In this charming book, cartoon illustrations of Aldo the dog and his friend the magician show how one-point and two-point perspective work as the magician constructs Aldo's doghouse. The last page is a simple text explanation about linear perspective. It is friendly, entertaining, and correct. Most importantly, it is not intimidating. As a teacher of drawing, I have always kept my eyes open for good books about perspective. Linear perspective is a simple idea, but trickier than the devil to explain. I found "Aldo's Doghouse" in a library back in the 70s and have refered to it often since then. I have bought a couple of copies, but have given them away as gifts. I am glad to have found a copy of this little gem again! The gentle approach of this little book, while written on about a middle-school level, is useful even for my beginning students on a college level.

It would be terrific to have an animated version of this book.

Dr. Baker's work is not merely of interest for anthropologists. He looks at the overlapping histories of "racial science" and the politics of race relations in the United States between 1896 and 1954. His narrative is impressively written and accessible to a wide readership. Please take a look at this book if you have any interest whatsoever in the current public debates over affirmative action, racial categories, or civil rights law enforcement--or if you have interest in the recent "Bell Curve"-inspired debates over supposed theories about race, class, and I.Q. Baker's From Savage to Negro provides a historical perspective on the uncanny resonance between racial politics and "racial science" in U.S. history that is desperately needed in today's public debates over the social and political meanings of "race" in contemporary American society.

I am currently in the middle of a massive remodeling project in my house. I bought this book to learn some simple techniques for installing the molding that was so easy to rip out, but is a pain to put back in. I read the book from cover to cover and I found that the book lacked on illustrations/pictures. Most of the explanations are only given in paragraph form, and was hard to follow for me. This is the only do it yourself book that I regret buying from Amazon!

Great book on trim carpentry techniques for pros or someone who wants to do a professional quality job. Written from the practical viewpoint of an experienced pro with high standards. A bit of overkill if you are in a hurry but I would recommend it before trimming several rooms yourself or even if you want to check your contractor's work.

Very good book for baseboard, crown, door and window moldings. It has tons of pictures and illustrations. On the top of the cover of the book it says: "For Pros/ By Pros". I would agree with this assesment; but it is easy enough for a handyman type with little molding experience like me to follow also. After looking through this book, I was tearing out old molding with abondon and the confidence that I could do a good job of getting nice new stuff back in.

This book does not work on any level. Once again, it proves that extensive research isn't enough to make a historical novel good.

Savage postulates that Lee is court-martialed over the defeat at Gettysburg, the trial taking place some time during the winter of 1863. This gives Savage an opportunity to run through all of Lee's battles (with a side trip to Jackson's Valley Campaign) and command decisions up until then. As an amateur scholar who enjoys reading nonfiction studies, I still found these segments excruciatingly boring. The more fictional bits, the court-martial itself, were slow as well and the characterization seemed flawed. Savage doesn't have anything interesting to say about Lee, his leadership, and why he should or should not have been court-martialed; he recaps other scholars' arguments with no particular insight.

The use of language in this book was horrifically bad. This is an example:

"He had foresworn strong drink as a teenager for his mother."

Whoa. Think about that one a while.

Despite the work the author has apparently put in, I see no reason whatsoever why anyone would want to read this book.

This book is semi-enjoyable for its quotes of famous individuals in the Civil War, but at the end leaves the reader unsatisfied. If the author decided to "spicen" up this book with more controversial individuals associated with the Confederacy, i.e. Nathan Bedford Forrest, Braxton Bragg, and added some life to these members and others in the book, it could of been a treat to read. The author decided to use to much direct quotes from individuals, and did not use his own imagination to make the life, court martial and thoughts of Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and others more interesting. Overall a dry and unsatisfying read.

i enjoyed this book immensely being an avid civil war buff and all. a great book for those who really love history