While teaching preschool for many years, this tape was the start of most naptimes! Now ordering it for my child, I can't wait to see them enjoy it as well... The reading is beautiful and after listening you can't help but hear that voice when reading it yourself.

The stories are narrated by Glynnis Johns, she played the mother in Mary Poppins. My children listened intently and laughed a lot at irrascible Frances. They asked for the stories over and over.

Most of us are fortunate enough to live in a house. Most houses have the same things in them: beds, bathtubs, closets, floors, stairs, windows, kitchen sinks. Most of these things, especially utilitarian objects like walls, floors, windows and ceilings, are so common as to hardly garner any attention whatsoever unless they are falling into disrepair. We see them all the time when indoors, but their presence hardly registers on our consciousness (babies, for example, stare at the ceiling a good deal of the time, but the word "ceiling" is hardly important enough to us-as is the ceiling itself-to teach it to them first).

Mr. Thorne isn't convinced that these mundane objects are as mundane as we may collectively think they are. Through a series of short chapters that cover the gamut of things in and of a typical house--The Keyhole, The Floor, The Bed, the Closet-- he puts the typical dwelling under the microscope and takes another look at the things we all LOOK at, but don't really SEE.

It's a fascinating exploration of the everyday, seen through a different lens than the one we normally use to view our world. I, for one, haven't thought about the shape of the bathtub since childhood. But, after reading Home Body, I now look at it differently, much the way I did when I was a child. Back then (as Mr. Thorne reminded me), the tub resembled some sort of reverse boat-where the curved sides, like a hull, held the water IN, instead of keeping it OUT. The further irony of floating a toy boat on the water inside this bathtub-boat is something I've not thought about in years, having used the bathtub for it's purpose of getting clean in recent history.

While not written from a childlike perspective, Home Body does have a lilting, poetical, imaginative turn of phrase for even the most mundane objects in the home. For example, dust: "Dust, like madness, blindness, moral decay, doesn't appear out of the blue with the sudden violence of a summer storm. It drifts down softly, an incessant, imperceptible sift."

Indeed.

John Thorne has an awe-inspiring ability to show us that the everyday, the normal, the nominal are worth more thought. More than simply where we live, the house--in Thorne's able hands-- becomes the living, breathing, secret-bearing thing we'd be hard put to live without. He pokes around in all the corners, examining not only doors and windows and mirrors, but tables, chairs, and bathtubs. You'll wander through your home with this book in hand, eyes widening as you realize he's right. This is a lovely look at the things we ignore simply because they're always there. Open your eyes and look again.

This is a long book, the product of a lengthy period of research, which was needed to unravel the extensive coverup of the story of Richard Case Nagell, who worked for both US and Soviet intelligence. In the process of being a double agent in the early 1960s, Nagell learned that Oswald was involved in a conspiracy to kill Kennedy, which he was unable to prevent. One of Hoover's greatest failures was not paying more attention to Nagell. Nagell's letter to the Warren Commission regarding his knowledge of Oswald was basically ignored, and it was thus left to Dick Russell to undertake the investigation that Hoover's FBI should have done. Fortunately for the reader, Russell's investigation was far superior to any that the FBI would have been able to do. The result is the best book ever written on the JFK assassination. The nature of the conspiracy and some of the players are clearly delineated in this book. Anyone interested in knowing the outlines of the conspiracy to kill JFK must read this book. This isn't just a book that adds a few interesting pieces to the puzzle--this book puts the puzzle together like no other source, in or out of government, has been able to do. This is the only JFK assassination book ever written that is an absolute must for the serious (or casual) reader on this subject.

If you are an assassination or conspiracy researcher, this should be your most 'dog-eared' referance material. Mr. Russel approaches all the angles here, in an un-biased collection of facts. semi-facts and outright myths surrounding the JFK incident. While there is much insight to the Richard Case Nagle scenario, Russel provides much material that is scattered about the research communtiy in several different sources, and presents them in an easy to lactae manner. Even if your not a ressearcher, it is a good read.

I've taken this book with me twice to Paris, in spite of its weight (three-and-a-half pounds) and the fact that it's not really a guidebook. It is an elegant, erudite tour of the City of Light, through its streets and through its history.

I first read "Paris" in a small garret under the eaves of a grand Parisian hotel. It had been one of the hottest days on record and my room had no air-conditioning. Nor does Paris shut down for the night. However, I had an imposing view of a street, lined with facades of a "huge blank pompous featureless sameness" that was deplored by Henry James. And I had this book, which turned that airless Parisian night into magic. Its author has a knack for spotting the most telling detail--from the "heavy, gun-metaled print of a mid-nineteenth-century thumb" where he starts his tour in the Louvre, to the very borders of Ile de France where he ultimately bids his readers farewell under the "immensities of the upper air" that were a painter's dream. "Light, then, first: and air."

In many aspects of their lives, John Russell finds Parisians to be "a secretive, devious, ungiving people." Buildings are there to hide things, not expose them to every passing tourist. However, this book puts all of the charming (and not so charming) details of interior life on view. There are the velvet-lined elevators of the original Galeries Lafayette, whose builder's passion "was to conquer the female race"--in the shopping sense of 'conquer.' There are Anglophile pubs, and expensive 'bars-à-filles,' where "the lights glow rose-to-amber, the windows are curtained with carpet, ...a sad bargain can be driven at any hour of the day, and the atmosphere is inexpugnably 'triste'."

One of my favorite descriptions is of Balzac's house on the street that now bears his name. Like so many other Parisians, the nineteenth-century author succumbed to the contagion of High Victorian style. Hardly a surface in the house was left unsculpted or unencrusted with bronze, tortoiseshell, and buttercup damask. The bathroom was built of yellow stone and covered with bas-reliefs in stucco. Once shut inside Balzac's library, a stranger might never find her way out again, because even the door was lined with bookshelves.

The author is equally at home in every Parisian milieu, from palace to 'bar-à-fille.' As Rosamond Bernier says in her introduction to this book, "No one else could combine the feel and the look, the heart and the mind, the stones and the trees, the past and the present, the wits, the eccentrics, and the geniuses of my favorite city with such easy grace."

"Paris" is adorned with 310 illustrations (many of them charming old photographs), including 85 colored plates, all personally chosen by John Russell.

If a trip to Paris is even the merest glimmer on your event horizon, read this book. You can lug it to Paris like I did, or snuggle up to it in the comfort of your own room. And dream.

I bought this book many years ago, before my first visit to Paris. It was both more than I anticipated and less than I expected. By this I mean that it was a very impractical book to use, by itself, as a guide to Paris, but was a wonderful book to use to learn about the Paris of the Parisians and the Parisians, themselves. Strange, you may say, but by reading PARIS, one comes to the realization that the Parisian has a relationship with his city that is unlike any other.

As one example of this, Russell talks of the fact that Parisians are not particularly impressed by their famous authors, artists, statesmen, etc. To wit: When a great man dies, Parisians give themselves over to grief that seems almost inconsolable, but on the way home from the miles long funeral procession, "they remind themselves that for every great Parisian who lies in a vault there is another great Parisian ....."

Russell says that Paris is a city of impulse, a city in which to act on impulse is one of the secrets of happiness. This, to me, is why the typical three day whirlwind tour of Paris is so unsatisfactory. My first visit to Paris was on just such a tour (my last one, by the way) and I left feeling that I'd really missed something. Following Russell's excellent advice, I came back a few years later and spent a month taking life on a day by day basis. This visit was much more fulfilling and I have PARIS to thank for helping me understand the importance of taking time out from sightseeing to absorb a little of the ambience that is the true Paris.

This book is much more than an occasional bit of advice to the would be tourist. It is a history. It is a discussion of the art and architecture of Paris. It is a discussion of key areas within the city and of the Ile de France surrounding the city. It is also a discussion of the Parisian of today and yesterday and what makes him unique. To boot, it contains countless photographs and art reproductions going back hundreds of years. There is a wonderful discussion of the old railroad station hotels with detailed descriptions of several of them. I have a feeling that "progress" has wiped out most of them.

No book on Paris would be complete without a discussion of the Metro. PARIS gives the history of this transportation backbone of Paris from its beginnings to the present. It's nice to know that you're never more than about 5 minutes from a Metro station and never more than about 45 minutes, by Metro, from anywhere in Paris. My wife and I purchased Carte Orange's (Orange Cards - 30 day Metro Passes) for about $42.00 American each, and had our month's transportation needs provided for. The Metro and good walking shoes, that's all one needs in Paris.

I can't imagine anyone reading this book and not wanting to visit Paris. I know that if I hadn't been there I'd want to go after reading it. As it is, rereading sections of this book, in preparation for this review, has made me want to do just that. Je suis pret.

John Warden was the architect for the most successful campaign in the 90 year history of air combat. He has brought his insights to the corporate world. A truly original thinker, Warden not only thinks outside the box but helps others do so. Highly recommended for leaders at all levels and for courses at business schools and corporate universities.

If Sun Tzu had been an entrepreneur this book would have been written centuries ago.

Using a concise war-winning paradigm, Warden and Russell have successfully captured the essence of designing a business strategy that will work every time. There are three things that make this book a proverbial "must read."

- It cuts to the chase by explaining what a business strategy needs to provide to everyone in the organization and does this in way that everyone from the mail clerk to the CEO can understand.
- It proves the KISS principle doesn't have to produce a "Business for Dummies" approach.
- You can start reading the book on Monday, finish it on Tuesday, begin to institute change on Wednesday, and by Friday be making a difference.

Frankly, I think it's the best book I've read since "Thriving on Chaos" by, Tom Peters.

Capably edited by C. Russell Hunley, and enhanced with an extensive bibliography and a comprehensive index, The 14th U.s. Infantry Regiment In The American Civil War: John Young Letters is Volume 14 in the Civil War Heritage Series, and a powerful primary source that gives profound insight to what life was like serving as a noncommissioned officer. From the daily camp routine to traumatic battlefield violence that included looting houses and shooting the wounded after Fredericksburg this is a powerful, personal, intensely vivid account which is strongly recommended for Civil War Studies supplemental reading lists and academic reference collections.

Colby College is an amazing school and this is an incredible book. No more needs to be said.

The 1977 (or 1978) Hyperion edition is a reprint of P. E. Mattheson's 1926 edition. There have been two recent translations, one by John R. Russell (1996) and the other by Ritchie Robertson (1997). I cannot speak authoritatively about either translation, having not examined them in detail, but I can tell you that Robertson's includes the 'Gedankenstriche' (long dashes) that Moritz used, rather than converting them into more modern punctuation. This and the price would lead me to order Robertson's paperback edition.

We purchased this book from an art museum while on a driving trip. We used it all during out trip to make our stops a learning pleasure. It is amazing what wonderful art is out there in small museums. This book will be used whenever we plan a trip. If would be perfect for someone traveling in a motor home.

This guide is a beautifully put together resourse for all art lovers, students and museum professionals. It is extremely clear and easy to use. I found wonderful places to visit in my own backyard that I wasn't even aware of previously. I also can't wait to take my next trip to another part of the country and visit these wonderful museums! The guide is a real inspiration to get up and out to all of these great institutions.