Ever since building our first piece of "Stickley" style furniture I've been looking for a book with more ideas. This one certainly filled the bill. Given the time, I could outfit my whole house with these attractive pieces! Mr. Lang's style helped make it an enjoyable read while his hints and advice came in useful from the start. An added benefit was the facinating history of the Stickley company. It really gave me some insight as to the designs.

Professional cabinet maker and draftsman Bob Lang's Shop Drawings For Craftsman Furniture: 27 Stickley Designs For Every Room In The Home is an a draft book filled with precise, exacting line drawings that can be used as models to create a wide variety of elegant and practical home furnishings. A beginning section aptly introduces novice builders to the art of interpreting shop drawings, and the drawings themselves come with brief commentary and instructions. Overall, Shop Drawings For Craftsman Furniture is a superbly presented, highly recommended do-it-yourself guide, and especially useful for building a handmade holiday gift when store-bought gifts just won't do.

There are a lot of books about making Arts and Crafts furniture, but only a few really good ones. Some offer inspiration, some offer detailed instructions, and all offer a brief history of the Arts and Crafts movement. Very few offer the kind of detailed drawings it takes to really build the furniture pictured.
I'll confess that I haven't built a piece from this book yet, it's simply too new, but a review of the drawings tells me that I could start on a piece tomorrow knowing that the dimensions are accurate.
Here's where the experience part comes in. There are no step by step instructions. It is up to the reader to interpret the drawings, decide on the construction techniques to use and plan the project before starting. This book won't tell you the order in which to assemble the parts you make, you'll decide that, among many other decisions. To me, that's part of the fun and challenge of building furniture.
If you are inexperienced in building furniture, buy this book for future projects and also buy one with some detailed instructions in it for your first few pieces. (I'd recommend "Authentic Arts and Crafts Furniture Projects" by the editors of "Popular Woodworking" magazine.)

I've been searching for a "one-stop shop" book for telecommunications for some time and I've finally found it. This is not a beginners book but it's not graduate level either. If you want a book that does it all and does it all very well, then get this one. It's light on the math but does a good job of backing up its statements. I've been involved in Telecommunications for about 10 years now and I read this book often just to refresh myself. I particularly enjoy the chapters on Microwave transmission and Fiber. This is an excellent, excellent reference tool and general good read on the subject.

Hi, This is a wonderful book which will give the complete idea and details about the telecom networks starting for the A/D conversion till Cellular network from the POTS. This contains information about SDH/Sonets and what else you think is there. Its a Bible for the Telecom Engineers and I have seen this book with almost all my friends.Anyone wanna in depth knowledge and the overview of the Telecom network must go through this book. Its a book which is a one solution for many books altogether.

This book covers diverse technologies such as broad band fiber optics ,PCM systems,wireless communications and PCS.The presentation is clear and simple ,makes it easy to understand the complicated stuff.If you need a single reference for everything related to telecommunication transmission then this book is the right choice.

As a retired military intelligence professional and conflict theorist, I must say this is the best interpretation of Sun Tzu's classic work I have read. The author focuses on the meanings behind this ancient Chinese war philosopher's writings. He puts them into a modern context, making them easy to understand. Apparently the Department of Defense agrees with me on this, since they have selected Mr. Cantrell's book as a text for the National War College in Washington DC. This is a must read for all military officers and business leaders. It rated a perfect five hearts.

Robert L. Cantrell's Understanding Sun Tzu On The Art Of War contains both the complete translated text of Sun Tzu's enduring classic on battle strategy, and a modern-day interpretation packed with advice on leadership, learning to keep one's intentions a secret from one's opponents, leveraging advantages as the key to victory, and a great deal more. An excellent resource for anyone seeking self-improvement through internalizing Sun Tzu's wisdom, Understanding Sun Tzu on the Art of War is thoughtful and thought-provoking reading of the highest order.

"Understanding Sun Tzu on The Art of War" is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the oldest military treatise in the history of the world. However, this book is much more than just the rehashing of old source material. Robert Cantrell's book delves into the material in a much more practical sense that lets the reader truly comprehend and utilize Sun Tzu's philosophy. Cantrell takes Sun Tzu's 2,500 year old philosophies and applies them to the 21st Century, using a contemporary voice that makes the Art of War much more accessible to today's reader. However, and very importantly, the book doesn't strip away Sun Tzu's words with modern terminology. This book manages to bring Sun Tzu into the 21st century without taking away his voice.

Reading Sun Tzu is a bit like reading Shakespeare. You can read it, but can you understand it? "Understanding Sun Tzu on the Art of War" allows you to fully appreciate and synthesize what Sun Tzu is all about.

If you are interested in Sun Tzu philosophy, or if you are interested in life strategies, Robert Cantrell's book is a must buy.

In his book "Conscious Living" Gay Hendricks masterfully takes the reader to a profound realization of the most basic lessons in living. With so many self help books available it is sometimes difficult to know where to focus one's attention and how to proceed along the path of self transformation. Gay Hendricks has an uncanny ability to light the way and often in a humorous and inspiring manner. His insights and practical applications do not leave the reader stranded in an intellectual quagmire with nothing solid to stand on. Instead, he offers solid information that will take, those of us inspired to do so, deep into the realities of our own existence. Gay repeatedly offers opportunities for the reader to commit to an empowered and exciting life where relationships can flourish, creativity abounds and self exploration becomes an adventure spawned by curiosity encased in wonder and vitality.

Over the last few years, I have read an assortment of relationship books with loads of great strategies that combat a wide array of issues. When I encountered the book "Conscious Loving" by Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, I was amazed by how different the book was. Gay and Kathlyn were communicating at a more fundamental level that bridged the gap between examples and strategies.

When "Conscious Living" came out, I eagerly pounced on it to see how much more I could piece together. On my first pass through the book, I was deeply moved by the quantity and depth of "aha, that's why" connections I was making with my life and my prior readings. This book did not disappoint me since it was working at the fundamental building block level that I first encountered with "Conscious Loving". After reading the book for the third time, I'm still in awe at how much clarity Gay brings to the journey of life. If I had to sum it up, I would have to say that I was left smiling at the profound beauty of life. I was also pleasantly surprised and deeply moved by the spiritual connections I made through reading the book.

The book follows a natural progression where Gay takes you from a great personal and historic introduction through the five required lessons followed by the inner shifts and outer moves that create a conscious life. The second half of the book deals with conscious solutions to some of the most crucial areas of real world life. I found the book to be chock-full of interesting examples and inspiring snippets of wisdom. One of my favorite snippets was "We argue for our limitations, and, sure enough, we get to keep them."

I have read several of Gay Hendricks books and each is a masterpiece. He surprises me every time by having so much to offer. Reading 'Conscious Living' is an enlightening experience. What touched me deeply is its simple profundity.

Its evident that Gay writes from a depth of authentic experience. He blends the sublime with the practical, the mystical with the earthy, the miraculous with the ordinary. I am confident that this book will become a landmark in the human evolution to embrace its own divinity in ways that are magical.

As I read it, I was in an inspired space to act out of integrity in ways that create enduring change towards greater inner joy & success in the outer world.

Ed Watz's book 'Wheeler & Woolsey' is a superb film history of a great and sadly forgotten movie comedy team. This volume evokes the golden days of both Vaudeville and Hollywood, as we follow the rise and sad fall of Wheeler & Woolsey. Mr. Watz also sets straight the historical record that the boys were second only to the great Laurel & Hardy in the 1930's and certainly ahead of their rivals the Marx Bros., the Ritz Bros., and the Three Stooges! Readers of this book will want to go out and see the films of Wheeler & Woolsey. Watz's book is a lost treasure.

This "sleeper" book, which I picked up because of my curiosity about the subjects (they are appearing regularly on the Turner Classic Movies station) is a revelation. Positively one of the best researched and entertaining books about a comedy team from the movies' golden age, the 1930s. To watch Wheeler & Woolsey is to understand what vaudeville-type comedy is (was) all about. Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey have been overlooked in favor of teams like the Marx Bros. or the 3 Stooges. This book corrects that oversight. It is also a highly readable accounts of Hollywood politics behind the scenes at some of the major studios. If you're a fan of vintage movie comedy, get this book.

Wheeler and Woolsey were second to Laurel and Hardy in the heart's of movie going audiences of the 1930's. Since then, however, their star has faded and their acomplishments have been relegated to footnote status in the history of the golden age of comedy. Thanks to Edward Watz, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are alive and kicking again in a definitive history of the lovable pair and their films. Exhaustingly researched and lovingly executed, the book chronicles the career ups and downs of the most unjustifiably forgotten comedians in the history of show business. Personal biographies are included, as well as detailed accounts of all of their features and short subjects. Long time leading lady Dorothy Lee lends her first hand account of the way things happend with a refreshingly candid foreward. She also shares her memories of each of the films that she participated in with a fascinating view that only an insider could relate. The later years are chronicled in the final chapter, featuring accounts of Bert Wheeler's career after the untimely death of his partner. All in all, this book ranks along side the superlative Laurel and Hardy, The Magic Behind The Movies, and Abbott and Costello in Hollywood, as one of the most enjoyable and informative demonstration's of film history as can be expected. If you love film comedy, you should not be without this book.

so hilarious, so poignant, so daring, and so dense - teeming with life - the characters speaking their characterization - and such beautiful characters - and so wacko

Many find Ibsen difficult to understand. I certainly did. However, by reading The Wild Duck, I was introduced to an entire new world of symbolism and creative writing. Like the master he was, Ibsen paints a portrait of a family, representing all of us, living on a lie. Cruelty in our midst, innocent victimes and pragmatists losing to the vindictive, it's all there. The touches of comedy and tragedy just increase the impression that it does concern us, that really, he's looked into our lives and seen our lies, although hopefully in a less extreme version. And don't we all know a Hedvig, a Gina, a Hjalmar and a Gregers? Maybe there's something of the all in all of us... The book sucks you in, creeps under your skin and stays there, along with the horror, the anger and the sympathy you feel while reading. In my opinion, one of the best examples of Ibsen's less romantic period of writing.

Ibsen's philosophical "message" in this play disturbs me. I don't think I agree with Dr. Relling that each of us needs his own brand of self-deception to cope with life. Certainly Hialmar Ekdal is content enough, and hilariously funny as an lazy fool who thinks he's a creative genius in photograhy, a breadwinner to his wife and daughter, and a martyr to his father's scandalous past. Alas, his friend Gregers Werl points the way to the truth, that Hialmar is deceived about everything in his life. It would all be comical but for the fact that Hialmar's daugher Hedvig, who is probably not his daugther at all, shoots herself as proof of her love for Hialmar. So, Ibsen seems to say, here the truth has cost a young girl's life, an unbearable tragedy but for the fact that she was going blind. Well, no doubt there is cost in knowing the truth about oneself and about others, no doubt there are things we prefer not to know, and no doubt there are people like Hialmar who are impervious to truth. But there are also people like Hialmar's wife Gina, and Dr. Relling himself, who know the truth and who hold up nobly and well. For at least these, I think Ibsen should recommend truth in large doses, and perhaps he does.

My principal was so impressed with the depth and scope of this book that she has ordered copies for the entire staff at the K-6 elementary school I teach.

Mr. Muscala has written an easy to follow, user friendly guide to establishing, and maintaining a full-fledged writer's workshop in your classroom. Clear, concise strategies, combined with reproducables make this book a wonderful resource for the money.

A must-have for K-12 Language Arts teachers.

The Writing Workshop Survival Kit is a thorough and user-friendly resource for teachers who teach 4-12. I have perused a number of writing workshop books, but this one was the most complete.

This book is broken up into two main parts. The first part of the book includes information on the teacher's role as a writing facilitator and on managing a writing workshop. Reproducibles on student responsibilities, rules for working in groups, and assessments are inserted throughout the first two chapters. The book then addresses the five steps of the writing process. Again, reproducibles for each step of the writing process are included as well as activities that help students think about the writing process.

Finally, the second part of the book is divided into three sections that all feature writing mini-lessons under the following categories: mini-lessons for types of writing, mini-lessons for the art of writing, and mini-lessons for the mechanics of writing. The first category of mini-lessons includes 16 lessons on writing different types of writing such as letters, reviews, poems, plays, narratives, and essays. The second category of mini-lessons includes 25 lessons that discuss writing effectively such as writing effective leads, writing conclusions, developing imagery, and writing effective transitions. The final category of mini-lessons includes 58 lessons that address the proper usage of grammar.

Again, this is a thorough resource for teachers who teach the 4-12 grades. A writing workshop can be implemented in a Language Arts program with the sole use of this book. This book is an easy read, includes a large number of reproducibles, and provides everything that a teacher needs in order to begin a writing workshop in their class. A must have for teachers who wish to bring excitement into their writing programs.

I have ten years of teaching experience, and have conducted workshops on writer's workshop for the past five years. Most of the teachers I meet are eager to implement the writing process in their classrooms, and want detailed instructions on how to go about it. They don't want to start from scratch. This book provides guidance from the perspective of a teacher, without ever sounding condescending or dull. Each section on the first half breaks down an aspect of the process, from pre-writing to publishing. The second half is devoted to mini-lessons on genre, style and mechanics. Big deal, you will say, I've seen a hundred books like that! But here's what's great about it: The author describes the lessons succinctly, in a peer-to-peer style, gives you truly useful tips, and the masters are like the ones I would create myself. I am now showing it in every workshop I do, and planning to use it in a summer course I teach for the Bay Area Writing Project. The book is well worth the money for anyone teaching grades 3rd through high school.

The thing I really like about this book is the system it uses to help you find the correct spelling of lots and lots of words. Arranged alphabetically are all the possible phonetic ways different words could be spelled with the correct spelling next to it. The incorrect spellings are in one font and the correct spellings are in another. There are also numerous explanations of the words, including sources, usages, and so on. These are very entertaining to read. I highly recommend this book.

When I was in high school, I and a few good friends made a pretty good hobby out of tormenting (in a good way, of course) one particular English teacher in our school.

One of my favorite tactics in this teacher's classroom was to blurt out, in mock consternation, "How do you spell ______?" whenever I couldn't spell a word. Why? Because a) I was young and immature and a legend in my own mind, and b) the teacher always fell right into my trap...

"Look it up in the dictionary!" he'd scream, without fail, pitching me a nice softball right over the plate ...

"But HOW," I whined, "am I supposed to look up a word when I can't spell it in the first place?!"

(GLARING SCOWL)

Problem was, I was only half-kidding with most of my questions (though I'd never admit as much to the teacher). Often it really WAS difficult (not to mention time-consuming) to look up the words I didn't know, especially if their spellings weren't very intuitive.

I guess that's why I'm enjoying my copy of "1,001 Commonly Misspelled Words." With this handy book, you don't need to know how to spell a word already before looking it up. You need only know how to pronounce it -- because you can then look it up phonetically. Why didn't someone think of this before?! Once you get to the word's phonetic spelling, you can then see the correct (though often counterintuitive!) spelling. Plus, you might get a little story about the word or, better yet, some sort of nemonic -- er, I mean mnemonic -- device so that you can remember how to spell it in the future.

I only wish the book included more words. But in any case, it's a nice tool -- especially for a writer type like me. I would think it might also make a good gift for new college students and others who will be tearing their spelling hair out from time to time in the years to come.

Highly recommended!

The above reviewer was probably an acting student at The Boston Conservatory. There, the standard text for senior year is Acting Power. That aside, the reviewer is correct. The book is the best you'll ever read on the techniques of acting. Forget Uta, forget Stanislavski, this book puts you in the mindset that what your scene objectives are are playable. You don't worry about what's behind you, you focus on what's ahead. Read the book and you'll see what I mean. Having written that, realize that you cannot really learn to act from a book. You have to work at it. This book just helps you come from a realistic standpoint.

"The best book on how to act yet written" is how this book is described on more than one "recommended books for actors" list. Aimed at the College Senior/Conservatory level. Some find it easier to follow if read backwards -- starting with the Appendix, then Chapter Six, then Chapter Five, etc.

I was trained in art history at Smith College, so I thought I had some notion of the world's greatest art monuments. NOT!

Alchi is every bit as sophisticated, refined and important as the Sistine Chapel, the Pompei frescoes, etc. that we in the West are already familiar with.

Seeing Alchi in person blows you away - you're amazed that something this precious and beautiful exists, and, miraculously, has survived so many chances at oblivion. Go to see it - or, failing that, buy this book. You can't take pictures inside anyway, so either way, buy this book. An astonishing and deeply moving masterpiece (both the place and the book).

Upon the northern edge of the Indian subcontinent, in the hilly folds near the Himalayas, east of Kashmir near the Tibetan border south of the Indus river is Ladakh. Its valleys have long been a great trade and invasion route to the north of India. There is Alchi, a distinct daedal of Buddhist temples with splendid wall paintings and clay sculptures that have survived for the past eight hundred years to reveal some of the best preserved and unaltered images, an iconography of a flourishing Varjayana Buddhism. This sumptuous limited edition offers a detailed photo survey and archaeological description of one of the most impressive of the temples at Alchi, the Sumtsek (Three-Tiered) Temple. The building itself is a composite blend of Tibetan and Kashmiri elements that demonstrate some central Asian components. The wall paintings are in an elaborate and delicate Kashmiri style. This style is known to still exist only in a few other temples in Ladakh and western Tibet. The minuteness and finesse of the form and style of many of the paintings appears to be a transposition of techniques developed for miniatures in manuscripts onto the larger surfaces of walls. The adept vision of the monk artists of the Sumtsek combines a lavish display of tantric teachings, with still evolving artistic styles and methods. These are blended with the requirements of a donor's personal vision into structural possibilities of the building's interior design and access to light. All this culminates into a integrated sanctuary, one of the great gems of early tantric iconography. It is a treasure in its own right as valuable as the Sistine Chapel or Saint Marks Basilica. The wooden panels of the ceilings are painted with a rich variety of textile motifs, some deriving from Greco-Iranian and Sassanian sources, others similar to those found on the pantheon figures of the Buddhist wall paintings, pointing to the international character of the northwest Indian and Kashmiri medieval civilization. The text provides a full introduction to the icons and historical social religious context of the building as best as that can reconstructed through archaeological and scientific methods. In many ways the volume is also a plea for the international preservation of these treasures of Buddhist art due to of the recent rapid deterioration because of changes in climate and rainfall. The paintings reveal early forms of iconographic cult that offer important means of interpreting the evolution of the ritual use of painting. The book ALCHI contains over 300 color plates, maps, and plans. They are beautifully integrated into the text and are important evidence of the development of the cult meditation Buddhas of the Varjayana tradition. This volume is an important documentation of some world class art on the verge of extinction.