I purchased this book recently. It is surprisingly heavy and is packed wih pictures and info. Really a must-have for collectors.
I have a few critisisms: first, there are no prices or values for the items, which I thought there would be. I realize that prices and availability fluctuate after several years making it difficult to place a value on certain items, but even including the original store prices would have been better than nothing. Second, I was very disappointed to find that the book does not include any of the merchandise sold on the tours (with the exception of the UTP and BFP tour books), such as tour necklaces, t-shirts, and other items. I thought this was a pretty big omission considering the popularity and collectibility of such items.
Despite those things, it is a great book to have, I would recommend picking one up if you plan to start collecting.

This is an excellent book to have for collectors. You shouldn't purchase unless you are a serious collector.

The previous reviewer who likened this to the Bible is absolutely correct. It's got a permanent position at my computer when I do my ebaying. Great information explaining the differences between different discs and why one's more valuable than the other. Great pictures. I would like to see a continuation though. Tori's released so much more after this book was published....I want to know what I'm missing!

Let's suppose you don't know anything about Islam. Would you turn to a debate between two scholars of the Sharia' to get your basic knowledge ? Or maybe, if you didn't know anything about Judaism, would you turn to Maimonides' discussion of the impossibility of absolute finality ? The same question can be asked of Maya Deren's incredible, deep, detailed book on Haitian religion, a religion taken largely from West Africa. Although Deren, an artist and film-maker, writes passionately and intellectually about her subject, she assumes far too much knowledge on the part of the reader. I found the book incredibly dense, full of details which I could not possibly remember, yet giving me no quarter, explaining nothing to me in terms that I could come to grips with. I can be emotional in practice, but in reading a book on a rather new subject for me, I prefer some intellectual explanation, some connection to the web of knowledge all readers of books like this do share. Deren waxes philosophical, lyrical, and psychological in turn. It is hard to know how to absorb it all. She describes the symbolic and mythological significance of the many West African deities found in Haiti, trying also to explain how the New World required new meanings in some cases. Her argument that Africans absorbed some Indian influence seems rather frail. She also describes the role of the houngan, or priest of Vodun, the importance of drums and drumming, the fact of possession.

Look, let's be brief. If you already know a lot about West African religion or its New World variants, and if you want a detailed analysis in a non-standard anthropological form, then this could be a five star book for you. Her passion, her scholarship deserve five stars for sure. The best thing about the book is its insistence that Voudoun or Vodun is a rich, vital religion with ancient roots, so far from the caricature often imposed on "Voodoo" by Western popular culture. On the other hand, if you want to know more about Haitian society, if you are looking for an anthropological work that will give you some operating knowledge in Haiti or about Haiti, this volume is going to prove far too rich for your blood. Try some of the other works on Haiti first.

The other reviewers do a good job of discussing Deren's history of Haitian Voodoun, however, it should be noted that regardless of the merits of this as an historical text, the book is a fascinating read for anyone interested in her film practice. Perhaps this is obvious, but it is unmentioned by some others.

Maya Deren's "Divine Horsemen" is a poetically rendered exploration of the philosophy and practices of Haitian Voodoun. Written in the early '50's (with the support of Joseph Campbell), this book is not a "how to" practical guide. Rather it a metaphysical, religious, philosophical & anthropological study of Voodoun. As an artist, Deren brings a uniquely lyrical voice to her narrative and paints a multi-textured, infinitely complex portrait of a spiritual tradition with roots stretching back to the very dawn of humanity. In reading this book I was awed by an awareness of the sophisication and perception of the so-called "primitive" people of West Africa (from which Voodoun derives). They were only "primitive" in terms of the development of technology, certainly not in the development of the spirit. Reading this has created a profound shift in my view of the history of civilization as taught to me in school. This book is essential reading not only for anyone interested in Voodoun, but also for any student of comparative religion, mythology or spirituality.

Nancy Campbell captures the true essence of the breed in her personal, up-close approach. Her descriptions of what makes the GSP special, I found are accurate and heart warming. Not only is the book informative and extremely well organized, it is also fun reading! I especially liked some of the training techniques. I have tried them and they work.

We love our adopted shelter GSP dog and when were thinking of one, we bought this invaluable book. Excellent information, characterization of the breed and written with humor. This book is for current owners and potential owners. We love our dog and use this book as a reference when we have questions on him. This book accurately described his temperant, needs and how to care for him.

This book is intended for those considering the breed, and it is a wonderful and funny introduction. It is also a fine book for those who have owned GSPs before to enjoy and reflect on their experience with the breed. A must for a person considering getting the breed for the first time. It is in depth about the breed history, standard, and breed character. Not a training guide, but that is not its apparent purpose. Read this one BEFORE you get a GSP.

This book has excellent training tips that even work with other breeds, precautions you should take, and adorable pictures! Buy this book!

I enjoyed this book very much. It is a fun read, I found it very helpful and will revisit this book often in the future. The illustrations are very good as well. Another book you may wish to purchase with this one is The mastiff, an owners guide to a happy healthy pet, by John M. Becknell.
Please do not make the same error I did and purchase "Mastiff Aristocratic Guardian" by Dee Dee Andersson, I cannot say enough negative things about this book.

A perfect book for the new mastiff owner. It is very short but has concise information that is very usefull. If you buy one of these wonderfull dogs this book should be on your coffee table.

Contrary to other reviews...If purchased from a responsible breeder..the health issues with these guys are as the book describes... If you purchase from a newspaper or pet shop the health issues as well as behavior issues WILL be much worse than this book describes.

This is a problematic book because it panders to a reader who wants flash, sensationalism. The idea is that characters are interesting only after they run away and join the circus or engage in lurid sex or otherwise decide not to be real people. It is true that the characters derive their appeal from being apart from the bourgeois, from occupying no niche but that of not having a niche, being hard to nail down. But we have too much of a good thing, too much of a begging for our attention. It's showy writing.

The best story is the one with the closest psychological distance, "Gorilla Girl", a story that is haunting and surprising, and most interesting before the protagonist joins the circus. While it IS profoundly true that almost all people in Michigan are either deformed or have joined the circus at least once, there's such a thing as overkill. Incidentally, why the emphasis, in the catalog listing and on the book's dust jacket, about the "lower peninsula"? No one refers to the main part of Michigan that way. One just says, "Michigan" and it is assumed one doesn't mean the upper peninsula, a tiny, nearly unpopulated part of the state, unless one specifies.

This remarkable collection of stories creates a bright and vivid universe of characters, situations, and places you won't soon forget. In her admirably straightforward and unaffected prose, Bonnie Jo Campbell introduces her readers to an evocative cast of Midwestern women both ordinary and extraordinary who--by a fantastic variety of means--are finally claiming the power they deserve. My favorite story--though it's hard to choose a favorite because every story in the book delivers--is "Circus Matinee," in which Big Joanie, a circus sno-cone vendor, confronts a terrifying situation when a tiger escapes from its cage. Big Joanie's story is one among many in this collection that you definitely don't want to miss. If you read only one collection of short stories this year, make sure this is the one!

Ms. Campbell writes with a strong voice and tells stories that feel very real. She manages to combine an interesting (often fascinating) storyline with characters which we, as readers, want to know better. Her writing is fearless; her stories and, indeed, the paragraphs within the stories, begin with an unusual strength and assurance, they call out to the reader, her writing draws us inside the world of her characters and makes us want to read on.

I can best explain this by quoting from her story, "Goriila Girl", this is the opening line; "When beer is mixed and left to ferment and bread is set out to rise, they sometimes collect wild yeasts; these foreigners drop out of the jet stream or rise up from the bowels of the planet, unwelcome particles which give the finished product a sharp flavor. I suspect this is what happened to my mother when she was pregnant with me."

Now, this is a story I want to continue reading!!

When reading these stories, one is left with the feeling that the writer has a great deal of information about the world, about people - she is obviously "an observer" and her dialogue and narration demonstrate her keen powers of observation. In her story, "The Fishing Dog", a man says to another character; "You act like a girl who was raised by wolves." He smiled. "They don't like to be in enclosed spaces."

I enjoyed this book of stories immensely and look forward to her next book and the one after that and the one after that.

It comes as no surprise to me that Ms. Campbell has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize by none other than Joyce Carol Oates, for one of the stories in this collection, "The smallest Man in the World."

I believe that we will be hearing a great deal more about Ms. Bonnie Jo Campbell.

Since I've visited Antarctica, and enjoyed its haunting, indifferent beauty as well as the spectacular wildlife, I was interested in reading an account of someone who had lived, studied, and conducted research there.

Campbell's strength is writing about the science, the wildlife, the extremes of weather and of living in a difficult place. His weakness is his utter lack of self-analysis. He berates the tourists who come to this place (does he think he owns the Antarctic area himself?), and laments the loss of microscopic and macroscopic life that is lost when the loutish tourist dares step on the fragile landscape, yet he is blissfully unaware of the far greater damage he does to the ecosystem when he powers up the hills to work on the weatherstation, and when he pulls up marine creatures and watches them burst, dying, under his microscope.

I guess anything is fair game when done under the guise of 'science', but woe be to the ordinary person who dares to learn about one of the farthest reaches of the planet.

It would be hard for this book to be uninteresting, covering as it does the natural history and present teeming life, as well as the everyday life of a human community, in this remote area. My only objection is the use of some scientific biology words which may be common enough among scientists but which are curveballs for us lay folk. Otherwise it's a fine read. This really made me picture myself there, and want to visit Antarctica, and appreciate its role in the world environment.

This book is elegantly descriptive of the history, both natural and anthropogenic, of one of the last true frontiers - Antarctica. Dr. Campbell presents an interesting history of Antarctica before the human invasion as well as after, which provides the reader with a better understanding of the environment in Antarctica.

i found it very beautiful. it was liked that she showed the things that go on around a walk as well, even tho a previous reviewer didn't. i thought her perceptions on africa were great. and her perceptions on how such things she acomplished and the life that went with it. it helped me fall even more deeply in love with africa and people and that unnamable peace that is so nice.

i'd like to do something similar oneday and i don't think that she should feel bad about the missing miles, espescialy when she's gone back and put them in. i was very surprised to see what nasty things some press had written about her, but then those people are more mad because they're mad more than anything elese, and they often say nasty, stupid things. reading her book has made her something of a personal hero to me, and will go with my other imagended (not physically kickable) statues of people i honour and remember, which may sound sappy, but it's a pantheon, very big one, and i'm more than happy to have her in it ^_________^

I read this book not long after meeting Ffyona, and it helped me to see her as a person, with feelings and emotions, and not just as the outside shell we often judge people by. This is a book about a noble effort, and well worth reading...most of us will never get the experience any other way. I loved this book, and I am honored to call the author my friend.

Ffyona has written the best book I have ever readed. It changed my life, realy! The impact that it has on your thinking about the world and your personal life is great. The manor of writing isn't very good but what's it about makes it all good. I want to read it again and again. Please Ffyona make more books!

Although I have some previous programming experience (2 C++ classes in college), I'm usually able to grasp the basic concepts pretty easily. This book is no exception, but it certainly isn't related to C++ or anything like that, so it really is like starting from the beginning to me. But it was still easy to grasp the concepts (so far anyway, I'm only about 1/3 through the book) and apply them following the author's exercises. CosmoPlayer (the VRML plugin for your browser) is in version 2.1 now (the book's CD includes version 1.0) so a visit to cosmo software would be good. Also, they make WYSIWYG editors for VRML, so don't think that you won't be able to write VRML just because you can't remember all the code - I assume it's like a 3D Studio Max interface.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because the author seems to assume you completely understand everything the very first time he explains it to you. I've had to go back and re-read several sections so that I could understand something later in the book, but I suppose if he kept explaining concepts over and over again then the book would be twice as long. Great book if you're interested in the VRML world.

This was my first book for VRML2. Although I do lots of graphics programming in C/C++ and Open GL, I am sure that this book will be equally easy for those who want to start web 3D programming. If you know java script then this can be a good guide for VRML scripting. I would like to thank the author for his work. I did my entire project on VRML with the help of this book only ...

I have read alot of the web3d/vrml books over the years, and this book is the best one I have read so far. The book starts with easy to understand concept and example to show you what VRML can do, and what VRML is possible. It is suitable for both beginner and advance users. The complimentary CD-ROM is very helpful and is a great time saver for anyone who wants to use the example and script in the book. This is the best VRML book I have read so far.

Since I am big fan of great Bessie Smith, it was just natural that I found this book.It didnt tell me anything about Bessie - she was merely symbol of great journey in this novel but I still couldn't put it down and read it in one sitting.Its a lovely book full of interesting characters and Im sure it would made a great movie.Only today when I was writting about this book in my diary I realised that actually every male character in this book is very bad one - there are no good males here, they are all drunkers or sadistic rapist.I really liked two old ladies and I enjoyed the book but its a little too much to blame guys for everything bad in their lifes, nothing is so balck-and-white and I am sure that there are some nice guys around, strangely enough not in this book.

I loved following Mrs. Kuzo and Mrs Lemack on thier journey to visit Bessie Smith's grave. During this trip Mrs. Kuzo thinks back to her tragic life with her dysfunctional family, but I was amazed how the author was able to add some humor to the tragic details. I would highly recommend reading this book.

I hope when I'm 75 that I have the spunk and vigor of Mrs. Kuzo and Mrs. Lemack. The plot of this book was ingenious and fast-paced. I loved the insights into these fabulous women's friendship. It was bittersweet and heart-wrenching, but unputdownable. I plan to read this one over and over. It's a perfect summer read!

The 300 years of Kitchen Collectibles is sorely lacking in information about the last 75 years of kitchen collectibles. The majority of the book covers what I would call primitive kitchen items. The photos are grainy and lack detail. If you have a kitchen item that you need to identify..this book might prove useful.

Seldom is a reference book an entertaining read. Seldom is a good read easy to reference and find information quickly. This book does an excellent job of bridging both worlds. For the casual auction hound or dealer this book is invaluable.

I liked the book so much I was wondering what to give my mother for mother's day. She's one of those people who either has everything she needs or goes and gets what she needs when she wants it. The idea of giving her this book struck me as a good one. Reluctantly I gave her my copy. She clearly has enjoyed it, she allows me to look at it when I'm visiting. She hasn't been willing to loan to me though.

We have just begun trying to collect kitchen items. This book has great descriptions, lots of pictures, recipes and informative items about different kitchen gadgets.

This book is wonderful! I have already spent hours thumbing through it, learning what some of the "weird items" really are and enjoying all the extra tidbits she has added to the book. Right now I'm heading to buy section to get her Housekeeping Collections.