John Waters Books

I agree 100% with the previous reviewer's statement that this book is "more like a promotional souvenir than an art book"... but I really can't say something bad about the work the people who put this together did, as I think this is an outstanding effort to show what John Waters is all about, not only as an artist but as the public character he has created for himself. As a fan of the man's work, all forms of it (film, writing and art -I know film and writing ARE art, but you know what I mean), this was a dream come true: getting to see actual images of everything I've been reading about for years -his toy hook, Lady Zorro, books and magazines from his collection and other stuff.
This is probably not the best book devoted to an individual artist, but one of the best tributes I've seen devoted to a cult figure. And once you think about it, Waters' art can only be fully appreciated placing it within the cultural landscape the book provides. Bottom line is, this a beautiful book about a really neat guy. If you like him, don't think twice: you'll love this book. If you only care about him as an artist, get this AND Director's Cut.

I'm a big fan of Waters' ongoing adventures in the highfalutin art world, so of course I went to his great spring 2004 show at the New Museum in NYC, which this book documents. I'm disappointed to say that it really doesn't do the show much justice and, in fact, is more like a promotional souvenir than an art book. Knowing how Waters abhors pretension, this is probably on purpose, but I can't say the book's designers have done his work any favors. The biggest problem is one of scale: an effort to show individual works in their entirety on the page means everything is reproduced way too small and the taken-off-the-TV effect is all but lost. And one work, "Slade 16", is cut off mid-image and continued on the next page, which I thought especially unexcusable--even Warhol wouldn't put up with that. The book's design has little of the the elegance or wit of Waters' earlier "Director's Cut". Everything about that book was intriguing, including how it smelled; the paper was so heavily varnished that it took on an amusing "Odorama" quality of its own. And the reproductions were impeccable. "Change of Life" is packed with "bonus" material, including one startling image: a b&w pic of a villianous Cyril Richard in full makeup as Captain Hook that, as far as I'm concerned, sums up Waters' entire oeuvre (crime IS beauty--check out that pre-Divine eye makeup!). But the book really is kind of a shambles. The exhibit in part was sponsored by Fine Line Features and, whenever I look for the book at Borders, it's in the Film stacks, not Art or Photography, which I guess tells the whole story. Whatever the case, Waters is the real deal and I now enjoy his photography even more than his movies. Interesting side note: in "Director's Cut", Waters' pledged that he would never let the world see "Eat Your Makeup", one of his earliest movies. The exhibit and this book heavily feature it. I wonder what changed. Change of life?

Published first in 1998 in England and reprinted and published by Tetra Press in 2002, Dawes talks about all the newest pond gadgets except the new bead filtration. Bead filters are so new and so very expensive that normally the backyard pond owner need not be concerned with them unless the pond is a koi pond used for raising show quality koi. Dawes offers up good pond set up ideas, different styles of ponds, where to site a pond and how to design one. He talks about the pros and cons of lined ponds, concrete and performed ponds.

Fish and feeding

Fish, from food and feeding to breeding and health management are discussed along with the differences between Koi and goldfish. He advocates fish feeding, but cautiously. I have some problems with goldfish feeding, so do not agree with the book when it comes to fish feeding. Other fish, temperate, cold water and tropical are looked at by Dawes. . He shows pictures of sick fish and even microscopic photos of parasites. He gives the fish owner a great way to diagnose sick fish.

Pond plants

Pond plants are discussed at length, from the importance of them to how they reproduce and how to propagate them. He talks about planting your pond, how to keep your plants healthy. Shallow water marginals are differentiated from deep water marginals, surface plants from floating plants from submerged plants or oxygenators.

Water quality and pond maintenance

In his final chapters he discusses water quality and how to manage it. He also talks about winter, spring, summer and fall maintenance.

Questions/answers and sidebars

During each chapter, he answers specific questions about the subject covered in that chapter. He also has sidebars throughout the chapters covering advantages and disadvantages of his ideas. These sidebars alone are worth the cost of the book.

I do disagree with Dawes on his building instructions. I have always suggested and built all ponds at least 4" above the surrounding grade so run off from roofs, roads and nearby lawns could not get in the pond water. His directions from the performed pond to the liner pond involve making sure the ground is level all round before installing rocks. This makes the pond entirely too difficult to build and takes much too long. If the pond is built up, the liner is folded over the first course of rocks and a second course is placed on top, no leveling is necessary and no run off can happen.

I really like his ideas about using a bog garden as a filter, but do not like the idea of making shelves in the pond. If shelves are built, more surface is exposed to the sun and algae are more likely to grow.

Dawe's book has pictures of ponds that will make you want one by next week. His photos will give you great ideas about your own pond design.

It is obviously a book written by someone who has extensive knowledge of ponds, fish, aquatic plants and pond mananagement.

With all Dawes' pictures, illustrations, specific advantages/disadvantages of each method, his book certainly is worthy of being in every pond owner's library.

I give it four fish

out of a possible five, only because I disagree with his building methods. You may prefer building this way.

This would make a great gift for the pond owner in your life.

this book was very useful for giving me tips regarding how to stock a pond with fish and keep the water healthy and clean.

I have seen plenty of movies about the Civil War.

I have visited museums and old plantation houses that document the history of American slavery.

I have read fictional books like Uncle Tom's Cabin, which helpfully illuminate the nature of slavery in the mid-1800's.

But the book Prayin' to Be Set Free (2002, edited by Andrew Waters) helps illuminate American slavery better than anything else I have come across. Each chapter is like sitting down with an elderly black man or woman and hearing them tell about slavery, the Civil War, and life after emancipation.

In the 1930's, during the Great Depression, President Roosevelt commissioned out-of-work authors to start interviewing elderly African-Americans who had once been slaves. Prayin' to Be Set Free is part of this oral history of slavery that was preserved through the valiant efforts of these authors. Each chapter tells a story; the intriguing part is that the former slave is the story-teller!

The first chapter contains the memories of James Lucas, approximately 105 years old when interviewed in Natchez, Mississippi. As his recollections progress, he discloses the fact that he, at one point, actually served on the plantation of confederate president Jefferson Davis!

Our modern horror at the institution is often justified by the sad stories of these men and women. And yet, one quickly discovers that it is a mistake to demonize all slave-owners in the same way. A wide spectrum of humanity is described within these pages.

Some of the men and women look back fondly upon their former slavery. They speak forthrightly about the love they had for their masters. They express gratitude for the way they were treated, and still bear grudges against Lincoln for interfering in their business!

Other men and women give horrific accounts that cause the reader to shudder at the evil oppression of slaves. They describe the beatings and the unjust treatment they received. Yet, even here, when describing the Ku Klux Klan, some of the men and women pin the blame on the "bad" slaves for provoking the lynchings that terrorized the African-American community.

Because these stories are told in the first person and in the words of each slave, the language is politically incorrect. The book is also hard to read because the editor has chosen to maintain the dialect, often misspelling words and writing down the account according to the sounds of each word. This practice adds further authenticity to the stories, but it does not help the reader cover the material quickly.

Reading this book is like sitting down with a group of former slaves and hearing their stories. The testimonies are fascinating. I believe that one cannot fully understand the Civil War or slavery's blight on American history without reading these accounts. Pick up Prayin' to Be Set Free and then thank God that he answered.

This is one of the best of these collections of the WPA slave narratives for laymen. The ex-slaves form Mississippi offer a lot of folk wisdom regarding "way it was" and Andrew Waters correctly connects their stories to the lyrics of Mississippi's legendary blues artists.

We also get some interesting and important information of the little known uprising of Mississippi Whites to end Reconstruction in the 1870s, as well of some memories of the Black major players of that period. That makes it a historians' delight.

This makes your mouth water for the unedited versions of the Mississippi narratives which are available along with the complete colelction on the WPA Slave Narratives website. Look and learn.

For the novice, such as myself, this is a good book to get you started on exploring the canoeing areas of New York. They review the area, the water, and the wildlife. It is not an exhaustive list and many areas we found were seasonal, but that wasn't mentioned in the book. I hope they write another updated and more exhaustive review in the future.

An immense compendium of the pristine paddling spots left in New York State. The authors looked for lakes with one goal in mind: find places where the water has not been spoiled by development, pollution, or powerboats. Unquestionably, they succeeded. The book describes over 100 trips across the state, with an expectedly high concentration in the Adirondack Mountains. For each trip, the authors describe launch locations, scenery, notable areas on the lake, and any interesting wildlife seen during their paddle. Many of the lakes are a bit small for a full day trip, but if one only has a few hours to paddle, these are certainly places to go. The authors did a good job of including sites from across the entire state, and tried to include a number of lakes near New York City. Unfortunately, the authors almost ignored flat river paddling, but a few calm rivers and streams did make their way into the book. Overall, if you are a New Yorker who loves getting away from it all, this is one book to have.

used this book for my water resources engineering class in college. Now, its in my reference shelve at work.

This book is a good reference for those who works on erosion and sediment control. Needs more information concerning the type of construction necessary for erosion control, because this book touches this subject faintly. I rate it 4 stars because all other information is covered extensively and clear. My interest in this book was for erosion control, but when I tried to look for the information, I was dissapointed. But comparing this book to other similar references, this is the best you can ever find.

A 519 page book of the American musical theatre, full of personal observation and the prevailing critical consensus. This is easy reading, sometimes spending 4 or 5 pages on a single musical, with gossip about the cast or a recent television appearance. Abe Laufe had an old-fashioned-gentlemen prose style that is endearing and he clearly loved his work. The book begins with the early hits of 1884 and concludes with the arrival of 'A Chorus Line'. The last pages of this edition has an extensive list of hit musicals, replete with song-titles and original cast members.

This book covers a wide range of topics in only a few pages. In fact it is pretty good for the beginner, and perfectly suitable for the advanced aquarist. You can learn how to get started and maintain your aquarium, as well as the basics about fish physiological mechanisms. And just when I was thinking this was just another first-step manual, I found a magnificent perspective of fish diseases, with helpful pictures, and detailed data on how to prevent, diagnose and cure a wide range of freshwater and saltwater fish diseases. But that's not all... In the end, I was quite amazed to find an appendix with lots of useful checklists and quarantine procedures in Fish Health Management. So, if you really care for your fish health, this book is a very good choice!

When most Americans think of Indians, they think of the Sioux on the Great Plains, the Navajo of the Southwest, but almost never the many tribes that still live east of the Mississippi River. This thoughtful book tells the stories of Indians as diverse as tye Penobscots of Maine, the Iroquois of New York, the Ho-Chunk and Chippewa of Wisconsin, the Pamunkeys of Virginia, the Cherokees and Lumbees of North Carolina, the Creeks of Alabama, and the Houmas and Chitimachas of Louisiana. Through history, profiles, and photographic portraits by Carolyn DeMeritt, Gaillard tells the stories of those who, despite disease, removal, poverty, and oppression have managed to remain and at times even thrive in the lands of their ancestors. This book should be in every county, public, and high school library east of the Mississippi, and probably west of the river too.

I bought this book for a college engineering course. Not being an engineering major, I thought it would be difficult to follow and get through. To the contrary, the book is a very engaging read and especially informative. This book covers subjects pertaining to everyone's daily life. It explains how sewer and septic systems work, how drinking water is processed, how lakes become meadows and why what you put on your lawn may end up in your drinking glass. A vital resource for those interested in studying environmental pollution sources, testing methods and treatments. A fascinating book for anyone!

John Kimantas had enough research and insight to break up the West Coast region of Canada into a three volume set (known as the 'Wild Coast Series') and offer detail never before seen of one of the finest kayak destinations in the world. With the almost-overnight success this series, I was eager for the chance to check out his next venture - the BC Atlas series that accompany the books.

Note: Perhaps as a testament to their popularity, both the books and atlases have been difficult items to keep in stock. It would ultimately keep me waiting for almost six weeks to obtain my Atlas.

I purchased Volume II which covers the entire West coast of Vancouver Island. The quality of the production is top notch: 51 water-repellent laminate pages including a 'splash proof' outer book-cover definitely made me feel like I received my money's worth (I paid $26.00 at Amazon, compared to the List price of $40.00). Each page is in full and rich color with photos included of noteworthy sites and locations. As described, the maps offer useful information specific to kayakers that you would not normally find on any chart - campsites, anchorages, launches, wildlife viewing/nesting areas, trails, ruins, intertidal areas, navigation markers and call-in points. In addition, these maps are littered with interesting tidbits, such as 'exceptional sand island; may be surf', 'recommended kayaking' areas, and 'potentially dangerous turbulence off the Point', etc. Information you would hope to have on hand before planning your visit the area. It would have been nice if he elaborated more detail with regards to First Nation Heritage sites - such as known fish traps, clam beds, middens and such.

My biggest issue with this product is the scale - 1:100,000 when compared to the Canadian Hydrographic Charts of 1:40,000. Granted, trying to keep in scale with the Hydro-charts would almost triple the size of the atlas (as well as the cost). The Hydrographic charts do offer more lush topographical detail and professional appearance. I compare it to the DeLorme Atlas & Gazetteer Series.... great resource, but when you are at the trailhead, you are better served with a good old topomap.

That said, I think Kimantas does every serious kayaker a service by offering a powerful set of resources for everyone to use. His work alone, renders most other guide publications of the same area obsolete. These are excellent tools for planning your next trip and I am pleased to have access to them. I would consider using a BC atlas for shorter trips. But for the extended excursions, you still cannot go wrong with a good old Hydrographic Chart.