The book is filled with fascinating detail about John Hilton, a missionary's son, who was a singer, gemologist, writer, shop keeper before he finally realized his potential and became "Dean of Desert Painters." Eight of Hilton's finest paintings in color are included.

This is one of the greatest books ever written! A must read for every leader no matter what age or occupation. Superbly written with real life stories that will make you laugh and cry and when you do put down the book it will cause you to think about your life and what it is that you are living for!

It is difficult to understand why the three major works of Mr. Osborn are out of print, or for that matter, why there are not more books from this fine author. Mr. Osborn's work should be required reading for anyone even remotely thinking of going to law school.

Although the title suggests an assassination, it actually refers to Clarence Sinclair Bull, who was MGM's chief portrait and glamour photographer from the studio's inception in 1924 to his retirement in 1961. He began photographing Garbo with her last silent film The Kiss in 1929, and after that she wanted no one else to photograph her. Bull would take over 4,000 individual studies of Garbo, devoting 2 days in his gallery for each of her films. She would pose in the character she was playing, since she saw the stills as part of the film-making process. The stills from The Kiss are particularly striking, "suffused with an elegaic softness and allure" writes Terence Pepper in the text. Bull enclosed Garbo's face in a black shadowy background, and, in contrast to her previous demure studies where she averted her eyes, he had her look directly into the camera and communicate directly with the viewer, "preserving her inner mood". A beret photograph is so potent that the studio used it for the film poster, and it prefigures her think-of-nothing final close-up from her later Queen Christina. Bull also transposed a vignette study of Garbo's face onto a photograph of the Cairo Sphinx, to create "The Swedish Sphinx". When he timorously showed her the result, he was surprised that instead of being offended, she howled with laughter, and approved it's release. It may have become the most widely distributed of her images, but it remains camp at best. Bull would say that she had no bad side and no bad angle, which made her the easiest of all the stars to photograph. Plus he thought she enjoyed their sessions, never tiring of posing for him. The images confirm MGM's agenda of creating flawless beauty, held up before the admiring throng as "nothing less than the Hope diamond in the flesh". Garbo's skin has a statue-esque perfection, her hair lit to be look soft and pliable. She never smiles but emotion is still evident. The one study in colour is for Two Faced Woman, which is less flattering than the black and white stills. Her hair has been pulled back slightly with a hidden ribbon, exposing her large forehead, and the hardness of her later Cecil Beaton studies emerges, her mouth almost in a sneer of disdain. Perhaps she knew making the film would be a mistake and an end to her film career. We also have a study of Chris, Garbo's stand-in, who apparently was even more mysterious than the one she doubled for. After Garbo retired, perhaps it is only the studies of Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn that can match the iconoclastic grandness of Bull's work with Garbo, which proves that no matter how talented the photographer, the subject is everything. This kind of portraiture would decline with the collapse of the studios, and when you see the later studies of less arresting faces, perhaps this was for the best. Garbo flourished in a period where the ideals of beauty she radiated were desperately needed, but she always a reluctant star. When the world became indifferent, so did she.

I bought this book to read to my first grade class. The illustrations are wonderful and held the attention of my class better than most books. The progression of the story's events was just the right blend of humor and suspense to keep them intrigued and looking forward to the next page turn. They hardly noticed that they were also learning a value lesson for life, while enjoying a very good story.

A Man's Guide To Pregnancy is a fun look at pregnancy from the man's point of view. It makes an especially good gift book for the expecting father as it is chalked full of " humorous helpful hints," to guide a man through this sometimes confusing, always hectic time. No expecting father who has a shred of a sense of humor should be without this book.

(Note: this quote is from the author who really wants you to buy this book, but it's still true. Really it is.)

John Passmore's book first appeared a number of decades ago, but is still setting the agenda for those with a concern for the environment who think that support humanity's actions in living and developing a coherent society and a care for nature are not mutually exclusive concerns. Passmore's argument is basically that man's concern with the tratement of the environment is basically an argument between people and that it is a mistake to assume that nature or animals can have any rights in an area in which they have no consciouness. Passmore contends, (in a very rough way), that rights cannot be bestowed on beings without a consciousness. We may decide to protect the environment for many reason, aesthetic, a desire to sustain bio-diversity, security of resources for medical research, etc. But the essential element in all such decisions is that a human or humans, not an animal or a plant make the decision! As we cannot abrogate to overselves the right of proxy to what a non-sentient animal, plant or habitat which 'desire', we can only make ethical decisions on the basis of human morality as it affects other humans. Therefore, Passsmore contends, we must make our environmental descisions on the basis of 'conserving' the environment for humans, not on 'preserving' it for a nature that can have no awareness of these ethical decisions.

In reality this may make no difference to individual actions- the preservationsist chained to the redwood who wishes to save the tree from the loggers on account of its contribution to nature's spirit, may be joined on his chain by a conservationist who wishes to preserve the tree for the aesthetic benefit of future generations of humanity. Passmore does not condone treating nature as a resource at the total whim of humanity, but of instead the prioritising of mankind's legitimate needs in any equation that involves an intervention in the environment. Thus if a wetland on the edge of a human settlement is a home to a significant malaria-hosting mosquito colony, the 'conservationist' decision whether to drain it will be a balance between the loss of bio-diversity and the healthy of the people of the town. In some cases the decision will fall on draining the swamp, in others the conservationist will say, the wetland should remain on account of its other benefits.

It was the call for new standard of ethics to meet the growing environmentalist movement that promoted Passmore to publish this book. He claims, (and this reviewer finds his claim complelling), that traditional ethical standards are perfectly adequate to meet the challenge of concern for nature. Instead of a new standard based on the rights of nature, Passmore contends, that a more effective and coherent avenue in protecting the environment is in the prosecuting of 'vadalism' -damaging the enviroment without sufficent benefit to mankind.

Since the publication of the book, Passmore stand has been condemed by many in the environmentalist movement, but without in this reviewer's judgement, his case has not been seriously damaged by any of the attacks. To those of us who care deeply for the environment, but also care for the legitimate rights of humanity to live in that environment, Passmore has set the standard. Read this book, even if you disagree it will give much food for thought.

As a young man in the process of converting to Catholicism, I found "Mary: God's Yes to Man" to be a very compelling, deep, and driving study of the role of the Blessed Virgin in History, in Tradition, in the Church, and in the lives of the modern believer. I went into this book with very little knowledge of who the Church says the Virgin Mary is, and coming out of it, I feel like I could comfortably explain the doctrine to anyone. The use of Biblical exegesis, and the style of Biblical interpretation was quite interesting for this former Protestant Evangelical. The Holy Father is an excellent writer, and both Cardinal Ratzinger and von Balthasar offer interesting commentary on his writings. A good read, seeing as it took me less than 36 hours to do so.

Cheng Man-ch'ing, student of Yang Ch'eng-fu, hoped that tai chi could play a vital role in the revival of China in the period following the Second World War. Ultimately, Cheng ended up migrating to the U.S. and undertaking a significant role in the transmission of tai chi to Westerners. This book presents the core of his advanced teaching, giving a detailed exposition of traditional principles (including meditation and medicine) and teaching techniques together with his own highly original set of new conceptual tools for working in the medium of movement.

a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at New York City during the l960s when rioting in the streets of most of our major cities brought our country to the brink of a second revolution. reads like fiction. Unlike Spin City, this one tells it like it was. a very good read.