This innovative environmental history of the long-lived European chestnut tree and its woods offers valuable perspectives on the human transition from the Roman to the medieval world in Italy. Integrating evidence from botanical and literary sources; individual charters and case studies of specific communities; the book traces fluctuations in the size and location of Italian chestnut woods to expose how early medieval societies changed their land use between the fourth and eleventh centuries; and in the process changed themselves. As the chestnut tree gained popularity in late antiquity and became a valuable commodity by the end of the first millennium; this study brings to life the economic and cultural transition from a Roman Italy of cities; agricultural surpluses and markets to a medieval Italy of villages and subsistence farming.
#2731377 in eBooks 2013-05-07 2013-05-07File Name: B00CMHYDAW
Review
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. An excellent resource for learning about taking pictures in available light and with speedlights in mostly TTL modeBy S. TangThis is Stephanie Zettls second published book on portrait photography using speedlights; and I think it is a great improvement over her first book; both in content and layout.Rather than a comprehensive descriptive review; I want to cover the general highlights of this book as short bullet points.* Ugly and loud yellow callout boxes from the first book are gone! They have been replaced with more subdued gray callout boxes; which is easier to read.* In the first book; you could read about a topic; and the pictures related to the topic would be 2-3 pages ahead. This made it harder for me to follow the text. In this second book; most pictures are now closer to the sections of text that describe them thanks to smarter layout and reducing picture sizes to get more of them on one page (which in turn saves on page count).* Unfortunately; there is still no picture numbering (e.g. "Picture 1-1") that is used in most technical books; which aids in readability. While the pictures are closer to the text than in her last book; there are still a few spots where I think the layout forced the text and pictures to be further apart; and picture numbering would have helped here.* The inverse-square law of light intensity is described accurately in the second book; and a simple math equation and diagram is provided to aid in understanding. The diagram is awesome; especially if the math equation is not your cup of tea! Stephanie explains the inverse square law with enough information for the reader to understand how light affects photography without bogging you down on the full science of it. Many other photography books gloss over the inverse square law; or even worse; provide the wrong information about it.* I think the second book provides a better progression than the first. She starts with discussion lighting patterns in Chapter 1; and then moves briefly through the basic technical aspects of shutter speed; ISO; aperture; and flash exposure (FEC) in Chapter 2. Chapter 2 appears brief but the topic is succinctly explained (i.e. not too much time spent elaborating). The rest of the book is why you paid money to buy this book. While Stephanies first book covers the Nikon speedlight system thoroughly and then adds some material about portrait photography techniques; the second book is mostly about portrait photography techniques with your lighting equipment.* The technical aspects of operating your flash (or video light) are discussed with "just enough" information to bootstrap yourself. If you had prior understanding of shutter speed; ISO; aperture and working your FEC dial on your flash; then the technical aspects in the second book will summarize and clarify things in short order. If you are coming in as a beginner; you might want to find another book to assist with your understanding with the technical aspects.* Just like the first book; Stephanie covers a lot using TTL flash and really shows that TTL flash can work in a lot of situations; even in ones where you thought manual flash was the only solution. There is coverage about ambient light; reflectors; video light; and manual flash; but the TTL flash pieces are the highlights of the book.In conclusion; while the author and publisher may not like this; my personal opinion is that you can skip the first book and just buy this book. Its a solid book.6 of 6 people found the following review helpful. One of the better books out there on lightingBy PatrikHI have not bought an ahmerst media book in a long time because most of their books have this cookie cutter format that tells you very little. I am happy to say this book breaks the mold. The first thing and best thing about this book; is that there are tons of picture with the explanations. There is huge model diversity in these pictures which is good; you see thin models; fat models; tall; short; light dark; etc.. This effects lighting and the authors do a great job in showing lighting with a diversity of models. The only thing I could want more from the book is more pages. But barring that; all the different ideas of lighting are well explained and given good photo illustration. In a few places; a bigger picture might have been nice; just to make the concept they are explaining easier to see; but that is really a minor quibble.4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. A great summary of the subjectBy Russ LewisRuns practically all the way from how to turn on your camera to how to do fairly advanced lighting with multiple speedlights. Very well written and easy to read. The wealth of illustrating photographs adds to the effectiveness of the book.