A coffee table book sure to inspire you. This book was one of the things that really sparked my interest in nature photography. The stunning vistas and colors will capture your imagination and inspire you to travel to the beautiful places of this country!

Jorstad's photographic review of each of America's 54 national parks is an absolutely amazing look at some of the most beautiful places in our country. Jorstad visited each park several times, during different seasons. His visits enabled him to capture the light of each park, and provides the reader with incredibly nuanced and beautiful panoramas of each location. The pictures are accompanied by a lovely, lyrical text.

Overall, this book is a great investment for armchair travelers who want to experience the wonders of nature. Very highly recommended.

One of my favourite books with wonderful pictures by Stan Jorstad and intuitive texts by Mark Strand which helped me to understand more about the importance of the American National Park System and which overwhelmed me with its beauty. I was attempted to go there immediately and enjoy the pure beauty of nature again as I will surely do soon !

This book is the best anthology for any beginning poet. It pays homage to poetry's past, while honoring its future. Anyone interested in poetry written just before it bumped against technology and computers will find this a fascinating and necessary book. Great language from a great time in American history.

If I could have afforded the BIG Hopper book I would have bought that one, but maybe, in the end, it was better this way. This great, though moderately sized, collection of the work of American artist Edward Hopper focuses on the most well-known of his paintings and etchings. The Automat, New York Movie, Drugstore, Night Wind, and, of course, the ever-present Nighthawks are all there. And even though I've looked at these paintings, or reproductions of them, hundreds of times, they never loose their intensity for me. They lead me constantly back to revelation; of my self, of my culture, of my country. There is something about the sarkness, the isolation, and the grandeur of Hopper's work that is completely moving and, I would say, completely American. (Unfortunately a 1000 word book review isn't the place to go into that. You'll just have to trust me.) Of added interest in this particular book of Hopper's work is a meaty biography, timeline, and criticism of his work. So, a nice overview of Hopper's life and art that's perhaps just as satisfying but WAY WAY cheaper than the BIG Hopper book.

Far more than just about Hopper and his paintings. Strand uses the paintings -- and the emotional effects carried out as a result of their geometry -- as a case study in how an artist uses negative space and suggestion to create pathos. If I were teaching creative writing, or any kind of creative art, I would have my students read and re-read this book.

You have the money, you have the time to read (although you probably don't take advantage of that time) so why not buy this book.

Mark Strand's Mr and Mrs Baby is one of the best collections of contemporary fiction of our time. Stories like "A Dog's Life" and "True Loves" will challenge the standard conventions which we cling to in our daily life.

Cutting wit, piercing irony and beautiful writing characterize this masterpiece.

As a Secondary English teacher, I feel this book would be a wonderful teaching tool for homeschoolers or public school teachers. Explanations are clear and examples are ample. Although this is excellent for younger grades, it is also an great review or introduction to literature for older students as well. Literary terms, such as setting, mood, clarity, character development, ..., are well-explained and any student would be well-equipped to discuss and analyze literature with these tools. In fact, I think that high school students who wish to take the CLEP in Analyzing and Interpreting Literature would benefit from using this book before the test, especially studying the literary devices explained in the book.

Astounding, awesome, fantastic, incredible... there are only some of the adjectives that occurs to you while you see this book. Ruth Thorne-Thomsen is without doubt one of the best contemporary photographers, her imaginary landscapes don't have equal. If you like the millenarian ruins... imaginary landscapes... the disturbing beauty... the dreamed photographies...this is your book.

Again, one of the best photographers of the history. Few photographers can make feel the some Ruth makes you feel. An incomparable photographer. An incomparable book

I homeschool my three children (ages 5,9,11) and am always looking for academically rigourous texts that are fun too. It's difficult to find curricula that fulfill both requirements, but this series does. Clear instruction focuses on an incremental approach to improving writing skills. My kids have learned (and continue to learn in level 4) how to use language with clarity, write to interest readers, organize information, write vivid descriptions. When so much out there is fluff (memorizing grammar rules, making kids worry more about how neat their handwriting is than how clear their thinking is), books like Writing Strands make me remember why I homeschool.

At the very least, Mark Strand is one of the most readable poets around. He's neither too obscure nor too obvious, and if his example were more widely followed then contemporary poetry might find a sizable audience. The poem "The Continuous Life" says everything that needs saying about the joys, hopes, fears, tensions, and emptiness of middle-class existence--or perhaps just plain human existence--and note how well the cascading rhythm matches its theme. It reminded me of James Salter's novel "Light Years," but Strand manages to compress his vision into a mere 28 lines. As an observer of the human comedy, he's quite perceptive.

My only major complaint with this volume is the somewhat repetitive subject matter--there is too much musing about the Nature of Art, too many descriptions of verdant scenery. Considering this was his first volume of original poetry in at least 10 years, we could have reasonably expected a little more variety. Or perhaps I'm being churlish. Don't let me discourage you: read this book.

I gave this book the desert isle test; would I want it on a desert island if my library were limited to 100 American poetry books from 1990 and since. The answer is yes, this is Strand's best, it honors beauty as only the most refined aesthete could do. In these pages you will find Strand's quivalents [my equivocal way of saying `equivalents'] to "Ode on Melancholy" and Stevens's "Sunday Morning" and "Comedian as the Letter C." In a word, this is an elegant volume, as elegant as it is romantic.

You can count the great american poets who are writing today on a thumbless hand with mark strand as the palm. The poem "The Continuous Life" has been refered to as the perfect poem and I've asked my grandchildren to read the final poem in the volume "The End" at my graveside. We need poetry as a people and as individuals and if you have the nature to hear and feel it,poetry is the only truth there is.

Although Dr. Bloom focuses the entire collection of criticism on two Strand collections, the insight provided therein is stellar. Bloom cuts through the chaff of criticism to get to the morsels of wisdom in all but Nicosia's ending piece--a good choice, for that final essay is excellent as the final word on Dark Harbor.

This collection of criticism on one of America's three finest living poets is long overdue. While I don't believe all of the criticism contained herein hits the mark in all cases, Jim Nicosia's final piece on Strand's magnificent long-poem Dark Harbor is a gem itself, and is alone worthy of the cost of this book. It is thoughtful and insightful and, as is Strand's poetry, serious yet joyous at the same time. Bravo.