While to all surface appearances this is simply a book of Art & Poetry (rather excellent Art & Poetry at that) it is nonetheless much more. This book is an actual grimoire of Rosaleen Norton's own eclectic brand of magic. Contained herein are the images of the various beings (Gods, demons, elementals) with which Ms. Norton had actual contact as well as many invocations (poems) which may be used in the summoning of these beings. Certain pictures are no less than mandalas while others are astral visions and telesmatic images. Also included are an outline of R.N.'s occult beliefs and excerpts from her magical journals as well as pieces of occult lore from her magical realm. Not a step-by-step Summon-by-numbers text by any means, but rather an advanced tome for the advanced occultist. And if you're not an occultist, then as I mentioned it really is an excellent book of art & poetry.

This book, once banned, was reprinted and published in limited numbers. Roe was a very kind bohemian who took many under her wing(s). Her Art reflects a strong magical/ feminist view. The poetry is somewhat dated now but is an excellent example of its time. If you can get a copy it is well worth treasuring.

This novel reminds a bit of Damascus by Richard Beard since they both tell the events of a single day with some play between real time and imagined time. But unlike Beard's novel which rockets back and forth between past and present reimagined and possible meetings between two specific characters, Mallon uses multiple characters who eventually all cross paths in one climactic moment as Scott Carpenter is being rescued from the ocean after his successful orbit of the Earth in Aurora 7. There are interesting and bizarre historical coincidences peppered throughout the novel like the Civil War reconnaissance balloon Intrepid that flew in May 1862, 100 years before a Navy ship similarly named that recovered Carpenter. I mostly enjoyed how Mallon used the actual transcript of Carpenter's communication with NASA technicians as a framework for the storyline the takes place on Earth. This novel is thoroughly imaginative and filled with a love of humanity, the need for adventure and, most importantly, a respect for the bonds between parent and child. I read this to see if I would truly like Mallon after reading reviews of Two Moons. Now I'm set for his latest and I expect it to be just as good, if not better.

What a great book! Aurora 7 follows a young boy as he skips school on the day of Scott Carpenter's Mercury flight, wanders into New York City (where everyone is watching the flight on a giant Grand Central Station monitor), and has a fateful, miraculous meeting with his dad. Somehow, Carpenter's almost getting lost in space (he nearly didn't make it down) and the boy's fate get intertwinned. A soulful, gentle book.

With a game I have never thought I was going to play 4 years ago to this day, Baldurs Gate: TOSC has went beyond my expectations. This book was no exception... I really believe that pictures in a book more than express the writing within, and that was why I found this guide to be essential in my quests. For once... the maps and strategy parts were very detailed and gave me a sense of direction. Especially when I found myself caught up with the action and failed to notice what was my next move. It never helps to be fending off dopplegangers when a trap is unoticeably behind you. It is for real. I honestly think this book is top quality and a must have. Anybody can understand this without words.

If you own Baulders Gate already you know the style of the game: quests, dungeons, etc. Tales of The Sword Coast was designed to be a chalanging add on. Even people who had little trouble in the original game may have trouble with the expansion pack.

TOSC is mainly about dungeon crawling; and that is where this book comes in handy. In some levels, there can about 50 traps. This strategy guide includes maps for each dungeon, and tells you exactly where each trap is, what it does, and percentage skill your thief needs to both detect and disarm each trap. IMHO, aside from using a cheat for extra healing potions, I don't think I would have been able to finish some of those dungeons without the book.

Well, as the name of the book suggests, it is not a thorough study of Tonal Harmony, insted, it is a perfect self-instruction guide in the voice leading of basic harmonic progressions. That is something that one cannot do efficiently without a tutor.

The book carries you through 7 parts:

1-PreDominant Chords: IV, II, II6

2-Prolongation of I

3-Other 5/3 and 6/3 functions 1 (prolongation of predominant harmony)

4-Other 5/3 and 6/3 functions 2 (IV, IV6, III, VII)

5-6/4 Chords

6-7th Chords (Other than V7)

7-Diatonic Modulation

One magnificent feature of this book is that it has been written with solely the student in mind. Distributed among the 7 parts above, there are 25 'sets' that consist of an average of 50 questions each, most of them being part writing exercises(and some of them quite difficult, especially soprano harmonizations). The remaining questions usually introduce the new concept, and review the old topics. That is very useful, because before you move on to another type of progression, the book does its best to remind you what you've been practicing in the previous sets. It is needless to say that all answers, with alternatives and comments, are in the book. For each part, there's also a short test. (Which suffices to warn you what your weaknesses are in that Part)

I believe that the Self Teaching musician would benefit greatly from this introductory book, before he moves on to traditional methods. Moreover, this book is sure to render the 'traditional method' useful for him. 'Basic Harmonic Progression' may be the only source to end the harmonic nightmare of autodidacts.(Recommendation for Traditional Method: Roger Sessions' Harmonic Practice -unfortunately out of print-)

Highly recommended, I would like to congragulate Norton for yet another magnificent book.

C&C's second book in their programmed theory text series certainly lives up to expectations. It provides a strong emphasis on practical application of the rules of voice leading, allowing one to use them directly in composition, the techniques of analysis are neither cumbersome nor simplistic. For those of us who have some catch-up to play with our more advanced musical peers, this book will have a novice spouting progressions like f#: I-VII6-I6-IV-II-V-V7-I in no time flat.

Of the multi-volume series of Hugh Nibley compilations (all pretty good, actually), this is the most consistently accessible...probably because, like Brigham himself, these articles tend to focus on real-world, less academic issues than his highly technical theologial writings. Of particular interest are the articles concerning the environment, which (perhaps inadvertently) make a compelling argument that both Brigham Young and Joseph Smith were early exemplars of what we today call environmentalism. I believe that these writings can and will contribute to new phenomenon in the Mormon world: The gradual evolution of a new LDS environmental ethic.

Nibley's work on Brigham Young proves to be thought-provoking in a day when a lot of the books paraded before us are simply kitsch. Nibley does an excellent job in bringing out classic words from Brigham Young that have too long collected dust. The sections on education, patriotism, the environment, and the media deserve reading and re-reading. Nibley has that rare strength of being able to take material that is hundreds and even thousands of years old and making it relative to our own time and our own situation. This book is no exception and is money well spent.

I have my days when I feel as if I've known Charlie Ives all my life. Of course, this is physically impossible: when Charlie died, in 1954, I was only fifteen, and I didn't hear any of his music at least until a few years later, in college. And even then, there wasn't all that much of it available on LP. But, over a period now approaching a half-century, my knowledge of, and admiration for, the man and his music grew steadily, if at first slowly.

With this steady accumulation of knowledge now at the point where I feel at ease ("comfortable in my skin," one might say) with providing some informed commentary, I suggest to readers interested in learning about Charlie, and his life and music, two recommendations. The first recommendation is that they read Jan Swafford's "Charles Ives: A Life with Music," one of the most superb books of its kind, totally sympathetic to the man but at the same time not close-minded to his "warts" and their possible causes.

The second is of course this book by Vivian Perlis, one of the most remarkable of its kind. It is one of the most frequently quoted resources by Ives scholars and writers, and obviously so.

The reason for its very existence is almost as fascinating as its contents. Perlis, in 1968, had been working with the Ives Collection, and, to quote her (in the Preface), "I became aware that there were [...] people still living who had known and worked with [Ives], and that an effort [...] be made to [...] preserve their memories of him."

Ives died in 1954, in his eighthieth year. At the time of the start of Perlis's project, then, those of his contemporaries still alive who knew him were already well in their nineties. Mrs. Ives (Harmony Twichel Ives) was still alive, but too ill to be interviewed. (She died on Good Friday, April 4, 1969.) Ives's business partner, Julian Myrick, was able to be interviewed, but he passed on in the course of the project. Charlie's piano tuner died on the day he was to be scheduled to be intereviewed. There were only three Yale classmates who survived long enough to be interviewd. Facts such as these explain the need on Perlis's part to "work against time" in her plan to capture as many direct recollections as possible in putting together this oral history.

Perlis's subjects included, of course, family members, as well as friends and neighbors, most of them from succeeding generations. (Charlie's brother, Moss Ives, had six children [five nephews of Charlie and Harmony, and one niece]; three of the nephews provide some of the best recollections. Sadly, Charlie's niece, Sarane [Sally], as well as his own daughter, Edith [Edie], died in 1956, only two years after him.) Perlis even interviewed Charlie's personal secretary, his barber, and the architect who was responsible for remodeling his West Redding, CT home. Each provides his or her glimpse of the man. That these glimpses are often reminiscent of blind men describing an elephant speaks to the complexities of an outwardly simple-appearing man.

A large portion of the book covers recollections of musicians who knew and worked with Charlie. While all were of the succeeding younger generation, they can lay claim to being the closest to Charles Ives the composer and musician. The list reads like a "Who's Who" of mid-20th century American music: Elliott Carter, Aaron Copland, Lehman Engel, Lou Harrison, Bernard Herrmann, John Kirkpatrick, Goddard Lieberson, Carl Ruggles and Nicolas Slonimsky among others.

Each of these musical friends achieved fame for his own contributions to the art. Each remembered Charlie in the greatest of detail and anecdote, often in terms that bordered on "reverential" and with individual insights which added substantially to a better understanding of his musical psyche.

With one exception: Elliott Carter. Carter, still alive and kicking (and composing) at age 94, was one of the very earliest beneficiaries of Charlie's intellectual and personal largesse. As a teen-age high schooler, he was often invited to Charlie's W. 74th Street townhouse, a comfortably short distance from Carnegie Hall, where they would take in concerts and then talk about what they heard. Given that these were Carter's "formative years," one might think (and some do) that Carter was the logical successor to Charlie. In my judgement, he wasn't; there are simply too many differences between the two, in terms of compositional aesthetic, for the relationship to be valid. And, of all the musical associates interviewed, only Carter, in what I feel to be mean-spirited commentary, was negative about Charlie's contributions to American music. (It is more than a little interesting that Perlis, in her Preface, found it necessary to state that of all the interviews, only Carter's, as published, differed substantially from the raw interview material. One can only wonder at just what was expurgated!)

I am indebted to J. Scott Morrison, fellow music lover and Amazon.com reviewer, for bringing to my attention that, in addition to Elliott Carter, there is one other survivor to this day who can claim direct contact with Charlie. That other person is Paul Moor, who interviewed Charlie for the September 1948 edition of Harper's. Moor (now in his late 70s) was in Europe between about 1953 and 1979, and therefore "out of reach" (and likely off the radar screen) of Perlis. It is too bad that this understandable omission is nonetheless an omisson. Perhaps Moor's judgement would offset Carter's; perhaps not.

In searching for a comparable book about another composer, the closest I can come to Perlis's unquestioned masterpiece is Elizabeth Wilson's "Shostakovich: A Life Remembered." But, whereas reading first-hand accounts about Shostakovich's life can often be an exercise in pain, given the circumstances of that life, reading about Charlie's life only seems to bring me joy. I hope it does for you as well.

This is the first book I read about Charles Ives, and I'm happy that it's still in print. If you are new to Charles Ives, I would suggest that you start here. If you have the funds, I also recommend you pick up Jan Swafford's excellant biography.
Why is this book the best place to start? The book is a compilation of thoughtful and revealing rememberances from Mr.Ives's close friends and his family, all personally interviewed by the author. We even get to hear what Mr.Ives's barber had to say about him! Perhaps most moving is the interview with Brewster, Mr.Ives's nephew.
This book is also chock full of photos and pictures of Mr.Ives's original manuscripts.

This book is one of the best guides to international civil litigation, which has become a complex area of law in Europe with the involvement of different sets of rules for jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. While being perfectly capable of serving practioners as a quick reference, this book manages at the same time to be analytical and insightful.

This is fast becoming the definitive guide to the English private international law rules regarding civil jurisdiction and the recognition of foreign judgments. No lawyer wishing to understand the complexities of this area of English law should do without it. The treatment of the rules which apply perforce the Brussels and Lugano Conventions is especially lucid. Briggs is a masterful academic (and practising) lawyer.

The book approachs communication unlike any other communication book. The authors build a foundation that forces logical conclusions. They do it with charm and wit. The writing does not insult, it challenges. All in all, it is a little beauty.

The authors are serious students of communication with a unique set of insights about interaction. They practice what they preach with this book. It is presented in a humorous, engaging fashion that leaves you smiling, thinking, and crafting your own key messages.

Natural selection is the idea that shaped a science and altered our understanding of life. It is also, unfortunately and too often, misunderstood and/or used to justify moral beliefs. This book, edited admirably by Philip Appleman serves two purposes. First, the reader is given Darwin's idea of evolution and the context in which it developed, from the scientific environment before the publication of "The Origin of Species" to selections from Darwin's various works. Second, there are a number of excerpts that show how natural selection influenced later thought. This includes not just the fields of science and theology, but also sociology, philosophy, and literature.

It can be difficult to just sit and read Darwin if you are not a biologist because it seems a little dated and obvious (at least if you are familiar with natural selection, as you should be). Additional material provides perspective and helps to see in what ways Darwin's work was revolutionary. Such material can also show how evolutionary ideas have been modified over time by different people. Appleman has obviously read widely on Darwin and evolution, and the readings he provides represents an array of influential and important works. With this book, a person can develop a much deeper appreciation of Darwin's ideas than from simply reading Darwin alone.

I am reviewing the second edition. The third edition is 100 pages longer and includes more recent material, especially concerning the dispute between creationism and evolution. I would not hesitate to recommend even the dated second edition to anyone interested in Darwin and Darwin's influence on scientists and other thinkers; this third edition should be a must-have.

I agree with Gould that this is the best Darwin anthology on the market. It contains a significant amount of new material and details the profound change in scientific and intellectual thought in the past few decades. Darwin is constantly misquoted by creationists, but this book sets the record straight. For example, the chapter on "mainstream Religious Support for Evolution" includes leading religious opinions on evolution, illustrating that many mainline Christians and Jews do NOT subscribe to the antiscientific propaganda of the fundamentalists and creationists. New threats to Darwinism and science are also covered. This is an enthralling read and I highly recommend it.

I read this book as a child and it was my favorite book growing up. I must have checked it out of the library 25 times. Unfortunately, I remembered the story, but not the title. I had a vague recollection of the author, but could never find the title. Thanks to Amazon, I can now find a copy for my daughter (and read it again myself!).

This is one of the first books I ever read when I was about five. To this day (22 years later) I still remember it vividly. The wonderful story is enhanced by frequent illustrations of the hideous Ness. Any child will love this book.