I bought this book several years ago and it has been a while since I read it last time. When I pulled it out from my bookshelf today and read it again, I was still amazed by the story and especially the illustration of this book. The masquerade in this picture book is so fascinating. The masks, costumes and the way they are presented really allures you back to the time and place this story happened. If you are planning to visit Venice, you may want to read this book and get some ideas about this Venetian folktale.

The story is reasonably simple but it's beautiful and magical. The artwork is unbelievable. I judge books by their covers, and this one passes!

The book is well written and informative: I reccomend it! It;s absolutely super!

This is no book for someone not previously familiar with volcano technology. That much aside, the book is an absolute gem for anyone planning a trip to the Cascade Range, California, or other volcanic area of the continental USA or Canada. A must-have for anyone geeked on volcanoes.

This play changed my life. Before seeing it produced in 1996, I had no interest in theater. But that all changed the night I wandered in to a small theater to see this play. Before the curtain had closed, I decided to become a theater producer. Five years later, I'm still working in the theater, and I owe it all to Kirk Wood Bromley and this little gem. A true American masterpiece.

"Want's Unwished Work" is a twist on Shakespeare's "Love's Labour's Lost," and the language here is as challenging. Like Shakespeare in "Love's," Bromley uses our present day vernacular to weave a rich, witty and engaging tale of love, sex, while satirizing the world of academia - in verse, no less. It is a challenging and rewarding read. He is an original voice in modern theatre.

Woods is as much philosopher and urban planner as architect in the traditional sense. His buildings rip open the landscape of the ordered grid, and also open new possibilities about what it means to inhabit a space. The functions of some of his ideas for buildings are obscure even to him. He is constantly trying to deconstruct the politics of architecture and it's place in history. He actively embodies Heidegger's idea that "dwelling means to recieve the sky", except in his dwellings it also means to recieve the ground, and to actively take part in constructing your world.

In this work I have seen the necessity for Woods' architecture to exist; where before I had only seen compelling drawings. Lebbeus Woods has dedicated this manifesto to the city of Sarajevo, and to all cities which bear the signs of armed conflict on their walls. He states that the emergence of a new architecture is especially crucial in Sarajevo where the architecture was the target of the attackers (from within) who meant to destroy the culture there in all of its manifestations. The architecture of that culture, the places of worship and of social congregation, became the primary target for the ethnic genocide. As much as the bodies of the people, the architecture was destroyed for its significance as the public body. Therefore it is the architecture which must give a physical presence to these atrocities. Woods makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the architecture to preserve the memory of the destruction- not in a sentimental or memorial manner- but in the same manner as the life of cities has been preserved through use and adaptation throughout history. The war is part of the reality of the place and therefore should not be erased. This work also resists the glorification of war of the Italian Futurists, and the 'tabula rasa' erasure of existing conditions of the Modernists. This is a work which acknowledges growth and destruction in the same breath. It is existential in its acceptance of reality and its means of building with it.... not nihilistic. It is existential in that it knows no reality other than what is there, but is not fully convinced by its authority. It revels in the multitudinous nature of the contemporary world, of the present. Unlike the Modernists, Woods does not intend to reinvent the city but to allow the city to be more itself. This work, his infamous drawings, is an attempt to recognize the reality of a place through actualization of events.... By building in and upon the ruins he remakes them into the living substance of the city, leaving no trace unexposed.

Surprisingly readable text with up to date information that has been field tested from the fish labs and field to citizen action strategies. This is a must read for groups hoping to integrate quality sciece with quality social process strategies for watershed work.

As America comes to realize that many conservation policies of the past have done more harm than good, this book is a trail guide to the right path to walk. It addresses not only the need to work with whole ecosystems and watersheds, but to also include the human inhabitants of the area and their social ecology into the process. It points out that every environmental conflict has arisen from situations where the balance was tipped too far towards the people or too far towards the environment and it provides essential concepts to try to regain the balance. It also provides many case studies of the restoration of watersheds, to act as models in our own endeavors. I highly reccomend this book- it expands your thinking and gives you hints and ideas for ways to successfully walk the fine line between ecology and sociology.

This book is beautifully illustrated and has such a warm and wonderful message. As someone whose father sent her to school with peanut butter, raisin, honey and banana sandwiches, I felt this book spoke directly to me. It's beautiful and funny to watch how this little boy just crumples with embarrassment over the eccentric behavior of his parents, but then comes to realize how their love is what is truly exceptional about them. It's just a great tale to which many of us can relate. By the way, you have to try peanut butter, banana, raisin and honey sandwiches! They're great.

All parents seem a bit odd to their kids. This book makes you laugh at your differences. Very cleaver. Teaches love and acceptance and respect of our uniqueness.

Here's the wonderful story of a man who set himself a goal--to live in the country--then figured out a way to earn a GREAT living to support that goal. Lyman Wood is (is he still alive?) a direct marketing/mail order pioneer who spent 60 years or so selling everything from $400 Roto Tillers to PRAYERS by mail. He also worked as an advertising and marketing consultant from his rural home. The stories in this book are inspiring AND instructional. This is a book filled with passion. It's not just biographical, it's "how-to." And best of all, it's FUN to read! I recommend it very highly to would-be entrepreneurs and to those frustrated entrepreneurs who occasionally need a "lift."

I read the book for the first time several years ago. Since then I've kept in on my desk to refer back to for practical advice about starting and running my internet business.

Much of Lyman's wisdom and insight into the mail order business is directly applicable to developing e-commerce sites for business customers: writing copy that stirs the reader to take action, measuring and testing the results of each ad, starting small and growing the business out of the profits it generates are a few of many gems he practiced.

In the book, his passion for doing what he loved, from a place that he loved, with people that he loved was inspirational to me. When I met him in person, he was also a great encouragement to me.

I'd recommend this book to anyone interested in in "Making a life" while making a living.

My husband gave me this book for my birthday (he knows both authors) and I sat and read it in one afternoon. What I most appreciated about this book was its honesty and because it made me laugh. When Jane talks about throwing applesauce at her husband because he asked her how much money she had spent that week, I could totally relate. Her take on Pampered Chef parties made me call my best friend (who is getting ready to host a Pampered Chef party) and read parts of it aloud to her. I also really liked "seeing behind the curtain" at these women's professional lives. Jane is an English professor and Sue is a pastor, and I like the ways that they talk about what it's like to teach and preach. Sue's thoughts about attempting to comfort parents who have just lost a child were beautiful, even more so because she has three children. My husband said that the authors are also neighbors, and I wish I lived on their block! Enjoy the book-it's a treat.

This is a great "mirror." I saw myself in these chapters in some pretty amazing ways. These women write well, are honest in their mistakes and successes. My husband read it too and laughed at how these women talked about things I do all the time. Great book. I'm giving it to all my girlfriends for Mother's Day.

Denise Fleming based "Where Once There Was a Wood" on the woods, meadows, and creek near her home in Toledo, Ohio. She spent a lot of time watching the wild animals go living in the woods, but now that area is a housing development. Through a series of bold, colorful paintings of the animals in the woods, and simple, poetic text, Fleming brings the natural habitat alive, capturing the change in a single picture of row after row of houses. Thus, the book leaves it up to young readers to make draw their own conclusions about how people should treat the living places of animals.

"Where Once There Was a Wood" serves two functions. First, it shows how animals and people can live close to one another. Everything Fleming depicts can be seen in most wooded areas. Second, it suggests that the natural homes of animals need to be respected on some level. In the back of her book Fleming urges her readers to "Welcome Wildlife to your Backyard Habitat." Explaining how wild creatures have four basic needs to space, shelter, water, and food, she provides a detailed list of food, trees and shrubs, as well as flowers, that can be used in your backyard to attract wild animals.

Story gently reminds us that our homes displaced wild areas and helps us think about how to remedy the damage. Great illustrations and a wonderful specific guide at the end showing simple yet significant ways children and adults can help, starting in their own yard.

Some readers will agree with Doctor Wood's underlying economic assumptions and others will want to debate them, but the wealth of information in this book, the keen insider's look into our HMO catastrophe and related managed health care issues, is nonpareil. Yes things really ARE as bad as you suspected, and Dr. Wood will accurately document statistics, cases, and legislation that led to the problem. This is an important book, well-written and professionally researched.

I read the new book "Who Will Take Care Of Me When I Am Sick"
and am very impressed with it. It is a sober, direct, and
well-researched account of the subject of today's problems in
medicine. It is neither labored nor contentious. The book does
not address any particular constituency, but it does address
people who might want to learn about a problem of concern to
us all.