This book features beautiful and captivating photographs of some of the biggest movie stars of the 1940's. The book's focus is primarily the 1940's, but there are several photographs from 1939 and a few from 1950. Some of the many stars include Hedy Lamarr, Rita Hayworth, Gene Tierney, Joan Crawford, Victor Mature, Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Lucille Ball, Merle Oberon, Lana Turner and many others. Each of the photographs exudes an air of elegance and dramatic artistry that is no longer seen today. This would make a great gift for fans of Hollywood's golden age as well as photographers and art lovers, but the photographs are so clear and the stars so alluring that anyone who looks at this book will surely fall under it's spell. Highly recommended! Also recommended is "Hollywood Glamor Portraits, 145 Photos of Stars 1926-1949" also by John Kobal (editor).

This collection of photographs of movie stars taken during the 1940's era is ever thought provoking. There seems a deliberate attempt to challenge the reader/viewer to discern the real life personality from the screen persona from the photographs chosen for this book. The result is a somewhat enigmatic experience leaving one with an euphoric feeling of melancholy. I think this is an important book for anyone who loves films from that era. The meticulous quality of this book allows you to stare into the eyes of these people stimulating your own imagination into your soul. It challenges you to find an answer to your own attraction to these immortal icons of a Hollywood long past and hopefully not forgotten.

This book will delight anyone who is a fan of movies from the 1940s. It contains 163 photographs of 106 stars, taken by 34 photographers. The reproduction quality is quite good, and the compositions are often superb. The acting skills of the stars add to the allure of these images.

In the book's introduction, Mr. Kobal talks about how these were the "years of Old Hollywood's last stand." The images are "dreams reflected in the bathroom mirrors of their generation." He also talks about the role of the clothes designers and hairdressers in creating these glamorous, moody images.

Here are my favorites in the book:

By A.L. Schafer: Rita Hayworth, 1940; Olivia de Haviland, 1941; Loretta Young, 1940; Alan Ladd, 1942.

By Frank Powolny: Betty Grable, 1941; Marilyn Monroe, 1950.

By Robert Coburn: Gene Tierney, 1941.

By Scotty Welbourne: Ida Lupino, 1940; Humphrey Bogart, 1941; Lauren Bacall, 1946

By Clarence Sinclair Bell: Hedy Lamarr, 1941; Greta Garbo, 1941.

By William Walling: Fred MacMurray, 1940.

By Edward Cronenweth: Lena Horne, 1943.

By Ernest A. Bachrach: Dorothy McGuire, 1945; Claire Trevor, 1944; Jane Russell, 1946; Barbara Hale, 1946.

By Eric Carpenter: Ava Gardner, 1944.

By John Engstead: Lauren Bacall, 1951; Ingred Bergman, 1946; Marlon Brando, 1950.

By Laszlo Willinger: Susan Hayward, 1948.

By Bud Fraker: Gary Cooper, 1947.

As you can see, the book is dominated by the glamorous female stars. Most of these images are done in partial shadow to highlight the facial structure and emotions of the actress or actor. In some cases, sculptures are used to highlight certain physical features of the subject. In general, the reproduction quality is quite high. Studios did now allow photographers to make their own prints in those days, so it all depended on the studio darkroom artists how it turned out. You will occasionally see an image that needed to have more cropping, more or less light, or which is muddy, but most are at least good reproductions.

After you finish this book, imagine how you can help people understand your thoughts by how you hold yourself and what expression you use. Do you see any poses or expressions here that can help you be more communicative?

Use all the elements of yourself to share your most important thoughts and emotions!

The writing in this book is simply gorgeous. What a gift when a poet can be convinced to write prose, because each word is selected and crafted and inserted in each sentence as if its value were immeasurable. My only dismay at the end of this book was to discover that Mr. Haines is not a prolific writer (at least of books). Fewer and fewer people will have the view of the world that this author had-as a homesteader and trapper. We are blessed that he has shared this account of life at its most raw and simplest elements.

Haines is best known as a poet, and you can see it here--the ideas and descriptions are spare and powerful. He gets right down to flesh and bone, the essences of things: the people he's met, the traps set, stories heard, the bone-cold loneliness of the place, it's all right here to be read, as if everything superfluous has been chipped away and all we have left is the experience in itself, what the land has told the writer. For anyone who wants to see what a master can do with the English language, or who wants a glimpse of a land and a way of life the likes of which few will ever see again, here's your ticket.

It's THE book about Life in the Alaskan Wilderness. An absolute MUST for every Alska Fan!

This is definetely a challenge![.] I'm still learning how to play some of these songs. It has four or five songs from the first movie and seem to be written EXACTLY like the music in the soundtrack and movie. They are wonderful to play and I love the challenge.

This is the ONLY Star Wars Piano Arrangement that does justice to the original score. It's the only STAR WARS piano score I've found that is challenging. And that is where the books strength lies. This arrangement is not merely a collection of themes from the movie. It is an exact reproduction of cues from the original soundtrack, though not necessarily in order. Note that this book contains only has cues from STAR WARS EPISODE IV. But considering that there is no other arrangements coming close to its caliber, I recommend it wholeheartedly to the enthusiastic intermediate or advanced pianist.

The different rythyms and tempos of the songs in the books really make the playing exciting. I enjoy playing Star Wars songs becuase they are thrilling.

I read this book to my second grade class and had a wonderful
reception! The children were delighted with the rich and colorful
illustrations by the talented John Lund, and also by the charming
and animated text by Ms. Trimble. Rich in color and detail, it is
an ideal selection for butterfly education for young children.
I applaud Ms. Trimble's obvious success in translating the
beautiful story of catterpillar "capers" into book adaptation for
young children. Quite a literary delight!

I used to hate to read, but now I know you can learn a lot from
reading books like "Melinda Martha Meets Mariposa" cuz it teaches
you about the metamorphisas of the Monarch butterfly. Since I
love butterflys, I wanted to read about them. I learned a lot
from this book. Cuz it talks about the butterfly's life and how
its born. I never knew that it took five weeks for it to come
alive. Melinda Martha is fun cuz it makes learning cool. Melinda
Martha pretends she is putting on a play in her backyard. The
play is all about the Monarc butterflyt and it shows the whole
life sycle. So it's like the life sycle is a show we can watch.
We can watch how the butterfly is born. The pictures are realy
buetiful and the story is fun. I like it alot.

I am so glad that finally a book about this endangered species
has been written for kids, cause I think kids need to learn
about the interesting life cycle of the butterfly. Finally
little kids are introduced to the beautiful monarch butterfly
in this beautiful book. Trimble gives a great portrayal of the
butterfly in her book. This book just sparkles with life and
insight! I recommend this book to any teacher who wants to
introduce to lower grade students the monarch butterfly in a

presentation they'll get a lot from. A great book!It will make
it fun for kids to learn. They'll be learning and playing at
the same time!

I managed to get a translated copy in Swedish of this book, "Stjärnboken" in a used-books store in Stockholm. The charts by Wil Tirion are excellent. Clear and accurate but not overly simplified. Sanford's narration is very pleasant with a good balance between the different DSO's that are interesting for people with different equipment. What really impressed me even more are the full colour pictures of *every* constellation in the night-sky. A tremendous effort, which provides great help in learning the constelations and the relative positions of deep-sky objects. I can't understand why this book is out of print. Someone should buy the rights for this book and publish it again. If you find a used-copy, grab one for me too =).

It's truly amazing that this book is no longer in print. How is this possible? I have found it to be the best general constellation guide for naked eye, binocular or telescopic observing that I have seen. It provides very good star charts and photos of each constellation and summarises the most prominent objects (multiple and variable stars, deep sky objects, etc) in each constellation, providing locations (on star chart and coordinates), basic information and data on each object. I take it with me on every observation session. The book is well organised, easily understood and its setup/content caters for the beginner, intermediate and even more advanced observer. I believe it would take a long time for a beginner to "outgrow" (if it's even possible) the usefulness of this book. I believe it's a must have in the astronomical library. Again, I ask..."Why is this book no longer being published!?!"

David, Astronomy Enthusiast

Sanford's book is without doubt the best general observing guide to the constellations I have ever used, and I've used a lot of them. His star maps are excellent. He provides concise summaries of all the most interesting objects in each constellation, and he covers both hemispheres. I have been looking for additional copies of this wonderful, out-of-print book for a year.

I read this book of Spring 2,000.I realy didn't know what these books were going to be about until I read the first three. I started at eaten alive. it was a good book and had a good plot.Then, I read the second book, City of the Dead. It was very good and also had a good plot. After that, I was on the third book. It was a really cool book. I really liked the evil Shi'ido that pretended to be the doctor and friend of Uncle hoole. It also has some of the original characters like Wedge Antillies. John Whitman described the dense jungle, the old pyramids, and the green oozy blobs very well. As you read these three books and all of the star wars galaxy of fear books, each book makes sense. Like in planet plague, Zake got that sickness from dr. Evazen in book two. And in book three you the evil Shi'ido is really... in book four. I can't tell who it is becasue you have to read the books yourself. So, sit down for a couple a minuets and read a chapter or two. Me and my friend have read the first three books and we still talk to each other at school about what happened in the books. Well, that's all I have to say for now, but sit down and read these collections of books. It will take you on an adventure.

Tash and zac are trapped on dogobia. with a blobs running around. Zac is sick while DR. KIVIA injectes a deadly virus into hoole and tash . Hang on to your pants as you go on a thrilling ride of your life in planet plague.

I've read Star Wars galaxy of fear no.2 and 3, although planet plague (no.3) was my personal favorite. It's about two kids named Tash and Zak who'se parents were destroyed on the planet Aldeeran by the evil Empire's Death Star. In Planet Plague, Tash, Zak, Uncle Hoole who is a mysterios Shi'ido, and DV9 (Deevee for short)fly to the planet Gobindi in thier newly-bought ship, the Shroud. The Gobindi culture suddenly and mysteriosly vanished from the galaxy, nobody knows why. When they landed they hurried Zak to the medical infirmary, called IBWD, meaning, Imperial Biological Welfare Division. At one of the computer terminals at the infirmary, Tash typed Starscream into the password enter, Starscream was an Imperial code for some secret plot by the Empire that she got a lot of information on from Forceflow, Forceflow was some person Tash had met over the Holonet. on the terminal, IBWD appeared on the screen, instead of Imperial Biological Welfare Division under it, said Imperial Biological Weapons Division. Near the end, Tash finds out that her Uncle Hoole's Friend, Dr. Kavafi is actaully another Shi'ido, the Shi'ido are shape-shifters, they can transform into anyone and anything in the Universe. The other Shi'ido was an imposter, secretly planning to flow a microscopic virus through the air this was unkown to Hoole, but eventuelly, Tash, Zak, Hoole, and Deevee stop the virus from harming anyone. And then they fly off into space.

Hi all! I highly recommend this book. I've been buying a lot of books on the subject, but Seth knows what he is talking about: and when you get to meet voice teachers, this is not something common, unfortunately.

Finally somebody came up with a technique that actually works almost instantly and doesn't include any of those blurry explanations most classic techniques have concerning the functionality of scales or sound of voice. The author adds a little comment to each exercise to detail what exactly happens in your throat while you do the scale and what its purpose is. Everything he says makes prefect sense, and all in plain English. At last I have the sound I wanted while feeling totally loose at all times and never ending up "belting", hoarse, and frustrated. A Book and a Technique so fascinating you'll read it cover to cover immediately. Speech Level Singing... the Golden Key to every voice.

I've read just about every book on singing and this one is the best! Written in plain English, this book is easy to understand and the exercises actually work. But stick with it, it took me months to see results but I ended up being able to sing way up into my head voice (no falsetto). For male singers, true head voice is rare. Just look at the singers that he's taught, from Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder to opera singers, everyone raves about Seth! This book comes with two cassettes with examples of the vocal exercises. Use them and you can't go wrong. Unfortunately, I had to un-learn all the bad habits taught to me by many so called professional teachers. Get this book and you can't help but improve.

THE STAR CHAMBER is a very interesting book on several levels. It is most obviously an expose of the workings of the Office of Independent Counsel during the Clinton years. We learn about the horrors of the politics of personal destruction and such related issues as the need to read all newspapers with a large amount of skepticism.

John Wilkes is a pseudonym used by Stephen Smith. The author possesses a broad background in politics, academia and the law. As a result, he is able to shower the reader with original insights into a wide variety of people, events and situations.

If the reader looks carefully THE STAR CHAMBER can also be read as a love story and partly because of this the book often manages to maintain an optimistic tone.

Every American that cares about our Democracy needs to understand what is behind the Independent Counsel's investigation of our President. The Star Chamber helped me put the investigation in the proper perspective. This "Insider's Account", while written as fiction, rings true and places people and events in an understandable, and believable, context.

Insider John Wilkes, nom de plume of Whitewater figure Stephen Smith, takes a bitingly witty, albeit incredulous and occasionally bitter, view of political scandal. Set in the state of Alabama, the scandal involves a former governor subsequently elected President and a real estate venture gone wrong. Initially an investigation of presidential culpability by a truly independent council, an opportunistic takeover by a seasoned politico cum prosecutor turns the whole mess into a vengeful bloodbath. Only the blood that gets spilled is that of the innocent.

John Wilkes participation as a part of the independent council's legal team puts him in historic civil rights territory, Birmingham, Alabama. The story is laced with Alabama political figures that bring the story to life and aid in the reader's suspension of disbelief. While Wilkes, in the "Forewarning" comments, assures the reader that the book "is pure political parody" and that he "made it all up," my personal experiences in Republican politics in Alabama often paralleled events in the book. Like Miss Eudora and Beth Henley in Mississippi, or Flannery O'Connor in Georgia, John Wilkes AKA Smith knows his southerners and can tell their stories. Like Henley, Wilkes does not tell jokes, but the scenes he depicts range from the patently heart-rending to uproariously funny.

Unlike his fellow Southern writers, Wilkes also knows his politicians, having been one himself in his other identity as Stephen Smith. Besides being a duly elected legislator, Smith also served as an appointee of then-Governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton. Readers, Wilkes' assurances aside, will read fiction strongly resembling what Wilkes often refers to as the fiction of current political news stories.

What gives this book extra value is Smith's understanding of the legal processes and the liberal (no pun intended) smattering of legalistic analyses peppered with Latin bon mots. Given the context of today's news, this book is a page-turner that no observer of American politics will want to miss. The denouement blends just the right tone of optimism and pessimism to reflect the reality in today's news.

I won't repeat what other reviewers have already said. Basically, I'm in complete agreement with them. The story line is great, the hints are helpful, and the included CD with films of the missions is tremendous. I really wanted to give it 5 stars, but it omitted a few things I felt were invaluable based on the "Tie Fighter" hint book that came before. First, there was no listing of all of the possible ranks, and the point scores needed to achieve them, nor was there a listing of the possible skill levels (novice, veteran, ace, etc.) and the points necessary for those. It did not document the scoring mechanism - the bonus points earned by playing at the hard level, and the penalty for playing at the easy level. Secondly, it did not reveal the bonus goals, and point values, for those missions that offered them. Lastly, and I state this with reservation because the authors simply may not have had access to the information, there was no detail of the AI instructions that described how the computer-generated opponents would function in each mission. These instructions allowed the player to know what conditions would trigger a new type of craft appearing, or how many waves of enemy craft would be created. This information was extraordinarily helpful for winning the most difficult missions in "Tie Fighter". In its defense, however, the book did go into a lot of detail about how to set up single and multi-player skirmishes. All in all, an excellent guide, but it fell just short of being perfect.

I am not an avid player of games on the computer and certainly not action games like the one associated with this book (but I do love the Star Wars movies). My son left this book on the floor in the living room and out of curiosity I opened it. It was delightful! The middle section of the book is filled with adorable and humorous stories told by an R2D2 robot. Wonderful! The more technical sections of the book relate to the game itself and became very useful once I tried playing the game. When a book gets me to play a game with my son on the computer it says a lot. Thank you Mr. Drake and Mr. Barnett for the chuckles! (My son thanks you, too.)
M.S.

The film room is ont he expansion disc or downloadable from LucasArts on the net but those films on the campanion disc really help supplement the great text in the book.

This is a very well written and structured book. It first offers an overview of what The Tao is and how it breaks down for those unfamiliar with the concepts. The following chapters explore the different parts of the Tao while relating them to events in the Star Wars Saga. Works for me!!
I found the book to be very accessable to those who are not in the know as far as The Tao. Relating the ideas to events and characters of the S.Wars films does help the Tao novice to retain the lessons..... and for those who are already in the know it is simply a good read.
A great book to use to introduce younger people to the world of self awareness.....
my only problem with the book would be the HORRIBLE. HORRIBLE cover which can be misleading. The cover looks like it was designed to be on a book in the bargin bin or the cover of those cheap little books found at the supermarket check out.

This book is a delightful read. Effectively uses quotes from the Tao Te Ching and blends them with quotes from the Star Wars trilogy, plus the Phantom Menace. Very readable book. I'm surprised the auther didn't use a bigger distributor. The book cover is ridiculus looking, but the content excellent.

This book is without a doubt, the most useful and helpful translation of The Tao I ever read. Dr. Porter's wisdom and knowledge transform this book into a Taoist workbook, something a reader will find themselves continually going back to for guidance on their path through life. This is a must read!