Everyone knows Robert Louis Stevenson; everyone has at least one of the myriad books of his poetry. There are some stunningly illustrated collections of his poetry out now, notably two by Thomas Kincaide, among others. But how many of us have actually read all or most of his work? I'm guilty as charged.

This smaller, quieter version of Stevenson's poetry helped me finally, actually read all the Garden poetry. True, the illustrations are spare, but delightfully accurate. My children (7 and 10) were not as mesmerized by this book as they are by others with fanciful graphics, illustrations and larger type to accompany the poetry.

Still, this small book found its way into my purse to be used for waiting moments, e.g. at the orthodontist, doctor, and also to my bedside, where it's shear diminutive size did not dissuade me from reading "for only a minute or two." And within Stevenson's words and language lie the ferment of creative pictures. I liked to have my children close their eyes while I read short poems to 'force' them to use only their mind's eye.

I thoroughly enjoyed the adventures, moods, and images Stevenson conjures and at long last can understand why his poetry remains so classic.

When I was younger, well 5 actually, I had the chicken pox. This was one of my mom's favorite books. The words in the poetry just soothed me. It seemed like the author, Robert Louis Stevenson, knew exactly what I was going through.

You can't forget about the little toy soldiers (a poem) at your feet because when you are sick for days, you can imagine all kinds of things in your mind. The curtains billow like sails, the bedpost is your anchor. I sat there in bed and just floated away with the fun of having someone to share my illness. It seemed like a had a friend right there with me.

I loved the pictures too. The little kids are old fashioned and it made me laugh because the boys wore silly clothes, but they fit the time period, my mom said.

I love this book and keep it by my bed when I need to be relaxed.

Hayley Cohen

Most everyone knows that Robert Louis Stevenson was sickly, both as a child and as an adult, and the happy result for the reading public was his nearly feverish flights of imagination. Here, in an edition of his classic "A Child's Garden of Verses," that fever is complemented in spades by the fantastical illustrations of English artist Joanna Isles.

Isles uses an arsenal of utterly frivolous flowers, borders, insects, birds, kings and queens, fairies, and more to expand upon the imagination exhibited in Stevenson's poems. The children in these pictures are depicted as being in charge, being at one with their environment, and being delighted to be alive.

Some of the illustrations hint at the influence of artists more famed than Isles (Henri Rousseau appears to be a special favorite of hers--see the illustration for "The Unseen Playmate," in which a boy lies down in weeds that might have sprung from the edge of Rousseau's painting "The Dream"). Using both primary colors and pastels, Isles creates a world within the world of Stevenson's verse. The marriage of the two is a happy one.

As a dedicated fan of Robert Mitchum, I was happy to see a full-scale biography available at last. It does an excellent job of cataloging Mitchum's films and acting methodology. I would have appreciated less repetition of "understated, natural, stole the film" etc., and more insight to the particular strengths he brought to his best movies. The author tells us the movie might have been bad, but Mitchum-never. I have seen almost all of Robert Mitchum's films, and I am here to tell you, there were a few that he strictly walked through his part. This is true of almost any actor that has had a 30+-year career.

The book is severely limited by the lack of access to the principal players in Mitchum's life: his wife, sons, and many of his closest relationships. There are disadvantages to an "authorized" biography if the family wishes only the positive virtues of the subject to be included. However, without their input or cooperation, it is almost impossible to get any realistic picture of the man. Before I read this book, I knew Mitchum was a drinker, a brawler, a womanizer and a bad boy. When I finished the book, I didn't have much to add to that impression. His early life though sketchy, was interesting. His famous detachment is easily understood when you read about his childhood. His mother, though a hard worker, was a drifter and her children more or less raised themselves.

The direct sources are questionable. His sister is an unusual woman who claims "ESP" with Robert; though her view of him is so laudatory I sometimes wondered if she was speaking of an entirely different person. The tales from "barroom buddies" are just that - highly questionable. He seems to have been aloof toward his children and slightly skeptical. Mrs. Mitchum is a mysterious character throughout the book. Why did he stay with him? Why did he keep coming back? We never find out. According to the book, he had a long relationship with Shirley MacLaine, yet the author did not have one conversation with her.

Robert Mitchum remains an enigma. The definitive biography remains to be written.

I've just finished Mr. Server's book, and it's one of the best I've ever read. As I got to the closing pages, I found myself shedding a tear, sad that Mitchum and his great talent are no longer with us, and wishing the book didn't have to end! I read lots of "Hollywood" biography, and this is truly one of the best - this one covers everything, I think, without missing a beat. Somebody somewhere should make a movie out of this book - but who in the world could play Robert Mitchum?! If soomeone DOES make a movie, I'll be in the front row!

I just recently finished Lee Server's bio on Robert Mitchum and found it to be extremely worthwhile. I had been eagerly awaiting for it to come out, both as a Robert Mitchum fan and as a fan of the writer, Lee Server, who has written excellent books on Pulp Fiction, Vintage Paperbacks, and Noir culture in general. He has a humorous and hip take on these subjects, knowledgable and enthusiastic without being academic.

The Mitchum book is written in the same style. It's full of great stories and details, particularly about his early life on the road, his infamous Reefer Bust, and how many of his movies were developed. There are numerous and lively anecdotes about many well-known directors and actors (John Huston, Charles Laughton, Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe) and some others who should be better known (Jane Greer, Edward Dmytryk, Anthony Caruso, Jacques Tourneur) The blend of Mitchum's actual life and his film life is shown seamlessly and there are no phony explanations about any of his actions. He is shown in many aspects: poet, partyer, brawler, and father. Warts and all. The book is a long one with many details but it is written in a crisp and fast-moving style. A very enjoyable read. Anyone who wants to learn more about: Mitchum, Film Noir, Hollywood, and a fascinating slice of 20th Century history should pick it up. This one's a keeper!

If you're looking for a powerful extension to the yearly guide to publishers and editors, look no further than the "2002 Writer's Market Online." The online edition is a direct link to your writing career. Not only do you get everything contained in the standard print edition, but you also get access to a feature-filled site.

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To many people writing is a hobby, a special interest, an expression of deep thought, and to others a profession - and a paycheck. Whatever oneswriting endeavors are intended for, there are many ways to express oneself and many avenues to getting work seen by others. 2002 Writer's Market Online edited by Kirsten Holm and published by Writer's Digest is one of the most exhaustive printed resources available today for getting work published, to get your name out, and to get paid for doing it!

This mammoth 1112-page book features thousands of publishing opportunities - the names, contact information, and publishing guidelines for book and magazine publishers, literary agents, and companies accepting business and education writing, greeting card writing, playwriting, and screenwriting works. National and regional publications cover topics such as beauty, business, entertainment, finance, health, history, hobbies, journalism, music, nature, parental guidance, pets, religion, romance, science fiction, sports, technology, and the travel industry. Readers will also learn about hundreds of literary contests and awards that will bring in money and create name recognition that's important and often necessary to launch and maintain writing careers.

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There are few events in life that I look forward to more than receiving my shiny new Writer's Market each year. Once again, the good people at Writer's Digest Books have outdone themselves. This exhaustively researched book contains more than 8,000 places to sell your work-- what more could you ask for? Oh! How about pricing guidelines, expert advice, info about agents, writing contests, syndicates, organizations for writers...

I mean it most earnestly when I tell you I wouldn't have a career without this book. And ever since I got the online version, I'm not sure how I lived without it. I use it every day to keep track of my submissions. It even tells me when it's time to follow up on a query, and allows me to record notes about different markets-- I can punch in my deadlines, payment info, contact names, etc.

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This is a collection of 50+ paintings based on various works by Tolkien, which fans of Tolkien will no doubt enjoy. It may be of speial interest to those who watched the movies (and who hasn't, who read Tolkien...) as you can clearly see how some of these paintings are replicated in Jackson's movies; it takes but a moment to catch it in the film, but if you see the pictures enough you'll recognize it.

The quality of the paintings are uneven, and each one has its favorite. Like many people, I find Hague lacking, but also Edelfeldt, who isn't bad but whose style is not unique enough in my opinion.

My favorites, on the other hand, are Howe, Garland, Nasmith, Lee and Galuidi. Garland, my favorite, has a unique and glowing, almost 'mystical' style that does the book justice. Howe's pictures are also intriguing and beautiful, and feel true to the book (and thankfully, he seems to dominate the book in terms of the number of contributions). Nasmith has some splendid landscape pictures, though his vision of the characters leave something to be desired (especially of a fat, distorted Boromir!) Galuidi's sci-fi, computerized style may not appeal to some, but I find them interesting. Finally, Lee's soft watercolors are very appealing, and his vision of the characters is near-perfect (especially Galadriel and Gandalf).

There are 60 illustrations, excellent paintings, with the accompanying text that inspired it. The colours are very well down, and each painting is brilliantly done in terms of publication. There are nine artists represented. These are:

Inger Edelfeldt: 7 paintings

Tony Galuidi: 2 paintings

Roger Garland: 10 paintings

Robert Goldsmith: 2 paintings

Michael Hague: 7 paintings

John Howe:10 paintings

Alan Lee: 10 paintings

Ted Nasmith: 10 paintings

Caro Emery Phenix: 2 paintings

My personal favorite is John Howe. He brings out a lot of dark imagery. I don't know why, but Hague's stuff just does not appeal to me. I have seen him do Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress, and some other stuff, and I just don't like his style (also saw his illustrations for WIZARD OF OX). His are of THE HOBBIT. Galuidi has almost a computer generated quality, and his work is especially intriguing, although there are only 2 of his paintings in this collection. Lee is good. All in all, this is a fair book, collecting the paintings of artisits brining about their own vision of Tolkien's classic saga. Over all, a four star book (bumped up one star because of Howe's supreme quality).

"Tolkien's World" is a very handsome book: large, hardcover, sleeve-cover, fine print and paper. It consists on a serie of paintings divided by books (The Hobbit, LOTR, Silmarillion, etc.) printed in the largest scale possible and with great definition. Beside the picture there is the passage of the book which inspired the painting. In the end there are one-page texts about or written by each of the artists, explaining their influences and relation with Tolkien works. My favorite artist is, without a doubt, Ted Nasmith, that draws very realistic pictures. Second place is John Howe, with his dark and intriguin style. All in all, a pretty nice book. I was very satisfied with it and it helped me to figure the places and events of LOTR. Be aware that there's a book that is kind of a sequel to this one: "Realms of Tolkien: Images of Middle-Earth", which I'm planning to get. It is written on its purchasing info that the author is Ted Nasmith, so is the cover authory. Lucky me.

If ever there was a man who followed Christ's example it was Robert E. Lee. This book illustrates such a man. This book illustrates the sort of gentleman that is lacking in our society today, lacking even in our churches. Truly an example for all to follow. Well done Reverend Wilkins.

If ever there was a man who followed Christ's example it was Robert E. Lee. This book illustrates such a man. It illustrates the strength of character that men lack in our society today....lacking even in our churches. This book is a must read for all men who are interested to know what a Christian gentleman is. Well done Reverend Wilkins. May Lee's example, which you have illustrated, set an example for others as it has for me and bring glory to God.

Three cheers for a great read AND a great life - once you've read this book, you'll understand why Gen. Robert E. Lee still stands today as the most beloved and respected military leader of all time. The simple truth is the man was motivated by honor, duty and most important of all, faith, and everything he did was premeditated by him with those ideas in mind. How refreshing a story after one has been bombarded today with stories of those our children look up to who are motivated by greed and ego and talk about somebody "disrespecting" them - it is very difficult to respect someone spouting obscenities, covered with tatoos, hair dyed eye-popping colors, and sporting metal earrings dangling from various parts of their face! They say "I'm not a role model." I think that is a cop-out spoken by someone who decided he wanted all the glory and money and fame without living up to the responsibility that goes along with it. It's too bad strong and moral leaders, men who stood up for what was right and were willing to pay whatever price that cost, who knew they were role models and did their utmost to be good ones, whose stories we've read about in history class about men down through the years from earliest history through the colonies and the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, seem also to be "Gone With the Wind".

I'm new to the "tropical" look of gardening. This book does indeed have wonderful photos and descriptions of many tropical plants that are suitable to various garden zones. The problem I had was in looking up plants for whom I know only by their "common names". I would have given this book a five star rating if it only had a cross reference section for those of us who are not proficient with a plants latin (botanical) name. What I have had to do in order to learn a tropical plants botanical name is go on the internet (logging on to horticopia plant search), entering what I think is the common name for a tropical plant, and then when it comes up with a list of botanical names, looking it up in Mr. Riffles book. I understand that there can be many, many common names for a plant. How about just putting in the most widely known common names so that at least I would have a chance of finding it in the book ?

The Tropical Look is a fantastic addition to my husband's gardening library. We dearly love the tropical look, and many people don't realize how many tropical-looking plants will thrive in temperate zones. Everything we grow is in this book, but my reasons for liking this book are many. It includes a zone map for the US and Europe too. It explains the importance of referring to plants by their botanical names, and then helps overcome the verbal stumbling blocks by including a pronunciation key. It also explains that many plants which look tropical are able to withstand freezes and offers some methods for growing these plants in zones 7 or less. The format is also easy to use for quick reference. Each plant has a list indicating briefly the description, zone rating, sun preference, water requirements, soil preference, and method of propagation.

Riffle has gifted serious plant collectors and those seeking to create the tropical ambience in their gardens, no matter what zone. Deservedly an AHS award winner, Riffle's book details in layman's language what to expect from thousands of exotic plants that we can enjoy on our own turf. A must for the adventurous gardener and the pro wanting creating their own gardens of Eden.

I first read this book some thirty years ago. Col. Scott's vivid word pictures captivated the 7th grader that I was and I became an avid reader, and a thinker of bigger thoughts. This is not your typical shoot'm'up war story. It's not a Clancy-ish techno war thriller. This is a first hand account of the men that went to China's aide in the early 1940's. It is a snapshot of the personalities and hardships of these heros, and combines action with the beauty the Chinese people and their land. I'm proud that Robert L. Scott is an American, and I'm grateful the he put his experiences and obsevations on paper.

I read this book in its first edition 45 years ago when I was in grade school and the movies were full of the glamour of war. Scott sidesteps the glamour and the heroics and presents a personal view of daily decisions and commitment. There are young men today who would do well to take a look at what went into Scott's personal values and why the author decided he had a helping hand in the cockpit. There is far more reality and humility than, for example, Charles Lindberg's "Spirit of St. Louis". I also recommend Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Wind, Sand and Stars.

My Mom introduced this book to me when I first was developing an interest in WWII. I couldn't put it down. The story of Colonel Scott form learning how to fly, his cancelled B-17 mission, and his actions with the Flying Tigers makes for exciting reading. I enjoed the book and still have the old copy. One thing to keep in mid while you read this is that fact that it IS a war story. One shouldn't expect a love for the enemy in a war story, (I never read one that did). It simply displays the attitudes people had back then.
There many great stories in the actions of the Flying Tigers, and this is one of them. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to read war stories. The adventure of Colonel Scott and his P-40 was great to read.

One at the front: The really own words of the master are excellent. One must make sure that only 43 sides of the only 7 x 5 inch small book are interviews with Bruce Lee. The rest consists of interviews with the former interviewers. However, as a paperback this book costs not really a fortune. But the words of the master are absolutely worth-while, as already mentioned at the beginning.

I wouldn't wbuy this unless you're'a die hard bruce less fan. buy the warrior within by john little. it covers far more of bruce's philiosophies then this book.

This book gave me a further insight into the kind of person Bruce Lee was. This is due to my reading a couple of others about him. The impression that was most re-inforced was that he was a positive minded person. The other thing I picked up here was that he was the kind of person who always evaluated himself on a regular basis to see how he could improve etc.
The bad thing about thing about this book is the interviews with the interviewers; these are nothing more than opinions about Bruce by men who, in my book, didn't know Bruce long enough to warrant their opinions to be worth printing in a book. I think these were included to give volume to the book. Because I was only interested in Bruce's own words, I learned nothing from these bits. (It is because of these wasteful bits I only given 3 stars)

This book is a biography of Lee the man, not an examination of one of our history's most notable generals.

The military side of Lee is, of course, a major part of Thomas's story. However, he has attempted to paint a charactor study of Robert E. Lee so that his deportment and decisions during the Civil War can be seen to flow from a man molded by tradition, duty, honor and the uniquely historic family from which he came.

This means that the book spends much time on Lee's pre Civil War life as well as time delving into his relationships with his family and others. The result is a readible book that gives the reader an entre into the man Robert E. Lee. Those looking for a military expose or exploration may be somewhat disappointed, but this is still a worthwhile book.

This book was a very factual, steadily-flowing, concise 1-volume biography of General Lee's entire life. I had read reviews here that felt this book did not focus enough on Lee's Civil War battles, but I thought the author (Emory Thomas) focused as much as he could (in a 1-volume biography) on Lee's Civil War conflicts. Robert E. Lee was an amazing figure, and Thomas does a good job portraying him fairly; neither deifying Lee, nor demonizing him either.

Thomas has given us a post-revisionist portrait of Lee that addresses the general as a human being much better than it presents him as a brilliant military strategist. His complicated relationship with his rakish father, his sainted mother, his demanding wife, and his children are all central foci of the book; his relationships with those outside his family get relatively short shrift. It is amazing how little of this book deals with the actual history of Lee's Civil War battles; more attention seems to be given to his involvement in the Mexican War. Indeed, the book seems to give disproportionate attention to his life prior to the Civil War, with relatively lesser attention to what happened after he became commanding general of the Army of Northern Virginia. Since the latter period is that in which he made his mark on history, this focus is rather disappointing. But Thomas does a relatively able job of dispelling the image of Lee as "the marble man," and for that, Civil War afficionados owe him a debt of gratitude.

Since the writer has to review his own book, you already know that he has a lack of self-confidence

Another nerd-book on the .NET bandwaggon. Full of typos and nothing to distinguish it from the crowd - sorry :o(

This book is an excellent book. ASP.Net has biggener concepts as well as advanced concepts. It is really a valuable book that you will use over and over