Now that it is so cheap, don't miss this great book! Excellent prose by Szarkowski and beautiful pictures by a master... hard combination to beat.

Again, John Szarkowski takes us by the hand and leads us into the photographs of Eugene Atget, as through the magic of a looking glass. In these writings, on a selection of photographs from the first quarter of the 20th century, in his historically aware and individual way, Szarkowski instructs on how to read a photograph by doing so himself. We not only see into the environs of Paris through the eyes of the eclectic, determined and tender Atget, but also through the eyes and the keen, attentive mind of Szarkowski, who writes as though he lives inside these pictures, and tends them, and the photographer, with great devotion.

This edition is set up by the previous 4 volume study, The Work of Atget, by Maria Morris Hambourg and John Szarkowski, Museum of Modern Art, 1985. But this new book comes from a persistent, deep seam miner, one who knows that what it is about these photographs is so fertile, they can be studied throughout one's life, and still give more.

How rich is the mind that can bring another mind to light? Would it be bearable if everything in life could be keyed into focus, for us too busy and bothered to pay attention, by a poet as revelatory as Szarkowski? When considering entree des jardins, 1921-22, he says, "except occasionally, as (for example) during revolutions, the French have managed very well to sublimate the periodic human tendency to behave violently toward one's fellow human men, and have directed these impulses toward their trees", you cannot help but love the gardener who built the gate here, the photographer for seeing it, and Szarkowski, for bringing it to our attention in this way. He tells you what is on the menu, who lived in the house, how the hotel got its name, who built it, what may have motivated them to sculpt a Dionysus over a doorway, what member of the court of Louis the XIV was cast to live where, what other photographer may have attempted to photograph the same scene, and sometimes, what led Atget there.

The book is a beautiful masterpiece, and an accomplishment worthy of a life spent looking deeply. If you love (really looking at) photographs, you should consider your shelves incomplete without it.

This book is another gift from a great writer and observer, an homage to Atget, to photography, to art and to Western civilization. For anyone who pretends to be a photographer or to love Art, it is a joy to share Szarkowski's easy erudition, one or two pages at a time.

Atget showed us the axioms of photography and axioms cannot be explained by analysis. The test of an Atget, Bach, or Cezanne, is that it is impossible to find the source of their revelation and impossible not to find their influence in future artists.

"Good pictures are not explained by words...With exceptional good luck criticism might with words construct meanings that are different from but consonant with the meanings of pictures. Such constructs of words might possibly guide us toward the neighborhoods where pictorial meanings live.", he says in this book. (Please, if you are an art historian or critic, take this pledge!)

Thus Szarkowski tours the photographs he has selected and writes a thought or two somehow connected to each one - sometimes a revelation, often a question. Each page of writing stands alone and will engage the reader in a conversation with the author and the photographer. Many times Szarkowski puts us somewhere behind the camera a hundred years ago, or on a bridge in Paris 600 years ago. He really brings Atget to life by putting us in his time and place.

There are plenty of revealing facts stashed throughout the writing. Szarkowski talks of the influence of Atget on Weston, Walker Evans, Winogrand, and others and leaves us to recognize the Atget in Cartier-Bresson, Dorothea Lange, and ourselves. He mentions just the relevant technical and biographical details.

He shows examples of how Atget handled Time,the essence of photography. As he wrote in "Photography Until Now" about Atget, "Perhaps from the practice of looking attentively and repeatedly at the same thing from different vantage points and in different lights he came to see that ...one tree, or one reflecting pool, was never twice the same, and would therefore last as a subject as long as one's concentrated attention. With this realization he became, surely not intentionally, a modern artist."

The reflecting pools and trees are in this book along with the more familiar Parisian architecture. Different views of the same subjects are also in other books such as Berenice Abbott's "The World Of Atget". Szarkowski thus, enriches the literature on Atget, giving meaning to many of the published mindless catalogs of his photographs.

Szarkowski shows another reason Atget is a modern artist. His work is meticulously constructed in the same cultural elements as the works of his more famous contemporary French painters and sculptures. There are no accidents and no mistakes in his work. The result is a richness that reveals something new every time we look at it.

The same is true of this book by Szarkowsi. I've read it three times. It is a masterpiece, "...seductively and deceptively simple, wholly poised, reticent, dense with experience, mysterious and true." To use the words Szarkowski wrote of Atget in Looking At Photographs.

is the best way to spend a weekend with your hubby !
IT'S FUN AND...VERY USEFUL FOR THE RELATION !
It discovers and drives you both to solve any bothersome matters!

ESTE LIBRO TE OFRECE LA MEJOR MEDICINA:
PRIMERO, DETECTAR EL PROBLEMA
Y LUEGO, RESOLVERLO.
ESPLÉNDIDOS TESTS PARA LA PAREJA !

matrimonio...
No nos entendiamos ni queríamos escuchar nuestros propios errores...
Estuvimos cerca de DESBARATAR UN LARGO AMOR... y el remedio fue tan sencillo como analizarnos mutuamente con estas pruebas psicológicas !

I am fascinated with New Orleans and the River Road area and it's history .This has to be one of the best publications about this subject. Sexton seems to capture so much of it's history in the pages of this book, more so than any other author has. The photography is also wonderful and straight forward. I recommend it to any one who wants to learn more about southern Louisiana plantations.

Although I've never been on River Road I feel this book brought me an authentic glimpse of life during the plantation era. The photographs are amazing and the book kept me spellbound for hours!! What fascinanted me most was how some plantations looked as if their inhabitants literally walked out the door and never looked back. Fine furniture, pictures, personal posessions were just left to slowly rot under leaky ceilings and caving roofs. On my next trip to New Orleans I will make it a priority to take a trip down River Road.

I spent many summers on St Joseph's Plantation which is next to the more famous Oak Alley Plantation in Vacherie,La. I was pleased to see that Richard Sexton was able to bring to life the many beautiful plantation homes in his book. The photography is spectacular! I would recommend this book to anyone considering a tour of the River Road. Mr. Sexton accomplished the difficult task of presenting the "grandeur" of planation life in this book.

I have a very extensive collection of cookbooks, they are a passion for me...But I must say that this cookbook impelled me to write a review, this cookbook stole my heart, it has the most endearing story behind it which I feel touches the very heart and soul of why and how this cookbook even came into existence in the first place. It is very warmly written, and has lots of fabulous recipes to be treasured for years to come...such as yellow cornbread, spoonbread, buttermilk pancakes, and biscuits, and corncakes, coffee cake, apple cake, chocolate pound cake, pineapple upsidedown cake, pie crust, apple pie, coconut cream pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, potato salad, barbeque pork, barbeque ribs, fried green tomatoes, coleslaw, split pea soup, stuffed green peppers, chili, meatloaf, baked beans, chicken and dumplin's, fried chicken and gravy, grits, oooh, to name just a few of the wonderful recipes in this book. It makes a perfect gift and truly a book to be treasured in your own collection. I highly recommend this cookbook to everyone!!!

I love this book. It is very warmly and lovingly written about an extraordinary southern black cook/nanny who changed the lives of the family she served. I wanted to cry when I read of Annie's impoverished childhood, having to work instead of going to school (even as a little girl), getting up at 4 AM from the time she was 10 years old in order to fix breakfast so everyone could get to the fields, etc. But she retained a positive attitude and deep faith (which is very humbling). Although I have not yet had a chance to try the recipes, they look wonderful, and many are prefaced by descriptions of why they are so special / taste so good ... down home southern cooking at its very finest. However, IMHO, the book would have been priceless if only for the warm, glowing descriptions of Annie, and recollections in her own words.

Women like Annie have been largely forgotten in our culture now. For most, if their work in life was to have any dignity, they had to provide it as a living example. I also grew up with one of these women. It was a symbiotic relationship between them and our families. The authors have done a great job documenting this work; I enjoyed Annie's parts and wished she had said more! Of course, the traditional recipes of our South are always a pleasure to read, and to cook. A beautiful book, beautifully bound, perfect for a gift.

A book for Fishing Guides and Fishing Instructors to teach the basics and master the hand, arm, foot positions, and body motions.
Applicable camping techniques for those who enjoy the Rocky Mountains and Eastern Coast states, and packtrain information.
Excellent guide reference book everyone will enjoy reading before entering the wilderness on opening fishing season and the summer months. Pier Techniques. Float Tubing Techniques for all experienced and beginners. Traveling techniques. Numerous Fly Casting Techniques that are applicable to stream and ocean fishing.
Hand Drawings are unique, very detailed and informative.

Detailed information for fishing and for horse back riding and packtrain trips in the mountains, detailed technical drawings by the author with expert advice on bait and fly casting techniques for all ages. An excellent guide reference book everyone will enjoy reading before entering the wilderness on opening fishing season and the summer months. A book for Fishing Guides and Fishing Instructors. Pier Ocean Fishing Techniques. Float Tubing. Traveling techniques. The Fly Casting Techniques are applicable to freshwater and Ocean Fishing!

Expert/Advanced/Basic Fly Casting Techniques, Bait Casting Techniques, Packtrain and Camping techniques for everyone to use before going into the mountains or on regular camping trips. Detailed drawings that will be useful for camping in wilderness areas. Special handling techniques of equipment in the Sierra Neveda Mountains and United States of America. Float tubing techniques.

it is amazing that such an authoritative text can actually be written. but there it is!. a masterpiece, which is so encompasing that words fail. braunwald has a tradition and every new edition is a towering giant over the previous.seeing is beleiving, thus i strongly recommend this text to any one wishing to perfect himself in any aspect of cardiology.

Anyone familiar with Dr. Braunwald's superb cardiovascular exploits in the "Harrison's Principles of Internal Medicine" would not be surprised by the richness of this book.
The diligently crafted chapters are comprehensive, authoritative, well-illustrated, and include all the 'ins' and 'outs' of contemporary cardiology. It is one of the most consistent and coherent multi-authored texts in the field.
This single-volume CD-ROM package is a rich blend of evidence based medicine, best practice, and all the user-flexibility an e-book enthusiast would expect.

There are many authors that have mastered their subjects. Once in a while however, you come across some authors that have, in addition, mastered the art of imparting that knowledge to others. That is what you have in this volume that has become the indispensable resource for Cardiologists and cardiology fellows. What Harrison's is to Internal Medicine, and Gray's is to Gross Anatomy, Braunwald's is to Cardiology. It is probably easier to talk of the beach without mentioning water than to talk of cardiology without Braunwald's Heart Disease.
This is a very worthy reference resource.

This is an excellent collection. For me, it doesn't quite equal its predecessor, Virgin Fiction, but even so, it's great. The concept of publishing unpublished writers remains compelling, and Virgin Fiction 2 confirms that people nobody ever heard of are out there writing great stuff.

This collection probably contains more solid, great stories than the first book, but also seems to have more of the meandering, obscure kind, and it lacks a brutally magnificent work to equal "the end of the beltline" (Tony Carbone's piece from Virgin Fiction).

"Normalcy", by Kristi Coulter, is the standout in my opinion, with "Sushi" (by Heather Swain) fairly close behind and "The First Old" (by Melanie Conroy-Goldman) next. "Tourist Trap" opens the book with disturbing cynical humor and a hint of political statement. The disturbing part is continued in Michelle Richmond's "Fifth Grade: A Criminal History" and the humor nicely revisited in Michael R. Carleton's "Conversations with a Moose". "Midnight Trash" (by Brian Farnham) is short but very nicely done, and "Family Vacation" (by Lauren Grodstein) is good as well.

The only pieces that offer the refreshing experimentation that made "the end of the beltline" such a landmark in the first collection are "If I Were Lemon Pie" (by Scott Werve) and "Backdated" (by Lisa Johnson). The former is mildly experimental but the story is gripping; the latter is wildly experimental, but the strange structure obfuscates the meaning somewhat.

In the end, I can't help but see this collection as a slight come-down from the first one, but that still leaves it in the highest tier.

Incidentally, Rob Weisbach Books seems to be defunct, and the Virgin Fiction Contest, which was intended to be an annual competition, appears to have disappeared after only the second year. Having seen the amazing work which the first two years produced, I am very disappointed to see this happen, and I hope that the contest will be revived in the future.

It's called Virgin Fiction because the writers collected in it have never been pulished, not because Abby is a dirty girl (no comment). This collection of short stories is excellent... most of them were really, really good. And they were pretty short. To qualify for the contest your story had to be under 7500 words, so that makes it easy to read one or two in between classes or whenever you have a spare moment (definitely appealing to me). I really enjoyed this book... I want to read the first one, but I'm not allowing myself to buy any more books. I have plenty on my "to-read" list here. My favourite of the bunch was probably "Sushi" by Heather Swain, but it's hard to pick a favourite because so many were good.

Virgin Fiction 2 offers a fantastic read for those who enjoy some of the different forms and experiments fiction can assume. Humorously ironic stories like "Conversations with a Moose" and "Tourist Trap" provide an effective contrast with--and context for--the more seriously reflective stories such as "Pretend I've Died" and "Behind Sharp Branches." Very few of the stories in this collection are plot-driven, which is refreshing in my opinion; most pieces focus on careful character development and interaction in which small events can motivate larger character metamorphoses. Skillful examples of this occur in "Family Vacation," "Youthful Offenders," and the most interesting and provocative piece, "Scarecrowed."

Cannot figure out what the knots/uneasy feelings in your gut are
about,
or have you accepted feeling this way as
being just part of permanent 'you'?

The reviews
on this book are very descriptive-they will give you an accurate idea
of what to expect.

I have bought extra copies to pass to friends.
This is not a difficult read!

I'm giving it five stars for the system; it really works for things I have applied it to. As a book, it is also well written and has a certain fun sense of discovery, especially when reading about how Dr. Gendlin was trying to discover what 'it' was that people who were successful in therapy 'got.'

I am not part of 'the-religion-which-must-not-be-named' but I must agree that too often psychology (granted a broad blast here) simply makes people more self-centered, self-deluded, and generally worse.

If you have some things that feel perhaps too painful frightening to even think about approaching, Focusing gives you a way to defuse the bombs from a distance, so to speak.

My humble summary of what Focusing is: It is a system to repair specific communication errors between the limbic system and the rational part of the brain. AFTER finding how you have been mislabeling a certain pain, you may THEN find that the origin is very clear. Dredging up potential origins first (as most systems do) to find why you have a current discomfort, is like doing an appendectomy through your ear - once and a while it will work and once and a while the patient will even survive. Forget that and try Focusing.

As a layperson, I was skeptical as to whether I would be able to understand this book. I was expecting lots of clinical explanations. To my surprise, it was just the opposite. Written so that anyone can understand it, "Focusing" gives the guidance to holistically find the source of fears, anxiety, and negativity. It guides the reader to a place where he/she can sit and listen to the body speak of the source of a problem's manifestation. I recommend this to anyone seeking a deeper understanding of why we sometimes feel the way we do.

"The Hunting of the Snark" is a brilliant nonsense-poem. Yet Gardner has seen fit to put pretentious, geeky, ...pedantic annotations all over it. Now I like nonsense, but the vulgarly rational "sense" of some of these annotations irritates me. Do we really need to know that the word "BOMB" begins and ends with B (thereby relating it to the Boojum) and that OM is the Hindu name of God??? Do we really need to know of a political cartoon in which Kruschev says "BOO", and does Gardner have to tell us that he was trying to say Boojum??

Annotations should be done in the manner of Gardner's own annotations of Alice in Wonderland. Now those were annotations that made *sense*. Annotations that simply explained out of date concepts, gave relevant details from Carroll's own life, or obscure humour. That's all! That is what annotations should be like.

The pedantic geekery of these annotations remind me of the...games of Star Trek fanatics (or Sherlock Holmes fanatics).

The poem is brilliant, though; and the illustrations were funny, before the annotations over-analysed them.

Lewis Carroll is brilliant in this piece. First of all the poetical music is perfect, absolutely perfect, and yet the words don't mean much. Many of these words are not even to be found in any dictionary. Be it only for the music, this piece is astonishingly good. But the piece has a meaning. I will not enter the numerical value of the numbers used in the poem : 3, 42, 6, 7, 20, 10, 992, 8, and I am inclined to say etc because some are more or less hidden here and there in the lines. Hunting for these numbers is like hunting for the snark, an illusion. But the general meaning of the poem is a great allegory to social and political life. A society, any society gives itself an aim, a target, a purpose and everyone is running after it without even knowing what it is. What is important in society is not what you are running after or striving for, but only the running and the striving. Lewis Carroll is thus extremely modern in this total lack of illusions about society, social life and politics : just wave a flag of any kind, or anything that can be used as a flag and can be waved, in front of the noses of people and they will run after it or run in the direction it indicates. They love roadsigns and social life is a set of roadsigns telling you where to go. Everyone goes there, except of course the roadsigns themselves who never go in the direction they indicate. Lewis Carroll is thus the first post-modern poet of the twenty-first century. He just lived a little bit too early.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU

I am a fan of Lewis Carroll, but somehow was unaware of the existence of an edition of "The Hunting of the Snark" with annotations. As someone who tremendously enjoys Martin Gardner's "Annotated Alice," I heartily recommend this book to like-minded readers. Gardner's annotations and introduction set the stage for the reader, putting the composition of the poem in its proper context in Victorian England, and in Lewis Carroll's life. And as with "Annotated Alice" the annotations are fascinating and amusing in their own right. "The Hunting of the Snark" is one of Carroll's lesser-appreciated (or at least lesser-known) works, and this paperback is an excellent introduction.

I noticed some confusion in the Amazon listings for this book, so let me clarify that the edition with Gardner's annotations is the paperback, and for illustrations it contains reproductions of Henry Holiday's original woodcuts from the 1800's. There are only eight pictures, and these are in old-fashioned style which may turn off some modern readers. This edition does not contain the illustrations - listed in the review of the hardcover editions - by Jonathan Dixon, nor the illustrations by Mervyn Peake also listed as available in hardcover from Amazon.

To Snark fans, though, I would unhesitatingly recommend both those editions as well. Dixon's is little-known, but excellent, the most profusely illustrated Snark, with pictures on every page in lush, gorgeously detailed and humorous pen and ink. It may still be available through the website of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America, who published it in a small edition. Peake's drawings are also in beautiful black and white, and capture his own rather dark, quirky "Gormenghast" take on the poem. (A good companion, too, to the recently released editions of "Alice" with Peake's drawings.)

It's easy to mistake good biblical characters for saints - and Eugene Peterson shows, in this book, that we all a lot more that is identifiable with David than we think. It's not impossible to follow God the way David did - and this book shows us how. Fantastic reading and lots to learn from.

Peterson brings a breath of fresh air to a stagnant atmosphere of worn out spiritual cliches. He makes the Bible come alive again,and gives flesh and blood to the names and places that we have heard and read about all of our lives. He forces you out of one dimensional thinking to three dimensional reality. His words get to the real heart of the matter. He words call out to my heart and challenges me to to seek and know God, God who knows me better than I know myself.

This book, detailing and probing the life of King David, has provided many valuable insights into the matter of living in communion with God even as being fully human. Although I was skeptical, I am glad to note that the biblical text was handled with integrity. The author researched the texts that he commented on, and admitted to speculation when doing so. This book is a must-read for anyone who struggles with the matter of living with God even as he or she struggles with being human. Peterson's narrative style also pulls the Davidic story right off the pages! The perspective is refreshing and challenging at the same time.