Robin Williams Books

I have read this book since I was 4 years old and it has been my favorite book ever since!!! I have enjoyed the wacky and colorful illustrations and the the unique style this book was written in. I also found this book to be extremely funny in the dialogues of each character. Everyone would enjoy the humor and the originality of this book, that is an instant treat to the young and old.

I remember when i was about 7 my mom brought me home this book , i flipped throught the pages and loved the zany, colorful illustrations, i read it over and over and listened to the tape every night when i went to bed until the tape wore out.even though i am older now, i am looking foreward to reading this book again and keeping it for when i may have kids of my own. I think that this is a great book for any little kid to have and listen to, or even big kids (me), the story takes you through a strange and hillarious world, that is acompanied by ammusing illustrations. it is a great book for kids to read and listen to that will be sure to make them laugh. Definitly not your everyday childrens story, but one that is sure to be a instant favorite.

As a first introduction to the writings and teachings of St. Theophan this book is excellent.

It covers not only the main events in St. Theophan's life, but also interesting details of his form of monkhood, of his vast correspondence, and a general presentation of his writings concluding with a sound study of The Way of Salvation, his main book.

Those who want to study St. Theophan's writings further will have many thousands of pages to enjoy!

Theophane's writings of full of piercing insights into the human condition and the path to union with God. Theophane is a guide along the Bhakti path, pointing out it's pitfalls and the essentials needed for success. I have read this book over and over again and each new reading I glean many new insigts.

this was a gem I found among many trashy books in a 2nd hand book exchange. It is a compassionate story about a gay man in the early 19th century, a fascinating study --with compelling story thrown in as hook and bait--of gay sensibilities as imagined in an earlier epoch. the cruelty along with pervasiveness of closeted homosexual behavior in English public schools and in Australian female-deprived society....as imagined and researched by a novelist of extraordinary sensibility and intelligence.

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: "The bizarre and licentious life of James Steede, a young aronet, unfolds within a stunning portrayal of Victorian society and among a group of colorful and vivid characters, moving from Public School and great estates in England to lurid bars and brothels of Mexico's West Coast, Australia's rugged gold fields and, finally, to Sessions Court at Westminster. It is when James Steede meets another man who totally and uncannily resembles him that the story takes a fantastic and dramatic turn which moves with terror and surprise to an unforgettable climax. what is the "link"? What is the dark mystery behind this sinister relationship between two men whose identities are exchanged and whose fate and fortune depend upon the exchange? The Link is a spell-binding novel and a raw, bold revelation of the intricacies and strange variations of human relationships."

This is a True story of tempestuous, incestuous Crime. Back in 1907, Belgian emigrant Leo Hendrik Baekeland created an early plastic he named Bakelite, the make-almost-anything proto-plastic which still brings joy to the hearts of Martha Stewart's flock and Diasporate Ebayers everywhere.

Bakelite made Baekeland very, very rich - such that his heirs were very, very idly rich. In 1972, one of the Bakelite babies' babies' baby murdered his mummy (a mere Baekeland by marriage.)

Authors Robins and Aronson stay in the background here, letting the principals, via correspondence and interviews, speak for themselves. Their torrid tale melds back and forth chronologically, and hither and yon geographically with the globetrotting High Society set, with an ironic only-in-true-life end: Death by Plastic. Sumptuous Decadence!
Reviewed by TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

To be fair about it, I should say that I have not read a lot of true stories of bloodshed and sleaze and incest among the very-very rich, but this is the best that I have ever read. It is very well-written and superbly researched, and paints as full a picture of the glamorous and twisted life of the Baekeland family as one could possibly have hoped for. Grandpa invented the first really useful plastic, and his heirs proceeded to slide into a life of riches, luxury, and moral decay. I liked this book so much that I made a point of visiting the town in Catalunya where much of it takes place. This is truly a poignant and powerful narrative, one that deserves to be reprinted for many years to come.

Stella Landry is one of the most orginal and moving characters I've met in many years of reading. Her story, of a lonely young woman trying to make a new life for herself after a sordid past, is told in an absorbing, first person style that makes the reader feel each event with intense emotion. Ms McCorquodale is a truly gifted writer.

This is one of the best books I've ever read. The author takes you right into the heart and soul of Stella Landry. She truely makes the reader feel the full range of emotions. It was hard to put the book down, and I found myself crying for Stella, and unable to sleep. I would highly reccomend this book to all women, with or without a past.

My mom bought this one for me when I was about eight years old. I'm nineteen now and I still love it. :) The pictures are exquisite... awesome illustrations bring Shakespeare to life so much it will be familiar to even little kids years later. These pictures are really buried deep in my memory and I'm glad. :)

I checked this book out of the library...hoping the beautiful pictures would captivate my 3 and 5yr old and they would then listen to Shakespeare. It WORKED!!! So I knew it was worth purchasing. The book contains only small selections from Shakespeare's work...but a great way to introduce your child to the beauty of his words. Wonderful Illustrations!!!

Don't let the title fool you, "Essential Business Websites", the latest offering from WebPointers, isn't just for those cubicle dwelling business types. This book is crammed with useful information on how to conduct the business of your life on the internet. Always informative yet never condescending, "Essential Business Websites" will lead you to the best places to find and mail e-cards, take you through the Library of Congress, give you alternatives to bankruptcy, explore the spirituality of business, check out the latest web technology, learn how to build a Rube Goldberg machine, and many more exciting places. WebPointers has done all the legwork for you and put it all together in one fabulous resource. And just when I thought it couldn't get any cooler, I downloaded the e-book. With a minimal amount of time and effort, the entire book is there on you computer screen with active hyperlinks. Surfing with WebPointers couldn't be any easier. So if you're a CEO (not me), or a stay at home mom with an MBA (me) or somewhere in between (everyone else), there's something useful in this book for you.

Clear, concise and chock-full of useful information, this book belongs on the reference shelf of every cyber-businessperson. All websites included feature a full description and are organized into major headings such as "Communication", "Entrepreneurs," "Financial Planning," "Management," and more. The bonus e-book with active hyperlinks is like getting two books for the price of one! I recommend this book highly to everyone doing business on the web.

I used to buy art books only from bargain shelves and tables, sometimes from bookstores that were only selling bargain books. Amazon.com has both varieties of books, and it would be unfair for me to review one book when I really think you should buy the other (bargain) variety. There should not be much confusion between two 304 page books with the title WILLIAM BLAKE when the books are actually the same, but the contents are of such variety, listing Peter Ackroyd, Marilyn Butler, Robin Hamlyn, and Michael Phillips as authors of the exhibition guide for the exhibition at Tate Britain, London, 9 November 2000 - 11 February 2001, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 29 March - 24 June 2001, so it might be possible for someone who was looking to see if the listing in two places was identical to discover differences in the information given, though I believe both books are published in 2001 by Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated, New York (Printed and bound in Great Britain).

If you just want pictures, some of which seem quite large, this book has 250 illustrations, including 240 plates in full color. If you like descriptions of pictures, you might find yourself jumping around in the book. A large picture on page 10 is labeled: `Opposite: `Newton' 1795/c. 1805 (no. 249, detail) on page 11. After the Index on pages 296-298 is a Checklist of Works Exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on pages 299-304 provide a variety of numbers, including a catalogue number in brackets as follows:

129 [249] Newton 1795/c. 1805 Color print finished in pen and ink and watercolor 46 x 60 (18 1/8 x 23 5/8) on paper approx. 54.5 x 76 (21 1/2 x 30) Tate; presented by W. Graham Robertson 1939

The full picture is shown on page 213 with a tiny number 249 in the corner by the top margin and a description on page 212 that includes more information than above about "Signed `1795 WB inv [in monogram]' and the inscription. It is possible that the detail page 10 is about full size, showing the lower 30 cm. of a picture that is 46 cm. tall. Catalogue number 248, Sketch for Newton c. 1795 described on page 212 as being on a paper slightly smaller than standard typing paper, might not appear in this book at all. Turning back the page from 212 to pages 210-211 reveals a gigantic crawling Nebuchadnezzar 1795/c. 1805 (no. 247, detail) which is a 30 x 46 cm. (almost 12 inch by 18 inch) enlargement of less than half of a picture that was even larger 44.6 x 62 (17 5/8 x 24 3/8) originally. Pages 210-211 is almost lifesize, with a nose 2 inches long and 5 inches from the bottom of Nebuchadnezzar's lower lip to the part in his hair just above his forehead.

It is difficult to tell how many numbered pictures are not in this book. The final catalogue number 303 described as `Jerusalem. The Emanation of the Giant Albion 1804 - c. 1820' on page 282 is a general reference used to cover paintings of Jerusalem plate 97 (detail) (p. 283), Plate 1 (p. 284), Plate 2 (p. 285), Plates 3, 4, 9, and 11 (p. 287), Plate 12, Plate 26 (p. 289), Plates 51, 69, 70, 84 (p. 291), Plates 92, 97, 99 (p. 293), and pages describing these 15 plates describe 7 plates from Jerusalem that are not shown.

People who are interested in reading interpretations of Blake's works will find a sponsor's forward by Stephen Deuchar on page 7, Acknowledgements and Preface by Robin Hamlyn, Christine Riding and Elizabeth Barker on pages 8-9, `William Blake: The Man' by Peter Ackroyd on pages 11-13, `Blake in His Time' by Marilyn Butler on pages 15-25, a Chronology on pages 26-28 and initials of 10 individuals indicating other authorship on page 29.

`One of the Gothic Artists' on pages 32-97 describes items up to catalogue number 96, `The Queen of Heaven in Glory.' `The Furnace of Lambeth's Vale' on pages 100-171 starts with a description of Blake's Printmaking Studio and various techniques, including a detail on page 111 shown more than 5 times the original size of the small print no. 107 There is No Natural Religion 1788/1795 Copy L shown on page 110. There is in this part a political section called "Lambeth and the Terror" on pages 152-167 which mention items of `Rex vs. Blake' catalogue numbers 208 through 210, items that are not shown. Perhaps we learn more by merely seeing no. 212, The Accusers c. 1804 Copy E on page 167, "A Scene in the Last Judgment."

Pictures are generally clear enough for the lettering by William Blake to be legible, where it is not too small, but pages have been selected without regard to the continuity of the original text. For example, Blake's comments on Swedenborg in his book THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL, Catalogue no. 127, pages 132-135, include Plate 21 and Plate 24 but not the pages between to and from which the thoughts carry over.

`Chambers of the Imagination' on pages 174-257 includes items numbered from 219 to 297 The Ancient of Days 1824? `Many Formidable Works' on pages 258-293 concludes with many plates from a few of Blake's works. No. 298 Plate 42 `The Tyger' on page 269 (upper left) is lightly colored, "Shown in profile beneath the pale blue bark of a tree trunk," (p. 268) while no. 163 Plate 42 Copy G c. 1793-1794 on page 155 shows a tree and tyger with much darker colors.

Anyone who plans to enjoy looking at the pictures more than anything else could start with this book. People who seriously study WILLIAM BLAKE must have their own reasons. Because his writings cover so much, most people could gain some knowledge of bits and pieces from a work like this.

The works of Blake are represented here on wonderful gloss paper with large images to fully appreciate the artistic genius of William Blake. This book is also intersperesed with essays that explain his life, his writing, and his art. through his various images you can see his complex and troubled life come into view. A must have for anyone who loves Blake and Extremely helpful for anyone who wants to know him and his work.

I am surprised not to find any reviews of Natalie Robins' "Alien Ink," not only because it was an excellent study of the crossroads of literature and politics when it was published in 1992, but even more so because the issue it then raised has returned, big time, since September 2001

Setting aside the serious issues of disloyalty and tyranny, "Alien Ink" is a superbly funny, often hilarious book. Robins used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the files of over a hundred writers.

I laughed out loud at the dumb clucks who investigated the subversive threat of Joyce Kilmer, a woman (as the FBI thought) who had then been dead for 23 years.

You can't make this stuff up.

Of course, there was a serious side to all this. Not of a serious threat to the nation. Nothing could be funnier than the COINTELPRO operation designed by the Federal Bureau of Morons to create dissention among American Communists.

If the Communists had not existed, the FBI would have had to invent them, which, in a sense, it did.

J. Edgar Hoover went to his grave knowing nothing about Communism, but he knew what he didn't like: furriners, homosexuals (lot of transference there), blacks, women, Jews, poets, thinkers, adulterers.

Being both a moral and a physical coward, he greedily collected information (almost all of it wrong, the files show) about writers, but he was too afraid to do anything to them. Writers under the cloudy microscope of the bureau were not disappeared into concentration camps. At worst, most of the time, even in the McCarthy era, they had trouble getting passports or were harassed in childish ways.

Hoover was scared of them because they were smarter than he was and they had the means and access to publicity to fight back. Had Robins sought the files of more obscure Americans -- high school teachers, for example -- the story would be less funny and more grim.

Still, malevolent creep that he was, Hoover did writers as much damage as he dared. The files collected are not only of leftists. You did not need to be denounced by some perverted Catholic bishop to get into the FBI's index prohibitorum. You did not even need to be alive. Hoover kept files on his friends, too.

Of course, being a friend and (like professional libeler George Sokolsky) an agent of Hoover's was no easy job. She could be a real bitch.

All subsequent directors of the FBI -- who have all been tall -- have been grateful for the long reign of the twisted little freak. Every stupid trick the bureau undertook for half a century can be explained away now as part of the regrettable failings of a weird psychotic who somehow inveigled himself into a position of power.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. The FBI didn't behave the way it did and does because of Hoover but because all secret political police must behave that way. Although Robins was hesitantly hopeful of better behavior -- especially if the FBI were to be given a legal charter to operate under, which has never happened -- secret political police forces cannot ever change.

One reason is that men of intelligence and decency cannot be recruited. As Robins' selections from their reports make blindingly clear, FBI special agents were uneducated hicks with stunted morals. There is no reason to think that has changed in the past 15 years.

We really didn't need an FBI for the longest time. The only subversives who were killing people were the Ku Klux Klan, and Hoover left the Klan alone as long as it disposed of the bodies discreetly.

Now we have within our borders subversives who really are killing Americans, by the thousands, and we could use a secret intelligence force to root them out and destroy them. Unfortunately, as the daily newspapers show, the FBI is just as bad at chasing real enemies as imaginary ones.

"Alien Ink" is a book to be savored on many levels.

I was able to positively identify several pieces in my collection using this very compact but useful book. I consider it a must for any serious collector.