I have found myself teaching writing Ð or, rather, teaching ghost-writing Ð a great deal lately. The art of ghost-writing is listening and channelling: capturing the "author's" voice well enough that the text on the page sounds more like their true core than their own spoken voice.

You can also do this for yourself. That's what Thaisa Frank and Dorothy Wall teach, in pithy exercises. I have used this book, and I find that I keep recommending it to aspiring writers and ghosts... as a way to jump-start the listening process.

Why do I "only" give it an 8? I guess I am a bit disheartened that a book like this is necessary. Making your voice strong... so that it even comes through when you write... should be a natural gift, something we can all count on. Those who feel shy about writing, online or on a page, will find a great deal of value here.

This is a book for those who wish to practice and improve their writing creativity. There are excercises the authors take you through step by step building the skills to find and develop your own creative voice.

I was looking for a book to help inspire my style of photojournalism and this is definitly a step in the right direction. Robert Frank does not just capture light on film, but what seems to be his thoughts and imagination. Each picture in this book gives you an opportunity to sit back and think as you look at them.

This book is like stream of concious photography. Things that are there he takes a photo. Frank is truly one of the great street photographers and this book shows it. It would be nice if it was longer though.

Some of the best work of Robert Frank in this book. The flamingo is a master piece.

This is the catalogue accompanied the exhibition Flamingo, which opened at the Hasselblad Center in conjunction with the ceremony in Goteborg, Sweden, when Robert Frank received the Hasselblad Award 1996.

Eric Shanower manages to capture the magic of Baum's creation, and to keep the simplicity, yet the stories are also fresh and interesting. Shanower gives us new characters to read about. This book is about the forest of Burzee (written of first in Baum's non-Oz "Adventures of Santa Claus," a very good book) and the wood-nymphs who live there, focusing on one who is thrown out for kissing a mortal. This wood-numph joins up with the trolls, becomes their queen, and plans an attack on Burzee. The writing on occasion gets a little too melodramatic, to the point of being silly - but this is, after all, a comic book.

In this, the fourth volume of a five volume series of graphic novels, "founded on and continuing the famous Oz stories of L. Frank Baum," Eric Shanower tells us the story of Nelanthe, one of the wood-nymphs of the Forest of Burzee. Burzee with its wood-nymphs is one of the most magical places ever imagined by L. Frank Baum. And Eric Shanower exceeds all his other work to bring this forest to us in all its primordial majesty. His artwork also breathes life into the underground kingdom of the trolls as the trolls and the wood-nymphs go into battle over Nelanthe. When Dorothy and the Scarecrow are drawn into the drama, they help save the day with the help of the Wooden Sawhorse. Oz doesn't get any better than this!

This book offers a wonderful, comprehensive look at the world of F1. Readers are given a rare inside look at everything from car construction to the important role that fitness training plays in a driver's preparation. The text is simple and straightforward and, graphically, the book is a real treat.

This book will sit proud on your shelf next to other classic Formula One books. It contains excellent detail and information that any true F1 fan would appreciate from statistics about manufacturers, to details on the pit crews functions, to the car itself. While this may be a little out of date (F1 cars change every 6 months) it is none the less a collectors book. Beautifully layed out, excellently written

Frank Morehouse hides this gem of a book behind a difficult first chapter. Morehouse's uses what he calls discontinuous narrative style, where he presents the novel as a series of inter-related short stories, to great effect. Like The American's Baby, we get to know (and like) the characters we see from one perspective, only to have those images torn to shreds by stories from different times, different people's view etc. Forty-seventeen is the story of a middle-aged man and his affair with a seventeen-year-old girl. As the lives of the couple are built up by strangely juxtaposed stories, Morehouse exposes the charades we play when we present different views of ourselves to other people. Morehouse is skilled in writing sexy prose that, once you get through the first chapter, you'll find hard to stop reading. A thoroughly enjoyable book.

The story of a forty year old man who has an affair with a seventeen year old girl (and all sorts of other, odd, adventures) is classic Moorhouse: hilariously funny, carefully observed, very smart about politics (human and international), and a little off-kilter in terms of narrative. It also contains one of Moorhouse's great "lists": in this case, a list of things every man should know by age forty.

This book contains four complete novels by Frank Herbert:
1. Whipping Star
2. The Dosadi Experiment
3. The Santaroga Barrier
4. Soul Catcher

I found it at a local used book store for $6.98... Not bad for a hardback book... Four novels for less than seven bucks... Great bargin, great novels..

While Frank Herbert is justly famous for the Dune series of novels, which are some of the greatest science fiction ever written, he also wrote a number of other shorter novels.

The four included here have odd titles: Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment, The Santaroga Barriet and Soul Catcher.

Whipping Star has a strange concept: Calibans, strange, communicative but confusing creatures have given star gates (called S'Eyes) to the galaxy. But they are disappearing amid waves of madness and death. One Caliban is left, and has been hired by the world's richest and kinkiest woman to be flogged. How do you flog an energy being? Jorg X McKie must communicate with the cryptic Caliban and find the connection between the whippings and the disappearance of the other Calibans and a threat to the entire world.

The Dosadi Experiment brings McKie back again, this time to find out the secret of a Gowachin (froglike sentient being) experiment on the brutal and toxic planet Dosadi. The Gowachin seek to control McKie and manipulate the Dosadi situation, but McKie makes some unexpected moves.

In The Santaroga Barrier, psychologist Gilbert Dasein is sent to Santaroga in Northern California. Why has every company that set down a chain store in Santaroga failed to succeed? Why did previous investigators die in seemingly innocent and coincidental accidents? Dasein finds out much more than anyone ever else did, but can he ultimately escape Santaroga?

The Soul Catcher is set in contemporary times, and is the story of a native American who undergoes a frightening transformation as Katsuk, the avenging spirit who purifies the world. Is it madness or is it the spirit world intruding into modern reality?

All four are different novels, and quite different from Dune. All four are some of the best non-Dune writing Herbert ever did.

Oustanding commentary, well researched and insightful. The text here is mighty different from other commentaries on Wright, and feels much more substantive. Ony con: not enough images + some floorplans are reproduced too small to read clearly. - not a photo overview, a study on the man.

This is a great book, not only as a reference for FLW's work, divided into sections of building type, containing hundreds of great photographs and drawings of his works (about 20 on Fallingwater alone), by which you can really get to know his work in detail. Because it's so visually rich, it is also a reference for constrution techniques and details (and, as you know, FLW is a very echletic architect). The text is very well written and covers everything related to each work, like clients' reviews, technical specifications, the story of the building, and so forth. I recommend it to anyone interested in architecture and FLW.

This volume presents 16 gatefold illustrations of as many outstanding buildings by architect Frank Ll. Wright, along with photos and brief appreciations. The gatefolds are Wright's own presentation drawings. You can almost see the individual bits of texture in the colored drawing leads. These pastel colored drawings have some beauty in themselves--Wright was a man of many talents--and are valuable to show what the architect found the centers of interest in each project.

The layout of the portfolio is ingenious: bound loose-leaf and prefaced by a page of appreciation, the gatefolds on medium stock will lay flat to the right for examination, or can be wholly removed. The reverse side of each contains another page of discussion, a small plan by William Storrer, and colored photos of interior as well as exterior views. I suppose one could cut off and frame the long drawings. All the text can be read without opening the gatefolds. Text and headings are set in a most attractive, 1930-ish Wrightian typeface ("Eaglefeather," I believe). This is not an essential study of Wright, but for the price it is impossible to go wrong with this quick overview of his most spectacular works.

This incredible fold-out book (called a gatefold) presents 16 of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs. Each structure is rendered (the original drawing)in a sepia tone that pulls out to a 2.5 foot gatefold.

On the other side of this gatefold are full-color photos of the structure, as well as a floor plan. The accompanying text describes how the commission was obtained, the construction, etc.

The book includes some of Wright's most famous residences, religious buildings, and public structures.

While not a complete overview of Wright's work, I gave it 5 stars because of the uniqueness of its presentation. I was just fascinated by the book's design-- it is beautiful, elegant, and informative.

As tour coordinator at the H.F. Johnson House, Wingspread, I've met many Wright enthusiasts who rely on this guide when visiting the Midwest. The following incorrect information has been brought to my attention several times and we have notified the publisher in case the book is re-printed. I would still recommend the book as an excellent guide. Just be aware that the information on page 88 about "accessibility" to the Herbert F. Johnson House, Wingspread is incorrect. Wingspread is a Conference Center today and when conferences or meetings are not in session it is available for self-guided tours M-F, 9am to 4pm. Call the Wingspread Tour Coordinator(414)681-3353 to check availability.

An excellent reference book for Wright enthusiasts who enjoy hunting for his built works. Contains color pictures, addresses, local maps and even GPS coordinates to help travelers find Wright-designed buildings. Also contains several paragraphs of information plus a rating for each site. Aids travelers with limited amounts of time to focus on the best sites.

My wife and I are big fans of Arts and Crafts decor and are currently planning to build a timber frame home in which the designs seen in this book will definitely be an influence on our design. The interiors in the book are warm and inviting and are definitely not run of the mill. For Frank Lloyd Wright fans, this should be a part of your collection.

"Frank Lloyd Wright's Dining Rooms," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of "mini-books," each of which spotlights a particular facet of Wright's amazing career. This volume contains many excellent full color photographs of dining rooms and furniture designed by the master architect. Other useful features in the book are Lind's interesting text, a series of sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a bibliography.

Lind describes how Wright's dining rooms, over the course of his career, mirrored societal changes. Houses pictured in the book include the Rosenbaum house, Taliesin West, Fallingwater, and others. Each photo demonstrates Wright's mastery of color, space, form, and light. If you are interested in the work of Wright or in home design in general, you might really enjoy this book.