Growing up in the golden age of radio, long before TV,CD's or even LP records, one remembers the sheer joy of that medium as a connection to a world of performing artists, singers and musicians. Gospel music in the South was exemplified by a small number of groups, often comprised of members of a family. In Charlotte, NC, the Johnson Family Singers was a byword on WBT radio for many years beginning in the early 40's. Ma and Pa were accompanied by Betty, the twin boys, and Kenneth, who authored this book. There music was mostly gospel until they stretched their wings into some more secular music at the encouragement of their talented pianist-accompanyist, Larry Walker. There is a charming story with many interesting anecdotes behind the scenes of this well scrubbed and wholesome family, who worked hard to make a living with their music. There were struggles and challenges abounding in this pursuit, which like so many other public exposures of the day, including professional sports, big bands, and singers of national prominence,were a result of compensation that in no way compares to that of today's entertainers and athletes. Kenneth writes of these challenges in a candid and straightforward manner that captures the interest of anyone who wants to remember or discover what life in those times held for struggling musicians. There were log cabins, primitive but wholesome facilities, and a rural life that entailed gardening duties and other activities to supplement and make possible the musical careers. Kenneth explains well how the busy life with gospel music, always looking for new songs to introduce, did not always leave enough time for the family's own spiritual sustenance. In later years, achieving national notoriety, and at the same time with the children following their own instincts to spread out to other locations and pursuits,the family faced the forces that tend to spread families apart. The Johnson family survived these times with stronger faith in God and a unifying force that kept the family together in spirit as Betty, Ken, and the twins went their own ways. Ken became a minister and Betty achieved fame with her music, placing several records on the charts and becoming a regular on morning and tonight show ventures such as Don McNeil and Jack Paar. Ken draws attention and interest to the individual roles of the family members as they found a cohesion and team approach to the music business. They were favorites of mine and thousands in the South during two decades. Betty now records with her two grown daughters in a rennaisance of the Johnson family's tradition, applied to more contemporary music. Once reading this book, a person, whether familiar or not with their music, will surely want to hear the accompanying CD and pursue the many others available today with samples of the old and the new songs...music of three generations that represent the very best of American talent.

Charles Johnson brings to life a fascinating and fiercely independent woman from the Old South. Johnson is a wonderful story teller and the tale includes scandal, a prodigious court battle and an array of marvelous personalities. This book is a treasure.

This is a beautifully produced coffee table quality book relating experiences with Indians, nature and architecture. It has many high quality photographs taken by the owners over the years. Phillip Johnson, an architectural icon describes the architecture as the best use of rocks in a dwelling in the world...the architecture connects huge boulders without intruding on nature. Text and photographs heighten the feelings and importance of living with nature and this registered historic site, rather than just on it.

Please excuse my spelling, it's terrible This book is terrific. I started reading this book and couldn't put it down. It is a fine collection of stories ranging from the great soilbank days when Kansas alone had 4 million birds to the Royal hunts in Europe where an average daily bag mesaures in the thousands, It has stories more like mine where the average hunt ends with tired dogs and few birds. The book through it's many differant authors also explores the ethics associated with hunting. This book is for the bird hunter who's cleaning his gun for the third time this week when hunting season isn;t for 6 months. It's for the guy who can't stop dreaming of how his new pup will do his first time out. It's for the guy who spends more time with his dogs than with his wife. All hunters will enjoy this book, but the true bird hunter won;t be able to put it down.

This collection of numerous problems in both old atomic theory as well as (slightly) more modern theory is a great review to students who may have taken introductory QM classes and need a refresher, or as a supplement to those students currently learning QM. The topics covered are varied and problems include complete solutions. Overall a good volume to include in any early theorist's collection.

I enjoyed this book. It's full of good stuff - as you would expect proverbs and what may be more accurately termed aphorisms - which relate universal truths. You don't have to be a Christian or even religious to get something out of "Proverbs".

I found it best to dip in and out of "Proverbs" rather than attempt it in one go. Many of the individual proverbs deserve some time for considered thought. Also, at times the proverbs are very repetitive (for example "spare the rod and spoil the child" crops up in multiple versions) - this could be a distraction if you're trying to get through them all at one sitting.

Several things struck me about this book. Firstly "Proverbs" felt very conservative in tone - one is told repeatedly to follow your father's advice without question (...).

Know thy place, in other words. They are also very masculine, which no doubt will irritate some female readers (Proverb 31 in particular lays down the duties of a good wife). Yet perhaps one should take an understanding view of this given the age of the book.

Modern readers may have problems reconciling the injunction that the search for knowledge and understanding is good. (...) This seemed to me to reflect the problem (addressed more directly in "The Book of Job") that knowledge and understanding can only operate within the limits imposed by God. Beyond that, do not stray. So, what appears unjust and inexplicable is best left as such, as it will make sense to God. This is the "leap of faith" which sceptics (like myself) cannot manage.

"Proverbs" also assures us that the wicked get their comeuppance - yet is this really the case? Or does it mean in the next world - again faith is needed? (...)

The fact that Ralph Bunche is little known on university campuses nowadays just proves that white male patriarchal systems of 'scholarship' are making it almost impossible to learn about all the great African American figures in the twentieth century. Why are we not told about him? Because we are supposed to care about conservative white males like Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt! As a feminist and a white woman, I side completely with African Americans as they try to access their glorious past, including celebrated people like Ralph Bunche, who, until now, was hardly known outside the postage stamp that featured his portrait. Not any more!

This book gave me a greater appreciation of the diversity and variety within the United Church of Christ. There is much that concerns me and burdens my heart (the Gay/lesbian agenda, some of the ideas coming out of the feminist movement, some of the limitations the process theology movement seems to put on God's omniscience and omnipresence), but I had a very enjoyable time reading about the 4 main theological streams which flow into the United Church of Christ (Congregational, Christian, Reformed, Evangelical). This is certainly must reading for anyone who is a member of the United church of Christ, but it is also a good book for anyone who is interested in mainline Protestant theology and in the trend toward unity and pluralism at the expense of objective truth.

Horn and Johnson's MATRIX ANALYSIS AND TOPICS IN MATRIX ANALYSIS are true classics (like Knuth's Art of Computer Programming). You will find classic theorems and lemmas in matrix theory and linear algebra here along with their proofs (some of these are not found elsewhere).

TOPICS IN MATRIX ANALYSIS contains a lot of stuff including LMI's, Kronecker and Hadamard products of matrices and their properties etc. I found this book indispensible when I was studying Semidefinite Programming.

Both these books are now available in paperback (cost around 30+) dollars each. I have recently purchased both copies and can only strongly recommend them to anyone else.

This book, a collection of essays on Buddhadharma, race, and writing in America, is vintage Johnson: the essays are wise, funny, and genuinely erudite. As a spiritual writer, as a critic of predominent intellectual trends in American culture, and as a careful and intelligent arbiter in the on-going reconstruction of American identity, Johnson offers clear and memorable essays on an astonishing variety of topics. My two favorites are "A Phenomenology of ON MORAL FICTION" and "An American Milk Bottle." This book is a reader's feast.