This is an excellent reference book for any of the types of printmaking methods out there. I'll be student teaching next semester, and I'm definately taking this book for my inclass library!

Perhaps the current art market is not so preoccupied with the fine art of printmaking that thrived in the 1980s and 1990s, but the democratization of making available works by artists best known for their unique art will always have a justifuable niche among art collectors of all strata. This well written and well illustrated volume about the various forms of print making is as fine as they come. Though centuries old as an art form, "prints" are still looked at as "copies" by the neophytes. The differences and techniques of etchings, lithographs, sereigraphs, etc are all discussed with great facility. The examples are very fine. This should be not only in every art school library, but also in the librairies of fine art collectors who want to really understand what Fine Print Making is all about.

Okay, well, maybe I'm a little passionate about the things I like, but I'm a Leo and that should be expected. I borrowed this book today from my AP Art teacher, my budding interest in printmaking beginning to develop, and I'm floored by the thorough descriptions of so many different printmaking processes. As printmaking is such a broad art form, I had never found a book that satisfies my desires to learn about intaglio, woodcut, monotype, screenprinting and book arts (including a few pages on letterpress printing!), let alone all the other printmaking forms. Highly recommended for anyone in search of a Printmaking Bible.

Written shortly after the end of World War II, The End of the Modern World is a bracing, sometimes bleak jeremiad against the dehumanizing dangers of what we now call postmodernism. Guardini is not a pessimist, but he is vitally concerned about the potential loss of human dignity and individual responsibility in a world culture dominated by technological utilitarianism.

Occasionally Guardini is off target (e.g., about all future wars being world wars), but mostly he is penetrating and prophetic in his analysis of contemporary society. After a brief review of the major epochs in Western history, he focuses on power as the defining problem of our age, and proposes that virtues such as humility, self-control, and faith are more crucial than ever.

After more than 50 years, this thought-provoking book still serves as one of the best introductions to the fundamental ethical and theological issues of our times.

Guardini has written, in a small space, what amounts to one of the most incisive, blistering critiques of the modern world that I've ever read. Beautifully abstract yet precise, this masterwork will leave you nearly breathless with its forceful prose and unwavering criticism. After reading this book, one may wonder how one has remained asleep for all this time. Wake up, world, Guardini is calling you! A fierce read that's about the most painfully honest thing a human being can read these days. Save your propaganda, your agenda, and your polemics for another time. Guardini will work on your last nerve until you are driven to action. Again, WAKE UP, WORLD!

The End of The Modern World will change the way you look at the world. Since first reading it twenty years ago, the daily events of the world constantly bring me back to Guardini's prophetic words. Beyond changing you view, it may also change your life.

This is a magnificent work on the post-conciliar Church which is THOROUGHLY documented and covers just about every topic that one could think of. It is outstanding to be read from begining to end or simply to be used as a reference. Amero, who was a peritus at Vatican II, is certainly in a good position to know what he is talking about. This book should especially be on the shelf of any priest or seminarian who is looking for an adequate book on the Changes of the Church following Vatican Council II. Again, the best book I have read to date on the subject.

In this exhaustive analysis of the changes in the Catholic Church this century--which he demonstrates to be in the direction of a change of essence (i.e., not just a cultural modification)--Amerio brings out the underlying issues of world-views in conflict. He shows that the Second Vatican Council, in committing the Church to "embrace the world", was operating according to a this-worldly philosophy which ultimately betrays the Church's whole nature and purpose. What of the future? Amerio's outlook is bleak. No easy comfort here. The prospect is one of continued fragmentation of the Church but, bearing in mind Christ's promise (that the Gates of Hell will not prevail against his Church), the Church will survive in integrity, even if in the form of a "remnant".

The author, Professor Romano Amerio, was a "peritus" (a theological expert) at Vatican II. He is therefore in a unique position to comment on the Council. But Amerio does far more than comment. Here we have a fine Thomistic mind dispassionately explaining how Vatican II inaugerated a "new theology" based on modern notions that had been consistently condemned by the Church since the time of the French Revolution. From the very first paragraph of the book, the reader realizes that he is in the hands of a master. Whether it is ecueminsm, the new Mass, the new buzzword of "dialogue", Amerio dissects the issue and shows the non-Catholic thinking and principles that are part and parcel of the "Spirit of Vatican II." He exposes the sophisms of the modern apologists of the Council, while vigorously defending the traditional teachings of Catholicism. This book is A MUST for Catholics who love their faith but are disillusioned by the modern, liberal trends in the Church. Superb!

This was a great read! I have been to many of the places in the late 1960s and early 1970s that Romano-Lax visited, and I can vouch for the accuracy of her descriptions. I admire her courage (or possibly foolhardiness) in going on such an odyssey with her husband, two young children and a mentally questionable captain who also happened to be her brother-in-law. Oddly, I can identify with being with a mentally deranged person in Baja California. I was also in that same fix in 1968 when I joined a zoology field trip to San Felipe, Baja California Norte, only to find that one of my companions was seriously depressed to the point of being suicidal (it later turned out that he was on drugs). Travel to the Sea of Cortez seems to result in such strange associations.

I used to own an old copy of Steinbeck and Ricketts that I had been given for cleaning up a storage shed. It was the only book in the shed and I was surprised to find it. I fingered through Ed Ricketts' descriptions and photographs of porcelain crabs and murex shells. I read the text and pondered Steinbeck's philosophical diatribes. But most of all it made me want to go to Baja. Within a few years of my discovery of the book I traveled to northern Baja three times and later made an extensive trip as far south as La Paz in Baja Sur. Despite the problems, Baja left its mark on me and I never regretted any time that I spent there. My main grief is that I missed a trip to Cabo San Lucas in 1971 that I had an opportunity to take.

The mangroves, the beauties and problems of Bahia Concepción, Mullegé, La Paz, Loreto, the Colorado River delta and Golfo de Santa Clara are well known to me and Romano-Lax has described each of these so well that I almost felt that I was back on the beach smelling the salt air and watching v-shaped formations of pelicans as they seemed to float almost effortlessly over the surging tide.

Ed Ricketts would have approved of this book. Although he never liked to get his head wet, he was apparently most alive when wading in the surf and tidepools. In some ways this book is more a tribute to him than to John Steinbeck, but in this case you really can't separate them.

If you are at all interested in the sea and/or Baja California, you need to read "Searching for Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez: A Makeshift Expedition along Baja's Desert Coast." It is the next best thing to going there yourself!

.

This is an ambitious book, well done. Its special beauty comes from Romano-Lax's ability to weave together so many elements into an enticing, captivating whole. There's the travel narrative, of course, with a string of adventures (and misadventures) involving her family -- including 5-year-old son Aryeh and 2-year-old daughter Tziporah -- and the challenges presented by an increasingly unstable brother-in-law who's also their boat's captain. There's the literary element, presenting new perspectives on John Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez explorations with buddy Ed Ricketts and fresh insights into their relationship. Toss in science, natural history, environmental issues, glimpses of Baja California's rich culture, and marvelous descriptions that give a strong sense of place. Then add in Romano-Lax's search for answers, her desire to understand how the Sea of Cortez has changed since Steinbeck's time, and, finally, her own shifting perspectives on what it means to know a place (or "know" anything) -- and the many ways of knowing. In the end, Romano-Lax's travels are multi-dimensional: across the Sea of Cortez, through time, and -- perhaps most important of all -- internally. The trip was well worth taking and I savored it from start to finish.

As a person who finds travel narratives relatively dull and often self-indulgent, this book stunned me in its lyric (and plot-based) grace. What a delight to read!

Insightful and comprehensive, Shotter outlines the importance and implications of self-other interaction on perception formation. The 'ordinary language' one chooses to express mental representations reflects one's dependence upon socially-derived tools for thought and expression. Similar to Certeau, Shotter discusses how an individual is presented with few alternatives to living through and therefore maintaining the 'traditions' (ordinary language) that guide our understanding. Shotter draws from the works of Austin, Bakhtin (how one's populating words with meaning makes subjective interpretation of what is 'reality' unavoidable), Vico, Wittgenstein (the fragmentary nature of understanding), Rorty (the self-other processes that guide perception formation and one's tendency to categorize based on 'solidarity'), among many others. Shotter makes the distinction between 'knowing that' and 'knowing how' and introduces a knowing of a third kind that has meaning only in relation to others. This book breaks down an otherwise difficult study of hermeneutics and human perception into clear and concise arguments, making such difficult concepts accessible to the average curiousity. Furthermore, its broad scope serves as a good foundation for the beginning scholar, welcoming the reader to a new and exciting dimension of knowledge.

I received this book for Christmas by my ex-wife two years ago. Since then, I have tried to read the ... thing 3 times. The book is so poorly written that I give up in disgust. I have two specific issues. First, as a serious work of history, I am reminded of Fawn Brodie's awful works on Jefferson and Smith. Not only is history reflected in a polemic manner, the history is interpreted in a questionable manner. The author does get his facts correct, but all he has are facts. He then interprets them in terms of a specific preconceived concept that Christianity/Judaism then stole its beliefs from any number of sources. The most extreme example of this is his portrayal of Zoraster as the precursor of Christ. (These ideas go back a hundreds of years. Yet he portrays them as uniquely his.) Does he give any supporting evidence for this other than sheer coincidence? No. It is this concept of fitting his 'history' of the devil into a preconceived concept I find most annoying. The work would have been a better "History" if the author would have approached the work as did Jackson and Ragozin, "It is impossible at present to decide definitely the point at issue; one must await fresh discoveries and identifications in the East, to give us more exact knowledge. Perhaps a common influence was at the root of both Jewish and Persian ideas". The second issue is the work is full of common logical fallacies. The book has several logical problems with it. First, because Zoraster was tempted by demons in a desert 600 years before Jesus the Christ 'claimed' to be so tempted, the two are somehow linked. This is post hoc ergo propter hoc, or coincidental correlation. This post hoc fallacy is used throughout the book. Isn't this an also an example of false analogy. There are significant differences between Zoraster's mythic birth and Christ's (your decision if it is mythic). Thus suggesting that Zoraster was a prototype of Christ is an illogical conclusion. The entire book is an example of non-support.

One of the most illuminating and scholarly books I have ever read! Messadie begins the history of the devil with the primitive religions and moves on to the more traditional religions such as Christianity and Islam. His means to disprove the devils existance is a historical one. He shows that the different religions from the most primitive to the ones we have now, simply borrowed the idea of the devil mostly from each other and used it as a means to gain political power. He argues that the idea of the devil took form during the time of zoroaster. The devil was invented by theocracies to gain and mantain politcal power. Although the book doesnt come out and say it, this is an excellent book on religious conspiracy theories. Im amazed that this book is not better known. A true classic of its kind. Although the book did not convince me to abandon religion, I treasure it because it could turn out to be true on further evidence. Also because I like looking at the skeptical side of things. If this book is true imagine all those who claimed to have seen hell or the devil: it would all be suggestion. I used to know a trappist monk who's mother had to be locked up, because she had an intense fear of hell. No one deserves hell more than those who made up the devil or jesus christ and put people through terrible suffering, fear and dissapointment if this book is true. I also recommend the Christ Conspiracy by Acharya S. Christianity before Christ by John Jackson and the biography of Satan by Kersey Graves to give a good in depth study of the origins of Christianity, Satan, and the Bible. This book is a jewel in the rough and deserves rereadings and close study.

Gerald Mesadie, the author of "Moses", a biographical novel focused on the life of the Biblical prophet, dives in the depths of ancient sacred texts to chase the Devil: The symbolic "deity" for the "absolute evil". His quest to find the "date of birth" and "birth place" of devil begins in Pacific, then his route follows the Vedas in India; swifting towards the East, he directs his attention to Ancient China and Japan; then finally finds the first "fingerprints" of the Devil in Zoroastrian sacred texts in ancient Persia: The duality of "absolute light" (Ahura Mazda) and "absolute darkness" (Ahriman) appears as the first roots of our mythical devil. Messadie then goes on with his quest in the so-called "Cradle of Civilization", Mesopotamia; in Celtic lands; ancient Egypt; Meso-America; then back to the Middle East. The books exciting path along this quest, as well as Messadie's excellent style, takes the reader on a marvellous "Grand Tour" around ancient religions, sacred cults and divine books. Forget the Devil; Messadie presents an excellent panorama on the roots of all religions. A "must-read" for every ancient history fan.

At over thirty dollars, I expected more from this book. Like a better index. Some organization. And honesty about what the problem can and can't do. This book is little more than a sales demo of what the product can do. However, even then they haven't done a very good job.

I suppose this book would be OK if I were taking a class and had a teacher there. But on its own there's not enough explanation of why you want to do things.

The visual quickstart book is half the price, but contains much better instructions, is laid out better, and has a good index.

With the new addition of InDesign to the field of Graphic Communications, a guide really needed to be written for the smooth transition. This book is excellent and is a must for any InDesign user, whether advanced or novice. It directly relates to the field of printing and is a great addition to any collection.

Two things struck me while reading this book, the first is that I doubt there is a book out there that is truly balanced and not somewhat biased. The second thing was that Gore really got the shaft, not so much by the recount wars, but by the election official that came up with the Butterfly Ballot. In the history of the USA this decision ranks up there with new Coke and the XFL, what a mistake. As far as the reporting in the book it was not bad for a review of all the articles they had in the paper, but it did not really dig into the particular issues very deeply. I wanted more detail and behind the scenes with both the candidates. I also wanted more details on the court cases; I felt like the sky-high overview of the issues of the cases did not do such an important issue justice.

In reading the book I think a little bit of a democratic bias comes out, just a little, but enough to notice. I also thought it interesting that they had far more details of the Gore group then the Bush camp, it follows the perception that the Post is somewhat liberal in its views. The book is an overview that came out almost 10 minutes after Gore hung up the phone on the second concession call so there are a few more details out now that they did not get in the book. Overall it is a good effort and a readable book, but not the end all be all on the subject.

This book, by the editors of the Washington Post, does a good job of describing the events which led to the deadlocked 2000 Presidential election. In addition to detailing the paths which led to the deadlock, the book discusses all the post-election issues in a very readable format. Surprisingly, the books editors seem only slightly tilted towards Gore (especially considering it is the Washington Post, which is noted for its liberal bias), so no matter who you voted for, there is much to be found here for anyone with an interest in contemporary politics.

I personally think the Washington Post and NY Times are liberal rags that are generally not worth the paper they are printed on. However, in fairness, when they do well I think they should be commended. I read the NY Times "36 Days" and still think that book was not worth the paper it was printed on. It was nothing more than a reprint of their articles.

Conversely, though, Deadlock was a well-written book. Two passages are worth noting. The first is about the book itself. About one-third of the way into the first chapter the book says: "These are the ... decisions, alliances, power plays, snap judgments and personality flaws revealed when a flukishly close election is played out for staggering high stakes. Both sides were nimble and brilliant and occasionally shady; both sides were also capable of miscalculations, divisions and blame. The best and worst of politics were on displayed in those 36 days, and both sides trafficked in each. This is how it happened." Although the Post endorsed Al Gore (no surprise) they tried to be equal in their appraisal of how the two campaigns sought resolution in their favor.

As for the two sides' strategy one only has to look within the first three pages of Chapter 2 where the Post records that the Democrats enlisted the services of three authors who wrote "The Recount Primer". The book reads: "Anyone who read and heeded the booklet could predict how the two sides would play America's closest president election -- at least in the broad outlines. Gore would gamble; Bush would stall. Gore would preach a doctrine of uncounted ballots; Bush would extol the dependability of machines. Gore needed more: more counting, more examination, more weighing and pondering of more ballots. Bush needed it over while he was still ahead." The only trouble for the Gore forces with this gospel was that the Republicans knew the same gospel. The book attempted to show how the two sides played out the roles assigned them.

For a behind the scenes objective look at the two sides, I think the Post did a very decent job. This could have been a... job on the Republicans and conservatives, but generally it was not (though I expected it). It could have been a... job on the Democrats and liberals, but it was not (nor did I expect it). I am not accustomed to this degree of fairness from the liberal Washington Post nor do I expect to see it very often in the future.

This book was incredibly disappointing. Faulty science, horrible writing and bland (sometimes awful) recipes make for a totally worthless book. Do yourself a favor and don't waste your money here.

As the Director of the Intrafitt Performance Nutrition and Exercise Center at Gold's Gym, Venice for the past ten years, I've had the pleasure of working with thousands of professional, olympic, amateur and armchair athletes, clients with diabetes, heart conditions, medical concerns, dieting histories, life changes, families; people from every walk of life. I am also a professional adventure racer, and have my own nutrition and exercise program to adhere to. One of the best tools I have in my nutrition counseling is John Romano's Muscle Meals. Professionally, Muscle Meals teaches clients how to prepare extremely healthy gourmet meals, greatly increasing their compliance toward their fitness goal or body composition. Each recipe has a complete listing of it's nutritional breakdown and is presented in an easy to follow manner. The recipes and food ideas are simple and quick, with taste and diversity that would seem laborious, but take minutes, not a full day to prepare. Personally, since I've started using Muscle Meals recipes, people seem to miraculously appear at my doorstep and office entrance at meal times; I never knew I had so many hungry friends!! For our office and my kitchen, Muscle Meals is indispensible.

I love MUSCLEMEALS! I'm so glad I bought this book. I use it almost every day and am able to eat great tasting meals and stay on my diet. The book is ver well written, at times even funny, and the dishes always come out perfect. I'm a personal trainer and reccomend MUSCLE MEALS to all my clients.

El título del libro sugiere una presentación alejada de prejuicios en pro o en contra de la religión católica, sin embargo no logra su objetivo de imparcialidad y su crítica sobre las prácticas y creencias católicas romanas suele ser ácida y evidentemente no-constructivas.