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Book reviews for "Edwards,_John" sorted by average review score:

Into the Fight: Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg
Published in Hardcover by White Mane Publishing Co. (1997)
Author: John Michael Priest
Amazon base price: $34.95
Average review score:

set your timepieces!
In this book ,as you read, you can't help but keep looking at your watch. A minute by minute account of the famous charge.You feel as if you are in the ranks on both sides in that bloody attack and stalwart defense on Cemetery Ridge. THIS BOOK IS A CLASSIC TO COMPARE WITH GEORGE STEWART'S BOOK ON PICKETT'S CHARGE. Amust read for all GETTYSBURG BUFFS.

Micro-History at its best !
John Michael Priest has once again displayed the literary art to which he seems born. This book is so utterly enthralling, it is almost like reading a novel. Even the veteran of many Gettysburg book readings will hinge on the story of Pickett's charge as told by Priest. His use of numerous primary sources lends to his telling of the story by the participants themselves. Each individual story then coalesces into a coherent and understandable analysis of how the charge developed and died. Priest gives both Confederate and Union impressions an equal treatment, creating a full veiw of the action. His writing brings out the horror, sadness, terror, pride, honor and exhultation felt by those actually present on that fateful day. Previous knowledge of the battle or Pickett's action is not needed to enjoy this work. Priest follows the action closely, developing it enough for the beginner or simply curious to understand. For those with a background in Civil War history, even Pickett's charge, the personal accounts still make the account a worthwhile read.


Jazz: The First Century
Published in Hardcover by William Morrow (25 April, 2000)
Authors: John Edward Hasse and Tad Lathrop
Amazon base price: $30.07
List price: $42.95 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Great Book that covers History
now this is the kind of Book that I call must reading because it covers a Form of Music&the People that molded&brought it to Life in a Rich Classy way.it explores so many areas&brings it all back to home without missing a beat.this Book is a History Lesson on so many things.Jazz is a Wide range topic all onto itself&this Book Explores that&so much more.

Thorough and Enjoyable!
This textbook covers basically all aspects of jazz. From the music's multi-cultured roots to the swing revival and every era in between, Jazz: The First Century presents a comprehensive timeline of ground breaking musicians(famous and obscure), and their most memorable compositions and recordings. The book shows how history influenced jazz, and likewise how jazz influenced history. It brings alive the original brass bands in New Orleans; the heyday of the prohibition years in Chicago, including Joe "King" Oliver's band showcasing Louis Armstrong on cornet; the development of styles such as swing, bebop, and fusion; and the rest of the world's interpretations of the music that grew up in America. I recommend this book to jazz enthusiasts who want a biography of the music, musicians who need a reference to classic jazz recordings, or anyone even remotely interested in recent music history. Did I mention that there is a list of key jazz albums? Also, a great index and many images!

Read it now!


John Steinbeck and Edward F. Ricketts: The Shaping of a Novelist
Published in Paperback by Western Flyer Publishing (09 September, 2002)
Author: Richard Astro
Amazon base price: $19.95
Average review score:

Wonderful insight to a remarkable friendship.
I picked this long out of print book up at the Monterey Aquarium - kudos to Western Flyer Publishing for bringing this fantastic book back.

There are two "bibles" for people who want to know about John Steinbeck - Jackson Benson's biography and this one. Personally, I prefer this one because it covers the golden age of Steinbeck and his friendship with marine biologist, philosopher and brilliant mind, Ed Ricketts.

If you've read Cannery Row and Grapes of Wrath (among others), you've gotten a glimpse of Ed RIcketts. In Richard Astro's book, you get the "toto-picture" of the man. Steinbeck's literature has been called simple. Yeah, simple as a Zen painting. Richard Astro shows how the collective (and at times drastically different) philosophies of these two men spawned one to create some of the greatest stories ever told. Stories that can be read and appreciated by a kid in middle school and then upon rereading, it is discovered how many layers lie beneath the tightly plotted tales. Astro's book digs deep too and is a valuable, readible and thought provoking journey into a remarkable friendship.

Informative!
This was wonderful. So insightful to learn about the man behind the stories.


SAP(R) R/3(R) Process Oriented Implementation: Iterative Process Prototyping
Published in Hardcover by Addison-Wesley Pub Co (21 July, 1998)
Authors: Gerhard Keller and Thomas Teufel
Amazon base price: $54.99
Average review score:

Muir, from Shasta to San Diego, but mostly in the Sierras.
Some say this is Muir's finest work. As the only other Muir book I've read (at this writing) is Travels in Alaska, I cannot comment on this, other than to say that I enjoyed this book a great deal.
From almost any vantage point in California, whether near or on a distant horizon, there are mountains. A fact not lost on Muir, whose sense of wonder and love of life endear him to his readers.
"God's glacial-mills grind slowly, but they have been kept in motion long enough in California to grind sufficient soil for a glorious abundance of life ... In so wild and so beautiful a region [was spent my day], every sight and sound inspiring, leading one far out of himself, yet feeding and building up his individuality."
Muir was the consummate man in nature. Anyone who is indifferent to Muir's writing may simply be indifferent to wonderment itself. I have no doubt that if Muir were placed in a room with the great kings and generals and tycoons and empire builders of history, he would appear singularly as a man among men. Unimpressed with their pomp and bluster over rotting empire, he might soon command more attention than they, and many would be happily listening to Muir in spite of their self importance. Why? He would have the most interesting insights, offered poetically and in a most humble and charming way. ... (in fact Muir was sought out by the great politicians and philosophers of his day).
If you like mountains, if you like California, if you like trees and glacier-fed streams, you will like this book.

the world of muir
muir describes the sierras with detail and love. he is one of the few authors who is content just to be in and describe a landscape. and what a description!. he describes the evolution of glaciaral lakes to the hights of mount ritter and the migrations of deer and native peoples. a great book i recoment it to anyone who loves the outdoors.


Paradise Lost and Other Poems
Published in Paperback by Signet Classic (2003)
Authors: John Milton and Edward Comte
Amazon base price: $7.95
Average review score:

BEST BUY
Thanks to Edward Le Comte's great biographical introduction, and annotations, this is the best version of this classic work. Unfortunately it is hard to find, because it's 42 years old now. This old Mentor edition was a high quality printing though, so if you find one it stands a good chance of being a best buy!

The best paperback Milton
A superb edition of the greatest poem in the language. Edward Le Comte performs an invaluable job of editing, providing copious annotations which give an encyclopedic overview of Milton's Biblical, Classical, theological, and personal allusions throughout "Paradise Lost" as well as "Samson Agonistes" and "Lycidas", which are the other poems of the title. The back-cover write-up gets it right-- here is the indispensable peer of Vergil, Dante, Homer. These are poetic monuments, cathedrals of sound and sense that are bound to exhilarate anyone who gives them even passing attention: Milton's reverence, rage, and sensuality burn through each line. Never mind even Harold Bloom's protestations to the contrary-- the poetry of the English tradition revolves around a double star, and this is Shakespeare's giant twin in greatness.


Recollections of the Last Days of Shelley and Byron
Published in Hardcover by Corner House Pub (1974)
Author: Edward John Trelawny
Amazon base price: $24.00
Average review score:

A RARE FIRSTHAND ACCOUNT
It has been a favorite pastime of academic biographers of both Shelley and Byron to deride Trelawny. This should suprise nobody. To begin with, with few exceptions, one of the primary qualifications of being a full-fledged academic is delight in derision, especially in derision of those who have firsthand knowledge of the subjects they have spent hours in the stacks on University libraries to gain, perhaps, one mote of additional information.-The common criticism of Trelawny is that he was "naive"-By this they mean that his gives a simple, straightforward account of the time he spent with the two great poets without any ponderous theories to bog him down.-Trelawny first admired Byron, but quickly became disillusioned with his cynicism and became a lifelong admirer of Shelley, so much so that he remarked thus, "As a general rule,threfore, it is wise to avoid writers whose works amuse or delight you, for when you see them they will delight you no more. Shelley was a grand exception to this rule. To form a just idea of his poetry, you should have witnessed his daily life; his words and actions best illustrated his writings." After Shelley's death, he continues to follow Byron on his misadventures until his death. The book is a treat in that it is a delight to read, with page-turning accounts of his roistering times with two great men who shaped our literary world.-Not one footnote! He was there!

The Lives and Deaths of Shelley and Byron
If you're interested in the life of Edward John Trelawny, you'll have to look elsewhere. Suffice it to say that Tre' (as his friends knew him) was a privateer, a scoundrel, a lover of poetry, a freedom-fighter and a loyal friend of the most prolific literary talents of the romantic period. 'The Last Days of Shelley and Byron' is an account, not of Trelawny's extraordinary life & adventures, but of the two men that helped make that life so extraordinary. In his own words, he tells of the secret lives of Byron, Claire Clairmont and the Shelley's, their romp through sunny Italy and the tragic death of Percy off the coast of Spezzia. The tale continues as Tre' follows Byron to the civil wars of Greece, where Byron too dies. To his credit, though, it is never "Trlawny's tale", but "Byron and Shelley's tale" as told by Trelawny. It is a deep, insightful book that shows the poets as only a close friend could. Yet throughout, one can not help but love Trelawny himself: the man who supported the impoverished Mary Shelley to her dying day... the man who bought a slave for $10,000 only to set him free... the man who reached into the embers of Shelly's pyre, withdrawing his heart. If you love the poetry of Byron and Shelley & have even a passing interest in the men behind the legends, then Trelawny's memoirs are a must-read.


Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization
Published in Hardcover by Crown Pub (08 October, 2002)
Authors: Graham Hancock and Santha Faiia
Amazon base price: $19.25
List price: $27.50 (that's 30% off!)
Average review score:

Essential coda
An unusual, beautiful little book for the shelves of Francis Bacon fans. The photographs are beautiful, exhaustively document this legendary, but little known space, and have a haunting quality that complements other Bacon monographs. One senses the vibrancy of the artist's life, and only then the realization that, but for the fact he is deceased, the reader would not be holding this book and having this "privileged" view. Very strange!


The Orvis Field Guide to First Aid for Sporting Dogs (The Orvis Field Guide Series)
Published in Hardcover by Willow Creek Press (2000)
Authors: Charles Devinne, Laurie Morrow, and Chuck Vinne
Amazon base price: $16.95
Average review score:

Short, simple and still valid
Although this book was published over 20 years ago it remains a valuable resource. One of the reasons this is so is most project managers today gloss over project planning and jump right into scheduling. Part of the reason is most PM software packages are really GANTT chart-oriented. The shortcoming from starting with a GANTT chart is sequence and dependencies are nearly impossible to manage. On the other hand, the common tools used for sequencing and dependency analysis are CPM (critical path method) and PERT (program evaluation and review technique), both of which are complex and for most projects are overkill.

This book takes a simpler approach based on the activity-on-node precedence diagramming method (PDM). At 100 pages this book is a focused, but thorough, guide to using PDM as a key part of the project planning process. Benefits include easier identification of schedule compression or simplification opportunities, spotting bottlenecks before a schedule is created and the ability to perform a realistic dependency analysis - all of which will pay big dividends from having a properly planned schedule.

Do not let the age of this book put you off. If you are not using PDM and were intimidated by CPM and PERT you'll be glad you bought this book. I also recommend Nuts and Bolts Series 1--How to Build a Work Breakdown Structure by Carl Pritchard if you are not using work breakdown structures as the start of your project planning process.


Architectural Drawing and Light Construction
Published in Paperback by Prentice Hall (1985)
Author: Edward John Muller
Amazon base price: $
Average review score:

a one book resource guide to construction
I recommend this book to anyone looking for quick building or construction reference. Excellent for Design students.


Goon: Author's Preferred Version
Published in Hardcover by Overlook Connection Press (2003)
Authors: Edward Lee, John Pelan, and Micah Hayes
Amazon base price: $39.95
Average review score:

Good but there is better
This is a sick, twisted, don't let it near you kids book thats great but too short (thats why 4 stars not 5). This book is really just the appetizer for "FAMILY TRADITON" GET THIS BOOK, READ IT, AND THROW-UP (in a good way).

Lee and Pelan Strike Again!
This exercise in hardcore grossout horror, originally published in 1996, may contain more scenes of carnal grotesqueries in its 138 pages than most horror writers publish in a lifetime. Any effort to do so usually comes off as a pale imitation of these two fine writers, who are kind enough to return us to some familiar territory here as well as introduce some new aspects to the genre that none of have ever imagined before. In this volume, we have the return of Philip Straker (Lee's pseudonym he used on his first two novels and the main character in his novel Creekers), we have the return of PFC Micah Hayes (who also illustrated this edition) and Chief Richard Kinion (another Lee pseudonym), and we have a parody of virtually ever professional wrestler in the business.

The book is about a police officer and a reporter who go undercover as ringrats, or wrestling groupies, to try to catch Goon, a heel wrestler who can take a fatal blow to the head without batting an eye and who may be responsible for the murders of several ringrats. To say more would spoil the story, which may be the most unique piece you've ever read. It may not be Faulkner, or even Stephen King, but it will remain in your mind (in a dark corner filled with memories of other things you will never speak of in certain company) long after you've read it.

Fans of the Lee and Pelan team are encouraged to track down copies of Shifters, Splatterspunks, Family Tradition (especially this one, I can't stress enough), and whatever short stories you can find. Fans of Lee should read anything and everything he's written, especially over the last decade. See also the Excitable Boys anthology edited by Kelly Laymon and Santa Steps Out by Robert Devereaux.

SAX AND WRASSLIN'
What do you get when you combine sex, wrestling, and serial killing? Why Goon, of course. Edward Lee and John Pelan team up again to bring you another no-holds-barred tale of mayhem. Having recently read one of their chapbooks (The Case Of The Police Officer's C. Ring And The Piano Player Who Had No Fingers), I was amused to see more of Luntville's finest (Chief Richard Kinion and PFC Micah Hays). Some time soon, these 2 need a longer story of their own (I have since found and purchased Splatterspunk). The Overlook Connection Press has done an excellent job of getting this 1996 book back in print. I only wish that someone had proofread it a little closer. Maybe next time. Anyway, be sure to check out Erik Wilson's cover artwork, Micha Hayes' illustrations, and T. Winter-Damon's introduction. See ya ringside.


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