Christopher Burkett is the heir of Eliot Porter as a master of color photography. He finds astonishing beauty in intimate color landscapes, and this book has the production quality to convey it. If you liked "In Wildness is the Preservation of Life", buy this book! You'll love it.

This book is great.The full-color photograps(namely tress and foliage)are breathtaking,the oversized pages carry vibrant colors in splendid views from every part of America.All plates are beautiful,but in my opinion,the most beautiful are the following plates:
1(Wild Red Maple and Fog/New Hampsshire)
2(Cherokee Autumn Forest/Tennessee)
6(Luxuriant Red Maple/Kentucky)
14(Sunlit Aspen Mountain Valley/Utah)
19(Franconia Hillside/New Hampsshire)
20(Mountainside,Red Oak and Aspen/Utah)

21(Golden Aspens and Red Oak Mountainside/Utah)
22(Aspen Grove/Colorado)
29(Red Woodbine/Vermont)
32(Old Sequoia at Sunset/California)
41(Twilight,Virgin River and Zion Canyon/Utah)
44(Waimea Canyon,Sunlight and Cloud Shadows/Hawaii)
47(Sunset,Native Koa Tress/Hawaii)
62(Sunrise and Autumn Blueberries/Maine)
The most beautiful plate is NUMBER 21.Burkett,you and your photos are wonderful.

This book represents the best work of the individual whom I consider to be America's best outdoor color photographer. Burkett captures moments, light, and nature in ways that make viewers stand in awe of his photographic technique, photographic vision, and of nature itself.

The production quality of the book is surperb. You can feel the love (and probably pickiness) that went into it.

Enjoy!

. . .plus cultural information!

This book, the first of two in the "History of Middle-Earth" series dealing with later textual developments in "The Silmarillion" provides a great deal of information on how Tolkien's philosophical and theological development influenced the later aspects of this work. (As the reader should remember, Tolkien worked on these legends for more than 50 years.)

However, one of my greatest delights in "Morgoth's Ring" was a lengthy essay detailing aspects of Elven culture, including information on courting, betrothal, marriage, and child-rearing. Also included is a discussion of the judgement of the Valar concerning the remarriage of Finwe of the Noldor.

Throughout, the volume demonstrates that Tolkien wished to truly create a complete culture, not merely a history.

A worthy addition to this series.

This is the tenth volume of a detailed study about the "Silmarillion" era (Pre-"Lord of the rings" epoch). No question from the silmarillion, is left unanswered after you've read this hyper-detailed book about the fallen ainur, Melkor, most known under the name Morgoth meaning "the enemy of the world". Here is described the rise of Arda, the assignments given by Eru, the lord of all, to the ainur, making them become the Valar, AND how Melkor (who was Eru's favorite and most skilled of all) fell from grace and lusted to control the earth and everything in it. In this book , you will find how immensely great was Morgoth's power and how he could even distort Eru's very designs in the birth of the universe. It also includes lots and lots of informations about particular elven kings, half elven and men, who had a particularly important role in the historyand shaping of Beleriand and Middle-earth. All fans of middle-earth and fantasy are advised to get this superb annal of the history of middle-earth and dive once more into the realm of the tree-light gems...

The most important part of this book is the section titled "Laws and Customs of the Eldar". For the only time in his long career of writing essays and opinions essentially intended only for himself the author of The Lord of the Rings set aside story and drama to explore the social and cultural heritage of the Noldor and the Eldar in general.

All the other works in this book fall into place only if the reader understands the peculiar outlook that Tolkien envisioned for the Elves. They were not truly deathless, but recognized many forms of death. And for the Elves the union of spirit and body was as intrinsic as breathing and life. All their griefs therefore proceeded from the disruption of these fundamental precepts in Aman, where such disruption should never have occurred.

Though people speak highly of "Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth" it really has no meaning without the context provided by "Laws and Customs". A great many questions are answered in very matter-of-fact fashion by the author, often as asides.

The last section, "Myths Transformed", actually leaps ahead to a period late in Tolkien's life when he began to unravel all the tales and mysteries and design a completely different cosmology. Had he finished this later work, Tolkien would have rewritten his Silmarillion completely and in doing so would have destroyed some of the most beautiful myths of our time.

This is the third book in the vampire series about Alisa. In this book, she attempts to keep her DNA from the hands of someone who would test it and use the results to gain immortality. In this, she runs into an old "friend" who makes the story more exciting. Another wonderful book to add to your collection. I highly suggest it.

I have recently read this book and I was amazed at how well written it was. It was exiting and I never wanted to put it down. The only thing I didn't like about it was the way Christopher Pike shows vampires. He really tears down the way most people think of them as. Other than that, this is an excellent book and I throughly reccomend it!!

The first forty pages of this book(the first chapter) was more action packed than any book I've read. Like in his other books Pike goes into great depth, throws in romance, lots of violence, and some blow-em-up scenes. If you don't like books like that, this may not be a book for you, but if you like action in movies and/or this would be a great book for you(read the first two before hand). Something that Pike does in all of his Last Vampire books is vagely describe what has happened in the previous books. I don't like that because you should read them and know what's going on. Over all it was a great book them and I would hope anyone else would give it five stars.

Thank you

I only have one thing to say about this: "The Solution is Poetry". Excellent reading. Warning, you may not get it if you consider yourself too smart and significant.

There are people who will swear by this book, there are people who will hate the book. There is no middle ground, i have checked and tried it out. Either you love it or you hate it. Poetic Nonsense in finesse and the finest form.

This will cure your longing of the cluetrain manifisto stuffs. Beautifully written and meaningless at some point, but you goona love it i guess, you gonna crave for more, and then subscribe the newsletter.

GO buy the book, and immerse yourself. I have read some part of the book more than 3 times. Amen.

I just finished Bombastic Transcripts, so if you have bothered to read this at all you're probably wondering so what did this monkeyboy think? Good question, honestly I am still pondering it mulling it over in my head and probably will for a bit. It is a quick read, it's an interesting read, but fundamentally it's not a light read. It takes a little time for digestion and pondering... I suspect I will read it again in the next month or two and reconsider, hell maybe throw this whole review out.

So here's my advice go buy the book, RageBoy needs the cash. If you like Tom Robbins, Hunter S Thompson, and the Gonzo style read away, you'll enjoy it. Perhaps you will find some stuff to digest, even without ingesting any substances on the Schedule I drug list.

If you didn't like Cluetrain Manifesto, Gonzo Marketing, or any Gonzo writing buy the book anyways, for the reasons stated above. Then hide the book in your bookshelf and wait until a really dark night, one in which your soul is screaming for mercy while the night rages in a Category 5 Hurricane and your only fresh reading material is a copy of Reader's Digest you have flipped through already 15 times. Your mind goes hungry, for something unanswered and unknown, and you will recall this book hiding in some dark corner of the bookshelf covered in dust and a three month old edition of Fast Company magazine. You will pull it off the shelf and find yourself drawn to the words expressed inside and the walls of illusion come crashing down inside your mind. Either that or you'll take a gun and pull a Hemmingway. Doesn't much matter to me, if you survive reading it you might even find yourself signing up for Entropy Gradient Reversals, but let me warn you the shotgun is alot quicker and painless, but it's not nearly as much fun.

Had to read this book for a college class. ... This is an awesome book. It's a military psychological thriller in which some POW US soldiers are brainwashed and sent home; all programmed to do damage to the government when they get there. Given that the men are war heroes, it isn't hard for them to get a foot in the door where they can really wreak havoc. The plot twists around in ways too creepy to be believed, yet too familiar to be completely discounted...heh heh heh. It's definitely readable as a thriller, but does good double duty as a quasi sci-fi conspiracy novel, not to mention the informed and responsible portrayal of US military intelligence. I wanted to call it Kurt Vonnegut meets Tom Clancy, but that's not doing it justice. Maybe it's out-of-print because it couldn't find a niche. Or maybe THEY don't want you to read it.

Why this book is out of print is a mystery. Track down a used copy or join a nearby library that has one. You won't be disappointed. Richard Condon delivers a masterpiece of political and psychological horror, inspired by the ridiculous heights of the Cold War and the scourge of McCarthyism. The book's tragic protagonist, Raymond Shaw, was a soldier in the Korean War. He was captured by the Chinese and hypnotized and made into a programmable assassin. But the most shocking aspects of the novel are not the brainwashing, but who truly sponsored it and whom Raymond is ultimately destined to assassinate. The intrigue and curve-ball plot of this book send the mind reeling, as poor Raymond is relentlessly manipulated by those who use him, while those who want to save him deal with insurmountable obstacles. For a book written in 1959 it is surprisingly harsh, with nasty political diatribes from Condon along with prostitution, hard drug use, incest, and also a level of sexism that seems over the top today. The most obvious example of that last issue is Raymond's incredibly loathsome mother, whose evil amply propels the story; but she is sometimes a little difficult to believe in her sheer evil megalomania. But other than that, for a political thriller that is impossible to put down, you can't do much better than this classic, and the finale is truly shocking and heartbreaking. This one is well worth tracking down.

For a person who does not like your Cold War spy novels I must admit that The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon is one of those rare books I consider to be simply brilliant. It is concise, very well-written, and has a story which is absolutely incredible (well okay, by today's standards it might be considered a bit over-the-top).

In The Manchurian Candidate we have a US platoon in Korea (during the war) captured by Chinese/Russian scientists who brainwash them. One sargeant in particular is targetted to be their assassin on demand after the war. This fellow happens to have a power-hungry mother (..to be kind; she is truly vile) and her bozo husband who is modelled after the commie-hating Senator McCarthy. From here the story gets more complex and interwoven, with a truly shocking and brilliant ending.

Bottom line: upon finishing this book you'll say "boy, that was GOOD". Compulsory reading.

(compared with the film adaptation of The Manchurian Candidate, the novel is superior ... as is often the case. However the film does capture the essence of the book albeit in a somewhat diluted fashion.)

The book entitled "Teamwork is an Individual Skill" is quite interesting. I work at a large semi-conductor manufacturer as a non-exempt fab technician on a self managed team on night shift.

I am the most experienced and capable person on my team, yet with all of my background I have come to realize how relatively little influence I often have on team performance, and on my ability to push the team in the direction I think it should go. The very first sentence in your book on page 1, "Do you share responsibility with others to get work done but don't have authority over them (and they don't have authority over you)?" absolutely floored me, 'cause that is me to the tee.

I had only gotten to page 8 of your book when I was thoroughly blown away by the directness with which the differences between flat and hierarchical structures were addressed. At my company there is no mention of this approach; even once when I mentioned the term "semi-autonomous team" to the most qualified tech (who happened to be on day shift--arguably a more hierarchical environment due to the presence of many exempt employees) he did not know what the term meant. The company has this structure in place almost as an unwritten agenda.

Your comment on page 5, "Many individuals--especially smart, high achievers--can experience great angst if asked to serve in teams." is in retrospect a great source of comfort to help me understand my angst during my three years with this company. In all of the areas I have worked in during that time I am sure that I had (at least on paper) more qualifications than any one other person (B.S. deg, two A.A.S. degs, 12+ prior years of technical experience, and a whole host of other skills that my teammates do not exhibit.) Plus add to that, that my experience has almost exclusively come from a strongly tilted hierarchical background in retrospect is why I struggled with teams, as you describe them.

Every page of your book is quite thought-provoking, causing me to pause and reflect on how your observations compare to my situation.

For years, I have resisted the popular notion of "there is no 'I' in "teamwork" because teams are a collection of individuals working toward a common goal. Each of us brings our own values and skill sets to the table. It is our choice to work together (or not) as a team.
Christopher M. Avery has captured this idea and more in his latest book, Teamwork is an Individual Skill: Getting Work Done When Sharing Responsibility. Chris suggests that individuals take responsibility for team success versus blame others He challenges the reader to be proactive and work through team issues rather than avoid or accommodate others.
This is a perfect book for team members who have been on teams before. It will validate good team behaviors and point out areas to upgrade...in a gentle and non-threatening way. The book is easy to read with lots of stories and examples to highlight the key points.

I have assigned this book as required reading for my MBA level course in managing individuals an teams. It has been a big hit. I have used other books in the past, but this is the first that really addresses the concerns that students have. I, and they, like the emphasis on the "individual" skills involved in
teamwork.

If the revamped edition is half as good as the first, then fans of Disney (and animation, in general) have found "The Magic Kingdom". "The Art of Disney" is a beautifully written homage to the genius of Walter Elias Disney.

The stills from Disney classics, alone, warrant forking over a couple of bucks to add this one to the library.

If you are looking for details from Walt's personal life, forget about this book. This book is a masterpiece on The Walt Disney Company from Walt's birth, until nowadays.

I bought the original version of this book when I was twelve(now I'm 36) and remember, that I was blown away by it. Believe me, back then there was nothing worth mentioning on the topic of animation. Now there are trillions of books on the topic but I still have this one sitting on my bookshelf, side by side with 20 other Disney books, proud like the king among the others. The only book which is equal on the throne, is "The Illusion of Life", but that book is more for people in the animation profession. I've grown up to be in the animation profession myself and this is the book that got me started(I've even worked at Disney studios in the mid- nineties). At this point I should mention that I've always been a bigger fan of the Warner Bros. cartoons and have never really been a Disney fan. Many people accused Disney of having been right-winged, racist or what so ever. But you definately have to acknowledge his achievement and influence on animation and I would consider him a genius. This book definitely shows you the brilliance of this man and the work created by all of his artists.

This is one of the few books that having read at school I have returned to read numerous times. It is a fiction about a world surving, or not, against a virus which attacks all grasses. The determination by the party of people we follow while reading the book is ruthless, yet understandable.The book really draws you in and is difficult to put down. There have been times when I have been able to liken this novel to real life, for example when the United Kingdom faced Foot and Mouth recently, and when we had the Petrol Crisis. At times like this I think back to the book and wonder, could it turn out like that? Anyone who has read the book will agree, lets hope not.

Well, This book is one of a few books that you can't put down, it moves well, never stalls and should be put on to a reading list for schools.

Vast modernisation is already underway, aided by mans increasing desire for new technology. A biotechnology company is about to proceed with something of unspeakable horror.

Cross-contaimination and the swift death of ALL forms of vegetation on an international scale lead to global starvation.

Love for nature and love alone hold no place in society now. These ruthless biotech companies exploit the general public and fade away when the smoke hits the fan.

The scorched skies are a grim reminder of the naplam dropped before them in a bid to save mankind from the death of grass.

The one flaw that most classical guitar methods have is that the authors assume that a student has "proir experience". This is not the case with "The Christopher Parkening Method Vol 1" Mr. Parkening" starts the beginning student with a solid base of technic and prepares the student for a well rounded course in concert guitar. This is a well paced and consistent method, teaching a well rounded technic. This method is not boring or overly academic. There is also a brief history of the classical guitar from its Spanish origans to international prominance. I highly recommand this method for the aspiring concert guitarist as well as for the teacher.

Reading everyone else's reviews I'd have to say I agree. This is a very good little book. Mind you, it's taking me forever to get through it...9 months to get to page 55/87...but I think I'm learning.

I'm buying the second book just as soon as I get through this one. I do have one complaint/complement. Parkening has includes numbers next to notes. These are to show the student which finger to put on the string. It's very useful, but I've found it gets in the way of learning musical notation.

This book is extremely well written and complete, covering everything a beginner needs to know, and in my case, things an intermediate student never learned but should have. I'm sure I will refer back to it as long as I play. It's just so "complete". There are very detailed drawings and photos of how to hold, finger, and stroke the strings, backed up by the written word. Everything is very specific. The musical pieces are quite well chosen and lead the student through a natural progression from easy to difficult. Mr Parkening and his collaborators obviously have great insight as educators and took great care in assembling this book. The only criticism I have is the cover art picture of Christopher Parkening, which looks like it was taken back in the 70's. I don't think I'd leave this one laying around on the coffee table. I'm looking forward to purchasing his second volume.

When my son was about 8 months old, I picked this book up ... to keep him occupied. He just loved it -- and still does. The spine is now pretty chewed up from all the "love" it got during teething. However, at 23-months, he still loves to read this book -- even though he removed 7 out of 12 the flaps some months ago.

Aside from the fun of flap-lifting (and ultimately, flap-tearing), we have fun reading it together pointing to and counting the items on each page: 7 eggs, 4 boats, 5 lily pads, etc. It's also great for talking about colors and 'big and small'.

I just wish there was a way to make the flaps rip-proof!

~ ~
This little book, looks at first like any "lift" the flap book, but the cute illustrations, and surpising "finds" under the flaps really worked for all my toddlers (5).
They get the biggest kick out of looking under a "rock" to find some interesting bug or reptile!

The only trouble is now, out in the garden, we have to lift the rocks and logs to look for worms and other "pets"

This is an inexpensive gem to keep kids amused for a little while.

My one-year-old daughter adores this! The flaps are easy for her to handle, and sturdy enough to stand up to repeated mauling. Of her dozens of books, this is probably the all-time champ. And the art is clever \and full of details, so it isn't unbearable for Mommy to read it again ... and again ... and again ...