I was just browsing the book section on the internet when I found this book. I was completely shocked when I saw the picture on the cover of the book. That same picture hangs in my home. It is my great grandfather Charles Poeschel. His daughter Margaret Zwierlein is my grandmother. I purchased the book and totally enjoyed reading the history of breweries in Cleveland.

I would like to find out where my great grandfather was employed when that photo was taken. Does anyone know how to find out which brewery it was?

This wonderful book has helped me imagine how my ansestors must have lived in Cleveland during the 19th century and early 20th.

I purchased this book for my father and it's proven to be one of his all-time favorite gifts. The wealth of photographs and the attention to detail has made this the preeminant book on brewery history. A must-have for brew buffs.

I devoured this book in one night! I still like to browse through it and look at all of the historical pictures. A MUST READ for anyone interested in the history of brewing in Cleveland, Ohio or brewing in general. Everyone needs this masterpiece for their coffee table.

This book is amazing! It really does have it all. Murder, mystery, and damn funny as well! The story is very original and keeps you guessing throughout the entire book. It also has an amazing cast of characters. One of which is probably the craziest, and funniest character in any book i have ever read. This book is completely great, and everyone should read it!

Let's face it: If you're from Cleveland, you don't get no respect. No respect at all. And it mostly stems from the Cuyahoga (pronounced "Cuya-HOG-uh" you out-of-towner) River catching fire. (Well, *that* and our...sports teams.) It's the ultimate absurdity--a body of water catching fire--and therefore a good jumping off point for a stridently absurdist novel.

Gandal's novel delivers. It's the great absurdist Cleveland novel that I've been waiting to read for more years than I can count.

The best moment in the novel, for me anyway, takes place in New York. One of the Cleveland Anonymous members has been discovered with a one-way ticket back to Cleveland in his possession. The Clockwork Orange-esque method used to keep him from going back is an absolute scream.

...

Keith Gandal is a teacher,and a friend, but most importantly, a fresh, new, and exciting contemporary voice that has emerged from the events of the tail-end of the 20th century. The natural disasters, the unfinished, seemingly unconnected, human tendencies that we all share, and the need to communicate with someone, anyone: these are all themes that one will find in Keith's novel, Cleveland Anonymous.

When I finished reading this novel I thought it was great, but I knew there was more to it; there was a substance below the surface that hadn't hit me yet, which is why I waited a couple weeks to write this review. I wanted it to be from a non-biased POV; and it is. I don't really know what to say, so I will try my best. I thought that by denying a genre, by concentrating on story, not a literary mindframe, which there is way too much of in contemporary fiction, that Gandal approached real life as closely as one can possibly achieve in fiction. The characters were amazing; the dialogue was real; the scenes were perfectly drawn out, perfectly realized, completely truthful; and the prose was dream-like, even magical. The atmosphere that Gandal's has created in this novel is fantastic. When I read a novel I look for something different, something real. I look at a book as an experience; I look at it as a piece of culture that can not and should not be detached from it's place in the world. And when I finished reading Cleveland Anonymous I had a sense of closeness and sense of story and literary attachment to the characters that I have not experienced in any other contemporary novel that I have ever read.

This novel is a wonderful accomplishment, an amazing piece of art, or literary achievement. If a good novel is supposed to give the reader an experience that utilizes all the senses and makes them care about the characters, then Gandal has written one heck of a good book! His fictive world is original and inspiring from not only a writers perspective, but from a human perspective.

I don't want to tell you anything about the plot (I think reviews should deal more with other, more 'inputish' type things, you'll know the plot when you read it!), but I can say that this book moves!! It moves with speed, with grace, with purpose, so fear not. It is a concise piece of fiction, a collection of people that all seem to exist in this modern world of ours without the slightest hint or notion that the bigger things that they experience shape them and make them who they are. But this is special. Too often an author will tell you what you need to know, but Gandal lets you figure it out; he writes a book filled with people, realistic people who think, act, and react like you and I do. If nothing else, read this book for a good, fast story, but if you, like me, like to see a writer experiment with the lives we take for granted everyday, then there is something here for you too.

The list of people who may have inspired this book must be immense, but here are some ideas: Thomas Pynchon (same sense of magical realism [though that is more Gabriel Garcia], the same witty sense of humor), Flannery O'Conner (short, sweet, but emotion filled sentences), Cormac McCarthy (the use of imagery), amongst many others.

Please read this novel. It is a magnificent story, and I hope that this review has inspired someone to pick up Keith Gandal's first (but hopefully not only) novel, but if you don't read it, at least I can say (when this thing hits big) that I told you so!!! Happy reading!

If you are planning a trip to India, you should consider visiting the caves at Ajanta. If you are planning to visit the caves, you should read this book before the trip. You will get a lot more out of the experience of the caves if you know the Jataka stories and understand the Buddhist iconography described in this book.

Even if you have no plans to travel to Ajanta, the boook contains beautiful photograpghs which will make a nice addition to any collection of art books or, for that matter, to any coffee table.

The Ajanta caves can be considered among the wonders of the ancient world, both in terms of their artistic and their spiritual value, and this book captures the beauty and detail of the remarkable murals. If I were to make one criticism, it would be that it emphasizes the murals at the expense of largely neglecting the sculptures, which are magnificent in their own right. The book might better be titled, "Murals of the Ajanta Caves." I ordered it without seeing it first, and I was a little disappointed to see how few photographs were included of the sculptures. Nevertheless, the beautiful and clear photographs of the murals alone are worth the price of the book, and I'd certainly recommend it to anyone interested in the Ajanta caves, or in ancient Indian or Buddhist art.

This book offers the best color photographs of the Ajanta caves that I have seen. The text offers an excellent explication of the history and iconography of the images. Having been to the caves, I can honestly say that you see the paintings more clearly in this book than at the caves themselves. (This is due to crowded conditions and poor lighting at the caves.) This book is an important adjunct to any study of Buddhist art and inconography. If you're planning to travel to Ajanta, buy this book first.

I am a stepfamily therapist and researcher, and an invited member of the Stepfamily Association of America's Advisory Council. I have read over 40 lay and clinical books on stepfamilies and stepparenting since 1979. "Bocoming a Stepfamily" is one of the two best ones I have read, on a complex and controversial subject. The other is Margaret Newman's "Stepfamily Realities."
A major plus for this book is the many stepfamily vignettes and quotes Papernow uses to illustrate her points. Another is her way of framing the developmental stages of four kinds of typical stepfamilies. A third plus is Papernow's insightful sketching of the respective viewpoints and needs of the biological parent and the stepparent in different phases of stepfamily development. A rare feature of her book vs. others in the genre is her acknowledging that many stepfamily co-parents (bioparents and stepparents) have significant psychological wounds from their childhood that impact their stepfamily relationships. Most stepfamily authors ignore this vital reality.
A last unique advantage to this book is Papernow's (accurate) description that stepparents (and their kids, if any) initially feel like "outsiders" in the new stepfamily system, and that a major task all members face is to acknowledge that, and work to balance the outsiders and insiders through expanding mutual empathy.
A major drawback to this book is Papernow's decision to say little about ex mates. She implies that a nuclear stepfamily excludes or minimizes them (and any new mate and stepkids they have). The benefit of this is to keep her book conceptually simple. The great deficit is that it ignores a major source of re/marital and co-poarenting stress (or potential strength) for adults and kids alike. Unless a remarried bioparent is a widow/er, a nuclear stepfamily system *always* spans at least three co-parents and two or more co-parenting homes - even if a non-custodial bioparent is inactive.
The only other major improvement I can see to this clear, well organized, reader-friendly overview book is to clarify Papernow's metaphoric concept of "stepfamily mapping." She rightly says a common task for new stepfamily members is to "build a map" of each other's part of their new family. The metaphor seems vague and somewhat confusing. I believe what she means is "work to clarify each other's needs, new roles, and new stepfamily rules as you merge your biofamily cultures."

I highly recommend this useful book to courting and remarried coparents, clergy, and other human-service professionals.

In 1994, my then fiance and I read together Papernow's book on stepfamilies in order to prepare us for the challenge of blending my five children and his eight children (four of which were already married). This was so invaluable in giving me the perspective of all parties involved. Over and over through the years (it is now 2001) this book made me realize that my side of the various issues that come and go is not the only valid view of things. Time does make a big difference in settling issues and feelings. I think this book should be required reading before anyone undertakes the task of step parenting. It arms you with so many valuable insights before you have to learn by experience and wreck your marriage. Our marriage is going strong; this book did help.

While this book is written for professionals, it reads smoothly enough that anyone with a basic understanding of family dynamics should find it helpful. Of particular interest to families facing the challenges of remarriage are the many interviews and case histories of families who have been there, done that. I would also recommend this book to any professional who works with stepfamilies, as it contains clear models of stepfamily development and the stages of forming long-lasting successful blended unions. A ray of hope in the sometimes murky arena of steparenting!

Being a lover of mysteries, I had never heard of Les Roberts until a relative of mine gave me this book. It gripped me from the beginning, introducing Milan Jacovich as not only a good detective but a dedicated friend coming to the aid of someone who once saved his life. As the story progresses and the characters develop, the possibilities of "whodunit" became wider, with the reader never really knowing which character was behind the crimes - yes, the crimes multiplied as the story went on. Once this reader got to the fifth or sixth chapter, putting the book down became difficult. The last hundred pages went very fast as the guilty parties were revealed. This is a good, fast-paced, involving story that I would recommend to anyone who enjoys a good mystery and a central character, who in most ways, has a conscience.

The Best Kept Secret by Les Roberts is a wonderful book. Often I think Les Roberts is the best-kept secret in writing today. The Milan series has been flawless, and The Best Kept Secret is no exception. This book was extremely entertaining and thought provoking. I was captured by the first page and read it in one day. I highly recommend this book and all the rest of the books written by this talented man.

Cleveland private investigator Milan Jacovich owes his life to Dr. Reginald Parker. Strangely it did not occur when the two were grunts in Nam as their paths never crossed in Southeast Asia. Instead, the high school principal rescued the sleuth in an East Cleveland crack house. Milan knows that he owes Reginald so when the educator calls in his chips, the detective responds.

A former student, Jason Crowell attends Sherman College located in the western suburbs. An anonymous group, the Women Warriors, accuse Jason of rape, plastering flyers all over the campus. The media is playing the story. Milan agrees to look into the situation and learns some strange facts. No one knows who are the members of the female activist group. The alleged victim has never surfaced. Jason has always been squeaky clean and his sexual preference tends towards males. As the school administration wants to hang Jason as a sexual predator, a related murder occurs in which the freshman serves as the prime suspect. Milan believes the lad is innocent and plans to uncover the identity of the real killer.

The Milan Jacovich mysteries remain an entertaining treat as they strip away the image of a burning Lake Erie and a rusted city to provide a tour of the real Cleveland. The latest novel, THE BEST-KEPT SECRET, is an interesting tale as Milan investigates the ugly atmosphere of a nearby campus. The story line seems far-fetched that Jason would come under such a blitz attack based on almost nothing. However, the fact that indiviudals serving hard time have been freed due to DNA testing prove otherwise. Les Roberts has kept fresh his down to earth sleuth in a tale that fans will enjoy.

Harriet Klausner

I am very impressed by Barry Cleveland's book. He provides a great deal of specific information about Joe Meek's recording techniques and equipment. However, be not afraid, this is not done in a pedantic technical manner; it's very readable for the non-technical.

Being well familiar with most of Meek's recorded output, I especially enjoyed Cleveland's detailed commentaries on certain of Meek's recordings. For my taste, Cleveland could have gone on for many more pages on the same subject with different tracks.

I perceive Cleveland to be outside of the intense (mostly English) Meek cult which brings some fresh perspective on his work.

What more can I say? This was a good read that I raced through and will no doubt revisit frequently. The CD of "I Hear a New World" is a great bonus. It's surprisingly different from the RPM release. It makes me appreciate the work Roger Dopson and his associates did to bring out the RPM version.

The British record producer Joe Meek has attained posthumous cult status and rightly so: his innovative work broke the highly conservative mould of studios where engineers sported white coats as though they were in a science laboratory and everything was done "by the book".
In Meek's case the circumstances of his life - and more to the point his death - have created a lot of urban myth. After all, Spector may have discharged revolvers at ceilings, but Meek ended his own life - and that of his landlady - with a large shotgun and all on the anniversary of Buddy Holly's death!
With those factors in mind, it's refreshing to discover a book which traces Joe Meek's life, not for the sake of cheap scandal, but through the music he made through his innovative recordings and equipment creations/modifications. Barry Cleveland has achieved the near impossible by delivering a book which is both an enjoyable work for the non-technical reader and highly satisfying for the studio "anorak" who wants to know the fine details of Meek's home studio in London's Holloway Road. Cleveland has tracked down the closest surviving sources who bring to life a picture of the cluttered apartment where Joe Meek took on the mighty forces of EMI, Decca and the like and won - for a while at least - with hits like Telstar, Johnny Remember Me and Have I The Right.
If the words are top class, the layout is every bit the match for them, with many photos I've never seen before (and believe me, I've seen a lot of Meek-related photos!) and a full discography. I can't reccomend this book enough... how about 6 stars out of 5?!

I've been waiting for a book like this one for a long time. Joe Meek made major contributions to the recording industry, and this book brings them all together into one place for the first time. There's more information here than I ever imagined could be gathered about this visionary producer and his gear and recording techniques. The included CD is also a great bonus, as it presents Meek's seminal stereo recording in its original unedited and unaltered form for the first time since the LP was "released" (there were 20 copies) in 1960. Check it out!

I own the Great American Quilts books starting from 1987. They are among my most treasured books. I love these books because they include quilts from all over the country and from quilters of all different degrees of experience. My favorite part is seeing the photograph of the actual quilter (or quilters) and reading the history as to how they got involved in quilt making or what was the inspiration for their quilt or the history of the quilt's making. The photographs of the quilts are beautifully taken and color rich. Also included are the patterns for most of the quilts including the templates and fabric requirements. What could be more enjoyable than owning a book that captures the history and advances of quilt making? Truly a must have.

This book has a wonderful variety of patterns, both applique and patchwork, beginners and advanced quilters both will find patterns to their skill level. I also like the little tips scattered throughout the book, like working with little half triangle squares, making yo-yos. Some of the instructions also come with fancy quilting patterns, which I find very helpful. I also enjoy the little articles about the quiltmakers and their inspiration for making that particular quilt. I also find myself just looking through this book when I need to be inspired to finish another project!

This book has lots of inspiring quilts! From cozy country to sweet pastels to jazzy modern quilts, they all are great! I find I am picking up the book when I have a free moment or two just to browse, I seem to learn something new each time, or get a new idea to try on my next quilt project. I like that they feature a variety of styles, applique and patchwork, and offer tips on sewing curves and have some feathered quilting designs. I cant think of how they could make this any better!

Hard to improve on the previous editions, however, I like the tremendous online support that accompanies this newest edition. As always the text is consistantly readable, and the authors do a good job of dealing with the broad scope of the subject.

The Integrated Principles of Zoology is the most thorough of the three in the Hickman/Zoology series. For a collegiate zoology/animal biology course, you can't find anything better. The 5th edition was the college/university standard back in 1975 when I took Zoology, and in the 11th edition is still the standard now when I teach Zoology. The text has been significantly revised since the 10th edition, with a terrific art program.

This book told me everything I needed to know about zoology. It had a glossary in the back for words I didn't recognize and it was very informative. It is made like a text book for high school or college students.

If you can get your hands on it, it's worth the read. Try your public library. Robison's use of dialogue to develop rich, 3-dimensional characters is amazing. This novel will have you laughing constantly. It's refreshing to read about a dysfunctional family who don't do too much damage to each other. Also read her outstanding novel Why Did I Ever

Is Mary Robison's "Oh!" memorable? Well, tonight I was browsing for Alice Munro's new collection of short stories when I saw Robison's name. When my husband and I were first married (20 years ago), I bought a load of hardback books marked down to $1.99 each from a department store that was going out of business. While browsing tonight, I wondered if that Robison was the same who'd written "Oh!" And it was! I can't recall exactly the plot, but I do recall laughing out loud and wondering about the delightfully eccentric characters in the book. I even remembered--pretty much--what the cover looked like. In fact, it's a shame it's out of print. I'd like to read it again.

Perhaps you've seen the movie Twister. Not the one with Helen Hunt. You know, the weird one with Crispin Glover. Well, it was based on "Oh!" I enjoyed the movie so much, I looked for the book. Lo and behold, my brother found a used copy at Powell's bookshop in Oregon. All I can say is that Mary Robison writes about situations that may seem absurd, but are so true to life. Her short stories just seem to drift off, like life itself."Oh!" is the same way. This book makes me feel alive.Yes, I know this is an awful review, but as a result of reading this (and all Mary Robison I could get my hands on), she became my favorite author. She is the master of the vignette, and her characters seem so real. She grips you with life and doesn't let go...

Simply the best book of its kind.

This book was recommended highly to me by a former university professor (and now consultant). It exceeds my expectations. The figures and acompanying explanations are very clear, as is the language throughout. Visualizing Data discusses several tools with which I was not familiar, and clarifies tools that I thought I understood (including box plots). I have taken several university statistics classes, but I believe this book would help anyone involved in displaying or interpreting data. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when your business depends on it, a well-defined plot or graph can be worth much more. Visualizing Data enables you to produce well-defined plots and graphs with confidence.

Goo