This is a book of notes, articles, letters and student instruction from the teacher himself (not any ordinary teacher, mind you) about the concept and technique of picture making, the study of art generally and on appreciation. This is an easy read; one that can be read a bit at a time at leisure. It felt like a visit with an old friend. Full of inspiration and a touch of philosophy here and there, it brings it all together. I quote just this once from Mr. Henri: "Art appreciation, like love, cannot be done by proxy: It is a very personal affair and is necessary to each individual." He is giving advice here on not following the critics! I include this to give the reader the "flavor" of the book. I feel this book is a must read for any artist...and a wonderful re-read, over and over again!

Within his treatise on art and its many facets, well-known artist and teacher Robert Henri shares insight on the making and viewing of art. He offers insight on areas which all artists must eventually come to terms with, including proportion, technique, color, style, and subject matter. He discloses a lifetime of his personal "life-lessons" about his own art and his personal struggles as an artist, and he shares honestly the perils and triumphs of both he and his students. In a mere moment the reader learns lessons about art and its making which take artists years to learn. This book is a joy in every sense of the word -- from Henri's suggestions on rendering light reflecting from a woman's lower lip to his secrets to making a portrait "glow". Henri's The Art Spirit is a must-read for any reader interested in any aspect of art. ---- A classic.

My friend who was an artist gave me this book to read. Now it is one of the few that I carry around at all times. Robert Henri saw that there is no division between art and life. To be an artist, or trully alive for that matter, one has to experience life to his fullest. This means finding yourself and the people/things/and way of living that inspire you. When beauty strikes you so, and your full of love and joy it is hard not to do things beautifully. Henri tells us to find that beauty within us and the rest will follow. And one of the most enjoying things I found about this book was that the authors personality is very bright in every sentence. It made the book a great read. To enjoy this book, you need not to know art but to know life.

Although one's search begins with an alphabetized listing, the main body of this thesaurus (its original concept) is organized by category. This means that to find a synonym for e.g., "trouble", you will not simply be presented a list all the possible meanings of the word but you can choose your search depending upon the sense you are looking for. If you mean "annoyance" you will be sent one place for synonyms (nouns, verbs, adj, adv); if your meaning is more "presume upon" you will be sent somewhere else. In the case of "trouble" there are about a dozen places to go in the thesaurus depending upon the subtlety of meaning you are looking for. If you are a writer, this reference work is a sine qua non. Look no further than here for the best thesaurus in the world.

A dictionary of synonyms or a "thesaurus in dictionary form" (now that's phony titling) requires that you think of one of the words by which they sorted the language. A true thesaurus, though, while unfamiliar at first like any new and powerful tool, will let you find the word you are looking for when you can't think of ANY word to start. All you have to do is go to the area with the right sort of ideas and browse a bit. This book only gets better with time. Every writer of every sort needs a copy of this. (Oh, and the index makes a great spelling list for all the words science- and law-obsessed spellcheckers leave out.)

As others have already stated, with this thesaurus you can find the word you're looking for simply by looking under the concept. For instance, say you're writing a piece and at that particular moment you can't think of the best word so you write "clear cut" just to get the idea onto the page. Later, when you're editing your piece, you see "clear cut" and still your mental thesaurus fails you. So, you take this book, look up "clear cut" (which is in there) and sure enough, it points you to a series or related concepts and synonyms. *Wonderful* is all I can say. When one can write in a rough draft "set straight" and look up those words in a thesaurus and find a fitting replacement, all that can be said is ... this writer's tool deserves the highest praise.

I just recently purchased this collection of poems by Robert Frost and I must say it's incredible. This is the complete collection of his poems and for the price it can't be beat. How can you put a price on the joy and the wonderful feeling of reading Frost anyway? It's impossible.

Contained are the poems in a chronological order from Frost's first book of poetry "A Boy's Will" to his last, "In the Clearing". A total of eleven books and more than three hundred and fifty poems.

Also at the end of the book are sixty pages of bibliographical and textual notes as well as an index of first lines and titles. A quick way to find exactly the poem you're looking for.

Pick this collection up and be moved, it's that simple really. Enjoy

Robert Frost was and is America's greatest poet. Excepting, perhaps, W. B. Yeats, he may be the greatest poet to write English in the twentieth century. (To me, it's a toss-up.) To read this volume systematically or desultorily is to become convinced of that. But Frost is, above all, accessible, so the casual reader may not appreciate the difficulty of what he does. Like much of the greatest art his looks easy, even inevitable.

All of Frost's poems are here, plus his two dramatic Masques. When this book first appeared (in 1969) it caused a furor: the editor, it was angrily asserted, presumed too much. He dared to clarify - inserting a hyphen here, excising a comma there. That furor has since died down, as people realize that he did not do away with the sacred texts (any emendation was noted), but simply performed his job as editor. He regularized spelling and the use of single and double quotes (though not Capitalization, which can legitimately be thought of as integral to the poet's expression (think of e.e. cummings!)), and corrected other obvious errors. The notes give the published variants for each poem, so if you wish you may make your own call on some of these finicky issues.

The paperback and hardcover editions are identical, except for the covers, of course. I would, however, buy the hardcover. After all, you will be reading this book for the rest of your life. It is a beautifully-built volume, of an easy size and heft for use, with understated appealing typefaces and an exemplary design. Put out by Frost's long-time publisher, this is one of the few essential books of American literature.

While other poets must abide our endless questioning regarding contemporary poetry, Robert Frost stands head and shoulders above the rest--free and serene and magnificent, truly the George Washington of modern American verse. Frost was honored with the Pulitzer Prize on four occasions: in 1924 for "New Hampshire;" in 1931, for "Collected Poems;" in 1937 for "A Further Range;" and in 1943 for "A Witness Tree."

Critics love Frost. The American people love Frost. The world at large loves Frost. You will love Frost, too, if you read this book. Begin with one of his most famous--and his most beautiful, "Mending Wall,"

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,/ That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,/ And makes gaps even two can pass abreast...

Never to be forgotten, of course, is that talk with the taciturn neighbor, owner of the pines beyond Frost's apple orchard, who stubbornly says, in typical New England fashion, "Good fences make good neighbors," until one day, Frost suddenly sees him,

Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top/ In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed./ He moves in darkness as it seems to me,/ Not of woods only and the shade of trees./ He will not go behind his father's saying,/ And he lives having thought of it so well/ He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."

"Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening," ends with words anyone of any age can relate to,

But I have promises to keep,/ And miles to go before I sleep./ And miles to go before I sleep.

"The Death of the Hired Man," with its poignancies as deep, no doubt, as the death of any salesman could ever be, inspired these beautiful lines,

Home is the place where, when you have to go there,/ They have to take you in./ I should have called it/ Something you somehow haven't to deserve.

The poems of Robert Frost possess a beauty so serene that we feel no need, no urge, to denigrate the work of other poets in order to expand Frost's praise. Despite the amazing diversity of talent that comes to mind when the names of MacLeish, Leonie Adams, Auden, Peter Viereck, Wallace Stephens, Robert Lowell, E.B. White, Karl Shapiro, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Arna Bontemps, Marianne Moore, e e cummings, Allen Tate and T.S. Eliot are mentioned, Frost does, indeed, tower above them all.

Frost has been eloquently compared to every rock and rill, every tree and shrub in his New England hills, and to almost every major figure in the New England past, including George Washingtion. He has won homage so completely and deservedly that it is as easy to think of him as a member of the Concord Group as it is to imagine Thoreau writing the opening paragraphs in the New Yorker's Talk of the Town.

Frost, though, could be cheerfully topical, as when writing "U.S. 1946 King's X,"

Having invented a new Holocaust/ And been the first with it to win a war,/ How they make haste to cry with fingers crossed/ King X's--no fair to use it anymore!

Frost saw much of the world after his birth in San Francisco in 1875, and he looks over the prospects of the entire universe in, "It Bids Pretty Fair,"

The play seems out for an almost infinite run./ Don't mind a little thing like the actors fighting./ The only thing I worry about is the sun./ We'll be all right if nothing goes wrong with the lighting.

Robert Frost is truly an American original and a world genius. There will never be another.

The Merck Manual of Medical Information (Home Edition) is one of the most valuable books anyone can have in his or her study.
With simple terms and definitions, this 1600-paged medical authority dissected every known human ailment, bearing the layman in mind.
An unabridged section comprising of nine chapters explained drugs, prescriptions and pharmacodynamics in a way that non-medics would understand. There are also invaluable pieces of advice on both nutrition and fitness.
Anyone reading this book will appreciate how all those scary mysteries surrounding medicine and surgery were bared in a reader-friendly format.
Bravo MERCK! I commend you for rendering such a wealth of health information at peanut's price.

This book is an excellent resource of medical information. It was actually recommended to me by a doctor. He said that you didn't have to be a doctor to understand the terms, language, and the entire book overall. He was correct with his advice. The book is well written & easy to understand. It is a wealth of information. You can find out about any type of illness & treatment, as well as injuries & disorders. Originally, we wanted an informative medical guide to keep on our boat, especially with having a lot of guests on board. While on our boat in the islands, the information that it provided actually helped us get a guest safely to a hospital for emergency surgery. Needless to say, we have purchased a 2nd copy for our home. It's a "must have"! For the boaters out there, we can also recommend "Advanced First Aid Afloat" by Peter F., M.D. Eastman, & John M. Levinson.

A publishing event of the most signifigance for 1997. The long establisher bible for medical doctors and almost everyone in the field of medicine, is for the first time written specifically for the non-medical reader. Over 1500 pages covering diseases, causes, treatments, drugs etc. this is the finest 1 volume medical authority every home should have. A layman's medical book has been long overdue. Who but the editors of Merck Pharaceuticals could take on this daunting task. At AMAZON's discounted price of less then $21.00 the bargain in hard cover publishing. WE RATE IT A BEST BUY !!!!!!!!

I read this edition along with the Hobbes translation (Green, ed.) and despite having read through Thucydides several times before, Thucydides, despite claiming to write a completely objective history, the composition of the work shows through quite a bit. The narrative is not linear, with digressions, flashbacks, and other tropes which makes the book hard to follow at times. In any case, the events of the war are so complex, covering such a long time, and in so many theaters of operation, that there is no single way to give a coherent recounting of the events.

All the maps are very clean, freshly rendered and easy to read. In addition to a few omnibus maps in the back matter, there are many smaller maps throughout the book, each having only as many landmarks as are necessary to illuminate the particular passage. This turns out to be particularly helpful. One can find a place like Naupactus, (not obscured by too many dots and words and unclear print) and understand why it was so important for Athens to hold onto. The other editorial matter are also very helpful. Using the index and the notes, the reader can follow the stories of the people, places, and themes invovled.

If you are at all concerned about Ancient Greece, or history, this book is worth it, for the maps alone even if for nothing else.

I bought the Landmark Thucydides because it was the only hardback edition I could find. I was pleasantly surprised because it happens to be the best modern edition available. The editor, Robert Strasser, set out to make the most authoritative book on Thucydides's History of the Peloponnesian War, and I believe he has succeeded brilliantly.

Strasser uses Richard Crawley's translation, apparently revised and updated. In any case the text is very good, though Thucydides syntax is sometimes complex and even a bit confusing. Strasser uses marginal notes besides each paragraph to summarize the events described in the text. The most valuable additions are the maps- there are maps every few pages, illustrating the geography described in the text as needed. Other welcome additions are a timeline, breaking down the events of the book according to date, appendices covering topics such as Athenian and Spartan government, trireme construction, land and naval warfare in ancient times, and even an essay on the monetary units and religious festivals used in the ancient world. There is also an introduction, discussing both the text and the author in detail and in the context of their time. There is also a full and complete index. If you want Thucydides, this is the book to buy!

This book presents a wonderful way to read Thucydides. While the introduction and appendices can be quite helpful to the non-specialist, the edition's greatest strengths are its translation and its maps. Crawley's is truly the definitive English translation, doing justice to Thucydides' majestic, albeit sometimes dense, prose. At the same time the maps make reading it a real pleasure. The Peloponnesian War ranged all across the Greek world, and most editions force you to constantly flip back to a few small and confusing maps in a feeble attempt to follow it. This volume entirely relieves you of that burden, removing all obstacles to the enjoyment and appreciation of this classic.

For those further interested in Thucydides and the war he recounts, I highly recommend Donald Kagan's four-volume analysis of the Peloponnesian War. An up-to-date, thoroughly scholarly work, it is also very accessible to the non-expert and well-written to boot. For expanded views and interpretations of the war, as well as an evaluation of Thucydides himself, pick up any one of his volumes.

Continual improvement is the key to survival in today's business climate, and as companies like GE and Motorola have proven, Six Sigma is a useful tool for ingraining the quest for perfection in an organization. After reading The Six Sigma Way, you'll probably be ready to jump out of your chair and immediately follow in these companies' footsteps by launching a Six Sigma initiative of your own. The authors, three consultants who teach firms to implement Six Sigma efforts, convincingly extol the money-saving and efficiency-enhancing virtues of the holistic approach. This book offers a lot of jargon and complex concepts, but the material is presented in easily understood charts and lists, and there are plenty of concrete examples. We [...] recommend The Six Sigma Way to managers who have heard wondrous tales of Six Sigma, but would like a more down-to-earth explanation of how it can be used and the benefits it offers.

Over the years, I have worked with dozens of small-to-midsize companies, all of which were in dire need of improving one or more of the following: cost reduction, culture change, customer retention, cycle-time reduction, defect reduction, market-share growth, productivity improvement, and product-service development. You can thus understand why I was curious to know to what extent (if any) Six Sigma could be helpful to small-to-midsize companies.

By now we have become well aware of the success of Six Sigma initiatives at major international corporations such as ABB, Allied Signal/Honeywell, Black & Decker, Dow Chemical, Dupont, Federal Express, General Electric, Johnson and Johnson, Kodak, Motorola, SONY, and Toshiba. Once having read this book, I am convinced that -- with certain modifications -- Six Sigma could perhaps be even more valuable to small-to-midsize companies which, obviously, have fewer resources. What exactly is Six Sigma? The authors provide this definition: "A comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining, and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of consumer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes."

The authors identify what they call "hidden truths" about Six Sigma:

1. You can apply Six Sigma to many different business activities and challenges -- from strategic planning to operations to customer service -- and maximize the impact of your efforts.

2. The benefits of Six Sigma will be accessible whether you lead an entire organization or a department. Moreover, you'll be able to scale your efforts, from tackling specific problems to renewing the entire business.

3. You'll be prepared to achieve breakthroughs in these untapped gold mines of opportunity -- and to broaden Six Sigma beyond the realm of the engineering community.

4. You'll gain insights into how to strike the balance between push and pull -- accommodating people and demanding performance. That balance is where real sustained improvement is found. On either side -- being "too nice" or forcing people beyond their understanding and readiness -- lie merely short-term goals or no results at all.

5. The good news is, Six Sigma is a lot more fun than root canal. Seriously, the significant financial gains from Six Sigma may be exceeded in value by the intangible benefits. In fact, the changes in attitude and enthusiasm that come from improved processes and better-informed people are often easier to observe, and more emotionally rewarding than dollar savings.

The authors organize their material as follows: Part One: An Executive Summary of Six Sigma; Part Two: Gearing Up and Adapting Six Sigma to Your Organization; Part Three: Implementing Six Sigma -- The Roadmap and Tools; and finally, The Appendices: Practical Support. According to Jack Welch, "The best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside it, focused on answering the question -- how can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customer's success?...One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us."

If anything, it is even more important for small-to-midsize companies (than it is for the GEs of the world) to answer these two questions correctly and then track and compare their performance in terms of what their customers require. The well-publicized objective of Six Sigma is to achieve practically-perfect quality of performance (ie 3.4 defects for every million activities or "opportunities") and this is indeed an ambitious objective. Collins and Porras, authors of Built to Last, would probably view it as the biggest of Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). In that book, they assert that the most successful and admired companies have the ability -- and willingness -- to simultaneously adopt two seemingly contrary objectives at the same time. Stability and renewal, Big Picture and minute detail, creativity and rational analysis -- these forces, working together,, make organizations great. This "we can do it all" approach they call the "Genius of the And."

Pande, Neuman, and Cavanagh suggest that all manner of specific benefits can result from following "the Six Sigma way." For example, Six Sigma generates sustained success, sets a performance goal for everyone, enhances value to customers, accelerates the rate of improvement, promotes learning and "cross-pollination", and executes strategic change. All organizations (regardless of their size or nature) need to avoid or escape what the authors refer to as the "Tyranny of Or." Here in a single volume is about all they need to seek "practically-perfect quality of performance." Whether or not they ultimately reach that destination, their journey en route is certain to achieve improvement which would otherwise not be possible.

If you're looking for the definative guide to Six Sigma, you've just found it. From fundamentals to advanced program management, its all here. I first read Pande and Holpp's little 87-page book "What is Six Sigma." The impressive guide convinced me that I needed to pick up a copy of their "The Six Sigma Way." I'm really glad that I did. As a management consultant, I can say without reservation that the ideas expressed in this book are applicable to almost every manager -- regardless of whether or not they are currently involved in a formal Six Sigma program. In addition to enhancing quality, the Six Sigma framework is very useful in identifying and removing irrelevant processes from your product or service operations. Saving your Company both time and money... and freeing up your employees for more value-added work. In addition, I would also recommend Hammer and Champy's "Reengineering the Corporation" and Ashkenas, Kerr, and Ulrich's "The GE Work-Out." Overall Grade: B+/A.

I've been a huge fan for Fulghum's books. He always have a unique perspective in everything. But this book is different from his previous ones. It's a collection of love stories from many people. Fulghum just put them in this book, re-arrange and add his comment. This is one of the most honest book I ever read. Story of strange love, I would say that if we can call it "love". What does love mean? Does it limit only between boys & girls, friends & friends etc? This book doesn't answer anything at all, but it will make you think about it and finally smile.I'm very surprise with such those wonderful, lovely stories in this books. This is the book you will love. Each story has its own charm and memory. Again, as usual, Fulghum's summary in each section of the book is more than I can say. His view for love with the help of his excellent ability to select spectacular words make it a very wonderful book. Good persent for Valentine's day

This book was a joy to read in fact I keep looking back in read a couple of stories to help me make it through this time apart from my spouse.... This book is a real inspiration to anybody who needs to be cheered up in a time of need or just needs a good laugh... I enjoyed this book more then any other book I have read in a long time...

Robert Fulghum is the type of author that can make your heart smile. He writes about real people and real things. And what is more real than True Love? We've all been there. We know that wonderful / terrible feeling. If you've loved and lost, if you've loved and won . . . you know it is worth it. Reading Mr. Fulghum's True Love is much like sitting in a coffee shop with an old friend and recounting your True Love stories and theirs. It makes you feel wonderful and lucky to be in love . . . or it makes you look forward to falling in love. I fell in love. With this book. Treat yourself. Read it

The work stands above anything written by any contemprorary historian or journalist covering the Middle East. The questions, eye witness accounts, insights, and volume of information is overwhelming. Whereas Robert Fisk paints a dark portrait of the Israelis, he doesn't pull any punches describing the Palestinians either. Heroes and victims all using words and deeds to muddy the water in their favor. Nobody leaves this book without a profound sense of the depth of differences and issues necessary to address before any peace can really be achieved in the Middle East.

Robert Fisk is a journalist but also a historian and an extremely talented writer. He has lived in Lebanon for 23 years now, not just to cover the stories there and throughout the Middle East, but because it is home to him and because he cares deeply for the Lebanese people. This is apparent in his book. Unlike just about all other books on the subject, Pity The Nation covers the war from a far more personal perspective. Mr. Fisk lets you know exactly what all the bombs and artillery shells did to normal people when they fell on their neighborhoods. He also gives an unprecedented view of the every day life of a war correspondent; the hardships, the horror, the fear, and even the boredom.

If you're a blind supporter of Israel, the PLO, any of the Lebanese factions, Syria, or even the US government, be prepared for some unpleasant truth!

But whatever the case, do read this book. You won't find this level of detail in ANY of the other popular books on the subject.

Robert Fisk(Beirut correspondent for "The Independent) was recently the target of death threats and vicious emails for his honest and unbiased reporting from the Middle East.
"Pity the Nation" is a readable and riveting account of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the consequences of the same for the Palestinians, Lebanese and the rest of the Middle East. This is essential reading for understanding the current situation in the Middle East, and all the more timely considering the current US posture towards Iraq.

This past weekend, I read the first draft screenplay adaptation of James Robert Baker's FIEL-INJECTED DREAMS and was summarily BLOWN AWAY! I then obtained a copy of the book and was, impossibly, FURTHER BLOWN AWAY! To all fans of the book, the movie WILL do justice to the novel and I for one cannot wait to see James Robert Baker's vision fully realized on the silver screen.

Like the previous reviewer, I read the screenplay first (it is currently circulating throughout the Hollywood community) and I must say that the STORY of this book is amazing, as amazing as the almost perfect distillation of such in the screenplay. James Robert Baker is a force to be reckoned with and I hope we can all look forward to many years worth of subsequent genius work by him. Incidentally, FUEL-INJECTED DREAMS would make an excellent film and, if I have any say in it, WILL make an excellent film. Of course, expect a reprinting of the novel around the time of the film's release.

I visited Rhodes together with a friend in the eighties, and bought a couple of paperbacks, one of which was "Fuel-Injected Dreams." I didn't catch on to it right away, and read it straight through only when I got back home, and that wasn't the last time I read it, and I lent the book to a friend, and we both agree that it is a stunner. So much happens in the book that it's impossible to remember every amazing turn of event if you read the book, say, every two years. The book really gets your adrenaline flowing, and "Adrenaline" happens to be the title of another of Jim's novels. "Dreams" is an equilibristic tour de force, and James Robert Baker was the man who dreamed the novel for us, and I will always love him for doing so, may he rest in peace.