Rather than watch re-runs from my treasured collection of Marjoe Gortner memorabilia, Bishop Spong's introduction made possible a startling encounter with my faith! For the very first time, I learned that a tiny child -- even a Jewish waif -- could heal a belligerent tumor. Don't take my word for it -- try reading the Apocryphal Acts of the Young Christ, then take the ever-affirming Spong Challenge! A real wowser worth every point Amazon offers!

Not only a well-written hypothesis lacking emotional impact, it lacks theological impact as well. Had Jesus up and married and gave birth in India, He might have had the foresight to design and develop the world's first atomic weapons -- and drop them on the unsuspecting readers of this book. Not one for Dr. Strangelove, Bishop Spong nevertheless offers a satisfying substitute.

Coming across this title provides the reader with a clear pattern for adolescent faith development. Resources filling in the blanks of Jesus' adolescence aren't generally helpful. But this one is! The sense of incarnational reality is available to the reader as the author develops his argument not predicated on the life of an individual but rather a generation in which Jesus lived, and moved, and had his being. The consciousness of faith in the maturation of Jesus of Nazareth helps the reader's understanding of the Gospels not in a secret, gnostic way but in the natural unfolding of an integrated faith. Rev. Canon James Irvine

I bought this book last week from a mail order. However, I was kind of disappointed about this book as a young portrait photographer. 1) This book talks nothing about photography lighting. (Because of the name called "Light and Illusion") It only talks about Ray Jones' photography life. 2) The quality of the photos in this book is not very good (Except few of them have great quality.) I also read "Hurrell's Hollywood Portraits" which has very good quality of pictures. (I am not too sure that is because George Hurrell always used 8x10, 4x5 camera so his picture quliy in that book is consistency). Anyway, this is my opining.

During the 30's and 40's, Hollywood helped America climb out of the Depression by painting glamourous fantasies with stars who were larger than life. As the head photographer at Universal Studios during this important time in American history, Ray Jones was instrumental in creating and defining this "Glamour Era" of Hollywood. The book goes into some detail about how Jones created his special look, but the true joy here is thumbing through the numerous examples of Jones' exceptional talent. The photos span the three decades of Jones' carrer in Hollywood (from the 30's to the 50's) and the featured stars read like a Who's Who of Hollywood. Also featured are Jones' six Acadamy Award-winning photos (the award has since been discontinued) including a memorable one of John Wayne. For those who long for the good ol' days of Hollywood, this is a wonderful look at how the stars were made.

The book is fine. ()It only contains standards from 1932.This book is not very usefull to anyone building to current standards.

It has 154 more pages than the 9th edition, so it has new information, but as you page through it you will find it seems almost identical. They need to keep most of the old data, so I wouldn't take off points for that. You can see the publisher's review for all of the new features: I noticed that the Historic Preservation chapter has been shortened a bit.

Potentially, the biggest addition is the CD-ROM, which has CAD files ready to use, and includes pretty much everything from the book. You might think that you are getting all that for the cost of the book, but...no. The "demo" CD comes in a sleeve inside the back cover, and is noted: "Full functionality, Limited data." You can access a drawing of a bar joist, for example. It exports a DWG or DXF file with layers based on line weights. The interface is pretty clear; you don't have to read any instructions to start using it. The CD actually has all of the data, but you have to pay another $425 online to "unlock" it. That could be a bargain, but I suspect that most firms will feel that their own detail library is more applicable to the work they do. Still, $425 represents less than a day's worth of billable hours.

Every architect knows the value of this book, and most every architecture firm (in the U.S. anyway) will want at least one copy just to stay current, and because the old one is getting worn out. You might as well get it now, and decide on the CD-ROM later. I'd love to have a special edition set with each page ever published in all of the AGS books, or even just the last 3 or 4. I'd give that 6 stars.

A good reference book but of limited use, Its tables of materials is quit limited, especially sections dealing with steel,wood and concrete structural properties. The book tries to touch on all things at the expense of specificity in regards to basic materials and building techniques, The book would be fine for Architectural students but would be of limited use as a reference book for design. Severly over priced.