Excellent historical details and great starting point for understanding the Victorian-era cavalry troop. Great pictures, documents,and maps aid in understanding the life and times of a dragoon/lancer/hussar during the Crimean War.

I read a Russion edition of this book and was deeply impressed with it. It is really a unique combination of the in-depth presentation both the basic ideas and the technical details with the simplicity in presentation, avoiding boring and/or unneccessary details. I liked this book very much and strongly recommend it both to professionals and (especially) to the stdents, who are serious about the area of Optimization.

I recommend this edition of "Isis Unveiled" as it has detailed endnotes from the editor that situate key textual references within their nineteenth century context. This edition also has an important historical introduction by its editor Boris de Zirkoff. That being said, it is important to note that these two volumes, purported to be dictated or inspired by disincarnate and incarnate personalities, contain a stunning wealth of historical, mythical, philosophical, and semi-scientific material. Blavatsky wrote the text to resurrect what she called the "Ancient Wisdom" during a period of scientific materialism on the one side and spiritualism, with its claims about the life of the dead, on the other. She wished to situate her theosophical perspective within an older Platonic tradition that would give due place to matter (an inferior but quite real position) and yet to the power of spirit to shape and transform matter. Her fight with Darwin did not entail a simple rejection, but rather left the field of physical evolution to him (and Wallace), while making room for a prior (temporally and ontologically) involution in which spirit encased itself more and more in matter. In her view, we have reached the deepest level of involution and are now on the cusp of a return back toward the light of spirit from which we have come. She posited an emanationist Platonic cosmology but one that tried, not always successfully, to honor the science of the nineteenth century. Yet she was also a master polemecist and took on the Christian theology of her time, with special hatred reserved for the missionaries working in India. Unlike the later Jung and Joseph Campbell, she did not see her Platonic archetypal patterns as occuring spontaneously in different cultural basins, but struggled to show (unconvincingly) that all culture derives from India, via Egypt and Greece, and that nothing in the Christian bible could not be found in better and purer form in Indian thought. In particular, she rejects traditional Christian teachings concerning the devil (whom she does not take too seriously as a personal being), the atonement, the uniqueness of Jesus, and the obsession with conversion. However, she posits a primitive and pure Christism of the true gnostic Jesus against the Christian empire which spent much of its time vilifying her work. Her dating of texts is certainly off the mark by the standards of today's scholarship, yet her attempts at finding parallels among religions has now become common coin. This monumental text can vex the reader many times, as Blavatsky makes absurd non-empirical claims, however, her primary philosophical intuitions are clearly on the mark for those among us who find Platonism and Neo-Platonism compelling perspectives.

The first book from Vian I read was "L'ecume des jours", so I was a bit stunned when I first picked up this book. The style is totally different, far from the surrealism and the pun of the other book. Instead: action , violence and sex in "hardboiled" style, still seasoned with Vian's sarcasm. In fact, Vian wrote it using the pseudonym of Vernon Sullivan, pretending to be just the translator of this book "censored in the US and first published in France". His publisher was looking for an "american" novel, and Vian offered himself to write it, in 14 days; a proof of his ability, an hommage to his beloved America that he never visited , and a violent attack to racism by a jazz fan and performer.

I read several children's books that contained Jacob Lawrence's art work then we proceeded to paint our own pictures using the materials Jacob Lawrence often used. The children, Kindergarten to 6th grade took the assignment seriously and created beautiful works. I highly recommend this art kit and have purchased the Frieda Kahlo art kit as well.

A great book about a great artist, in a great series of "Phaidon" dedicated to contemporary art. Not easy to read, but worth it. The debate about Jeff Wall's art (in which wall himself is an importent participent) encompasses many fundamental questions and notions regarding new art history, post-modernism and society at the end of this century. A must for contemporary art lovers.

This book is well written and painstakingly researched. Mank has personally interviewed as many of the players in the Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff story as was possible, and to his credit he includes plenty of conflicting stories. He has poured through studio records and includes information on star billing, salaries and even production updates. Mank even goes to the trouble of giving exact addresses of the stars homes! The end of the book features complete career information about each star (including theatre, film and television) and a detailed filmography of the films they made together.

The book takes a linear route, and Mank treats it like a slowly unraveling story beginning with Karloff's arrival on the Universal lot to play Frankenstein's monster and ending with his death. In between those events he devotes entire chapters to the eight films Lugosi and Karloff made together: The Black Cat (1934), Gift of Gab (1934), The Raven (1935), The Invisible Ray (1936), Son of Frankenstein (1939), Black Friday (1940), You'll Find Out (1940) and The Body Snatcher (1945). In addition a few chapters are provided in between to fill out the story between movies (including a chapter devoted to Bride of Frankenstein) and separate chapters at the end devoted to the end of each star's life. The chapter on the Black Cat is particularly detailed and informative and makes the book worth the price and the time in and of itself.

The 372 pages are packed with information. There are quotes from the stars themselves, their wives, friends, fellow actors and directors. As I said before many of these stories disagree especially when it comes to Lugosi. There are many mini-biographies of such luminaries as James Whale, Dwight Frye, Edgar Ulmer, David Manners, Colin Clive, Peter Lorre, Val Lewton, and just about every other major figure to come in contact with the two actors. There are many great full-page pictures (many that I haven't seen anywhere else).

Mank proceeds from the premise of contrasting "Dear Boris" as a gentle beloved distinguished and successful actor and "Poor Bela" as a doomed tragic figure who was misunderstood and a victim of circumstance and his own mismanaged affairs. This is a great hook to give the book some spice, but ultimately it is the weakness of the book. Mank is up front about the fact that he is biased towards Karloff, and I feel he misses the point at times about Lugosi's talent and his ultimate fate. For instance he praises Karloff for knowing when he was in a dog and phoning in his performance and condemns Lugosi for always playing his heart out no matter how bad the film. I disagree with this approach completely. However, despite the sometime distracting Karloff bias, this book is still the best and most informative book I have ever read on the subject. To his credit, Mank tries hard to be fair (who after all is truly unbiased and at least Mank recognizes his) to the point of printing opinions that don't agree with his.

I highly recommend this to any fan of Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, classic horror movies, old Hollywood and film in general. It is both fascinating and easy to read.

Mr. Spiroff's journal of the 18 months he spent on the front lines of the Korean War is a very cut and dry first hand account of the human suffering that took place during this "Military Conflict". The author revisited his memories in 1994 as trouble began to appear again between North and South Korea. His hope is that America would learn from history and not become involved in another countries problems. A must read for any Korean War veteran, historian or enthusiast.

Every spring the kite festival is celebrated in China. To celebrate this special day, a boy and his grandfather make a beautiful kite, but the string breaks and the kite sails away. The grandfather tells the boy the legend behind the festival and the boy is inspired to build a new kite. The Legend Of The Kite: A Story Of China is a splendidly written and drawn picturebook which will enchant young readers from first page to last.

Words have tremendous power, and reading the letters written from one person to another often helps us to know that person far more intimately than anythng else ever could.

During the summer of 1926, three extraordinary poets (two Russian and one German) began a correxpondence of the highest order. These three extraordinary people were Boris Pasternak, Marina Tsvetayeva and Ranier Maria Rilke. Rilke, who is revered as a god by both Pasternak and Tsvetayeva, is seen by them as the very essence of poetry, itself.

None of these three correspondents is having a good year: Pasternak is still living in Moscow, attempting to reconcile his life to the Bolshevik regime; Tsvetayeva has been exiled to France with her husband and children and is living in the direst financial straits, with each day presenting a new hurdle in the struggle to simply "get by;" Rilke's situation is perhaps the worst of all...he is dying of leukemia in Switzerland.

Pasternak and Tsvetayeva have already exchanged years of letters filled with the passion and romance of poetry, itself. Although Pasternak saw Rilke briefly in 1900, Tsvetayeva has never laid eyes on her idol. These three poets are, however, connected by a bond far stronger than the physical. They are kindred spirits, and each find repetitions and echoes of himself in the other.

Tsvetayeva quickly becomes the driving force of this trio. This is not surprising given her character. She's the most outrageous of the three, the boldest, the neediest, the one most likely to bare her inner soul to its very depths. Tsvetayeva's exuberance, however, eventually has disatrous effects.

Although Pasternak and Tsvetayeva consider Rilke their superior by far, these are not the letters of acolyte to mentor, but an exchange of thoughts and ideas among equals. If you've ever read the sappy, sentimental "Letters to a Young Poet," you'll find a very different Rilke in this book. Gone is the grandiose, condescending Rilke. In his place we find an enthusiastic Rilke, one filled with an almost overwhelming "joie de vivre," despite his sad circumstances.

As Susan Sontag says in her preface, these letters are definitely love letters of the highest order. The poets seek to possess and consume one another as only lovers can. But even these lovers haven't suspected that one of their trio is fatally ill. Pasternak and Tsvetayeva are both shocked and devastated when Rilke dies.

Love, many people will argue, is best expressed when the people involved are able to spend time together. There is, however, something to be said for separateness, for there is much that can only come to the surface when the lover is separated from the beloved.

These letters can teach us much about Rilke, Pasternak and Tsvetayeva. They can also teach us much about the very depths of the soul...both its anguish and those sublime, angelic heights...areas not often explored by anyone, anywhere, at any time.