The Unforeseen Children Of Olive Shipley (The Eyes Trilogy)

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Rain is drumming hard on the black skylight. I'm halfway into a New Yorker story concerning two young lovers about to break up because they no longer smoke pot with breakfast. This might be the last straw to the anti-heroine who is beautiful and bored and has another, slightly less feckless, young man on the string; the second guy raises carnivorous plants in the daytime and studies taxidermy in night school. The power of the story seems to be not in the relationships but in the images-the starkest one isn't the Venus's flytrap working over the beetle, but a drawer in the taxidermy lab that opens to reveal a treasure chest of gleaming false eyeballs with shiny stares, rolling about like marbles.

I think of Byron McFee. This is a natural jump to make: We'd leaf through them, pretending to be searching out pictures to accompany school reports, but like everyone else of the pre-Playboy generation, we were looking for naked natives. As for glassy eyes: She lay on her fat side. All of her black and white markings were swollen to twice their size, so she resembled an enormous half-charred marshmallow. One unseeing eye was wide open. Byron and I dared one another to touch the cow's eye with a stick, Someone probably shot it, Byron said. I argued that no one ever shot a cow.

My theory was that the cow had done something wrong or stupid, broken a rule, probably eaten a poisoned weed. But Byron kept looking stubbornly for a bullet hole. Somehow this was a profound disagreement, and a great deal of unease and even disdain for one another prevailed as we poked about insisting on our versions. Leave anthropology to the Margaret Meads.

The picture still flickers on the opposite wall where our T. Margaret Mead's head is on the cover in black and white, her mouth open, mutely saying something. It was this week's big media event along with the MX missile. Donahue already had his talk show, with Mead's daughter defending her mother's positions against the assertions of the Australian anthropologist Freeman. Dennis rearranges his pillows and settles back, flipping pages of Science ' I turn back to my story. The young woman has returned from the taxidermist to find the country music boyfriend has stacked cereal boxes all over the living room floor.

She considers cutting off all of her hair. Instead she draws a bath and sprinkles rosemary in the water. Byron appears on the pages, floating in a tub. When we were really little kids, before the cow, on hot summer days when there seemed nothing to do but lie around in the humidity nibbling on sliced tomatoes and cold baloney, his mother would use the garden hose to fill a large tin tub, and Byron and I, and sometimes my older sister Midge, would splash naked together.

Bare-naked, we called it, which somehow was more than naked. One day he decided to leave on his jockey shorts. I don't know why. Maybe I had been staring rudely or something. I put my underpants back on too. I throw my New Yorker off the bed. Suddenly I don't care about the cereal guy or the eyeball guy or the girl floating meaningfully in her rosemary. Is there really a whole generation of these uncommit. Every week New Yorker fiction says SO. I look at the soundless T. Short natives dance across the wall between Kathe Kollwitz prints. In one print, an old woman, meticulously etched, holds her face in her hands.

Something she's seen, and not on T. The female natives are now pounding food. The camera moves in for the cliched shot - breasts, young and old, jumping up and down. Civilization was pushing upriver or downstream, threatening to smother their idyllic life with polyester? Be quiet, I'm reading.

Actually the program was an anomaly of sorts. It harked back to some pre-T. In the documentary the natives' world was one big playpen. No one wore clothes. They all splashed about by the river, men and women smearing one another's bodies with handfuls of the pasty mud. The men chased the women around in the woods, and then everyone ran splashing into the river for a slippery free-for-all, and the men washed the mud off the women's bodies.

It was as if the whole day were given over to foreplay, a perpetual, giggling, sexual hide-and-seek existence until twilight, with no parents to call anyone home. There was one jarring note to this documentary paradise: Any woman who even laid eyes on IT would be punished severely. I picture Byron covering himself with his jockey shorts. In our new state of proper dress, Byron and I remained best friends and buddies. A few years later my family moved away-a seemingly insurmountable three hours' drive.

Byron can visit, said my mother, and indeed, when we both were eleven, and Midge thirteen, he finally arrived for a weekend. My parents left town. This was all before sociology and child.

The Shimmer at Fog Cottage

My parents assumed we were just younger people with less experience of the world growing into older people with more; none of us had ever disproven this theory. It seemed a sensible plan. We were the guardians of the home, and we set to work. At the front door we assembled the following: The pan was to fall against the string and ring the alarm. We ran a test. It worked except the alarm flew off the chair and landed with a squawk on the floor.

Byron glared at both of us as though we were at fault, and he cleverly turned the chair around so its slats would hold the clock in place. A new test failed. The alarm didn't go off. Midge stated the now obvious: We attached a hanger to the doorknob and hooked it around the bottom can. We didn't even run a test. He had put in a back-up. There were now two metal trays leaning against the door.

One clanged down on an inverted iron frying pan with a fierce echoing bang; the other fell as originally planned against the string triggering the alarm. That night we gathered around the seven-inch Admiral T. This was a mistake. The Mummy did walk, through doors and walls, and, obviously, through burglar alarms. We went up to bed with fireplace implements and a baseball bat.

Michigan quarterly review: Vol. 24, No. 2

Byron maneuvered his cot between. The house seemed to practice newfound sounds, creaks, moans, and we slept very little. Early the next morning the cans at the back door went over in a cacophony. A deep male voice said, "What the helll? We showed him the front door alarm and told him about The Mummy Walks.

He dismissed everything as silly nonsense. For years I attributed that quote to the milkman. However, I never quite recovered from the movie. Even today, especially if Dennis is out of town, I can see that damn Mummy walking, arms stretched out, empty eye sockets. In truth, he doesn't remember; he performs such tasks on automatic. I climb out of bed and wander the house, checking windows and doors, wondering exactly what I am protecting with this caution. The last time I saw Byron it was November, and we were both eighth graders.

His family invited my family back to stay with them for Homecoming weekend. Everyone, from junior high up, could attend the big dance at the high school. Early Saturday morning, Midge, Byron and I dashed off into the fields with Byron's new official football. We started tossing it about, playing Monkey In The Middle, but Midge soon left, saying her fingernails would be ruined.

She had only recently stopped gnawing on them and now was addicted instead to their splendor and length. Byron continued rifling the football across the blue autumn air. He was different somehow. I couldn't catch his bullet passes with my red-chapped hands, and the thud of the ball against my budding chest stung. I dropped passes, much to Byron's disgust. Without warning he tackled me, hurling me hard against the unthawed ground. He lay there on top of me, pressing me down, holding my arms pinned back.

It was the most romantic moment of my short, mostly happy life. I fixed you up with John Carter. This fling to the ground was not about young romance, it was about brutality. We sat up side by side. Byron started to brush my back off, but I shrugged him away. He went off to military school in the fourth grade.

It was the most insulting comment anyone could make to a female pubescent. We didn't speak all through dinner, although Byron attempted an olive branch of sorts by piling his mashed potatoes into twin breasts and inviting me to laugh as we would have in the old days when we could fall out of our chairs in comic spasms over the word girdle. But I took the mashed potatoes personally and fought back tears. Our families were too busy babbling about the past and gobbling down fried chicken to notice.

Soon we all went off to dress for the dance. I bathed and dressed in a fury, managing to nick my kneecap with the razor. It didn't help when I told Midge about Lou Ann. She said, by way of sympathy, "Wow, and I thought you and Byron would always be together-even get married someday! Everything I put on was wrong. The garter belt hung loosely from my hipless hips; the stockings rumpled, sank and swam around my skinny legs, clinging only to the wet bloody place at my knee.

My taffeta print dress looked like something a mother would put on a four-year-old for Easter morning. Already I was destroying the armpits with nervous perspiration. I slipped my feet into scuffy ballet flats and examined myself in the mirror. The only recourse would be to fall down in a violent swoon and twitch to death, but then they might bury me in this get-up. I descended the stairs with all the casualness I could muster.

The doorbell rang, and to keep busy I opened the door to find. Lou Ann flung her fur jacket off and spun her circle skirt around and then minced back and forth on her shiny high heels as if we all had gathered there to congratulate Miss America. Byron had lied; John had not changed. He hadn't grown one inch since fourth grade. Decked out in his military suit, he walked pigeon-toed across the room to shake hands with me. He came up to my ear. I was going to the Homecoming Dance with a toy soldier.

He wasn't pleased either; after all, he had to accompany a tall, imitation woman. We followed Byron and Lou Ann out the door, the counterfeit play-couple, trailing enviously behind the real couple. As the door closed behind us we heard the adults cooing, "Aren't they all so cute? He's polished off the article. Dennis prefers everything to be science insofar as possible. He agrees with a physicist friend who is fond of announcing that there is no way of living in today's world without knowing math clear through calculus, a statement that always leaves me breathless. Dennis clears his throat.

He is going to give his book report on the article. Maggie clearly set out with certain predispositions. And that Freeman guy didn't? Small rages that go back to the stupid taffeta dress and the Homecoming Dance begin to flicker. I'm totally a product of the nurture side of the argument.

There is something about male world versus female world in all this. Would another female anthropologist have gone to all this trouble to re. But if she did, her book would be dismissed as beside the point, bitchy. I glare across the bed at Dennis. We are locked in some eternal argument, but what are we arguing about? I'm being smothered by taffeta. I have never come out ahead in this kind of discussion with Dennis. I feel passionate about the points I make; I am the points I make. He enjoys debate for debate's sake. I try a new tack: Now you're going to say, 'What is better?

He's lying low, waiting for me to selfdestruct. Able to live in peace with neighbors, friends, children, other societies Dennis ignores the olive branch. It's perfectly logical that they should have. Now I have him in the jaws of logic: How we treat one another really matters! I'm living proof that DNA is glutted with genes of aggression.

He is bored with the conversational direction. He picks up the remote control and presses the T. I reach down and retrieve the New Yorker from the floor, thinking, this stupid story is on the right track. Nothing matters any more, traditions, relationships, words, so we start anew, piling up observations like so many rediscovered Lincoln logs, or marbles, or cereal boxes, casually, very casually, just seeing if maybe they might add up to something. All power is in the perceiver. That would be good Before I can find my place in the story, Dennis ups the volume another notch, and the insistent voice of the narrator in the pygmy program catches my attention.

He is telling us their way of life is almost gone. He calls civilization "relentless. The camera zooms about gathering in their environment, rich carpets of jungle greenery, zebras dashing their jail stripes about in confusion, a lion lurking and crouching. Now the camera settles like a hawk in a nearby village, focusing on a discarded T. The town never had electricity, says the narrator. He doesn't laugh; this is serious; the music strikes several heavy chords, the End. The credits appear, numerous credits. There were more people filming pygmies than pygmies. I picture the pygmies squatting about little 7-inch Admiral T.

Dennis has his own answer: Together we toss all the literature off the bed onto the floor. He switches off the light. Last of all he fires the remote control, and the T. Only a few years ago, virtually no one had heard of it. Now it figures prominently in the media, its sudden visibility due primarily to the commercial and political challenge of Japan's "Fifth Generation" project.

It is seen by most people as no less threatening in its scientific incarnation than in its fictional form. Many fear that humane values must take second place-or be altogether negated- if this new science and its accompanying technology mold man's image to their likeness. A fear of tigers, or of flying, may be more concrete and more readily intelligible. But the fear that some new science or technology may be deeply dehumanizing is a real one. Humanist philosophers and psychologists in general are suspicious of science - or, at least, of natural science. Max Weber, Wilhelm Dilthey, and Jurgen Habermas are just a few of those thinkers who have distinguished sharply between the interpretative understanding or Verstehen that they see as necessary for the hermeneutic or social sciences, and the objective, externalized, attitude typical of natural science.

Within psychology, their ideas have been by no means universally accepted. The more "serious" or "scientific" the psychologist, the more likely that they would give short shrift to such views. Even Freud, committed to an interpretative viewpoint as he undoubtedly was, believed that at the most basic philosophical level such embarrassingly human terms as "purpose" and "choice" could be reduced to brain-events described in the neutral terms of neuroscience.

But there have always remained some psychologists whose humanist sympathies led them to bemoan the growing influence of science and technology in the modern world. Many of these insisted that though our assumptions about what human beings are, and what they can be, are often unspoken, even largely unconscious, BODEN they affect our daily lives, being intimately related to our morals and to our morale.

Long before artificial intelligence was publicly recognized, for example, the counseling psychologist Rollo May noted the ill effects on morale of comparing men to machines. He reported that his patients' difficulties were largely due to their failure to see themselves as beings capable of choice and goal-directed action. He blamed "the dehumanizing dangers in our tendency in modern science to make man over into the image of the machine, into the image of the techniques by which we study him.

The implicit message of the natural sciences is clear enough.

Since physics has no place for concepts such as purpose, choice, belief, action, and above all subjectivity, it implicitly encourages worldviews and views of human beings that have no place for them either. In remarking on science's tendency "to undermine man's experience of himself as responsible, to sap his willing and decision," May was not making a merely theoretical point. He was reporting widespread effects which he had seen in his patients.

They had come to him for practical help, partly because the science of the time had insidiously encouraged them to see themselves as helpless. We do not need to eavesdrop at the psychotherapist's couch to see the human or inhuman effects of an overly "rational," narrowly "scientific," worldview. We can see them within certain political institutions, and in certain office or factory environments. We know that people's willingness to accept responsibility is undermined if they are never given the chance to choose, if they are led to believe that they have no ability to do so, or if they think their decisions will have no effects.

We know, too, how much resentment can arise if people feel that they are being treated "like machines," or that their human potential is neither recognized nor valued. The "primitive" technologies of the assembly-line and simple automation have led to human results like these, but the man in the street will increasingly come into contact with technology of an apparently more "intelligent" kind. In Japan and in the West, government and industrial money is being poured into artificial intelligence research.

The latest Joint International Conference attracted many businessmen hoping that "expert systems" to help them solve their own business problems might be written by the Al-companies now proliferating in the marketplace. And a handful of conference. The ambitious aims of these "Fifth Generation" projects may not be realized, even in the long term. But within ten years or so, their research will make many useful applications available. We do not have to look very hard into our crystal ball to see AI-programs being used by commercial firms and professional institutions of many types.

The central issue for discussion here is this: Will it tend to lower our morale, and increase our sense of helplessness in face of life's challenges? In short, will it change the way we think about ourselves as human beings, so that our humanity is denigrated or even denied? The answer may seem obvious- and frightening. Most people assume that this new technology has two threatening implications.

First, that we are not so intelligent as we thought we were: And second, that we are "nothing but machines": On both counts, it would follow that we are neither so special nor so worthy as we thought. Philosophical attitudes which value mankind's specifically human qualities may thus appear to be sentimental and mistaken. However obvious it may seem, this answer is mistaken. The philosophical message of artificial intelligence is the opposite of what it is commonly taken to be.

First, it tells us that the human mind is far richer and more subtle than we usually think-and much more powerful even than tomorrow's computers, never mind today's. And second, it confirms what humanists have always emphasized: As for the first point, the reasoning and understanding of AIprograms are paltry compared with ours. Even though in principle computer systems might do everything we can do, actual and foreseeable "machine intelligence" hardly approaches ours. This is often not realized, because we do badly what programs do well. Computers are better at maths, and at precisely specifiable scientific reasoning, than many sometimes, most human specialists are.

This is why "expert systems" are possible, for solving problems. BODEN in narrowly delimited areas of stereochemistry, geological oilprospecting, or medical diagnosis. But what is usually forgotten is that the things that we all do well, computers perform very poorly. We can all understand our mother tongue, and most of us can read as well.

We can all recognize objects lying in shadows, or partially hidden by other things. We can all use our commonsense in tackling a problem, or in "reading between the lines" of speeches, letters, or newspapers. And almost all of us can use our fingers dextrously to perform a variety of manual tasks.

AIsystems can do these things only in highly limited ways. People tempted to feel denigrated because, unlike computer programs, they cannot solve mathematical equations in a split second should remember that they can do other things which no computer today can do. Not today - and not tomorrow, either. Their morale and self-image may be less threatened accordingly. Important as it is, general morale is not the only reason why we should remember that artificial intelligence shows the human mind to be even more awe-inspiring than we thought.

There is another, even more practical, reason. People working with AI-programs will need a reliable sense of which questions this technology can handle, and which it can't. Obviously "stupid" programs are less dangerous than "intelligent" ones, because refusal to rely on a program's pronouncements is in general less dangerous than an over-enthusiastic trust in it. But making AI-systems only a little more intelligent might be very misleading.

A program with some semblance of common sense, for example, could be more dangerous than one with none at all. For it would very likely be credited with more reasoning power than it actually possessed. Common sense is needed for dealing with a problem given incomplete knowledge, for one has to guess the relevant facts. If it turns out later that one of these guesses was incorrect a person can use that new information from then on.

That is, people can cope with the fact that a statement sensibly assumed to be true can later be found to be false. This cannot happen in traditional logic, wherein truths are proved once and for all. Current computer problem-solvers are based on traditional logic.

Consequently, some AI-researchers are working on "non-monotonic" reasoning, in which truth-values can. Some of the relevant issues have been illustrated by John McCarthy one of the most important figures in the history of artificial intelligence. McCarthy imagines asking a friend to solve the "missionaries and cannibals" puzzle.

Instead of talking about journeys of one or two people across the river and back again, the imaginary friend says "They all walk across the bridge. His friend next says "They build a raft large enough to carry six people. Clearly, this conversation could go on for ever. It is the friend's common sense which enables him to tease McCarthy in this way.

A "puzzle" is a special sort of problem, in which it is assumed that one will not try to use one's common sense. To accept the puzzle in the spirit in which it was given would therefore have meant accepting that no such extraneous factors can be considered - even though they are not explicitly excluded. A normal problem-solving computer program would not consider them either - it does not even know about bridges, rafts, crocodiles, or helicopters. If it did know about them, it would have to be told beforehand that they are not relevant. Otherwise it might consider them in all seriousness.

It would be quite wrong to say "Don't worry! For in real life, with six men lost in a jungle, the "equivalent" problem might be solvable in these terms. Even a crocodile could prove useful, if one of the men were able to "hypnotize" animals so as to bend them to his will. Moreover, one common-sense suggestion would often be taken to show the speaker's implicit rejection of another. Thus if one of the stranded men were to suggest using a crocodile, the others would immediately assume.

BODEN that he knew of no nearby bridge. For if he did, he would surely have had enough common sense to mention it first. Now we can see why a little "common sense" in a program might be dangerous. Suppose a future expert system makes one apparently commonsensical suggestion. The unwary human user might imagine that other potentially relevant ideas are also available to it whereas in fact the program is totally ignorant of them. If they are not mentioned, this must be the user assumes because the program has considered them and judged them to be unhelpful in this particular case. The user's confidence in the program's judgment could thus lead to the rejection of alternative solutions.

This over-generous, anthropomorphic, image of the program's reasoning-power could be disastrous. Similar remarks apply to language-using programs. A native speaker is normally assumed to have chosen a word in preference to all the alternatives. So if someone says that something is "possible," they are taken to be denying that it is "probable.

Common sense and language-understanding are just two examples showing that the human mind - every normal human mind - is much more powerful, much more intelligent, than any AI-program. The space-travelling computer HAL in A Space Odyssey is, and will remain, a figment of the human imagination. To the extent that people realize this, their self-respect will not be lessened by an influx of AI-programs. It may even be increased: The second philosophical implication of artificial intelligence noted above was its acceptance of humane concepts like belief, purpose, value, and choice.

This suggests a seeming paradox: Indeed, it has already had some humanizing effects in theoretical psychology, offering a mentalist alternative to behaviorism. The mind and mental processes are respectable concepts in psychology again. And many psychologists say that they have been helped to a recognition of the mind's subtle complexity by thinking about it in computational terms. How can this be? An AI-program contains an internal representation of the world its problem-domain , which mediates all its decisions ad actions. This symbolic representation, whether fixed or modifiable, is what determines its performance.

An expert system that diagnoses meningitis, for instance, can do so only on the basis of stored knowledge about its various forms. If a particular variety of the disease is not represented by any of the rules for pattern-matching or inference, then the program simply cannot recognize it or prescribe treatment for it. Likewise, a visual program set to recognize faulty china cups, or enemy missile sites, must have some idea some representation of what these things can be expected to look like.

It is because the natural sciences have no place for the concept of representation that they cannot, in principle, say anything about our action and experience. They cannot allow for belief, purpose, choice- and human idiosyncracy. They have no way of saying that individual people see the world differently, that one person's actions differ from another's because they have different political beliefs, different personal priorities, or simply different cultural backgrounds. Questions about such human matters therefore cannot be asked or answered in natural scientific terms.

This is why people committed to a scientific world view often ignore them, or dismiss them as woolly-minded sentimentalities. At best, they are relegated to the sphere of literature or poetry: These dehumanizing consequences do not follow where the science concerned is computer science, or artificial intelligence. For the fact that programs necessarily employ representations has a philosophical consequence of great practical importance. Contrary to what most people believe, computers are not "objective" systems, guaranteed to reach the truth.

They are, in a sense, "subjective" systems -just as we are. A program works by using its internal model of the world, and of how best to think about the world. But models are not necessarily accurate. One can always, in principle, raise the question whether or not a model reflects the truth adequately.

BODEN designed to answer similar questions will give different answers if they use different models of the world and of ways of reasoning about the world. These representations -like those inside human heads-can be more or less veridical, more or less sensible. Philosophically speaking, they are subjective and questionable rather than objective and infallible.

It follows that the conclusions of a computer program are open to question, just as a person's are. In general, there are three main types of question, or epistemological challenge, that can be raised with respect to any knowledge-user. These concern the "facts" being used, and the ways in which - and the purposes for which - those facts are used. It is highly unlikely to possess "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Many will be "hunches" that are sensible only in certain circumstances, or only given certain culturally-relative assumptions or practices.

And last, it employs decision-criteria to select one course of action rather than another which are essentially problematic. Different decision-criteria might have been used: In short, the data, inference rules, and decision criteria can always, in principle, be challenged. We accept this philosophical insight readily enough where other human minds are concerned.

We're all well aware that if a person tells us something, or offers us advice, they are open to challenge on three counts. First, they may have got some of their "facts" wrong, or they may be ignorant of some of the relevant facts. Again, they may be using unreliable methods of inference in using those facts to lead to others.

A detective might cite cigar-ash as proof that the culprit is not a woman; quite apart from the possibility that the ash could have been dropped in order to mislead the police, some women do smoke cigars. And last, in choosing between alternative solutions they may be using priorities or values which we ourselves would not accept: In much the same way, a program is open to a threefold challenge on its facts, its inferences, and its values.

Its world-model may be unacceptable on any or all of these three dimensions. A closely related point is that "intelligent" programs are essentially fallible, just as we are ourselves. This fallibility has nothing to do with the fact that computers sometimes break down, or with the fact that they are sometimes incompetently programmed. Those common sources of program-error are avoidable, at least in principle.

But programs that deal with problems where not all the relevant information is available are inevitably fallible. Errors may be minimized, but they cannot be utterly excluded. The reason is that no intelligent system could possibly be guaranteed to reach the right answer under conditions of incomplete information.

For if some relevant facts are missing as they are in most problems of any interest or human importance , the system must guess. If it cannot guess, it is stupid rather than intelligent. Intelligence, after all, is largely a matter of making sensible decisions without having all the evidence in. One can do this only on the basis of one's expectations, or previous knowledge - which will sometimes prove inadequate. An '"expert system" like a human specialist may guess sensibly, employing sensible hunches rather than mentally "tossing a coin. To the extent that people realize this, there is less chance that they will be - or feel - oppressed by a misguided respect for the so-called "objectivity" of programs.

They will realize that one does not have to accept something just because a program says so. It is all too easy, of course, for people to be fooled by programs, to take their pronouncements on trust when they would do better to question them. How can the person unfamiliar with computers and programming be protected from this? And how can the person's colleagues be reassured that Al-programs are not being unthinkingly trusted by people making decisions that affect them?

To some extent, laymen can be protected if the programs they use are written in certain ways.

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For example, a program might remind the user from time to time that he or she is interacting with a program, which cannot take into account all the considerations that a person could. Programmers could avoid using superficial "plausibility tricks," such as addressing users by their personal names, or greeting them with friendly expressions like "Hi!

And the name of the programmer and of the sponsoring institution could be dis. BODEN played, to remind the user that some human being for some human purpose wrote the program in the first place. But these sorts of protection will not be enough. For one might say that any AI-program is necessarily based on a set of deep plausibility tricks. This is why they can appear so convincing to the nonspecialist user. The only way of countering this tendency is to foster computer literacy in the populace at large.

The sort of computer literacy we need here is not a matter of teaching everyone to write fancy programs. This would be neither possible nor desirable. Most of us will prefer to buy our programs "off the shelf," rather than spend time programming ourselves. Rather, the average user must be helped to realize the essential limitations of programs as well as their potential.

In particular, they must be alerted to the fact explained above: Some work has already been done on developing programming environments that can foster this sort of computer literacy. This user-friendly system helps to show students that an apparently intelligent program is neither so intelligent as it seems, nor unalterable. It is rather like the sort of psychotherapist who never says anything of substance, but rather reflects the patient's emotional concerns. If one types in the sentence "I mistrust you," the program responds with "Why do you mistrust me?

This is initially impressive. But "I dolphin you" would likewise elicit "Why do you dolphin me? The program has no understanding of English. It merely has a few simple rules for recognizing specific "keywords" and responding to them blindly in stereotyped ways. Anyone who is initially impressed by ELIZA as most naive users are will find it a salutary experience to discover the program's limitations.

No one who has had this experience could ever interact with a language-using program later in life without asking what its limitations were. The answer might not be readily available. But at least the question would be prominent in the user's mind. It is this sort of computer literacy, rather than programming ability, which is essential to prevent the public being oppressed by the spurious "objectivity" of programs. The dangers of such oppression can be illustrated by an advertisement recently seen on British TV.

It showed six people sitting at six computers. The X chose the X- and so did all the others. It makes you think that a person ought to choose the X too. Such a deliberate mystification is possible only because of the average viewer's ignorance of the sort of science that artificial intelligence is, and of the philosophical relations between it and the way we view ourselves.

Today, artificial intelligence is commonly seen as a terrifying bogeyman who will destroy our self-respect and autonomy even if we all keep our jobs. But this fear rests on a philosophical misunderstanding of what sort of thing a program is. AI-programs are more like us than we thought, and they are much less intelligent than people. In sum, far from alienating us still further, this new technology and the theoretical psychologies inspired by it can help to give us back to our scientific selves.

Young and at some loss to define my own standing, I turned to memory for a first approximation of what I was. Of course, alive as the young are to the ranges of the impending possible, my memories seemed to have washed through me and I found myself hard put to record more than my precise but phantom present.

It is a constant paradox of the log that the more certain I grow about myself, the less concerned I am with any immediate condition. Early orphaned, and as early taken into a Bleak House of anxious and weak-eyed children, I had no sense of lineage and only the faintest impressions of a place not girded about with cinderblock, blue plastic fans and white acoustic tile. Despite child labor laws, I was set to work hammering out the heads of pins in a kind of monotony I have since come to appreciate as the vehicle to a meditative freedom.

But I draw ahead of myself: I learned that my gifts for lightning calculation, however come by, inherited from whichever side of a family as irretrievable as the final prime, made me the kickstool for a hundred pranks, a thousand foolish riddles, hours of miserable adolescent cruelties we all, I suppose, must suffer through at some point, but always me more than others.

Ungainly, squat, hardly athletic even in my most glorious tantrums, I had to wait out the taunts and practical jokes of brats who would someday be the great of this world, build bridges, splice molecules, track the flavor and charm of the universe. Waiting them out, I took wholeheartedly to my journal and made it at once the source and centerpiece of my active life.

It was then that I found I had such resources that, regardless of Clearly, what I was and am is essentially an historical issue, for unless there is a spine of continuity, an unbroken log, I could be but a wisp, a lost motion. Realizing this with the fervor and precocity only puberty can so surprise us into, I began to consider my log an autobiography as well as a catchpoint and an accounting. Moreover, I wanted to spend time recapitulating, retrieving the dull pain of my cold childhood and so constituting the spinal disc of myself. That meant recalling what was submerged as well as obliging myself to a fierce retentiveness.

The consequence was that I refused to forget. Ward of the state, I had been shoved mercilessly job after job, a thousand jobs a day or more, day after day, and urged day after day to dump the past, forget the weeks that lay behind, move on, move on. Though some jobs endured, though some memory was more or less constant, for the most part my guardians demanded a happy selective amnesia which I could no longer accept. I was attacked, starved, fed purgatives, tortured in ways best left to the imagination. I had however prepared myself.

I had studied the ways of mystics who have lived for years on water, almonds and faith. I knew that within me lay a residual power and drive which none could take away, and that I could with practice call upon that power to keep me inviolate, whatever the jealous men and women did to force their will upon me. And all along I was composing this, my autobiography. Not as a gift to the world, not as a means toward celebrity, but as a fragment such as this sentence is, of what being is all about.

Out at last of the Red Chamber of their despair, freed from labor by an official diagnosis of some ill-understood condition aphasia? They call this, in unguarded moments, an hallucination: In its basic plan it looks very much like a stick figure of a large insect. It is an "adaptive suspension" vehicle used as a tool for studying problems related to legged locomotion, particularly on rough terrain.

As it walks around the laboratory the Hexapod trails a tether, a cable connecting it to a computer which controls its The Hexapod robot. The computer is programmed to adapt those movements to the terrain conditions that the Hexapod confronts as it walks toward a predetermined goal, hence the term "adaptive suspension.

The basic question to be considered in this essay is: What makes this machine a robot? Why do we not consider it as just an advanced piece of automated machinery such as those that stamp out products in factories all over the world? What is the nature of a robot?

Some time ago a colleague spoke to me of his reaction to the OSU Hexapod on first seeing it start up and walk about. The hair on the nape of his neck stood out, his stomach tightened, and he involuntarily stepped back from the machine, even though he was already some distance away.

My colleague is an engineer and had already studied the workings of the Hexapod in some detail before actually seeing it move. But when he first saw it walking he did more than appreciate this refined feat of engineering; he further honored it by according it animate status. His response reflects an inference we routinely make about motion in our world.

Like many other animal species, we dichotomize objects into animate and inanimate on the basis of their motion. This fundamental distinction is based on our understanding of the movements which attend action. The animation of machinery is the domain of robotics. The knowledge we use to delineate animate from inanimate is also that with which we conceive, design and build robots.

To begin understanding the nature of a robot we must first look at the human view of action in the world by examining the sources of information with which animation is judged. This will lead to an understanding that man animates his machinery in much the same way as he sees his own actions and those of other animals. The first step in the process of endowing an object with an animated character is the perception of its motion. Humans and most of the rest of the animal kingdom are quite sensitive to movement in their perceived world.

How many of us have been bedeviled by the flick of our eyes away from a page to catch passers-by in a crowded library, or have rapidly jerked away when brushed on the hairs of the arm by some unknown object in the dark? Sensed motion usually generates rapid responses. In many cases, these are responses of a reflexive nature and they have survival value. The ability to detect motion, preferably at a distance, and to focus upon it, leads to. Our perceptual world is full of movements. From this sensory barrage we manage to separate inanimate motion-things responding to physical forces acting upon them - from animated movement.

What particular characteristics of movement are there that enable us to determine animate qualities? There are two basic criteria. First, animation contains patterned or coordinated movement. Second, the patterned ensemble results in purposeful or goaldirected behavior. By analogy, if you were in the middle of a swimming pool and randomly thrashed your arms and legs about, you might reach the side, but it is not likely. The animate quality of your swimming results from the periodic and coordinated way in which your limbs utilize water's resistance for propulsion.

We see in this example coordination not only between limbs but also within the segments of each limb. As your arm comes out of the water to reach forward it flexes at the elbow. The wrist is bent. The upper arm rotates at the shoulder and the elbow extends. The wrist moves to align the palm with the long axis of the forearm, the fingers cup slightly as the arm meets the water and another propulsive stroke is made.

This patterning of movements is a basic, observable characteristic of animals in action in their world. It can be seen in the undulating bell of a jellyfish, the slither of a snake and a human casting a lance. Riverview gilt crest stamped on front cover, also pres. First novel in the 'Flambards' trilogy. Another instalmant in the popular Evernight series by Claudia Gray. Book is in good condition with mild general wear and tear and light page discolouration throughout, otherwise no other pre-loved markings.

In the 'Jackie' pony series. Gift inscription else vg in dj. Emily and the Werewolf Brennan, Herbie: The story of Samuel Hearne, eighteenth-century explorer of the Canadian Arctic. Vallely, Dan poems ; Perrin, Yvonne illustrator. A children's picture story in "The Possum Creek" series. The animals and birds try to produce rain to break the drought. A fun-filled book to delight all ages. The Lost World of Possum Creek. A children's picture book in "The Possum Creek" series. A mix of Australian native animals and birds with prehistoric animals such as dinosaurs make this suitable for any age.

Fold Your Own Dinosaurs: Playschool Story Book Var. When Annie Boyd moves from the city to the country, she leaves behind her school, friends and the only home she has ever known. Annie's only consolation is the thought of owning a horse. Unfortunately, her father doesn't think it's such a good idea.

Several pages have dirty marks. Illustrated children's story, in the 'Dizzy and Friends' series. Illustrated children's story, in the Pingu series. Sea Witch Comes Home: The Adventurous Four Again! Paper browned, Shop stamp and whited out name on ffep. Tips of corners bumped. Cover shows children climbing steep cliffs above fishing boat with seabords overhead. In the Andersen Young Readers' Library. A tale of Bagdad Retold by Aaron Shepard; illus. A tale of Bagdad long long ago Described as lyrical and enchanting.

First in the 'Billabong Classics' series. You are cordially invited to step into The Luxe where the secrets are dark and the sins are delicious. Imagine if you will, New york City Book is in very good condition with mild general wear and tear and light page discolouration throughout, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. Puffin Folktales of the World 1. The fourth book in the popular Evernight series by Claudia Gray.

Thoughtful, brave and sassy, Ugenia Lavender is one amazing kid. With loads of energy, tons of attitude and brainwaves like thunderbolts of lightning, Ugenia leaps into adventures that are as packed with personality as their creator, Geri Halliwell. Book 4 - Ugenia Lavender is off on holiday. What's it like being stranded on a desert island?

Will she get back from holiday in time to ride the scariest ride ever at the Luna Park Funfair? And just how will she get back to school in one piece? That depends on what happens when Ugenia is left home alone Edges of pages are lightly browned. How can Mia bear it? Michael, her one true love, has gone away to college, leaving her to face a new school year alone well, nearly. With a potential eco-disaster in Genovia, a new English teacher who can't stand her and a totally transformed Boris to get used to, life for the world's most reluctant royal is looking like it can't get much worse.

A plan that involves Grandmere showing up at school in her fur cape and tiara! That's when I have to be home. Dad thinks it's not Safe any later. But then the most amazing, magical thing happens. Out with my best friend, Magda and Nadine, I meet a boy. And it's Me he's interested in! Not drop-dead gorgeous Magda. But will Russell Stay interested in a girl who was to be home by nine? This is the third title in a popular series for older readers from award-winning author Jacqueline Wilson.

Edges of pages are slightly foxed. Children of Morwena is a futuristic epic with elements of fairy tale. It tells the story of Leila Kieva, Andre, and their young sister, Bonnie, whose lives are shattered when their family is destroyed in a single strike against the city of Morwena. The children, along with their peers who have been evacuated, are suddenly flung into a life brushed with death defying forces - the deadly Grim, an organization thriving in chaos, Alrica, the wolf woman, and Rattus, who have their own dark agendas.

It is a tough story. Not everyone makes it, but the will to create a common life and to seek love, joy, and continuity is strong. Above all, Children of Morwena is a story about love and belonging. The Sky is Falling Down-Under. Newton, Gina; Niland, Kilmeny illustrator.

Australian children's picture story about a possum thinking the sky is about to fall down! This very special book with the large colourful drawings and simple text will appeal to all ages. This re-telling of a favourite folk tale has an Aussie twist. Another instalment in the popular young adult fiction series for girls featuring Donna Parker.

Book is in good condition with mild general wear and tear and moderate page discolouration throughout. There is a small pen inscription from a previous owner on one of the inside front pages. Internal spine webbing at front and back has begun to split from endpapers. Front and back endpapers show sticky tape residue from where the book was previously cover in protective plastic, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. Boards are in very good condition, pages are tanned but unmarked Quantity Available: Winter is coming and Mouse needs food to survive the cold weather.

Will Squirrel lend a hand? Younger readers, Australian setting. Usual library stamps and markings; Moominpappa's life story. Dust jacket protected in clear, plastic sleeve. Ex-library with usual marks, stamps, stickers.. Spine is very faded. Extensive rubbing to back cover. Estimated date, , Trove catalogue. A delightful collectible book for children of all ages.

The bright colourful drawings and simple text will appeal especially to very young children. Green Eggs and Ham. In this great classic children's picture story from Dr Seuss, Sam-I-am is determined to get grumpy grouch to eat green eggs and ham. A large format edition that will appeal to all ages.

No internal inscriptions, torn or missing pages.. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Very Good Condition Price: Welcome to 19th century Paris, and the world of Degas's dancers. Sylvie dreams of being a prima ballerina, but her height is a problem: When the Franco-Prussian war begins in , Paris is soon under siege and Sylvie is thrown into turmoil and tragedy. Against the fiery backdrop of war, the beauty of the ballet sustains and strengthens Sylvie. Before long, her talent and drive allows her to achieve her goal--and she graces the stage as a star.

Little Men Alcott, Louisa M. Minor edgewear to boards, pages are tanned. Dicks, Terrance; Littlewood, Valerie illustrator. Adventure story for children and young adults. David's dog Goliath - an enormous mongrel - insists on going wherever David goes. For once, David is glad he came along as Goliath solves the mystery of the missing medal. Collectible hardback edition, written by the author of some Doctor Who stories. Hippo is a detective. So when she finds two different eggs, the solution is simple: But the bird hatches a monster and the crocodile hatches a wimp!

Small amount of liquid damage to some pages Hard to see damage , some marks and dents on back cover Quantity Available: A little wear to corners of pict. Tales of the Dreamtime: Langloh; Cunningham, Walter illustrator ; Farrer, Vashti adapted by. These wonderful Aboriginal folk tales include: How the sun was made, The fire-makers, The rain-maker Wirinum, A legend of the flowers, Bohra the kangaroo, and The black swans. The colour illustrations bring the stories to life. Suitable for older readers. Easy beginner instructions, 40 tricks for the seasoned juggler.

Paper starting to yellow, cover still shiny. Buffy the Vampire Slayer 2: This is the second omnibus volume in the Buffy series. It includes three stories: Halloween Rain; Bad Bargain; and Afterimage. Book is in very good condition with only very mild general wear and tear, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. Estimated date, , Trove catalogue newspaper mentions. Once Upon a Cat. Elegant and mysterious, courageous and cunning, and sometimes just plain charming - here are cats to delight the imagination. This series aims to help kids have fun while learning about the wild lives of Australian plants and animals that share our backyards.

This series teaches kids about backyard life and inspires in them a curious outlook that makes learning fun. Other bonuses in the series are letter, word and animal recognition while discovering our unique Australian animal world. The Backyard Kids series also aims to promote care for the environment, which begins at home.

Lasenby, Jack; Finlayson, Nancy illustrator. A charming children's picture story about the friendship between a small orphaned deer and a boy named Billy. The deer named Rewi later saves Billy. The text would suit older children, and the life-like illustrations would appeal to all ages. Amazing Stories of Adopted Strays. Kehret, Peg; Farrar, Greg photographer. This book is about rescue dogs from shelters in the United States. The true stories of eight amazing shelter dogs, and how they have changed the lives of the caring, courageous people who love them.

The Great Possum Creek Earthquake. Vallely, Dan; Perrin, Yvonne illustrator. A children's picture book in the Possum Creek series. The bright colourful illustrations will appeal to any age, to accompany the verse by Dan Vallely. Spine has minimal reading creases. Digging for peat in the mountain with his Uncle Tally, Fergus finds the body of a child, and it looks like she's been murdered.

As Fergus tries to make sense of the mad world around him - his brother on hunger-strike in prison, his growing feelings for Cora, his parents arguing over the Troubles, and him in it up to the neck, blackmailed into acting as courier to God knows what, a little voice comes to him in his dreams, and the mystery of the bog child unfurls.

Bog Child is an astonishing novel exploring the sacrifices made in the name of peace, and the unflinching strength of the human spirit. Mystery novel for young adults, from the popular Dana Girls series. This is Book No. The girls have to solve a mystery in Mozart Hall. When a valuable racehorse is stolen from Rainbow Ranch, Nancy becomes embroiled in a feud between two strong-willed men.

Accusations fly as Nancy is asked to find both the missing horse and the thief. At the same time, Nancy is asked to star in a movie. This is another one of Nancy Drew's intriguing stories full of mystery and adventure. Summers, Kate; Kneen, Maggie illustrator. A delightful children's story about two mice. One loves her simple life in the country, the other one hates the country and loves her city life. They visit each other and discover the best home for each other. The charming illustrations will appeal to children and adults alike.

The Little Grey Men: Hide spaghetti in your hair, Keep crisps in your underwear. This outrageous, tongue-in-cheek exploration of mealtime chaos will have children in stitches. Full of mischief and mess, it revels in the fun you can have with food. Squish it, slosh it, squirt it, squeeze it! Once again the friends' eager investigations lead them into all sorts of trouble - escaping an ancient sect, finding a lost city and outwitting a dangerous enemy who wants the talisman for himself.

Children's stories, illustrated by the author. Frontispiece and some other illustrations, with a 16 page catalogue at the rear. Book has severe spine browning and abrasion, with a 1cm tear in the spine head cloth and scattered foxing to the endpapers. Forensic condition report on request. Presentation plate front endpaper. Wrapper has edge abrasion and scuffing.

Illustrated card covers by Graham Potts. Book very firm, clean and unmarked. Australian children's picture book about humpback whales, in the same year as the Olympic Games were held in Sydney. This great story would be suitable for 8 years and older. Yellow boards are clean, black titles. Rear end-paper has a small dealer stamp at bottom.

The beginnings of a very mild foxing on the endpapers. Micro-tear o n the spine head. A few laminate wrinkles on the rear panel. Several abrasions on the spine panel. No fading or browning. Jacket art is very striking. A scan of the jacket is available if required. Translated from the German. Book started out as soft cover and has been professionally bound by the library. Foxing to a few pages around edges. Trees are birds, umbrellas are trees, and the sky is thick with snoring fish. Join one small boy as he tumbles out of bed into a crazy dreamland of wardrobe monsters, dragons - and amazing adventure.

This gloriously rich and beautiful picture book comes from a uniquely talented artist at the height of his powers. With a story to enchant the youngest reader, and pictures to gasp and pore over whatever your age, it is an extraordinary achievement and one to savour. Tanned pages and minor cover creasing The tall, flaxen-haired lord brought colour to Victoria's cheeks - not to mention a flutter to her pulse.

He was so handsome. What girl would not blush? And he was flirting with her! Lady Victoria Arbuthnot has always done exactly what she wants. So she's delighted when she bags drop-dead-gorgeous Lord Malfrey before she's even got off the boat from India. But then a dashing young sea captain starts spreading stories about her man. Could it be that Vicky's happy-ever-after with Lord M. Shadows of the Master: This is the first book in the Star of Deltora series.

Book is in very good condition with minor general wear and tear and light page discolouration throughout, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. Translated from the French. The Night Before Christmas. Fun bound frolics of a talking dog.

Michigan quarterly review: Vol. 24, No. 2

Book is in good condition with minor general wear and tear. There are one or two pen markings on the inside back of the front cover and inside front page from a previous owner, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. Amusingly illustrated children's book. There is a small pen marking from a previous owner on page one. There is some scuffing to cover on edges, corners and spine, otherwise no other pre-loved markings. A Kitten Called Moonlight. Waddell, Martin; Birmingham, Christian illustrator. A beautiful children's picture story about a kitten rescued from the sea by Charlotte and her Mother.

The full-colour illustrations will delight children and adults alike. Drakestail Visits the King. Illustrations painted in the s for a magic lantern entertainment. The evergreen Australian children's classic, here shortened, written and illustrated by the famous Australian artist. Spine has mild fading. Tape marks on insides of covers. Dust jacket has moderate creasing. The dust jacket has been price-clipped. Snitch and Snatch steal musical instruments from Lord Trundle.

Lucky The Magazine for Young Readers: Contact EldoradoBooks for details reduced postage. Book and wrapper in excellent condition. Children's book about manners. Young adult drama, Cover design by the Author. Cover illustration by Kathy Lawrence. Small oblong book, unpaginated, with stapled card covers. Cover illustration by Bruce Potter. Story and pictures by Arnold Lobel. A Young Puffin children's story. In the 'Start Ups' series. A Champ Book children's story. A Picture Roo Book.

Miffy at the Zoo. A children's picture story about Miffy's visit to the zoo. The delightful drawings and easy to read text will bring a smile to children and adults alike. Original German edition originally published in Jacket by Ron Stenberg. Max in Australia [Max the Cat]. Whitmore, Adam; Poltrick Donato, Janice illustrator. Max is a loveable marmalade cat with long, bushy whiskers and big furry paws. He is so handsome, but he is unhappy - he has no tail! He has left his home in London, travelled to America, India and now to Australia where he meets some very interesting animals indeed!

Share his adventures in this beautifully illustrated children's picture story. Humourous adventure story for children. Jacket by Chris Riddell. Crumpling of the spine head ridge and top flap hinge corners. One small closed tear. School prize plate dated on front page. Jacket has Heidi sitting on grass with two goats Alpine mountain scene. Corners split, split at base of spine, wear along base back cover and top edge. List of Boys and Girls Library titles. Book is in good condition with only minor general wear and tear and light page discolouration throughout, otherwise no other pre-loved markings.

Max and Christina live on an isolated farm with their "parents", Slinger and Moaner. It soon becomes apparent the adults are enthralled by a charismatic religious leader, nicknamed Ratface. Bumped corners, chip top of spine back cover. Animals in Art [I Spy Series]. A special children's picture book has 20 important paintings with a different animal to spy in each one.

This is a game for everyone to enjoy. Her own children helped her to choose the pictures in this book and the animals to spy. Transport in Art [I Spy Series]. A special children's picture book has 13 important paintings with a different type of transport to spy in each one. Jacket by Alan Brooks. Jacket by Laszlo B Acs. With 86 illustrations by the author. Issued without dust jacket. Scan of boards on request. Redcap Hardcastle, Michael London: Spine faded, 2 small corner bumps, ink name on front pastedown, uniform page browning. Fading of red component on spine, edgewear, 1 tear, some abrasion.

Seaway to Adventure Lee, Norman London: A War-air story set in WW1. Air action jacket art not credited. Price-clipped, edgewear, creasing, some spots of abrasion, ink name on inner front panel no showthrough , foxing to spine interior. Loch Zindel, Paul London: Jacket by Wayne McLoughlin. Dream Palace Masters, Anthony London: Jacket by Daniel Faoro. Edgewear, spine fa de, internal scattered foxing. Badger Masters, Anthony London: Children's story set in India. Over the Wall Drake, Tony London: Jacket by James George. Slight edge-crumpling, faint internal water stain no show-through.

Drama for young readers.

Jacket by Julia Kearns. Jacket is publisher price-clipped, with the amended price printed diagonally above the clip edge. Book has ink name and date on FFEP, and two corner bumps. Jacket has mild edge-crumple, and a single laminate wrinkle on the back panel. Thiele, Colin; De Paauw, Wendy illustrator. An Australian picture book, using Australian native animals to spell out the letters of the alphabet. The beautiful full-page colour drawings will delight children and adults. A very special book to have as part of any children's collection.

Attractive pictorial boards, replicating the dust jacket art. Jacket has slight spine brown, edgewear, two tears, and "V" chips on the hinge corners. Thirty-one true life stories King-Smith , Dick; illus. Pink cover with black illustration on the front. Browning to page edges. Rear loose endpaper is stuck to cover. Cover illustration by Peter Archer. Osborn, Rick; Quinlivan, Julie. Children of all ages will love Milli the loveable magpie, who lives in a large red gum tree overlooking Sydney Harbour.

The bright colourful pictures are delightful. Fiction; Younger Readers; Signed by Author. A Baby for Grace. Whybrow, Ian; Birmingham, Christian illustrator. A charming children's picture story about a little girl named Grace who is waiting the birth of a baby brother or sister. Grace wanted to help but was too young to help with all the preparations for the new baby, and she could not explain how she felt. The beautiful life-like illustrations and poetic storytelling make this a wonderful book that is perfect to capture a special family moment.

Classic illustrations to classic story. Used hardback with dustwrapper in good condition. No internal inscriptions, torn or missing pages. Dustwrapper has closed tears and some pieces missing. Without packaging this book weighs g Illustrator: Children's Fiction; Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. An old Bear and friends special story time book. A woolly dog bounces into the playroom without a name or a home. He has never had a birthday! Old Bear and the other toys are full of birthday ideas for their new-found friend.

Part of a series of about 30 titles. Children; Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. This booklet or book is lighter than a standard-size book, and may involve a lesser shipping cost than that quoted by this site. If that is the case, you will be charged the lesser rate when your order is processed, not the rate shown here.

A novel for young adults about two girls named Vicky and Cathy and their ponies Tomboy and True Blue. Together they solve the mystery of the field full of ponies who disappeared after a few days, then are replaced by other ponies a few days later. Full of excitement, adventure and suspense, and will delight pony lovers of all ages. Historical drama for children, set in England during the Norman invasion. Jacket by Jane Paton. Very slight fade on the spine, No ink names, stamps or other markings. Spine head and heel slightly tattered.

No fading or browni ng. Front panel illustration is still very bright. A scan of the jacket is available on request. Aimed for young readers personal narratives from christians, gypsies, deaf people, homosexuals and blacks who suffered at the hands of the Nazis before and during World War 2. Old Hu-Hu Mewburn, Kyle; illus. A moving story about losing someone dear to you. Soul Eater [Chronicles of Ancient Darkness]. Paver, Michelle; Taylor, Geoff illustrations. Novel for young adults about a boy, a wolf and a legend. The third book in the "Chronicles of Ancient Darkness" series.

Historical adventure story for boys. Jacket by Reginald Mills. Top corner of FFEP clipped. Edgewear, chips and tears. Rubbing has caused surface abrasion to the panels. Interior water stain, with some show-through. A s can of the jacket is available on request.

Adventure drama for teenagers. Jacket by Jenny Tylden-Wright. A collection of short stories about the strange adventures of Emily, written for children. Slight spine head and heel crush, water stain at top of the front pastedown. Top of the front board outer also shows a slight ripple, but no damage. A very small "V" chip on the top front flap hinge corner less than match head size.

Planet Earth Goldsmith, Dr. At thirteen years old, Adrian Mole has more than his fair share of problems - spots, ill-health, parents threatening to divorce, rejection of his poetry and much more - all recorded with brilliant humour in his diary. A powerful novel about family secrets and forgetting, from the award-winning author of Willow Tree and Olive. Liza is on her way to Greece to collect their grandmother and bring her back to Australia to live.

See a Problem?

But the dark secret their grandmother carries with her threatens to tear their world apart. As the girls prepare for their final year of high school, the summer brings with it a sea of unanswered questions. Questions that will affect the rest of their lives Blue texta mark at front covering child's name, otherwise unmarked. Very firm and clean. Minor loss to gold foil front panel. Book of hobbies and crafts for boys.

Illustrated with photographs and diagrams. Eight pages of hobby advertisements at rear of book. Prizegiving bookplate on FFEP. Both Alice's adventures in wonderland and Alice throught the looking glass. Blue leather look cloth with gilt titles. Children names on rear endpaper else very good. A "Youth Club Quartettte" adventure for children. The corners are bumped, and there is offset on both endpapers. Front illustration is very vivid. The rear flap has a photograph of the author, whose expression, while pl easant enough, seems to be conveying the message to the photographer: We are unsure whether or not the book should have had an illustrated frontisp iece.

Does anyone out there know? A delightful children's picture book about the bush fairies interacting with Australian native animals and birds beautifully drawn. Proof has mild edgewear, and a few dirty marks on the covers. A School adventure for "Girls". Book has crush on the spine heel, slight fade on the spine head ridge, and a gift inscription on the FFEP. Jacket is pr ice-clipped, with mild edgewear, a slight crease on the spine, and a splashmark on the rear panel. Jacket by Sara Govia.

Book has corner bumping and a crush on the spine heel. Jacket slight edge-crumple and "V" wear on the flap hinge corners. Novel based on the folk-poem of King Horn. Maddern, Eric; Kennaway, Adrienne illustrator. An Aboriginal folk tale from Northern Australia told as a picture book for children. The large full-colour sketches and easy-to-read text make this a delightful book for any child. Gift inscription in ink. Mayne, William; Honey, Elizabeth illustrator. Impressive 21 interlocking short stories about the children and adults who live around the Salt River.

This is the author's first collection of stories written in and about Australia. The stories capture both the idiom and the atmosphere of a small Australian community. Bestselling adventure novel for young adults, by Irish-Australian author. Follows Abigail as she suddenly finds herself in the Sydney of ago as the result of a scary game. Classic Illustrations of Children and Their Toys. Prince, Pamela; Zaid, Barry designer. Combines prose and poetry with old paintings and illustrations that depict children and their toys. Some of the illustrations are from early s to late s.

The Mystery of the Ruby Glasses. Shey goes to stay at her Uncle's home, a dusty old house full of paintings. She finds a beautiful old pair of opera glasses, studded with rubies. When she puts them on she is transported into the paintings. A great first juvenile fiction book fantasy fiction recommended for ages 8 upwards. Chapman, Jean; Beck, Ali illustrator. Mitti the Koala does not like her new jumper, but her friends love its stripes.

They all want to try it on, and that's when the fun starts. The bright colourful illustrations and easy-to-read text will delight all ages. Making the Most of It. This novel for young adults is about a girl named Nina who wants to be the fastest swimmer. An uplifting and joyful novel about finding your place in the world. Written and illustrated by Norman Lindsay. A small format edition of the classic madcap children's stories about a cantankerous walking magic pudding that shares the dessert which never runs out.

The adventures of three friends who defend the pudding from thieves. There are occasional bursts of exuberant singing. Jacket by Stuart Robertson. Jacket has publisher's price-clip and price adjustment sticker. Australian adventure story for children. Jacket and illustrations by Fred Leist. Jacket is price-clipped, with edgewear, small tears and tattering of the spine head titles not affected.

School story for boys. Book has slight crush on the spine heel, and gift inscription with horrible silver Christmas star on FFEP. Ja cket is price-clipped, with edgewear, tears and small abrasions. Nature drama for children. Jacket by Barry Driscoll. A Fable for all Ages. Winton, Tim; Louise, Karen illustrator. A novel for young adults with an environmental theme, awarded the Wilderness Society environment award.

Why Believe in Life after Death? Hard laminated pictorial cover. Dramatic adventure story for children. Jacket by Joe Baker. Jacket shows the beginnings of wear on the front flap hinge corner. A scan is available on request. A Swag of Stories. Usual library stationery, plastic covred dust jacket, barcode removed from cnetre of top edge of ffep.

The Alhambra Told to Children. A story of Spanish history and legend the Islamic palace in Granada , told by the grandfather to his three grandchildren and a small friend of theirs. One of the grandchildren wanted him to relate the story to other children, and this brief account was written.

The many drawings will keep young minds busy for awhile. Jacket by Graham Oakley. A full condition report for this book is available on request. Mistoffelees with Mungojerrie and Rumpelteazer Eliot, T.

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