This is a very good book which gives the beginner a good start in learning the Syriac language. It follows a good pattern of slowly advancing into the language, making it easier for the reader to grasp. This goes both for learning the script, as well as the language itself. The included vocabulary is quite good. The author tries to avoid sticking to the religious aspect, trying to give the language an everyday perspective. To this extend, he has been partly successful. Perhaps in a future version non-religious texts, and not just vocabulary, could be included as part of the learning material. Such texts could come from a variety of topics: history, geography et cetera. Finally, the tape is extremely useful, both in learning the language as well as in getting the pronunciation right.

It's been a long wait since RAW's last book, but it was worth it, and not just for all us fans who have been checking his web-site regularly for the new "thoughts of the week" that tick in irregularly. The old standards are of course still here: Korzybski, Joyce, Leary, but with a new twist. Treating the internet and spending quite some time on an extended analogy between the net and the mind (who would have thought Leary's 8-circuit model would be illuminating here?), he discusses the possibilities for using the net in an individually liberatory way, both to enter into and try out alternate viewpoints and to undermine traditional "power structures" and institutions.

Great informative book for the farrier and horseman. Concise and easy to read. This book was the the one reference that most horseshoeing books later borrowed from. This book is a treasure for anyone with interest in the history and art of horseshoeing and farrier science. This is the number one book on the lost art of shoeing.

This book was written by a man who suffered unspeakable crimes under Stalin's reign of Communist terror. His insights and often ironic humor are insightful and very interesting. A must-read for those interested in Russian history and the history of Communism and how it affected (and still affects) those in its grip.

In 1890, Anton Chekhov traveled across Russia to the island of Sakhalin to visit a prison colony there and write a book about what he found. The trip was so arduous as to be almost suicidal, and no-one has ever clearly understood why Chekhov desired such a journey.

James McConkey's To a Distant Island is partially a chronicle of Chekhov's journey, but there is much more to the book than that. McConkey uses Chekhov's letters, the book he wrote when he returned, and various biographies to weave a speculative narrative. There are many gaps in the documentary evidence, and McConkey fills these gaps in with fictional scenes and suppositions, adding color and depth where previously there have only been shadows. He links moments in the journey to Chekhov's own stories and plays with tremendous insight -- indeed, McConkey's odd book offers some of the best literary criticism of Chekhov written in English.

Additionally, the book is a sort of memoir. McConkey first discovered Chekhov's Sakhalin letters while traveling in Florence and fleeing depression and discontent with his life, a confluence of psychology and situation which allowed him to be particularly empathetic to Chekhov's journey. At first, his discussion of himself within the book seemed anachronistic and intrusive, but I came to enjoy and even relish the memoiristic elements of To a Distant Island as much as I did the material about Chekhov.

I don't know of another book like To a Distant Island. It is lyrical, surprising, informative, and deeply affecting. Chekhov comes alive far more in this slim volume than in all the hundreds of pages of Donald Rayfield's exhaustive recent biography. This book could serve as a fine introduction to Chekhov's life and works, it could be tremendously fascinating to people who are already familiar with Chekhov, and I expect it would even prove to be a rewarding read for lovers of literature in general who have no particular interest in Chekhov. At the very least, if you appreciate fine writing, you will appreciate this book.

This is a magical story and a sumptuously illustrated feast for the eyes, showing kids (and us "former kids") that inspiration is everywhere around us.

It was the lush illustration that first caught my eye and led me into this wonderful, beautifully written (and true!) tale of a famous composer sparked to write one of his most famous creations by the song of a bird in the branches above him.

Our six year old nephew has been unable to put it down ever since we gave it to him. And while we love seeing him dive into it and stay entertained, the book had a wonderful side effect we never expected... he has suddenly taken heightened interest in his surroundings. When we took a walk yesterday, he was suddenly imitating the songs of seagulls. He said he wanted to try to capture the color of the afternoon sunlight when we got home and he reached for his crayons. He has always been very curious, but never to this degree! He seemed to suddenly be approaching his drawing with extra energy and purpose. It was amazing to see.

"Two Scarlet Songbirds" has somehow demystified creativity and unleashed new levels of awareness curiosity and confidence in him.

I'll confess this inspiration has rubbed off on this forty year old too. I've never been moved to write a review before...

If you don't put this piece of magic into the hands of the little ones you know, you're missing something wonderful!

The illustrations are so visually rich that even very young ones will love it (the nephew I spoke of has a one year old brother who was delighted looking at the pictures and having it read to him).

Thumbs up!!

'The Undiscovered Chekhov' is a real tressure for Chekhov lovers. This is a collection of 38 stories previously untranslated to English-speaking readers. The original stories published in Russian magazines while Chekhov was studying medicine at Moscow University in the 1880s represent new angles in many ways. They provide great insights into young Chekhov's talents as an innovative and a gifted writer. Secondly, they represent Chekhov's early experimentations with narratives and techniques even before he became well known as a master craftsman of modern short stories. Thirdly, the stories translated by a gifted translator provide an excellent historical account of Chekhov's contemporary Russia.

As Peter Constantine records in his introduction the discovery of the original Russian stories at the New York Public Library is also an interesting story. The introduction provides an excellent background to the Chekhov's life, his techniques as well as background to some of the stories.

This collection is a rare gift for anyone who wants to know how a modern master story-teller had begun his career.

Merging shapes works more efficiently than USING QUARKXPRESS 4's Bezier tool to draw complicated shapes. Directly appending colors, dashes & stripes, H&J, list and style sheet settings from previous documents gives consistency and saves time. Hexachrome color prints more vibrant, wider color ranges if the print shop also handles high-fidelity color. These are only a few of the countless valuable explanations and tips from expert Kelly Kordes Anton. She came up with the shortcuts for Steven Bain's FUNDAMENTAL QUARKXPRESS 4, and here is her own encyclopedic help desk. Her superbly written and indexed book consolidates Barbara Assadi et al's QUARKXPRESS 4 FOR DUMMIES, David Blatner's QUARKXPRESS 4 BOOK FOR MACINTOSH & WINDOWS, Galen Gruman's MACWORLD QUARKXPRESS 4 BIBLE, William Harrel's QUARKXPRESS 4 IN DEPTH, and Elaine Weinmann's QUARKXPRESS 4.

I am myself an actor in Geneva (Switzerland) and I am working just now on that play by Chekhov. It is, I think, the best one act play by him. It is about a wedding in a middle-class russian family. The whole family is waiting for a general coming at the wedding. Someone finally comes but he is completly crazy and deaf. The wedding ends in a total disorder. the intersting thing in that short play is that it requires about 20 actors to be played as Chekhov asks it. The main theme is the impossibility of communication in this middle-class russian society. It is interesting to note that the way of playing required by the texte is far away from the Stanislavsky's technic. This is a very interesting point because it gives keys to understand the whole Chekhov's theater. Our play will take place in Geneva (Switzerland) at the Saint-Gervais theater from the ninth to 27th of september 1997. Review by Epaminonde M. Aplombo

I own StarTrak and 33 Still Lives and this one is far and away my favorite collection. I wish that some of the plates were larger, but that's a minor criticism for a great collection. U2 fans will esp. enjoy the section entitled "Bono".