I spotted this book and, having been impressed by the Van Gogh exhibit at the National Gallery last year, decided to check it out. (That being said, I know very little about art and seldom read about it, so this review should be taken in that light.)

Van Gogh was an amazingly prolific painter. His artistic career lasted scarcely ten years, but in that time he created enough paintings to decorate nearly every page of this 250-page book - and those aren't even all of them.

The book itself is a combination of a biography and an analysis of his paintings. This flows smoothly, perhaps because Van Gogh put so much of himself into his art: his moods are clear from what he depicted and how he depicted it.

The biographical portion makes for interesting reading in and of itself. Van Gogh actually came rather late to art after failing at other occupations, including that of a minister. Once he turns to art, he is almost immediately remarkably capable. Later on, he attempts to set up an artistic community in his famous "yellow house," with the help of Gaugain. It's a collaboration that fails disastrously, with Gaugain leaving and Van Gogh cutting off his earlobe. Van Gogh has a difficult time psychologically for a few years, then, when it seems he has finally turned things around, goes out and shoots himself. The authors suggest it's due to his believe that a dead artist is more valued than a live one, a strange but possibly true premise.

The analysis of the paintings, comfortably intertwined with the biographical information, are interesting as well, at least to someone like me who only barely understands painting. While the analysis occasionally descends into what is to me artsy gobbledegook, by and large the comments are incisive and point out the distinctive qualities of each painting and how it relates to his other work. The tone is positive and descriptive, which I liked. I could easily have imagined a much more critical approach or a tone that indicated this is the way to look at this painting. But the authors fall into neither trap.

So this artistic novice, at least, found this to be an excellent book about a great artist. Recommended for all those with an interest in the subject.

I purchased this book not being aware of the complete painting book but if I knew about the other one ( complete painting ) I probably would have chose that book for sure ! Anyway, as a second choise this is a great value book . The picture are beautifull and the text is full of detail about Van Gogh's life that is exceeded only by the Letter to Theo book published by Penguin. Well,now that you know my opinion, order this book if you are tight with money; other wise you may consider the complete painting if the quality of the picture and the text is as good as this book. Ciao

Dr. Walther is a giant in the field of Applied Kinesiology. He has taken an extremely complicated subject and made it easy to understand. Thanks for the help...my patients thank you too.

Highly recommended by my chiropractic professor, at a certified naturopathic medical school. A must read for anyone interested in finding out about AK, or anyone interested in exploring different forms of physical medicine.

This is a timely work, much needed to be read and studied and applied by the church today. The confusion over the office of the public ministry and the priesthood of all believers is so misunderstood and malpracticed.

Klug provides a thorough analysis of Luther and Walther's positions along with Scriptural analysis. There should be no confusion that today's pop opinions on this vital teaching is aschew with that of Luther and the church catholic.

See also Kurt Marquart's volume "The Church" in the Lutheran Academny Dogmatics Series.

Needless to say, speed is everything in learning a language. One wants to be sure to use the right book with the "proven" system that yields the "remarkable" results. When I undertook to learn German on my own, the vast majority of books did the job adequately, none especially remarkably, but one did it well- Das Erste Jahr. I've come to find that in a language textbook, it's all about the sequence in which the information is presented. This is what sets Das Erste Jahr apart. Most textbooks seem to start off like travel guidebooks, presenting a great deal of vocabulary dealing with finding the train station, staying in hotels, ordering in restaurants and the like. Vocabulary, though important, is really just the leaves of the tree, so to speak. There's a stack of dedicated books that you can go to for vocabulary. Das Erste Jahr focuses less on vocabulary and more on the core of language, the basic grammar, with just enough interesting vocabulary to flesh things out. Grammar comes later in most textbooks, after the basic verbs, and when it comes it usually does so in the form of unappealingly utilitarian grammar charts with an admonition to "memorize the chart but don't place too much reliance on memorizing the charts". An overabundance of grammar charts, in my opinion, is the mark of a poor textbook. Das Erste Jahr presents the grammar very early on, unabashedly diving into dative articles and prepositions. Everything is explained clearly and simply. The student gains immediate advantage in understanding the core of the language because they've gotten the grammar up-front and consequently have more time to work with it. Their treatment of plurals is another effective departure, among others. So much research on language acquisition seems to focus on the optimum percentages of time that should be given over to reading vs. writing vs. listening vs. conversation, or the necessity for total immersion, or acquisition ability vs. age, etc. Little research seems to focus on the relative effectiveness of the way the material is presented in the book. In the end, the information's the same in every book. But in one, the process of absorption is slow and cumbersome, while in another, the neuron connections seem to link up without effort. This book seems to do this mysterious thing much better than others.

This book was right on time with useful advice for me and my family. It offers real-world solutions to the the many complications -emotional and otherwise - associated with divorce. Walther has also written a book titled "Not Damaged Goods" which helps the children of divorce to grow and prosper. I highly recommend both books for anyone delaing with divorce or helping a friend or loved-one through the process.

Don't let the vastness of this work (2 vols.) scare you away. It is thorough, but remains accesible to the lay reader. Zimmerli brings Ezekiel's propheicies alive and makes them modern without getting sidetracked by the eschatological pitfalls which often beset commentators on Ezekiel. The only factor which limits the usefulness of this commentary is that Church curricula rarely focus on this prophet - a sad circumstance considering the relevance Ezekiel has for our times, as illuminated by Zimmerli. For preachers and scholars the works are a necessity; for the layman they are a wonderful expansion of Ezekiel's message.

This is a marvelous effort which offers insights into the philosophical background of key spokesmen in the Disunion/Secession movement. Focusing on nine such figures (such as Rhett, Wigfall, Ruffin...), Walther weaves a mini-biography of sorts, along with discussion of the contribution these "fire-eaters" made to the fruition of their efforts - formal Secession of core Southern states, after the election of Black Republican apostle, A. Lincoln. Walther shows the how the "abstract" art of politics finally leads to "tangible" armed conflict - conflict which in many ways was given an intellectual basis by the writings and actions of the nine Southerners outlined in this book. As I often tend to more military oriented studies, Walther's Fire-Eaters was a wonderful sidebar! I recommend this book to all Civil War students, especially, of course, those with a particular slant toward CSA studies.

After 3 books on the man's history, I find this one (my 4) the most tellling. Many pictures showing the origins, rise and tumultous years of this man.

Of particular note: the 2 main perspectives (British and American) essays are exellent. It is a great book to read just before a big text based account of WW2.

This book is very good! A very nice print and wonderful pictures. Quality is a need in art books and then this is an important matter to buy some. The book go through many aspects of the impressionism movement and is easy to read, I'm not an art expert and find it good to understand.