This book is incredible, the essays, photography, map drawings and descriptions really changed the way I looked at the world around me. This book was used as our text book for a Senior Project class in design school.

This book will change the way you look at and think about landscape. Technically, it's a landscape architecture book, and the essays that deal with that subject are excellent. James Corner is one of the best landscape architects/theorists around, and his writing is though-provoking, lucid and enjoyable to read. He draws an wonderful comparison between this work and Le Corbusier's sightseeing flights over North Africa in the 1930's. But without a doubt, the reason to buy this book are the photographs that document the unexpected beauty that arises out of the interaction between man and nature. The incongruities of landscape, juxtaposed against the linear certainty of the Land Ordinance Act grid, farm plots and other common interventions make for stunning photography.

There are also little subplots, such as creative reuses of already built spaces (tennis courts as parking lots & football field yard lines over a baseball diamond), and the similarity of totally unrelated natural forms (who knew that from 7,000 feet, cracked pond ice looks like microscopic images of streptococcal bacteria?).

There are dozens of other little thoughts I could include, and one of most remarkable things about this book is that the photogrpahs allow the reader to draw on his or her own knowledge to make connections and interpertations. There's no right or wrong way to see these things, which makes it universally rewarding and enjoyable.

I always enjoy graphic design, but this one integrates intelligent visual graphic representation and it portraits site/landscape analysis.
Not your usual blueprint survey, but delightful new way of documentation.

A.J. Leibling captures the smokey ambience of the ring and its world with a masterly hand. Joyce Carol Oates ("On Boxing") may be squeamish and over-dramatic, and Budd Schulberg self-promoting and exasperating, but Mr. Leibling the has a touch born of a top flight journalist and ardent boxing fan who also has the benefit of minute observation, a genial sense of humor, a well seasoned knowledge of the world, and a strong classical education. We enter the world protrayed in A Neutral Corner by way of the dingy confines of Stillman's gym in New York City, but on the way over are entertained by a short, amusing and thoroughly knowledgable meditation on the Great Ancients of boxing: 18th/19th century Pierce Egan (whom Liebling calls the ring's "Thucydides") and Jewish greats Dan Mendoza and Dutch Sam. Liebling muses on their significant contribution to the ring and that of the Jewish fighters in general and we finally fetch up at Stillman's gym (an icon of New York Boxing) simultaneously with the reflection that there are few Jewish fighters these (1952) days. "With a good Jew fighter now" One of the managers declares, "you could make a fortune of money." There is the rise of Irish fighters and the economic circumstances that gave birth to both Jewish and Irish fighters, and the availability of day jobs that waylay their ring ambition. Yet this is hardly a dry academic treatise, for it is entertwined and amplified by the thoughts and opinions of the trainers, managers and boxers at Stillman's.

Liebling is interested in everything and everyone, and nothing escapes his pen as he immerses the reader in whichever world he is illustrating with his mixture of scholarly observation and streetwise humor. At one point we arrive in Tunis, where one escapes from the oppressive heat into a museum and suddenly comes upon an ancient mosaic of a boxing match. It depicts one fighter knocking down the other. "The fellow on the receiving end", Liebling muses, "has an experienced disillusioned look, like that of a boy who has fought out of town before..." The Tunisian passion for prizefighting has deep roots, and seems hardly about to diminish, with the buildup to a local match nearly consuming the entire city.

Throughout these essays there is the sense of accompanying Liebling as he chats with the managers, watches the boxers train, pokes his head into training camps and interviews fighters and has a drink at The Neutral Corner, a New York bar and grill, to hash it all out. We sit with him near ringside where his smooth prose in no way interferes with his immediate and lively portrayal of the fights. We become acquainted with Floyd Patterson, a sensitive and intelligent fighter forever in search of his soul, the professorial Archie Moore, a very young Cassius Clay and another side of the habitually taciturn Sonny Liston.

Liebling's prose flows and some have remarked on its pyrotechnics, but is tight and descriptive, and his interests comprehensive. Each essay (originally printed in The New Yorker) builds an absorbing world of its own, though several are connected by common themes (for instance, Stillman's gym, Floyd Patterson's series of fights). This is a book for the die-hard boxing fan, for it there is little in it that does not pertain to boxing, its past and present. It can also be enjoyed by the general reader and lover of good writing, for it is a collecton of essays, each one lively and gracefully written, about the people, first and foremost, who make up the old and sometimes dark world of prizefighting.

Leibling's essays are filled with history, humanity and delightful idiosyncracies - all in a prose that recalls a bygone era. This book is not simply for fight fans, it's for anyone who loves to read.

This book is a must for all boxing fans. It contains reviews of BOTH Patterson/Johansson and Patterson/Liston fights, plus Ali's first pro bout. Mr. Liebling was the consummate boxing writer. He gives some very interesting information on the fighters camps and personal lives that make for a great read. An essential addition to any library

Alex S. MacLean is an architectural geologist with an impressionist's eye for composition and light. He is a pilot and a gifted photographer as well. The consistently fascinating imagery he has has created by fusing all these talents into a rigorous and aesthetically gorgeous body of work is on splendid display within the pages of Designs On The Land which ably demonstrates how uniquely important an aerial vertex is to a complete understanding of human interaction with the planet Earth. I recently drove thousands of miles through the high desert southwest and had a marvelous opportunity to appreciate that landscape from a mostly horizontal vertex. What a revelation to see the same tableaux from above! So much that is only hinted at at ground level reveals itself completely from above. The central thesis of Designs On The Land is that human transformation of the environment is among the most revealing indicators of man's developmental and evolutionary status. By extension, aerial views of the results of man's activities on the land provide a powerful tool for interpreting and understanding this interaction. As with any authentic synthesis, Designs On The Land functions on many levels simultaneously. Most significantly, the images presented in this critically important portfolio are simply beautiful and moving; both compositionally and as sophisticated studies in shadow, light and color. But aside from the captivating imagery, this volume contains a wealth of data that provide for informed consideration of land use protocols, environmental degradation and pollution, and the shifting utilization of land over time, to name but a few of topics taken up here. To quote from the introduction by James Corner, "What one sees from the air, then, are not merely attractive patterns and forms but great metabolic scaffoldings of material transformation, transmission, production and consumption. The country is an enormous working quarry, an operational network of exchange and mobility. To appreciate the essential character of the American landscape, it is first necessary to understand how its appearance is less an evolving expression than it is an activating agent of American ways of life and other material practices...The implicit subjectivity in the content of Alex MacLean's photographs reveals not only the strange working beauty of this busy, ongoing inhabiting of America, but also its potential for modern design and planning to create even more spectacular environments-this time for on the ground reception and effect as well as from the air."

I've been around recovery for 15 years and heard many storys and points of view about alcoholism. This book is the most up lifting positive and informative outlook on recover,and hope for a better tomorrow than I've ever read before. My hats off to Jimmy Craig

I think The Amen Corner is a good play, because it's about everyday people. I think every family can relate to the family in Balwin's 1964 Broadway Hit--The Amen Corner. Many people have drinking problems of some sort. Additionally, many people can relate to the hardships of losing someone you love. Reading this play may help you focus on a relationship with God.

THIS BOOK WAS VERY TRUE TO THE ACTIONS, AND FEELINGS OF A RELIGIOUS LEADER. TO SHOW THAT JUST LIKE US THEY HAVE PROBLEMS AND ARE HUMAN ALSO. VERY BLUNT, AND STRAIGHT TO THE POINT. IT SPEAKS TO THE SOUL!

The best play I have ever read was The Amen Corner. James Baldwin's first drama would speak to anyone who can read and understand what was happening in the late 50s. If I lived back then and was black, I would have thought things were very unfair. For example, can you imagine the protagonist, Margaret Alexander, not being able to call an ambulance when she is bleeding to death and about to lose her baby, because she is black? Baldwin does an excellent job of portraying the issues black people faced in and out the church in Harlem. I recommend this play to anyone of any color.

James Stevenson has united in this newest volume, focusing on everyday objects, a variety of short poems that range from ryhming, to free verse, and always include a twist of one kind or another. The poems are accompanied by small watercolour and black pen sketches, or laid out in different patterns and orientations in ways that relate to the poem's subject. Varying the text size and font as well create visual images simply with just the words. While not as popular as the rhyme and simple humour of Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein, Stevenson's own work is something innovative and new, introducing children to non-rhyming free-verse. Although the humour is not the type that makes you crack out laughing, with a little extra thinking, it will definitely make you smile. The layout of the book is simple and consistant, with page numbers and titles at the top, and then the poem spread over the page or mixed with illustrations. Overall, the book seems to be a nice hidden gem filled with amusing quirks.

You've got to Read Gail's book, Which Bible is God's Word. In this book, she answers many of the fraudulent claims about the inaccuracy of her first book, "New Age Bible Versions". If you're going to read a bias report about why Gail Riplinger is wrong, you owe it to yourself to read why she's right. Also, for more information on the Bible Version topic, visit Chick.com and click under "Information" where it says Bible Versions. You can also read some entire books online there. God bless, and remember to be very critical of anything that doubts the infallibility and inerrancy of God's Word.

This is a small, but excellent book that sheds important light on the Riplinger madness that has been in full swing since her book, "New Age Bible Versions" appeared. The author here goes into little known facts about the King James Version of the Bible that need to be brought out, proving that it just did not drop from Heaven in 1611, and all Christians before that date were in darkness and ignorance, and everything since is worthless and a travesty. People need to realize that their tunnel-visioned "worship" of the KJV and rejection of honest, good, formal equivalence translations is splitting churches wide apart and making those not informed confused and causing them to doubt the Word of God written. Even the KJV translators called the poorest and weakest translations the Word of God. This small book will help people understand, and hopefully, open some minds that are terribly narrow or closed. If it succeeds in doing that, it has achieved its purpose.

Riplinger is one of the most vocal advocates of the heterodoxy that archaic KJV is the only Bible we should use. Many works have shown that she frequently indulges in misquotes and slanders, and has no qualifications in the original languages. People have been misled and the results have split churches. So it's good to have a concise answer to her claims, but a shame that such books had to be written.

Her book NABV is full of circular reasoning, condmening modern translations should be condemned for "changing" or "omitting" things from the KJV. But this presupposes that the what has to be demonstrated, that KJV should be the standard, rather than the original Hebrew and Greek (none of the Bible's human authors spoke English, even the Jacobean variety, which seems to surpise some KJVOs ;) Therefore it is highly improper to claim that a criticism of the KJV is an attack on Biblical inerrancy, a doctrine strongly affirmed by the translators of the NIV, NASB and NKJV.

Most KJV-only supporters are unaware that their so-called 1611 version is actually the significantly revised 1769 version of Benjamin Blayney of Oxford. There are many additional ironies -- the typical Independent Baptist KJVO pastor would *never* invite the KJV translators to speak in his pulpit if they were alive today, because they were Anglican baby spinklers. Also, I've known of Independent Baptists who show Riplinger's videos during their service, but would never have her speak in person because she's a woman.

Ironically, the KJV translators were clearly *not* KJV-only! In their preface to their readers, they advocated a translation in the language that people spoke, commended a "variety of versions", distinguished the "originall" [sic] from copies, commended the New Testament writers for using the Septuagint, and emphatically disclaimed that their translation was perfect.

The original KJV-1611 also contained the Apocrypha (accepted as Scripture by the Roman Catholics) and cross references to it without any disclaimer that they were not Scripture. In fact they even induded Apocryphal books in their Bible reading guide. Yet KJVO propaganda frequently accuses the modern versions of being part of a Roman Catholic plot! The original KJV also had 8000 footnotes, often dismissed as a diabolical addition in modern translations! The KJV also contains a number of paraphrases, e.g. "God forbid" where the word "God" is not in the Greek, yet KJVOs frequently claim that paraphrases are "diabolical".

Since KJVOs frequently claim that the modern versions undermine the deity of Christ, it's handy to show that the modern versions are actually clearer in many places. For example, in Titus 2:13 and 2 Peter 1:1, the Granville Sharp rule shows that the correct translation is "... our Great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ ...". This rule was named after its discoverer, a Bible scholar and anti-slavery activist, who thought that the KJV's translation had obscured clear statementsof Christ's deity. But Riplinger dismisses this rule, which gives the inevitable impression that she's more interested in preserving the KJV than in clear teachings of vital doctrines.

Michael Crichton said of Henry James: "I hate Henry James. His stuff reads like a first draft." For a pop writer, was Crichton ever right!!! Henry James is incapable of getting to the point. Reading Henry James is like swimming through a pool filled with peanut butter, when all you want is to swim through crystal water.

Taking Michael Crichton's word on Henry James is sort of like listening to Gary Coleman criticizing Olivier, or Milli (or Vanilli) carping about Mozart.

First of all, in the above non-review, the reader assumes we "want to be swimming through crystal water," whatever that means. Well, I've swum through enough crystal water, and come away after the read with nothing. James's industrial strength extra chunky peanut butter sticks with me long after I've put it down. "The Beast in the Jungle" OR "The Jolly Corner," two novellas, eclipse and obliterate the entire body of Crichton's work. Simple as that.

"The Velvet Glove" is a great find - the limousine ride stuck in my mind. "The Birthplace" is a riot, too. Try them-

While essays by Marc Treib, Denis Cosgrove, David Leatherbarrow, and Stan Fung are almost always illuminating, especially on the topic of the landscape theory, this collection would profit greatly from a trip to Jenny Craig. Many of its essays disperse rather than focus the intellectual rigor presumed by such a thematic collection. In the end, a quality of a collection of essays depends, in part, on the ability of its editor to assemble, cull, and critique, the right people for the right job. In this case the editor seems to be wrapping himself in the intellectual baggage of others to prop up what is, in the end, a rather meager offering on his own part -- one that would find it difficult to withstand serious editorial and scholarly criticism elsewhere. Look in the local library first and take plenty of dimes and quarters with you so that the few essays worth retaining will not be lost to you.

Recovering Landscape: Essays in Contemporary Landscape Architecture, proposes that when landscape is considered solely as a noun, its active role in the everyday lived experiences of humankind is lost. In this light, the volume seeks to recover landscape as not only a verb, "as process or activity," but also to recover the role of idea and the imaginary in landscape. To this end, Recovering Landscape is primarily directed toward the practicing landscape architect and how he/she can invoke this concept into his/her training, design and activities. Scholars of applied landscape who are concerned with turning idea into artifact will undoubtedly find this volume informative in guiding their practice. At the same time, theoretical landscape scholars who are interested in understanding and interpreting landscape as both cultural artifact and cultural process will also find much of interest in this volume.

The volume itself is divided into three sections: "reclaiming place and time" which explores the temporal, habitual, physical and cultural influences on the context of landscape; "constructing and representing landscape" which explores several different methods for representing landscape and how these methods can be used to approach and design landscape as a process or verb; and "urbanizing landscape" which presents what can be considered as, more or less, case studies invoking the above ideas, drawing them out in specific contexts.

The concept of understanding landscape as a process, or an activity, rather than as an object offers an unique perspective to landscape scholarship, similar to the ideas introduced by W.J.T. Mitchell in Landscape and Power (1994). This perspective brings more fully to the forefront the temporal, habitual and cultural processes that not only effect, but are integrally a part of landscape. Too often landscape is seen not only as an object, but as objective, something which exists apart from the individual and something which is larger than the individual. This notion is reversed in Recovering Landscape. The essays demonstrate that the role of an individual (as well as society) has the ability to significantly affect landscape, whether it be the landscape architect who actively designs landscape, the individual who habituates and experiences landscape, or the scholar who contributes representations of landscape. All of these are important considerations for the field of landscape study and, as such, Corner's volume articulates the various ways by which the above aspects can influence the understanding and interpretation of landscape.