Somehow Holmes produces scholarly biographies that make compulsive reading. He never fictionalizes or puts thoughts in his subjects' heads that he has no authority for - and yet he keeps us turning those pages. Is it the subjects he choses? Shelley and Coleridge both had strongly "plotted" lives. Coleridge married the sister of Southey's wife and fell in love with the sister of Wordsworth's wife. I liked his comment on Coleridge's father's predecessor in the the benefice of St Mary's Ottery.

The general reader and the scholar should enjoy this book. Holmes does set Coleridge talking.

Don't miss Owen Barfield's WHAT COLERIDGE THOUGHT if you want to explore the matephysician.

If you think Coleridge was finished by 1804, think again. True, all his great poems had been written but an astonishing life of triumph and tragi-comedy lay ahead. "Coleridge, Darker Reflections" is the long-awaited second half of this award-winning biography of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. It covers the period 1804-1834 - a time when, according to popular belief, Coleridge's fertile imagination had dried up and he faced a slippery slide to an opium-induced decline. But not according to the author Richard Holmes, described as "Our best post-war biographer". He is a superb story teller and unlike so many biographers before him, deeply in touch with his subject. His first volume, "Coleridge Early Visions" introduced the poet to a new generation of admirers (including myself who was fired into writing a play for children about the poet's early magical years). This wonderful book will surely establish STC as a troubled but gigantic genius of the 19th century. Holme's own genius is to show us Coleridge the man. "Always on the knife edge between tragedy and comedy" said Holmes at the London book launch this week (21st October 1998) Holmes has worked assiduously through STC's vast notebooks. Like his namesake, Sherlock, the author clearly enjoys the detection element of biography. His is a personal search for the man, his millieu and his place. Holmes retraces STC's footsteps around England - echoing the desperate perambulations of the wandering poet. Holmes tells this astonishing story at a cracking pace - he has the thriller-writer's gift for making you turn the page. We follow STC through his Malta years - a wonderful evocation of Coleridge's chaotic life. The years of tragic opium decline in London are brought to life (I challenge you not to cry) - and yet there are so many triumphs - the marvellous late poems that Holmes has championed in an earlier collection, the seminal lectures on Shakespeare, Coleridge the thinker and radical, Coleridge the father (not a very good one), the years of relative happiness in Highgate where we find Coleridge the guru. Above all is Coleridge the man. Holmes as only the greatest biographers can, brings his subject completely to life and shows us why Coleridge was such a tour de force in the Romantic movement and why Byron called Wordsworth "a fixed star" but Coleridge "a meteor". There is so much to love in this book - it is hard to know what to recommend. If you have never read a biography before, make this your first. If you think you are familiar with the life of STC, this book, so full of new discoveries and insights, will make you reassess the poet. Holmes is clearly enamoured of his subject. It is a book that will make you laugh out loud in places. You will see exactly why Charles Lamb said of his great friend "He is an archangel, damaged."

Taylor's updated version is an essential tool for anyone who is not familiar with s.e. arizona, and extremely helpful for those who are. It contains detailed descriptions of birding areas, maps, species to expect at different times of the year, and more. Rick takes you right to the hard-to-find Arizona specialties, as well as all the rest, and does it in an enjoyable manner. This book is fun to read even after leaving Arizona. You will not be disappointed with this one!

This is a great resource for planning and executing a birding expedition to southeast Arizona. Excellent maps, detailed species accounts, and helpful directions and resource listings. This book tells you what specialties to look for at specific locations and when they are most likely to be found there. A great guide for birding southeast Arizona, from roadside birding to backcountry hiking. I especially appreciate the tear out maps of trails and inside cover maps of locations and ecoregions.

I have a 1997 version of this textbook. It is really wonderful for reference even after finishing the course that required it. My husband and son are using it also. It has answers in the back so you can check yourself. If you don't tear out the work sheets and just copy them, other members of you family or friends can use the book to improve their English also. It is really worth the money.

I am just completing a required class using this book. It takes you through our written English language by teaching how to identify each part of speech. This book also teaches correct punctuation, different kinds of phrases, and really makes you dig deep in your subconcious to remember nominative phrases, plurals, numbers used in sentences, etc... It's all the basic English in one book that a person needs for brushing up!

Taylor does an amazing job introducing people to Political Philosophy. It should be a book everyone interested in political philosophy or philosophy in general should read.

Concise, allegorical and amazingly lucent in its breakdown of how mankind should logically apply self-interest to the formation of building blocks for the Rule of Law.

An excellent handbook for philosophers, law-makers, and anyone who wants to understand better what might be good and bad about the current forms of law in the world today.

This watercolor book is a favorite of mine. The author describes and shows ways to do watercolor for everyone from the beginner to advanced painter. He gives demos that are interesting, informative and fun to do. I have used this book as reference over and over again and always will.

As a returning art student this book is excellent. The author gives clear concise information as to the colors used to achieve the desired effect, as well as, wonderful step by step easy to follow guidelines. I have many books but none that have helped me more with color, composition, glazing and the delight of watercolor.This book is a must book for the beginner as well as the intermediate and advanced painter.

This review refers to "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge....

Get swept away to a world of dreams in this beautiful collection of Coleridge's best poetry.Open this book to any poem and you will immediatly be transported to fantastick worlds and mysterious voyages.You will find no need to get caught up in trying to anaylze, you'll just be caught up in his words.The reader can identify their own experiences within his works, and make their own interpertations.

Coleridge will stir your imagination with such great works as the adventurous and ghostly voyage of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"(in the entire 7 parts),the dream land of "Kubla Khan", and my personal favorite,the sadly unfinished other worldly fairy tale of "Christabel".

You'll find many others of his classic poetry that emcompasses both worlds of dreams and reality. "The Pain of Sleep", ""The Fruit Plucker" and "Time, Real and Imaginary" are examples of these.Other works included are "If I Had But Two Little Wings","Songs from 'Zapolya'", "Youth and Age", and the beautiful "Frost at Midnight", all stories of love and life.

There are many more wonderful writings to be found here and they are both ageless and to be enjoyed by any age. There are poems to be read aloud almost as songs.There are poems to read to yourself as well.

"He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all."...
From"The Ancient Marnier"

A great gift for yourself or the poetry lover in your life...enjoy..Laurie

Coleridge is the only English Romantic poet I like, and Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the main reason. However, this collection also contains another long poem that is often overlooked--Christabel. This a very haunting poem which was unfortunately unfinished when Coleridge died. As for the rest of the selections, Kubla Khan is really the only short poem of the same quality as Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

This book is well writen. Author emphasizes on colour value. After reading this book , you will know about howto use warm colours and cold colours to paint a building with a right value. However, this bood isn't a step-by-step book,the author didn't tell much about howto mix colours and howto sketch. It's good for who loves and wants to paint European-style buildings ,and an architect who wants to render his picture with watercolour.

One of the most informative books on watercolor techniques and color theory. It covers all types of building surfaces from weathered wood to bricks and stucco. If you love painting buildings with textures this is the book to buy.

An excellent addition to any personal or library bookshelf! Very interesting text and stories accompany an abundance of quality photograhs with an appealing layout. Highly recommend.

I found the book interesting and suspenseful. I won't give away the plot, but I couldn't put the book down. It is a quick read. Not the same old, same old. Good writing. I had to get mine in eBook form.

This book is made up from some of the many transcripts of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. The editor has picked out a selection of interviews and testimonies that make up this horrifying but riveting read about the senseless murder of the Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence. Chronicalling the inept mismanagement of the murder enquiry from the word go by the British Police, the anguish of Stephen's parents, and the uniting of Jews, Asian and Blacks in their bid to get to the truth, this book strives to give an overall view of a case that shocked a nation. Stephen Lawrence died because he was Black. He was murdered in the most cruel and callous way possible by a group of young men who to this day have not been bought to trial. This book sets out to show the world "the colour of British justice," and how it does not necessarily always apply to ethnic minorities. The book is not a condemnation of all things "White", it shows compassion too in the form of the man who stayed with Stephen and whispered in his ear as he lay dying, "you are loved, remember you are loved" and the rose tree he planted in his garden, nourished by the blood he washed off his hands after the incident. "The Colour of Justice" is so very shocking because it is true and it is for this very reason that this book should be in every school library in the country, not to condemn but to teach the next generation that "the colour of justice," should be the colour of equality.

24th July 2002

Two of the suspects involved in the Stephen Lawrence's murder have just been found guilty of a racially motivated attack on a Black off duty Metropolitan Police Officer. A leopard so it seems never changes its spots.