This book is one of the 2 most desirable and collectible books on classical guitars (the other one is: Collection of Fine Spanish Guitars from Torres to the Present by Urlik, Sheldon). The figures are superb and the text informative. The hard cover edition is better in the following senses:

1. The hard cover edition is a limited edition (6000 copies only).
2. It is like a textbook which can be opened fully on its back. Easy for reading and scanning.
3. It's got a hard protective slipcase

However, getting the softcover edition might be your choice for its price and availability.

If you are a lover of guitars, specifically classical guitars, you owe it to yourself to purchase this book. There is nothing else like it. Great photography, details on some of the best guitars from some of the best makers...Romanillos, Smallman, Bernabe...They are all here. Inclusively, the book covers players (Williams, Bream, Segovia) as well as an in depth look at wood and the guitar market today. Great stuff and at ..., an incredible bargain.

Any lover of the classical guitar cannot help but appreciate this gorgeous collection of instruments, as well as the way in which they are displayed on the pages. Filled with information about the guitars and their construction, the luthiers, and which players'CDs you can hear them on, I highly recommend this fine edition. I take issue only with the subtitle "A Complete History", as the guitars are based on a single collection of instruments, owned by Russell Cleveland, and not necessarily what any other person would consider "Complete". That fact does not diminish my enjoyment of this exquisite book one bit.

It's useless to dig for just one or two epigrams to stand in for the totality of Bacon's penetrating genius in the "Essays." Though it is perhaps fashionable today to detract from him in order to praise Montaigne, it should be clear that Bacon is at least as indispensable. As terse as Emerson is expansive, Bacon's "Essays" are perhaps the most truly Classical (in spirit) prose in the English language. Fans of the Leo Strauss school should have a fieldday reading between the lines of the essays "On Atheism" and "On Superstition"; for the rest of us, nobody can come away from even one of these essays without gaining invaluable insights. Though Bacon is rightly heralded for the radical newness of his pragmatic methods, he is ensteeped in history-- those mindful of Napoleon's dictum that history is the only true philosophy will certainly respond enthusiastically to Bacon's approach. From the post-Machiavellian insights of "Of Empire" to the pre-Enlightenment ethics of "Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature", one will find in reading Bacon's prose what the youth of Athens must have found in following Socrates: the presence of a benevolent, worldly-wise, supremely rational mind determined to show you the order of the world.

A collection of 59 essays by one of the shrewdest bipeds (some would say a brilliant rogue!) that ever walked this stale promontory of ours . Sir Francis Bacon offers his views on a whole smorgasbord of topics ranging from Truth,Death,'Adversitie',Marriage & the single life,Love,Boldness,Superstition,Friendship ,Health,Ambition,Youth,Beauty to Anger & Fame.These are short pieces (usually a couple of pages) but packed full of wit & timeless wisdom ____you can dip into them one at a time & chew them at your leisure .These essays are the quintessence of wholesome English common sense .Read them leisurely over a cup of tea(or coffee) on a crisp autumn afternoon (as the trees turn color) to savor their distinctly English flavor. I happen to have a Morroco-bound ,gilt-edged collection of these essays which was an added treat!

Along with Shakespeare's works, Bacon's "Essays" is the supreme achievement of the English Renaissance. Philosopher, statesman, author, Bacon made all knowledge his province, and in the "Essays" is to be found more worldly wisdom than in any other book. "My essays come home, to men's business and bosoms." And Pope penned the epitaph, "If parts allure thee think how Bacon shined, The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind." These essays, though, need a gloss for the modern reader to understand Bacon's cramped yet erudite prose and Latin quotations, as is provided in Pitcher's edition.

This is a book about the passion of a man fishing and protecting the atlantic salmon. The atlantic salmon is the summum in fishing experience for any anglers. The book is full of stories and tips dating back some 60 years of Lee Wulff life and its worth every minute of reading, he is a great story teller. A great buy for any nature lovers, and specialy fly fishing enthousiasm.

This book was recommended by a friend. It is about the passion of a man fishing and protecting the atlantic salmon. The atlantic salmon is the summum in fishing experience for any anglers. A moment of truth, meeting nature. The book is full of stories and tips dating back some 60 years of Lee Wulff life and its worth every minute of reading, he is a great story teller. A great buy for any nature lovers, and specialy fly fishing enthousiasm.

This book is about the passion of a man fishing and protecting the atlantic salmon. The atlantic salmon is the summum in fishing experience for any anglers. The book is full of stories and tips dating back some 60 years of Lee Wulff life and its worth every minute of reading, he is a great story teller. A great buy for any nature lovers, and specialy fly fishing enthousiast.

A great read for Michigan hockey devotees, or those who just want to know what it's all about. Author Bacon writes with an engaging, easy style that makes this book a pleasure to read. The author offers ample stories and anecdotes that help to place the subject in a larger and meaningful context. A great addition to what we know about college sports.

This is a fantastic book for several reasons. There is certainly enough information about the history of the program to make the book worthwhile in and of itself. But what makes the book special is the way that the history of the program is put into historical context. For example, the book discusses how great people in the University's history were responsible for keeping a program alive when most other's couldn't - during the Depression and WWII, for instance. The book is also very careful to discuss how important people in the program's history have made contributions outside of hockey, not only to the University but to the world. And there is a lot of great information that would be of interest to any college hockey fan, such as how the NCAA tournament was started by a few hotel operators in Colorado who had the foresight, along with some UM people, to put a real national tournament together. I started to read this book to learn more about the history of a sport that I love and a University that means a great deal to me, but got a lot more than I bargained for.

In his historical series the Kent Chronicles author John Jakes wrote about the Battle of the Alamo (in "The Furies" I believe) from the perspective of a fictional woman who survives, but is lost to history. In "Susanna of the Alamo: A True Story" he revisits this story in fictional form again, but this time telling the story of Susanna Dickinson, the wife of Alamo defender Almeron Dickinson, who actually did survive the battle along with their 15-month-old daughter Elizabeth. The story Jakes tells spends as much time on the aftermath of the battle and what happened to the Dickinsons, which is significant because usually the story most students read in juvenile histories about the Alamo skip to the victory at the Battle of San Jacinto where San Houston's troop yelled "Remember the Alamo!" Jakes tries to avoid the legends that still exist about the story of the Alamo and stay faithful to the historical record, but admits gaps exist and some "facts" exist in different versions. Jakes tells of Susanna Dickinson's recovery in the hospital, her meeting with Santa Anna and the message he had her carry to Sam Houston in Gonzales. She tells the leader of the Texan army what happened to her husband and the other defenders of the Alamo. It is from that conversation that Jakes crafts a compelling idea that Susanna Dickinson played an important role in the quest for Texas independence. The book is designed and illustrated by Paul Bacon, whose pen and watercolor pictures capture the times and tenor of the tale. This is not the first book a student should read if they want to know about the Alamo, but once they have learned the basic history of these events they will find this version by John Jakes adds something to their understanding. Furthermore, I would suggest that adults interested in the Alamo would find this book of great interest as well. Susanna Dickinson remarried and never spoke of the Alamo again until late in her life and lived until 1883. In his talent hands, Jakes makes this woman more than a footnote to history. This book is what we would call a grace note.

Susanna of the Alamo is an excellent book that enables children to place themselves within a historical event. Susanna of the Alamo focuses on the only survivor of the tragic Alamo fight, Susanna Dickinson and her infant daughter. THe story is told from her point of view which gives the children today the ability to understand the fight as it was unfolding. I teach 5th graders and every year the book has brouight a tear to an eye and a solemn calm to my room. The children are able to place themselves in theat time period through Jakes work and not only understand what the Texas settlers felt but how they felt also. It is an excellent book with which to teach about the Alamo- I couldn't do it without it!

I first read this book as an eleven year old and it made a strong impression on my young mind. Now, as a 44 year old, I thought I would reread this book to take a stroll down memory lane. I wasn't disappointed. This story of the Brooklyn Dodgers in the late 1930's is the sequel to The Kid from Tomkinsvile. The "Kid" chonicles the season that leads up to the World Series and this book disects the seven game classic against the Indians. At eleven, I cheered and cried for the heroes in the story; and at 44 I did the same. This is a wonderful book, and a great look back into time, for any young boy or girl.

In some ways, this is an even better read than "The Kid From Tomkinsville" because Tunis keeps the story within the framework of a series as opposed to two seasons in "The Kid." In "World Series" you get to see how a battered and bruised Roy Tucker handles his first postseason, although the novel also puts a lot of time in on Brooklyn manager Dave Leonard (who shows himself to be a lot more complex than in the first book). Tunis is very good at getting the feel of what baseball was like in the 1940's, and "World Series" contains perhaps his best game-situation writing of all the novels. And the banquet scene is priceless. Very much a companion piece to "The Kid," and it's well worth buying them both and reading them one after the other.

An unusual, beautiful little book for the shelves of Francis Bacon fans. The photographs are beautiful, exhaustively document this legendary, but little known space, and have a haunting quality that complements other Bacon monographs. One senses the vibrancy of the artist's life, and only then the realization that, but for the fact he is deceased, the reader would not be holding this book and having this "privileged" view. Very strange!

This soft cover book is the best collection to date of Bacon's instinct's on photo's as "a record" for motion and emotion, which led, as far as I am concerned, to his "violent colours and form's" that produce an "incredible, emotional charge which is "an impressive sort of violence".People often speak of Bacon's work's as violent, but Bacon said himself that he never saw any violence(in terms of a negative, painful meaning) in his work's.Bacon did see a violent execution in Picasso's work's through colour and form.
Bacon did state his work's were positively charged with incredible emotion's through his colours and forms which might be veiwed as violent ,but in the positive.I also feel, as Bacon did, that word's diminish an artist's work's, so that is why I am qouting him so often from the book "Francis Bacon In conversation with Michel Archimbaud".Bacon's Eye is full of photo's, some of his early unseen work's, and his use of colour and form after veiwing the photo's in the book.There is also an interview with Barry Joule, a close friend of Bacon, at the end of the book.
Bacon gave Joule a thousand never seen work's on paper before his death.This book has only some of them, and I would love to see the remainder if ever published some day, but you will get a much indepth look at Bacon's work from the one's supplied.This book is not to be passed by if you want something rare and intimate of the artist.If you were to compare this book to the one other book featuring Bacon's drawing's, which name I can not recall right now, Bacon's Eye is ten times better.It also has different textured paper for the plates and the interview section.

It took my father about 20 years or so to write this book. When I was four years old I saw him working on it. I did't know what he was doing at the time but I now know what he was woring on. Francis Bacon this book is for you!

I first read this book when I was 7 years old in the 1970s. I still love it to this day. The characters jump off the page and take you back to the 1940s, a different time and world.

When I was a kid in the late 60's and early 70's, I read all eight books in the J.R. Tunis series in his Dodgers series. Anyone who gets into the series MUST start with this one. Roy Tucker is an integral part in nearly all the books ("Young Razzle" being the exception), and "The Kid From Tomkinsville" introduces him along with the other characters. While some of the dialogue is of the "gee whiz" variety, the book and series are excellent. I'm so glad they were re-released, and I now have all of them. Now, I want to get a Dodgers replica jersey with the name "Tucker" above the number 34. Any kid between 9 and 90 who reads this book will know why.

When I was in junior high, I was addicted to reading juvenile sports fiction. Shortly after beginning seventh grade, I went to the alphabetical beginning of the fiction section in the school library and began moving down the alphabet. As I went, I examined the books and read all that were sports related. In a little over two years, I had read every sports fiction book in the collection. Of all those books, the Kid From Tomkinsville was one of the most memorable.
While the background of the 1940's made the presentation difficult for someone in their early teens in the 1960’s, the descriptions of baseball more than made up for it. Roy Tucker is the title character and an excellent pitcher. However, immediately after one of his best games, he slips and cracks his pitching elbow. This finishes him as a pitcher and the main theme becomes his quest to come back as an outfielder.
He is initially very effective and believes success is assured. However, he soon begins to struggle and doubts creep in. The description of all of this is a combination of one of the best baseball stories as well as one of triumph as a combination of talent, hard work and persistence lead to his success. I still remember the scene where his manager comes to his room and tells him the problem is that he is playing for himself and not for his team.
John Tunis is one of the best writers of sports fiction that has ever lived. He makes baseball exciting, even when all the action is taking place off the field. While our society has moved on to a point quite different from the time period of the story, baseball is still a game where strategy, preparation and dedication can triumph over athletic ability. That has not changed, and the descriptions in this book will continue to keep the attention of baseball fans for decades to come.