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BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often
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Subject: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Slag Date: 12 Sep 10 - 04:22 PM Wesley S started a fine thread on re-readable books. That got me to thinking about the books I use most often and most of them are reference books (so often that I had to buy them). So: American Heritage Dictionary Oxford English Dictionary (in 2 volumes and came with a magnifier!) The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible Strong's Exhaustive Concordance Ardnt and Gingrich Greek Lexicon The Nestle's Interlinear Greek-English New Testament The Septuagint (in Greek) Biblia Hebraica The New Jerusalem Bible The World Almanac The Harvard Dictionary of Music (My son currently has this) The Encyclopedia Americana (1953) because I've always had it, that's why! The Scott Catalog of US Postage Those I use the most. Rap, if you weigh in here I'd be interested, not necessairly that you "own" them but you do have a wide selection available to you, don't you? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: gnu Date: 12 Sep 10 - 04:33 PM The Bible... Theoretical Soils Mechanics, Karl Terzaghi. (1943 and still the best.) Foundation Engineering, Peck, Hanson and Thornburn. Very practical. Most of the Canuck engineering codes for soils, structural, etc, and especially the safety codes. As for dictionaries, I use Google for a reference for speeling. >;-) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Sep 10 - 05:13 PM Oxford English Dictionary (complete) Webster's, several editions. Velasquez, Spanish and English Dictionary Sakura, Catalogue 0f Japanese Stamps Lighter, Historical Dictionary of American Slang, 2 vol., A-O- publication never completed. Miscellaneous language and dictionary works- Mencken, etc. Handbook of Chemistry and Physics About 400 volumes- collections of songs, poems. Books on North American Indians and crafts, approx. 100 volumes. Fanny Farmer Cookbook, 1941 ed. (before low cal changes to recipes) Colorado Cache Cookbook RETIRED! No longer consult my scientific and professional works and journals, most given to university. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:32 PM Ooohhh, I Like this thread. OED - 2 vol w/ Mag Glass (even that hardly helps now; need more power) AmHeritage Collegiate Dict. -- 3rd Edition Elements of Style - Strunk, Jr./White Soule's Pocket Thesaurus Perrin's Writer's Guide & Index to English (From Freshman English long, long ago) Civilizations of the Ancient Near East, Sasson, ed. My Peoples Prayer Book selected volumes Dictionary of the Bible - rev. Ancient Near East Texts and Pictures, 2v., Pritchard, ed The Harper Atlas of the Bible, Pritchard, ed. } Cultural Atlas of Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, Roaf} These complement each other while having diff. perspective } |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: akenaton Date: 12 Sep 10 - 06:52 PM You dont have to confess to EVERY one folks! Is there not one functioning brain left in this world? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 12 Sep 10 - 07:15 PM More on books noted-- Soule's is correctly titled Dictionary of English Synonyms. Re. the OED 2vol with magnifying glass. It is the complete 13 volumes, four pages to a page, thus the necessity of the magnifying glass. I must confess (sorry Ake.) that I really don't use it 'often' any longer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 12 Sep 10 - 07:23 PM not mine! well, when I'm doing crosswords (oops, I haven't done so for a while, goes to recycling pile & removes crosswords) ... The little Macquarie Thesaurus (Macquarie is THE Australian Dictionary) Crossword Dictionary (Diamond/HarperCollins) The Greenwich Crossword Puzzle Dictionary (Londn, Ramboro, nd) The Complete Crossword Dictionary (Merriam-webster) The Oxford Reference English Dictionary (1996 ed) Street dictionary (used in conjunction with Google maps) sandra ps. crosswords are done as far as possible with memory, then reference books are consulted! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 12 Sep 10 - 07:27 PM HTML standard .... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: ragdall Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:41 PM Here's my list. Those most used are at the top. The Sibley Field Guide to Birds of Western North America - David Allen Sibley |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Slag Date: 12 Sep 10 - 08:55 PM Thanks for reminding me rags! I haven't used them for a while but yes, the Petersen Field Guide and to a lesser extent the Hoffman. Audubon's Birds of North America Doesn't get used in the same way as those little field guides. And I forgot my Betty Crocker looseleaf Cookbook! Sunset's Western Gardens too! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Q (Frank Staplin) Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:00 PM A few more- Ragdall, I have given Godfrey's Birds of Canada to my four children. A great old work, but I have Peterson, etc. as well. Wild Plants of Alberta. Weeds of Canada. Roget's Thesaurus. National Geographic atlases. A collection, often renewed, AAA state road maps. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: robomatic Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:00 PM National Electric Code National Electric Safety Code Oxford English Bible |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: ragdall Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:35 PM I didn't include my Bibles. It's hard to think of them as reference. They just "are". I also have bird and flower guides from other areas we visit, but I can't say that I use them "often". I use them when we visit and for labelling photos after we return home. rags |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Deckman Date: 12 Sep 10 - 09:38 PM "THE WORD BOOK" ... based on the new American Heritage Dictionary! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Refrence Books you OWN and use often From: Bill D Date: 12 Sep 10 - 11:12 PM Use often? Many books on trees and different woods. Can't get to them right now for details. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: MGM·Lion Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:46 AM Chambers Dictionary [sometimes cross-ref with 2-vol Compact Ox, COD, Collins, Hamlyn; but Chambers always first point of ref]. Oxford & Roget's Thesauruses. Kettridge's small French-English dictionary for quick check, Larousse ditto for serious stuff. Partridge Dict of Slang and Unconventional English. Ox Dict of Proverbs. Old (1970s) Whitakers Almanac for occasional check on the Peerage &c [run into a lord or lady every little once in a while!, or need for some reason to recall which peer has which family name or vice-versa]. Very occasional use of Latin, Italian, German -Eng dictionaries. Longmans Pronouncing Dictionary [tho my late wife made much more use of this & I probably wouldn't own it if I hadn't inherited it]. Sometimes actually use my beloved 18C edition of Johnson's original Dict, a family heirloom since my uncle bought it absurdly cheap in Cambridge in 1920s. Same applies to my buying of a 19C Doré illustrated Bible bought at same Cambridge bookshop for 10/- [= nowadays 50p!] in my own 1950s student days, which now my main ref Bible, tho teeny-weeny itsy-bitsy CUP pocket-sized one which sits on my desk can be useful if a magnifying glass is to hand. Crudens Biblical Concord. Owens Dictionary of Philosophy. But more & more, alas, Google is becoming the first, and often last, place of resort... You too? ~Michael~ |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Patsy Date: 13 Sep 10 - 07:46 AM An Isle of Wight cookery book especially the cakes, scones and jam section, each recipe has a little bit of folklore behind it. An Encyclopedia on primates, monkeys, apes and lemurs. A-Z of Health. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Jim Dixon Date: 13 Sep 10 - 12:13 PM I used to collect reference books but I find I rarely use them anymore. It's just so much more convenient to look things up on the Internet. Back when I did use reference books frequently, the one I used most often was The Columbia Encyclopedia. It's a one-volume encyclopedia, but as big and thick as an unabridged dictionary. Not to be confused with the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, or the Columbia-Viking Desk Encyclopedia, which are (or were) much smaller abridged versions of the Columbia Encyclopedia, but still very useful. I used to give paperback copies of the CVDE to students I knew. For browsing, I loved almanacs. The World Almanac, The New York Times Almanac, The Information Please Almanac (do they still publish that one?). I used to buy a different brand every year to minimize redundancy. Somewhere along the line I also picked up copies of Whitaker's Almanack and Pears Cyclopaedia, which give a different perspective. Then there are my bird books, and my wildflower and other flora and fauna identification guides. I do still use those, because when you don't know what something is called, it's much easier to flip through the pictures in a real book until you find a match, than to try something similar on the Internet. (Unless there's a web site out there that I haven't found yet, that helps you with this sort of thing.) And there's the Reader's Digest Complete Do-It-Yourself Manual and ...Fix-It-Yourself Manual, which are very good, but I have only dipped into them when I can no longer avoid it! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Charmion Date: 13 Sep 10 - 01:46 PM The Regiments and Corps of the Canadian Army Military Dictionary (English-French, French-English) (Both published by the Chief of the General Staff (Canada), circa 1964) The Oxford Canadian Dictionary CP Style The Chicago Manual of Style Le nouveau Bescherelle Collins-Robert French Dictionary Dictionary of Canadian Place Names How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 13 Sep 10 - 02:53 PM I have two fairly old unabridged dictionaries, one of which gets looked at perhaps once a week. The other one, at the other end of the house, is just not too convenient. Several desktop dictionaries, almost never looked at. I tend to find that if I don't know a word it's probably not in the abridged. Two medical dictionaries, Dorland's and Taber's, which I occasionally need to check, especially Dorland's. I have a moderately current version of The Physician's Desk Reference, about the size of an unabridged dictionary. I don't look at that more than perhaps once or at most twice a year. I think. My wife, on the other hand, is extremely interested in health, and often wants to check on various medications. The reference book that I personally use most is ORIGINS, A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, by Eric Partridge, the 1983 version. I used to consult any or all of these much more than I do these days, because of the ease of consulting various sources via Google, which I do a lot. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: open mike Date: 13 Sep 10 - 03:36 PM the local phone book and even that info is largely available on the inter net now.. my song books are a few of the things that i evacuated with from the fire. I lost an address book and that is hard to replace..I have lost contact with some people due to this. a family recipe book which was compiled for a reunion.. i often refer to it because besides recipes it contains genealogy info...researching the family tree(s) is an on going project for me. most of the things I need to look up can be done on the web. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Slag Date: 13 Sep 10 - 06:40 PM I almost listed my RD Do It Yourself book but then I only reference it when something goes wrong that I haven't dealt with or at least, not recently. But it IS a great referrence when you need it. I might also list my reloading manuals, sky charts, pamphlet on knot tying, couple of chemistry books, Merck Manual, PDR, 2 vol. Egytian Heiroglyphic Dictionary, phone book, on and on. Gee, maybe I ought to start a library. No, that is what it is. Maybe a used book store! Yup, got my genealogy resources too. Somebody throw me a rope. No, that's alright. I know how to tie the knots! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Rapparee Date: 13 Sep 10 - 10:49 PM Librarians know that every book can be a reference book. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: mousethief Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:38 AM OED 20-volume edition. (1988?) Webster's New World College Dictionary Way down the frequency chart after that, a couple of foreign language dictionaries: Langenscheidt for German, Liddell-Scott for Greek, And a cheap college thing for French. Mostly for the German I look it up online at http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/. Haven't found as useful a French site. I did have occasion to actually look something up in Gesenius-Kautzsch-Cowley the other day, but that happens once very 5 years at most. And the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia is definitely a reference book and not a reading bible. For reference look-up, the interwebnetspace is definitely taking over from books-on-paper. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Georgiansilver Date: 14 Sep 10 - 02:29 AM The Bible. Oxford English Dictionary. Rogets Thesaurus. Jacksons Silver Hallmarks. Millers Antique and Collectible guides. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 14 Sep 10 - 04:31 AM "New Flora of the British Isles" by Clive Stace, 3rd Ed., Cambridge, 2009. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 10 - 04:51 AM Heheh, nice one, Shimrod. I'm still with my first edition of Stace and will just have to risk being out of date with my Latin names. I still dip into my CTW Excursion Flora occasionally for old time's sake. I also have the New Atlas of the British Flora with which I can continually disappoint myself when I think I've found something new (someone else always got there first!), but my current favourite for a quick looking-up is Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland by Marjorie Blamey and the two Fitters. Floras aside, The Beethoven Quartets by Joseph Kerman is my most thumbed book. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: SPB-Cooperator Date: 14 Sep 10 - 04:57 AM Lingua English-Czech Dictionary |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: SPB-Cooperator Date: 14 Sep 10 - 04:59 AM Oh, and up to three four years ago Shanties from the Seven Seas |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 10 - 05:45 AM Blimey. I think that should have been "old times' sake." |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 14 Sep 10 - 07:19 AM If I'm honest, Steve my copy of 'The Wild Flowers of Britain and Ireland' is more thumbed and tattered than Stace (although Stace is a bit too bulky and heavy to carry into the field - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Bonzo3legs Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:28 AM The works of Thomas Chatterton |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:47 AM I can echo that, Shimrod, although, before I got the Blamey one, my most-thumbed was the Collins Pocket Guide to Wild Flowers, in which that same Richard Fitter who wrote the text in the Blamey had had a hand - nearly fifty years earlier! The first Stace was printed in that horrid camera-ready copy - is the new edition an improvement? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Paul Burke Date: 14 Sep 10 - 01:38 PM Pre-Grouping Atlas of Great Britain. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: ChanteyLass Date: 14 Sep 10 - 09:23 PM Dictionaries, Bibles, Rise Up Singing, and Yoga books |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: maeve Date: 14 Sep 10 - 11:12 PM We were given a Bible and a bird book. We bought a used wildflower book. m |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,PeterC Date: 15 Sep 10 - 05:05 PM Most reference works I take from the internet these days. In hardcopy a couple of field guides and printouts of PDFs for software that I use at work. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew Date: 16 Sep 10 - 12:04 PM There are three copies of The Regiments and Corps of the Canadian Army in the family, our brother snagged our father's very carefully and usefully annotated copy. I lashed out and bought my own from a rare book dealer. Military Dictionary (English-French, French-English) Our father gave me a copy of the 1945 edition for my birthday when I was in a French-language unit. The Observer's Book of Soviet Aircraft Oxford English Dictionary (in miniature) Le nouveau Bescherelle, & El Arte de Conjugar Collins-Robert French Dictionary Petit Robert Cruden's Concordance |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 16 Sep 10 - 04:40 PM "We bought a used wildflower book." Hmm. I prefer my wildflowers fresh. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: kendall Date: 17 Sep 10 - 08:41 AM A big fat dictionary, The Sailors word book by Admiral Smyth How to grow trees. How to spell it. I must admit that I most often use google. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 17 Sep 10 - 02:40 PM "The first Stace was printed in that horrid camera-ready copy - is the new edition an improvement?" Yes, Steve, it is. Although Prof. S. has now adopted a new 'molecular' classification system so that some plants are not now in the groups that we thought they were in. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 17 Sep 10 - 08:43 PM Bugger. I'm such a conservative in these matters. I think I may still be using 60s Latin names. Maybe I'll just stick to English names. :-( |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: BlueJay Date: 18 Sep 10 - 01:01 AM Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, (1959) The Elements of Style, (Strunk/White) Amo, Amas, Amat and More, (Ehrlich) Anasazi Ruins of the Southwest in Color, (Ferguson and Rohn) Taber's Medical Dictionary The Merck Manual and my favorite: The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, (Fadiman) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 18 Sep 10 - 05:17 AM Don't worry, Steve - it's not all that difficult for an amateur botanist, in the UK, to grasp (it's probably an entirely different matter for an academic, professional botanist operating world-wide). Some of the changes make a lot of sense. For example, Lesser Celandine (formerly Ranunculus ficaria) is now in a separate genus and is now called Ficaria verna. But didn't you always think that Lesser Celandine was a rather atypical buttercup? Also the Fumariaceae is now included in Papaveraceae (which it was in some older floras anyway) and the semi-parasitic genera (e.g. Rhinanthus = Yellow Rattles, Euphrasia = Eyebrights etc.) have been split off from the Scrophulariaceae and included with the full parasites in the Orobanchaceae. I could list a few more changes - but you get the general gist. All the changes are, more or less, equally logical and reasonable (a few surprises - but not many) and are included in a 'Synopsis of Families' at the front of the book. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Roger the Skiffler Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:07 AM Several Greek, French and English dictionaries (including 2-vol Shorter Oxford),Various quotation dictionaries, classical dictionary, Roget, World Atlas of Wine, One Vol Times World Atlas,various Jazz & Blues Who's Whos, Pears Encyclopedia, an old Whitaker, Sigmund Spaeth's History of Popular Music in US,various old jazz discographies: Delauny, Larkin, Penguin,Musicamaster etc, various Bird & plant & wildlife guides, Lots of Greek travel guides, various garden encyclopedias. I also use online sources, of course, but we were both "front of house" librarians for too long to neglect our printed sources! Sheila has lots of Bible reference works, concordances etc. RtS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:16 AM I've been thinking that lesser celandine was Ficaria for a long time anyway and those others you mention are, as you say, hardly revolutionary. I hope it's reproductive biology and morphology (and DNA I suppose these days) that's separated those parasitically-inclined species out and not merely the fact that they're parasitically-inclined! We have Orobanche minor growing in the new shrubbery in Morrisons' car park in Bude! The autumn ladies'-tresses have done quite well around the weather station this year after the Wildlife Trust prevailed on the council to adopt a more sensible mowing regime! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: maeve Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:22 AM "...Hmm. I prefer my wildflowers fresh. " Funny, Steve Shaw. :) I'd prefer to have the reference library we had before fire struck, but the OP asked about "Reference Books you OWN and use often". The wildflower you and Shimrod have been describing here sound like good ones. Perhaps I'll come across copies at some point. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: maeve Date: 18 Sep 10 - 07:30 AM "...Hmm. I prefer my wildflowers fresh. " Funny, Steve Shaw. :) I'd prefer to have the reference library we had before fire struck, but the OP asked about "Reference Books you OWN and use often". The wildflower books you and Shimrod have been describing here sound like good ones. Perhaps I'll come across copies at some point. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 18 Sep 10 - 10:30 AM Bit of a coincidence that, Steve because I found Orobanche minor growing near the Manchester/Stockport border this year - the first one I've ever seen in this area. The find which delighted me the most, though, was Saxifraga granulata (Meadow Saxifrage) growing on the banks of the Mersey at West Didsbury. I believe this to be the first record, from this area, since 1859! We haven't got Autumn Ladies' Tresses though (but you never know!). I bet that Bude is a botanist's paradise! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 18 Sep 10 - 02:10 PM Meadow saxifrage can be wonderful in parts of the Yorkshire Dales. That's a good find - make sure you notify the vice-county recorder! Incidentally, I'm an ex-Lancashire lad, hailing from Radcliffe. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Bettynh Date: 18 Sep 10 - 02:13 PM Not a book, but I have displayed and use a relatively large world map. It's getting dated, and I'm thinking seriously of replacing it with an upside down world map. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 18 Sep 10 - 03:53 PM I've just checked my "Atlas" (a book which I own and which fits the bill required of this thread to a tee!) and I see that, indeed, there are no recent records for meadow saxifrage in that area, though there are numerous records for the Peak District. Are you in VC 58 or 59? Sadly, there are no Cornish records for this plant as a native species. :-( |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Joe Offer Date: 18 Sep 10 - 04:57 PM I seem to be using online reference resources more and more now, but I spend most of my life in a room full of books. For years, my dictionary of choice was Webster's New World,, because my mom the English teacher said it was best (and she bought me one every time a new edition came out. As a used book sale somewhere, I picked up a Merriam-Webster's Deluxe Dictionary (published by Reader's Digest), and I really took a liking to it. I've used the Oxford Annotated Bible since I majored in Theology in college - currently the NRSV with Aprocrypha. I also use a Synopsis of the Four Gospels, which puts Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John side-by-side so you can compare various versions of the gospel stories. I've used various commentaries - my current favorite is an old one by William Barclay. I teach a bible study based on the Catholic lectionary, so I use the lector workbook published by Liturgy Training Publications. Most of my books are music books. I have most of the significant U.S. and Canadian folk song collection books, and a fair smattering of English and German and Yiddish songbooks. I let the online indexes guide me through these books, particularly Roud and the Traditional Ballad Index. Before the indexes got good, I would search the various Lomax books, the Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection, Randolph's Ozark Folksongs, the Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Child, and the two Sing Out! "Collected Reprints books. Nowadays, I refer regularly to Sandburg's American Songbag, because I want to ensure that every song in that book has been posted at Mudcat - I posted the index, and I'm turning the song names into links as I find them. I also use an assortment of travel, wildflower, and bird books. -Joe- |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 19 Sep 10 - 04:57 AM "I'm an ex-Lancashire lad, hailing from Radcliffe." Why am I not surprised by that, Steve? Lancashire folk seem to have played a major role in the development of the science of botany - a role which ought to be better known! The Manchester Field Club had an outing to Radcliffe last year and we walked along the canal (Bury and Bolton - possibly?) towpath. The canal flora represented a veritable text book of water plants (in spite of the odd pram and supermarket trolley). I live in VC 59 (South Lancashire). Just across the Mersey, to the south, is VC 58 (Cheshire). I found the Saxifrage in VC 59. There is a record in Leo Grindon's 'Flora of Manchester' (pub. 1859) but I've seen no later records. The VC 59 recorder doesn't seem to be talking to me at the moment. I'm hoping it's because he's recently changed his e-mail address and not because of something I did or said! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:09 AM I was friendly with the Rev.C.E.Shaw (no relation) in my youth - he was an author of the then local flora if I remember rightly. We went on several outings, one along that canal and another to Nob End, a Victorian alkaline waste site which had an incredible assemblage of exotic plants. He had a real penchant for waste tips! We also took him up Penyghent once to see the purple saxifrage, which he'd never seen before. I knew the flora of the Bury-Bolton canal quite well and I have my detailed notebooks still from the early 70s. Last time I looked it seems that Water Soldier had gone a bit rampant, a plant I didn't see there at all 40 years ago. There are a couple of spots where Royal Fern poked out of the towpath wall, one near Bury and the other, which I believe I was the first to find, near Radcliffe town centre. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 19 Sep 10 - 06:08 PM I've heard of Rev. Shaw but, sadly, I never met him. I once found a plant called Hairy Buttercup (Ranunculus sardous) on Chorlton Meadows. I was very excited but subsequently learned that Rev. Shaw had got there before me. I noticed the Water Soldier on the canal - but according to our walk leader it rarely, if ever, flowers. I've just, this evening, received an e-mail from the VC 59 recorder - he's given me rather a lot of work to do (should have kept my mouth shut!). By coincidence I also had an e-mail from the VC 58 recorder telling me that I'd identified one plant I'd told him about correctly and another incorrectly ... oh well, never mind! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Mrrzy Date: 19 Sep 10 - 06:20 PM The Larousse Gastronomique. Best food reference there is. Dictionaries, especially old dictionaries, in either English or French (but not a French-English one). A German-French one, though. Gry's Anatomy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Steve Shaw Date: 19 Sep 10 - 07:37 PM Vicar Shaw got everywhere before everybody! He was quite a character and he cultivated people all over the place in strategic locations as his scouts. He called me "the Radcliffe eye"! He was big mates with Roy Lancaster, whom, sadly, I never met. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Bill D Date: 19 Sep 10 - 08:57 PM I just uncovered "The Ashley Book of Knots" in a bookcase. I have not use it recently, but I intend to now....especially since there are now sites like this online which show you animations of how to do many. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Reference Books you OWN and use often From: Little Hawk Date: 20 Sep 10 - 11:06 AM My computer seems to have taken over most of the "reference book" functions around here. However, I do have some reference books on WWII airplanes that come in quite handy for my hobbycraft, and I have some alternative health books and Taoist texts that I often consult too, in order to stay healthy and happy. |
