Unquestionably the most understandable,interesting,even entertaining text for introduction to music courses. It would also be an excellent gift for anyone wanting to know more about classical, ethnic and contemporary music. The CD ROMs add immeasurably to the book, providing graphic illustrations of the ideas in the text. An outstanding book.

This is a beautiful book. Anyone who wants to learn more about music -- its notation, its instrumentation, its history, how and why it moves us -- will enjoy this book immensely. It discusses music theory in understandable terms, covering rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, timbre, and organization. The instruments of the classical orchestra are all explained, as are folk instruments. In fact, folk music from around the world is discussed as a prelude to the main sections on the so-called "art music" of Europe and America. I especially liked the Listening Guides. They correspond to tracks on the two CDs that come with the book. The author explains what's going on at each important part of a piece of music, with timings provided so you can follow along, and even provides musical notation showing important themes. I don't read music, but I enjoyed being able to see the score of a familiar strain and following along with the Listening Guide to better understand what the music was about. There are also biographies of each important composer and beautiful full-color reproductions of art from the period being discussed. The book also includes an appendix about musical notation (which if I had studied better would probably give me musical literacy). It also has a very useful glossary and index. This book is obviously a college textbook, but anyone who wants to increase his or her understanding and appreciation of the world music will benefit from reading it.

This picture book is an excellent pictorial view of the miniscule to the enormous. Very Interesting! Mathematics and science teachers at all levels should have this book in their classrooms. I can't wait to show my Algebra and Mathematics Laboratory students. On the other hand, this book would be interesting for anyone having interest in Science, Astronomy, Mathematics, and Measurement.

If you like Eames, mathematics, outerspace you'll love this flipbook. You flip the pages and zoooom from the milky way through the solar system, into earth and ultimately into an atom in a man's hand.

Beautiful color images.

Charles and Ray Eames give us a photographic tour of the universe we can hold in our hands. Starting with a picture of the dark emptiness of at the edge of the universe, each page brings us closer to our galaxy, solar system, planet, and down to the one power of ten on which we humans live. But then we continue to dive deeper -- skin deep -- shrinking smaller and smaller through the cells, molecules, and finally sub-atomic space of which we are composed... finding the empty space within the atom to be eerily reminiscent of outer space itself. It's an exciting, thought-provoking five-minute journey you'll want to take again and again.

With a start at 10e+25 meters, from the far end of the universe (~1 billion light years), the book takes 1 power of ten steps downward to the subatomic level, about 10e-16 meters - or smaller than a hydrogen atom. A very good book to get lost in the comparison from one power to the next - be it higher (bigger) or lower (smaller).

This a great book for anyone who wants to know what life in the pre-WW II US Army was like. This would be a shorter and more realistic companion piece to James Jones "From Here to Eternity". The stories of the Disappointed Bride and Life in the Fading Days of the Cavalry are priceless.

Funny, interesting, informative. The stuff nobody else writes about. The best of the best.

This book is a must for any fan of Charles Willeford's books and writing. Author Don Herron actually met and got to know Willeford during the latter's lifetime, and the book is as much a memoir of how Herron came to discover and appreciate this little known literary crime writer as it is a conventional biography/bibliography/critique of Willeford. I first read it at about the same time I was discovering Willeford's Hoke Moseley series, which are marvelous stories about a middle aged Miami cop's confused personal life intertwined with his encounters with some very memorable pyschopaths. Herron's book gave some great insights into Willeford's creative processes during the creation of Hoke and other works and gradually shows how Willeford came to be such a powerful storyteller.
My own recommendation is to purchase this book even if you've not discovered Willeford, as Herron is a pretty good storyteller in his own right. I'm certain that after reading this work you'll want to check out CW's titles. Of course, for the long time fan of Willeford this book is the answer to most questions you may have had.
A definite 5 stars.

I've been a Willeford fan for many years. This is a great way to gain insight into the life and mind of a great writer. Having read all the books by Willeford I could get my hands on, it was wonderful to read words from a man that knew and loved Charles Willeford. I use the book as a constant resource for infomation (it has a complete bibliography)to make sure I'm not buying a book (renamed) that I already own.

The figures of this book are very useful for details in professional drawings. On the other hand, it gives simple ideas to solve common problems on construction.

This book is one of the best reference books an architect will ever use. It contains the necessary information for the beginning and advanced architect. Inside the 568 pages in this book one will find from the most basic to the highly complex architectural graphics. The book provides reference for the various arcchitectural plans such as the floor plan, elevation and perspective drawings. No other reference material can surpass the amount of information provided in this excellent book.

reading about this Genius,Legend etc.. is incredible.the man has led a life&then some.his music his life is all in this book.the good&the bad.this man has many faces.David Ritz is a genius.he usually hits the mark with whatever subject that he is writting about.a deep thought provoking book.

Though most were about time travel,I liked the FogHorn and Our lady of the saurapods.Though Strata,didn't have anything to do with dinosaurs.But still a great book!

...this is the coolest book, i've seen in quite sometime. The book includes 3 pages that make a quick and easy model of the Eames House. Its definetly worth the $... price tag.