That said, I feel the book could (and should have) been made better: the writing is sloppy and imprecise, gushy and excessive at times; structure somewhat haphazard. More than once I detected a tinge of posturing and pretense, especially in the endless specification of pieces performed where this precision and the mention itself was not called for by the context at all. A bit of phoney snobbery, that is, at least in my perception. So, I wish the author worked on this book a bit more and made it sharper and devoid of superfluities. Overall, though it's difficult to read at times and also annoys you a bit, it's a good, worthy book.

This is a fabulous guide to the Bureau of Land Management public lands, published by the Smithsonian Institution in honor of the BLM's 50th anniversary this year.

In my experience, even as an employee of another federal land management agency, it is tough to get good information on the public lands managed by the BLM - even their offices tend to be hard to locate. Hence my opinion is that this book is a FOUND TREASURE! of little-known places to go and things to do in the outdoors, including nature viewing, unparalleled outdoor recreation, historic sites, and fabulous prehistoric sites.
Neither the Forest Service nor the Park Service have anything the BLM doesn't have, and the BLM is generally less crowded. If you feel like you've "been there, done that " on America's public lands - seen all the Parks, camped and hiked in all the Forests -then you need this book. You just won't believe what you've been missing.
My only concern, and I haven't really had a chance to test it yet (I just found this book last week myself), is that the directions to some of the locations may be a bit sketchy. It may be a good idea to call the local office before you visit, you wouldn't want to get lost in some of the locations that are a long way from anywhere.
There are a lot of summer vacations waiting in this book!

The only downside of the book is the length; it simply was not long enough. One just became absorbed in this man's flair for humour when the book came to an end. However, the best medicine we can sometimes receive in life is laughter, and on that note, readers will not be disappointed.

Enter into the intrigue and politics of an art museum and its warring factions who intend to overwhelm each other at any cost. Josephine is at the center of the conflict with her grand-father's staff and won't give an inch. A young man named Baily (Josephine's cousin) comes to the museum for emotional and spiritual solace only to find turmoil. He has his own demons to face from being wounded both physically and psychologically in the war (World War II). Will this war of artistic control make or break this young man as he attempts to come to terms with himself and his relationship with Josephine?

Booth Tarkington has given us a tale with untold possibilities as a man looks through the image of a selfish woman and finds far more than what he bargained for. Baily is intrigued and repeled by his cousin who is his opposite in temperament. He must decide what he must do if he intends to become a whole man.

The story was enjoyable but dragged on at times. Josephine's portrayal was at times too negative to the point of almost being unbelievable. You find yourself wondering what could Baily possibly see in such a woman? This is not one of Tarkington's best works but you get a taste of the intrigue and manipulations of people who think that they're superior to others. You are also given the pleasure of seeing beyond the images people portray.

There he meets the strong-willed, controlling, and virulent Josephine, a distant cousin of his. Nobody much cares about her as she is very domineering and unscrupulous, yet she does have a good side about her and she is very beautiful. Recently jilted by her finance, our lieutenant, figuring his life is worthless, offers to marry his cousin so she can save face.

Through their brief courtship, he regains his strength and his will to live. In the end he puts Josephine in her place but he has fallen in love with her. However, he will not marry her until she changes. They exchange words and he returns to the front with a dramatic ending.

This was engaging book, but at times it could be long-winded and a little hard to follow. However, it was interesting and enjoyed reading it. The "Image of Josephine" title came about in that the lieutenant knew what he was getting in Josephine -- that there was nothing hidden, where as most everyone else hides their faults.

There's fine and creative stuff - like the art created heating the paper instead of using the fax itself - but all in all it's not something so marvelous.

While I do understand that data manipulation and application design are very important, one finds extensive discussions on these topics in software engineering books or gained through experience.

Somehow, I was left a bit disappointed and have to go for another manual with more "how-to-do-it" instructions.

As I said when I reviewed the biography of the Empress Josephine, I tend to like my history "neat," and this is no exception. That doesn't mean that the book is a total waste, however, for a number of reasons. For those readers who prefer the story behind history, the first half of the book should be quite captivating, for it certainly reads like a Shakespearean drama. Nottingham claims to have received some of his ancestor's propensity for drama and grim intensity, and he certainly reveals that when he throws himself into Booth's tale. The setting, character, and plot, including the implication of important figures pulling strings behind the scenes, are interesting enough to hold the attention. I read the first 142 pages in about 2 hours. To some extent the author's choice of words and phrases was a little trite, or perhaps more fairly, a little adolescent. In fact the book might well appeal to adolescent boys who find history too dull because history books are too "dry," a mere collection of names, dates, and places to be memorized for tests if one is to pass them

On a more redeeming note, from my perspective at least, is the final few pages of the volume which are mostly historical data drawn in part form family diaries, reminiscences, photos and documents and in part from public documents. The hurried summation of this data in these final pages certainly provided some justification for the more theatrical pages that preceded it. It also provided data that seemed to support the intimation in the earlier pages of collusion in high places. If nothing else it rubbed away the patina of the ages from the events of that era and revealed the solid brass of the time. Like our own world, full of subterfuge and hidden agendas, political posturing and diplomatic positioning, the post Civil War Era was filled with urgency and moment, with people who won big time and those who lost big time. It demonstrates that nothing under the sun is truly new, especially when it comes to human drama, something that both Shakespeare and Booth would have understood.

I think it's a pity that so little space was given to the documentation and the conclusions to be drawn from it. When I ordered the book, it was that that I expected from it. Given his access to family material, Nottingham could have made it a far more major and serious work of history.