The Blessing gathers under one cover Richard Jones' insightfully candid and supremely accessible poetry providing a comprehensive overview survey of this superb and uniquely talented poet. Things: I got to a dimly lit secondhand store/to lift empty champagne glasses/and open dusty drawers./I buy the broken chair/and dedicate myself/to its new life./I leave with the chipped vase,/the cracked violin, the yellowed lace.//I go to bright department stores/where aisles of merchandise/sing their songs/beneath fluorescent lights --/ desks, sofas, picture frames,/asking for a reason to exist,/demanding our secrets, our love,/every thing demanding/everything of my life.

THE BLESSING, by Richard Jones, is truly a blessing for those of us who read poetry to be touched. Jones is a lyric poet who speaks from and to the heart in poems of love and grief and endless wonder. This directness is countered by persona poems, character sketches and portraits, and wildly imaginative narratives, all of which still go to the heart of something wondrous or mysterious about the world and, especially, the human spirit.

THE BLESSING collects Jones's earlier books, COUNTRY OF AIR, AT LAST WE ENTER PARADISE, and A PERFECT TIME, as well as many new and previously uncollected poems. It also contains 48 QUESTIONS, a delightfully indirect set of a sonnet-like answers to an interviewer's questions, excerpts of which aired on NPR. Jones teaches English and creative writing at DePaul University in Chicago, where he also edits the independent poetry journal, POETRY EAST, which moved to the midwest with him from the east and which is soon to have a new incarnation as POETRY EAST OF EDEN.

My college students respond particularly well to Jones's moving accounts of the death of his nephew Andrew, in poems that teach us not only the reality of loss but the miracle of acceptance. (If you like these, you will also like THE ANDREW POEMS, by Shelly Wagner, Jones's sister, also available at amazon.com.) My students also appreciate Jones's straight-on look at dysfunctional family life (redeemed by love), youthful alcoholism, and alienation. The marvelous thing is that Jones's poems do not judge--they simply recreate or reveal the range of human feelings. And very often these poems guide us back from the depths of suffering to a transformed state. In his own words: "Do you know what I think, / drifting off toward dawn? / If, in the garden of the world, / there's such a thing as suffering, / I have never suffered."

While I have had great success teaching these emotionally accessible poems, I also turn to THE BLESSING for private pleasure, seeking wisdom, delight, redemptive tears, miracle. The poems in THE BLESSING describe an arc. They move from sorrow to acceptance, from the visible to the invisible and back, from seeking to finding peace in the world we are given to live in and discover as a paradise, after all.

Yesterday, (June 11, 2000) I was fortunate to attend an afternoon poetry reading at Beyond Baroque, in Santa Monica, CA, where Richard Jones read from this, his newest book. Nothing beats hearing a poet read what he/she has written. While I was sitting, waiting for the reading to begin, I leafed through this volume and run across the poem "Golf Towels." Jones coincidentally included this poem in his reading.

He described his father's fascination for discarded golf towels. His father was at one time an airline pilot (impetus for Jones' book "Country of Air"), dissatisfied with his career. Now, as golf course "Marshall" for his local course, Jones' father gets great satisfaction in retrieving all sorts of discarded golf paraphernalia (some by the marshy paths, some in the trash bins), especially golf towels. After Jones read this poem, which included references to four different males named "Andrew" in his family, I later made the connection of a fifth "Andrew" in the poem, the golf towel from St. Andrews golf course in Scotland. This light blue towel, with a gold crown in the center, was wrapped around Richard's baby son (Andrew), fresh from a bath, and who was then handed to his grandfather's arms. (The poem says it so much more eloquently than I can describe it here.)

Besides publishing Jones' newest poems, "The Blessing" is a collection of four of his earlier books of poetry, which had been of print. Not only is it a blessing to read Richard Jones' newest works, but it is a blessing to once again have in print his older, equally powerful works, taking measure of the progress of his life.

I have had my copy for over 15 years and I find it good to pull this book out and reread it every few years.
The book is a commentary that follows The Book of Romans. The heart of the message is salvation through faith in Jesus Christ - God accepting us, and not earning our salvation through our own works. The book is very well written, very easy to read (I usually reread it in a day or two), and the writing is very down to earth and on the level of the common person.
I first saw this book when I was young in the early 70's - this book has stood a time test, and the writing is still so current today. I reread the book yesterday and it reads like it could have been first published today even though it came out in 1967.
Christianity is a path more than a destination (a way of life in fellowship with God being led by his Holy Spirit). Sometimes you can stray off course, even a little, and start to loose your peace and joy. This book helps me to remember the basics of my salvation and set my heart in the right direction. The beautiful part is this book is so easy to read; no big language, you are not being talked down to, no from another world type of writing - just on your level.
Please read this book. Save a copy, and pull it out every few years. You will be glad you did.

background. I read a copy that was printed in the mid-60's a few years ago. I was a brand new born-again christian coming out of a Roman Catholic background. I understand that things are changing in the catholic church, praise God, but at the time,not much was said about God's grace, and this book helped me out of the religious baggage I had brought with me.Don't get me wrong, I am a bible believing christian, a former youth leader for a Foursquare denomination church, and I plan to do missionary work.This book is not about just doing whatever you feel like, but it is a rich, easy to read explanation of the Book of Romans that examines all the religious things that we do to try to please God so he gets off our backs, or so that we can feel superior to others. This book does a great job of going through Romans and examining our relationship with Christ. It is engaging for the intelligent as it covers the concepts in Romans which are God-breathed, and it is written in an easy to read manner. I have lent this book to many different kinds of people and they were all able to receive from it.It is wonderful for those who came from a legalistic christian background who are just begining to know Christ, so that they can know the freedom that is in Christ.

This is an easy reading study on the book of Romans. In this book, Fritz Ridenour clearly explains the concept of God's grace to us. He helps us see the difference between trying to earn God's forgiveness and receiving the gift of God's forgiveness. It is a book that I have given out many times to those with questions about what it means to be a Christian.

I have just completed my classes for a doctorate in counseling psychology and have had dozens of books assigned as texts over the years. To be honest, most of them sit in one of my "backroom" bookcases. This book is one of the exceptions.

This work covers the major theories of pscyhotherapy and makes you feel like someone who has a firm grasp of them when you read it. The review from a Biblical viewpoint really gives you a lot to think about. The authors are also very objective, not showing favorites among the various schools of thought. This book is a must for every student and teacher of counseling and psychology.

I'm a psychologist in training, and have many books reviewing various psychotherapies on my shelves, but this remains one of my favorite resources. It explores a number of therapeutic approaches, first by reviewing the thoughts of the approach's founder, then by discussing modern uses. These writeups are useful regardless of whether or not you're looking for a Christian view of the different approaches.

At the end of each chapter, there is a section discussing the approaches as they relate to foundational Biblical principles. This is not a text whose purpose is to spout opinions or dogma; it serves as a strong and rational look at the different aspects of each approach discussed. The reader will come away with a better understanding not only of modern psychotherapeutic approaches, but also with which aspects of those approaches are Biblical in nature, which aren't, and why. Particuarly useful for those building an integrative or electic foundation, or who wish to base their chosen orientation on Biblical principles.

This is an excellent work that sifts through the truth and error of various theories of psychotherapy. Drs. Jones and Butman identify the theoretical perspective and analyze their basic tenets against the revealed truth of Scripture. As is often the case, there is both value and grievous error in most theoretical perspectives. I used this as an optional text in a class I taught on counseling theories, and found it to be an effective tool for learning. Dr Stanton Jones has published a number of respected articles in the area of psychology and theology, and this book reflects a depth of scholarship without undue density.

Close to my favorite book. Gives a thumbnail portrait of each nation's history as it explains their population changes. It puts nations, empires and cultures in crucial relative perspective ("the past is another country") and is obviously the precipitation of immense research. Lucid and succinct like his superb Atlas of (mostly) European History series which map territorial changes and to which it is a great adjunct. (I still await his promised Atlas of City History/Populations with greedy anticipation.)

The book details population changes in every region of the planet from 400 BC to 1978 AD. McEvedy and Jones used seventy line graphs and accompanying commentary text to describe population changes in seventy regions. The only negative aspect of this book is that the authors estimates of pre-European, Native American populations are considerably lower than most other estimates and seem somewhat outdated. While many books describe population changes, few cover such a huge breadth of space and time and few give so much information so directly. This book is much appreciated and other books like this would certainly be welcome. - D. Dean Marisi, Florida, 7/19/98

Doc Jones is a wonderfully written account of colorful people and an insightful peak into human nature. I couldn't put it down. Loved it!

A touching, funny, insightful account of the human condition played out against the practice of a small doctor and his patients. A way of life that's passing from the American landscape kept alive by Dr. Jones with colorful, witty writing and a real compassionate touch.

This cookbook has opened our eyes to "Real Italian"! My husband and I bought this book only a week ago and have already made at least 10 recipes all of which have been delicious! Everything is light, fresh and suprisingly fullfilling. Giobbi shares delightful stories and his knowledge about the recipes he's altered from fattier versions (southern Italy) or collected in his travels from people and places. Wolff fills us in on all the health info you need to know about being healthy, calories,fat,cholesterol and how it relates to these recipes etc. What was amazing to me is all this time I thought I knew great Italian food here in America and I come to find out that most of our "Italian" food has been Americanized....now that I know the difference (and there definitely is one!) I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat Italian food outside MY kitchen ever again!

In Eat Right, Eat Well, -The Italian Way, Ed Giobbi and Richard N. Wolff, M.D. team up to show that excellent Italian cuisine is not incompatable with healthful eating. I have had the pleasure of using this book for several years, and continue to be delighted with the recipies, advice and memories of Mr. Giobbi. Many people who think that Italian food is heavy and laden with olive oil, butter, eggs, cream, or cheeses will have their eyes opened by this splendid book. This is not simply a "heart healthy" book, it is a first rate cookbook with little or no compromise in the recipies. We have repeatedly returned to the pasta primavera recipies. The true pasta primavera is not the cream/flour paste/overcooked vegetables mishmash usually served in most resturaunts today. This is a combination of raw peeled and crushed tomatoes (we take ours right off the vine in our back yard, but purchased from the local roadside stand will suffice) fresh basil ( as many handsful that you can manage) garlic, salt, pepper, and a splash of olive oil (1 or 2 tablespoons is more than enough for flavoring and feeds 3 to 4 people) tossed with freshly cooked pasta. We often saute whatever veggies we have at hand in the olive oil and skip the oil in the sauce. The heat of the pasta warms the sauce. This is truly the best of Italian cuisine; taking advantage of what is fresh NOW, cooked as little as possible to avoid masking the flavors, and served combined to maximize the harmony of fresh flavors, textures, and aromas. We find that the zest and juice of a lemon enhances the flavors. A bit of fine parmesean or romano cheese ( a bit is allowed, and the recommendations regarding fat and calorie counts is included in an expansive appendix, as well as nutritional breakdowns for each dish) and you have a meal that certainly doesn't taste like you're on a diet. The book was written to help those with heart disease, or those wishing to avoid heart disease, to eat a better diet without sacrificing taste or enjoyment. The collaboration works well, and the dietary information is sound. The book does not get preachy, and does not sacrifice taste for theory, as is true in too many "diet" books or "heart healthy" books. Mr. Giobbi's assertion is that true Italian cooking, as practiced in Italy, is usually consonant with good eating practices for heart health. In America, Italian cooking has been co-opted, fattened up, and generally made unrecognizable. Fresh ingredients, emphasis on not overcooking, and harmonizing flavors is the essence of this cuisine. Once you taste the real primavera, you will never go back again. I haven't found a bum recipe yet. Enjoy!!

This book has every feature that contributes to a good walking tour book: good maps, interesting tours, information about cafes and museums along the way, lots of interesting little bits of news about the places one is seeing, and lightweight portability!

First, there is an overview map, which shows all of the eleven tours overlaid on a large (though not detailed) map of London. Then there is an individual map (with main streets identified only) for the individual tours: The City, Dickens's London, A Historic Pub Walk, Westminster & Whitehall, St. James's, The East End, Clerkenwell, Bloomsbury, Soho, Chelsea and Hampstead.

I purchased several walking books of London before my most recent visit there and found this one the most useful; I walked six of these tours and thought each was worthwhile and enjoyable.

Phone numbers and hours are listed for businesses and museums along your route. Each tour begins with a two to three page introduction and has a paragraph or two about each site listed, usually 20-30 places. The introduction also gives information about the best and worst times to try the walk, the closest tube stations to the beginning and end of the walk, and the approximate amount of time the walk requires. The book ends with general information about London, including transportation, a list of recommended reading, and a very good index.

An excellent value.

This is not a general purpose travel guide. But, it is an excellent set of 11 walking tours in London. London is definitely a walking city, and you probably don't need this guide to take an interesting walking tour. But, it's nice to have a description and history of sites along the walk -- and the size of the book is just right for carrying in your back pocket while you're on the walk.

Garbage collection is a very interesting and complicated topic. To understand different garbage collection algorithms, one has to go through various research papers published over last 30 years or read the simplified descriptions presented in Java site and Bill Venners artima.com. This book does an excellent job in putting together all these algorithms in a logical order that gives us a chance to understand the different challenges sceintists and programming language authors faced and how the algorithms evolved over the time. The book starts with basic overview and history of commonly known algorithms: Reference counting, Mark and Sweep, and Copying algorithms. It then elaborates each of these algorithms, enumerates their pros and cons, and presents imporvements done by different researchers. After this, the book moves on to advanced algorithms like Generational algorithm and concurrent mark and sweep algorithm. I recommend this book to anyone interested in garbage collection. I haven't seen any other book on this topic. Even for programmers who mostly don't have to worry about GC as it is "automatically" done, this is a good book to understand and appreciate what goes on behind the scenes. Also, knowledge of the concepts in this book will be invaluable in performance tuning.

I wanted to know about the generational algorithm that Java is now using. The book was pretty clear about how things work. I haven't read the whole book but what I've seen is very encouraging. The first few chapters are a broad overview and then you can dive into the particular algorithm you are interested in.

The book is so well written and easy to understand its worth buying it even you only read the first two chapters.

While the author is redundant through-out the book, he has certainly brought to the public the oppor- tunity to look into the case of another "trial of the century". In taking the position that Richard Hauptman was wrongfully exicuted, Mr. Jones does show much evidence to demonstrate his claim, and I have been moved into the same opinion. The book is over 1200 pages, and at times tedious, but I found it to be well worth the time spent. Mr. Jones is into his eighties,and I think he should be commended for the accomplishment of his life's goal.

Jones documents more information in his book than any other thus far. While he presents his conclusions about who was responsible for the kidnapping, he leaves many avenues for other verdicts that may eventually come along. While the book is difficult to put down, there are times when the author presents needless details. On several occasions, he leads us through several pages that eventually go nowhere when a brief paragraph would have been sufficient. I have read dozens of books on the Lindbergh kidnapping case but this is the most complete so far. The book will make the reader very cautious concerning police and prosecuting practices in capital cases.

Sad to report that Mr. Wayne Jones passed away on Saturday, July 4, 1998. Although at times this book is tedious reading and, when needed, repetitious, it is a book that must be read if one is interested in the true story of the Lindburg kidnapping.

For reader who has a fairly good background in C++, this book is a good introduction to MFC programming/Visual C++. It is written for individuals who want an in-depth practical understanding of MFC programming, and who are willing to put the time and effort into the learning of it. The book includes a CD which includes the 90 different sample programs in the book.

In chapter 1, the author introduces MFC utility objects in console applications. The three utility classes CString, CPoint, and CRect are used to create a simple Windows application. The author is careful to distinguish between a console application, which has the main() function, and a windows program, which does not. The CString class is used, instead of the standard C++ library class, and this is standard in MFC programming. The author advises the reader to think of CString objects as an actual object, and not as a pointer to a string. This is an example of value (or "copy") semantics, wherein the value is copied, and not just the pointer. Programmers concerned about performance issues commonly use this feature of C++. The author gives an interesting method to extract a string from a stream into a CString object, and how to use the Format() function to convert a value to a string for eventual display in a window.

A review of classes in C++ is given in Chapter 2, with emphasis on how virtual functions get executed in windows applications. The author shows explicitly how to use Visual Studio to add a class and member functions, and a good discussion is given on the difference between passing parameters by value, by reference, and by pointer. The role of the member function "this" is discussed also.

Chapter 3 could be skipped by the reader interested only in MFC windows applications, according to the author, where he discusses collections and class templates. Object and pointer array collections are treated via the code examples. The author discusses the three different ways of performing tasks on collections, and discusses how to use pointers to objects, which is very advantageous from a memory management point of view. He is also gives an interesting discussion on serialization.

The actual building of MFC Windows programs begins in Chapter 4, without using the AppWizard. The event handling via keyboard and mouse input is given the main emphasis, and the author gives a detailed discussion on the steps taken by a window event. The different types of member functions in the CMainFrame class are given a thorough treatment. The reader is first asked to use an MFC virtual function in this chapter.

In the next chapter, the author shows how to get graphics shapes in the windows, via device context attributes. This is followed in Chapter 6 by a discussion on how to use the mouse and keyboard to make changes to text and graphics.

The window controls are then discussed in Chapter 7, and the author gives a very detailed discussion on how controls fit in to CMainFrame. The process by which event and notification messages are handled is summarized in a diagram. List boxes, combo boxes, and scroll bars are all treated in detail using the example programs. This is followed naturally in Chapter 8 by a discussion of menus and dialog boxes in the context of resource editors.

Finally in Chapter 9, the author uses the AppWizard to generate an application. A simple program example begins the discussion, followed by a non-document application. The author carefully explains the steps used in the AppWizard to give the reader more insight on just how it is able to do its job. Then in Chapter 10, the AppWizard and the ClassWizard are used to refine and extend the discussion on menus, toolbars, and dialogs. A good program example is given for a dialog-based application.

Time-dependent messaging and XOR drawing mode are the subjects of the next chapter. The three functions for timer control are discussed, along with a discussion of animation. This is followed in Chapter 12 by a treatment of bitmap graphics, with bitmap editors via MS Paint discussed.

Messaging via the MFC functions SendMessage() and PostMessage() is discussed in Chapter 13. These functions are discussed in a setting more general than modeless dialogs. Modeless dialogs are however discussed in detail in the chapter, and the difference between modal and modeless dialogs clearly explained.

The next chapter of the book discusses how to use the document view architecture and the author shows in detail the major classes involved in its use. The reader can see the CMainFrame object as a container object, which will adjust the sizes of the windows it contains if the mainframe window is resized. The document and view classes are derived from the CDocument and CView classes. The discussion is helpful in that it shows how to use the member functions in these classes to propagate information to all views. The author also shows how to serialize the document objects.

In the last chapter the author shows the reader how to use Visual C++ to manipulate an existing ODBC database. The discussion is very brief, but it does the reader with database knowledge of how to generate code to interact with these databases.

I scoured the library looking for good MFC books and checked out about 5, before giving up. The other MFC books focused too much on the MFC AppWizard and ClassWizard. You ended up making contrived programs with no idea how they actually worked, this book starts from the beginning, showing you how to utilize MFC first in console programs, then moves on to actual windows programming. It jams the source code in to one page so you know exactly what to type and don't have to keep refering to the cd. One of the things I like most about this book is that he doesn't have 5 page long explanations about something you can figure out yourself, every time I had a question it was answered in the next sentence. This book is by far the best book covering MFC that I have had, I would strongly recommend it to beginners/intermediate of MFC

Just so you have some background on who I am. I'm 16 years old and the only programming coarses they offer at my high school are VB (gag) and C++. VB is a prerequisite for C++ so I'm taking that now. Anyway because of this general situation I've been in for my whole life, I've had to teach myself pretty much every programming/scripting language I know, from JavaScript to Perl to C++ to Q-Basic. And of all the books I've read, this one is the best by far.

Richard M. Jones assumes you have a basic knowledge of C++ before reading this book which makes sense. He starts out by teaching you some of the basic classes used in MFC such as CString, CPoint, CSize, and CRect. What I love about this author is that he makes reaching the book like taking a formal class. He starts by teaching you a firm basis, and then builds each lesson thereafter on the one before. By the end of the book (it took me approximately two weeks to finish). You're writing code for menus, toolbars, status bars, buttons, edit and static controls, etc.

This book is great, period. If you've never had any MFC experience and want to learn it from scratch I recommend this book.