I thought this book went extremely slow. If you are into lots of detail, however, you may like it. For instance, Steinbeck takes like 3 pages to tell how a turtle crosses the road. There is not much meat to the story, but it is an American classic, for some reason!

This book is not Grapes of Wrath. The previous reviewer's review is not a review of this book. Hayashi was one of the most important Steinbeck scholars, and this book is a very important collection of fifteen essays in his honor.

The great English filmmaker has been the subject of numerous wonderful books through the years--volumes by Spoto, Durgnat, the great interview book by Truffaut. This tiny, modest work--more like a little promotional folder you might find at a film tribute on the "for free" table--certainly does not deserve to be placed among those earlier creditable efforts. With little to say on the subject and a painful prose style with which to say it, this book is reminiscent of a collegiate fanzine. The publisher claims it has aimed the book at the "MTV Generation" by which I get the impression they mean readers having the attention span of three minutes--Beavis goes to the movies?-- which is just a little less than this short book takes to absorb. The book's value, if any, is for someone wanting a convenient little listing of Hitch's works for crosschecking their video collection perhaps. I will close by saying something positive about the book--at under 5 dollars it is certainly the cheapest book on Hitchcock.

I do some writing and lecturing on film and find this book to be an ideal reference source. There are succinct and to-the-point plots, subtext and 'making of' sections for each of Hitch's 50 odd films. It's author Paul Duncan has fitted it all in considering the size of the book, and at this price you can't go wrong! The author has also peppered the text with his own opinions and has the nerve to rate the films - quite accurately pointing out that Hitchcock made bad films as well as good ones. I can see how this irreverent attitude to Hitchcock could get up the noses of some academics, but I found it refreshing. His opinions, I find, are also good starting points for discussions about Hitchcock. At the back, there is a reference section where Paul Duncan gives his opinion about other reference books - something I have not seen done elsewhere.

This woman has absolutely no talent whatsoever. The narrative is all over the place, and the characters are so incredibly 2-dimensional that it's hard to get past the first few pages. Don't bother buying this one, but if you find it in someone's garbage (like mine, maybe) it makes a great doorstop.

A thoroughly enjoyable visit into the old west and great love!

This title is bad. The "Extra Smart Pages" Star Wars title is great, light years better than this one. It is elaborate and complex, whereas this title is mundane, barely a step above your basic "push this button, get a lame sound" type book. The cover says it features the voice of Meg Ryan, but it doesn't sound like her to me. Regardless, the vocal performance on this title is limp, no panache or quality at all. Ok, I'm a 40 year old technoid who enjoys excellence, so maybe this would be good for a 4 year old who loved the movie, but I can't see it. The "Smart Pages" are just your basic "press here, get a sound" type books. The "Extra Smart Pages" are much better, pressing any given button will give you different sounds or variations depending on what you are doing at the time. That is, if the content authors made the effort to use the "Extra" smart portion of the pages. These authors did not. Of the 4 I own, "Anasthasia" is the worst, "My School is Cool" is good, "Hercules" is very good, and "Star Wars" is excellent. Enjoy.

This is a great book for first & second graders. It talks to the kids and prompts them with questions about what is displayed on the page. The voices are from the movie, and the locations of the answers change each time the page activity is read. There are only 5 pages, but the book will still keep kids engaged during many, many sessions. This is a great value. Having seen the movie helps, but is not at all necessary. Overall, this is a keeper.

"Another Gospel: A Confrontation with Liberation Theology" is one of the angriest and most mean-spirited books I have ever read. In it author Paul C. McGlasson attacks liberation theology, one of the important currents in 20th century Christian theology.

McGlasson's basic argument is that the liberation theologians have departed from the true Christian path (as defined by McGlasson). McGlasson engages in name-calling and finger-pointing throughout the book: he accuses liberation theologians of teaching "false doctrine" and "heresy." He compares them to "fascists," even invoking the name of Hitler in his comparison (chapter 3). According to McGlasson, liberation theologians are "profaning the name of our God."

This book has an angry, bitter, disrespectful tone throughout. For example, he mocks non-sexist language as a concession to the "feminist lobby." The author is particularly harsh in his repeated condemnation of civil rights hero Martin Luther King, Jr. McGlasson claims that the teaching of King, who was a Christian clergyman, "is not the gospel of Jesus Christ" (ch. 2). He goes on to suggest that King was a "self-attested messiah" and a "false prophet" (ch. 3).

McGlasson's attacks on King are weak because he fails in these attacks to quote from any of King's own writings. In fact, none of King's many works are even cited in the brief bibliography.

A McCarthyesque air of paranoia also pervades this book. As an example of the "theological fascism" that is allegedly sweeping the Christian world, the author gives an anecdotal example of an unnamed instructor in an unnamed seminary who allegedly was ill-treated because of his theological conservatism.

Although McGlasson condemns the alleged self-appointed messiahs of the liberation theology movement, he seems to have appointed himself the new savior of Christianity. Each of his chapters ends with a command from the author: "The church must. . ." do this or that in order to come into line with McGlasson's beliefs.

In its naivete and self-parodic style, "Another Gospel" is almost funny. But in its bitterness, anger, and paranoia, the book is rather frightening.

I disagree with the previous reviewer. I think that the message of this book is very accurate and important. Please read it.

The book cover states that the book is lavishly illustrated; the cover is but not the book. It is not up to Yale standards.The photographs are small and blurry, often the colors are incorrect.Please wait for a good Catalogue Raisonne. As for the text, so many years of good research wasted. The text is ponderous, poorly written with endless sentences full of quotes and inserts.The author is critical , judgemental and constantly makes assumptions or gives personal and mostly unsubstanciated opinions. It is another book for Art History students (the author is an Art History teacher) not for lovers of paintings. I returned the book to Amazon.

Both the serious art scholar and the general reader will appreciate this visual and textual treat of a book which is truly "The Art of Thomas Gainsborough." Many of the plates I had not seen reproduced in previous books on Gainsborough, and Rosenthal's view of Gainsborough, that he was much more serious an artist and business man than he or his contemporaries saw him. I first went through this book, feasting my eyes on all the plates(most of which are in color and beautifully reproduced), which are roughly divided between Gainsborough's portraits, which he painted to meet market demand and pay the bills and his landscapes which he painted for pleasure. Rosenthal's plates also include details from certain paintings, so that the reader can study Gainsborough's brushwork and see clearly why much of his work suffers when hung from the wrong height or is viewed too close to.

While this book is roughly chronological, it is not a biography of Gainsborough, it is a biography of his work. Rosenthal traces Gainsborough's art from his beginings in Sudbury, his training and apprenticeship, early work in London, move to Bath as a better market to make money and perfect his skill as a portrait painter, and final move to London, resulting in his popularity as a portrait painter, establishment as a painter-courtier to the Royal Family and unofficial portraitist to members of the same,the near annual battles with the hanging commitee of the Royal Academy on the proper hanging of his submitted works, which led to his breaking with the academy as a member, his failures to sell many of his beloved landscape paintings, and his first serious attempt to create a historical painting in the final months of his life.

Original to this work on Gainsborough is the central theme that Gainsborough, like his fellow English artists, had to paint to the market demands, which in England meant portraits sold, while landscapes and history paintings generally did not. That meant pleasing the clientele without "selling out," something Gainsborough found sometimes difficult to do. Artists also painted differently, often using brighter colors and altering the paintings afterwards, to get their work noticed at the annual Royal Academy exibitions. Rosenthal includes illustrations of these overcrowded exibitions(both in paintings exibited hung floor to ceiling, and the crowds of people viewing them)to give the reader an idea of why Gainsborough and other artists were often unhappy with the hanging committees decisions on where their paintings were hung.

Most fascinating is the chapter "Faces and Lives" where Rosenthal compares and contrasts not only Gainsborough's multiple portraits of the same subject, but also with portraits of the same subject done by his rival, and President of the Royal Academy, Sir Josah Reynolds. Reynold's more often painted his sitters in a historic style with the sitters' faces sometimes altered so that acquintances didn't recognize them while Gainsborough's sitters were easily recognizable, if flattered. The prime example of this differences between the two painters are their portraits, of the actress Sarah Siddons, reproduced side by side in the book. Reynolds painted her as the "Tragic Muse", on a throne-like chair, clad in classical draperies. Gainsborough's slightly later portrait depicted her perched on a dainty French chair, dressed in the latest fashion, gazing off into space(contemplating her newest role, perhaps?)with the only clue to her career, a crimson curtain draped as background.

What a horrible book. Not only does the author not take a good look at any of the archelogical evidence relating to the premise of Atlantis, his writing style becomes quite irritating after awhile, like a college professor who thinks he's being witty and clever and really coming across as a pompous blowhard. Despite another reviewer's claim that this book dispels the myth of Atlantis, it doesn't do that at all. It simply spouts the same arguments that academics have been saying for years who haven't even looked at the evidence because the topic of Atlantis isn't respectable enough for them (sonar readings show no continent on the ocean floor, etc.). The real truth of the matter is that there has never been a single expedition into the Atlantic with the sole purpose of looking for Atlantis, and much of accepted, 'respectable' archeology, history, even geology is, in actuality, mere guesswork. Any author is entitled to his opinion, of course, but this book has no market. The bottom line is people who buy books on Atlantis do so because they're interested in the subject. There might well be an equal amount of people who don't believe in it, but I can't imagine they're willing to spend twenty dollars on a book like this for it. Nice cover, though, hopefully they'll keep that, at least, for the paperback version - if it even gets one.

This book so effectively exposes the pseudoscience behind the continued promotion of the lost continent of Atlantis -- in all its guises, old and new -- that it effectively leaves the matter case closed. I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially for people who believe that Atlantis (or some lost civilization) once existed and influenced the formation of the more familiar ancient cultures of the world (Egypt, the Maya, etc).

Jordan shows, in a lucid and entertaining style, how Plato dreamed up the Atlantis myth to make a politico-philosophical point; how the ancient and modern myths of Atlantis are entirely different and cannot be reconciled; how the modern version runs contrary to over a century of archaeological investigation into humankind's development; and how continued efforts to promote the Atlantis myth require such willful ignorance of masses of evidence and such bizarre "reasoning" as to border on the the deceitful. It is a tour-de-force book, and an essential read for anyone interested in the Atlantis myth.

I was given this book as a gift for my birthday. I was very exited, because I was born in the beautiful country of Ecuador and had travelled the same area that the book dipicted. The cover is very nice, it grabs your attention right away. As soon as I started the book I realized that it was in English and Spanish. I was very disapointed that the English portion was written very poorly; like it was done by someone who was not fluent in the language. I believe that if you are going to publish a book and charge so much money for it, it should at least make sense when you read it. I do say that the Spanish portion was fine, but I pity the poor English only reader who buys this book. All of this said, if you are looking for a nice book of postcard fotos, this is the book for you.

The author has created in this book an excellent experience of the ecuadorian andes and of the current indian groups, which are descendants of the precolombian inhabitants. Mr. Aguilar captures with first class photographic quality, the andean landscapes and remarkable portriats of these cultures. Additionally, he gives us a general view of these groups during their daily chores and festivities, which is an experiences in itself. For those of us familiar with this part of the world, Awakening in the Andes opens our eyes to the beauty that surrounds us every day, and for those interested in Ecuador, it is an excellent means of getting acquainted with the country and its andean indian cultures.

On the last trail ride Lulu thinks it is so fun to go in the lake with Snow White Lulu said I'm going to do this all summer then Pam and Anna remembered that soon Lulu won't have a pony. Lulu remembered Snow White really belongs to Rema Baxter when she comes home Lulu has to give Snow White back. When the pony pals meet Rema they don't like how she keeps Snow White in the stable during the day and Rema's mean and treats Snow White badly.Can Lulu convice Rema to give her Snow White.

This book was a good book, it had detail, emotion, and action. Those are the three things you need to write a good book, and this book has all three. So it was a good book, pluse Jeanne Betancourt is a good writer and Paul Bachem is a good illustrator.

This is a book with a most appealing title (at least for me): The Bard on the Brain. I've taught Shakespeare for many years, and I'm interested in what neuroscience has to say about literature.

The book was published by the Dana Foundation which does all kinds of good things in connection with the brain, nervous system, and the diseases thereof. Ordinarily their publications are very good.

What could Shakespeare say about the brain? As any Shakespearean could tell you, not much. The book consists of quotations from Shakespeare about various aspects of the mind (e.g., Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking, Falstaff on alcohol, Jaques on aging). The book then follows up with some statements about current knowledge of this or that aspect of brain function.

I have to say that I did not expect much from this approach and I got what I expected. The quotations from Shakespeare are fine, and the commentary on them inoffensive. The statements of brain function seemed tailored to someone who barely knows that there is such a thing as a brain, extremely elementary. This is really a coffee-table book.

The best thing in the book are the gorgeous full-page photographs of recent performances of Shakespeare, the basis for its coffee-table status. Unfortunately, the editors chose to reduce the brain images in size and to pretty them up with confusing backgrounds. It is very hard to see what the commentary is referring to. The scientific footnotes are lumped together in the back in a way that makes it hard to follow out any particular point.

A disappointment. And this is intended as a word to the wise.

I was really intrigued by this book -- how often do scientists and literary scholars collaborate? This is not an academic book in the purest sense--but what's wonderful about it is that is written by two academics who are not afraid to show their love of Shakespeare and who want their work and interests to be accessible to a broad audience. The result is a fun and refreshing look at art and science, which I really enjoyed. The gorgeous illustrations are enticing, as is the often illuminating and always thought provoking commentary by the two authors. Since I am not a scientist, I was particularly taken by the brain imaging and commentary by Dr. Matthews. As a drama lover, I also enjoyed the many photos from performances of the Bard's plays.