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Book reviews for "Myers,_William" sorted by average review score:

Handbook of Pictorial Symbols: 3,250 Examples from International Sources
Published in Hardcover by Peter Smith Pub (1990)
Authors: Rudolf Modlay, Rudolf Modley, and William R. Myers
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Excellent Resource
An excellent source of images that can be used for making charts, website buttons, newsletters. The designs are clean and can easily be modified. I personally enjoy just looking through the images as they are very inspiring.

A Visionary Book
HANDBOOK OF PICTORIAL SYMBOLS (1976) is an expanded, updated version of Modley's earlier book, 1000 PICTORIAL SYMBOLS (1942). Like its predecessor, the HANDBOOK shows us that a truly pioneering, insightful mind actually can see the way the future looks. // In his introduction, Modley argues that pictorial symbols are in some respects superior to words as a form of communication because they can be understood by people from around the world. In a globalized economy, he predicts, such symbols will ultimately supplant "Men," "Women," "Hotel," "Taxi," and "Camping," among many other words. This is the world we live in now. Modley could have actually strengthened his Case For Symbols by pointing out that such pictures can be recognized by children literally years before they learn to read, and that symbols can be recognized more quickly than words, making them especially useful in situations where fast reactions are necessary (e.g., control panels in airplanes.) // Most of the HANDBOOK is a collection of pictorial symbols, some created by Modley himself and others devised by various bureaucratic organizations, including the International Olympic Committee. If anything stands out about these symbols, it is that Modley's own are richer and more interesting than anyone else's. They have a thirties-modern look that has more charm than anything the British Airports Authority could come up with.

Rudolf Modley
Rudolf Modley, symbolman and graphic designer, was a student of Otto Neurath [ISOTYPE]. One of the best examples of the application of this material is his _A History of the War in Maps, Pictographs, and Words_ [1943] which is out of print but easy to find.


God's Yes Was Louder Than My No: Rethinking the African American Call to Ministry
Published in Hardcover by Africa World Press (1994)
Author: William H. Myers
Amazon base price: $49.95
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If you're struggling with your call, READ THIS BOOK!!
As a sequel to Myers' first book, "The Irresistable Urge to Preach", Myers delves even deeper into the call experience by creating an environment in which to analyze the differences and commonalities in the call.

His first book, which is a collection of call stories from a wide variety of preachers with different backgrounds, bares some similarities to this book but recounting some of the call stories is about where the similarities end. "God's Yes..." goes one step further to analyze the experience of the call from different perspectives in order to shed some light on the otherwise "mysterious" and neglected subject of the call in the African American church.

Both are great reading to gain clarity on your own personal call experience.

Pivotal in my discovery of vocational calling
and excellent look at the process of call to ministry. highlights case studies of pastors and their experience of divine direction. a must-read for all those wrestling with their calling.


Alhambra (The Complete Works of Washington Irving, Vol 14)
Published in Hardcover by Twayne Pub (1983)
Authors: Washington Irving, William Lenehan, and Andrew B. Myers
Amazon base price: $50.00
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The Alhambra
I don't always like to read classics, but when a friend of mine suggested that I read this book, I decided to try it, and I am very glad that I did. Irving's words, though written so many years before now, still paint eloquent pictures of the Spain of his time. I could almost see what he was seeing. The stories and legends are also wonderful and fascinating. An antique copy of this book is one of my most treasured gifts.


Black Authenticity: A Psychology for Liberating People of African Descent
Published in Paperback by Third World Press (1996)
Authors: Marcia Sutherland and A.J. Williams-Myers
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Must Get Book For Liberation
To all those involved in the struggle and want to show others why. This text puts everything in prospective. It identifies what has been done and being done to the original people all over the world!! It also shows where the mentallity is for everyone in the struggle. What state of mind for anyone. If your a serious student of Liberation. Take this Psychology Course for Black Studies.

-Hetep


A Botanical Touch: Decoration Gardens Parties
Published in Hardcover by Penguin Studio (1993)
Authors: Cynthia Gibson, Susan Carlton, Coco Myers, and William P. Steele
Amazon base price: $45.00
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A Classic!
Cynthia Gibson is a very talented lady. Her obvious taste and style is featured through the lovely photographs. Not only is the information tried and true, it is accessible. This book is a winner!


The Constant Couple, the Twin Rivals, the Recruiting Officer, the Beaux' Stratagem (Oxford Drama Library)
Published in Hardcover by Clarendon Pr (1995)
Authors: George Farquhar, William Myers, Michael Cordner, Peter Holland, and Martin Wiggins
Amazon base price: $102.00
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Fun.
These plays are fun to read. They might seem old fashioned because they were written two hundred years ago, but actually I think they are relevant today and any day. I've read all four plays already dozens of times, and I wish more people could become acquainted with this period's marvelous literature.


Philosophers of Process
Published in Hardcover by Fordham University Press (1998)
Authors: Douglas Browning, Douglas Browing, and William T. Myers
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American Pragmatism Reborn
This is the second edition of a book which was out of print for several decades. Considering how important process metaphysics is to so many branches of philosophy, including environmental ethics, it is, as Dr. Myers describes it, exceedingly timely that the second edition be published recently. Process metaphysics is hardly a casual read, and this book is intended strictly for the serious student/lover of philosophy. The volumes of American pragmatic philosophy line shelf upon shelf in the library, but this one volume takes the most important works of the most important philosophers and binds them all in one volume. Dewey, James, Peirce, Whitehead, Hartshorne, and others are revealed in their original text. Especially helpful are the historical backgrounds and suggestions for further readings both by and about these philosophers that are included in each section. A must for the American process philosopher!


Rails Through the Orange Groves : A Centennial Look at the Railroads of Orange County, California (Vol. 1)
Published in Hardcover by Interurban Pr (1989)
Authors: Stephen E. Donaldson and William A. Myers
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Excellent Books
This 2 book series tells about Orange County's fascinating history of it's railroads. It's very detailed about the lines, what ran on them and what was moved, around here it was mostly food!
Many photos from the later 1800s showing Orange County how it used to look.(When El Toro was El Toro and NOT Lake Forest)It's fun recognising from newer pictures the areas known to me.

If you can find this book, it's great. An Orange County railfan's must in their collection!


Salt Dreams: Land & Water in Low-Down California
Published in Hardcover by University of New Mexico Press (1999)
Authors: William deBuys and Joan Myers
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A Tale of a Magnificent Disaster
I visited the Salton Sea to photograph birds and found it impossible to describe, telling friends they had to go there themselves to experience the place and the people. Now I tell them to read this book. From the creation of the Sea to the creation of Salvation Mountain, deBuys tells it's colorful history in a prose that fills you with the sounds and smells and people of the Sea and Imperial Valley. Anyone with an interest in man's unlimited folly, vision, corruption, and the coming environmental train-wreck in southern California needs to read this book.

What Every Member of Congress Should Know...
Bravo! Salt Dreams is the first of its kind to wrap up all of the issues surrounding the Salton Sea and Colorado River delta in one volume. The best since Cadillac Desert in its cinematic portrayal of a complicated host of issues. Awesome writing on the heroism of US Fish and Wildlife staff. My only criticism is that Congressman George Brown is slighted; Sonny Bono often called him "Mr. Salton Sea". Certainly, a book Mr. Brown would have loved.

Reclamation/Folly in the Desert
Superlative read revealing the vast natural beauty of the desert and its inhabitants and man's irreversable errors in judging it as a fallen Eden. Together with Cadillac Desert it ranks as a southwest water classic. Beautiful writing and stunning photographs.


The Idiot
Published in Paperback by Oxford University Press (1992)
Authors: Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Alan Myers, Fyodor M. Dostoevsky, and William J. Leatherbarrow
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Dostoevsky, the great Russian social commentator
Having read "Crime and Punishment" fifteen years ago, I was prepared for Dostoevsky's commentary on the social and materialistic qualities of the Russian middle class of the 19th Century. "The Idiot" has a slower pace but a surprise ending which makes reading it well worth the effort.

The novel begins with three strangers in a train en route to Petersburg. A young man named Prince Myshkin is returning from a Swiss sanatorium where he has been treated for the past few years for some malady similar to epilepsy. He meets a roguish young man named Rogozhin, who has an unhealthy obsession with a beautiful young woman named Nastasya Filippovna, and a nosy government official named Lebedyev, who figures prominently throughout the novel.

Upon arriving in Petersburg, Myshkin acquaints himself with many of the citizens and eventually meets, and is infatuated by, Nastasya. She is pushy, fickle, and impetuous, and bounces from fiance to fiance like a fortune hunter. Her irresistibility and psychological stronghold on the men in her life leads to her downfall.

The basis of the novel is that Myshkin is not bright, has not had much education, and traverses society with a mentality of simplistic innocence. When speaking his opinion, he struggles to articulate himself with Charlie Brown-like stammering and wishy-washiness. For this reason, people consider him an idiot, but he is a good, honest, sympathetic, and gracious person. When he comes into a large inheritance, he is blackmailed by a man who claims to be the illegitimate son of Myshkin's benefactor; but when the man's story is debunked, Myshkin befriends rather than chastises the culprit and his accomplices. Myshkin also falls in love with and becomes betrothed to a giddy girl named Aglaia, who uses his ingenuousness as a foil for her jokes and sarcasm, despite his undying devotion to her.

The novel seems to say that a saintly man, making his way in a society that is concerned with materialism and cutthroat avarice, will be considered a childish idiot for valuing honesty, kindness, and the simple things in life. Like I said, the ending is a shocker and sends a plaintive message, that in a crazy world, a sanatorium is the only place for a saint.

Profound, Timeless Relevance
The Idiot is often unfairly compared to Dostoyevsky's other masterpieces and, even though The Idiot usually comes out on the short end of any comparison, it is certainly my favorite. Although the narrative of The Idiot may ramble more than do some of Dostoyevsky's other books, I feel it is ultimately more profound.

At its core, The Idiot is a character/society study although it also encompasses many religious and political aspects as well. The central character, Prince Myshkin, provides the contrast for all the other characters and is definitely a "Christ-like" figure, a man who embodies most perfectly the Christian ideals of selflessness and love.

Prince Myshkin is a man who has suffered from mental illness since childhood. This illness has the curious effect of causing him to respond from his heart rather than from his head. In addition, Myshkin also suffers from a form of epilepsy that causes him to launch into tirades regarding the social ills of the day. As a Christ-like figure, Myshkin is in direct contrast to the other characters in the book who are all worldly and sophisticated, though somewhat cynical, aristocrats. Myshkin's extreme goodness also causes him to become entangled in various political and personal intrigues.

Although completely good, Prince Myshkin in a fully realized character. One of the marvels of this novel is that Dostoyevsky managed to present Myshkin as a serious, rather than a comic, character. His goodness is not something we want to laugh at. There are many comic moments in the book, however, and most of them are provided through various financial and romantic entanglements.

Although Prince Myshkin is the thread that links all the characters and aspects in the novel, he is not the only fully realized character; the others are also extremely well drawn. Dostoyevsky was fond of using real life incidents in his books and his notes tells us this is something he did in creating the characters that populate this book.

Ultimately, The Idiot is a tragic book. Politically, it ridicules the shallow ideals of the Russian aristocracy, and, while Prince Myshkin's ramblings may seem comic, they are actually harsh criticism.

Prince Myshkin was more than "a positively good man." He was a man who could see into the future and know what lay in store. Dostoyevsky's deep insight into the character of man makes The Idiot one of literature's most profound and timeless works.

a masterpiece revealing our imperfect world all too nakedly
Fyodor Dostoevsky's "The Idiot" is a compelling mixture of extremely well-drawn characterizations as well as an adept representation of the author's persistently over-arching world view concerning the "perennial questions" of human existence. The novel's main subject, Prince Myshkin, is a sublime and unforgettable character. I certainly wouldn't dispute Myshkin's centrality in "The Idiot" but here Dostoevsky has fleshed out many more distinctive personalities ( Aglaya, Rogozhin, Lebedev, Ippolit ) than ( if my memory serves me correctly ) in his "Crime and Punishment" ( another masterwork ), which focused pretty much on Raskolnikov's decaying interior world ( an extension of his "underground man" from the famous "Notes" of 1864 ).

To speak of the plot would be irresponsible ( I do recommend reading the main text PRIOR to reading the scholarly introduction by the translator ) but you can be assured that if you have enjoyed the novels of Thomas Mann ( "Magic Mountain" in particular ), Joseph Conrad or Nikos Kazantzakis, you will appreciate "The Idiot". Also, it seems fairly obvious that a person who has already read several of Dostoevsky's other works will be interested in this particular novel.

I admit that at first, not having read a 19th century novel for quite a while ( in fact, since "Crime & Punishment" about 10 years ago ), I had to get used to the "salon culture" ( for want of a better term ) and the ( seemingly ) melodramatic exchanges between the characters in their frequent soirees, which appeared, initially, to be somewhat strained. However, it was instructive for me to meditate on the fact that this was an era ( c.1868 ) without the "benefit" ( ?!? ) of our advanced technological distractions ( radio, television, internet ) and so, if one was NOT to participate in such gatherings, one would be resigned to a life of solitude ( with a capital "S" ). Therefore, such "melodramatic" exchanges seemed less unrealistic than at first I thought. And, as an aside, Dostoevsky was in his early adulthood a frequenter of all sorts of literary gatherings ( this aspect of his life is superbly revealed in Joseph Frank's multi-volume biography ). Undoubtedly he drew upon his memories of such social circles when writing "The Idiot". In any case, whether it was by bearing these historical points in mind or by naturally adjusting to the author's emotional landscape, I did eventually adjust and felt the dialogue to transform into a compellingly realistic vision, at turns exhilarating and sorrowful ( inevitably, the latter mood prevails ).

My choice of translation was the Alan Myers/OXFORD PRESS version. I noticed that the PENGUIN translation was about 60-70 pages shorter. I didn't find that either mentioned "abridged" ( or "unabridged" ) but ended up basing my purchase on the OXFORD's ( apparently ) longer version. Also, the Myers/OXFORD version has a black and white map of St Petersburg and some helpful notes explaining various obscure references. However, having read the novel only once, I'm obviously not in the position to call this version definitive. I imagine the old Constance Garnett translation has some merit ( she's been in print for some 70 years now and that must say something of her abilities ) and perhaps the acclaimed team of Richard Pevear and Larissa Volakhonsky, who've already translated "C&P", "Demons", "Karamazov" as well as "Notes from the Underground", will be tackling "The Idiot" in the near future.


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