This book is so colorful and graphic in its presentation. I am a graphic designer and I found the easy to follow step by step photos enabled me to succesfully complete many of the techniques in this book on pieces of funriture in my own home. Although I have some art background this book helped me in areas I was unfamilar with- painting technique, faux finishes, brush loading and finishing. I would recommend this book to any creative or non-creative person. You are sure to have success with this book I know I did! You will love it!

This book has especially nice diagrams--it is very graphical--along with clear explanations. This makes the projects look easy and motivates you to try the things they show.

On March 31, 1621, Philip III, third Habsburg ruler of Spain, met a premature death, reportedly clutching in panic at the same crucifix his father and grandfather had held on their deathbeds generations before. His son and heir, the sixteen-year-old Philip IV, succeeded to what is now known collectively as the Spanish Empire - a vast conglomeration of lands and people whose progressive decline as a political entity has long remained a basic assumption amongst twentieth century historians and yet whose cultural vitality has given its period the title of "The Golden Age of Spanish Art." The accession of Philip IV seemed to inaugurate a new era of reform after the previous regime's mindless inactivity and self-interested grandee domination. As the contemporary playwright Tirso de Molina remarked, "New architects acceded with the new king."

This premise serves as the central metaphor in A Palace for a King. Elliott, a historian, and Brown, an art historian, examine both the literal and political architecture of the reign, charting the complicated, often surprising interrelation between art and politics. The palace of the title is the Buen Retiro - an intended recreational center built for Philip IV with astonishing speed during the years 1630-33, left largely in neglect after the 1640's, and finally decimated by French and English troops during the Napoleonic wars. In reconstructing the circumstances surrounding its construction and initial occupation, Brown and Elliott attempt to furnish the reader with a "total" history of the Spanish Habsburg court during its penultimate representative's first twenty years of rule.

The scope of the book is immense. In a prose that is precise and elegant, if at times monotonous, it describes the political and economic issues of the day as well as the relationship between the continuously vacillating king and his powerful minister, the Count-Duke of Olivares, who until 1643 held the true control over Spanish government. It then goes on to analyze the palace of the Buen Retiro itself, exploring the process of palace-building and the symbolism of the palace as a repository of the values of the ruling class. Simultaneously, it looks at Spanish baroque painting, theater, and architecture and their inextricable connection to the court at Madrid, which, itself, was in so many ways like a giant theater. Elliott's inquiry and interpretation of the troubles besetting the institution that was then called the monarquía española and of the role played by Olivares makes for particularly rewarding reading.

The book appears to be extremely well-researched and provides an abundance of evidence from primary sources as varied as confidential memoranda, secret expense accounts and drawings of architectural plans; the endnotes alone constitute twenty of its almost three hundred pages. However, it is its very wealth of references and information that also lies at the core of its greatest weakness. Too often, the text becomes bogged down in statistics, where apparently meaningless figures about who paid whom and whose plot of land was where replace any real insights. The authors seem to become trapped in unneeded details, losing track of the larger picture that they originally intended to convey. As a result, in certain chapters, more attention than necessary is devoted to the actual logistics of building the palace and, consequently, not enough to the palace's political, social, and economic implications.

Still, aside from these slightly irritating flaws, Brown and Elliott's work remains a highly absorptive and very informative look at subject that has thus far remained sadly underrepresented amongst the scientific community. The sheer extent of the information to be found makes this book a valuable resource for anyone interested in the period, while the distressing lack of similar studies makes it absolutely essential for those at all curious about Spain's architectural history. It is, in my mind, a fascinating complement and worthy companion to R.A. Stradling's landmark Philip IV and the Government of Spain.

There was a desparate need for a book pitched at the general audience -- until now.

The 1st edition of McElhinny's book was heralded as a "classic and definitive text". It thoroughly discussed the theory of geomagnetism, the geologic reversals of the Earth's magnetic field, and the shifting of magnetic poles. In the 26 years since the highly successful first edition of Palaeomagnetism and Plate Tectonics (Cambridge, 1973) the many advances in the concepts, methodology, and insights into paleomagnetism warrant this new treatment. This completely updated and revised edition will be a welcome resource for a broad audience of earth scientists as well as laypeople curious about magnetism, paleogeography, geology, and plate tectonics.

I particularly enjoyed the set of Chris Scotese's color paleogeographic maps covering the past 250 million years.

This is the first and only guide to Paris' 20 arrondissements - or local districts - and, though a few years since I wrote the last edition, remains the only neighbourhood guide to the city for regular visitors. Feel free to search the site for info on my more recent French travel guides, includin AA Essential Lille, AAA Travelbook France and Paris Scene.

The cover of this book looks representative of a light trashy romance novel but don't let that put you off. It is a well written, powerful story particularly the last half whcih deals very dramatically and vividly with the horrors of World War 1 without resorting to sensationalism or typical cliches. A very absorbing and thought provoking book

Ordinarily, an diagosis of skin disease shouid be established on both clinical and pathological findings. This book is very useful for me in point of aggregating both findings. In addition, It is easy for me, being poor in English, to read.

This story centers around a young peasant girl and her growing love for the young laird (lord) of the local manor. The whole point of this timeless tale is a simple pure love of "brother and sister, man and woman, and a simple boy and his god."

A must read for anyone curious about the bible or the religious who want to know more!

Three black youths are killed on the mean streets of Los Angeles. There is not one thread except for the city and their race to link the three victims. Yet they all seem to have been murdered by the same killer. Still, murders of black males in LA is like apple pie to most of America, so no one in authority or the media pay any attention to the killings. In fact the only person besides family members to show any interest in the three deaths is African American private investigator Ivan Monk, who believes the triple killings are linked, possibly the victims of a serial killer who is targeting young black males. ..... Ivan tracks the killings back to a small Oregon town called PERDITION. He arrives at the town and quickly wishes the trail had led elsewhere as Ivan is caught up with a white supremacist group and some vicious skinheads. Before long, Ivan realizes that it is him against the mob on their turf. If he is not extremely careful, Ivan might find himself the next victim. ..... With his second novel starring Ivan Monk, Gary Phillips shows that the talent he demonstrated with VIOLENT SPRING was not a flash. PERDITION, USA is a wild ride that takes readers back and forth as it journeys through the different scenes. This strange trip is not for everyone, but to, at least this reviewer, fits the lead protagonist's persona as a hard boiled detective and makes this mystery worth reading. .....Harriet Klausner