I'm considering setting up as a childrens entertainer, so I purchased a good few books. This is without doubt the best of the bunch.

The book covers lots of aspects of clowning, gives great ideas, and is an easy read.

The only downside is that it does not have space to go as in depth in some areas as I would of liked - but there are plenty of speciality books to do so.

Every hobby has one or two definative books. This is it for clowning. Everything I wanted to find out and more. Like any good reference book it started me down the path and I have read several books recommended.

If you are going to get into clowning you need this book.

Having read four customer reviews of this book, I might have had high expectations. Maybe I didn't realize it's true value at first, but after learning various skills, you may want to try others, which didn't catch your interest at first. Then you realize how powerful a tool this book is.

Until now I've focused on juggling and unicycling. The book not only teaches you how to ride a unicycle, -it also provides a lot of amusing variations. Though I knew how to ride before buying this book, it taught me how to ride in a very ridiculous way, seemingly out of control. I've experienced a tremendous effect when acting upon these hints in front of an audience. ...

Just recently I grew interested in the stiltwalking sections and made a pair of wooden tie-on stilts. I'm not exactly an engineer, but following the instructions, all I needed was a saw, some wood, a drill, some glue, some bolts and screws.

Reading the ingenious instructions given sometimes make me laugh out loud, thinking of how it would work in real life. The illustrations are really amusing, and I do enjoy all the hints on starting a clowning business. Lots of detailed information.

Also, the book is packed with numerous jokes and material that can be used for shows. The next stage for me will be learning how to twist balloons into different animal shapes.

I was actually looking for a book on how to put on clowns' make-up for my unicycling. This book is all you need to know about various types of make-up for various clown types, plus so much more. If you're thinking about clowning, either for fun or for money, I highly recommend this book!

All of Bruce's books are full of wonderful images, but this one offers something extra - a history of ALL the films nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. If you are a film buff, or you just like beautiful images you will love this book. Every year since the inception of the awards is listed and each nominee is displayed in brilliant color. A wonderful refrence source.

Most Oscar-related books offer only limited pictures and focus on winners, not also rans. This excellent reference volume corrects those two oversights. It is filled with pictures representing the best of Hollywood--all contenders for Oscar's Best Picture are featured with a movie poster representation. Includes some rarely seen poster art, foreign posters, and multiple sized images. Excellent reference and enjoyable volume to pick up over and over.

A must-have volume for any cine-buff and film historian! This book, along with its companion first volume, "Academy Award Winners' Movie Posters" is part of movie poster maven Bruce Hershenson's exhaustive multi-volume series of books highlighting the history and beauty of what much of mainstream America has only in the last ten years begun to recognize. And that is movie posters are a "popular art" form that can stand proudly next to all other styles of art from gothic to modern, from expressionist to impressionist. Great film art borrows from all of these styles and this volume, which focuses only on posters associated with Academy Award-nominated films, illustrates innumerable examples. A fine book for any collector (get the hardcover edition if you can, it's harder to find; if Amazon doesn't have it, it's available from Mr. Hershenson directly at mail@brucehershenson.com)!

The Voices of 1776 by Richard Wheeler is a
great reference book. The book begins with the out
brake of the Revolutionary War on April 19th
seventeen-seventy-five. The book has a collection
of different accounts of the major battles and campaigns of the war. It is an easy book to read and
entertains the reader. The book also has maps that are useful in seeing the layout of the battles. This
book is recommended to any American history
buff, or some one who just loves good reading.

This book is captivating even for non-"history buffs". I was so impressed by it that I ordered copies for several family members and friends and they rave about it. If the history books used in schools were even half this interesting we'd be a nation of history scholars. Having those who lived through it "tell" you what happened and how in such detail makes it a hard book to put down. It's the best 12 bucks you'll ever spend.

This excellent volume is yet another compendium of primary source material coupled with the excellent commentary and summaries by the author. It is enlightening, accurate, lively, and just a plain good read. It is also an excellent research resource for further study of the period.

The war is covered through a continuous drum roll of accounts of the participants, ranging from a lively description of a hanging, which, failing the first time because of a faulty rope, the unfortunate party was 'launched into eternity' on the second go round, through the accurate description of the worthless militia that 'ran like a torrent' at the first clash at Camden in 1780, leaving the stalward Maryland and Delaware Continentals to slug it out alone and outnumbered under their respected commander, Baron de Kalb, who, after finally falling with his eleventh wound of the action, saw his faithful Continentals ground to destruction by overwhelming numbers of enemy infantry and cavalry. Finally, in one of the best quotes in the book, a Virginia officer saw and heard Washington relieve Lee at Monmouth, in the midst of the retreat, and that the Commander-in-Chief 'swore till the leaves shook on the trees' and that the language used on Lee was both 'charming' and 'delightful.' It is also noted that the Virginia officer himself was a master of the profane.

What this volume does provide is an authentic record of the men who fought and won the Revolution, through incredible hardship and long odds. What they won can be captioned simply by what a British officer told a Quaker in Philadelphia, 'You have got a hell of a fine country here.'

We should all take that comment to heart. Reading this book will give the reader a renewed aprreciation both for what we have and what these soldiers and statesmen wrougt by their dedication and sacrifice. This book is highly recommended.

Want to add an excellent reference to your collection of books dealing with the Hollywood Musicals? Then this book is it. Just like those musicals from the golden age of Hollywood, this book has it all. Beautiful photographed images, lots of (techni) colours, stars in their greatest moments. Truly an Oscar winning performance! The book is printed in good quality paper and images are very clear and of good size on each page. Of course it's impossible to include a poster from every musicals in any given year, but the selections Bruce Hershenson made are excellent. A page may contain an average of 5 images while some are giving the full page treatment (e.g. Grease, Singin' In the Rain). Definitely an excellent addition to your library of movie books.

With the notable exceptions of Oliver! (1968), Cabaret (1972), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), Tommy (1975) and Evita (1996), Hollywood has essentially turned its back on a genre that this book re-captures in all its glory. The images are superb, the color and quality are sublime. Though the book is straightforward, a thread of sadness runs subconsciously from its first to its last pages, as one ruminates about what this genre was all about, what it could have been and why it is, for all intents and purposes, dead except on the New York, London and Toronto stages. From Astaire and Rogers to Gene Kelly, Streisand and even the Beatles, it's all covered here. Though it seems awkward to most of today's audiences to see a person in the middle of a scene break out into a song with no band playing behind him on screen, this was the accepted norm and was often the the portion of a film that had an audience soaring in their seats. That such a feeling has all but disappeared makes this book all the more precious, preventing this genre from fading into the wisps of memory. The beautiful thing about this book is the unexpected. Rather than delve into the expected great musicals with the standard American images (which are included in great detail nevertheless), this book includes artwork from other countries, art that is more "in your face" and thought provoking. Who can forget the image used for the Polish version of the 1972 release of "Cabaret?" (Joel Grey's face in the center of four stocking legs bent into the shape of a swastika?) This is the kind of thing that you would never have seen printed or distributed in the U.S., works of art that can only be bought for thousands of dollars today at many of America's biggest auction houses. If you are the least bit interested in the jaw-dropping beauty of what has become a lost art -- the exercise of drawing images associated with the advertising of a Hollywood film -- this is the book to have. This book is part of movie poster maven Bruce Hershenson's exhaustive multi-volume series of books highlighting the history and beauty of what much of mainstream America has only in the last ten years begun to recognize. And that is movie posters are a "popular art" form that can stand proudly next to all other styles of art from gothic to modern, from expressionist to impressionist. Great film art borrows from all of these styles and this volume, which focuses only on posters associated with musicals, illustrates innumerable examples whereby despite the restrictive nature of the genre (musicals), not all posters went in the same direction in terms of style and presentation. From Shall We Dance to A Star is Born, from 42nd Street to Yellow Submarine, Hershenson and Allen have built an incredible archive (and legacy) of images in all of their books, capturing a period (when all posters were drawn by hand and then printed, as opposed to today's method of using photographic stock and manipulating them digitally and printing them by the thousands) that would otherwise be lost forever. A fine book for any collector (get the hardcover edition if you can, it's harder to find; if Amazon doesn't have it, it's available from Mr. Hershenson directly at mail@brucehershenson.com).

The best Musical Movie Poster book available today! This book has it all. Beautifully photographed and reproduced in great color this book reveals the outstanding artists, designers and photographers that created movie poster "Works of Art" from the early days of movie musicals to the current. A"must have" for the movie memorabilia collector and movie musical fan. Superb!

What a great book about in my opinion the best songwriters! The Shermans had the opportunity to be with Disney during what I believe was the peak of the Disney Co. Their songs have warmed the hearts of millions of people across the world. My mother had never heard of the Shermans but whenever I sing their songs she says "I love that song, I didn't know they wrote that..." I can count on their songs being family friendly and joyful. I love Winnie the Pooh was not at all surprised when I discovered who wrote the songs! I never get tired of reading Walt's Time. The pictures are great and layout is so different. It is fun to read the background stories that is behind each song. Such as A Spoon full of Sugar and how Robert's son gave them the inspiration. I know the price makes it difficult for some of us. I personally do not own the book, but I love to borrow it from my library. It is a must read for every Disney and Sherman fan out there!

This book is truly the gem of my library... A beautiful look at the careers of Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman! Reading this book brought back so many memories! Little did I realize that so many of my favorite Disney (and even non-Disney) musical films all had one special thing in common... the music of the Sherman Brothers.

This wonderful book is formatted like a huge scrapbook... its fun to read, and just packed with rare photos, cartoons and other memorabilia that would delight any reader.

Wow!, What a feast of fun! Here's the story of two of this century's most prolific and popular songwriters, the Sherman Brothers, finally cronicled in a superb scrapbook. Discover the Sherman Brothers' insights into the enigma that was Walt Disney, and learn of their dream job with this man.. who nurtured their talent, producing a sound that is truly instantly recognisable, the world over. These are the guys who created "the biggest word you ever heard", who left us singing of a "small, small world".. and gave lyrical life to a "fantasmagorical machine" called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!

This is a lovingly remembered book by the Dick and Bob, put together with the help of a few amazingly dedicated fans. Bruce & David and Jeff have produced another gem of a book. With them, too much is never enough.. the photographic treasures, the office cartoons all give the impression of being invited to dinner with the Shermans. I was lucky enough to hear the Shermans at the piano for a preview of this book at a Disney fan's convention last year. That was a night I'll never forget.. as the brothers sang their way through the songs of my childhood. Now the feeling of that night (and my childhood) has been captured in print, and I can't be happier! Thanks guys, it's supercalifragilisticexpialidocious !

Fantastic photography in another large book from Versace. This book captures the 'rock chic' glamourama which the late Versace excelled at creating. The association between 'Rock and Roll', and art is full indulged here creating a empirical illusion to the Versace dynasty. The glossy presentation of the images also adds to an overall feeling of luxury. The only reason I have not given this book the top rating is for its inclusion of Elton John - who makes me sick. So what if its expensive, luxuries like this don't come cheap. ciao,

Maureen Farquhar (maureenfarquhar@yahoo.com)

Gianni Versace was a designer who loved to push the envelope. His clothes were a mixture of extremes: sexy, sleazy, colorful, tacky, and elegant. One adjective you'd never find in a sentence with the word Versace is "boring." His clothes commanded--and often got--attention, which is why he was such a favorite among celebrities such as Madonna, Elton John, Liz Hurley, Courtney Love, Prince, Jon Bon Jovi and even Princess Diana. This book is a fabulous, eye-opening collection of vivid photographs of models and rock stars in Versace: from Prince to the members of British boy band Take That. Some outfits are more releaving than others, but they're all unmistakably Versace. Diana herself is also included in the book, along with a few words of praise for the designer. Tragically, Versace was murdered in the summer of 1997, but his spirit and influence live on. This book comes highly recommended. Drop it on your coffeetable, and your guests won't want to put it down.

A must have book for all Versace fans.

Every last shot heard in the world of motion pictures is displayed here. From Pre-code films like LADIES THEY TALK ABOUT to the Code-in-your-face PULP FICTION, Bruce Hershenson captures the poster art of these films in splashy high quality color. A bonus is that Bruce always includes lobby card art, cherished by many a collector, but not displayed often.

Absolutely stunning! Superb graphics of some of our favorite movie posters! Highly recommend.

How can crime be bad and yet so good! Look inside the cover of these pages for the answer. Not much reading required but plenty of illustrations. And what illustrations!! Cigarettes, dangling from shadowey faces, killer guns begging for victums, and behind every crime there's a "good" women to lead him on to both heaven or hell. These images can usually sum up the classic Crime Movie Poster. In cronological order the images take us from the birth of this gendre to it's present. This is no small feat, as the first poster is dated 1913! That's how many years? Page after page is loaded with poster art that grabs the eye and makes you want to view the film. Vivid coloring shows the excellent printing quality of this volume. One only needs to turn the pages to discover "the stuff dreams are made of".

Dr. Rapport has written an excellent and readable story about one of the most influential figure in modern medicine. At the same time that he has told us a facinating story about Dr. Beeson's life, he has explained some of the history of medicine during the 20th century. A wonderful book of interest to doctors and patients; here is hope for the medical profession.

With great writing skill and a deep understanding of his subject, Dr. Rapport has managed to capture the essence of the life of one of the most influential doctors of the age. At the same time, the book describes many of the major clinical developments in medicine over the past one hundred years. A fine book that will interest not only doctors, but their patients as well.

I was a resident training under Dr.Beeson during his tenure as Chairman of Medicine at Yale. Many of those quoted in the text are old friends and colleagues. The qualities they describe, I can assure any reader, are not exaggerated. This is a compelling and readable account of a great man. Rapport has come close to identifying his essence. This is must reading for anyone trying to understand what makes a supremely good physician in a society undergoing profound social and complex technologic changes.

This game sourcebook is just as you might expect by the title a very good sourcebook for the 1000 Hells. I really can't add to what has already been said, just give my support

This has to be one of the best books I've read through in the Kindred of the East expansion. The 1000 Hells is not to be played with lightly -- it's serious business for those who wish to commune with the likes of Emma-O, Mikaboshi, Tou Mu, Rangda, and a host of other Yama Kings (and Queens) that rule Yomi. It shows you how to create a Yama King/Queen, the type of hell s/he would rule, systems on how to go to hell (literally, no pun intended), the effects of most disciplines while in Yomi (both Kuei-jin and Cainite), even how to commune and bargain with the Rulers of Hell and become an akuma (both standard and the exquisitely monstrous princes of Hell versions). Coupled with the latter half of Killing Streets (where it discusses the Broken Mirror systems), and you have the makings of a very memorable, spine-chilling chronicle. Highly recommended.

Whether you are running Kndred of the East, Hengeyokai, or god forbid a Hsien chronicle, this is the best book for giving the eastern world of teeth. From the greater Akuma to the Demons of Iron and violence, this book has everything you need to bring some major havoc into your game. And if its intrigue you want this book hs plenty to offer.

The first impresion i had upon this book was: "why bother with something so simple". But upon reading the five chapters and the appendix i was hooked on the idea. I also played for six years Truncheons and Flagons so the fantasy setting is no strange to me, whoever when you review the possilities to play a vampire knight the ideas arise (bad pun sorry). They explain in chapter one the whole concept of chivalry in medieval Europe, but the best chapter is the second where they explain how to do it and the fifth where players get their chances at playing one. New merits and flaws (i really liked the "woman in disguise" flaw, a lot of opportunities there). They also give you a brief history of a fictional vampiric knight order for those who like ready to play NPC. Overall a good read, on the gaming side a good sourcebook with good information for both storytellers and players.

This is one great book, but you need the good players too. Think of a vampire walking under the sun and not getting aggravated damage, just lethal. A vampire with increased power and disciplines as well as being only lethally damaged by fire, not aggravated. However, it is compensated by the vampire duties and by those above them in the knighthood order. And yet, it is not only about the order of the bitter ashes, but about everything on chivalry. If you like the via equitus... this book is for you.

I am quite impressed with this book. In the tradition of Wolves of the Sea, White Wolf has really done their homework on this one. Not only does it contain much relevant information about historically existing knightly orders (such as the Knights Templar), it also contains information about how kindred manipulate and even become them. Most importantly, the Order of the Bitter Ashes is detailed. The Order has a duty to destroy infidels, protect the holy, redeem the wicked, and capture the holy relics of old for...posterity. The memebers, due to a unique embrace involving the Holy Grail, also have several new powers, among them being a limited ability to regenerate blood without feeding, and some resistance to fire and sunlight. Though they might be the most noble of the Kindred, there are still many moral dilemmas to play out with them. I get a real Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade feeling from this book. If you enjoy this sort of mood mixed with the gothic horror of Vampire: Dark Ages, this is a must have for you. My only complaint is that there is not a single mention of the one clan that most fits the knightly stereotype: the Salubri. Maybe I am just partial to the Salubri, but I think that they should not have been overlooked here. Still, the book is marvelous.