I was overwhelmed by the care taken in presenting a supposedly dry subject in a brilliant fashion,as brilliant as was the organization of the NYAS conference from which its contents were derived--speakers of such caliber as Sir Crispin Tickell participated ( unfortunately Linus Pauling was gravely ill at the time and could not be present)--so impressive was the program that the late Cyril Ponnamperuma of the Laboratory of Chemical Evolution wanted to attend. This book depicts a piece of history that should be a part of any serious library--I was delighted to send it as a gift to a finance professor at Boston College when it was first published.

i did not come to this site buying the book ... i wanted the translation og the monologe of "The blind man" into english .... it is tough, and a short cut of a life ...

While dealing with scientific and technical professionals (STPs, he labels them) during his management career, Harry Chambers recognized that many of his colleagues were not able to share their expertise clearly enough, whether they were writing and speaking to their counterparts, or whether they were addressing people beyond their areas. So he wrote this book as a guideline for the STPs. I applaud Chambers' writing style--competent enough to please an educated audience, yet folksy enough to illustrate that stuffiness isn't required for explaining complicated ideas. The book underscores the widely accepted observation that people who get promoted because of their expertise may score very poorly when they try to manage a team. To equip STPs for management, Chambers offers advice about how to relate well to your boss, develop listening skills, serve customers, direct meetings, give and receive critism, and other vital topics. As a former university faculty member, I vote for placing this book in every campus library, and making it required reading for those pursuing the B.S. degree. To STPs who have their degrees already, I suggest that Effective Communication Skills for Scientific and Technical Professionals merits your close study. Although Chambers admits that "becoming a highly skilled communicator is not easy," this book makes the assignment easier.

Dover scores another fantastic bargain with this coupling of two of Richard Strauss's orchestral works, Eine Alpensinfonie and Symphonia Domestica. Why these works are paired is a mystery--Symphonia Domestica's natural companion piece is Ein Heldenleben, but Dover already published that with Till Eulenspiegels Lustige Streiche and Also Sprach Zarathustra. The draw for this collection, though, is surely the Alpine Symphony, and that anything else at all is included is a pure bonus. Another bonus for the language-challenged among us is the English translations for the titles of sections and the musical terms. Dover's implementation of these translations is somewhat awkward, though, as the section titles are listed at the beginning of each piece, but the musical terms are all bunched together at the end of the volume, forcing you to flip repeatedly through it at least once.

These two works date from a time and place now past when a respected composer could literally write for any orchestral forces he desired. Eine Alpensinfonie is scored for a huge orchestra (150 instruments, by one count--although not 150 different instrumental parts) and includes hecklephone, windmachine, thundermachine, tenor tubas, and 20(!) French horns--12 are offstage and play only in 21 measures of the piece, for less than one minute. Symphonia Domestica is not quite as gargantuan (as the name indicates) but is still scored for a quite large ensemble, with oboe d'amore and 4 saxophones--soprano, alto, baritone, and the very rare bass saxophone added to the large wind section. These scores are bibles of orchestration--Strauss is a master of handling huge forces, surpassed only by Gustav Mahler, and that arguably. Students of orchestration can learn much about writing for large, professional orchestras from careful study of these pieces; but they are also full of important details that will be helpful for those using smaller ensembles.

Beyond the orchestration, however, lies deep and powerful music. Strauss has been criticized for being overly programmatic and literal, writing trivial music and being derivative of Richard Wagner and Gustav Mahler. But whatever truth these criticisms hold, the fact remains that Wagner, Mahler and Strauss revolutionized music. Aside from their already well-known harmonic innovations and orchestral mastery, they freed melody from its primarily vocal conception, which had limited it from its origin. Where most composers before them would follow a large leap with motion in the opposite direction, thereby restricting the melodic line in musical space, these three composed great soaring lines in which a large leap might well be followed by another leap or stepwise motion in the same direction. The resulting themes often surpass the range of a single instrument; a given melody might, for example, begin in the tuba doubled with bassoon, celli and contrabasses, move to French horns and finally end in the upper registers of flutes, oboes, and violins. Orchestration becomes not simply an assigning of instruments to particular lines, but an inseparable part of the composition of a piece. Whatever flaws Strauss's music might have (and I have to admit that the Storm Scene in the Alpine Symphony, with its wind and thunder machines and the portrayal of raindrops in the pizzicato strings is too cliched for my taste), its glories far surpass them.

Reading the score can also help determine which recording of a work is particularly good. Strauss's layers of counterpoint and his textural conceptions can suffer at the hands of an overenthusiastic brass section (this is the man who said, "Never look encouragingly at the trombones.") or an insufficiently aware conductor. To supplement this score, I enthusiastically recommend Andre Previn's rendition of Eine Alpensinfonie with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, released on Telarc and also available here at Amazon.com.

Anne's writing style of events that took place in the history of Ireland, easy for any reader, at any level, to understand. The story comes to life and you soon find yourself, there, "going back in time" with the characters in the book. I recommend that the reader not just read one of her books, but the entire collection for that period, as Anne neatly weaves one character into the next book. The characters seem to have known each other or been related in some manner. It's a never-ending story of events that took place in the history of Ireland in the 1500s.

ES is a titanic reference work of inestimable value to students and scholars of Renaissance and Shakespearean drama. One can simply flip through it and every few pages find sufficient historical and documentary material on which to base an entire academic article. Indispensable.

Feather has followed jazz for scores of years primarily as an observer. His observations, braod as well as detailed are invaluable. The photographs are almost enough to make one's most interesting "coffee table book." A must have for jazz buffs.

Oswald Chambers is one of the greatest Christian spiritual mentors one could hope for. This book is actually a collection from his writings of some of the most throught-provoking statements he has made about the genuineness of Christian living and the vitality of Christian intimacy with a intensely personal, if often unfathomable God. He dares to go into the difficult areas of faith, without a whiff of unpalatable jargonism or easy platitudes that grate. The collection is arranged thematically around thoughts about Faith in relation to the world, the flesh, the evil, our heart, minds and soul. The profoundity inherent in his comments stirs the deepest thought and soul-searching, an assessment of where the believer-pilgrim is en route to Zion. Each page contains a series of questions which probe the inner recesses of our heart and an honest consideration of where one stands as a struggling christian. For example, "when I am surrounded by darkness, do I see nothing or do I see God? Do I consider darkness an opportunity to rest or a reason to become restless? What good reason might God have for keeping me in the dark"? And "Am I tied down by my faith in earthly convictions or set from from earthly convictions by faith in heavenly promises?" "Am I a channel of God's blessing to others or only a consumer?". Folks, Chambers cuts to the chase and asks deep questions we would do well to repeatedly confront in our own lives. Hopefully, this excellent collection will be a taster to introduce the reader to Chambers other books - particularly the incredible "Baffled to Fight better", "The highest good", and "Christian disciplines". Chambers is perhaps best know for his "My Utmost for His Highest" collection of daily meditations but this is a writer whose other books merit widespread reading, particularly if you are struggling with believing in faith and trust in the goodness of God when all the evidence around you seems to contradict this. Chambers inspires, and humbles the reader and his honest writings offers solace and courage for the soul, and a hope to carry on that is firmly rooted in Jesus Christ, what He has done, and all that is to come. This book is a great "taster" to Chamber's work in general and a wonderful book to keep on the desk, to flip through during the course of the day as an aid to rise above the mundanity of life and living, to remind ourselves of what's really important, to invest in us a perspective of the eternal that will transform and energise how we live our lives as aliens and strangers on this planet. Food for the soul and fuel for the mind.

Since Amazon didn't post an editorial review, here's the description from the back of the book to help you decide if this book is for you: "If Sharon wants to be with you, that's all that matters." Brave words, but it had seemed so straightforward in the beginning. After all, Hallie's wonderful new husband, Kyle, had every right to custody of his daughter. Still, what had ever made Hallie think the girl would welcome her with open arms? It was hate at first sight -- at least on Sharon's part. And the child's grandparents ... Not content with fighting tooth and nail to retain custody of Sharon, they were actively trying to poison Hallie's mind against Kyle. They'd hinted at terrible secrets in Kyle's past -- dangerous secrets. Well, Kyle had warned Hallie not to believe everything they told her. She remembered her blithe promise: "nothing they say can ever change the way I feel about you." Now she wasn't so sure. Because Kyle was keeping secrets ... "

This score needs to be in every violinist's library. It's the epitome of Romanticism and all the movements are fantastic!