Unlike Peter Sanderson's Marvel Universe, which is also an oversized coffee table book, Les Daniels doesn't try to create an overview of the DC Universe or dwell on the growth of the major characters. Well, he does, but only for Superman and Batman for the most part. Not that other DC Comics don't rate a mention; even Bob Hope and Jerry Lewis get a bit. The problem with the book, which isn't bad by any means, is that it is broken into two-page sections, with no topic allowed to go beyond that. Therefore, there are copious two-page spreads about Superman and Batman, and other characters are likely to get one. One of those two gets a spread every five or so.

I grew up a Marvel zombie, but because of Daniels's choices, I learned more about the Marvel Universe from Sanderson than I learned from Daniels about the DC Universe, and I expected it to be the other way around. This is not to say Daniels doesn't have valuable information. His material about the founding of DC and much of the Golden Age material is going to be largely new for younger DC readers, who grew up with Action #1 as the most valuable comicbook of all time. I doubt too many people knew about the Golden Age Red Tornado, a hefty homemaker turned superhero who was something like a female predecessor to Marvel's Forbush Man, or certainly dressed that way, and played for comedy. Oddly, aside from showing a two-page spread depicting the Super Powers action figures of the eighties, the better known Silver Age Red Tornado is never mentioned. While Red Tornado is a second-stringer, he's hardly a minor figure in the DC Universe. There is comparatively little on Vertigo, despite its significance, and it perhaps goes into excess on film versions of the DC characters (the only place Congo Bill is mentioned, despite his recent Vertigo treatment). Other characters rating only a few paragraphs or even a mere sentence include Green Arrow, Mister Miracle, Shade the Changing Man, Animal Man, The Spectre, Deadman, The Demon, The Phantom Stranger, The Creeper, Firestorm, even Aquman! Very little about Brainiac; nothing on The Scarecrow or Mr. Freeze, either. Too little on The Flash and Hawkman. Oddly, even though it notes the Super Powers action figures were designed by Jack Kirby, it doesn't mention whther the Super Powers comicbook series he was deeply involved in in the 1980s was really a toy tie-in or really had to do with the Fourth World (though the two page spread on it said it was never completed, it still made no mention of Super Powers other than the action figures).

Perhaps because DC had to restructure its continuity so many times and say certain stories never happened, or were at least part of an eradicated timeline (they happened, but the world itself was revised through a crossover paradox, negating that they happend) that Daniels took this treatment. Perhaps he was trying to be more commericial. But two page spreads on Superman food products, Batman food products, ephemera for each, is a little excessive considering what was chosen to be left out, even if these two ARE more commercial.

At this time, I don't know that there is a better alternative to this book regarding the DC Universe. None of what is here is bad, but some of the choices leave a lot to be desired. Great coffee table book for the DC fan, but one is unlikely to learn much about the characters of the past 30-40 years that isn't going to be well known to them.

"DC Comics : Sixty Years of the World's Favorite Comic Book Heroes" is a nice tribute to the company that has given us some of our most recognizable and long lasting fiction characters. Superman, Batman and Wonderwoman are as much a part of Americana as Mickey Mouse, Coca-Cola and Moby Dick. A blend of art and cheap entertainment, the comic book has evolved throughout the decades, as have the heroes within.

The history of this company is laid out from the beginnings of the comic book, to the debut of the long-running Action Comics (Superman) and Detective Comics (Batman). Each of the company's successive stages is detailed, the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze Age, and the Modern Age. Familiar rivals, such as Plastic Man, Captain Marvel and the Charleston and Quality heros are shown. Frank Miller and Alan Moore are given their just due. Superheroes in film and on television are shown.

The pages contain great photographs and reprints of classic comic culture. It is nice to see the classic covers of the years in high quality reproductions. A cavalcade of toys, badges, trinkets and other tie-ins are displayed.

All in all, this is a great book for DC comics fans.

The modern comic book came to life with "Superman." Since the "man of steel" burst on the scene more than 60 years ago, there has been an onslaught of underwear-clad superheroes, many of the more legendary ones under the DC banner. All of the company's major titles and their respective print and filmed versions are featured here, from the "Batman" serials of the 40's to the update 90's television series "Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman." For anyone with a passing interest in comics as an entertainment and art form, this is a lavishly illustrated and comprehensive work. In sequential order, we get the full history of DC from its humble beginnings to its status as one of the premier companies in its field. Marvel may have overtaken it in the 60's with its more "adult" characters, DC still reigns as the originator of the comic book and the book supremely showcases that status.

This is the first book on Feng Shui that I've ever bought. It is written so that it didn't scare me away yet offered many valuable ideas. I've given several as gifts to friends who were curious yet had no previous knowledge of Feng Shui. I want to thank the author for introducing me to a wonderful concept in improving my life and surroundings!

I got this book and started right in on the Chapter entitled
"Love and Romance" because I wanted to have a new relationship.
I did the things that were suggested and I attracted a
wonderful loving man into my life.

I loved this book because I was able to figure out a few things to do right away to effect the energy in my home. I was able to start small, start right away and then continue to make improvments. I noticed a remarkable shift when I used the techniques given to set the cures.

My 22 month old son really likes this book. I "sing" the story to him and and he enjoys filling in the words he knows. A nice addition to the bookshelf!

This is currently my 15 month daughter's favorite book. Because the alien child in the book is not gender specified, we've made it into a daddy-daughter book. Which is especially nice when the Papa gives "her" a toolbelt. This is an especially good book for geeky families like ours.

My 18 month old daughter asks me to read this book over and over again. (Okay, she hits me with it) I sing it to her in the car to calm her. The pictures are very unique, bright and colorful. The only downful is that it is not available in a board book.

Remember, this was published in 1990, and today is out of date. If you have come looking for specific examples, or secrets of how the Japanese have been making such huge gains, THIS IS NOT FOR YOU. The book is great from a historical standpoint, but it misses totally on any detailed examples of what Toyota has done. Anyone in manufacturing who has not heard of work-circles or suggestion boxes, would probably find this a great read with lots of info, but for the rest of us, this is just a history book. Go for Lean Thinking instead.

The Machine that Changed the World has been published more than once. Amazon, you're offering a special "buy these 2 titles, and save", but they are the exact same book.

This book is about a major study that has been executed in the beginning of the eighties about the competiveness of car manufacturing plants. Now we know that the Japense manufacturing is not that supriour after all this book is still a great book to read. For two reasons. First because its give a clear idea about how you can run a succesfull manufacturing plant and secondly because its give you a beautifull insight about a time when both Europe and the USA were affraid to loss it all to the Japanse. A classic on both business and industrial engineering

The best tale of legal bungling I've read in a long time. Williams and his Kourtroom Keystone Kops explain in excrutiating detail how they screwed up not one, but two trials for Jamal. In the first half of the book, Williams excoriates Jamal's public defender for losing the original trial and earning Jamal the death sentence. Then he assembles his crack legal team consisting of an unlicensed Communist law student, a corporate attorney, who defrauds his own firm by working on Jamal's case on the sly, and creaking civil rights attorney Len Weinglass who, by William's own admission, is practicallly comatose throughtout the entire appeal. The unlicensed law student becomes the "brains" of the defense team and directs the entire legal strategy, which collapses as she drags in a collection of nuts and liars from the streets of Philadelphia.
Williams spends dozens of pages in abject adoration of Jamal, swooning over "his honeyed baritone voice" and his animal magnetism. Equally cloying is his defense of former handyman Vincent Leaphart, aka John Africa, the founder of the MOVE movement. Leaphart, described by the New York Times as "somewhat of a madman" and by the Philadelphia Inquirer as "borderline retarded," assumes Christ-like proportions at William's hands. Among Leaphart's more intriguing teachings; MOVE women who give birth are required to bite off the umbilical cord and lick their newborns clean. Soap is forbidden and vermin and insects are welcomed into MOVE homes like old friends.
Williams' book is loaded with suppositions, what-if's, could-have-beens and sheer speculation. But you never hear from the two people who could shed real light on what really happened that night Philadelphia police officer Daniel Faulkner was shot down. Jamal still refuses to talk about his actions that fatal night, demanding that his personal declaration of innocence is evidence enough that he's not guilty. Jamal's brother Billy, who was a few feet away when the fatal shot was fired, is nowhere to be found. Williams' legal eagles never get around to looking for him even though the brother supposedly has all the evidence anyone needs to spring Jamal. Billy's attorney, in a newspaper interview, says Billy is not "mentally fit" to come forward. So much for brotherly love.
Buy the book and do what I did -- read portions of it aloud to your lawyer friends. They'll choke with laughter. And spare a few tears for this Harvard-trained author who is so utterly gullible and yet oh-so-earnest.

Because I know one of Mumia's attorneys, this book was more like "Everything You Wanted to Know About the Mumia Case but Were Afraid to Ask."

Political grandstanding, self-destructing testimony by defense witnesses, and a looney-tune conspiracy theory: this book tells enough about the case to give fair warning to anyone interested in becoming part of the pro-Mumia movement.

Along with Leonard Weinglass' RACE FOR JUSTICE and the trial transcripts, this book tells you what the kooks and radicals don't want you to know.

Shortly before this book was to be published, Mumia Abu Jamal fired Daniel Williams and the rest of his defense team largely over the contents of this book. After reading this excellent count it is obvious why -- even while he's trying to actively defend Abu Jamal in the book, it provides a damning account of the Free Mumia movement, and really leaves little doubt in the reader's mind that whether or not Abu Jamal received a fair trial, he almost certainly shot Officer Daniel Faulkner.

There is an intriguing passage in the book describing a wild conspiracy theory witness that some elements of the defense team wanted to put forward, which Abu Jamal eventually rejected. Williams chides himself for not having enough faith in Abu Jamal to realize he would never try to propagate such a fraud on the court. Of course as soon as he fired Williams, Abu Jamal presented exactly this conspiracy to the Court as the latest version of his defense. Williams, like many defense lawyers, is not a very good judge of character.

Still, this is an excellent look at the inner workings of the Abu Jamal defense team.

This isn't what I expected. I expected 4 columns, one for each gospel, with blank spaces where appropriate. Maybe this would've used more paper, but it sure would've been easier to navigate. With *very* close inspection I can see that there is a boldfaced narrative as promised, but it's not especially bold. It's hard to distinguish the boldface from the regular font. And I don't care for the little titles over the various subsections. Maybe a few footnotes or an appendix explaining where/why the gospels differ on various points or why Daniel placed chapters where he did, but all those titles and varying formats really interrupts the reading. It's not at all what I was hoping for, I'm afraid.

This is a wonderful tool when studying the Gospel's account of the life of Christ. The author (or should I say editor/compiler?) arranges the texts in harmony, but also includes approximate dates of when the events took place. Some are critical of this approach, wondering how Mr. Daniel came up with the method of dating the events. Mr. Daniel asserts that the method is by no means difinitive. However, by following the feasts and seasons mentioned in the Gospel texts, he does leave us with useful benchmarks as to when these events took place. There are also useful comments about events like the cleansing of the temple. Were there two such events or only one? Mr. Daniel begs the question, then gives his view in the footnotes. This is a great book to use in a long Bible study on the life of Christ - with the emphasis on long. Our care group is currently working our way through the book . . . it's taken us a year and a half, and we're just now half way through! Take your time . . . learn all you can about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

I used this book during our study of the book of Matthew. Since it is helpful to read the other gospels in order to maximize understanding, the format of this book was perfect. The gospels are printed side-by-side whenever they cover the same illustration so the scholar can make comparisons, achieve clarity, and notice key repetitions. One very useful aspect is that the book has a running story in which the scripture is highlighted, regardless of which gospel, so that the reader following the highlighted text can read the full story of the ministry of Jesus with the maximum amount of detail and with improved chronology.

"Huis Clos" is one of the few books that actually illustrates a version of hell. Most people wouldn't think to write about such a touchy subject. Likewise, most people accept the typical hell full of fire and torture chambers as what it will be like. Few contemplate the possibility that it might be different, as well as refuse to think about what else it could be. This book made me think about it a little more than I imagined. What if having to be around the same two people for eternity really is hell? What if hell was based on the individual? My personal hell would be eternity on a stair-master. And the only music would be Michael Bolton...karaoke-style.

In Huit-Clos, Jean-Paul Sartre makes an analysis of human-behaviour. The scene takes place in a cell where three people are faced with each other. The reader is immediatly impregnated of different personalities and understands the fears of each one to stay eternaly together because, like Jean-Paul Sartre concludes: "The hell is others."

I am french, and Huis Clos is one of the most importants books i read when i was a teenager, looking for truth about adult behavior... It's really intellectual, but not artificial, and makes you think a lot about what is going on between people, and what you learned growing up.

I greatly enjoyed reading Dan Maloney's first novel. It was a wonderful story and was well-written. I liked Edmonds' dry wit and his just-your-average-guy-next-door personality (but what is his first name?!). Who wouldn't fall in love with a hero that doesn't know he is one? With anticipation, I look forward to meeting Edmonds again in Dan's second book...and third...and fourth. Well done.

Do you like light-hearted, slightly off centered characters in your mystery novels? Then this adventure is for you! Maverick Square is a roller-coaster of a novel, that takes it's reader through the historic streets of Boston (Chowda-heads will love it!!) and the mind of it's anti-hero Edmonds! I loved turning each page and discovering another facet to the main characters mind, what an interesting fella he is. Gotta love his quick wit and sarcasm, which oozes out of every paragraph! A brilliant 'detective' novel, unlike any you have ever read before!

I loved this book. As everyone else said, once I picked it up, I could not put it down. The relationships and dynamics Edmonds has with his on-again girlfriend, his clients and the people he investigates is interesting and complex and intriguing. Then main character grew on me so much, I wanted more when I was done. I will anxiously wait for another book with the same characters.

Great photography and sculptures, but the writing style is fool's gold. Too expensive as well, even with the Amazon reduction. It's great but not that great.

as good as the book is, i must say that it pales in comparison to seeing his work in person. i saw some of it at the renwick gallery in washington d.c. and it's just incredible. he's come out of his shell in the last few years but has been producing great stuff for a long time.

nevertheless, the book is worth it. but if you ever get the chance to see his work, by all means do so. there was an interesting piece on him by the "sunday morning" cbs news show. you may be able to get a tape of it from them.

As a professor of Art History at an Afghani University, I would like to congratulate, extol, and exult Daniel Brush's masterpiece of a monograph. Its insight and vivid explanations are invaluable and I am discussing with my colleagues about including it as an elective course for my students. Its sheer brilliance exemplifies its utter domination over any other art book. Congratulations to Daniel Brush for enhancing the art world. He will surely go down in history as the pioneer of gold sculpting and as example for all.

This fine story is another example of Jean Craighead George's close bond with nature, elegant writing, and her grandchildren. The Newbery Medal-winning author has written several picture books for her grandchildren--ARCTIC SON, a magnificent book, tells the story of her grandsons Luke and Sam who live in Alaska; DEAR REBECCA, WINTER IS HERE is written in the same format as DEAR KATIE, THE VOLCANO IS A GIRL, and that book, which I liked better, is the story of Katie's sister Rebecca asking the grandmother (Ms. George, we presume) what winter is all about. DEAR KATIE, THE VOLCANO IS A GIRL, is an intriguing tale, in which Katie and her grandmother go to Hawaii to see the great Kilauea Volcano. As the fire explodes around them, the grandmother remarks, "A volcano is a geophysical phenomenon," to which young Katie responds, "The volcano is a girl." So begins a daylong quest to find the truth behind the mysteries of Kilauea. Katie tells her grandmother the story that the native Hawaiians tell, of a fiery goddess who is mad at her sister, the tidal waves. The grandmother insists that the secrets of the volcano is explained using pure science. Following their journey, Daniel Powers's colorful illustrations go along nicely with Ms. George's writing. Young children, especially, will find the pictures exciting. In the end, the grandmother writes to Katie telling her that the legend and the scientists' story are the same. Ms. George has a gift for sharing legends and culture with her readers--in her young adult novels, the JULIE OF THE WOLVES books, she describes with great detail the lives of Inupiat Eskimos, and in SHARK BENEATH THE REEF, the story of a little-known town in seaside Mexico. If you're wondering why I gave this book only 3 stars, the reason is because I think Ms. George's other picture books are more satisfying. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who love Ms. George's nature writing--her other picture books, such as the ones mentioned above, are better. Of course, she has written almost 100 books for children, young adults, and even grown-ups, so there's an endless supply to choose from.

In reading this book, I am reminded of how often I have found that myths that explain how the world works are often merely a symbolic explanation that when cut down to bare bones are exactly the same as science claims. My belief that religion and science have no need to clash is reinforced. They are two different explanations for the same fact. Religion and science can work together, in fact. Science answers our need for an intellectual explanation and religion fulfills our spiritual nature. For me, science has never undercut my faith as it only reinforces the miracle of our world.

I also find it amazing that these ancient myths have such basis in fact. It seems to me that the workings of this world our something a human being can know inately and are not solely the knowledge of the wild animals.

We used this as a teaching story at our local Unitarian Universalist sunday school, showing that Humanist and Pagan beliefs can indeed coexist. In this story, the girl tells her grandmother about the Goddess Pele and Her sacred mountain, while the grandmother tells the girl about volcanoes and geological activity. At the end of the book, the grandmother says "I told you the scientific story, and you told me the religious story, and *they were the same*".

Beautiful illustrations and very respectful treatment of Pele and Her mountain. Highly recommended.