The title and the alphabetical format of this book seems uninspiring, but actually it is a veritable treasure. It has an excellent article or entry on almost anything you might wonder about Bach, and the format lets you just to look up the issue alphabetically. The appendices also ease the effort-- there is a thematic list of all entries, a BWV list with years, a text list of the first lines of all arias/choruses, first performance dates of cantatas... The tone of the book is scholarly but very readable.

So if you have ever wondered what was the trumpet like in Bach's day, the real meaning of well-tempered, who P.D.Q. Bach is, what did Christian Ludwig of Brandenburg do with the concertos, you need to get this book. Indispensable for anyone who has been bitten by the Bach bug; it will appeal to the starter and the expert alike.

This book was a surprise. Being interested in knowing about JS Bach's devotional life, I expected to read a commentary on Bach's interlinear comments in his copy of the Calov Bible Commentary. Indeed, the book does have that, but it also has, which was a nice surprise, high quality reproductions (photos) of the actual pages in the commentary with Bach's handwriting. Hence, this book becomes a facsimile edition, and the low price is unheard of for a book of this quality (cloth cover, high quality paper, etc). Highly recommended not only for the music scholar, but any lover of Bach's music who wants to know more about what made the man tick.

David writes in an entertaining style. While he plunges into the deepest musical analysis in some chapters, most of the time he is not that technical. If you do decide to wade through the musical analysis, he really accentuates the genius of the Musical Offering. I don't know whether his thesis of the sequence (3-part Fugue, 5 Canons, Sonata, 5 more canons, 6-part Fugue) is correct or has stood the test of historical analysis. However, when the Musical Offering is heard in this order, it makes a lot more emotional sense than the almost random alternative.

Also, this book was the inspiration for "Goedel, Escher, Bach". So if you liked that one, you should read this.

Having enjoyed Mike Venezia's Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists series, I had some doubts about his World's Greatest Composers series for the simple reason that music does not have the same visual dimension as paintings (I figured that out all by myself). One of the strengths of the Artists series was that Venezia could provide examples of famous paintings by the likes of Rembrandt or Van Gogh and talk specifically about artistic technique. Consequently, more often than not, those volumes constituted mini-lessons in art appreciation for young readers. However, even when these Greatest Composers volumes are reduced to being just juvenile biographies, they still constitute a delightful look at a famous person.

In the case of Johan Sebastian Bach we find once again the delightful combination of historic paintings of Bach and his times, along with Venezia's wickedly funny but still informative cartoons (e.g., Bach as a tester and repairer of organs). Young readers will be astounded by the fact that Bach has 20 children, four of whom went out to be composers of note as well, but even more so by the revelation that Bach's music was not especially popular in his own time because it was too "new." Hopefully reading this volume will get young readers interested in the music of Bach: my strong suggestion would be that a youngster reading this book should also be able to listen to Bach's music. Any of the decent Bach collections of "greatest hits" should have "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" and excerpts from "The Brandenburg Concertos," as well as examples of the various types of music composed by Bach and talked about in this volume. This would be true for any volume in this series, which includes volumes on great composers from Ludwig Van Beethoven to The Beatles!

John Sebastion's book/CD should be on the syllabus of every beginning and intermediate harmonica player.

John describes the basics -- single notes, bending, chords -- as good as other books. And I like John's simple delivery. But what sets this book apart are some of the intermediate topics -- a fox run chug, some of the solo techniques, and the chord-single-note song techniques. I particularly liked the intro and outro -- songs I am memorizing now which I never thought I could play. It's a blues / hobo harmonica style which I just love.

I recommend this, in conjunction with Jon Gindick's Rock N' Blues Harmonica book/CD as the 2 best instructional material for aspiring harmonica players.

Financial consultant Edward Bell follows a treacherous trail of deception through the capitals of Eastern Europe when he learns that his mother, an exiled dissident, possesses secret KGB files that she may have killed to acquire.

This 136 page spiral bound volume adds useful materials for the study of the Syriac New Testament. The text is well laid out, the Syriac is in a nice readable Syriac (Serto, very close to a Jacobite) font. Initially a computer generated list of word frequencies occupies the first 34 pages, followed by a frequency list of proper nouns, a list of words derived from Greek, consonantal homographs, and elegantly displayed verb paradigms. Added to this work is a fine "skeletal" Syriac grammar by the great S. Brock, which in itself is very handy. The text ends with an English and Syriac index to the work. Kiraz is a known expert with this language, and this work is a useful and accurate tool. It serves as a SUPPLEMENT to a grammar.

i have just finished this book. I must say that i have not felt the connection between the main characters in a long while. Mrs cooper has done a fantastic job. Beatrice and Sebastain emotions will draw you in from the beginning to the end. This book is a definite keeper

This volume includes all seven of the toccatas, miscellaneous preludes and fugues and suites, pieces from the Notenbüchlein for W. F. Bach, the Aria Variata, etc. While the "major" keyboard pieces are available in other Dover volumes, this is great to look around in for lesser known works-- and some pieces scholars now attribute to other composers. Sturdy and easy to read, with the usual minimum of editorial comment, my copy has weathered several years of playing and scribbling.