This book is a thriller that combines true friendship and real courage of a young girl during the Holocoust. Though she is not jewish herself, her best friend Ellen is. To safley transport Ellen and her family to free Switzerland, the girl must risk her, and her friends, lives.I call it A thrilling adventure with a satisfactory ending. If you like stories about the Holocoust, like I do, you should definetly read this book soon!!

I think that this was a good book for three reasons. One, it had a story line that was intresting to fallow the events. Two it had a lot of sespence. THree it had very realistic events decribed and played out in the book.

This was a WONDERFUL book. I would also suggest "The Giver" by Lois Lowry.

I like this book, it is very attentitive to small details, the resulting paintings are very naturalistic and often very dramatic as well. The artist knows about nature and it shows.
The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and you just sit there, stuck and fascinated.

The book is using acrylic paints, but the book can be absolutely and utterly recommended for oil and watercolor as well. Even if you aren't an artist it is well worth just for browsing on the coffee table... Buy it, steal it, borrow it, just Get it.

In contrast to the abundance of books on oil and watercolor painting there are few high quality books on acrylic painting. This book however helps fill that gap. The numerous photos of step-by-step techniques for painting everything from backgrounds to various types of fur (dry, wet, patterned, white) to eyes, feathers, leaves, grass, clouds, water, waterdrops, rocks, snow, special effects and a gallery of textures is a feast for the eyes. If not for the close-up photos I would think Mr. Isaac was painting in oil.

The author covers composition do's and don'ts, balance, repetition, lighting, getting a correct pose and other tips for integrating the subject into the scene. The numerous demonstrations list the supplies used for each painting followed with step-by-step details of composition and techniques. The end of the book shows a gallery of some of Isaac's paintings and an index. These techniques can be used by anyone wanting to paint wildlife scenes in an opaque manner - not only acrylics. I've sat with this book open beside my paintings and continually used these techniques for several wildlife paintings I made in casein, Chromacolour and even alkyd. This is a book to be used, not read then stored away on the bookshelf. Get it and see your wildlife paintings improve.

This book like the artist is top notch. It's hard to find a book done by a world class artist. Terry Isaac is such an artist. Any one of the concepts presented in this book it worth the books price. All aspects of his thought processes and painting technics are revealed. Terry shows step by step examples of how he created works that he exhibits, not stuff whipped out to create a book. If your looking for a book on wildlife painting or landscape painting your not going to find a better book.

The book is an absolutely practical treatise of applied thermodymamics. The explanations of how to use property estimation methods are excellent, but invaluable are the comments on their accuracy and recommendations as to when to use which method.

The book served as my operating manual for the ASPEN software for modeling chemical processes. The book documented nearly every method used by ASPEN.

I was a bit unconfortable when I bought this book since I was suspicious that this one was one of those unreadable thermodynamic books. Fortunately I was wrong. This book provides you with a complete treatment of the properties of gases and liquids in a plain language stressing the understanding of the basic laws governing the behavior of liquids and gases instead of the mathematic that goes with it. The treatment of the topics is very suitable for engineers since it allows quick understanding of the phenomena and provides a wealth of correlations and methods for estimating properties. The appendixes contain all kind of basic information indeed helpful for applying the correlations showed. Without any hesitation, this book is well worth its price.

Lotsa Hotsa Properties...

In Quest for Decisive Victory, Dr. Citino analyzes the progression of warfare from the age of Napoleon to the opening battles of the Second World War. The study consists of the numerous military leaders in the period looking for methods of winning a decisive victory in Napoleonic style despite the great technological advances of the time. Dr. Citino puts to rest the abundance of myths that have risen about the period, especially the military doctrine of all commanders in the opening stages of the First World War. In the period following the end of World War I, Citino is at his best, providing a tremendous amount of information about the great debate of the "interwar period," and the opening battles of World War II, which proved some analyists to be correct in their debates, and others to look like fools. Overall, Dr. Citino's narrative style makes the work enjoyable to read and easy to understand.

Dr.Citino's work is exceptionally well written in describing the roots of combined arms warfare. The first part of the books descrbes the small wars before the outbreak of the First World War. The absence of artillery support made tasks made the infantry's task extremely difficult in the the Boer War and the Russo-Japanese War. Another factor that impeded success was the lack of communications so that the Russian army was able to escape repeatedly from the Japanese pincers. Dr. Citino also analyzes the little known Balkan Wars of 1912-13... This is by far the best book about military thought of the early twentieth century,but Citino could have written more about the Russian and American military thought during this time period. Nevertheless I would highly reccomend this book to anyone interested in military thought and practices.

Dr Citino's newest book is a must read for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge of modern military history. I anticipated this books publication for over a year and was not disappointed. The focus of the Quest For Decisive Victory is the evolution of tactics and strategy to deal with the innovations in technology and the changing battlefield. From the rise of the "invisible battlefield" due to smokeless powder in the Boer War to the simple introduction of the wireless radio set to the tank intended as a replacement for hand flags as the main form of communication among tank commanders , a weapon system or technical innovation is only as good as the commanding Generals understanding of its capabilities and how best to employ it in war. Dr. Citino Traces this process from 1899-1940 showing how the static stalemate of war first appearing in the Boer War and the Russo Japanese war was finally overcome by the "War of Movement" as practiced and envisioned by Guderian, Rommel, Fuller, and Von Seckt.

My personal hero of the aforementioned European art-movie genre -- Robert Bresson -- is the subject of a new book edited by James Quandt. Robert Bresson includes interviews with the director by fellow filmmakers Jean-Luc Godard and Paul Schrader and French film critics Michael Delahaye and Michel Ciment. There are also homages from directors like Martin Scorsese and Rainier Werner Fassbinder, as well as essays by Roland Barthes and Alberto Moravia. One might wonder why such famous and accomplished people took the time to write about a French filmmaker whose movies are not known to the general moviegoing public. The answer is that the late Bresson actually was one of the great figures in cinema. His austere directing style relied on slow and beautiful imagery and much suffering on the part of his main characters, resulting in films that, once experienced, is never forgotten. One can describe Quandt's book the same way

last year i recieved one of the best christmas presents i could ask for: this book. while i wouldnt recommend it to anyone that isnt a bresson fan it holds plenty to mull over for those that are. while a few of the articles are dull and/or pretentious more often than not they are highly illuminating as to the director's methods. there are one or two articles devoted to each of his films and a few that are just about his films in general. this first section of the book ends with bresson's cinematographer for "diary," through to "joan of arc" writing about his love/hate relationship with bresson and an interview with the young man who played the lead in "the devil, probably." the second part of the book contains three interviews with bresson: the paul schrader, which is fidgety and odd; the godard, which is exhaustive, rambling and very enlightening; and the final one whose author slips my mind which is great but unfortunately short (conducted after the completion of what would be bresson's last film, "l'argent"). the final section of the book is basically several directors talking about why they like bresson. this section ranges from short, humorous stories (the fassbinder and aki kaurismaki) to long essays on bresson's style(malle, etc.). other directors quoted in this final section include tarkovsky, bertollucci, wenders, hal hartley, and atom egoyan.

Imagine a young film director making a somewhat controversial first film, with a script by someone on the order of Saul Bellow, followed by a more successful film with recognizable stars and a labyrinthine script by someone like Harold Pinter. Have him drop out of sight for four years, only to emerge from obscurity with a movie about a country priest, filmed (spectacularly) in rural (RURAL!) Massachusetts. Etcetera. There is really no way to imagine Robert Bresson otherwise. We owe it to the French film industry (if something so UNconsolidated could be called an industry) that Bresson was permitted to flourish at all. It wasn't simply as if he was waiting around, all his life, for a financier (14 films in forty years of activity). But where else on earth could this austerely Catholic artist have found work but in France, the most religiously cynical country in Europe? His films are a rebuke to anyone stupid enough to expect anything conventional. Bresson questioned everything in film - even the central point of the medium. His films deny the viewer the usual crutches en route to an idea. Bresson leads us silently, without promptings, toward a disbelief we had long since suspended but never seriously questioned. He makes the word 'master' clean again.

Herein lie pages that showcase the inner workings of your mind and the universe about you.

Scintillating, neural expansive designs capture color magically and tempt your momentary perception into conceiving things beyond normalcy. Bursting, exploding stimuli of bliss play with your perceptual faculties in a manner as powerful as the most forbidden psychoactives.

Haunting creatures and beckoning intergalactic sights draw you into a psychedelic feast for the mind. Visual art can push us into the recognition that the entire world is gorgeous. Venosa does this with rare style and unparalleled mastery of his medium.

Where the organic meets the technological and where the science meets the sexes is the land that these amazing works foster.

Venosa hints at how things could really be if and when we discover what it is that DNA is all about.

Be ready for Venosa to continue to show us the way!

This book is worth every penny. The quality of the book is fantastic and the artwork inside will blow you away.

ILLUMINATUS is an unprecedented publishing feat.

"To make art is to draw even with the aspirations of divinity. To make art well is to call spirit into being. Magicians, like Venosa, know this." - Terence McKenna. Have you ever taken a journey to a "separate reality" via ayahuasca or magic mushrooms or some such sacrament and wish you could bring back a snapshot or reconstruct an image from your visionary experience? I have, but cameras are not allowed on these trips, only the mind's eye, and I am left fantasizing about having the talent of a great painter, such as ROBERT VENOSA. Venosa is an artist of high accomplishment and much of his work reflects images of his inner mindscapes. His new book, ILLUMINATUS, further defines the genre of Fantastic Realism (Surrealism, Visionary, Hypo-realism, Psychedelic). With comments and essays by a host of illuminated mentors and/or contemporaries, ILLUMINATUS is simply a mind-expanding book. "Those artists, such as Venosa, who gain access to visionary states, captivate us through their eternal imagery to fall under a spell of that reality." - Ernst Fuchs.

But Venosa's visionary reflections are but one aspect of his broad talent and subject matter. His portraits have a photo-realism mixed with spirit that instills life on his canvases. He uses his photorealisms "...to lure us through its 'reality' into his own inner world of swirling and seraphic energies....Venosa...learned the tempera and oil glazing technique... from yours truly in New York and...Ernst Fuchs in Vienna, and opted to perfect it in a state of mind of jewel-like clarity." - Mati Klarwein

Venosa's realism, like an hallucination, is astonishing. I confess there have been times I touched his artwork, expecting to feel something that wasn't there. On one occasion I thought somehow water had spilled onto a painting and I dabbed the drops with a tissue. Another time I was compelled to feel the raised texture of DNA molecules. Both times I was fooled! Speaking of touching, H. R. Giger writes, "I would be delighted to experience one of these images in three-dimensional form and to touch these ethereal figures and faces with my hands....", and again, "The biggest thrill would be to touch this imaginary cool, smooth surface."

Tantamount to Venosa's extraordinary art is the accompanying text by none other than TERENCE MCKENNA, art historian, writer, and leading spokesperson for the myriad explorers of mind altering substances. Move over Aldous, Terence has reached the stature of the most articulate psychonauts the world will ever know. Needless to say, his talent for word crafting is par excellence and his text in ILLUMINATUS is as illustrious as Venosa's artwork.

As Lewis and Clark explored our western frontier and returned with sketches and notes, Venosa and McKenna each explored our ultimate frontier, the wilderness of mind. Explorer/artist extraordinaires, they return from their travels in our noosphere and now meet to commingle their elaborate work with brush and pen to bring us a volume the nature and calibre of which has never before been published.

ILLUMINATUS is destined to be a classic.

Richard T. Carey

Thoroughly enjoyable! This is a book I will definitely read again. The perspectives of four hard-working actors in Role of a Lifetime are analogous to many careers, it's just so much more interesting to read about an individual's decisions, sacrifices, successes, and determination in the realm of stage and screen. Well-written chronicles of four fascinating journeys!

I highly recommend this engaging compilation of mini-biographies! Each of the four chapters gives the reader such interesting insight into the professional life of a consistently working actor who has performed for decades on the edge of the limelight. Role of a Lifetime celebrates actors and their profession while telling four great stories.

Not since Simon Callow's BEING AN ACTOR has a book so thoroughly explored the life, the passion, and the plight of being in the theater.

Simonson has selected a quartet of very talented but lesser-known performers and created insightful, sensitive but unflinching portraits of each. One closes the book having been exposed to the erratic and always challenging life of an actor. Simonson writes with authority but allows the individual personalities to shape each of the sections.

It is a book not just to be read but to be re-read. I hope that it will soon become a staple in acting classes on all levels as well as for the generally curious.

This book though dry and technical has plenty of information that is a must have for any aspirinf photographer who wishes to push their black and white print skills furhter. Given that digital camera sales are now out stripping analog cameras will this book still have relevence?

The last of a three book series, this volume provides comprehensive instructions detailing the developing process. Chapters on mounting and displaying photographs are at the books end completing the readers education. This book written by Ansel Adams, made famous for his B&W photographs, will disapoint any reader interested in the art of color photography. This three book collection is a must for any B&W photographer.

Despite the heavy emphasis on chemical and paper, this book's essentially about cropping, contrast control, and presentation. These are the core topics you'll need to master even if you only do digital photos. All the better if you use PhotoShop, because it recreates the controls (like burning and dodging) of a darkroom.

One thing that may be disappointing is the focus on black and white. Color control is crucial in making color prints and intimately tied with contrast.

The three books in this series can be read independently, but together provide a complete clinic from positioning the camera to displaying a final print.

This book gives a fascinating glimpse into the minds and hearts of newspaper reporters. The section of how reporters covered the Black Dahlia murder case was interesting, if not a little disturbing. Very thorough look at L.A. and its newspapers.

Rob Wagner has performed a great and long overdue service. He has chronicled the history of L.A. newspapers in the first half of the 20th Century---a "Front Page" era when L.A. had a half-dozen dailies, with many editions per day. Wagner is to be particularly congratulated for recounting the rise and fall of the original L.A. Daily News, a peach-colored oversized tabloid much revered in its day. The DN, at one time the circulation leader, hosted an array of great writers, from the legendary Matt Weinstock (THE L.A. columnist of his day)to Jack Smith and Jim Murray. The book is painstaking in its research of circulation figures and union struggles---spiced with rollicking anecdotes about great newspapermen (and women) of the day. This is the definitive history of Los Angeles newspapers.

Red Ink, White Lies is an impressive and informative chronicle of the successes and failures of six Los Angeles daily newspapers during an era of the city's fiercest newspaper wars and competitions. Author Rob Wagner (who is a veteran of more than 26 years as a reporter, city editor, managing editor, and night editor) interviewed dozens of newsman and women, resulting in a vivid and candid portrait of prewar and postwar newspaper reporters, including their lifestyle, ethics and professionalism. From celebrity journalism to mob era police corruption, reportage of ethnic minority communities and the "red-baiting" 50s, Red Ink, White Lies is a thoroughly fascinating, insightful contribution to the 20th century history of journalism.

In my line of work, I often find myself in the position of writing for others as well as myself: letters, paragraphs and sometimes longer pieces. Rules of Thumb is exactly what I need as someone who loves grammar, but has been out of school for 15+ years and needs a quick...you guessed it..."rule of thumb" on a particular topic. I highly recommend it for the workplace. The pages are laid out in such a way that merely thumbing through the book allows your eye to land on the topic you're looking for. When all you need is a quick reminder, or even consise 'how, why, when and where' examples -- this is the book to choose!

This book provides a complete, easy to understand description of all aspects of grammatically correct writing. But what makes this book truly exceptional is the integral quick reference guides in every chapter that allow you to make a quick check when you are in the midst of your writing project. I have not found any other book that works this well for me; I have used it in place of the corresponding required text for my college English classes.

This book contains information that can be reached in moments and is most time-saving. Had I been exposed to this while in school, I'm sure my writing would have been on a much higher level. Orchids to Jay, Elaine and Diana.