This book is one of the 2 most desirable and collectible books on classical guitars (the other one is: Collection of Fine Spanish Guitars from Torres to the Present by Urlik, Sheldon). The figures are superb and the text informative. The hard cover edition is better in the following senses:

1. The hard cover edition is a limited edition (6000 copies only).
2. It is like a textbook which can be opened fully on its back. Easy for reading and scanning.
3. It's got a hard protective slipcase

However, getting the softcover edition might be your choice for its price and availability.

If you are a lover of guitars, specifically classical guitars, you owe it to yourself to purchase this book. There is nothing else like it. Great photography, details on some of the best guitars from some of the best makers...Romanillos, Smallman, Bernabe...They are all here. Inclusively, the book covers players (Williams, Bream, Segovia) as well as an in depth look at wood and the guitar market today. Great stuff and at ..., an incredible bargain.

Any lover of the classical guitar cannot help but appreciate this gorgeous collection of instruments, as well as the way in which they are displayed on the pages. Filled with information about the guitars and their construction, the luthiers, and which players'CDs you can hear them on, I highly recommend this fine edition. I take issue only with the subtitle "A Complete History", as the guitars are based on a single collection of instruments, owned by Russell Cleveland, and not necessarily what any other person would consider "Complete". That fact does not diminish my enjoyment of this exquisite book one bit.

This book sends the message to kids that you cannot be something you aren't. As hard as you wish and try, you still are yourself and you have to learn to accept it. If you are always trying to be like somebody else, no one sees the real you.
George the pig is always trying to be like Gertrude, the multitalented cow. He goes too far and finally realizes (with a little help) that he should act like a pig, not a cow.
I think this is a great book for kids to read with or without a parent. The illustrations are very colorful. My favorite character was Gertrude (the multitalented cow). I would recommend this for anyone to read.

Paul Brett Johnson's imaginative adventures with Miss Rosemary and her farm-full of precocious animals just keep getting better with The Pig Who Ran a Red Light. Playful watercolor illustrations and country-toned jargon add up to adorable fun for all ages, and especially "those who have sometimes wished to be somebody else." I think I got as much of a kick out of this delightful book as my nearly-three-year-old himself, and we liked it even more than its fun-filled predecessor, The Cow Who Wouldn't Come Down.

This is an amusing book with great kid humor, and a punch line to remember to be yourself. Nice addition to any library for grade level K-3

I liked this book. I've read many books on WW2. Few have given some of the insights that I have found here. For example, the importance of allied airpower is well known, but in no other book has its power against the enemy been as well documented. I also particulary liked the insights given into the German high command's actions in the battles covered. But there are problems with the book, too. The allied difficulties in the Normandy hedgerows are not specifically delt with. Also, the maps are poor. Finally, this is an expensive book. Is it worth the money? I would wait for the paperback.

A look at D-Day and the battle for Normandy from the German perspective. How did those manning the Atlantic Wall feel looking out upon a fleet the size the world has never seen before or since? Wave upon wave of bombers pounded them and then the unnerving of the naval shelling. Their remembrances, conversations and fear put you there amongst the din and dust with them. Enough lived through it to make the outcome doubtful.

When was Marcks convinced that this was no diversion but the real invasion? And why did his words fall on deaf ears. Where was Rommel and von Rundstedt and why? There were three German tank divisions within striking distance of the coast and yet they remained in place. One Reg. sat with engines running, within 30 kilometers of the coast. Why did they not receive the orders to advance until it was too late? There was more than Hitler's madness at play, much more. As one reviewer previously noted, some of the maps were less than excellent but Carell's work belongs on the shelf of anyone with more than a passing interest in Normandy and the breakout.

Invasion, covers the German side of the Normandy invasion from D-Day to the eventual breakout. I found the book highly readable and very informative. Paul Carell has done a great job of taking the reader into the invasion day bunkers, where terrified grenadiers man their machineguns to the last bullet to Hitler's insulated headquarters where decisions are made that ultimately doom any chance for a successful defense.

Carell shows the incredible effect allied airpower has on the battle at all times. Most devasting, was probably the allied counter-espionage campaign, that had Hitler's HQ convinced that Normandy was merely a feint, the real invasion coming at Pas de Calais.

Numerous smaller combat actions show the incredible capabilities of the German Army, even at this stage of the war. I would agree with a previous review that the maps can be a bit confusing. Overall, for anyone really interested in knowing the full story of the Normandy campaign, I think this book is a "must have", definitely one of my all time favorites.

See, if I give this higher than two stars, it means I have to ignore the fact that the book seems to degenerate to a series of gruesome murders. I also have to ignore the fact that both the hero, Quint, and this reader, seemed to know who was the mastermind behind everything very early on--it was just a question of discovering all the complicated corruption, blackmail, and inhumanity behind the scenes. Another problem: I haven't even read the preceding book but I have the hero, as narrator, explaining that he uses exactly the same technique for getting vital info near the finale as occured in the first novel. Plus, some villainous motivation revealed at the end will likely have more impact if someone has read Quint's debut case. Oh well, teach me to read these things out of order.

There is a painful overdose of cutesy-joke lines where Quint creates a simile that ends with a reference to the 1990s (published in the late 90s, this book takes place in the year 2022). How many jokes do we need that go something like: "He was more nervous than a sleazy politico facing a scandal in an election back in the 90s, when they had elections."? Gotta be twenty quips like that.

On the postive side, the repressive future society is quite chilling, but the mystery content, which demands detailed locations, lots of suspects, and much police procedural, tends to mask an already bleak satirical side. The dystopia serves the mystery; Orwell's 1984 didn't have to get wrapped up with clues, red herrings, and whodunit logic. Johnston's effort does.

I will read one more Paul Johnston book...maybe his first Quintilian novel, an award-winner, to see if the story is stronger, and the suspense can be notched up.

Mr. Johnston's series takes place just a bit in the future, in Edinburgh. And the future he envisions here is not all that bright. But it is darn interesting. The protaganist is a free lance detective who works for a system that he doesn't believe in, and that doesn't like him. But they do need him. Quint is an outsider, even though his parents were behind the new government.

In this book, bodies are found with tapes stuck inside them. And since most music is outlawed.... well only an outlaw, or in this case outsider would recognize the music.This gives Quint an edge in investigating the crimes.

The story is well thought out, and the futuristic world portrayed in the books seems real. And the mystery writing is solid. Quint is a detective from the same school as Rebus, Amos Walker,and Harry Bosch. A bit of a smart [alec], cynical, self doubting. But also, very good at what he does.

This is a very entertaining read and well worth your time.

Jon

The Bone Yard is the second book in this series from Paul Johnston. The first was titled The Body Politic. The series is set in Edinburgh, Scotland. In the 2020's. The general run down is, the world has gone to hell, and the city has closed itself off. The allow tourism, which is the source of income. The city is ruled by a group of people known as The Council. There is also a police group known as The Guardsmen. Our hero, Quintilian Dalrymple, is a former guardsman who now operates as a detective for hire.

Quint is approached by a citizen who is being followed/stalked, and Quint doesn't think much of it. He promises to look into it just to make the guy happy. Of course mysteries being what they are, the guy turns up dead. And it's then that the story kicks in. The council brings him in to find the killer. He asks for and is given the assistance of a guardsman named Davie who is also a freind of Quint's. Together they investigate the murder, which turns into murders. Along the way there are illegal drugs, strange deaths, and people hiding the truth.

The book is a great read. Social commentary mixed in by way of Quint's outlook on the future city, and who runs it. The story is tight and the investigative work believable. Quint is a hardboiled detective typical of this fiction and fun because of it. The book wraps everything up in a wonderful ending that left me wanting more. Which I will soon have, as I have ordered everything available by this author.

Jon Jordan

If we don't use the word "is" or any other form of the verb "to be," what happens? The book "To Be or Not" shows what happens when we use active verbs instead, and how to use them, to write a more briskly informative English.

Instead of saying "Bill is bad" (a possibly harmful judgement, which tells us nothing about Bill himself), say what you have seen him do. Judgements using "is" may keep us from noticing much or thinking accurately; they may have us reacting in recklessly all-or-nothing ways as we assume that what we already feel is the truth, the whole truth, and all that matters.

In two introductions, a dozen articles, and one short story, "To Be or Not" provides a lively and easily understood introduction to E-Prime, English without the verb "to be," a remarkably practical semantics which anyone using English needs.

Related books:

"More E-Prime: To Be or Not II" (more descriptions of how using active verbs produces a more briskly specific and informative English)

'E-Prime III! A Third Anthology" (more descriptions, including how often some famous examples of English use "to be")

This book raises a lot of interesting question. It is a short but consice book. He tackles the rule of law and the development of liberalism from a new perspective. I am not sure of the ramifications or even if he is right. Definitely worth a look of this is your type of stuff.

In 2025, compared with the anarchy that surrounds it, Edinburgh remains a calm island of no crime. Though rationing is a way of life and entertainment only comes in the form of a festival for tourists, the clever City Council occupies the restless residents with a weekly lottery. How can individuals not play when a five-minute shower a day is a potential prize.

However, a missing person interrupts the lottery nirvana when Kennedy, a winner, simply vanishes. Rumors spread quickly, and the concerned Edinburgh leadership hires private investigator Quint Dalrymple to quickly learn the truth. Before he can solve that case, murdered bodies begin to appear in the Leith, leaving the City Council in a panic, a city in fear, and a pressured Quint trying to stop a body count from growing any further.

Award winning Paul Johnston's world is radically different from that of today. Global warming has reached extreme levels turning the climate into the Big Heat. Everything seems rationed and centrally controlled. Still Quint remains an interesting character with his obsession for the blues standing out in this drab world. Mr. Johnston brings in his full cast from the previous two books, but instead of the welcome return of old friends, this sends a clever story line spinning into chaos greater than his surrounding countryside. Doomsday fanatics will relish WATER OF DEATH and its predecessors for its descriptive look at an apparently dying society trying to survive. However, readers of other science fiction sub-genres will struggle with the plot's anarchy.

Harriet Klausner

"More E-Prime: To Be or Not II" stands as a worthy appendage to Bourland's original. But note the "appendage" label.

I read "E-Prime II" perhaps a year ago; I read the original, "E-Prime: To be or Not," many years ago. The original had a significant effect on the way I write and speak. It added a valuable problem-solving tool to my communicative tool box.

For me, the sequel lacked that importance, but readers who struggled with the original book may benefit from the sequel's extended explanations and additional examples.

For a student new to E-Prime and General Semantics, I would not pass up the original in favor of this sequel.

Rarely do i start a book and have to abandon it after 200 pages..It happened with this one.
Set up in a clean-cut Edinbourgh of the future this novel is basically a patched up work with bits and pieces and ideas rooted mostly in Orwellian domains (allthough it's a sacrilege to mention Orwell in the same context with this book).
The story is your basic crime story which comes at you the way a storm of cliches would. A serial killer, the witty "cool"-and-against-the-system detective who gets dragged out of retirement to catch the beast that terrorises the city, the murders that keep happening until Sherlock gets the right clues, and you yawning your way through this horror of a book.
Actually the only thing intimidating about this novel is exactly that: how horrible it is. The writting is at best uninspired and lacks any positive contribution to the genre, but worst of all the characters are such that if they existed in real life you would do your best humanly possible not to meet them unless you think that boredom is a virtue.
I read somewhere that this book even won an award in the UK! They must be kidding us!
I found myself totally not caring about the plot of the story already 50 pages in the book and the only reason i kept reading (until i finally gave up a full 150 pages before the end) was that i thought: a. there's an incredible twist coming up here that will save this joke of a story and b. i wanted to see how bad the book can actually get.
But i didnt even get the vicious satisfaction a masochist would seek by reading the worst possible book he could lay his hands on. Because, you see, if it was THAT bad i might've at least finished it. But it's not. It's flat, so flat, that it sets a standard. If this ever gets to be made into a movie some hollywood exec will lose his job.

The debut in Johnston's series set in Edinburgh circa 2020 suffers from having a more interesting setting than plot-which is a rather banal serial-killer number. In this world, the UK has dissolved and Edinburgh exists as a kind of repressive city-state run according to Plato's Republic. The "Enlightenment" led to the elimination of crime, along with individuality, resulting in a combination Stalinist/Puritan society rife with rules, regulations, fines and work camps. The city's primary economic driver is tourism, which the city achieves by combining the gambling of Las Vegas with the sex trade of Amsterdam. Unfortunately, while Johnston does a good job showing how corruption undermines this dystopian society, he never develops the city and its people enough to fully convince. The lives and status of "guardians" (police) are well-depicted, but we never see much of the average citizen and how the rest of the city functions (perhaps this developed later in the series).

The book's nominal hero, Quint, is a standard issue haunted former policeman hero who is recalled from disgrace by the city officials who decide he is the only one with the knowledge/skills to solve the murder of a public guardian-the city's first murder in years. He's typically reluctant, nosy, lustful, burdened with old guilt, and all those other noir detective traits, but his character never quite fully develops. It doesn't help that Quint's parents were both founding members of the Enlightenment, and that his mother is the head of the council. In any event, he is assigned to track down a grisly killer before any damage is done to the tourist industry. This part of the book (ie. the story) is pretty standard stuff, and the few red herrings are easily recognized for what they are. If you're looking for a mystery with an unusual setting, thus might fit the bill, just don't expect the story to live up to the milieu. Future entries in the series may be more fulfilling.

It's Scotland, but not as we know it. In the year 2021 the UK has broken up, and Edinburgh is now a city-state run on the lines of Plato's Republic, with a good measure of corruption thrown in. Unfortunately, that's about as interesting as this book ever gets. The plot is very standard 'grizzly murder' fare and the tone is so cynical that I found it impossible to care about any of the characters, especially the protagonist, Quintillian Dalrymple. I suspect Paul Johnson's reputation has benefitted from the current high level of interest in Edinburgh crime writing. However, for better characters and plots try Ian Rankin; for better writing, try Iain Banks and for grizzlier murders try Christopher Brookmyre. Maybe Johnson's writing will improve. I hope so. In the meantime, I'd certainly recommend this book to someone who is intrigued by a crime novel set in the Edinburgh of the imaginary future. Sound like you?