Figured in Marble provides a rare opportunity for readers interested in English art to get a detailed insight into the history of sculptural aesthetics. While painting tends to dominate most histories of English art, Malcolm Baker draws on his intimate knowledge of the Victoria & Albert Museum's formidable sculpture collection, to produce a collection of essays that combine the detailed analysis of specific works with a broader analysis of how sculpture has become assimilated into art history.

The book begins in the early eighteenth century, with a minute dissection of the notebooks and 'Lives' by Vertue, Walpole and Cunningham. Baker manages to unlock a surprising wealth of information from these difficult, often opaque texts, by looking for new ways of approaching, reading and understanding their cryptic use of language. This sets the tone of the book, and in the following chapters, Baker continues to glean information from the most unexpected sources. Always approaching his subjects obliquely, the book brings to light aspects of sculpture that often remain unseen, unnoticed, and unexamined.

The first half of the book explores interconnections between sculpture and the luxury trades, the classifying of genres, and the public and private expectations of commissioned subjects, by looking at the conditions under which sculpture was designed and made. The second half links the development of the sculpture gallery with the emergence of aesthetic theory and the growing interest in the effect of the display and 'staging' of sculpture. The final chapter arrives at a very recent event: the controversial, drawn-out, and extraordinarily public affair of 'saving' Canova's Three Graces for the nation. Baker raises pertinent issues about the making, viewing and assimilation of sculpture into the public arena.

Although clearly addressing a specialist subject, the book is much more than a historical study of eighteenth century sculpture. Weaving together close readings of contemporary texts and modern interpretations of individual artists and studio-practice, the author compels his readers to question their preconceptions about sculpture. In Baker's own words, what he does in this book is 'to relate a narrative about changing notions of history and changing ways of perceiving and understanding objects'. Always moving between specific cases and their broader relevance, Baker embraces issues of continuing importance to the understanding of sculpture. Using the historical context as a framework for his arguments, the author questions the development of modern attitudes and ideas.

In a sense, the book could be described as an analysis of the evolution of histories of sculpture. It reveals as much about the eighteenth century as it does about our modern understandings, and (mis-)conceptions, of sculpture. This is an important contribution to the study of sculpture, and is essential reading for anyone with a serious interest in sculptural aesthetics.

Collections seeking in-depth studies of 18th century art in general and British sculpture in particular will find Figured In Marble a specific but well focussed guide which blends the study of English sculpture with the broader topic of art history. Sculptures from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Getty Museum as well as those from private holdings liberally illustrate this case study of categories and genres of sculpture.

This book is extremely useful and readable. Not only does it provide plenty of specific Jewish genealogical information, it's a fabulous history lesson. Very useful.

What's the best thing about this book?

The Judaica section, where it talks about Jewish history/genealogy?

The Etymology section, with its fascinating secrets revealed about common Jewish surnames?

The Various Country Biographies?

The Jewish Genealogical Societies, complete with short biographies and research tips?

Or is it the massive Surname index in the back- over 3,000 names, I believe?

No, I think the best thing about this book is summed up in the introduction. It's a book FOR US. For Jews, about Jews, explaining the History of Jews in Europe and other places, and how we can find out about them.

So nu, buy a copy! It's worth it!

FREE MONEY is one of the best non-fiction books I have read. It's logical and easy reading, and it challenges every notion I've had about our economy. I now understand what has happened in the stock market, and more importantly, what will happen. A terrific book!

An excellent book. Shows how to lower taxes and at the same time, support Social Security (as well as Medicare, the military, crime prevention.) Has dozens of ideas you never see in the media. No gobble-de-gook. Very easy reading. It's counter-intuitive but logical. If you want a fresh view of what has happened in our economy and what will happen, this is the book for you.

As a part-time resident of the Vieux Carre, and one who very reluctantly leaves to return to New York, I keep this book in my New York home to look through when I long for New Orleans. This book, with its elegant balck and white historic photos and its vivid descriptive text, captures the best of the Vieux Carre. In fact, I have had great fun trying to match the historic photos to the contemporary Vieux Carre sites on my visits to the Quarter.

I love this book, it's a wonderful gift to anyone who loves that amazing and magical place known as the Vieux Carre.

Tender in prose, painstaking in research, passionate in creation. A worthy addition to any architectural library.

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Process has grown in 12 years to be one of the most positive and influential prgrams to come out of Washington D.C. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) uses a measure of performance of the publicly traded Baldrige Award winners that compares these companies' stock price appreciation with the S&P 500 Index. In the most recent year, the "Baldrige Fund" outperformed the S&P Index by a margin of almost 5 to 1. Most companies will never apply for a Baldrige Award. However, many companies have used a Baldrige-based assessment criteria to evaluate their business and to focus their improvement efforts. The author has written a very useful guide for managers to use in deploying a Baldrige-based assessment system. As a senior Baldrige examiner I know that most companies need guidance to gain maximum benefit from an internal assessment process. Mr. Hutton's book is a must read for any manager or consultant before undertaking Baldrige-based assessment. It will also be useful to managers seeking ideas to improve an existing approach. In Baldrige-based assessments, the "how" question is looking for systematic approaches to the management systems in an organization. In this book, the author describes a systematic approach to assessment and provides illustrations through case studies of a variety of companies and how they use the process to get better at getting better.

If leaders of any service business expect to achieve and sustain an outstanding level of service quality, they must sooner or later turn their attention to the organization itself as the means of achieving customer/ citizen focus..The culture, the vision and direction, the leadership, the alignment of resources and functions, and the motivation and commitment of the workers are all essential ingredients for service excellence. Therefore, if you hope to get things right on the outside, you first have to get things right on the inside. David Hutton takes us through the steps needed for an organization to undertake an organizational assessment His road map provides guidance and examples for users and acquirers of assessment instruments to develop a quality management system. There are at least 5 important elements that you need for conducting an assessment to drive organizational change: a genuine commitment by the leadership, an assessment model, an assessment method, competent assessors, and the prerequisite of reading David Hutton's book.

Geomembranes and the Control of Expansive Soils in Construction By Malcolm Steinberg, P.E., F. ASCE. Hard cover; 1998; 222 pages; ISBN 0-07-061178-5; Published by McGraw Hill, Construction Series, new York, N.Y. 10011

This is a very appropriate book for the construction series of McGraw Hill, in that it not only reads well but also explains many items related to geomembranes and the expansive soils in a simple language without any equations.

As a Civil Engineer, but not in the field of geotechnical engineering, it was refreshing for this reviewer to read a book on the subject after a long experience in concrete and structural engineering that may be impacted on all the world's continents by these expansive soils. I enjoyed it very much from the practical perspective rather than theoretical one and was very much impressed with the contents.

As an academician teaching for over 25 years, I enjoyed the simple style of writing by Mr. Steinberg and would recommend it as a supplemental reading for a Senior, who wants to get overall information on expansive soil as well as the geomembranes and their applications. Particular joy was to see a chapter on Do's and Don'ts, which will be useful for younger engineers. I wish we had such a book during our undergraduate studies. As a consulting engineer, I liked this book since it provides practical solutions using geomembranes to control expansive soils.

In India, this type of soil has been known as Black Cotton soil, characteristic for its excellent assistance to growing one of the best cottons in the world, but not good for constructing roads due to its properties in wet conditions. It was refreshing to know that it can be used in constructing roadways and other structures as well with proper techniques.

In short, I am happy to see Mr. Steinberg's persistence and a thorough follow up on this venture and producing such a quality book.

Reviewed by: Gajanan M. Sabnis, Ph.D., P.E. Professor of Civil Engineering, Howard University; also, Consultant, Silver Spring, Maryland

This is a very appropriate book for the construction series of McGraw Hill, in that it not only reads well but also explains many items related to geomembranes and the expansive soils in a simple language without any equations.

As a Civil Engineer, but not in the field of geotechnical engineering, it was refreshing for this reviewer to read a book on the subject after a long experience in concrete and structural engineering that may be impacted on all the world's continents by these expansive soils. I enjoyed it very much from the practical perspective rather than theoretical one and was very much impressed with the contents.

As an academician teaching for over 25 years, I enjoyed the simple style of writing by Mr. Steinberg and would recommend it as a supplemental reading for a Senior, who wants to get overall information on expansive soil as well as the geomembranes and their applications. Particular joy was to see a chapter on Do's and Don'ts, which will be useful for younger engineers. I wish we had such a book during our undergraduate studies. As a consulting engineer, I liked this book since it provides practical solutions using geomembranes to control expansive soils.

In India, this type of soil has been known as Black Cotton soil, characteristic for its excellent assistance to growing one of the best cottons in the world, but not good for constructing roads due to its properties in wet conditions. It was refreshing to know that it can be used in constructing roadways and other structures as well with proper techniques.

In short, I am happy to see Mr. Steinberg's persistence and a thorough follow up on this venture and producing such a quality book.

Personally, I've never been able to get into the GURPS rules, but I have a pretty big GURPS collection for someone who doesn't use GURPS! "Goblins" is one of the jewels of that collection, and I'm already planning out a fantasy campaign (using a modified old GURPS Fantasy setting and the rules from Godlike), with the goblins from this supplement playing a big role.

GURPS Goblins is surprisingly inexpensive for a book printed throughout on slick paper with (hilarious) full-color illustrations. The society and biology of the goblins (which are seamlessly tied together) are fascinating as well as funny--these may vaguely resemble the standard fantasy RPG goblins, but they stand out as one of the most unique races to be developed for any setting, fantasy or science fiction. The style of writing is less that of a game supplement and more of a travel guide to 1830s London--except there are no humans, just goblins! It's a very entertaining commentary on human nature, using the goblins to soften the blow a bit. And it's a game-within-a-game, as the whole point of goblin existence is to climb socially (due to their biology, virtually all goblins start in the gutter, no matter who their parents were), so there are very full setting-specific rules for social climbing that can be applied to other settings.

Summary: GURPS Goblins is an excellent, original, highly amusing but VERY 'off the wall' RPG. Firstly, it necessary to explain that Goblins is not a stand alone fiction or non-fiction book (although Goblins makes a good read even if you don't get a chance to play it). Goblins is a supplement to the GURPS role-playing game (RPG), so to play it you will first need to but the GURPS basic set (GURPS stand for Generic Universal Role Playing System). In RPG's, players create a character, and go on an adventure created for them by the 'Games Master'. Mostly, these would involve fighting mythical monsters, and finding treasures, in some mystical universe. However, in GURPS Goblins the universe is Georgian London. It's a hard unforgiving place; a world of grinding poverty, harsh laws, disease, superstition and snobbery. The monsters are other Goblins. Lies, trickery, violence and theft are the norm. Social climbing is the pre-occupation of every Goblin. Sadly, much of this world is a true reflection of the social conditions of the time. Goblins is extremely funny, in a very nasty sort of way, along the same lines as the RPG 'Paranoia'. But where Paranioa pokes fun at the evils of totalitarianism, the target of is the Dickensian class system. It is refreshingly rare for an RPG, to concentrate so much on the character's social context. You design your character, work out his deformities (due to mistreatment in childhood, school and apprenticeship), then bravely set out to climb up the social ladder, armed with only a half-eaten pork-pie and a sixpence between you and the workhouse. If you like 'quirky' role-playing games, then GURPS Goblins is a masterpiece. This is the most orginal, funny and evocative RPG I have bought for a very long time, but, if you like your RPG character to be a tough, dashing, honourable hero type; then but a more traditional RPG would be much more appropriate.

This book, first published seventy years ago, is a harrowing account of the author's escape from the Soviet Cheka shortly after the Russian Revolution. He was the leader of a group of rebels in Turkestan, and as such was a much sought after prize for the Bolsheviks, who wanted to eliminate him and all other opponents of their regime. The story is told in such a low-key way, however, that often it becomes a mere travelogue rather than a tale of action. For all of that, the underlying terror comes through, and the danger and hardship which the author faced appears very real to the reader. In addition to the main story, this book is also full of geography, geology, zoology, botany and history. The author was certainly a well-rounded individual, in addition to being very, very brave. We don't see many heroes such as this man in our times, and it's rewarding to read that such people were more than wiling to risk everything to combat tyranny.

It is the story of a White Russian who was worked against the Bolshevik's during the Russian revolution. It provides chilling insight into the reign of terror but also fascinating information on life in Central Asia during the 1920's. Highly recommended

This is a great book full of magic mystery and exsitment.

We love reading all the Jewel Princess books as a family. My girls have begun acting out the stories. (My son likes them too) All the Jewel Princess books have good strong girl characters. The stories have fine messages. I highly recommend this book to all parents.S

A WONDERFUL COMPOSITE OF THE FIRMS ACCOMPLISHMENTS WHICH COULD NOT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED WITHOUT THE SUPERB TALENT WHO HAVE WORKED WITH VALERIO DEWALT TRAIN FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS. CONGRATULATIONS ON THE AWARDS THESE PEOPLE HAVE HELPED YOU GET AND YOU WILLINGNESS TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM IN PRINT.

This book is amazing. The art and architecture were the most inspiring thing I have seen or read in my entire life. Joe Valerio is one hell of an architect and if I were a large, up-and-coming corporation looking for a way to jump into the fast lane, I would say that having a building by Mr. Valerio would be #1 on my list.