Esterly has created scholarly yet engaging study of the life and work of Gibbons, arguably the greatest and most well known master of the art. Esterly delves into the thought processes behind the work of carving and reveals his intimate knowledge of the subject honestly aquired by countless hours at the carver's bench. Historians, woodworkers and art enthusiasts will be find his account of Gibbon's life and work as complete a treatment of the subject as they could hope to find. While there is much carefully explained technical information concerning the mechanics of carving and creating Gibbon's monumental works it is presented with rare clarity and enthusiasm. Any serious carver should own and study this unparalled work.

A master of his trade, Grinling Gibbons astounds you with his work. In this latest book on Grinling Gibbons, David Esterly adds something new to the usual discussion. He disects and explains the techniques that Gibbons used to create his work. If you have marveled at Gibbons' work, you won't want to miss this book to have the secrets revealed at last.

I've had this book for over a year and used it as the basis for a number of toys I've created. The instuctions are clear and concise. The plans are easy to follow and include scaled drawings for each toy. The author also includes a very useful discussion of materials and finishes appropriate for building children's toys and design ideas for building your own animated creations. These sections alone justify the purchase of the book. Be aware that most of the designs in the book are copyrighted and if you wish to build them for commercial purposes you will need to contact the author. My favorite plan is for a very simple to make wooden rattle based on a traditional folk art design (this is not copyrighted). I've built six rattles and presented them as gifts to new parents and have been delighted to see how much infants love to play with them. This is a great source for wooden toy makers.

Whenever I am looking to make a toy for someone, this book is invariably the first one I always reach for. The plans have heaps of detail and processes for making the toys are very well thought out. These toys are not only animated, but appear to be alive, David has put a lot of effort into making these toys realistic and the movement fun for children (and lots of us not so young). As an added bonus to heaps of great plans, David has gone to great pains to talk about the processes behind designing and building a good toy, this books is worth it for this alone.

A very humane and sensitive account that explores the world view of people far from the beaten track. Despite the differences we are led to understand their concerns which turn out to be far less foreign than the material setting would suggest.

Chaffetz book "A memorial" is the last in my trilogy of readings on Afghanistan for this year. First, I read about Nic Danzinger's travels through the area in recent years. Next, I jumped back to the 1950's and '60s with Sir Wilfred Thesiger's--"Among the Mountains". I finished with Chaffetz's "A Journey Through Afghanistan". They are all brilliant but Chaffetz's book stands out as a scholarly piece and could well be used in anthropological circles for it's in depth study of the urban and nomadic Afghanis prior and during the Russian invasion. The recent drought that has affected the Hazarajat and Kuchi nomads of Afghanistan was brought that much closer with this book. I had bought this book in the late 1980's but between different trips to the Near East--I had fogotten where I left it. As a result, it took me 10 years to actually get around to reading it and after finishing it, I wondered why I hadn't cracked the spline earlier. Chaffetz' style can be a bit off-putting but his travelling companion is a perfect foil to David's abrasive personality. I would really like to know why Chaffetz was studying Parsi in pre-revolutionary Iran or was that just a cover?

The entire series is excellent!!! I have all four and I highly reccomend them. They teach science, literature, native american culture, and give children a respect for the natural world at the same time. (there is even the occasional bit of math thrown in). My son loves doing the activities with me! Excellent for unit studies!

We use this book as a homeschool social studies/ecology resource. Each section begins with a Native American story related to the topic of the chapter, then moves on to a discussion of the subject matter. Each section also has activities/experiments, questions for review and discussion, and recommendations for materials for further study. My kids really look forward to each lesson in this book, because the information is presented in a fun manner, and the activities are appropriate for a wide-range of ages!

In Millennium Fruit Soup Cookbook, David Woods draws upon his years of experience and expertise to present a compendium of delicious and delightful recipes of fruit soups that can serve to grace any meal as a first course, main dish, or desert. From Papaya and Chili Pepper Soup, Tomato Jalapeno Orange Soup, and Strawberry Kiwi Cranberry Soup, to Spicy Grapefruit Soup, Strawberry Rhubarb Soup, and Cold Banana Soup, Millennium Fruit Soup Cookbook is a unique, one-of-a-kind cookbook that will prove a family chef favorite for any dining occasion.

Fruit soup. Yes, I said fruit soup. Author and former chef David Woods has put together a cookbook devoted totally to the art of making delicious soups from fruit. And one must agree with the statement he states in his introduction, these are one of the stranger culinary treats. Mr. Woods also points out that fruit soups are popular in Northern and Central Europe and are just starting to catch on in the United States. Based on what I see, let's hope so.

After looking at some of the recipes I must admit are a few that pique my interest. For instance, The Fire and Ice Melon Soup. Watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, honey are all ingredients that one wouldn't first think of when making a soup. But this chilled soup blends these flavors to create a refreshingly good, versatile, and quick dish which can be served as an appetizer, light lunch, or even a dessert.

The book starts with a rundown on the ingredients used in the recipes. There are some exotic fruits used in some of the recipes so this is a nice touch. In addition to two stock recipes to be used as bases for some of the recipes, he also provides several ideas for easy to make croutons for use as a garnish.

Mr. Woods serves up over 90 recipe for fruit soups in his paperback book. Many are chilled soups that appear to be fast to assemble, perfect for summer when everyone is on the go. Who says soup is a cold weather dish? Not David Woods, and he proves it in this excellent, well laid out book.

David Catrow takes a Thanksgiving classic for a wild ride! The long and stressful holiday road trip to a distant relative's home, with the car stuffed full of siblings, pets, and food, is a universal experience. In this whimsical picture book, the baby of the family escapes into a joyful, snowy Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, where characters, floats and balloons take on a life of their own. The lively and imaginative scenes keep the pace of rhythm of the text, and Catrow's cool midseason tones achieve the not-quite- fall-but-not-quite-winter effect. An ideal purchase for the car trip to Grandma's - or for the sibling whom you used to draw seat boundries with.

David Catrow is one of my favorite illustrators, and he definately puts a new spin on a classic Thanksgiving Day rhyme in this book. . .I especially love the cat!

As the latest from the Rotovision series, this IS an excellent book, BUT it is a compliation from the very popular Pro-Lighting series (which I already own). If you haven't purchased any of the books in this series, I would not hesitate to get this one! If you already have Portraits, Fashion, Glamour or New Glamour, you already have what this is made up of.

This book is like a catalog of photos; real high quality fashion/glamour/style photos with illustrations of how they were made. There are not a lot of text there. Maybe you still need another book that deals with technique, basic and advanced. It will be great in conjuntion with this book.

This wonderful resource on contemporary sailing vessels is published annually by ASTA, the American Sail Training Association. You can also get a copy free if you join ASTA (a worthy organization, if you are interested in sail training or traditional sailing ships). ...

The ASTA directory provides a comprehensive listing of traditional sailing ships in the US and abroad. Many of the ships listed offer sail training programs; others carry passengers for hire. It is a valuable resource for anyone interested in going to sea as a sail training student, or looking for work in traditional sail.

This is an excellent book. Everyone who is interested in sail training or tall ships should own a copy. It helped me find my way around and I am very gratefull to the author for spending the time to put together such a complete and comprehensive listing of sail training vessels. The contact information for the vessels is really what sets this book apart, because it really wouldn't be very helpfull if I read about a sail training ship that I wanted more information on, and then couldn't get in touch with them.

This book has been a favorite of my son's since we have been reading to him. At first, he was fascinated by watching the spider pop through the pages on the book. Then, he loved to try to find the spider as it hides throughout the book. Now, he takes the spider through himself. This is a very interactive book and a lot of fun. We can't read it just once, it's at LEAST twice. The only drawback is it gets a little old for me! But he enjoys it so much, I don't really mind.

My 18-month-old daughter "inherited" this book from her 7-year-old cousin, who really enjoyed it. It fast became her favorite book and she'd spend lots of time tucking the cardboard "silly spider" in and out of his hiding places. I bought a copy for a friend's daughter and she loved it, too. Try it -- you'll get a real kick out of the bright illustrations and the "peek a boo" interactive spider!

From virginal Eden to lascivious lavatory, this frightening photo-document exposes the moral corruption in its most vivid form. Consider yourselves warned!

"Long live the new flesh!" This quote from David Cronenberg's cinematic playground of perversion, Videodrome, announces the theme of Torture Garden, the inimitable London nightclub established in 1990. We are not allowed to categorize it as simply a fetish club, because it is "multi-dimensional, ever evolving and mutating." One way to get a handle is to peruse the strict dress code on its website. Your look better be: burlesque, fantasy, theatrical, period costume, glamour, drag, alien, cyborg, cabaret, mutation, cybersex, fetish, SM, body art, rubber, leather, PVC, or uniforms. Sounds like the East Village on a Saturday night.

You take the Angel Tube to get to the current site of Torture Garden's monthly parties. You really do. These partygoers don't engage in much actual BDSM play, although there is some walkabout bondage. It's mainly a Stand and Model venue, a nightclub/dance scene. There's no room to swing a cane anyway. There's a floor show by some of the top out-there acts in the world. There are performance photos here of (among others) Miranda Sex Garden, the Genitorturers, Ron Athey, Medieval Magick, and Angel Grinders & Chainsaws, who use industrial equipment to send fountains of sparks gushing from the groins of troupe members.

The production package of Torture Garden, the book, is superb. Chaplin's candids capture the feverish ecstasy of a world where nothing is true and everything is permitted. They are brilliantly grouped and sequenced. Sivroni's mostly larger format portraits bring you face to face with folk in costumes far beyond fabulous, exuding the potency of their homemade personas. The Videodrome quote above is one of many at the bottom of every page. These provide a quick, painless introduction to the TG philosophy. A few favorites:

"...sadomasochism enjoys all the forms of religious piety - kneeling, praying, worshipping, sacrificing, invoking and punishing." -- Terence Sellers, The Correct Sadist

"The first duty of man is to become artificial." -- Oscar Wilde

"The body is both a pleasure palace and a torture chamber." -- Charles Levin, Body Invaders

"It's your body, play with it." -- Fakir Musafar, Modern Primitives

"Your body is a battleground." -- Barbara Kruger

At Torture Garden, the concept of costume is raised to extremes of creative imagination, transcendent otherness and disgusting repulsion. By the time you get through this volume, your own definitions of these categories will have been severely mangled. On one night a performer named Franko paraded through the crowd on crutches, accompanied by a nurse. He was nude except for syringes, catheters, rubber tubes and various medical receptacles containing various bodily fluids. On the same night, completely independently, a female partygoer appeared wearing a brassiere consisting of two plasma bags filling with her own blood.

One man's features are covered by a remarkably lifelike effect of the flesh of his face pulled back and nailed to his skull. Hellraiser-style pinheads abound. Crazed male ballerinas, harem girls, rubber boys, sirens, harpies, transvestites, androgynes, hermaphrodites, naughty nurses, naughty nuns, naughty Nazis, welder's goggles, gas masks, catcher's masks, nine-inch nails, helmets, horns, spikes, wounds, rings through everything and to top it off, a spitting-image Laurel and Hardy. Happy Halloween in Hell!