In the decade and a half between his pioneering 'Blue Velvet' and recent renaissance with 'Mulholland Drive', David Lynch's reputation had seriously plummeted, his name a synonym for kitschy, affectless weirdness. It's good to be reminded what a major filmmaker he could be, and Michael Atkinson claims 'Velvet' as the most important and influential film of the 80s. Although the film deals with areas of human behaviour, psychology and sexuality we'd prefer not to think about, and is full of reeling violence and disorienting cinematic procedures, Atkinson argues that Lynch is ultimately a conservative artist, affirming a childlike, pre-Oedipal innocence by vividly portraying its dark, disjunctive opposite.

This thesis is arguable to say the least, and Atkinson himself isn't always very convinced by it. Using a loose psychoanalytic framework, he discusses 'Velvet' as a psychodrama, a narrative unleashing of the Id, with Jeffrey as a kind of Alice or fairy-tale figure undergoing the harrowing, identity-threatening psychic journey to maturity. You may disagree with Atkinson's wider conclusions, but his attentive, close reading of the film pays justice to its full, ambiguous complexity, singling out Lynch's idiosyncratic use of colour, composition and the widescreen frame; his manipulation of physical space in psychic space; the equal importance of his 'aural design' to his visuals; his unexpected sensitivity to class and gender politics; his use of performance (Atkinson brilliantly recuperates the famously vicious Frank (Dennis Hopper)). Each passing insight adds layers to the film's suggestibility, without ever hoping to tie it up, so bound up is Lynch's aesthetic to his own impenetrable demons.

Atkinson has an annoying habit of repeating alienating buzzwords like 'interface' and 'topoi', where clearer words will do; his contention that 'Velvet' is a 'pure' movie, untainted by cinema history, is simply wrong (Douglas Sirk and Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' are obvious precedents for a start), and his interpretation of Lynch's Dennis Potter-like use of song is way off the mark. But if you want to tease out some of the stranger mysteries of Lynch's beautiful and enigmatic film, this is the book to get.

Assuming you have seen the movie, one might be fascinated to read a book on it. Atkinsons book might be the one to check out. Carefully detailed, this book discusses the major plots in the film, in relation to all its subplots as well as all the inuendoes that are so common in Lynch films. Not to mention the quirkiness of the characters. Overall, this book was well told and making some plausible ideas about the strangeness of Lynches world. Yet, I found it does not help me appreciate the film any better than I did the first time, or the next time I will see it.

Michael Atkinson does a great job of analyzing and pointing out all the weird little touches that "Blue Velvet" contains. It is helpful to fans and is sure to tell you something about the film, even if you were sure you knew everything about it. Atkinson does get a little long-winded in some places but it is otherwise a good book for anyone interested in this film.

The pictures are nice, but not really anything you would not find in National Geographic Magazine. A bit overrated with the flyfishing hype, as we have here in the Northwest.

One for any coffee table. Fog bound English trout streams to glaringly bright Christmas Island bonefish flats to wide Rocky Mountain Streams to expansive New Zealand rivers. Perhaps a little over emphised on North American fly pursuits and salmo-trutto centred, but worth reading never the less. If you fly fish and travel, Beware!! The feet will itch and the bank manager will not be your best friend after this.

This is a book that you will want to keep from yur significant other. It opens up the door to dreams of destinations and fish to come. The colors are too vibrant, the stories (all by very fine authors) ring too true. After reading this your next stop will be either the travel agent or the tackle shop to be followed in rapid succession by a trip to the stop that you didn't visit first.

I did not like it. It is a bad story. Wolfs are not bad like in the story. Peter doesnt listen to his grandpa, so it is a bad example.

If you are familiar with the Prokofiev symphony, this book makes a good companion to the music. It puts into visual images the story of Peter and the Wolf. What I like most about the book is that, in the end, the duck lives. The ending varies somewhat depending on the version of the recording or book. In this book, it's a happy ending, which is better for younger readers.

We use the book by itself sometimes. Other times, my child will read along while we listen to the symphony.

Our children, 3 year old twins, love the music of Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf. In searching for an age appropriate book to show them the musical instruments that play each of the characters, we found this one illustrated by Ian Beck. Not only are the illustrations lovely, the colors and clothing of Peter, the hunters and the grandfather are interesting to a child. Also, each page shows the instrument played for that part of the story (find it in the box around the text), and in the back a page illustrates each instrument. We cannot recommend this lovely book enough to parents of young children discovering the beauty of music!

Worth reading if you're in the mood for something vaguely disgusting and troublingly realistic. Not a great pick for a sultry summer day.

Diana Atkinson's Highways and Dancehalls is a poignant, enthralling coming-of-age drama taking place in strip joints across British Columbia. Diana gradually reveals the emotional and phyical abuse that drove Sarah/Tabitha to strip. She was raised in an atmosphere filled with the classics, but the pain she experienced allowed her to experience and share with us the emptiness of that "high-mindedness." She paints a complete picture of the dives, the other strippers, and the audience. All Diana's people seem whole, alive. Yes, the book is gritty and pulls no punches. That adds to it's interest, I think. I tried to take my time reading this because I loved it so much. I wish Diana Atkinson would pick up her pen and write some more. She writes beautifully.

Finally. Reality. Invaluable stark reality, is what I appreciate about Diana's novel. But its only for those with the balls to read real life. Whether you like it or not. The glamour of the exotic dancing profession is thrown out the window to a garbadge strewn, rain soaked ally, like the strippers gem studded thong flung to the floor. Reality can be beautiful, but Diana shows us the other very real side, the black ugliness of willing sexual stupidity. The willing, willful tendancies of the human mind to very purposely overlook the humanness of the objects of their sexual scorn or sexual titaliation. Any male or female who has ever witnessed a exotic dancer, or anyone who has been one, ought to read this, not only to appreciate the execellent literary read, but also as a type of "for your information" manal. Got the guts? Then read!

This book is very easy to like and it makes yo want to read more. It talks about how he lost his clothes and much more if you wat to find out then you better read it.

My 2 year old loves this story she calls it, the bunny's friend book. She enjoys this story more than Peter Rabbit. I think that the story is more eventful than Peter Rabit; and it is nice that the bunnies get to finish their adventure. I have read hundreds of stories to my daughter and we both find this one enjoyable my 5 month old also seems to enjoy it. She likes the colorful pictures. I guess you could say that everyone is happy when this story is chosen. If you like Peter Rabbit you'll like Benjamin Bunny.

This book is full of short stories written by Beatrix Potter. I enjoyed reading the book very much. The stories were always adventurous. However, I found that the stories might be a little to lengthy for children to sit through (unless it is time for bed). The author of these stories is telling children that even though getting into mischief is fun at the time, it is not the best choice to make. Especially in the case of Peter Rabbit when his siblings get to eat gooseberries and milk and he has to eat beet stew because he is sick from getting into trouble. This shows children that there is a price for getting into trouble.

This excellent collection of five Beatrix Potter stories has obviously been replaced with the larger collection read by Claire Bloom, "Tales by Beatrix Potter." My school library owns the title viewed here, but we will undoubtedly upgrade to the newer collection whenever it's available in CD. Listening to Beatrix Potter in Bloom's crystal clear British accent is THE way to hear these delightful, and classic, stories!

I was kind of surprised at this book. Unlike the other books published by Pleasant Company, this one is a bit dull. It starts out great, but I found myself putting it down out of boredom. For me, I got the book mainly because I got the doll and accessories from Pleasant Company, and the book just kind of came with the set. The doll and accessories are great! The book is not so nice. It does have it's finer points, but that is it. Lindsey is a girl who gets into all kinds of trouble, and I had a hard time seeing the book as realistic. The "True Stories" section at the end seemed uneccesary. Maybe the next will be better. I hope so!

This book is the first book about the American Girl Today, Lindsey Bergman. Lindsey is nine-years-old, and is constantly trying to better the world around her; whether it's protecting animals from mistreatment, or beautifying the garbage cans on her street.

The other American Girls stories are written to present girls in other times throughout American history, in an interesting and realistic manner, and to teach lessons. Breaking that mould, this book presents a girl of today, a girl whose adventures are less than realistic, but quite humorous and entertaining. I must admit to being disappointed with this book, but my eleven-year-old daughter loves it! She liked the way that Lindsey bounced from adventure to adventure, and read the book through from cover to cover.

So, while I'm not enthused about this book, I am glad for any book that grabs my daughter's interest, and makes her want to read. This is just such a book.

My 8-yr-old daughter got this book as a gift, and she and I shared reading it over a few evenings. We both thought the story very funny and laughed out loud many times. I went to the book store and also online to find other books about this character, OR different stories by the same author. Struck out on both! :-( . . . . C'mon Chryssa Atkinson and Pleasant Company! We'd sure enjoy more!

There is something more than vaguely diconcerting about those who marshall armies of fact, then, having done so, proceed to put a highly speculative, "must be a conspiracy somewhere, somehow" twist on it all. This book would have been a lot better without Nostradamus, Genesis, and all that conspiracy glop. As it is, I wasted my money. Stick to the facts, and maybe, just maybe, someone will believe you.

I can understand why Impact Earth triggers a powerful response - it's the sort of topic that polarises people's opinions. Either you are open minded or you reject the idea of asteroid and comet impact. I was a sceptic about the so called impact threat, but recent news articles pushed me to learn more. Austin Atkinson's book sets out to remind us that life is precious. A worthy goal. More than that it succeeds in offering a number of leading scientists a chance to voice their concerns and feelings about how the impact threat may be averted. That done, the author proceeds to paint a picture of how destructive an impact might be and uses the computer modelling carried out by the shock physics laboratory at Sandia National Laboratory (they who model the effects of nuclear war for the US government) to reinforce his point.

In the second half of the book Atkinson uses the facts he's outlined to create a fictional scenario - to allow readers to understand how it would feel to live through such an impact. It's very effective. I started out a sceptic, but Impact Earth changed my mind.

Author Austen Atkinson has revolutionised popular science with this book. He has taken the improbable-sounding possibility of a major meteorite impact and animated it in such a way as to make the reader seriously consider the prospect and seriously ponder about how best to lobby government to protect us. It is a book blessed with great wit, intelligence and authority.

I had high hopes for this book. The writing style may grate a little, but it is accessible. He also presents some very interesting developments in nanotechnology.

However, the good parts are badly obscured by the rants (primarily against K. Eric Drexler and his views on where nanotechnology can go), inaccuracies in the basic science and technology of today, his own fantasies of the future that are wilder and less likely than much of what he rants against, and his hero-worship of anyone who hints that they agree with him about Drexler.

Some of his mistakes are real howlers. For example, he seems to believe that a particular method of cooling means that practical perpetual motion is possible. He rails repeatedly against the possibility of self-replicating assemblers, yet seems to think that in less than 15 years a small business will be able to design (and then quickly build) a self-replicating nanomachine that will be able to disassemble dust into CO2 and H2O (and the main problem will be that the business model will fail because people can take a cup of the dust-busters home from a friend and they'll reproduce until there are enough for the new home). Possible someday, maybe, but probably much later than his time scale, and certainly not possible if all his other objections happen to be valid.

I didn't mind too much the chatty style and the many irrelevant bits, but found his attitude in many of those parts a bit too smug, or even offensive. If the anti-Drexler rants and ad hominem attacks were confined to one chapter, it could possibly be ignored, but it is repeated througout until the whole experience becomes wearisome. Combined with all the other flaws, it just wasn't worth it. Unless you enjoy searching for the mistakes, illogical rants, inconsistencies, and examples of his own stupidity, avoid this book.

Atkinson has written a spirited, controversial and very entertaining description of the people, science, debates, problems and importance of the emerging world of the technology of the tiny.

He is at his best in the clarity of explanation he brings to complex scientific and technical concepts. A must read for the non-scientists among us who seek to understand the social, political, economic and cultural impact of this emerging branch of contemporary research, especially in terms of near-future applications.

Atkinson is not simply a passive arranger of taped interviews, but reacts as an opinionated individual to his material and subjects, thus reflecting the realities of debate, reputation, emotion and ambition in modern science. Although his admittedly strong personality occasionally becomes unduly judgemental, even harsh, in dealing with some of the resident denizens of the nanoworld, yet it represents to the intelligent lay reader a much needed corrective to the popular idea that science is all empirical evidence, robot-like lab rats and indisputable formal logic. As with Atkinson himself, the nanotechs emerge on his pages as real people, complete with foibles, agendas, ambitions, priorities and feelings.

In the best tradition of effective futurists, Atkinson is not attempting to predict precise developments centuries from now, but rather to explore both the larger societal implications and the immediate technical possibilities likely to come from the explosive world of nanotechnology in the next few decades - in the maturity of today's adolescent or young adult.

This is what he sets out do and, allowing for the frequent intrusions of an admittedly strong personality, he does it well.

As the hype-laden echoes of the "nano" revolution slowly fade into the background, research into nanotechnology has started to shift its focus from an "I wonder what happens if" phase to a "So what can I do with it?" phase. Journal pages are beginning to fill with the sober second thought of researchers who are trying to apply neat and tidy nanoconcepts to the messy worlds of physics, chemistry, and biology. In some cases, these scientists are making bold statements about the future, but more often, they are merely whispering about what we can do today. It is on behalf of this latter group that Bill Atkinson wrote Nanocosm.
In Nanocosm, Atkinson brings his effusive and sometimes castigating style to the various fields of materials science, genomics, and business, and tries to separate the myth from the math in nanotechnology, traveling the globe to talk to the people on the front line of research and marketing.
Atkinson starts his book with a short history of nanotechnology and a metric marathon from the macroscopic to the microscopic and beyond, trying to put the nano realm in its place. He also introduces some of the main characters who might be considered the progenitors of nanotechnology-specifically, Richard Feynman, who conceptually presented nanotechnology in his seminar "There's plenty of room at the bottom"; and Eric Drexler, the author of the first book about nanotechnology, Nanosystems: Molecular Machinery, Manufacturing, and Computation. By the third chapter, however, Atkinson begins to focus on what is happening today, starting with an analysis of materials science and its role as the foundation of nanotechnology.
The next several chapters continue Atkinson's explorations into the practical realities of nanotechnology. In one section, he discusses the financial requirements of nanotech research, describing the effects of the Clinton initiative and how the dotcom implosion might actually have released funds that had previously been swallowed by Web and software development. In another section, Atkinson describes the use of quantum tunneling technology as a method to transfer waste heat and how research into microfluidics is changing the medical diagnostics industry.
As Atkinson talks to the people on the front line, he discovers that one of the biggest challenges that will be faced by nanotech engineers is that the concept of "same only smaller" might not hold true. It was (and is) firmly believed by some researchers that moving from the microworld to the nanoworld simply required that everything become magnitudes smaller. But as theory becomes reality, researchers are finding that physical concepts largely ignored in the macroworld such as Brownian motion and van der Waals interactions become overwhelming challenges in the nanoworld. When you function at the size of an atom, a random photon can become a serious problem. Given these problems, nanotech engineers have to rewrite the design manuals.
There are two challenges to reading Nanocosm, however. Atkinson's writing style is very personal and a little scattered, something he fully admits in his foreword. He isn't presenting this material as an exhaustive or definitive survey of nanotechnology. Rather he is writing about the things and people who he finds interesting. At times, his personality can overwhelm the reader and he can come across as glib or coarse. Which leads to the second challenge.
Atkinson is not a fan of Eric Drexler, and he presents his distain for the man in no uncertain terms. In small doses, littered throughout the book, his anti-Drexler stance can be overlooked. But in Chapter 5, Atkinson begins a discussion of Drexler and his scientific shortcomings that borders on a rant. Although there appears to be validity in Atkinson's arguments, his envenomed approach can be tiresome and this section can be skipped in favor of Chapter 6.
These challenges aside, however, Nanocosm is a pleasure to read. Somewhere between Richard Feynman and Douglas Adams are the writings of Bill Atkinson. If the reader keeps this in mind, they will enjoy the book immensely.

I was offended and disturbed by the sudden and swift use of violence to teach Squirrel a lesson. There are more effective ways to teach children the value of work and teamplay.

The story of Squirrel Nutkin who is a very disrespectful and rude and provocative squirrel who gets taught a very tough lesson. Learning is not alway painless. Learning is not always pleasurable or fun. This is a fact of life.

The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin is one of my favorite Beatrix Potter stories along with The Tailor of Gloucester and The Tale of Ginger and Pickles. It is the story of a rather mischievous young squirrel named Nutkin who loves to tease old Mr. Brown, the owl who lives on an island filled with nut trees. The little rythmes and verses Nutkin recites throughout the story are absolutely delightful. The illustrations are one of Ms. Potter's finest---filled with wonderful detail and color. Some might be offended by the way Nutkin is punished by old Mr. Brown---mainly by having his tail torn off, but if one thinks about it that is the way owls behave in nature. Ms. Potter never honeys things over and her tales always remain a joy to read. Children should not miss out reading this humorous tale.