Publications and Media Books

The "Blank Star" review at the bottom is actually just a snipet of self promotion from the book's author Rob Howard. It's strange that he does this because it drags down the average rating which could affect sales. I suppose that since this book is out of print it doesn't matter, but anyway, great book, one complaint: Some of the tools that Howard recommends are no longer manufactured and it would be nice to get some existing alternatives.

This book is jam packed with valuable information for not just painters who work in gouache, but all painters. If you only have room or money for just a few more books, make sure that this is one of them. It is excellent, I have worked in illustration and and have painted in watercolors for 24 years. Many gouache techniques and properties, for some reason, are not commonly taught. Some of the working knowledge in here is the type that one only learns either on the job, or as an assistant/apprentice. The author has been very generous to be so informative while writing this book. Definitely not your average "how to" book!!

This is one of the beswt books i have in my collection. I have studied arts in Holland. I like gouache very much. (www.loekweijts.nl) It's a pitty however Holbein gouache is not available in the Netherlands. Falling in love on the mighty gouache. Amazed myself with the results. A MUST to have.

This is almost the only book you'll need to get started with gouache. As the medium of such outstanding artists as the late Bob Peak and industrial design master Syd Mead, gouache has so many possibilities IF you can learn how to use it and this book will tell you exactly how to get started! Be sure to do the exercises, get some decent sable brushes, and use one of the quality gouaches listed. Winsor Newton is pricey but Holbein's Acryla gouache is incredible once you figure out their color names (not standard like W&N or Holbeins standard gouache). His basic color palletes are a great start & his recommendation of the Quiller color wheel is right on. There is a new Quiller wheel out but the one in the book will not lead you astray. Study(!) the sections on color and color mixing and you will soon have a leg up on every other "beginner" and start seeing "what" makes some art professional as opposed to "straight out of the tube" amateur attempts. This book is great and I recommend it highly to anyone who wants to paint in gouache.

This book is an excellent introduction to the best techniques for painting in gouache, also known as opaque watercolor. Gouache has been a standard medium for illustrators for generations, yet it is not often taught in American art schools. It also has been used by fine artists for centuries. Gouache is remarkably easy to use, has low toxicity and is easy to clean up. Considering all that, it is amzing how little information about is available for professional artists.

Howard's book goes a long way toward correcting the problem. He explains how to select the right type of paint for your project, reviews several different brands of paint, and gives sound advice on color mixing. Even if you don't want to use opaque watercolor, the book is worth buying just for Howard's chapter on "Color Theories That Don't Work."

"Re/Search 8/9: J G Ballard", which dates from 1984, is the single best book that's been published on Ballard. This latest offering from Re/Search brings us right up to date, containing a variety of interviews and discussions with the author taken over the period 1983 to 2004. There's lots here on Ballard's usual themes - psychopathology, death of affect, and so on. But the guts of the book lies in the three lengthy interviews in 2003 and 2004, in the course of which Ballard also visits such contemporary issues as 9-11, neo-cons, globalization, the end of the 'Age of Reason', and terrorism. As a counterpoint, there's a series of more informal, and often amusing, discussions that the Re/Search people have had with Ballard over the years they've been associated with him.

Whilst the interviews don't quite reach the heights of those in "Re/Search 8/9: J. G. Ballard", it's a worthy addition to Re/Search's portfolio of books by or about J.G.B., and a great companion to "J. G. Ballard: Quotes".

like a chisel blow to marble, each interview within the pages of "jg ballards: conversations" reveals the fascinating form that is the mind of one of contemporary fictions most innovative writers. 'conversations' is a collection of, funnily enough, conversations with the science fiction author, along with contributions from friends, colleagues and assorted associates, rounding the man and provocative thinker into one of the most astute in literature.
especially illuminating is an interview with david pringle, the editor of the magazine 'ambit' who has worked with ballard for more than 30 years.
if you are already aware of ballard's sensibility and vision then this compendium is a MUST. if you aren't already aware of ballard, then this compendium is DEFINITELY a must.

This excellent volume from the seminal underground SF publisher RE/Search is a definite must for anybody who is a fan of JG Ballard or of intelligent, thought-provoking discourse in general. Transcripts of conversations with various people with Ballard from over a couple of decades veer, often presciently, over subjects as diverse as internet sex, 9/11, the psychology of George W Bush and Tony Blair, the Stockholm syndrome/masochistic victim mentality methodology necessary to keep Western society running, psychopathology, violence, literature, and a thousand other subjects Ballard always has an original opinion on.

I found myself stopping frequently when reading this book to digest the information (overload) I had just ingested, and it certainly gave me food for thought and many interesting topics of conversation with my wife. Subsequent readings after the first reveal different layers of thought and theory after the initial culture shock of reading about things like religions regulating against a sane, peaceful society wears off. Buy this book. You won't regret it. Seriously. It certainly opened my eyes in a brilliant, innovative way to many latent strands and strains of faulty or faultline thought in modern life, and I'm definitely grateful for that.

Check out www.laurahird.com/newreview/jgballardinterview.html for more information on this and J.G. Ballard Quotes.

J.G. Ballard has spent most of his adult life quietly in a UK suburb. This collection of conversations is like being able to spend a surreal tea time with Ballard himself. Spanning discussions held in the early 1980s up through interviews held in the past few years, CONVERSATIONS is a compendium of Ballardian thought in the raw, composed freestyle like jazz music only between two people speaking.

The 20 year time span allows a good perspective on how political and social patterns predicted by Ballard in his writing during the 60s and 80s have come to pass as cultural reality. A Cronenberg Brundlefly will be quite at home on the wall overhearing these conversations.

The work that has earned J.G. Ballard his reputation as a prophet of the present runs the full gamut from the perverse to the catastrophic, from the utterly Surreal to the deeply personal. In J.G. Ballard Conversations, a new collection of interviews from RE/Search, Ballard exercises his trenchant observations live and uncensored. Running jags on the politics of paranoia are illumed with scientific/poetic clarity and a critical sense of the absurd on every page. But to say that Ballard is ahead of his time or a proponent of "science fictions" is misleading. The opposition that at one time may have existed between realistic fiction and "fantasy" or "science fiction" has been dismantled. Society's skewed relationship to realist fiction is explained by Ballard as the failing imaginations of contemporary men and women of letters to ascertain a world quickly leaving their ilk in the perfumed car exhaust.

"I think realist fiction has shot its bolt--it just doesn't describe the world we live in anymore. We're not living in a world where you can make a clear separation (as you could, say during the heyday of the 19th-century realist novel) between the external world of work, commerce, industry and a fixed set of values, and the internal world of hopes, dreams and ambitions. It's the other way around--the external world is a fantasy nowadays. It's a media landscape generated by advertising, and politics conducted as a branch of advertising.
There's an envelope of fantasy that is just pouring out of the air all the time, shaping all of our most ordinary perceptions... Fiction surrounds us--it's more than fiction, it's fantasy of a very peculiar kind that creates our environment. And to describe you've got to get away from realism. Yet the bourgeois novel survives and of course it's immensely popular--which is a bit of a problem."

Ballard's ability to lay open our present like a surgeon with a scalpel never fails, although his often satirical wit more closely resembles a butcher hacking us to pieces on his block. The real gravity in reading Ballard's musings lie in mapping his recurring obsessions, which even in the candor of casual conversation articulate the core themes of his novels. Ballard literally seems pathologically transfixed with the collective pathologies of modern society, how these pathologies manifest themselves and grow through individuals and in culture at large. His often fatalistic perspective on how individuals may or may not be able to cope with this transforming psychological landscape is a major concern throughout much of Ballard's thinking spanning years of acute insight:

On page 60, interviewed in 2003,
'I don't want to make an apocalyptic prophecy--I hardly ever do anything but make apocalyptic prophecies [!]--but I see elective psychopathy as the coming thing."

Or on page 136 discussing the politics of unconscious media manipulation embodied in figures like Ronald Reagan, in an interview from the 1980s,
"He clearly has the possibility within himself for people to impose their fantasies on him. That's the key thing... It's almost as if what one needs is a sort of reverse charisma now. Not a light that shines outwards, but the ability, like a black hole, to draw light inwards."

Or on page 100, from an interview in 2003 speaking of more direct modes of herding the masses:
"Psychopathic behavior seems to appears to immensely increase the possibilities of life--that's how whole nations can embrace, quite voluntarily, psychopathic acts. One could argue that both Nazi Germany and Stalin's Russia were elective psychopathies on a nationwide scale... There may be profound masochistic strains running through modern industrial man, that every now and then summon forth these demons like Hitler and Stalin who then do what is expected of them. It's a frightening prospect, but I think the Age of Reason is over."

And on page 166, in a 1991 interview with Lynne Fox, on the larger implications of the Surrealist legacy and whether creative insight into these cultural phenomena can serve as a satirical antidote or if it is never more than a harbinger of the end:
"It would be very difficult to make the Dali/Bunuel films made at the end of the 1920s today because the sight of people dragging dead donkeys through a drawing room would [seem to be] some sort of advertising stunt--a beer commercial. The external world is so strange, so full of fantasy, that you can't use the classic Surrealist approach."

The affinity Ballard feels with the Surrealists comes from the need to map a new mythology, one which recognizes the deeper strata of human consciousness skewered out on the pig poles of the everyday. "I'm trying to suggest that there is a new psychological order awaiting us, I'm as convinced of this as an ordinary individual as I am as an imaginative writer..." (167).

Whether discussing the co-optation of Surrealism by product advertisers, the ever-evolving romance of technology and human sexuality, or how the fictions of our day-to-day existence are now more fantastic than the bravest works of literary endeavor, Ballard's ability as a conversationalist and thinker never leaves a moment dull.
RE/Search has done a marvelous job in assembling and maintaining a recorded archive of an extraordinary and sadly-overlooked point of view. The photographs illustrating this collection create a pervasive feeling of some bizarre and quintessentially Ballardian mental landscape. Airbrushed models pouting their desirous and desiring faces juxtaposed upon dirty and transpiring buildings, sparkling bathers in near-futuristic water-slide playground utopias somehow magically growing out of vast deserts, and campy-looking old laboratory portrait photographs where without much suggestion the scientists could easily be mistaken for costumed sadists committing acts of sexual barbarism upon comely supine machines and more-than-willing control consuls. The publishing brilliance of RE/Search shines through in this perceptive coupling of words and images. This is the same sensibility that expertly paired the illustrations of Phoebe Gloeckner with the text of the Atrocity Exhibition to create the definitive and now infamously classic RE/Search edition of that twisted masterpiece. J.G. Ballard Conversations, with little doubt, will garner a similar following amongst those who know and appreciate Ballard's genius.

Once you have the basic skills, this book will carry you the rest of the way. It does not include esoteric techniques but those can be looked up at the library or online. This is the one book I keep next to my fly tying setup.

This book is my all time favorite. It has all the flies that I enjoy to tie. I open this book every time I sit down to tie flies, although it isn't something I do often anymore. I enjoy the quality of the photographs in this book for me to compare my own work too. The books arrangement of the flies was well done and makes for quick reference to find what I'm looking to make. I thank the people who were all involved in making this book for the amount of interest it provokes in me for flyting.

Not much how - to in this book. this is the book you are looking for if you are an intermediate tier or thinking of going commercial. It is recognized WORLD WIDE and has many many many patterns and recipes.
It won't bog you down with instruction on how to use or apply the material, but gives you a clear image of the fly, and lists what material is used for hook, body, tail, etc. A great suppliment to your tying desk if you would like to work on some professional looking flies.
Certainly in the must have category

Randy Stetzer's selection of flies for "The Best One Thousand" is clearly the fly pattern index of choice. The fly selection covers warmwater, saltwater, deerhair, dries, nymphs and streamers and even includes some fanciful unique flies. This book doesn't include flies that are localized creations...each pattern has been accepted world-wide.

The smaller project is often overlooked in books about software and project management. Many authors give the implicit signal that only the large projects need to be managed, as if the small projects can be run in an ad hoc manner. That is of course not the case; the small project needs focus and direction, just like the large ones. In some ways, since the small project will often have a more rigid delivery window, it requires a more consistent focus.
Watson sets down some basic guidelines for such projects, starting with some simple forms. Being short and simple, these forms could only be used on small projects. However, like all forms, they should be considered a rubber sheet rather than a rigid slate. Even small projects require a high degree of adaptability as things are rarely constant.
There is no question in my mind that the guidelines set forward in this book will work in helping you manage your small projects. While they will not scale up to the larger projects unaltered, there is much of the structure that will. And to the extent that a large project can be split into a sum of smaller projects, you may find that these principles may also be of enormous benefit, even when your project is large.

As a cofounder of a startup computer company, I found Watson's advice to be quite cogent. There are all sorts of elaborate methods for management of large scale projects, computer-related or otherwise. Like the Capability Maturity Model Integration from Carnegie Mellon. But this and others of its ilk can be offputting to a new manager, who has to supervise a small group. Much of the functionality is simpler unnecessary or too time consuming. And the books that explain those models can be many hundreds of pages long. Daunting to even start reading, let alone to decide whether to use those or not.

A virtue of Watson's book is that you can quickly absorb it in a few hours. You don't have to risk a huge commitment of your time, to form an opinion of it. Turns out that the procedures it describes are very easy to do. Plus, you don't necessarily need a computer to keep track of the tasks. The book's diagrams show a process that can be documented on paper or blackboard.

There is very little of a quantitative aspect here. No metrics. Somewhat of an old fashioned approach, before computers became prevalent and made it possible to quantify a lot of processes. So this is not a book for quality control or six sigma type tasks in a production line.

There exists the PMBOK which stands for Project Management Body of Knowledge and long with it a certification program for project managers. This consists of a tried and true set of procedures, forms, techniques, and software to assist in the management of projects.

This book has an opening sentence: 'Many of the methods and techniques used in traditional project management look like proverbial sledgehammers when directed at smaller projects.' He is absolutely right, the use of a full scale project management system on a smaller project will likely take more effort than is to be spent on the project itself.

Instead the author has come up with the SP (Smaller Projects) Method. It keeps what is useful but eliminates the 'luxuries' of dealing with smaller projects. For instance one part of big projects is team building. The smaller project 'team' may well have just a single individual for a month or two.

To go with the information in the book, one of the appendices includes a series of forms that you can use to work with the smaller projects that will assist in its management.

Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Reviews (10/06)

The purpose of Mike Watson's guide "Managing Smaller Projects" is primarily to help people manage smaller projects logically and effectively. This might seem like a simple task, one that could be applied by studying prior project management methods used by large corporations on large projects. This is not so. Watson explains the what, why and how of managing smaller projects so that these smaller projects are not overlooked and left to their own devices and ultimately become a financial burden to the company.

One of the 16 chapters in the book discusses the challenge of managing a project alongside your normal work load. This is extremely useful in evaluating your time commitments by measuring where you spend your time. The author suggests completing a time sheet for 3-4 weeks to get an actual account of how you spend your time at work. Additionally, a chapter on project initiation outlines eleven strategic project factors that are a useful, practical approach for tackling your project. Once the answers to these project factors are drafted and out in the open, two things are accomplished. First, you can communicate the conditions surrounding the project. Second, the project plan (developing a strategy) can be built around these conditions. Then these strategies can be listed in "pieces" or "chunks" which will make it easier to manage the project.

When beginning a small project you must be very clear about what area of your current operation you are trying to improve. In reviewing your objectives, the goals of your plan, the roles and responsibilities, and resources your target will be in sight and you will not waste time scattered about in every direction.

Some practical information that the author shares is to resist the desire to buy project management software thinking it will manage the project. "People manage projects, not computers" is the author's viewpoint on this. I would agree with this theory. I have purchased software programs that I thought would cut down on my work only to find that the programs caused more work and were not appropriate for what I wanted them to do. A computer is more useful for documenting and holding the many tasks but it will not manage the project. As the author quotes "you wouldn't buy an accounting package, give it to a novice and then rely on them to produce company accounts for the next month end, would you?" What it can do for you though, is keep track of your task list, break the list into doable units, keep spreadsheets on your progress, and organize your resources. There are seven standard forms included at the end of the book along with two checklists to remind you of useful techniques for each stage of the project

Mike Watson has been a consultant, project manager, and trainer for over 30 years. His practical approach makes "Managing Smaller Projects" an invaluable tool for people who lack formal management training as well as those who work in formal management who want to control smaller projects without the formal corporate burden that is often felt in that environment.

What an excellent guide to photagraphy, with excellent pictures as well. As I started to look at this book I saw talent on first hand. The way each picture supported a different figure of photography. I hope to see more books like this one and 'Capturing the Night With Your Camera' soon.

This one is better than most of the books in its category, although by far is not one of those "most complete guides". Good writing style, Real life examples. Type of camera, film and exposure settings are listed next most of the example pictures. What this book has that others don't, is a pretty good overview of digital input and output(especially printers and scanners), and how it's related to "film" photography. Highly recommended for beginners.

The author of this contemporaray photo manual is not caught up in the technology, rather he uses a common sense approach to new technology. The book starts off with the thought process and preaches conventional rules of pictorial composition, instead of the technical jargon that so many books of this type contain. One has to go no further than the book's introduction to realize that Carucci bridges the gap between art and technique. As for the images, I forgot for a moment that this was an instructional manual. The artwork is first rate. That's not to say that the writing is less than clear and informative. I especially liked the child/statue composite. I recommend this book to anyone interested in digital photography.

This book addresses a realistic approach to the current world of photography. It's not just digital cameras and computers: it's film, illumination and composition. Carucci feels that certain ideas are necessary to produce a good image regardless of the technology. The book is well written, though it seems that some of the passages, especially at the chapter beginnings, are a bit too creative. The book doesn't read like a textbook. Instead it's friendly, especially to the newbie. His introduction is poignant and the images are incredible. The kid turned into a statue is both shocking and wonderful.

This is the ultimate hybrid of reference book and page-turner, thanks to Harry Helms' superb writing style. Prose is liquid, even in the sections that have a lot of reference information. Absolutely recommended.

This is the ultimate hybrid of reference book and page-turner, thanks to Harry Helms' superb writing style. Prose is liquid, even in the sections that have a lot of reference information. Absolutely recommended.

I picked up the first edition of this book when I first became interested in shortwave radio about five years ago. Even now I still love going back to it. Harry Helms writes in such a clear and readable style, it's easy to find yourself breezing through chapter after chapter. Harry presents just enough technical information to give you a good understanding of the principles, without putting you to sleep with lots of equations and theory. This book is a great resource for those casually interested in short wave as a hobby and are looking for a book that will just "tell it like it is"...in a no-nonsense fashion. If you're interested in ham radio at all...I can also highly recommend All About Ham Radio by the same author...written in the same informal and easily readable style. Thanks for getting me on my way Harry!

As a newcomer to Shortwave listening, I found that Harry Helms' "Shortwave Listening Guidebook" has been the perfect introduction. It covers the technical aspects (such as the different parts of a shortwave receiver and how to use them, radio wave propagation, and antennas) in enough (but not too much) detail to be of use to the casual listener. There's an overview of the various shortwave bands, as well as what you may find between the bands. The many aspects of shortwave listening are covered, from listening to major broadcasters such as the BBC to such specialities as trying to hear distant stations, "pirate" broadcasters, and so on.

All in all, armed with both this book and "Passport to Worldband Radio", anyone should be able to enjoy shortwave listening.

In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.

In 1962 the appearance of naturalist Rachel Carson's Silent Spring not only sparked debate on pesticide and ecology issues; it helped change the nature and effectiveness of preservation efforts around the world. It first appeared as a magazine serialization, but its book version really reached out to larger audiences. Priscilla Coit Murphy's What A Book Can Do: The Publication And Reception Of Silent Spring isn't just another analysis of the book itself: it's a review of the publishing history of the Houghton Mifflion edition and the prior New Yorker serialization, incorporating the views of her editors as well as Carson herself - and her opponents. An exceptional history which is strongly recommended for any reader of Silent Spring.

Many readers might never pick up this book unless a Media or Environmental Studies professor placed it on the Required Reading List. In libraries, it probably hides behind a multi-digit call number. But lucky students! To find such an oasis in the academic desert! As far as I can tell, "What a Book Can Do" is THE thorough, scholarly, insightful study of the astonishing impact "Silent Spring" produced on our consciousness and our culture. But more than that: the stories behind the stories behind the stories, concerning not just Rachel Carson but also all the other parties affected by her work, are truly fascinating. "What a Book Can Do" is a real page-turner. Read it.

As the sub-title says, this book is primarily on the publication and reception of Silent Spring. It talks about the effort to get it published, the response of the pesticide industry, how the media handled it and so on. But there are a few points the author made that I think worth special mention.

One is the fact that now, 45 years after its publication, the book is still in print. This implies that there is still sufficient readership that the publisher finds it worth its while to keep ordering more when copies on hand run out.

Another is how could one distinguish a book like this which somehow generates such worldwide interest, in fact it could be argued that it created the environmental movement as we know it today with it's accompanying set of laws.

Finally just what is it that makes 'Silent Spring' so effective, while other books on equally important aspects of our future such as 'The Limits to Growth,' or books on Hubbard's Peak (of oil production) be so generally ignored. Was it the writing style? The media attention?

Ms. Murphy has done a fascinating job of looking at 'Silent Spring.' I think she has just scratched the surface about 'What a Book Can Do.' I hope she continues her research in this area.

My copy of Wingtips with Spurs: Lessons from the Ranch arrived on a Friday and I had read it cover to cover by Sunday. While I was initially intrigued by the title, it was the book's content that I found to be so fantastic. It is truly the first "management" book I have read that offers insightful, real-life advice that I can apply to all areas of my career. Other books of this genre tend to be boring and just focus on a single theme. Wingtips made me laugh and cry--something I didn't think a "business book" was capable of. I would recommend it to anyone in the business of people management. It is ideal for small business owners and corporate leadership alike and I give it my highest rating.

Having spent over 25 years in Human Resources as an HR Director with Fortune 500 companies, I have read a lot of management books on managing people over the years. Most contained valuable information and insight but were written in a style that tended to put you to sleep after the first few pages.

I received Wingtips with Spurs a few days ago and have to admit it's one of the most enjoyable, refreshing, down to earth books on people management I have ever read. It's a virtual encyclopedia of information on a host of issues that we have all dealt with not only in the business world but everyday life as well. It blends wit and humor (Cowboy Wisdom) into real life situations that keeps you turning the pages.

The author has an uncanny knack for getting to the core of an issue and then providing his own unique insight from his experiences professionally and from life on the ranch. You may not agree with everything the author has to say regarding a particular subject but I will wager you will thoroughly enjoy your journey through this book. I certainly did.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone who manages people at any level of an organization but it would be on my list as a must read for anyone new or just getting started in management. If you're an HR Director, you should buy copies for your management team. You will not be disappointed.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The author has managed to weave together a very resourceful book for the business world while capturing the average person's interest as well. His practical advice on people management and moral life lessons can readily be applied to not only the corporate life, but to one's daily life, proving that being ethical and moral are important aspects of both worlds. His clever writing style and wit are refreshing and a delight to read!

Although the author sometimes goes a little too far into the libertarian philosophy and uses a bit too much religion, in every other way I am in complete agreement with him. When not engaged in his primary job as a director of human resources for a major corporation, Gooch owns and operates a cattle ranch. As someone who once had a hobby farm and raised cattle, I can deeply empathize with his statements about raising cattle.
The theme of the book is to relate the problems of the modern corporate culture to the "simplicity" of herding cattle on a drive. Using analogies between the various components of each area, Gooch describes his philosophy of managing people, loving hard work and having respect for your underlings, whether they are people or cattle. While this may sound demeaning, no one who has ever raised cattle will question the validity of the comparison.
The way to get cattle to do what you want is to engage in gentle persuasion, anticipate their needs and to introduce change reasonably slowly. That philosophy works with people as well. You must understand that they have fears, concerns and feelings and that many of the negative things such as poor performance and lay-offs are the responsibility of management. Cattle have personalities and are not interchangeable parts although eventually you must replace even the best due to sagging performance.
Sound management advice can be packaged in many ways; in this case it is presented with a western flair and a virtual cowboy intonation. Plain speaking, respect and honesty are always the best long term management strategies, as the trail to success is a long one and sometimes you step in what the cattle leave behind.

I am highly anticipating the release of this book based primarily on the authors' reputation and contribution to the field. A can't miss piece of work, for sure.

This is so rad. I can't believe I'm the first to review this super scintillating read. This book is a real page-turner. And the authors? There's no comparison. They're obviously at the top of their field. Ok, ok, so they taught me everything I know and I owe all the success in my personal life to them...but who cares about bias anyway? I'd buy it, but currently don't have that kind of money in my wallet. But don't worry, I swear it's the first thing on my christmas list. (and I promise not to nail it to my wall)

This book is astounding. Its clear, accessible written presentation reveals the authors have a superior grasp of effective teaching methodologies, and for that matter, communication in general. I see teaching as the ultimate summit of human communication (amounting not only to receiving of information, but to retention and application of real world concepts)... and this book handles its subject in a superb manner. I'm a graphic design professional, and all aspects of 'communication' facsinate me, although much of the academic texts on the subject of 'communication' perpetuate the ambiguity and self-aggrandising, elitist embivalence long used as a tool by academia, resisting real world accountability and application. More of this sort of pratical information and clarity needs to be made accessible to more people, and this book is the best example I have seen to actively facilitate this.

Amusement runs rampant in this book. Limericks abound about that indelicate function of the human body-it isn't a private function as some expulsion of wastes are, but it usually isn't a part of "polite" company. In addition there is an A to Z compendium of different classifications of farts. Interspersed are the ribald tales of the gaseous emissions and anecdotes of famous people and their flatulence. According to the author, Martin Luther could punctuate his sermons with ripping farts. Good thing he was preaching, because if he was in the congregation then Confucius words would apply: "He who fart in church sits in own pew." (Unfortunately, the author fails to provide any bibliography so that I can find where he got his information.)

Is it ironic that the author's last name rhymes with the subject of the book? Hmmm, how's this for a limerick in the spirit of the book:

There once was a doctor named Bart
Who wrote a ripping book on the fart
So studious he came
To flatulent fame
The book you don't stop once you start

This is, to be sure, a rather small book, a collection of assorted limericks, facts, and blurbs on breaking wind. Graphic illustrations and cartoons are interspersed. And laughs are assured for all.

My Mother passed this book to me after she had vented its fare on her afternoon club. It is divided into six chapters, each spouting limericks and anecdotes concerning various aspects of crepitation. I found that I had a "whiff of a memory" of several of the dozens of limericks, a poetic form particularly suited to the subject of flatulence. There are airy songs, putrid prose and smudgy cartoons throughout the book. The final chapter, "The A-Z of Farting," expounds on preponderant and pathetic forms of flatulence, which have been so prevalent among man (and woman) for as long as the wind has blown.

If you are looking for a good laugh and enjoy nature in its rudest form, this all to brief, passing wisp of wit will tickle and inspire you. Put in your "bubba teeth," grab a beer and read this on your next airline flight. FFRRRRRRRRRRRUPUPUPUP! Excuse Me.

The world owes much to Dr. Benjamin Bart. How did we survive before he put together this profound historical work? Has anybody nominated Dr. Bart for a Nobel prize? He deserves at least a Pulitzer. There are rumors that the good doctor earnestly began his inquiries into the art and possible health benefits of farting sometime during the early years of his childhood. Some claim that little Benjamin was nicknamed "Bart the Fart." I think there was something about this in the "National Enquirer," but unfortunately I forgot the exact date of that most important issue.

Dr. Bart believes that there is right way and a wrong way to fart. He tells us how the smart people perform this most human of tasks. I bet the reader was unaware that the famous philosopher Rene Descartes supposedly asked "Since I think--I exist, but what does it mean when I fart?" Ah, the education one can obtain outside the walls of a university. Did your philosophy professor have a clue concerning the more esoteric aspects of Descartes' philosophical insights? There are many other flatulent examples that should broaden your intellectual horizons.

"The History of Farting" even has some pictures to help one's illiterate cohorts. This book thankfully has little to do with either thee or me. We would rarely, if ever, do anything like farting. Should we, however, embarrass our buddies by presenting them with a gift copy of this perspicaciously brilliant expose of their less than polite habits? Of course we should. After all, what are friends for?