Creators Books

Yvonne Fern a former Nun, spent months with Gene and his wife Majel whom the book is dedicated to. I am not a Trekie and originally bought the book for my son who is a major Star Trek fan. But I opened the book and read a few pages, then a few more pages. Then within days I was 3/4 thru the book and had gained such respect for the man Gene Roddenberry and realized he was much more than the man behind Star Trek. On page 2 I see my Father speaking, thru MsFern/Mr Roddenberry: "Gene Roddenberry did not believe in time. He never spoke of the future in the future tense, to me. It was always, "the future is", not "the future will be".

The book is wonderful because it also covers the marriage he had, and the uniqueness of his personaility. On page 95 Ms Fern notes: "Like many writers he carries a population sround inside of him-ideas, fancies,noions,characters,theories,possibilities,dreams. They buzz constantly with opposing suggestions,contraditory philosphies, conflicting needs. They make demands on him that they begiven life." This is why he was a genius. An eccentric of sorts. So many people live "safe" lives. People like Mr Roddenberry take risks and lead the lives they are meant to live. Interetsing that people admire men/women like him, yet how few people are have that spirit of adventure. Mr Roddenberry didn't see race, religion, gender, but LIFE in its fullest form. The book covers his feelings on these subjects as well as sex.

This book is a modern day Homer. Everyone should buy it ! I bought copies for my local library.

I was given a copy of Gesher HaChaim (The Bridge of Life) when my father died. I read it again when my mother died and then again after my sister passed away. Each time I found new insights and inspirations. I am purchasing a copy of this for my friends who are now mourning the loss of their sister/sister-in-law/aunt. I hope it brings them as much comfort and support as it gave me.

Gesher HaChaim bridges the spiritual aspect of the cycle of life--birth and death. It is a true gift for individuals suffering from the loss of a loved one. It offers a beautiful, meaningful perspective to the end of life in this world and opens ones eyes and heart to the great potential that our souls have. It enriches the mourning process in a way that no other book has ever done.

Though this book does focus on the topic of death, it is not a morbid book--in fact, it is quite uplifting and positive. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to expand their understanding of, and perspectives about Life in this world.

If you have trouble differentiating among Chocolate Williams, Rubberlegs Williams and Horsecollar Williams, here's a volume to straighten you out. In profiling eleven musical thinkers who've helped to shape today's music, Kenny Mathieson enlivens his text with numerous references to other peripheral characters hovering around the scene during the 40s and 50s - for example, "...an unshakably persistent black saxophonist from Newark known as The Demon, whom Dizzy dubbed `the first freedom player - freedom from harmony, freedom from rhythm, freedom from anything.'"

Since I've always been intrigued to learn exactly where this music took shape, I was pleased to find references to a long-gone New York club called Snookie's (in which Dizzy's horn was famously bent during a birthday celebration), to the old McKinley Theater in the Bronx (where Bird sat in with the Gillespie big band) and to The Finale, a short-lived spot in LA's Little Tokyo district that Ross Russell termed "a West Coast Minton's". Mathieson even identifies the location of that Harlem chili parlor where Bird had his celebrated epiphany.

Hey, did you know that James P. Johnson lived in Manhattan's San Juan Hill near the home where Monk grew up? That Blue Note first recorded Monk at Ike Quebec's urging? That one of Bud Powell's earliest piano heroes was Billy Kyle? That Max Roach served as house drummer at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach for six months during the early 50s? That Fats Navarro was Charlie Shavers' third cousin? Or that Chano Pozo's cousin was Chino Pozo? Me, either.

Yet despite these fascinating digressions, Mathieson's principal focus remains the recorded output on the eleven players he's elected to spotlight: Gillespie, Parker, Navarro, Powell, Roach, Monk, Mingus, Rollins, Davis, Herbie Nichols and Coltrane. He's chosen this order deliberately - and does manage to provide substantial amounts of information on other key players throughout (for example, on Clifford Brown in the chapter on Roach and on Tadd Dameron in the section on Navarro).

As Mathieson notes, no one much under seventy is likely to have heard Parker during his peak years - and no one much under fifty will have experienced Coltrane live. Consequently, the recordings left by these prime movers is the closest most of us can ever get to them. His stress, therefore, is on those recordings, with enlightening reference to the circumstances surrounding them.

Mathieson says that the last roughly comparable venture he's aware of was the Jazz Masters series originally published by Macmillan in the mid-60s. His aim, he adds, was to make this volume accessible to readers with no technical knowledge of music. Still, I doubt that Giant Steps would serve as a good introduction to jazz for someone who hasn't already listened carefully to lots of it.

Salted throughout are aptly chosen quotes from other jazz writers. But I found many of the author's own observations on these players, their recordings and their legacies especially thought-provoking.

For example: "As a musical process, bebop is a curious mixture of macho display and infinitely subtle musicality, of rote playing (all players have their melodic cliches, their little phrases which will always work when run over a particular given sequence of chord changes) and inspirational improvisation."

And elsewhere: "The environment which forged bebop was a tough one, but it meant that the music evolved as a meritocracy rather than a closed shop. That element of competitive muscle-flexing probably played its part in determining both the strengths and weaknesses of the emerging form, with its emphasis on virtuoso soloing, advanced harmonic understanding and crackling tempos, and its underlying structural paucity."

Noting that unlike Miles or Mingus, whose compositions tended to evolve over the years, Mathieson observes that Monk kept the form of his tunes pretty much intact. Then he quotes Charlie Rouse stressing that Monk "...wanted you to play the melody just the way he created it, but with the chords, he wanted you to know them, but he didn't want to hear you just play them in that way, he wanted to hear you experiment with them, not be confined by them."

Later in his chapter on Thelonious, the author observes, "As many musicians have discovered to their cost, the kind of harmonic fudging which can carry a player through a bop structure without a precise knowledge of the underlying harmonies does not work with Monk's music, where it is not only essential to know the melody and the harmony intimately but also comprehend fully the way in which they relate to each other and to the essential rhythmic scheme which fits them."

As I read, I jotted down references to numerous recordings I've never heard but would like to (for example, a late-40s aircheck that included Navarro, Parker and Lennie Tristano, four 1949 Navarro sides pairing him with Sonny Stitt - who was, Mathieson reports, Miles' original first choice on alto for his "Birth of the Cool" nonet! - and a 1963 Powell session for Reprise actually supervised by Ellington) and to others that no one will likely ever get a chance to hear (e.g. an abortive 1953 studio date for Norman Granz that had Parker playing Gil Evans arrangements; Dizzy making a few gigs with the Kenton band).

Mathieson envisions Giant Steps as the first in a series of similar studies. The next, he says, will be entitled Cookin': Hard Bop and Soul Jazz and focus on such figures as Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Cannonball Adderley, Booker Ervin, Elmo Hope, Tina Brooks and Gigi Gryce.

Except for a puzzling reference to "Senator Adam Powell" and an assertion that Miles' "Budo" is a contrafact of Bud Powell's "Hallucinations" (wait, aren't they the same tune, as the author himself indicates elsewhere?), I have no quibbles concerning factual statements, artistic judgment or style.

I hope that the next edition of Giant Steps boasts a far more attractive cover plus an index (crucial for those who'll use this book as a reference). And since readers will doubtless want to know something about Kenny Mathieson himself, how about a bio page?

This volume is the first of a sequence of two in-between parts of Volume Two. Neither part constitutes the doctrinal center of God, encountered and conceived as a system of Christian Theology. Fundamentally the author speaks in Chapters 12-14 (in the whole series) of Anthropology and Theology creation and Anthropology, definition of sin, and the power of sin. This volume also lays the foundation for the theology of sin to be covered in Volume Two: part IV. The format of the text is designed with a clear cross reference between the texts and volumes to come. The use of paragraph numbers and references of those numbers throughout these volumes gives an ease to forward and backward referencing which gives ease to reading a fairly complex book. In order to appreciate the total contemporary Catholic Systematic Theology it is necessary to read Volume One, Volume Two, parts 1, 2, 3, 4a, 4b, 5, and Volume Three. Part 5 and Volume 3 are in publication. Bibliography, subject, Scripture, and name index is included. It has been used as a college text for systematic theology classes.

If the complete Institutes is imposing in its size to you, get this one. It is the first third of Calvin's entire Institutes, and focuses specifically on God and His self-revelation and disclosure to man.

'It is true, indeed, that if with sedate and quiet minds we were disposed to learn, the issue would at length manifest itself, that the counsel of God was in accordance with the highest reason. We must use modesty, not as it would be compelling God to render an account, but so revering His hidden judgments as to account His will the best of all reasons. In the same way, when the tumultuous aspect of human affairs unfits us for judging, we should still hold that God, in the pure light of His justice and wisdom, keeps all these commotions in due subordination, and conducts them to their proper ends.' Book 1:17:1

A fast-reading, short paperback which teaches children about God as Creator while sharing some fun science facts. The illustrations are large and attention-getting for the children. Readers learn how a hang glider is like a flying squirrel, and how a helicopter moves like a hummingbird. I frequently use this book as a gift , as well as reading it to my own children.

With his uniquely profound insights, Pope John Paul II dives into the first part of the Creed in this collection of Wednesday Audiences. As with so many of his writings, the work reflects not only deep knowledge, but a deep spirituality. He speaks of each Persons of the Trinity not as mere intellectual ideas, but as truly living Persons who have a role in our lives.

This is not necessarily a work for beginners, but it is something that can benefit all Catholics who desire a deeper knowledge of the Faith.

Jointly published by Oak Knoll Press and The British Library, Great Natural History Books And Their Creators by Ray Desmond (formerly Chief Librarian at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Deputy Keeper of the Indian office Library), is an absorbing look at the creation of trailblazing natural history references, many of which required patrons to fund the intricate effort of gathering and presenting information with true scientific accuracy. From Besler's "Hortus Eystettensis" to Audubon's "Birds of America" and Thornton's "Temple of Flora," the process behind the creation of great works is examined closely with unique revelations about the lives of those who dedicated themselves to understanding more about the natural world. A work which is as beautifully illustrated at it is historically informative, Great Natural History Books And Their Creators is an ideal selection choice for Library Memorial Fund acquisitions.

Four important things in my life are all combined in this one book. First is God and the Living Word - the Bible. Second are the Southwest skies - our skies here, and the ones in this book - are so inspirational! I feel God close to me when I view His handiwork. Third, Art! I am not an artist, but I love and appreciate art and the inspirational "sayings" of artists. Fourth, the photographs are breathtaking! I recall that someone once said, "A picture speaks a thousand words". All of these are included in this book - and this book is one that I love and enjoy giving to family and friends. How can anyone not believe in God when they view the sky or any of God's handiwork?

Until I read Charlie's book, I had always thought that being angry with God was just about as close to a sin as you could get, but "Honest to God" showed me that it's really OK to be angry with God sometimes... but you have to do something about it, which is really where Charlie's book comes in handy. His views on wrestling with God are extremely helpful and insightful for anyone who is struggling with anger at God, asking "Why me, God?", or maybe "Have you forgotten me, God?", and even for people who have everything together! I read his book at a time in my life when things were going just great, and I still gained a lot from what I read. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has a desire to deepen their relationship with God, angry or not!