This is the second edition of 'A Class Divided', the first having been published soon after the original documentary 'Eye of the Storm' was made in 1970. It contains the original nine chapters unedited. The new material consists of describing a reunion with 11 of the 16 students from Jane Elliott's 1970 class, and also details the blue eyes-brown eyes experiment as a workshop for adults, this particular one being with people who work in the Iowa Department of Corrections.

Having seen all of the documentaries made on Jane Elliott's famous lesson on discrimination, I found this book very interesting, especially to read excerpts from interviews with her on the inner moral struggle she went through in trying to work out whether she was doing the right thing by these children, and the heartache and stress it caused her knowing that she was lying to them about eye colour being an indicator of superiority. She talks openly about her fears that she could have been doing them more harm than good, and the fact that the children's reactions to the experiment and to one another taught her much more than she was either expecting or wanting to know about discrimination.

However, if you have seen the documentary 'A Class Divided' made for the PBS series 'Frontline' you will realise that the book is almost solely a transcript of the video, doing nothing more than describing exactly what I had already watched. The only thing that came through to me as new was, I believe, more coverage given to interviews with Jane and her honesty and frankness about the experiment. But on balance, it was much more interesting to watch the documentary and to see facial expressions and conversations than have them described to me. The book is useful, but the documentary is better.

I found that many children are in need of these experiences, being taught that we are all the same. The teacher shows the reader and students how easily one can be manipulated to believe anything without validating the information. I recommended this book for anyone interested in teaching or a life lesson.

One of Shakespeare's earlier comedies, "Love's Labour's Lost" does not even hold a candle to some of the Bard's greatest comedic works (A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest, The Winter's Tale). Yet, for all its lack of blazing greatness, the play is indeed a joyful diversion.

The plot is that of a philosopher's paradise being invaded by the most nefarious of things...love.

Shakespeare means many things when he speaks of love: often it can be shallow, bawdy lecherous love, sometimes it is an almost Petrachan yearning "courtly" love, once in a while it is a self destructive, clasping, obsessive love. Here it is pretty much straight-up attraction of the "hey, I'd like to marry you" variety.

As the noble, well-meaning but unable to restrain themselves philosopher's fall for the beauties of this tale, many awkward situations occur. Much of the humor here is of this vein. Plays on words and outrageous situations provide most of the laughs.

For fans of Shakespeare, I wholeheartedly endorse this great play. For beginners, I recommend starting with one of the plays mentioned above.

Be forewarned. Even if you have read a lot of Shakespeare's plays, this one is difficult and demands much effort to follow. But, if you can push yourself into reading this, it is well worth the time. Shakespeare himself performed the role of Berowne. While this is a comedy, the humour relies on irony as opposed to funny events. Also, unlike his other comedies, this one does not end in utter happieness. The interaction of the characters, as well as the situation comedy (especially in 4.3) is quite memorable. This comedy differs significantly from most of his others, but it is a wonderful piece of literature.

I've found the book is writen in a very simple terms. For beginers can be useful, but if you are not a beginer, you won't learn much thinks reading it. As a conclusion, if you want to buy a medium format camera and you don't know anything about it, you can buy this book, but if you are not a beginner, don't spend your money with this book.

I read this book because I wanted to move from 35mm to medium format but had no knowledge of or background in it. I really found this book to be helpful to me. It explained the very basics of medium format, cameras, TLR, accessories, metering, etc. very clearly and in terms I could understand. For someone who doesn't have a clue and wants to learn more it really is a great book to begin with. I agree that anyone with a working knowledge of medium format would look for something more advanced, but, for the novice it's perfect.

"Pleasant" is a good way to describe the Cadfael mysteries by Ellis Peters. These romanticised renderings of life in twelfth century England, however unreal, make the era seem pleasant enough that you almost want to live there. The countryside is lovely, there is usually a hint of romance in the air, and life moves at a measured, unrushed pace. No pavement, no pollution, no hustle and bustle. Seldom mentioned are the poverty, hunger, disease, and general stench (people rarely bathed). Life, especially in the cloister, is a bucolic idyll.

In "A Raven In The Foregate", Abbot Radulfus returns from a church council with a new priest for the Foregate. Father Adam having recently died, Radulfus brings back Father Ailnoth at the recommendation of Bishop Henry. Ailnoth, however, turns out to be a harsh and stiff-necked young priest and manages to alienate his flock before turning up dead on Christmas morning. There are plenty of suspects, not the least of whom is young Benet, nephew of Ailnoth's housekeeper.

With plenty of potential suspects, this would seem to be an intricate and challenging mystery, but ultimately the plot is not as involved as one might wish. The outcome is a happy one, if a bit too neat and satisfactory for everyone involved, but not too hard to see coming.

Like most of the books in this series, "A Raven In The Foregate" is only an average mystery. What makes this and the other Cadfael tales enjoyable is the pleasant world Peters creates and the idyllic, unhurried way in which she tells the tale. These are nice books to read and, on the strength of that I recommend them, especially to those who like a bit of history and romance along with their whodunits.

The mystery is a bit trite and too neatly wrapped up at the end, but this remains a good read because of Peter's strong characters and setting and great metaphysical questioning.

This is yet another book on a New Urbanist idea.

This one describes the idea of transit oriented communties. These are relatively dense planned communities that try to maintain what is seen as the essentials of small community life.

The density and distribution of these communities make them amenable to public transport. However more emphasis is placed on the development of community. Shopping facilities are centralized and made accessible to pedestrians. Public buildings and public space like squares are made central to the life of the community. The public buildings are given distinguished architecture to show their importance to the community. The public park or square is placed at the hub of planned pedestrian traffic to provide a place for unplanned meetings and interactions.

As it is this soert of community will probably work. The idea of the public square at a transportation crossroads as a means to creatre interaction is straight out of Bill Hillier's seminal work 'Space is the machine.' With proper attention to the principles presented by Hillier, there is no reason why a community designed in the way advocated here cannot produce the types of interactions advocated within this book.

However the book does not go far enough to truly identify what these principles are or even to state clearly and directly what basic principles are guiding the plans that it advocates. It would be possible to create developments that follow the plans described here that would work against the outcomes that it is advocating. Hillier's book, in its analysis of some modern housing estates based on similar goals, demosntrates this.

Yet there is something fundamentally wrong with this book. It is a basic statement of architectural determinism. Traditional suburbs are blamed for all problems in society from environmental pollution to school shootings and possibly even to asteroid impacts causing mass extinctions. There seems to be nothing wrong in society that is not the fault of suburbs and that cannot be fixed by these pedestrian-based communities.

The author acknowleges that the autonomy and privacy provided by the suburban form is attractive to many. He even states that his suggested community form is not antithetical to it. However following that one statement the remainder of the book is a jerimiad against suburban life. Privacy and autonomy references are replaced with descriptions of isolation and alienation.

The book would be more convincing if it remained an advocacy for its desired form. There is no doubt that this form if designed properly can foster the close community life that many people find very attractive. However not all people are attracted to this sort of life. Many people prefer the social autonomy that is provided to them in suburbs. With modern communication mechanisms like the telephone, Email, automobile etc, they can maintain multiple social netowkrs each with the social distance that they find comfortable. They are not forced to interact with a neighbor that they do not care for simply because his residence is nearby.

All in all this is a good book for its purpose. The unfortunate blathering about the short comings of suburbs distracts from its main purpsoe and weakens its argument. However many will find the small community life presented here very attractive.

It is worth reading despite these handicaps.

There is a very informative review by Suzannah Lessard in the February 18th issue of the New York Times Book Review. Not only does she provide interesting background to the issues surrounding urban growth in America, she also defines what these issues mean to us today, and the contribution this book makes to our understanding of the built world around us.

There were some very nice projects in this book. However,detailed instructions are lacking severely. In fact, the amount ofwire needed for each project is not in the materials list. Sometimes you get lucky and the instructions state to cut a certain number of pieces a certain length. I need an idea of how much wire I need to have in a continuous length. (Try "Making Wire Jewelry" by Clegg & Larom for great jewelry projects with step-by-step instructions). Also, the authors seem to be fascinated by chicken wire. Far too many of the projects use chicken wire; from the look of the cover photograph, I really didn't think this would be such a sculpting book. And forgive me for being snide, but there is even a *pipe cleaner* project. I was really hoping for more examples of the fine work done on the cover. However, it does have some great projects, and the chicken wire stuff is very nice. I am exaggerating here - I guess there are only 3 chicken wire projects. Combined with the pipe cleaners, and silly projects like the "Pocket Clips" (really, I can't begin to explain them), the toilet paper holder (yes, really!), and the bicycle toy, I was really disappointed.

But there are a few gems. There is a votive candle chandelier that is fabulous, along with the bowl seen on the cover. The toast rack is too cute. There are no jewelry pieces in this book. If you are looking for a solely wire book (as opposed to wire mesh/chickenwire), this book is not for you. It really is a nice book, but just not what I expected. But then again, for the price, it is a nice little book.

I loved this book! Photos are beautiful--instructions are easy and understandable even for the beginner. Projects are varied--from the chandelier to the seascape mobile to the wine bottle carrier. Great how-to instructions for every technique.

Godwin was writing more than two hundred years ago, and yet when you read his writings in this book his 'philosophy' was certainly not anarchistic as we would understand it, it WAS revolutionary and probably disturbed a lot of people. But I see his beliefs to be the person-centred concepts that people such as Carl Rogers expressed a hundred and fifty years later. As as example:

"All education is despotism. It is perhaps impossible for the young to be conducted without introducing in many cases the tyranny of implicit obedience. Go there; do that; read; write; rise; lie down; will perhaps for ever be the language addressed to youth by age."

i found this bk in the library. usually i just photocopy the good ideas but there were too many so i need to buy the book. its a great price for a hardcover with good detailed photos. make jewlery, buttons or beaded curtains. embellish pillows, screens, scarves and albums. fun beautiful stuff! enjoy!

Geoffrey Barnett, an ex-photojournalist, has the inability to photograph faces due to a traumatic event in his life. He now makes a living by selling photographic prints and at night he likes to prowl the streets of New York to find great shots. One evening he meets a young beautiful woman named Kim who helps him overcome his photographer's "block" and who also ultimately becomes his lover. His mundane life suddenly takes an adventurous turn when he becomes involved with her. Several of her friends are murdered; she skips town; and after tracking her to Key West he learns of her blackmailing scheme. The cops are suspicious of him and the blackmailee harasses him. Overall, the book was an easy read but I found Geoffrey to be a bit naive considering his worldliness.

The exposition is clear. The topic has a number of tricky words (hard to pronounce and subtly distinct) but the authors are careful to be precise. Figures are used to advantage to demonstrate concepts.