When I saw this well-priced Book which was originally published in two volumes, at higher cost with a slip cover, I had to have it. I am a collector of Dali Books and was hoping that this Book would be the Catalogue Raisonne of Dali's paintings I had been looking for for so long. In this respect the Book was no disappointment with a total of 1,648 illustrations, but a closer look at the book revealed some serious faults.

The worst fault by far is that the printing of the paintings is consistently too dark. Three examples: The blue colors of: "Myself at the age of Ten when I was a Grasshopper Child" (p.202) are much too dark. It is even worse with: "Ghost of Vermeer of Delft which can also be used as a Table" (p.222) Here the figure of Vermeer is in points indistinguishable from the backround and the sky is much too orange, instead of yellowish. The worst example is that of "The Last Supper" (p.488) where the apostles on the extreme left and right of the painting can barely be distinguished. There are many other examples of this. I made this comparison using several other books and exhibition catalogues, and have also seen the three paintings I mentioned as examples in person more than once.

A close examination also reveals that both paper and binding are not of high quality. I have a feeling this book will not stand the test of time. One way to tell a good Art Books when the paper is a higher weight. Judging from the paper, I have a feeling it will yellow in a few years. This is, incidentally, true for other Books that I own published by Taschen. Also, a book this heavy should really have a stronger binding.

Annoying also is that there is no alphabetic index of the paintings. Unless you know the year a painting was created, as they are in chronological order, there is no way to find it except by paging around.

Despite these complaints, I still like the Book because it includes paintings I have never seen before. If however, you want to see the paintings of Dali as they really look, get "Dali: The Work, the Man" instead. It suffers from none of the faults I have descibed, but is not as comprehensive. It's worth the extra money. In collecting Art Books I have found that higher quality Books stand the test of time.

Being the owner of many books based on the works of Salvador Dali, which includes "Dali The Work, The Man", I admit to being somewhat skeptical about yet another "complete" edition; that it would probably have pretty much the same information and reproductions of his art as my other books. I now admit to being incorrect, because this is a well made edition with a truly fantastic bargain price. I have paid well over a hundred dollars for what I'd hoped was a book containing all of Dali's paintings with detailed biographical information, when I found that this is the book with all of that for around ($).
You will not be disappointed with this book and I think you'll agree that the quality is excellent, with a solid binding and beautiful reproductions of all of his paintings in chronological order. There are also a great deal of photographs (and paintings) that I've never seen before, and I thought I was a huge fan of Salvador Dali.
"Dali, The Work The Man" is also a very well-made book, which may be printed on a slightly heavier grade paper, at the most. However, the Taschen book is far more detailed and also excellent quality. "Dali, The Work The Man" costs ten times as much and only has half the content.
I truly thought there must have been some mistake when I ordered it.I still question the price as being far too low, so I advise you to hurry up and get this before the publisher realizes their huge mistake. Perhaps we are dealing with a publisher who really isn't greedy at all--that's my impression here.
I couldn't be happier with my purchase of this book and highly recommend it.

This book is awesome! Dali is no doubt one of the greatest artists of the 20th century! Smoked some bud too no doubt!! hehe

It amazes me that many of the reviews point to the obscurity of this text, but only insofar as this obscurity supposedly supports its greatness. I, however, remain unconvinced that the arguments Deleuze makes, which are practically impossible to follow, are anything more than words on a page. The obscurity of the text seems to me to be a drawback, not a praise. Deleuze makes the argument that before the difference and repetition of representation is "real" difference and repetition; it is unclear that these "real" differences and repetitions are anything more than a projection of Deleuze's cumbersome ramblings. Neither is it clear that Deleuze is anything more than a new Platonist, dividing all things between the vitual and the actual, following Bergson; it often appears as if the so-called virtual is really real, like Plato's forms, while the actual is merely an appearance or instance of virtuality. Of course, others could argue that I've understood it wrong, but insofar as Deleuze's arguments are illegible (something the other reviewers celebrate), one wonders on what grounds they could argue against me. Of course, there are many secondary sources on Deleuze available which will explain what he is "up to." However, I have been unable to see the relationship between their legible reconstructions and Deleuze's illegible text.

The other reviewers are right, unfortunately, when they assert that this is, indeed, a very important text for understanding Deleuze and contemporary French thought or critical theory. Despite its drawbacks, this was an influential text, and we must continue to read it.

Difference and repetition struck me as nothing I've ever read before has struck me. The fun thing about "reading" it, is that, when you think about it, the act of reading itself makes understanding parts of this work more clear. Reading this becomes a "machinic" activity as it were: immediate, affective, with its own unpredictability, with many gaps, moments of insight, despair, and so on. It seems contradictory, because I think it is the most rigorous and analytic of all of Deleuzes works. But it is immensely dense, as other reviewers also say.
It is certainly the crucial work in his oeuvre. Really if you have tried it a few times, you will notice that many ideas of his later work are based on the crucial notions of this grand exploration. Anti-Oedipe is such a delight to read and easy to understand after this one.

And I think it is good for those who want to approach Deleuze's thought, to start with the Anti-Oedipus and Mille Plateaux, then read some of the smaller and intensive works (What is philosophy, Leibniz et le Baroque). Then try this book. You will get many references and want to read all others once again.

It is clearly in this work that you will find the first monstrous and frontal attack against Hegel's dialectic. The fun thing is that this is a complete "anti-work". Every conceivable concept of modern philosophy (from the concept of "common sense", "history", or "being") gets an "anti", with which Deleuze consistently builds his grand idea of the immediate, the pre- or non-representational and the virtual--against any metaphysics. It is moreover his first, and I think also his last work where he builds his philosophy in a consistent manner.
After this one, I think he started exploring fragments of his thought more deeply, in his other works, which are derivatives so to speak. This is his goodbye to classic French philosphy (strong tradition of exploring the "history of philosophy") and his entrée into his own experimentation with the concepts he just developed.
To conclude, just some practical notes. The problem with the book is that, unlike his other works, you have to read all of it (because it is so consistent). This makes it a project for months, or even years. Good luck.

The ontological relativity advocated here is inseparable from enunciative relativity. Knowledge of a Universe, Deleuze maintains, is only possible through the mediation of autopoietic machines. A zone of self-belonging needs to exist for the coming into cognitive existence of any being or modality of being. And it is the same for their enunciative coordinates. The relativity of points of view of space, time and energy does not, for all that, absorb the real into the dream. Residual objectivity is what resists scanning by the infinite variation of points of view constitutable upon it. Existential machines are at the same level as being in its intrinsic multiplicity. They are not mediated by transcendent signifiers or subsumed by a univocal ontological foundation. They are to themselves their own material of semiotic expression. Existence, as a process of deterritorialization, is a specific inter-machinic operation which superimposes itself on the promotion of singularized existential intensities. And, as Deleuze clearly shows, there is no generalized syntax for these deterritorializations. Existence is not dialectical, not representable.

Heimel's first book was good, this one was excellent. Even if you're not a crime-fighing history buff, this chronology of Ness' life strikes an optimistic cord concerning what ultimately matters in life. Ness made plenty of mistakes in his life, but the testimony to man's efforts at doing the right thing is inspirational. He was not the person Hollywood portrayed him to be, but in some sense, he was much, much, more. This second edition is full of new information and insight. Just as you may find that the "professional" movie critics reviews didn't jibe with how you felt about a movie, you'll most likely come to the same conclusion about this book. Read it yourself. It's well worth the effort!

Paul W. Heimel has done a superb job of uncovering and relating the life and times of Eliot Ness, including the role that he and his team of "Untouchables" played in the destruction of Al Capone. Ness was a far more interesting and complex individual than the Hollywood characterizations of him. He was every bit as honest, diligent, and hard-working as his fictional counterpart, but also flawed in terribly human ways. The reader comes away with a deeper understanding of a very real, ultimately tragic human being. Heimel knows how to tell a story well and captures Ness's fascinating life without bogging the tale down in minutia. He provides clear images of Capone and a host of other characters, including FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. The paranoid, delusional "G Man" was a neurotic tyrant who could not stomach Ness getting any publicity or credit, no matter how deserved, because he believed it upstaged him and his agency. Ness even merited one of Hoover's many secret files. Indeed, Ness seems to have been harmed by his own success in destroying crooked cops, politicians, and labor thugs, which inevitably made him enemies. His own inability to convert his exemplary public service into business or political success reveals him as all-too human. His final years, and the lack of any material reward for his deeds, are both moving and tragic. This is a real slice of Americana without any glamorization. Heimel deserves our gratitude for rescuing a wonderful man from both near-obscurity and horrible distortion.

John Frye

If you are looking for an accurate and interesting book about Eliot Ness, this book is definitely for you. As I was reading this book, it was obvious that Paul Heimel researched Eliot Ness's life in depth. Fact and fiction were separated to get an honest look at Ness's life. Also, I didn't feel that he used any exaggerations and he fairly portrayed Ness. He gave Ness credit for his accomplishments and didn't "sugar-coat" Ness's failures. Ness's human side was captured in the book. Thumbs-up to the author Paul Heimel.

I've been helping people with retirement, financial, and estate planning problems for over thirty years, and this book is as good a source of SOUND, SENSIBLE advice on retirement planning as any I've found.

Retirement Planning isn't Rocket Science. But it CAN get complicated, particularly when you're listening to someone more interested in displaying his or her expertise than in helping you to understand what to DO. Alas, many advisors, even when they really ARE trying to help, inspire more confusion than understanding because they're focused on MEASUREMENTS. "Alpha", "Beta", "Standard Deviation", and the like. Those are mathematical measures, statistical concepts which sometimes (but not always) are helpful in understanding the statistics - the NUMBERS we deal with in financial planning. But financial planning isn't about NUMBERS. Rule Number One in my practice says -

"90% of financial planning is EMOTIONAL; only about 10% is about NUMBERS."

Paul Grangaard and Larry Atkins understand this VERY well. I've been privileged to talk with (and, sometimes, argue with) Paul and Larry on various occasions. Twice, we were speakers at the same financial planning event. I'm pretty good, if I say so myself, at speaking on retirement planning, but Paul's better. His delivery is so darned CLEAR, it's like a cold shower on a blistering hot day. And it's that way, partly because Paul's a heck of a public speaker, but MOSTLY because his MESSAGE is VERY SIMPLE and ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

If you want to understand WHY managing money AFTER retirement is COMPLETELY DIFFERENT from managing money BEFORE retirement, and ESPECIALLY if you want to understand how to deal with what I call "The One Big Risk" in retirement income planning, READ THIS BOOK.

The "One Big Risk" can be stated in the form of a question. It's this: "What are the chances that my account balance will fall to zero before my blood pressure does?"

MOST retirement planning methodologies are CLUELESS about this. Paul Grangaard's strategy understands it perfectly, and provides consumers (and ADVISORS who are willing to listen) with a sound, clearly understandable, and workable method of assessing and dealing with this One Big Risk.

Thanks, Paul and Larry, from a fellow practitioner and a big fan,

John L. Olsen, CLU, ChFC
Principal: Olsen Financial Group
St. Louis, MO

In 1996 I attended a seminar where I was first inroduced to Mr Grangaard's investment strategies. I attended another seminar in 1999. I've been strongly impacted, have used the material, and am succesful because of the strategies he teaches. I'm not surprised at all that a top New York publishing company saw fit to invest in getting Paul Grangaard's message out. I'm glad to see it.

This book provides very practical guidance that can be implemented by anyone. Paul Grangaard has given me peace of mind that I can in fact manage my assets for my lifetime. His strategies will enable me to capture higher rates of return while minimizing risks. Thank you.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. There were some real treats in it like the analysis of Captain Smith, who was portrayed by piecing together a whole bunch of survivor statements, which ended up showing a captain who remained involved and on the ball after the collision. I also liked the treatment of a potential third boat (besides the Californian)in the area during and after the Titanic's sinking. This is the first book I read that also showed the captain leaving the bridge only minutes before the impact (instead of the more common portrayal of a little after 9 p.m.) Very interesting.

There are a lot of Titanic books out there, and this is one of several of them that is both informative and entertaining (there are some enjoyable new illustrations in this book as well).

Paul Quinn really does his homework - and follows through with the hard but necessary research that is not evident in so many other Titanic books. He goes through all the court transcripts with a fine-tooth comb, apparently with no particular ax to grind, and simply lets the facts lead where they may. For example, we learn that First Officer Murdoch, who was evidently involved in the final panic and shooting near the bridge, was also much more involved in both port and starboard boat launchings than has been suggested in earlier works. Up to the moment of the rush(s) on the last boat(s), Murdoch was the one officer who kept his head and launched the boats properly. Quinn is also a good painter, and is the first artist to actually portray what survivors saw (and could not see) under real lighting conditions.

Paul Quinn has an ability to look at what everyone else has seen (chiefly the British and American Inquiries into the loss of the Titanic) and to think what no one else has thought. This ability defines genius. In his latest book, for example, he follows First Officer William Murdoch throughout the sinking and reveals that it was Murdoch's competence that saved MOST of the people who got off in the lifeboats that night, revealing that there was much more to this man than would be suggested by those of us who have spent what now appears to be too much time focusing on the last ten minutes of his life. One may not always agree with Quin's conclusions (for example, some fine details of the flooding sequence); but agree or disagree, he always makes you think, and rethink, what you thought you already knew. I'll continue to buy all of his books on this subject, just to see what breath of fresh air he next blows on to a tale from the good old, old, old days.

I don't feel that this is a good book for the beginner. As a beginning collector, I am more interested in how to find and/or buy pens not how to repair them.

This great book covers all the bases. It starts with a history of fountain pen development. This section is fairly brief but is thorough for its length. It gives a lot of interesting and necessary knowledge of how pens changed over the years. The book also covers how to collect, where to find them, storage and display, repairs, selecting a pen for use, inks, paper, and how to value pens. These sections are necessarily not encyclopedic but they do give all a person needs to get a good start with each of those subjects.

Then there is a nice, in depth discussion of the Major Manufacturers & Their Classics. This section is an excellent article about 7 of the most well known pen makers and their most successful or notable developments and pen models. It's also another look at the history of fountain pens. Of course, some people would say there should be other makers included, but I don't think anyone would say that these 7 don't belong here.

The rest and biggest part of the book is devoted to pictures of specific pens and a value for them. Most of the pictures are colored. The section is broken down into:

Early Fountain Pens
The Golden Age
The Modern Age
Contemporary Fountain Pens

The pictures are EXCELLENT! There are some representative reproductions of old fountain pen ads that give a good feel of the older pen era and also are valuable in identifying some pen models. These ad pictures are sprinkled through the book but are not overdone.

The pen prices, of course, go out of date fast but they do give an idea of the relative value of the pens. The prices are also given in retail, not street prices. This is a minor fault that is just about unavoidable in a book of this type. Prices would have to be issued at close intervals to remain current and street prices are nearly impossible to keep up with.

In my opinion, this is a classic book and the best I've seen about fountain pens. I don't see a single major fault. The quality of binding and printing is excellent also. While not a coffee table book as such and much more valuable, it could double for that if opened to the fine color pictures.

This book is not your usual coffee table book that elicits a sigh of possessiveness or, at best, a hope to one day procure the impossibly difficult to find pens, not to say unaffordable! I like Erano's book because it gives one the WORKS-- it tells us how to BECOME and flourish as fountain pen collectors. Of course, it does pay a good deal of attention to the zoological aspect of the hobby (or should I say passion), classifies pens and so forth, but to me the chief value of the book lies in its reality aspect, it gives us tips to be realistic collectors of any age or income group, and not just the snotty set looking for a psychological backup for their already rich and varied collection. In these days of online auctions (ebay and penbid come easily to mind), a book such as Erano's is not only a necessary tool (I have in mind the section on pen repair), but also a amply sufficient one. In particular, I would strongly urge you to not invest money in those highly regarded mindless "pretty pictures" books that cost about 5 to 8 times what this great book costs. I have them also, but i like Erano's the best!

"His Holiness" stands as the best biography of Karol Wojtyla, later to become Pope John Paul II and the first Pope of the third millennium. His papacy has revolved around inceessant travel and an effort to re-establish orthodoxy in the Church through rigid supression of dissent led by Joseph Ratzinger.

This incessant travel has led John Paul to be seen as a mdeia superstar, and at the same time is strong doctrinal stance has led to him being seen by some as a restorationist and as a successor to Pius XII rather than John XXIII.

This book avoids many of the problems of other John Paul biographies. Bernstain and Politti write with more clarity than, say, Tad Szulc, and they do a very good job of explaining the contradictionas that really are to be seen in the Wojtyla papacy: the authoritarian church leader versus campaigns for justice in the wider world. Most aspects of Karol Wojtyla's life up to the time of the book's printing are described most effectively - such as the conclave and how Wojtyla came through against several Italian candidates.

This is the book to read to know John Paul II.

Best book I ever purchased. Well written and very informative.

"The roots of all he felt and did as pope, in terms of both Catholic dogma and geostrategic doctrine were to be found deep in the soil of his native Poland. As a youth, like many of his compatriots, he had steeped himself in the lore of Polish messianism, the idea that Poland was the Christ of the Nations that one day would rise again to point the way for all of humanity." So begins this spellbinding account of Pope John Paul II, and the history of our time.

Not since Malachi Martin's "The Keys of This Blood" has there been a book that so meticulously traces and makes clear the global ambitions of the Catholic Papacy. Carl Bernstein's excellent reportage combines with the sometimes irritatingly unctious contributions of Italian journalist Marco Politi to write a book that is filled with so much high-drama and intrigue it is difficult at times to keep in mind that this is not a novel, but real life history being made right before our very eyes.

Perhaps the most compelling chapters in the book have to deal with how Karol Woytila as pope, conspired with Ronald Reagan and his Cabinet, which was virtually made up of all Catholics, to assit Poland's Solidarity movement, and hasten the demise of Communism.

This book copiously documents how the United States Government, together with organized labor, made common cause with the Vatican to conduct a modern-day Berlin airlift of sorts to keep Soldarity alive during the days of martial law in Poland.

This pope's purely political side is brought out for all the world to see. Not since Malichi Martin's book has there emerged a portrait of this pontiff which shows just how cunning, politically motivated, and hegemonistic he really is. John Paul II is portrayed as being a "very important asset" to our government. "And what was in it for the pope," a deputy of Secretary of State Alexander Haig was asked. "Something he probably wanted more than anything else...I think he is a very political man-what this gave him ...was that he felt he had a high-level intimate relationship with the world's most powerful country. He was a player. That's what it gave him."

In this book emerges a portrait of a pope that many people haven't seen, or do not believe exists, and that is the portrait of a man on a mission to establish worldwide, what has been established in his native Poland; a world dedicated to the Virgin Mary, governed under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Church.

A person would only have to review the history of Catholic absolutism in history, especially in the Dark or Middle Ages, and in the period from the 1870's to the Second World War to see how truly frightening this prospect is. This book clearly shows that John Paul II is the Deus Ex Machina in foreign affairs. This book is every bit as compelling as a novel.

Wow!! This has to be one of the best 8th Doctor books i've read yet. This is one of the 'must read' books if you're enjoying the whole 'End Of Gallifrey' arc. One good thing about the book, is that Paul Cornell has decided to retain continuity that was set in the Virgin 'Happy Endings' book where the Brigadier has de-aged to mid-30's. Every character in the book is well presented - the best, of course, being the Brigadier. The ending is a corker as well - one of the best. WELL RECOMMENDED!!!!

Good show; wonderful story.
I must say this book was very hard to put down even when sleep called desperately.
While the eighth Dr. is not my favorite, I purchased this book as the story line mentions Avalon of which I am most interested in.
To my delight Paul Cornell has written this book so that it reads like a fourth Doctor adventure and that was a welcomed surprise.
The intertwining of the Brigadier, dimension shifting, fairies, mages, et. al. is a rare mixture that is a treat for the mind and has you constantly wondering what will happen next. The problems and possibilities all mix well and make you wonder, "what if".
All 'round a must read. Bravo!

Don't let the worst Doctor Who book cover on the shelf fool you! There are no flying alligators in this book! I've just reciently devoured ten of the Doctor Who books - reciently being within the last few months, and the books being eight 8th Doctor books, and 2 past Doctor books. This book was my favorite of all of these! I thought Father Time was the best (I'm not reading them entirely in order), but I was glad to have been showndifferently! The book grabbed me on the first page and didn't let go until I was through, and I am sorry that I finished it. You can see the "Top 500" review for a story synopsis - I'm just popping in to say READ IT. I guess I should say, if you like fantasy vs. reality - myth vs. military - and classic Doctor Who in a faster more modern more sophisticated light... then READ IT! Brilliant treatment of Compassion also, not to mention the Brigadier whose character is explored and made more real within these pages than I've ever experienced it before. Thank you Paul Cornell!

Dr. Paul Meier is the co-host of the nationally syndicated radio show "New Life Clinic" and has written many books. His personality on the radio is condescending and now I have discovered why--he's a jerk. At least he admits that he used to be. And he has written the book to prove it, entitled "Don't Let the Jerks Get the Best of You."

The idea for this book is great--dealing with the jerks you come in contact with. But during the reading of the book I discovered two things: first, he is really trying to get at the jerk within YOU (the reader), not in others. That's fine and he certainly convinced me that I'm a jerk at the highest level, but it didn't do much other than make me feel bad that I'm a jerk. It didn't help me much in dealing with others.

Second, he proves himself to be the utmost jerk through his constant claiming that he's NOT a jerk anymore! He gives three "levels" of being a jerk (everyone falls into one of the three categories), and of course he claims that he may have been level two at one point but now he is the lowest-level jerk. He even calls himself a "good guy" who "doesn't mean to do wrong." So when he mistreats his wife or kids or patients, he excuses it away as being meaningless since he doesn't intend on hurting them. Can't he see that INTENT may have nothing to do with it? A person who backs their car into your car may not "mean" to do it, but that is not an excuse! They did wrong, must take personal responsibility for it, learn to drive better, etc. Intent doesn't deal with consequences.

He then goes on to claim he has some "weaknesses"-- such as the fact that he like to pay for others meals or that he likes to spend all the money he makes on others! Wow--what weaknesses! He tells of how he invested lots of money in bad deals and the IRS charged him penalities--he again claims he was a well-meaning dope! Even in his proclaiming his weaknesses he comes across as a #1 jerk, not taking responsibility for his actions but claiming ignorance. He also humbly brags throughout the book (as he does often on his radio show) that he's a great husband and father and doctor--yet he tells stories of how he ignores his kids (one of his kids ran away from home as a teen), doesn't follow through on what he tells his wife, and he constantly pushes drugs. You would think the guy is a drug company rep if you listen to him on the radio--his solution to just about every psychological problem in life is drugs!

This is a frustrating book. The IDEA of it is great. But it's mostly about Dr. Meier being a jerk and him lording it over the rest of us. The solutions are few. This book needs some good objective editing and rewriting before it will be of value to those of us who are dealing with jerks every day, even ourselves.

I have read several of Dr. Meier's books and this is one of the best. It is an easy read and very funny in the right doses. I had a real jerk as a father-in-law and a bigger jerk for a husband. I wanted to try and understand why they acted the way they did. This book was very helpful in allowing me to be at ease with their behavior, knowing when I was acting in a co-dependent manner, and to know that their behavior was not going to change. I could recommned any book written by Dr. Meier and Dr. Minirth. They have written several books together. I could also highly recommend Restoring Margin to Overloaded Lives by Richard A. Swenson,M.D. If you buy this one get the workbook to go with it.

After ten or twelve pages my first observation was that Meier is very, very readable. His style flows effortlessly and goes down without a lot of chewing. He is also very transparent, using a lot of illustrations from his own life to make his points. He is very much a "one of us" kind of guy who has struggled with the same problems normal people have.

This book will enable you to recognize "jerky" behavior in yourself as well as others and better understand where it comes from (and how to change it). We run into jerks everywhere we go in life and the more skilled we are in dealing with them the smoother our journeys will be. This book will be enormously comforting if you have any abuse in your background.

Meier cites many spiritual truths throughout the book and writes from that perspective. If you are put off by spiritual things I recommend that you at least consider the wisdom of what he has to say. I read so many little passages out of it to my wife that she read it when I was done and we have recommended it to friends and family.

Wow, for once I find myself agreeing with Ian Fletcher - really great job, Michael. Every neighborhood should have a book like this - but only Harlem does! And, Michael, you're too sensitive about 1-800-Riverside - he/she made some reasonably fair criticisms - who among us are without sin? - but still endorses your book.

Hope you make a $million (Gianfranco Monacelli, are you listening?) - or at least enough for a computer.

Best, Christopher Gray

This great book comes forward to change forever our view of Harlem. It is a highly significant step toward informed appreciation of Harlem's architectural importance, cultural complexity, and the abundant variety and beauty of its singular places. No publication at this scale has yet been attempted for Harlem and the grand scope and close detail brought together here by this talented historian will raise the intelligence of the national sense of this unique cultural center never before served so well. Harlem is a household word -- across the globe -- and many may have felt that "our country's African American center" or "jazz incubator" or "home of black Congressional leadership" or some such positive phrase sums it up. Here is presentation of the whole, its place in shaping our revolutionary republic, its welcome to those arriving first from Europe, then from southern states as well as the Caribbean Islands, its heritage of architecturally glorious churches, its handsome houses -- and the innate preservationist sensitivity of each wave of residents who have kept this heritage of fine architecture so largely intact. The book presents these churches and houses through the superlative photographic studies contributed by Paul Rocheleau which bring the reader right into the sites so brilliantly described by Michael Adams. This fine collaboration opens eyes to the deeper meaning of carefully designed housing itself as well as how these churches stand witness to the care of their parishioners. Those viewing these pages far from Harlem will feel on site; those here will want to walk these streets with newly opened eyes. The book is a lifetime purchase and is itself one of the most significant Harlem events in years.

Paul Rocheleau urged me not to worry about what I wrote stressing, "Most people only look at the pictures anyhow." Taking over ten years to research and write something, how tiresome it is to then be compelled to defend it. One is reluctant to do much beyond urging those who might disagree with what you've said to take a decade or two themselves and write their own work. After all no matter what one does or doesn't do the inadvertent error is sure to emerge. This was so for Galsworthy and for Langston Hughes. It will be for you as well. The Riviera Apartments, for instance, were designed by Rouse & Goldstone, not Schwartz & Gross. Mr. Charles Lovejoy is in fact Mr. Charles Loveday, and so it goes. It appears that Harlem Lost and Found will warrant a second printing at least, so thank goodness these mistakes and similar ones can be addressed.

What cannot be altered, however, is my understanding of Harlem's boundaries. Quite justifiably, I believe they can be identified as extending as far north as 168th St. "Not For Tourists Guide to New York City 2003", sponsored by JPMorgan Chase Community Development Group, at least agrees to this hallowed region extending north as far as 160th St. Well, actually, they call the region south to 134th St. between Bradhurst Ave. and the Hudson River 'Manhattanville/Hamilton Heights'. However, surely these neighborhoods are agreed to be in Harlem, are they not?

Unashamedly, I concede that my book was driven by handsome buildings. But, throughout its publication from circa 1910 through 1934, Harlem Magazine, an all white journal, included the very same structures that I have located north of 155th St. in its pages. Things do change, of course. Attempting to dissect Harlem into a series of hierarchically class-based districts, many, by the 1890s, designated all Manhattan west of St. Nicholas Ave. and north of 135th St. as 'Washington Heights'. Already by the 1860s the appellation was used from 155th St. north. But this initial usage much like that of 'Carmansville' was meant, I believe, to identify a subsection of greater Harlem. Certainly, the Audubon, Knapp, and Hooper families continued to identify their address as Harlem much as today many residents of the officially named 'Clinton' continue to give their address as 'Hell's Kitchen'.

In any case, perhaps the old-fashioned but unfashionable race card trumps other considerations? Asked in the 1950s by Joe McCarthy where he lived, Ralph Ellison said 150th St. and Riverside Drive. He qualified his answer, though, noting that the area had once been regarded as 'Washington Heights'. But stated that from his experience, "Wherever Negroes live uptown is considered Harlem." Surely this is the logic whereby the Audubon Ballroom and Theater, where Malcolm X was slain in 1965, was and continues to be identified as a Harlem landmark. No doubt, as more whites displace more blacks and Latinos throughout Upper Manhattan, Brian Keith Jackson's satirical references to name changes in the novel "The Queen of Harlem" will, in fact, occur more and more. It's this likelihood that makes me even more adamantly compelled to document the old understanding amongst blacks and many whites of what is Harlem.

How easy it is to regret what one has not done. If only I had a computer I might have addressed these issues earlier. If only I were more prosperous, I might have also included footnotes in Harlem Lost and Found and saved myself some grief. But as an author under contract to a small press it was difficult enough to pay for an index, I can assure you. As it was so dear, I especially wish the mystery reviewer at 800 RSD had consulted it. I reference Vaux & Withers twice. Once in relation to their Trinity Cemetery suspension bridge. Another time based on Francis R. Kowsky's 1980 monograph of Withers (Wesleyan University Press), on page 196, in the appended work list, I cite the George B. Grinnell house and stable on West 156th and 157th Sts. entered for 1869 and 1870. At no time, regarding this firm, do I ever mention either Mrs. John James Audubon or her dwelling.

As for my attribution of Audubon Park's ownership by George Bird Grinnell, on page 21 of the pamphlet "Audubon Park" published by the Hispanic Society in America in 1927 and reissued in 1987, a later George B. Grinnell relates of his relative, "Long before this, the greater portion of what had been Audubon Park, that is to say, all of it except the track where the old Audubon houses stand had become the property of a single owner, George B. Grinnell, from whose estate, in 1909, a large part of it passed into the hands of builders who covered much of it with tall apartment houses."

Similarly, so far as Jesse W. Benedict's earlier ownership of the park after 1864 goes, no less an historian than Audubon Park's own Reginald Pelham Bolton in his great book "Washington Heights, Manhattan, Its Eventful Past" asserts the same on page 111.

Regarding record sale prices at the Grinnell, the New York Times, it's true, might inflate values, but can I really be faulted for believing all the news that's fit to print?

Yes, indeed, whatever else it is, thanks mostly to Paul Rocheleau and designer Abigail Sturges, Harlem Lost and Found is a visual feast. Whatever its shortcomings, I hope that it is better written and researched than one critic suggests. Better than ever, I now appreciate the aphorism 'Some do, and others complain'. And anonymously, no less. Well, what can one say except God Bless America.