This book is one of the best books ever written on the contemporary poetry scene. It is smart, tough, and accurate.

Poetry abandoned its sense of reason, and in swept gangsters like Trungpa and Ron Padgett. Result: read all about it in Clark's book, if you can find a copy.

The same thing happened at Rajneeshpuram, and other hippy meccas. Sneaky finks calling themselves gurus swept into the vacuum left by the vacant minds of hippies, and the result was sheer terror.

What was that somebody said about eternal vigilance? I must have smoked too much pot. I can't remember.

Clark has a funny brutal sense of reality. I recommend all his books to anyone who wants to stay alive. He functions. While most of his generation of poets were just idiots swimming in swill, and happy to do so, Clark was a citizen that the founders of this republic would not have scorned. He is a man of principle, and God save the creeps that Clark chooses to ridicule.

Wonderful, funny, and scary book about poetry, buddhism, and craziness. I read this years ago and want to re-read it again soon.

Great Pots: Contemporary Ceramics From Function To Fantasy by Ulysses Grant Dietz (Curator of Decorative Arts, The Newark Museum) is an eye-catching full-sized artbook showcasing studio ceramics ranging from the late 1930s down to the modern day. American, European, Asian, African, and Native American pots of all shapes and all colors, and ranging in design from elegant simplicity, to brilliant color, to intricate fine detail, are pictured on virtually every page by full-color photographs and accompanied by an extensive text commentary. Great Pots is very strongly recommended speciality artbook which would prove a seminal contribution to 20th Century Art History reference collections in general, and informative reading for either amateur or professional potters in particular.

This is the most beautiful book on studio ceramics ever produced! Not only that, it focuses on a collection that dates back two generations, but which most people have never seen published anywhere else. Of course the pictures and the design of this book make it worthy of any coffee table--but it's far more than that. The photographs are wonderful, but the texts (one long and one short essay) are both readable and informative. Perhaps the most "radical" aspect of this book is its point of view. There is no judgmental hierarchy about whether one potter's work is "more art" than another's. In fact, the author purports not to be talking about art at all. But it is all about art, in spite of those protests to the contrary. It shows how the traditionalist potters of the late 1930s worked their way into being modernists--and how they took their homage to Asia with them on that journey. The great radicals of the late 1950s--Voulkos, Autio, Price--are all given their due, but this break from tradtionalist potting is not seen as something inherently "better," nor is it portrayed as the be-all and end-all of studio ceramic history. Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that the great Japanese studio potters, and the great Native American studio potters, are given the same sort of respect and careful consideration as the European and American potters that most collectors today are familiar with.

The book is broadly divided into three thematic sections: the Beautiful Pot, the Useful Pot, and the Wise Pot. Each of these is then subdivided, by means of an easily flowing narrative, into about a dozen smaller sections. It is a well-written and lucid account of how the humble pot came to be great art, in spite of the art world and all its prejudice.

For anyone who likes pottery--even the plain old hand-made coffee mug from the local craft fair--this book will tell a great story about why people love to work with clay, and all the ways they come to express themselves with clay.

Author Geraldine McCaughrean and illustrator Emma Chichester Clark previously worked together on "Greek Myths," which focuses on the heroes of classical mythology the way "Greek Gods and Goddesses" tells myths about the deities of Olympus. Consequently, you really should not have one book without the other.

The stories included in this volume cover (1) how the Olympians overthrew the Titans, (2) Hermes as a mischievous baby, (3) Phaeton's fatal ride in his father's chariot of the sun, (4) the birth of Dionysus, (5) the adventure of Dionysus and the pirates, (6) the birth of Athena, (7) how Hephaestus ended up marrying Aphrodite, (8) the story of Aretemis and Apollo, (9) the love story of Apollo and Hyacinthus, (10) the story of Halcyone and Ceyx, (11) how Prince Demo almost became immortal, (12) the Golden Apple of Eris and the abduction of Helen, (13) Cassandra, priestess of Troy, (14) the myth of Sisyphus, and (15) how the eyes of the Argus ended up on the peacock. As you can see, this is a nice collection of stories that covers various aspects of classical mythology. If anything, they show the gods and goddesses in a better light than other choices would have done.

Caughrean retells these ancient myths by keeping the plots simple and avoids lapsing into arcane language. You certainly get a sense of the oral tradition from which many of these myths sprung. Clark's watercolors, some of which are clearly classically influence, capture the charm of these stories. There is something enticing about the playful eyes she gives many of the characters that I really like. The strength of "Greek Gods and Goddesses" is that it is an excellent intermediate version of these classical myths, preparing them for reading Hamilton, Evslin or perhaps even a little Homer down the road.

I like this book for an introduction to Greek mythology. It tells only 15 stories, but each is lavishly illustrated and written with lively dialogue. The vocabulary is deep English, with words like halcyon, burnished, citadel, shyster, and masonry, so your child will need a dictionary nearby or you the parent can read aloud and explain. The titles and manner of telling help make these stories more accessible (understandable) than some other Greek mythologies.

I suspect this is mainly used as a textbook for teachers or counselors and the like...but I bouoght it as a parent and I highly recommend this book.
I first saw a 1985 edition on our library shelves, read it and got so much useful information from it I took a chance on the newer version. I was not disappointed.
I have quoted and used this book at length in trying to educate the teachers and other staff involved in my son's education. I showed or told them what she wrote and quoted her, which lent some authority to my assertions.
She helped explain why my son is the way he is, in so many of his complexities. At last I understood why he reacts to things in such puzzling ways!
There might be other books on gifted kids out there, but I'm not sure they could beat her patient, highly educated, helpful tone.
Take notes as you go, there'll be a lot of things you'll want to find later to share with others interested in the same issues. Such as, one of the most important keys in finding an effective teacher for any student is the teacher's own self-image. Or, there IS a model of education that is shown to be effective for all levels of intelligence at once--the hands-on or whole topic curriculum (also called project-based). Or that the level of intelligence we now call gifted IS possible for all people to reach, if only they were raised in the "right" way--and that it is largely learned, not inherited. Or that teachers are a fairly poor identifier of the gifted kids; other kids are better at it!
These are my recollections only--but just as a sample of the kinds of things she says.
There's so much there you'll probably need to skip the parts that don't apply, or read more than once.

Last year I stumbled across an older edition of this book completely by accident while researching a paper on inclusion/mainstreaming of severely LD/BD/ED kids. My parents have hidden (or tried to hide) my giftedness from me since they found out when I was three. This book sent my head spinning, but I'm glad I found it. I devoured it in about a day, and it left me hungry for more. Growing Up Gifted is a great book for parents, teachers, counselors, and the gifted alike. I learned a lot about myself. Ms. Clark touches on pretty much every aspect of giftedness more than well enough to give an ignorant, undereducated GT girl an excellent foothold in the climb to discovering what "this gifted stuff" is all about.

ellen zieselman is a brilliant writer. a magical piece. i hope she goes on to write others.

This is a delightful representation of the artist and his work, beautifully and clearly written and magically photographed. It will make an enthusiast of the casual observer!

I have used the How series since spring 1983, when I took my first office technology course in college, and our required reference manual was How 5. I am now up to How 8. This book is comprehensive, easy to understand, gives good examples, and is well indexed for ease in quickly looking up what you have a question on. I really love the "Words Often Confused and Misused" chapter, which helps you use the correct word in text (affect/effect; assure/ensure/insure, etc.). I highly recommend this book to all secretaries; clerks; report writers; journalists; anyone who works with the written word and needs to produce an intelligent-looking product where correct punctuation, capitalization, formatting and word use are important.

Are you a grammar-handicapped? Then this is the perfect book for you. It's basically a guide to business communication - whether it's letters, resumes, or job applications. There's a neato reference index where you can look up anything in the book - whether it's a question about where to put a comma or the things you should cover in your resume. All grammatical terms are defined in a very understandable way. Rules are bright red for easy reading, and lots of good examples are given. It's easy to use and very convenient. Everyone in my family uses it now - me for my office work, my daughter for school reports, and my wife for official letters. It's the best way to sharpen and shape up your official communication.

If you are looking for a great informative handbook to keep available at your desk in the office, I recommend How 9 Handbook. This is by far an excellent handbook to have. How 9 handbook gives you information on grammar usage, memos, reports, and business documents. The numbers listed on the front of the book, helps in finding the material you need easily. Clark & Clark hit a home run with this book. Also, if you need a little refresher course to enhance your skills, I recommend the How 9 Workbook. Try them both for yourself!! Every office worker should have one.

This book was required reading for a college course; however, had I found the book on my own I would have felt I struck gold! How 9 is the tool to keep right on your desk...allowing you to either learn or refresh skills from grammer and punctuation to proper format of an email correspondence or business letter.

A workshop guided by a master painter of portraits. Robert Carter Clark sets out here to teach you thoroughly from her professional experience, without cutting corners or resorting to caricature. Fully one-half of this fine book is given to draftsmanship. She begins with proportions of the head (male, female & infant) in Chapter One, then moves on to drawing features -- with special attention given to the windows of the soul, the eyes. Chapter Three is dedicated to drawing the body. In Chapter Four, Ms. Clark presents the difficult skill of capturing fabric folds. Chapter Five covers lighting for four different views. Charcoal portraiture comes next, then using color, stepping through hue, value, intensity, & flesh & hair tones.

Finally, she devotes chapters to painting portraits from life in oils & in watercolors. Oil techniques include wet-into-wet, monotone, & glazing.

"How to Paint Living Portraits" is a standout, user-friendly instructional book within a genre glutted with volumes that can be too light or too dense, or promise too much, too quickly. Roberta Carter Clark cooked this one right. She's an excellent teacher.

Bob Rixon, Pearl Art & Crafts

Great for anyone that has some experience in painting but is just beginning portraits. Detailed step-by-step instructions work you through the process. Lots of illistrations and color pictures.

This is my all-time favorite cookbook (and I own a ton of them). The recipes are easy to prepare and usually contain fewer than ten ingredients. I have found at least fifteen dishes that are always dependable, quick to prepare, and exceptionally popular with guests. The only downside is that very few of the recipes are particularly health-conscious -- heavy cream and butter are two of the most common ingredients. Nonetheless, I recommend this cookbook heartily to anyone who likes good food but doesn't have hours to spend in the kitchen. Too bad it is now out of print!

This is a terrific book for people who want to prepare 5-star recipes, but don't have the time to spend an entire day inthe kitchen. It's especially good for dinner parties, since the recipes are sophisticated, but EASY! Great for people who don't really cook a lot, but want to fake it.

Exciting basketball competition and mysteries to solve as the team discovers big time activities going on in their small town. Really looking forward to the other books in the series! Couldn't put this one down.

Charming, modern-day adventure in the West. Just a lot of fun to read. Plus a great lesson on unselfishness for kids. I liked the whole series, and that is as an adult who is not into basketball. Now I am buying these books for nephews and nieces. Overall, Bly always tells a creative, different story with surprises and interesting characters; but always a positive tale so you feel good at the last page. I discovered his youth series is a delight when I couldn't find more of his adult books in our small library.