Gallo-Roman antiquity, the twenty-six essays in this book focus on a particular place or artifact for the relevance inherent in each. A Bronze Age earring or the rippling wave pattern in Massiolite ceramic are more than archival curiosities for Sobin. Instead they invite inquiry and speculation on existence itself: Artifacts are read as realia, and history as an uninterrupted sequence of object lessons.
As much travel writing as meditative discourse, Luminous Debris is enhanced by a prose that tracks, questions, and reflects on the materials invoked. Sobin engages the reader with precise descriptions of those very materials and the messages to be gleaned from their examination, be they existential, ethical, or political.
An American expatriate living in Provence for the past thirty-five years, Gustaf Sobin shares his enthusiasm for his adopted landscape and for a vertical interpretation of its strata. In Luminous Debris he creates meaning out of matter and celebrates instances of reality, past and present..
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Hailed by Booklist as "a major figure in contemporary mystery fiction," Anthony and Shamus Award-winner S.J. Rozan-the only woman besides Sue Grafton to win the Shamus for Best Novel-continues to win universal acclaim for her Bill Smith/Lydia Chin series. And now the celebrated master of mystery turns her keen eye to the bustling, crowded streets of Hong Kong, where nothing is as it seems...It's a great honor when Grandfather Gao, a family friend and elder in New York's Chinatown community, asks Lydia Chin and her partner Bill Smith to go to Hong Kong to deliver the ashes of an old friend for burial, a letter from that friend to his brother, and a valuable jade figurine for the friend's seven-year-old grandson. But why would Grandfather Gao choose a PI, much less two, for such a simple mission? Lydia and Bill have even more questions when they arrive in Hong Kong and find the son's apartment ransacked-and the grandson missing. When two separate ransom demands are issued and the family tries to freeze them out, Lydia and Bill must try to solve a puzzle that seems to bear the unmistakable stamp of the Triads as they soon find themselves thrust headlong into the Hong Kong underworld where death is a way of life...AUTHORBIO: S.J. ROZAN is the author of six previous novels featuring Bill Smith and Lydia Chin. She has won both the Anthony Award for Best Novel and the Shamus Award for Best Novel (the only other woman besides Sue Grafton to win the Shamus), and has been nominated for the Edgar Award. An architect, she was born, raised, and lives in New York City..
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Noted early childhood educators and authors of Training Teachers: A Harvest of Theory and Practice, Deb Curtis and Margie Carter present practical ideas in this thoughtful and beautiful handbook which makes the complex task of planning a child-centered curriculum easier. Learn how to make theme plans, establish times for observation and play, set up schedules, materials, space, and more. Each chapter contains an insightful and touching story by teachers as well as charts, assessment tools, resource lists, and practice sheets. Youll discover activities for both you and the children, and at the same time, chart your own thinking as you consider new possibilities for your curriculum planning..
Price: $14.21 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The first anthology to highlight the problems of environmental justice and sustainable development, Reflecting on Nature provides a multicultural perspective on questions of environmental concern, featuring contributions from feminist and minority scholars and scholars from developing countries. Selections examine immediate global needs, addressing some of the most crucial problems we now face: biodiversity loss, the meaning and significance of wilderness, population and overconsumption, and the human use of other animals. Spanning centuries of philosophical, naturalist, and environmental reflection, readings include the work of Aristotle, Locke, Darwin, and Thoreau, as well as contemporary, mainstream figures like Bernard Williams, Thomas Hill, Jr., and Jonathan Glover, while works by Val Plumwood, Bill Devall, Murray Bookchin, and John Dryzek comprise a radical ecology section. With insightful essays by the editors to introduce each section, this comprehensive and timely text of philosophical and environmental writing will inform, enlighten, and encourage debate..
Price: $29.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]