The best book on intepreting light for an artist that I have read.... and I have read well over a hundred by now.

BETTY'S STEP BY STEP EXPLANATION AND CHOICE OF SUBJECTS GIVES THE READER THE TOOLS TO GET EXCITED ABOUT PAINTING AND TRANSLATE THAT EXCITEMENT TO THE PAPER/CANVAS. THE BOOK IS LIKE SOMEONE TOOK NOTES WHILE BETTY WAS TEACHING HER WORKSHOP.

Determination is a key element in Wit, Will & Walls by Betty Kilby Fisher. This autobiographic account of one woman's journey to success provides the reader with windows into various aspects of Valley life over a significant portion of the twentieth century. Many of those windows reveal a not so pleasant view.

One pivotal event in Ms. Fisher's life was being the named infant plaintiff in the 1958 civil action that brought about integration of the Warren County school system. Faced with the choice of having his 13 year old daughter board in Manassas or take a sixty-mile per day bus trip to high school in Berryville, her father elected to enroll her at Warren County High School. The ensuing court battle on behalf of Betty and twenty-two other black students led to the suspension of classes at the high school. Reaction to the suit was mixed in both the black and white communities. When the school was ordered to reopen in February 1959, 21 of the black students registered. No white students registered or attended Warren County High School during the rest of that term. As described in Wit, Will & Walls this was almost a relief from the tensions everyone had been living with for so long. The court battle and general attitude were not the only things the Kilby family had to deal with. Harassment, gunshots through the kitchen window, and loss of job security were all part of the picture. Ms. Fisher credits her father's will and determination for getting them through these trials. And the trials did not end in 1959.

While integration is the most publicly notable event described in the book, there is much more. The book spends time with the Kilby and Ausberry family histories of the early 1900's and with Betty's constant struggle to succeed after high school. The earthy tone of the writing style in the early parts of Wit, Will & Walls helps to bring the reader closer to the reality of life during those years. The effect of one person's life experience on the next generation is clearly evident. As is the determination necessary to overcome the obstacles still present for blacks for many years after the schools were integrated.

Despite all the roadblocks, Ms. Fisher managed to succeed through her own efforts. She was aided by her father's example, family support, and the strength of her faith. Her current title is CEO of Cultural Innovations, which she started in 2001. The mission of Cultural Innovations is "to provide businesses, organizations, schools and individuals with Cultural Education products and services. The products, a book titled "Wit, Will, and Walls" traces the life of an infant plaintiff in the integration of the schools in rural Virginia in the 60's. The Products also include personalized children's books and calendars. The services provided by Cultural Innovations Inc., include Motivational Speaking, Cultural Audit, Diversity Training and Facilitation of Cultural Interaction. We will work with our clients to examine basic assumptions, values and dynamics that pose barriers to a respectful, motivated and inclusive environment We build an understanding of cultural differences and how these differences impact the way we think, the way we act and the way we treat others."

I became interested in reading Wit, Will & Walls after accidentally catching Ms. Fisher's interview with Barry Lee on the local cable channel. She has a positive presence and attitude that I found very appealing. Her story also intrigued me because of the local geography. In reading it I got a lot more than I had bargained for. One idea I now ponder as a result of reading Wit, Will & Walls is how many of our personal prejudices are habit, regardless of the side on which we stand.

"I had no education beyond high school; no job skills and I couldn't even balance the checkbook, but every dark cloud brought joy to my life." Betty Kilby Fisher

Wit, Will & Walls is a good read, thought provoking, and well worth the time spent

My wife and I alternately laughed and cried through the winter Saturday we read this book aloud to one another.

"Wit, Will and Walls" is the first book I've encountered that successfully conveys what it actually FELT like to be one of the the African American children to break the apartheid grip of Jim Crow on schools in the American South. Betty Fisher's honest, heartfelt style is totally without pretense, and conveys all the conflicts, fears and courage of the young African American children who, sometimes against their will, were selected to take part in that dramatic moment in history.

Fisher's voice is so authentic that it will do no harm for me to tell you a bit of what it covers:

Fisher was 14 years old in 1959 when she walked into the all white Warren County High School in Front Royal, Va., with the first young blacks ever to enter those doors. For many months the black students attended school alone while whites boycotted it. Along the line, the Kilbys withstood terrors ranging from mutilation of the family's animals by white thugs, shots fired through the Kilby home.

The Kilby family struggle had started long before 1959, when her father, family patriarch James Kilby, took on Old Virginia's deeply rooted racist system. Like his father before him, James Kilby had been raised in what can only be called inter-generational semi-slavery on a farm in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Ultimately, James Kilby stood up and led his family on their journey through terror, isolation and repeated defeats toward victory in a U.S. Supreme Court decision and educational opportunity for his children equal to that of white society.

Author Betty Kilby went on to change the management policy of Rubbermaid Corporation, and a successful management career in the airline industry.

Sorrowing, yet often humorous, Fisher manages to covey the warmth and joy and hopefullness that also peremated her family's life, even amid the tumult of the times. It is more than just her autobiography. What makes the book special is that it is also a family saga still in progress. It is an American epic spanning generations of Kilbys, with many frank forays into such areas as the "kitchen babies," sired by her family's white bosses, right up to the heartbreak of her own daughter's addiction to crack cocaine.

In all likelihood, most readers have never taken such an authentic journey, or met a warmer, more honest spokesperson for that dramatic era which so changed America.

It's been a long time since a book has made me cry. This is a very short, easy-to-read, powerful volume. Around the holidays, especially, it is an easy book to pick up and read start-to-finish. At the end, you can't help but wonder at the writer's inner strength. Leyla Zana, a young woman--a wife, a mother, a member of parliament-- becomes an instant "revolutionary". In Turkey, where Kurds are suppressed, and their culture and history denied, her election to parliament is a freak chance and unique opportunity to try to make changes. In taking her oath of office, she announces she will do everything in her power for Turks and Kurds to live together, in democracy. Her words are her own prison sentence. Aware of the strength of words, she continues to use them-- with her children, whose birthdays she misses, with her known and unknown supporters, whose help she needs to internationalize the cause of her people. The sincerity and conviction in those words affect the reader deeply. Questions of human rights, the right to an identity, to a history, to a language and a culture, to roots, to a future--all these are rights denied many peoples, still, including the Kurds and Leyla Zana. Her writings and life are uncomfortable reminders of a battle that has not yet been won.

I would strongly recommend this book for anyone who has the slightest interest in human rights, democracy, and women's issues. It is an emotional book, since one re-lives the extremely difficult life of a courageous freedom fighter, Leyla Zana through her letters from Prison. She shares her personal and political life with the readers. It is amazing how fast she has developed and matured politically, and her level of commitment to the struggle of Kurds for self determination is unbelievable. Her dreams and the sacrifices she makes to realize those dreams, reminded me of Nelson Mandela and his struggle in South Africa. I hope that Leyla Zana and the Kurdish people will succeed one day in achieving the freedom and self determination that every nation deserves. The book also has excellent forwards by Elena Bonner (The widow of Andre Sakharov) and Betty Williams (Nobel Peace Laureate. I would also recommend another book by her husband Mehdi Zana, "Prison No 5", Eleven years in Turkish jails. United States and Turkey have always had a very close relationship with each other, as citizens of this country we should be able to influence the policy decision makers here to make a difference in the lives of Ms Zana and the Kurdish people.

Reading this book has helped make nine very enjoyable. This series of books is great. Understanding the different stages takes out the frustration and makes watching and helping your childern grow and develop a JOY.

When you know what behaviors are "normal" for your child's age you can relax, stop the worry, and focus on appropriate solutions. This whole series of books accurately defines the ages and stages of children. These books keep your expectations realistic and allow you to avoid anger caused by a lack of understanding of your child's developmental stages.

This is an excellent book! More information than any of the other similar books I've purchased. Good maps, succinct descriptions of conditions and animal life, tide information, and site warnings. Although the entire book is in B&W, there are interesting photographs mixed in with the text.

For the most part, information in the book has been correct and consistent with my own observations. This is a great introduction to how diverse and exciting the local diving can be, and why it's considered some of the best waters in the world. Buy this book!

Part picaresque novel, part moving romance, part historical document, this extraordinary reconstruction of fifteenth-century Spain, by one of Mexico's leading literary figures, has been acclaimed throughout Europe and Latin America. This was the century that changed the face of Spain, and of the world-the century of the wars with the Moors, which led to the end of Moorish Spain; the voyages of discovery, which culminated in Columbus's enterprise; and, perhaps above all, the century of the Inquisition, which financed both the wars and the voyages by seizing the fortunes of condemned Jews, and which led inexorably to the Expulsion. Here these events are seen through the eyes of one Juan Cabezon, a descendant of converted Jews, who is orphaned at an early age by a series of bizarre accidents and taken in hand by Pero Menique, a clever blind man, who uses him as a guide through the rich street life of Castil. It is Menique who brings him beautiful young Isabel de la Vega, sentenced to death by the Inquisition, and begs him to hide her in his house Juan and Isabel fall in love, but as time passes, Isabel is driven close to madness by her forced seclusion in Juan's house and her constant fear of death. One day she vanishes, and Juan sets off on a desperate search for her which takes him across Spain, into the heart of the Jewish communities, and constantly into the path of the Inquisition's autos-da-fea journey that stamps itself indelibly on the reader's mind.

About the Author: Homero Aridjis is one of Mexico's foremost poets and novelists. He has published more than twenty books of poetry and prose and won the Xavier Villaurrutia Prize for best book of the year in 1964 and the 1988 Diana. Novedades Literary Prize for the outstanding novel in Spanish for the sequel to 1492, Alemorias del fluevo mundo. Two volumes of his poetry have been published in English, Blue Spaces and Exaltation of Light, as well as a novel, Persephon. Twice the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he has taught at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Indiana. He has been Mexican Ambassador to the Netherlands and Switzerland and is the president of the Group of 100, Mexico's leading environmental organization. He lives in Mexico City.

What a marvelous book to have. Not many of us have the opportunity to see the wonderful collections that were displayed in the gardens of the White House during the Clinton years. This is the one way we can see them! Beautifully pictured with full color photos and great descriptions! A lovely book to have as an historic record of what Scuplture in America was like in the 20th-Century! You may or may not like the Sculptures that were shown - but this book has them all!

Buy a copy of this book for any child just learning to talk. The colorful pictures and the format make it easy to read by either you or your child

Betty Pratt Johnston is a fantastic writer and gives you that edge on new dive sites. Her comprehensive style allows experienced and new divers alike to learn something new about every dive site listed. Betty covers items important to all levels of divers, including specialty divers like naturalists, UW Photographers, wreck etc...

A must have.

This book delivers!! This informative book gives solid information for trackers at all levels. It will give you many tips on map making and plotting your tracks. If you are starting out this book will help you demystify track laying. If you are a experienced track layer it will give you a fresh look at the sport you already love. Even if you never track lay it will give you an appreciation for this skill. It is detailed with out being complicated. It is a book I can recommend to my students without hesitation.