Anyone who picks up this book will immediately recognize that Dr. Van Hoose honestly loves guitars. He also picked one of the most finely crafted guitars as his instrument of choice. In page after page, in sometimes excruciating detail, he labors over the most miniscule differences in these guitars, as they evolved from year to year. Just when you think you've seen enough, there's a photo section on the guitar restoration process (of course, the guitar happens to be a Super 400, but believe it or not, the process would be pretty much the same for a more pedestrian arch top guitar). The reader is treated to plenty of fine color photographs, as well as loads of black and white photos and catalog page reproductions. Also included is a bounteous appendix, with shipping totals and the like, as well as Dr. Van Hoose's own analytical contributions (including his ingenious rarity index, derived from comparing an individual model's production to the entire production for every year of Super 400 production) and opinions regarding the "vintage" guitar market.

In short, this book gives the reader the best and worst faces of modern stringed instrument (banjo and guitar) collecting. On one hand, you have an educated and articulate individual who has an obvious appreciation for finely crafted instruments. To Dr. Van Hoose's credit, he did his homework and clearly wrote the information that he had gathered (unlike some other collector/writers). On the other hand, this book, to some degree, reinforces the popular opinion that acquisition equals expertise. Collectors such as Akiro Tsumura (with his "1001 Banjos" book) or Scott Chinery (who had the brainstorm and funds to commission a fleet of blue guitars from the world's top builders, to add to his already huge collection) are regarded as experts, whether they can play a note, dress a fret, conduct research, or do anything else that would be considered expertise when writing about musical instruments. Coincidentally, this view seems to be held in high regard by top instrument dealers (such as George Gruhn, who wrote the forword for this book). It turns out to be a mutually beneficial arrangement, to be sure.

If you obsess over guitars, this is a good book for you. Believe me, a lot of work went into it. The book is loaded with plenty of information and a good helping of pictures, and it IS the be-all-end-all for this particular subject. If you don't obsess over guitars, this book will get old pretty fast. I really DO appreciate the effort that was put into this work, but I think it just ends up being a little too much for anybody but the most die-hard fans.

Anyone with an interest in acoustic guitars can benefit from "Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Top Guitars". Like a number of people, I had thought for years that "acoustic flat top steel-string guitar" was a synonym for "C.F. Martin & Co."

Thinking about a possible purchase of a new Gibson flat top after hearing a new Gibson Montana Hummingbird guitar, I realized that for Martins there were and are multiple sources for information, model and serial number research, and company history, but this was not quite the case with Gibson and their flat tops.

The book's authors give a very comprehensive and readable account of Gibson's history in producing steel string flat top acoustic guitars, all the way from their first model in 1926 through current production in Bozeman, Montana. Along the way, they do a quite good job of explaining Gibson's approach to guitar making, marketing and sales.

The picture that emerges is one of a company quite open to exploring different ways of giving the customer what they want, with a less formal and systematic approach than their grand arch-rival Martin. Whereas Martin had a longstanding image of extraordinary high quality, combined with reluctance to change or offer new features simply because they might appeal to some customers, Gibson was much more willing to experiment and take risks.

The results have been some extraordinary guitars, ranging from the J-200 that Emmylou Harris plays on stage today to the Everly Brothers J-185, the Hummingbird, the Dove, and the J-160E played on a number of Beatles records.

The authors also candidly address what they refer to as a dark time in Gibson's history, from 1969 through 1986, when corporate ownership of the company made the guitars much heavier and "overbuilt", all in the name of reducing lifetime warranty repair costs. This also severely impacted the tonal qualities of the guitars, and caused the label's reputation for quality to suffer.

The book gives possible reasons for the lack of existing information on Gibson flat-tops, mostly having to do with Gibson's less than perfect recordkeeping - it seems that till this day, there is not a 100% accurate listing and cataloging of serial numbers, because of factory capriciousness in this regard.

The book ends on a positive note, taking the reader through the new Gibson acoustics manufacturing plant in Bozeman, Montana, and introducing some of the current day players, both luthiers and professional musicians who contribute to the marque currently.

This book contains two separate sections of high-quality color phots of both old and new classic Gibson flat-tops. There are also numerous black-and-white photos throughout the text.

Finally, I have given the book four stars rather that five because I would wish to have had more color photographs of current Gibson flat-tops included.

That aside, this book is a very enjoyable read and a true keeper for anyone who appreciates the magnificent sound of a steel-string flat-top guitar up close and personal.

The author has presented the NDE stories just as they were told to him without embelishing or adding his thoughts about what it all means. He has a wide variety of people he interviewed and most were quite similar while others had somewhat different experiences. I found comfort in the similarity of each person's story. I have read all of Arvin Gibson's books, in the second half he goes over all of the NDE's and points out similarities etc.

I have visited with the author and find him a very down to earth, spiritual person whom truly believes these people have had a visit to the spiritual world.

I read this book as I looked for assurance of life after death, I have been struggling with losing someone very dear to me. As I read the stories in this book I felt comfortable that these people had truly had a significant experience and this helped to bring me peace.

They are very riveting stories to say the least.

He may not be quite as well known as Tennessee Williams or Arthur Miller, but Clifford Odets is one of the best American contemporary playwrights out there. "The Golden Boy" is clever and beautiful and should be read by anyone who appreciates true drama.

The shocking articles appearing in the news about random killings by a wacko gunman hit home several years ago when my son informed me a friend of his had been killed by a fellow student. I could no longer distance myself from such tragedy -- if Galen Gibson could be killed so senselessly, so could my son. How would I react under such circumstances?

Thankfully, Gregory Gibson, Galen's father, enabled me as a parent, to walk with him as he worked through the aftermath of this tragedy. The circuitous journey through his grief has at its core his fierce love for his son and family. Dealing with the expediencies of the legal system, an inept college administration, psychologists, the penal system, gun dealers, the media, his son's friends, and others show how frustrating a quest this was. Through it all, however, Gibson's humanity enlightens us all, bestowing a grace to all he encounters.

I thank him for the privilege of learning so much about the workings of the heart at its best and worst moments.

I used this as my study while teaching the Gospel of Luke to a Sunday School Class. This commentary made my lessons fill with great background and history. The outlines are built into the book and ready to use as a template for a lesson. This is one of the best for teaching on a weekly basis or for preaching.

I found this book interesting. One thing that most people don't know about the Irish Potato Famine is just how much the British Government is to blame for all those deaths. Any food that an Irish person had in their possession was seized and then shipped to England and other countries. This is the dirty little secret of the British Government.

E. Gibson is an outstanding new poet who writes using old school Langston Hughes styling. Being an African American, I could truly relate to the stories she told but I beleive that this should be read by all Americans, especially the poem entitled "I Owe". Buy it for yourself and anyone you know who wasn't born with a silver spoon in their mouth and has struggled to succeed in this country we call America. A fantastic work of poetry!

Alaska has always been peripheral, both to America, and to Russia before that. The Tsar's men stripped it of furs as fast as they could for 124 years---the first settlements began in 1743 and the US government bought Alaska in 1867 for $7.2 million, despite much opposition to such a "waste of money". Nevertheless, every place has a fascinating story to tell. I hoped to find such fascination in Gibson's book, but was only partially successful. If you read IMPERIAL RUSSIA IN FRONTIER AMERICA, you will no doubt gain a lot of knowledge about a little known episode in history, but will have to endure much academic trivia. I was impressed by the way Gibson divided the Russian colonization into four periods. The first, from 1793 to 1799, was about exploitation of fur resources, using mainly Aleut skills. During the second period, from 1799 to 1819, the Russian-American Company (on the same idea as the Hudson Bay or East India Company) expanded southwards to California and even made an attempt to gain control over Hawaii. The Indians often attacked Sitka and Russian nautical knowhow was so poor that 16 out of their 28 ships were wrecked. The third phase went from 1819 to 1840 and was perhaps the best of times for Russian America with more inland settlement, less conflict with Alaskan aborigines, and some modus vivendi with foreign competitors. The final phase, to 1867, saw the colonial enterprise weaken. The California fort was sold off to Sutter (of gold mining fame) and Russia's national attention turned more to Asia. What I was fascinated to learn was that at its height, at the very peak of population, Russian America contained exactly 823 Russians ! Not exactly a very determined effort. Russia HAD to sell Alaska because it could no longer supply its settlements there; it held a losing hand of cards. The main focus of this volume is the problem of supply---it is not a general history. Thus, most chapters concern the details of how Russia could or could not manage to supply its faroff colony. This is an interesting problem, but one which I fear does not loom large in the concerns of even potential readers of Gibson's work. The Russians tried sending food and materials overland through Siberia and then by sea. They tried sending stuff by sea around Africa or South America from St. Petersburg. They tried to grow food in Alaska. They tried to set up an agricultural base in California and they tried to send supplies from Hawaii. Finally, they attempted to secure their needs through trade with Americans, British, or Spanish/Mexicans. All these attempted solutions had their own consequences. Nothing worked very well. That's why they had to sell out. The minutiae of all this are laid out very painstakingly. Gibson did a very thorough job of research, but I found it more than a little trying to peruse lists of supplies purchased or sent, numbers of otter caught or amounts of grain grown. His use of Russian misspellings for Hawaiian names ('Voaga' for Oahu and 'Tomi-Omi' for Kamehameha for example) is a little bizarre. Overall, this book would be extremely useful for anyone studying the history of Russian colonization in the far northeast. That's why I have given it four stars. It could be read in conjunction with J.J Stephan's book on the Kuril Islands or with the book on Russia's Hawaiian adventure by Richard Pierce. The comparison which was uppermost in my mind while reading this book was with Geoffrey Blainey's "Tyranny of Distance", about Australia. The topic is exactly the same, but Gibson chose to approach the subject in a more circumscribed manner. Unlike Blainey's work, IMPERIAL RUSSIA IN FRONTIER AMERICA is for a few specialists, not for general readers, but there are many nuggets of fascinating information to be had.

This is a beautiful and intriguing collection of black and white photographs. The subjects are all female (if you count one baby, of indeterminate gender), and are frequently nude. If you are open minded, I think you will find many (perhaps all) of these pictures erotic -- whatever your sexual orientation. However, this is art, not mediocre porn.

The images are generally fragments of women's bodies: a breast, a foot, a chin, a face, or just an eye. This makes it sound as if the women are objectified, but the photos always seem to invite us to revel in the beauty of the form. I, at least, feel that the pictures produce a sort of tender admiration (an "erotic" gaze, in the proper Greek sense of the term).

I disagreed with the reviewer who found Mary Gaitskill's Afterword "vulgar." (But then, Gaitskill tends to polarize readers.) Her brief essay explores her own feelings and experiences with how she and we view the naked female form, including its beauties, power, and vulnerabilities.

I found this a moving book; perhaps you will too.