I love animals and I love art so there couldn't be a more perfect combination for me than this book. Many of the finest contemporary wildlife artists have contributed to this collection. Creatures from all areas including water, seashore, mountain, rainforest, field, forest, plain, lake, marsh and swamp are here.

Information on each piece includes the artist, title, medium and size as well as a brief note about it from the artist, giving the book a personal touch. My only wish is that some of the stunning artwork was a bit larger. Most are only about a half a page.

My favorite area is the rainforest. It includes a mama gorilla and baby, an adorable tree frog, a gorgeous macaw and a lizard chasing a butterfly. Favorites from other areas include a hooded warbler bird with rhododendrons, a selection of woodpeckers, rhinos under a baobab tree and a solitary cougar in the snow.

I like this book so much I plan to buy another copy so I can frame some of the pictures and put them on my walls. If you're seeking a wonderful coffee table book that will inspire you with the beauty and diversity of nature, this is the book to get.

This is personally my favorite of all books on wildlife art. Each of the artists has produced excellent quality work. There are also many surprises, people who I am sure that we will be hearing about more in the future. The format of this book is simple, each artist has written several paragraphs about their work. For the aspiring artist, this information is useful; for the collector like myself, it is very interesting to know more about the artists whose work we collect. I have several other books on this subject, but since I purchased it several months ago, it has been the only one that I have since re-opened.

The male Emporer penguin goes without food for two months to keep an egg warm between his feet and belly... the African Honey Bird leads humans to beehives in order to share in the bounty (it wants the wax, not the honey). Birds do the strangest things! I remember loving this book as a child (along with Animals do the Strangest Things) and was glad to find a copy in a used bookstore to read my own child. It is still just as fascinating as I had remembered! I wish Scholastic would reprint this series.

This was an intimate and fascinating view of Bob Dylan. Alan Rinzler did a magnificent job. A perfect addition to any collection of music books.

This a the most loving, sensitive, respectful book of marriage I had ever read (of many!). It represents a man's perspective on the relevance a woman, wife, friend, mother, lover and the significance she plays in a man's life; the very essence of life itself is fulfilled and satisfied through a loving, spiritually connected marriage union. Rabbi Green tenderly expounds upon how and why the marriage relationship is crutial to the fulfillment of God's plan for man and woman, family and children, and humanity itself. For anyone contemplating marriage for the first time, and/or for a deeply sentimental, loving insight into the "ideal" of marriage (any marriage -- regardless of faith), this is a must read. Follow the thoughts of Rabbi Green and his love and wisdom acquired from 50 years in his own marriage and you can begin to understand why marriage has been at the core of Judaism for thousands of years! Too bad the book is so hard to find. It should be reinstated by its publisher for regular reprintings. Read it and I KNOW you'll agree, if you can find one!

This is still the most original book that I have ever seen! Who would imagine a book with wheels? Just thinking about it makes me smile! What a great book!

At the heart of this charming story lies a meditation on the uncanny power and beauty and mystery of music. The watercolor illustrations are quite lovely and fit in smoothly with the mood of the tale. It took me just five minutes to read, but I immediately wanted everyone I know to read it, too. (Makes a great gift for your favorite church musician!)

The original title of this anthology was _Bardic Voices One_, which can be confusing since Lackey's Free Bard stories are unrelated to her two contributions to this collection, which are set in a world that to date appears unrelated either to her Velgarth (the world containing Valdemar) or the Free Bards' world.

A word of warning: while Bradley's two contributions herein are both Lythande stories, neither appears in the collection _Lythande_, and both immediately reveal the Pilgrim Adept's great Secret (all the previous Lythande stories keep the reader guessing for at least a little while). Consider yourself warned against possible spoilers if you haven't yet read the previous Lythande stories, particularly "The Secret of the Blue Star". The lute-playing Adept is also a professional-class musician; otherwise there isn't much music in this collection.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer: "The Walker Behind" The title is drawn from a few unattributed lines of verse given at the beginning of the story; they're from Coleridge's _The Ancient Mariner_. As implied by the poem, Lythande walks into the story on a lonesome road, sensing "a frightful fiend doth close behind him tread", in Coleridge's words. Quickly taking shelter at the nearest inn, Lythande may well have left the fire for the frying pan: the old woman who runs the place is a *very* suspicious character, and the inn's servant girl is worryingly perceptive, for an Adept who must forever hide at least one secret.

Bradley, Marion Zimmer: "B****" [The title is a canine reference rather than a curse in this context.] Mostly the Pilgrim Adepts are loners, who are only required to work together at the end of the world, when the Temple of the Blue Star - their training ground, the heart of their order - falls under assault by the forces of Chaos. As it happens, the previous encounters we've seen between our enigmatic Pilgrim Adept and the brethren have not been a pretty sight, but for once a fellow Adept has turned up who not only isn't a personal enemy, but is even something of a friend. Unfortunately, the two of them pick the *wrong* old woman to put them up for the night - someone who not only changes them into dogs out of spite, but lands Lythande with the body of a *female* dog, which has the potential to *seriously* complicate life if the now voiceless, handless Adepts can't escape the spell pretty quickly.

Emerson, Ru: "Two-edged Choice" centers upon a long-retired, now married female mercenary who for various high-sounding, necessary reasons sneaks away from her present life to resume her old skills, only to be torn on realizing how much she's missed her old calling, despite some of the prices she must pay (which may be a bit startling to the reader).

Lackey, Mercedes: "Balance" and "The Dragon's Teeth" have since appeared in Lackey's collection _Fiddler Fair_, and should be read back-to-back, as they feature successive incidents in the life of Martis, who as a Masterclass mage, only works directly for the Mage-Guild. Consequently, when she's sent out on assignment, it's always something *very* dangerous, and when a new guardsman presents himself at the opening of the first story looking like a dancer tricked out in silks, we get some character development in the form of the chief guardsman stalking up to her quarters to exercise his privilege, as an old friend, to yell about her implied insult to his competence (and incidentally, to point out that she complains about *everybody*, in one case because the guy *snored*; the new guy, once one looks past the surface, appears to be an ideal partner for her, starting with how quiet he is). Lyran, as it happens, is *very* good at his job - he has to be, to have survived with his looks and unusual customs. His Way of Balance makes for interesting paired contradictions in his behaviour. The actual assignment in "Balance" is pretty standard; Lyran is the interesting point. The assignment in the second story emphasizes the nature of the magic system and the prices it exacts from magic-users, starting with sterility. The 'dragon's teeth' refer to a Greek myth (part of the golden fleece cycle) about sowing a dragon's teeth to produce a crop of warriors - a metaphor for the unusual problems mages run into in training the next generation.

Roberson, Jennifer: "Of Honor and the Lion" is one of only two Cheysuli short stories I know of, and is a prequel to the entire Chronicles of the Cheysuli storyline, featuring Alix's mother, who abandoned her life as a Homanan princess to run away with her father's Cheysuli liegeman. *She* thought that for once she was acting of her own free will, but Cheysuli, of course, generally believe very strongly in fate. (The other Cheysuli short story appeared in _Sword and Sorceress 1_, and served as a kind of extract of what would later become _Daughter of the Lion_.)

Readers, This book makes for wonderful reading... Each story is a thrill in itself... Some can be read together, for they involve the same characters (Ex: Balance & Dragon's Teeth; Bitch{hopefully this will not be sencored, the title referrs to the female dog} & The Walker Behind)... The editor, Alan Bard Newcomer, gathered together the works from some of the best, if not the very best, fiction/fantasy writers I have ever read... Mercedes Lackey, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Jennifer Roberson, and Ru Emerson are extrordinary authors... I only wish I could write as well... Perhaps one day I might be able to reach thier superior skills... Probably my favorate set of stories in 'Spell Singers' were the ones by Mercedes Lackey. Balance and Dragon's Teeth were superb stories which got me entirely indulged in the book. I have realized, by reading the section which referrs to other books writen by these authors, that Jennifer Roberson's story can be linked to her series 'The Chronicles of the Cheysuli'. I do not know about the other author's stories, though... This book is yet another MUST-HAVE on my list!... I would suggest that fantasy/fiction lovers read it as soon as possible... ~Storm~

Books on "gnosticism" often tend either to be in the academic stratosphere, or full of new age sensationalism. This volume is very useful in that it presents a variety of interesting viewpoints from (mostly) recognized scholars in the field. It's quite accessible and the closing chapter on modern gnostic revivals is of particular import for those seeking to comprehend the continued draw this ancient philosophy -- as radical or paranoid it may be -- exerts upon some elements of our society today. (I adopted this for use in an undergraduate course on gnosticism I teach.)

I've been waiting for three months to write this review, because I didn't fully understand Jefferson's points: on the one hand this biography resembles a cultural history of postWeimar era (he certainly is an expert in that field); on the other, he starts promisingly what seems is going to be a series of unveiled actions and secrets and deeds performed by Schwarzkopf in Berlin and elsewhere. But he doesn't honour his promise. He limits to suggest that she could've been Goebbels' favourite (lover); that she exercised her radiant and ravishing looks to gain the favour of producers, directors in Berlin and Vienna within a rapacious careerism. He doesn't go any further. Jefferson himself has responded to criticism in Amazon.com saying that he wrote about someone who's still alive and his pains with Editor Victor Gollancz, all of which didn't allow him too much room to display the "proof he has in his hands about Schwarzkopf's deeds with the Nazi Party". We all know if we read in Grove that Schwarzkopf was "cleared" by the Allies late in 1947; so I don't think Jefferson is saying nothing new. We also know that her marriage to perfectionist Walter Legge resulted in a master-slave relationship. But to my view, and as an admirer of Schwarzkopf's art, Jefferson's account is more a ratifying document about human frailty, in this case Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's. I hoped I was going to find in this book some sort of balance between John Steane/Alan Sanders' Schwarzkopf: A career on records and Jefferson's book. The formers put Dame Elisabeth under the light of a goddess. Well, I must say that a goddess of magic with words she was, and that she was quite capable of bringing tears to one's eyes when performing with her voice. Jefferson and Steane: The supreme artist and the very earthly creature. Jefferson's book has several merits: one of the strongest is his marvelous way with Schwarzkopf's interpretations. In spite of his tendency to be dry his reviews and metaphors are very good indeed. As formyself I rather keep in my mind, as when I heard her "in the flesh" and turned pages for Geoffrey Parsons, the memory of Dame Elisabeth's quintessence of femininity, of beauty of looks, of beauty of voice and of sounds that cannot be forgotten. THE BALANCE WAS LOST!!!

I'd heard about this book for years. Alan Cooper is widely regarded as the guru of interface design. After reading this book, I wonder why.

For one thing, he contradicts himself--a lot. On the one hand he complains that software tends to mimic the physical artifacts--for example, calendars are laid out on one-month grids. According to Cooper, this is a serious problem-- we are restricting a computerized calendar based on the limitations of the printed page. We should exploit the power of the PC. Then, not more than thirty pages later, he complains that computer file systems are deficient because they aren't centered around 'documents', which users know and love. We should restrict our file systems based on the limitations of the printed page. Be either fish or fowl; don't try to have it both ways.

I was very disappointed by this book. I expected insight, but what I got was Alan Cooper bitching about Windows. I knew what was wrong with Windows before I read the book. What I wanted was guidance on how to best interact with the user. I got Cooper's pet theories, most of which strike me as just plain silly.

Another reader described the book as "incredibly arrogant". I'd have to agree. Save your money; I doubt this book would help you create better user interfaces.

Many of the GUI design books I've read just tell obvious things (align your controls, don't use saturated colors etc). This book is different. It's deeper. It's about how users interact with computers and how to build GUIs that (to use Cooper's words) don't make the user look stupid. The book is provocativly written which might not be everybody's taste. I'm a programmer myself but didn't find the book offending. Although five years old by now I consider this the best book on GUI design out there. Note that there is no mention of Web specific issues in the book.

Cooper's book is a must read for anyone serious about user interface design, especially for Windows. It explores a wide range of subjects, from understanding users and the goals of UI design to an analysis of the major Windows user interface components. He has many interesting things to say and a great deal of insight. The presentation (which could be significantly improved with better editing) is enjoyable reading and thought provoking. One oddity - Cooper has a penchant for naming things, but unfortunately he isn't very good at it. The book is filled with original, often bizarre names for user interface concepts and components, but you could never use them in public without embarrassment.

If you are doing Windows user interface development, you should also check out McKay's Developing User Interfaces for MS Windows, which gives a very practical treatment of much of this material and more.