This book covers the almost lost art of point engraving on glass. The history is quite thorough, from the Romans to the Renaisance, to modern times. The photographs of point engraved glass are just incredible (as a point engraver myself, it's an extremely hard subject to photograph well). The author has included photographs of his own work, which do not dominate the book, but rather serve to illustrate that this a subject of which Mr. Whistler has great personal mastery. The bowl on page 63 is incredible.

Beware, if you're looking to get started in teh field, this book is a history, not a how-to. Also, point engraving is an incredibly time consuming, thankless art.

Getting students to see the connection between their classes is often difficult. Students in middle school do not see that Literature and Social Studies are interconnected. Yep's tales help suppliment an often "boring" unit on Ancient China.

Frankly I didn't see the murderer coming, nor the motive. [And sometimes, I can spot the murderer right away]. Since the Ingram review is so bad, here goes -

The book opens at a cooking contest, at which food writer/ amateur detective Darina Lisle has been invited to judge. The surprise winner is one Verity Fry, whose mother Constance and sister Pru (Prunella, as it turns out) run a small but successful organic farm. At the competition, Darina notices a young handsome restauranteur Simon who seems very friendly with Verity; however Verity also has a late-arriving boyfriend two decades her senior - a smart businessman, Oliver Knatchbull. [the name is that of an authentic British noble family, but the character is entirely fictional].

Darina is persuaded by the Fry women to come and see their farm. And so begins her involvement with that family who do produce wonderfully tasty meat and poultry; at the same time, she is persuaded by Simon to help him with his forthcoming cookbook. What becomes clear both to Darina and the reader is that Simon and the Frys have a complicated relationship, and that Simon is desperate for money. What is clear to the reader (but not to Simon) is that Simon seems rather close to Verity. Not surprisingly, when Constance Fry (the mother) turns up dead following a hit-and-run, Simon is one of the suspects - but is quickly cleared (Darina just happens to be his alibi).

But there is another murder to follow - and a rather involved history behind that murder. The cousin of a deceased cookbook writer has recently returned to her family home after spending years abroad; there is some mystery over her opposition to Verity's proposed marriage to Oliver Knatchbull and her fear of her cousin (and heir). There is considerable mystery about Constance Fry's romantic past, and about Verity's birth. These mysteries are largely solved, and mostly successfully, by the end. The murder involves a pate competition, and the mystery of which pate was responsible for the death of Natasha Quantrell (the writer's cousin). Not to mention the reason for her murder - which is not precisely what you might suspect. [Hint - there is a strong element of Greek tragedy here].

If you like your mystery well-flavored with culinary details, this is just the book for you. Darina Lisle can be occasionally irritating (she is rather interestingly, herself the cousin of a late writer); and both she and her boyfriend are related to the aristocracy [not typical, I assume, for a detective]. There is her own failed or not-so-failed romance playing out in the background. Both Verity Fry and her sister Pru are remarkably self-centered people, as is Simon. [If you like more sympathetic characters, this is not the book].

I have to admit that I was not entirely satisfied with all the elements. For example, Natasha Quantrell's opposition to the marriage seemed somewhat specious. Constance Fry's affection for Verity seemed overdone. Still, it was interesting to read about the lifestyle of a cookbook author, and to understand the tensions in the life of such an author.

I rated this book at 3.7. While this book is not a re-read, it is still good enough to forward (by mail) to a friend.

A Sharp Summary about Sea Glass

Sea Glass is about a kid named Craig Chin who lives in San Francisco's Chinatown and is trying to fit in with this New World he has entered after moving from China. The kids won't accept him though and they call him names like Buddha Boy and the fat kid. His father tries to help encourage him by saying things like "Any Chinese person has to try twice as hard as any western person". His uncle is the only person who really understands Craig's situation. His uncle helps by opening a whole New World to him except this time it's the sea world. Craig figures outs that he still has a chance to fit in, so he tried.
My opinion is that it is a great book for people still in grade school, secondary school, high school, and up. And is great for people who feel picked on. I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, because it was a slow start. It had a very interresting story once you got started though.

For all the times I've read that this poet-friend of the Wright Brothers is best known for his dialect poems, I'd never really considered the corollary: that he was a fine poet in standard English as well. And what poems they are! If poetry is supposed to be a subjective and emotional art, Mr. Dunbar has mastered it. I felt my heart wrenched over more than one poem. This is a very nice volume to have if one wants a sampling of Mr. Dunbar's art in an inexpensive format. Dover has done a great job in the selection, balancing the dialect poems and the standard English ones. If you only want one volume from this poet, this is the one to get.

Laurence Sterne's 1768 novel, "A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy," is a strange and largely plotless book - less the recounting of a journey than of Parson Yorick's ramblings. Following the wildly successfuly, and no less diffuse "Tristram Shandy," Sterne crafts a much smaller, but no less intense work, recounting the misadventures of Parson Yorick, himself a character in the earlier novel. Labelling himself a 'sentimental traveler,' Yorick's account of his travels is not descriptive, but emotive, revealing his conflicted, if warm-hearted psychology.

The novel begins abruptly in the middle of a conversation between Yorick and his servant over a French policy in the eighteenth century of seizing the property of a foreigner who dies in France. Eager to discover the truth of the matter, Yorick impulsively throws a few shirts in a bag and before the next day ends, lands in Calais, France. Upon his arrival, his initial purpose, like many which he determines on in the course of the book, is forgotten, as his mind drifts from topic to topic as things and people happen to cross his sight. What remains of the novel are a series of pathetic and amorous adventures, in which Yorick's senses of morality, propriety, and common sense are brought into constant conflict with his impetuous nature and good humored guile.

Sterne is too intelligent and expert a writer to allow sentiment, what we might call sappy nonsense, to rule the day in his novel, and the scrapes Yorick get himself into are as much a critique of pure sentiment as an exploration of the uses and practicality of human sympathy. Sterne is playing with a recent tradition of moral philosophy, including the likes of such authors as Shaftesbury and Adam Smith, the latter of whose "Theory of Moral Sentiments" (1759) was at the forefront of popularizing and pragmatizing fellow-feeling. Sterne uses the excitable and impulsive Yorick to play with these ideas, along with those of his acquaintance, David Hume, whose notions of moral aesthetics marked a radical departure from the aforementioned predecessors. Out of all of these high flown philosophical traditions, Sterne fashions a witty and clever series of scenarios - from eating with peasants, bantering with a monk, flirting with a married woman while her husband indifferently watches, and nearly getting thrown in the Bastille - all display a very human look at the world.

Encounters between Yorick and various classes and characters in France illustrate the distance between theory and practice in terms of implementing any kind of systematic philosophy - even, and especially for a man of the cloth, like our protagonist. Yorick means well most of the time, which makes his faults and foibles all the more endearing and amusing. By his own admission, Yorick is constantly falling in love, perhaps to give his bachelor life some sense of chivalric purpose, but when he starts falling in love with every chamber-maid and noblewoman in France, we begin to question, not only his sincerity, but the capacity of his sexual and emotional appetites. It makes for hilarious episodes, especially when his French servant, La Fleur, is dragged into the middle of them.

A forerunner of the focused genre of sentimental fiction like Mackenzie's "The Man of Feeling" and the more refined imaginative sensibilities of many Romantic Era authors, Sterne's little novel, along with "Tristram Shandy" made immediate cultural impact, not only in England, but throughout Europe. Sometimes confusing, often amusing, reading Sterne's "Sentimental Journey" is a great way to while away a summer afternoon.

As an english instructor at the university level, it is difficult to find a book that addresses all the issues one faces in a freshman english class. This book covers all the basics for grammar and sentence structure, plus it progressively takes a young writer through all the stages of writing from brainstorming to editing. The assignments included in this book help students learn the craft of writing and the language of the lessons reaches all levels and abilities. A truly fantastic addition to any instructor's arsenal!

The Serpent's Children is the coming of age story of Cassia, an atypical Chineese girl. She struggles to keep the family together while her father is off fighting the people they call the demons. This book gives insight into what Chineese life was like, on both sides of the ocean. It is a good read, although sometimes a little dry. I enjoyed other books by Laurence Yep more than this one, but it is still a powerful story and one worth reading.

This book pulls together much of the current thinking on using Risk Assessment techniques for Strategic Investment decisions. The book is easy to follow enhanced by useful graphics. However, the book is very expensive and the quality of the publishing does not live up to the cost.

Seidman presents a useful introduction to one of the current proposals to replace the existing income tax. He demonstrates that the 'consumption tax' is clearly superior to the existing income tax on both a practical and conceptual basis. However, he should have emphasized the practical case for the consumption tax, because judgements on the conceptual merits of income taxation vs. consumption taxation will always be subjective. I.e., advocates of the consumption tax cannot 'win' the argument solely on conceptual grounds.

The main difficulties with the income tax are that it is difficult to comply with (even when you're honest); avoidance schemes (legal ways to minimize tax); and evasion (cheating). No alternative to the income tax will eradicate cheating, but the author is correct that the consumption tax would police cheating better than the current system does. Perhaps he should have emphasized this more.

Avoidance schemes under the income tax (sometimes called 'tax planning' by their creators) are rampant and a cause of significant complexity, as the Revenue Service and Congress try to deal with each scheme on an ad hoc basis. Because the consumption tax is much simpler n concept than an income tax, the opportunities for avoidance schemes would be reduced. Additionally, the 'garden variety' avoidance schemes that would be expected to crop up under a consumption tax have been identified and could be dealt with up front in the implementing legislation

For those who desire more information on what's wrong with the current system, read Michael Graetz's recent book on that topi