In Lazy Daisy, a young girl considers her messy room a masterpiece with its mountains of toys and piles of clothes, and a closet to match! Daisy considers herself with some pride as being the laziest girl in the world with a marvelous mess to prove it! Then Daisy's grandmother gets lost in all the mess and soon the entire town is buried in junk. Will Daisy learn her lesson and clean up the town before it's lost forever? Will Gramma get her dentures back? Enthusiastically recommended for young picturebook readers, Lazy Daisy is an original and entertaining story by David Olson that is showcased by Jenny Campbell's light and lively drawings.

It's always a bonus when adults actually enjoy the books they read to children and Lazy Daisy is definitely one of those books that entertains both groups. The rhyming verse is very funny - David Olson is a creative writer who concocts a hilarious combination of words to tell Daisy's story, and the comical illustrations add a perfect touch to the impending catastrophe. I can't wait to read his next book!

This is a TERRIFIC book for kids! ALL of us have gone through the "CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM" issue with our kids. This book puts a hilarious spin on the consequences of living in a big fat mess! Your kids will love it..you will love it! This is a FIRST BOOK for both the author and the illustrator...and it was selected as an AMERICAN BOOKSELLER PICK OF THE LISTS for 2000! Both author and illustrator need to be congratulated for a fine piece of work, and I look forward to seeing the next one!

The author's vivid descriptions of the mountains and terrain, the weather and the trials and tribulations of hiking, camping, building log structures and the camaraderie of such an outstanding troop is nothing but masterful ! What the author has produced should be a legend for all those presently in scouting. I truly doubt that any other troop has ever been or will be as dedicated or productive as 511. Braman has really chronicled the true spirit of scouting in a way that will inspire future generations of scouts, even though I doubt that it will ever be equaled. Where "The Fuzzy Marmots Grow" is a work of art. This book was a pleasure to read, it captivates the reader and it's hard to put down. I certainly enjoyed it

Very funny! Amazingly detailed memories. A great read-aloud for the whole family.

This delightful memoir of boyhood is a chronicle of humor, nostalgia and charm. It's story-telling at its best. Unequivocally recommended to those who enjoy remembering, reliving, the spirit of youth - when the miracle of adventure was an everyday occurrence. Lovingly conceived, deftly written.

You can spend five minutes or five hours at a sitting with this gem. Even a casual browse through a few pages will teach you something you didn't know about Vikings. A must for anybody studying Norse culture, and a valuable addition to their collections.

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A cultural atlas presents its readers with a tremendous amount of information. Even a casual browsing through this work reveals enough information to provide the seeker of knowledge with a firm grasp on the history, geography, and culture of the efficient, effective "Warriors of the North" known as Vikings or Northmen.

This atlas explains and defines the Viking Age, beginning in the 8th century and ending in the 11th century with the creation of the Scandinavian nations of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Iceland. These tall, blonde, blue-eyed Vikings also left their mark on lands from North America, across Europe into Russia -- which was named for the Rus, a Swedish tribe -- and into the Byzantine Empire of Asia Minor and beyond. The Vikings endowed the Europeans who followed them with the Viking genes for bravery, impudence, physical beauty, and intelligence, genes which Viking warriors spread widely in the Northern Hemisphere.

The compilers of this work, edited by James Graham-Campbell, present the reader with a plethora of charts, maps, and captioned photographs illustrating and enriching cogent expository text.

Everyone on the planet, ... will recognize this book as a valuable tool in the study of a great European people.

I love this book. It has lots of maps and illustrations. Best of all it covers the entire gamut of the Viking universe. It is a wonderful resource for getting your head around the big picture of the Viking age. I have researched Viking Age history for years now and this is one of the BEST books I have ever found

Great set of tapes from a lecture given by Campbell on Joyce. Also available as video tape set at many college libraries. The book "Mythic Worlds, Mystic Words, Joseph Campbell on James Joyce" contains much of the lecture and more. Great in all formats !

Only Campbell could make Joyce seem so accessible, and he was eminently qualified since he spent a good portion of his life studying Joyce. The first 5 minutes are a billiant summary and distillation of a writer who is broader and more universal in his scope than anyone since Shakespeare. The only slight downside is the occasional throat-clearing and other noises that are part of a live recording, but it's a minor distraction. Five tapes might seem long when you start, but you'll wish it was longer when you're done.

Joseph Campbell coauthored the classic Finnegans Wake reference Skeleton Key, and in these six tapes of an informal lecture to a small audience he presents another tour de force encompassing his analysis of Portrait, Ulysses, and Wake.

He delivers Joyce's theory of art, (alone worth the price of the tapes), relates the texts' themes to mythology and philosophy, and generally provides a wonderful sense of James Joyce as a brilliant man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, who labored mightily to bring forth the Big Three. Perhaps even on a level with Stuart Gilbert's "James Joyce's Ulysses".

These tapes are a great buy for anyone interested in Joyce.

As far as I know, this is the only book of its kind, and it is superb. Essential for those involved in the architectural or interior design profession, but also excellent for those that are fans of architecture. Enjoyable to read (or browse) cover to cover, but also useful as a very complete reference. My only wish is that I could visit more of the places I have read about in this book!

A most interesting and even exhilarating educational resource...clearly the essential and definitive tool for architecture and design facts.

This well-illustrated volume provides an excellent introduction to the Anglo-Saxon period. The "picture essays" regarding coinage and other specialized topics help provide detail without interrupting what amounts to historic narrative.

The problems of using source documents are detailed as well as the triumphs of modern archealogy in expanding our understanding of this period of history.

The photographs, drawings, and maps compliment and support the text nicely.

Highly recommended as an introduction to the period and its people.

Written by three of the leading historians of the Anglo-Saxon period, this is easily the best introduction to its subject. The writing is authoritative yet accessible, giving a good idea not only of the course of Anglo-Saxon history, but also of the problems with the sources and of disputes within the historical community. Only in the final chapters, by Eric John, do major historical disputes sometimes go unnoted; one would not know, e.g., from his discussion of Harold Godwineson that some historians greatly respect Harold, or that not all historians believe that Edward the Confessor firmly intended William of Normandy to succeed him. To his credit, however, John's presentation here is more orthodox than elsewhere (for his unadulterated views, see his contentious and delightful Reassessing Anglo-Saxon England).

The physical presentation of the book is far more attractive than is usual for textbooks. It is in a large format and lavishly illustrated, including a number of color pictures, and has several good maps of England (although it is curiously lacking in maps illustrating the European context of English history, and it could also use genealogical tables to help sort through some of the myriad characters). The bibliography is good up to 1981, the original date of publication, but unfortunately it was not updated when Penguin reissued the book, and thus cannot take account of the scholarship of the past two decades. It also has, regrettably, "secret" endnotes at the back of the book, not signaled in the text, which often lead the reader to primary source material and some secondary discussions; it is well worth the reader's effort to seek out the endnotes periodically.

In short, The Anglo-Saxons is highly recommended for anybody seeking a general introduction to the history of this period. My highest praise is that when I taught a university course on Anglo-Saxon history, this is the only book I considered for a main textbook.

This is the funniest and best informed book about chiles and hot sauce that I have ever read. Most books give you recipes or histories of peppers, but Campbell's approach is truly different. He recounts his various quests for the hottest of hot sauces, and, in the course of his journey, he uses humor (frequently black humor) to provide information about all kinds of peppers, hot sauces, and the addictive lifestyle of those who have come to know the joys and sorrows of hot sauce. And, as a bonus, he includes some incredible recipes (yes, they are hot!) The book just looks great--it is small and beautiful, almost a little fetish object in its own right--and I love the way that Campbell obsesses over his addiction while maintaining his humanity. For anyhow who loves hot sauce and chile pepper pain, this is a unique read.

As a devout Chilehead, I've been waiting for someone to put into words the fiery affliction that I, and many countless others live with. James Campbell uses wit, introspect and a great command of the language to paint a picture of "Painland"; our home. He includes numerous facts and resources, such as the web site Pyropepper.com of which I had never heard, to give a well rounded narrative of life as a Chilehead. Bravo! I recommend this book for chile lovers of course, but also for anyone with a good sense of humor and love of a great read.

From his first encounter with Joyce's writings in Paris in 1927, Campbell remained deeply involved with the works of Joyce. He gave many lectures on Joyce, frequently read from his works, and published a number of articles on Joyce's works. This book provides a survey of Campbell's Joycean studies by conflating his articles and representative lectures, from his obituary notice on the death of Joyce in 1941 to lectures delivered within a few years of Campbell's death. Also included, in the "Dialogues" section, is a selection of Campbell's responses to questions from members of the audience at some of his lectures. Questions from listeners seemed to fire Campbell, and some of these exchanges provide a deeper insight into the material presented in the formal lectures. This book contains both elementary material and advanced analysis of the work of Joyce; it is, therefore, both an introduction to Joyce's major works and a major contribution to Joyce criticism. The whole provides a representative portrait of Joseph Campbell as a critic of Joyce. 304 pp. (From the back cover).

For me this book helps parralell the inner workings of you or me, reminding me of the pathes we take, no matter the presence or withdrawl of glamour, are adventures..... IT IS A VALUABLE screenwriters source.

OK Shakespeare fans, this is the one reference book you will ever need for all you would ever want to know about the Bard. It covers everything related to Shakespeare minus information on whether he wore briefs or boxers. (Everything else, though, is covered here--trust me!)

And one thousand pages for $15? C'mon, this is well worth the price of a pizza! Of course, this is not something you would read word for word, but I have used it more than once to help me understand a play that I was about to see. However, you need to set aside the better part of an hour to read the article on the history and background of any one of his plays. There is also plenty of info on his other writings, including the sonnets. Besides visiting the reconstructed Globe theatre (which I have had the privilege of doing), owning this book is the only other requirement for the serious Shakespearean student/fan.

My sole complaint is that the lettering is rather small (is is 7 pt or 8 pt? my eyes couldn't tell--ouch!). But hey, what do you expect for $15? A 2,000-page book?

If you want a comprehensive understanding of Shakespeare this is a must buy! I used this book constantly while taking a Shakespeare class. I have already reccomended it to numerous others and they found it just as useful. I'm now on my second copy because I wore the other one out!

One of the first books written about the Wake, A Skeleton Key has been largely supplanted by the wealth of Wakean research done since its 1944 publishing date, but its value as a seminal text is undisputed, and many -- including me! -- still find it a very useful guide. It opens with a beautiful introduction by Campbell, then explains the purpose of the text, moving on to a synopsis of the overall story. After that, it breaks down FW page by page, stripping the text of much of its obscurity and serving up possible interpretations via footnotes and bracketed commentary. In this way Campbell and Robinson more or less retell the Wake, "prosifying" the text in an attempt to make it more comprehensible to the lay reader. While this is certainly helpful, it must be said that this technique can come across as being a bit dry, and is certainly no substitute for the breathtaking immersion in Joyce's scintillating river of prose! Additionally, many of Joyce's meanings were overlooked by Campbell and Robinson, and a few of their interpretations have long since been "overturned" by more recent and intensive scholarship. Because of all this, A Skeleton Key has lost some of the polished glow of its initial reception, and some Joyceans have gone so far as to call it almost completely tarnished, finding it occasionally more misleading than helpful. Although there may be some truth to that, I still enjoy this book, and I find its mythopoetic angle -- this is that Joseph Campbell, after all -- uniquely refreshing, and some of his mythological insights possess a brilliance that has rarely been matched. Still, however, it is no substitute for the text itself, but for a work written only a few years after Finnegans Wake was published, A Skeleton Key is a pretty amazing accomplishment! I would not recommend it over a more recent guide, but I do occasionally enjoy turning to it -- like a slightly dowdy but favorite aunt, I still like to curl up by the fire and hear her stories over a cup of tea.

If you have given up on the Wake, try this. The characters and storylines of Joyce's last book (yes, there are real characters and storylines) are brilliantly revealed here. What makes this book really exceptional is that it is not a commentary or series of notes alone, but a paraphrase of the entire Wake. The flavor of Joyce's invented language remains, toned down a little. I even venture the heresy that a person on a desert island with just this book and no copy of the Wake would still find it a good read.

First, please accept my disclaimer for this review: I have been a fan of J. Campbell for several years... The objectivity may be lacking, therefore, in this assessment: freely admitted, and accept my apologies.

Campbell spent ~4 years, if memory serves, on this book. He said he finally had to get away from the Wake because everything he read started to sound as though it was from the Wake..

Having been an avid reader of Joyce for the last 5 years, Campbell's KEY is to my mind THE definitive work on the Wake. Anyone can criticize another's work, and perhaps it is unreasonable to expect a critic to be as brilliant as the victim of his wiseacreing, but to my mind criticisms of this beautiful and inspired work are rather worthless..

The Key is always my primary reference for the Wake. "Annotations" is just a phone book of references; the Key is first-rate scholarship. Infallibility is not a requirement for brilliance, assuming there is merit to criticisms of this work.

But as Joseph Campbell would say, don't buy a book because it is said to be important; buy it because it "catches" you. Campbell's grasp of the Wake is a wonderful help to appreciating the Wake in less than a lifetime.