What a marvelous reference tool "Toby & Character Jugs of the 20th Century and Their Makers Is"! The dazzling photos and quality information make this book a "must-have" for all Toby collectors! Indeed, I discovered that I had actually purchased a FAKE Doulton. When I returned the jug to a local antiques store, I took along my Toby reference book. No questions were asked as for the return. In fact, the owner quickly wrote down info about the book in order to purchase one for herself.

I have always been fascinated by toby mugs and jugs, but could not find the right source of information. This is one of the best reference books ever. I use it daily to help identify toby and character mugs and jugs. I was very lucky to get an advanced copy of it's companion price guide. The combination of the two has proved to be very useful. I would recommend these two publications highly!

This is a fabulous book for the toby and character jug collector. The photo quality is exceptional (although some jugs are fairly small in the photos) and the organization is alphabetical by manufacturer. The information contained in the book is extensive. A wonderful reference source.

I couldn't disagree more with the negative comments of your first reviewer. I devoured the text of this book and only hope that Mr. Gorman will continue to provide us with his thoughtful insights into the beautiful and historically important places this book makes accesible. His prose captures the imagination, and demonstrates Gorman's appreciation of and respect for the wonderful locations he has chosen for his subjects. The photographs Mr. Gorman has taken are, in a word -- spectacular. Any collector of photography, or anybody who shares Mr. Gorman's evident passion for nature and history will cherish this book. I am planning on giving copies of this book to all of my friends and family who are outdoor enthusiasts this holiday season.

Usually, I am leery, at best, about people who regard themselves as qualified to attempt to shape, influence, or form broad opinion about art. I find that more personal critiques of art (such as opinions shared by friends who have common interests) usually prove more palatable and valid. This is especially true when the art form in question is literary. An individual's collected experiences lend to a unique, and completely valid vantage or perspective when surveying literary terra incognita. Hence, more often than thinking about a book as being "bad or "good," I tend to think of books and their readers as being well- or ill-paired. After reading Ms. Ross's review of Mr. Gorman's book, The American Wilderness: Journeys into Distant and Historic Landscapes, I immediately thought Ms. Ross an ill-suited audience for this book. In her critique, I felt a significant injustice had been committed and felt that I would be committing a greater disservice to my fellow outdoorsmen, conservationists, and environmentalists, if I did not speak in favor of this book.

Succinctly stated, Mr. Gorman's book is brilliant! The photographs are, at least, gallery quality and the prose, quite near sublime. The book is an epiphany for the wilderness aesthete, for those few who are still capable of being profoundly moved by the beauty of the simple façade and the complex underpinnings of nature. I imagine Mr. Gorman as a modern-day Thoreau, complete with zoom lens, extolling the virtues of one of our last true Public Goods (the American wilderness). Often, it seems that Wilderness Advocates, like Mr. Gorman, speak to an indifferent or hostile audience. Having said all this, I believe that one must approach such a book with some intellectual curiosity and preferably the potential for appreciation, maybe even some great love or admiration of nature. Otherwise, one's comments are strictly academic, only as valid as the observations of an atheist on the nature of faith. Those who tend to agree with Ms. Ross's assertion that "... Perhaps nature is by nature boring," would probably be better-off proceeding to the "murder-mysteries" aisle. For everyone else, this is an insightful, well-conceived survey of the American wilderness.

This is a wonderful book. Unlike many other photo-essay/coffee table books, the prose is of the same high quality as the photographs. Indeed Mr. Gorman's writing is as light, airy and fresh as the snow beneath his skis during one of his midwinter telemark expeditions. His narrative is peppered with poignant historical sketches on the people and events that breathe so much life into the places he visits. These diversions add life and serve to frame his writings. Witness his harrowing descriptions of valorous US servicemen staring death squarely in the eye during the Battle of Midway. Similarly, his lively profiles of the picaresque outlaws and wanderers who have found refuge in the harsh landscapes of the Everglades and the Missouri Breaks add a heartbeat to such inhospitable regions. That Mr. Gorman finds wonder and beauty in these places and their people and so successfully communicates these feelings with pen and camera is a testament to his abilities as a writer, photographer, naturalist and historian.

The author has put together a very clear and concise book which is essential for engineers. Whether using it as a reference or to read it cover to cover it is well worth the purchase. A+

This book covers 2900 Series up to 6000 Series Catalyst Switches including Catlayst 3500XL and 2900MXL Series. This book is not for CCNA wannabe's, cause it doesn't include Catalyst 1900 Series. Besides, you should know Cisco Switching before attempting to read this book. This book is more help on your day to day Cisco Catalyst administration job.

This book beats Cisco LAN Switching (CCIE Professional Development). It covers those topics that Cisco LAN Switching lacks - from Switch Functionality, SE Configuration, creating VLANs & Trunking, STP, Multilayer Switching, to QOS. More examples than LAN Switching.

This book, together with the Cisco Routers for IP Routing Little Black Book (by: Innokenty Rudenko) and Remote Access for Cisco Networks (by: William Burton and Bill Burton), your daily administration of Cisco devices will be easy as you have never imagined. Of course you need at least a CCNA Advanced Level or a CCNP level to use these three books.

I'm a CCNP/CCDA supporting Internet Data Centre / Internet Service Provider Core Routers/Distribution Switches/Access Switches and I found that this book is valuable to my daily administration tasks. I highly recommend this book for Cisco Catalyst administrators.

In becoming a CCNA and CCDA I had to study switches and switching techniques, both of which are covered very well in most study guides. What seems to be missing is coverage, extensive coverage, of switch configuration and management, that's why this book is so important.

The authors take a specific subject, the Catalyst Switch, and break it down to the lowest level. They give extremely detailed information about the switches, from the 2950 series to the 600 series, from configuration for both layer 2 and 3, to VLANs, VTP, STP, multicasting and access control.

Leaving virtually no stone unturned the authors have taken area of Cisco certification and made it the focus of study. What I found most impressive was the real world examples, coupled with coding screen shots, so you can see what things look like rather than have to guess.

Overall this book can work for the CCNA, CCDA and CCNP Switching exams. Cisco Press needs to add this to the Preparation and Certification libraries for the exams as well.

A delightful review of the world of Doctor Who as it stood in the 1970's. It includes many rare pictures from the series as well as publicity shots and behind-the-scenes photos. From Adams, Douglas to Zygons (Terror of), this is a wonderfully produced Master-piece! A truly great book for all Doctor Who fans!

I've just read this wonderful book and it is WELL worthe reading so dont think twice about buying this book

This is my favorite non-fiction Doctor Who book of all time. The book is loaded with some never before seen footage and insightful data. The layout is wonderful and captures the decade that brought us Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker. My favorite chapter of the book features merchandise from the 70's -- so far the only Who book that addresses this aspect of the show.

This is a massive book. It will soon be "THE REFERENCE" to most all Civil War debates.

If I were to pick just one book to go to, for a search of Civil War information, this one would have to be it.
From Battle, Politics, Leaders, speechs, debates, economics, literature, etc., IT IS ALL IN HERE.

This is one book that everyone would be proud to own. ( As well, as the kind that almost caves your chest in, laying in bed reading--It IS A BIG BOOK.)

There is such a wealth of information, and every thing is solidily backed up with excellent references. It's a fantastic book.

This humongous encyclopedia is easily the best reference I have ever seen on the Civil War. The thing is 2600 pages long, has 1600 entries, and weighs about 7 pounds, and is quite well written and edited. It covers military, political, and social events, and biographies equally. The articles are generally well written but short and introductory rather than exhaustive. Has lots of photos, illustrations and maps (the maps are OK but not spectacular), and a wonderful bibliogaphy section. I can't recommend this book enough. I learn something new every time I open it.

First of all, this thing is MASSIVE! When you're done reading it you can use it for weight in an exercise routine. However, it has over 2200 pages so it will be a long read. That having been said, I believe this will henceforth be THE standard reference guide to the Civil War. It is packed with great photos and maps, some I have never seen before. The capsule summaries are well written and informative. I have glanced through this book and now I am ready to dive in and read it cover to cover. Get this one if you are a Civil War or History buff!

Doctor Who: The Handbook - The Third Doctor is a great reference guide to the Jon Pertwee era as the dashing, man-in-action, earth-bound Time Lord from 1970 thru 1974. Superbly researched, authors David J. Howe & Stephen James Walker take us through the details of the development of the Third Doctor's adventures. The series now became more action packed. Featuring 8 chapters, focusing on actor Jon Pertwee, along with episode story reviews, production development, and also a feature on the making of the season 9 story, the 4 part "Day of the Daleks" (1972). This book has it all, which makes for some interesting behind-the-scenes information.

The Third Doctor Handbook is a great addition to any Doctor Who fans' collection. It also features an introduction by the Third Doctor himself, the late Jon Pertwee, written in April 1996, a month before he passed away. Published in 1996, this was the fifth volume in the Doctor Who series of handbooks.

The book, Doctor_Who:_the_Handbook:_the_Third_Doctor, is an excellent book in the "Doctor Who" handbook series by Walker, Stammers, and Howe. The book is divided into several sections for easy reference, contains an episode guide for the third Doctor's era with reviews of each episode, and provides a really nice overview of the era of the third Doctor and the events of the time period during which the episodes were produced and aired.

Personally, I wish the book had included more information on the discoveries/recoveries of lost Pertwee episodes, as well as their restoration to color; since, the stories behind these are very fascinating.

Overall, this is a very well researched volume; and, I highly recommend this book as well as the rest in the series.

Fans of the series, fans of Jon Pertwee's Doctor, or even to Jon Pertwee's other work are owed this volume from the Handbook series by Virgin Publishing. Like all of the books before it, it goes in depth into not just what and how (the late) Pertwee acted in "Doctor Who", but as well, much of the background info, behind-the-scenes, etc. which are a fan's necessity. Not only do I recommend this non-fiction paperback, but all the others in the series (there's seven altogether).

In my personal quest to find romantic intimacy I have read dozens of books. This is simply the most profound, dead-on, flat-out brilliant book I have ever come across. "Mapping The Terrain of the Heart" will help you clarify if your ideals of romantic love are realistic or simply serving as a defense against finding intimacy. It will help you to understand your style of relating - whether you are a "merger hungry" or "merger wary." It will help you understand how you find "chemistry" with some people while others leave you cold. It will help you to understand why what excites you is healthy and how not to simply "find" the right relationship - but to "build" it. In an extremely readable and clear way the authors explain how psychoanalytic theory is a powerfully clarifying microscope for understanding the patterns that you may find yourself limited by. I have been re-reading this book for over ten years now and have come to think of it as my "romantic compass" for finding out if I may be heading for true north, or whether I'm lost in the desert. This book has transformed my knowledge of my self and and of those I have gotten close to.
Buy this book, it will help you to find what you're looking for.
It really will.

Mapping the Terrain is a wonderful resource for individuals who have difficulty staying in a relationship. It looks at the six capacities of loving; erotic involvement, merging, idealization, integration, refinding, and self-transcendence. This book will help you to identify the barriers to maintaining a relationship, why this happens, and what you can do about it. A great resource for individuals who fall in love but struggle to stay in love.

This is actually a reprint of Mapping the Terrain of the Heart; The Six Capacities That Guide the Journey of Love" (Item # 0201608650). Goldbart and Wallin are the authors of the original work, not editors of an anthology. This is the best description I've ever seen of the tasks to be worked on by couples in a committed relationship. Honeymoons will go sour for reasons embeded in the forming of the relationship. It is wise to know what's ahead, so you can plan for it. At least you will not be surprised by what unfolds. The basis for my opinion is extensive reading in the field and more personal experience than there is room for me to describe. The book is well written but terse; it is not an easy read.

This book should be included as a standard accessory in any digital artist toolbox. I use this book as a desktop companion whenever I am working on images with Photoshop. JWoods@kodak.com

This book is tremendous for professional graphic artists using Photoshop for high end electronic pre-press production. It's full of useful techniques and guidance not only on how to color correct, etc., but also what to look out for. We are an electronic graphic arts production company in the Chicago area, and we learned a lot from this book

Taking you step by step from picking a computer system, through calibrating it, acquiring images, correcting them, and getting them on paper, Real World Photoshop 3 is a whirlwind introduction to pre-press production. As a photographer with no publishing experience, I was fascinated by some of the things that could be achieved with my images as I applied each chapter. I was also horrified at the bloopers I had unwittingly pulled and relieved to find ways to avoid them. David and Bruce share their personal approaches (and differences of opinion), which gave me a bit of reassurance. The humor interspersed is head and shoulders above that in "Photoshop for Dummies" and does not distract when you are struggling to grasp a hard concept.

In the post-modern art world, a cheap Polaroid camera is all one needs to become a master photographer. Well, that and people who are willing to take off their clothes and move around while you're shooting them.

In "Snap," David Sprigle's very interesting collection of such photos, the subjects gleefully strip and masturbate, strip and jump up and down, strip and move doing almost anything while they are the focus of Sprigle's lens. The often blurry results are sometimes erotic (which works) and sometimes hard to comprehend (which doesn't always). But that is only the critical first judgment of the eye - take a second, less critical approach, and comparisons to Impressionism and oil paintings can be made.

Like all unposed photography, "Snap" captures the raw, unselfconscious moments of human behavior so convincingly and beautifully that it raises voyeurism to the level of art. Whether is an image of a man sitting on a toilet or the rather large genitalia of an anonymous subject swinging between his legs, the moments captured by Sprigle are real and unguarded. His models unabashedly perform seemingly mundane tasks, like lighting a cigarette, and with Sprigle's artistry, the act is elevated to a new level.

Though Sprigle's work may be influenced by our "instant culture," these images and their beauty recall older art forms like Impressionism, but the grainy Polaroid film (and burgeoning erections) tinge them with a modern quality.

The inner jacket of the book features a quote by Brassai: "Beauty is not the intent of creation, but the reward." It's a perfect statement to represent this collection by Sprigle, in which art comes first, and the results are a secondary concern. Happily, the results in this case are quite rewarding.

I think my attraction to impressionistic oil paintings was the main reason I was drawn to this exciting book of Polaroid photos of mostly male nude models (a few females are included) by David Sprigle. In viewing impressionistic paintings, there is always that feeling of visual discovery when you back away from the landscape/portrait and realize the clarity that is taking place in front of your very eyes. The blurred becomes the beautiful image. Well, that's certainly true in this exciting book of instant photos David has taken of his subjects, people who are not celebrities but everyday men and women, whom he has asked to have some fun in front of his camera by jumping up and down, posing, and intimately touching their bodies. What you get as a result is not just a candid photo but an image that is almost like an impressionistic painting. It's simply beautiful and pleasing to the eye. These are bold images of excited models that demand your complete attention.

This is a very special book because it features a new style and type of photography of the male nude. There are over 50 pages of instant color photos in this book. There is a creative introduction by Arthur Tress that is quite interesting. This book is beautifully bound, and printed by Fotofactory Press, a company that David started back in 1990. As a avid collector of male nude photography books, I know that each and every book carefully selected and published by FotoFactory is of high quality, perfectly bound and printed on quality paper. Highly Recommended! Be sure to check out these other FotoFactory Press male nude photography books; California Boys, The Wild Ones, Male of the Species, and the Anthology Series, Volume 1-4, featuring many different photographs of this genre.

i first spied some photgraphs of david sprigle's works from 'snap at nerve.com. sooo beautiful, i couldn't take my eyes off the screen!

his use of polaroids is vastly different from the norm, his colour balance is very warm and almost moist...just brilliant, almost indiscribe-able...makes you wanna crawl in there with the beautiful bodies....

and now i'm gushing...just wish i was half the photograph he is...

I wasn't sure what to expect with this anthology, but I found myself enthralled from beginning to end. Nnedi Okorafor's "Crossroads", Seth Lindberg's "Atropos", and James Dorr's "Madness" were special delights.

A great mix of chilling, horrifying, and otherwise entertaining stories.

This is a great compilation of magic, madness, culture and creativity. All of the stories were pretty satisfying, some of them terrifying! There are some writers here that are going to go places. Watch for the authors of the two longest pieces, Nnedi Okorafor (her story is called Crossroads) and James S. Dorr (he wrote a story called Madness).