As an avid inkwell collector I was very excited about a new book coming out on the subject. The last books I got on inkwells were the Badders' books from 1995, so I was ready for an update. Wow, was I disappointed! First, the book is not organized in any way. It seems they may have tried to organize by subject matter (lion, girl, etc.)but this system is erratic. Secondly, they have obviously not taken into account the market fluctuations due to online auctions. I have seen mint inkwells sell for $250 where this book estimates values at $300-$500. On the other hand, I have seen an estimate of a $200 inkwell selling for $400. These examples are not a "one time" situation, they are consistant. I realize that this is probably a difficult factor to add into estimating, but if you are going to call yourself an expert and publish a book about it, you should consider all factors.

Featuring more than 1,000 photographs of inkwells and inkstands, The Collector's World Of Inkwells is a benchmark publication and a "must" for all inkwell collectors. Included are examples spanning the mid-eighteenth century to the early twentieth century by drawn from American, European, and Asian manufacturers and artists. Here are to be found examples from Tiffany, Wedgwood, Quimper, Staffordshire, Sandwich, and Vaseline glass, majolica, art pottery, faience, milk glass, and Delft. Examples are also provided of inkwells of porcelain, sterling silver, pewter, cast iron, brass, wood, and other natural materials. Some are decorated with precious and semi-precious stones, others are combination pieces. Jean and Franklin Hunting draw upon their considerable expertise to provide detailed descriptions, an historical perspective, tables on United States patents and designs, an up-to-date price guide, and an index. The Collector's World Of Inkwells is an invaluable, indispensable, beautifully presented reference work that could well become a collector's item in and of itself!

An excellent book if you are interested in breeding your Siamese-it goes into that aspect in depth. Unfortunately, I was looking for something that would not only give me the history, the types but also behavior patterns of Siamese - both good and bad (and how to deal with and correct the bad). Also, I was looking for more information as to medical problems that might be inherent in the Siamese breed. In other words, I wanted an overall picture of the Siamese directed at the average Siamese pet owner. This I did not get!

excellent book - very authoratative and well researched. Excellent pictures - I particularly liked the pencil drawings (which I actually did!!!!).

No doubt about it, this book has a great feel to it. Typographically the book is an easy read with great full color illustrations. But as they say down South, "When you are invited to a fish fry, no one has to tell you not to swallow the bones!" First off, you gotta translate the diagrams since the Brits drive on the wrong side of the road. Franklin, sure does not belong to the Hecktor Helmet Brigade. All of his great illustrations of cyclists show them not wearing a helmet, this may gall the club/waiver folk on this side of the pond. Franklin does have a serious discussion of the pros and cons of helmet wearing. He seriously neglects "Blinkies" and the "trashmo" or utility city bike. Otherwise it is a great read, but one which does not hold a candle to our John Forester and his "Effective Cycling".

John Franklin's _Cyclecraft_ is about how to ride a bike safely and efficiently in the seemingly harsh world of motor traffic. Franklin presents the specific techniques that cyclists need to know to start off, move along, turn safely, avoid hazards of all types, and maneuver in unusual or difficult situations. The diagrams in the book are lucid, Franklin's instructions are specific without being pedantic, and his points are clearly made and backed up with evidence and experience.

The lone drawback to this book for anyone who lives outside the United Kingdom or Ireland might be that some of the information is specific to traffic standards in those countries. The most obvious of these is driving on the left, and Americans like me will have to think "right" whenever Franklin writes "left."

This is a very minor nit, however. There is no book yet published in North America that is so succinct yet so complete on the practice of cycling for transportation.

This was an okay book. I mean all the action was cool and stuff and the plot was original but you know how you get sometimes feel unsatisfied with a book? Well after I read this book I had that sort of feeling. But you can read it if you like.

this casefile is about a guy who wants to cheat callie's uncle bret for his new airplane design.great plot and lots of action.a pretty good read.HBC fans:it's a good book.you should read it.

This is an average Hardy Boys book. Someone's trying to kill Ted Prescott, the father of a friend of Frank's girlfriend. Lots of action, an okay book.

Not great literature exactly, but doesn't have to be. The Casefiles tradition lives on, fast quick action with a reasonably interesting plot.

This book did not cover the most important aspects of the amazing presidency of Roosevelt. It rather covered the details of things that were said about him and his opposition. I found a lot of the book to be a waste, for example in the chapter entitled "FDR and the Kingfish" the majority of the chapter was written about Huey Long and not about Roosevelt. If you want to learn about what FDR did read the encyclopedia.

In this fine collection of essays, William Leuchtenburg provides an excellent companion piece to his masterpiece, Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal. Anyone interested in a general overview of FDR's presidency should check out that book first. This is meant more as a series of insights on highly specific topics, mostly culled from invited lectures that Leuchtenburg has given around the world.

Davis has completed five books of his proposed six book effort to write the definitive biography of Franklin Roosevelt. This book is superbly researched and factual, but it isn't as interesting as his previous books on FDR. Davis bogs down in trivial and irritating detail, which is peculiar, since the years 1937-1940 are among the most engrossing of Roosevelt's life. Davis is best when he examines FDR's behind the scenes preparation for war against Hitler and his deft maneuvering with the incoming Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. Less is written about his relationship with Neville Chamberlain, the hapless P.M. who preceded Churchill.

Davis is weaker on forging memorable portraits of the intimate personal relationships in FDR's life. There is a singular lack of understanding of Eleanor Roosevelt in this volume, nor is there much said about Roosevelt's children, his secretary Missy LeHand or other pivotal members of the FDR milieu. Davis does explore in interesting depth the effect of Howe's death upon FDR.

Roosevelt was a mercurial and difficult to understand character. His charismatic public facade masked some inner demons and foibles, which Davis painstakingly illuminates. This is an interesting, though ultimately, flawed effort.

I have read Davis' entire four volume set on FDR and found this volume excellent on detail, but somewhat biased in favor of FDR and his war-time policies. Davis has a novelistic flair to his writing that can make what might be a dry subject quite interesting and exciting. I understand there will be a fifth volume from Davis in this series. If anyone can provide more detail as to the status of this volume I would be greatful.

The table of contents lists an ambitious amount of material, but the coverage is very general and has no depth. After I read the chapter on incorporating, I didn't know any more than when I started, and my knowledge is very general. This is too light for a person seriously interested in starting a business.

If you are clueless as to how to start a corporation in the State of California, this book is a great place to begin.

A few things about the title of the book are slightly misleading, which I will get out of the way up-front. First of all, this book in no way encourages you to start a California corporation on your own. This is not a do-it-youself kit that walks you through the process of forming a corporation. Rather, it is largely aimed at helping you to decide what type of business entity is appropriate for your company, and how to get started. It gives comparisons between C-Corporations, S-Corprations, LLCs, sole-proprietorships, partnerships, etc. It comes to the author's slightly biased (but correct) conclusion that all but corporations are inappropriate for most business use.

Another problem with the title, but which is more of an oddity than a real issue, is that the cover and title refer to forming a corporation as "A Simple 9-Part Program". Once you get the actual book though, you will find that the cover and title vary slightly from what is advertised. It is actually "A Simple 6-Part Program"! I am not sure what happened to the 3 other "simple parts", but they somehow disapperared between the time I ordered the book, and the time I received it! Odd, but unimportant.

One other point, there is not a great deal of information in this book specific to the State of California. Most of it is more general in nature concerning corporations. Also, some of the info is slightly dated, as it was published in 1998. The reference section definitely could stand to be updated with website addresses, rather than just mailing addresses and phone numbers. The vast majority of general information still applies though, and has not changed since the time this book was initially written.

The author of this book is a lawyer, and urges you to go through one when starting your California Corporation. For anyone even considering doing something as foolish as filing to become a corporation on their own, this book will set them straight. The book does help you with may items that you would likely have to pay an attorney extra for though, such as providing templates for many forms, and answering many questions that would cost you big bucks to get your attorney to answer. All in all, it is an excellent value, and will save you quite a bit of time and effort when it comes to finding answers to simple questions as to how to get started. Although you will not really be able to run a corporation after reading this book, at least you know exactly what you are up against, and where to get started. The author's writing style is excellent, and the book was enjoyable enough to read, for such a relatively dull subject.

Before this 1994 Oxford University Press Edition, ENGLISH-language Readers of Voltaire's famous Book had to make do with Translations from the FRENCH 'Lettres Philosophiques'. Voltaire, however, began writing the Book during his two and a half year stay in ENGLAND, and wrote over half the Letters in ENGLISH. This first critical Edition of the 'Letters' in ENGLISH (the remaining eight Letters are presented in contemporary Translation) are immediately more fresh, more witty, more pointed, more fluid, more Voltairean, than the pallid Translations of other Editions on offer, and, with their characteristic 18th century Spelling (e.g. today's words ending in 'c' ending in 'k', like 'Publick') and Orthography (Nouns capitalised, proper Nouns italicised), give one the pleasurable Feeling of reading a Contemporary of Swift's or Pope's.

Anyone hoping for a Bill Bryson-like Travelogue into the Manners and distinctive Details of the ENGLISH, or a FRENCH 'Gulliver's Travels', will be disappointed. The 'Letters' are a Travelogue of Enlightenment Ideas, and can be divided into three Sections - Religion (Voltaire celebrating the Tolerance of many Religions in ENGLAND compared to the Catholic Tyranny in FRANCE); Philosophy/Science (offering a breathless Digest of exciting new Theories and Discoveries by Locke and Newton), and Literature (decrying the barbarous Irregularities of English theatre compared to the coolly classical French, but praising the occasional poetic Vividness and greater dramatic Force of Shakespeare - how nice of him!). Voltaire often distorts political Conditions in ENGLAND (e.g. the economic Persecution of Catholics) to extol the Country as a Beacon of Liberty.

Although Voltaire writes ENGLISH very well (considering he had only begun learning it the Year before commencing the 'Letters'), his Language lacks the satiric Bite and linguistic Inventiveness of a Swift or Gay, and so feels comparitively thin. Although there is a complex Irony working throughout, with the 'I' of the fictional Letter-Writer shifting functions (satirical, explanatory etc.) depending on the Subject, the most enjoyable Parts are those most straightforwardly polemical, such as the Attack on Reactionaries hostile to the Growth of Science, or the refreshingly irreverant Approach to the Bard.

How you enjoy these Letters depends on how much Voltaire you can take. His brave Attacks on Intolerance, Fanaticism and Absolutism can never be forgotten, and his Advocacy of the actively Intellectual over the submissively Superstitious was crucial in developing the modern Era; but his relentless Promotion of Reason can itself appear intolerant, shortsighted and incapable of dealing with more inexplicable Mysteries. He mocks the Ancients' philosophical and scientific Errors, asserting the linear Progress of History and human Endeavour, assuming, as did those ancients, that his Age has got everything right. The 25th Letter exposes the limits and inflexibility of Voltaire - taking uncontextualised Excerpts from Pascal's 'Pensees', he attempts to demolish the Jansenist's Christian Logic, but only exposes himself as a poor Reader forever closed to true Mystery, Poetry and Complexity.

This critical Edition includes a valuable Introduction detailing Voltaire's Experiences in England, contextualising the Letters and proving the Importance on his artistic Development of the Writer's Contact with the ENGLISH Language. An interesting Textual Note explains the Genesis of the Work, and the Status of the various national Editions. Appendices include a long Excerpt from Voltaire's Essay (in ENGLISH) on Milton, and a biographical Appreciation by Goldsmith. The Apparatus is somewhat let down by the Notes. Because this Edition is considered a primary Text, rather than a Translation, Cronk assumes the reader to be a Student in FRENCH Literature, and neglects to translate Quotations on occasion, or to identify unfamiliar (to this Reader, anyway) Personnages.

This book is, justifiably, not as famous as _Candide_, but is still a great sample of Voltaire's thinking--and therefore a great example of Enlightenment discourse. In these letters Voltaire criticizes France by praising England, and begins to develop ideas about religion, democracy, and social convention that he continued to work on throughout his life. For my taste, _Philosophical Dictionary_ is more exciting, but these letters are more inviting, and also give insight into the connections between England and France that obviously lie at the heart of their historical antipathy.

This book provides a wonderful summary of African-American history--it's comprehensive and full of little known historical facts. I think this book provides a very good starting point for anyone that would like to learn more about African-American history. BUT, the grammar, syntax, use of cliches and lack of organization may prove distracting for many readers. I read this book after reading a book on how to improve my own writing and many of the "writing don'ts" in that book find a home in this book. HOWEVER, the information was worth the frustration.

I read this book for my African American history class, and I don't think I would have read it if it hadn't been for the class, but I really liked it! I learned a lot that I know I'll take with me for years to come. All the really big important African American leaders are represented here, and all of their portraits are exciting...