Humanities Books

This sure is a hard-to-find book. But i got lucky (twice) with the booksellers in the Bay Area. And i'm so glad. Having seen many translations and renditions of Hafez in English, i totally enjoyed Smith's light-verse, accurate, and correct rhyming translation that is true to the original Persian (my native tongue) line for line.

The book contains about 60 select ghazals (poems) from the complete volume of over 500 translated by Smith. It also has an accurate glossary of important thematic words (wine, wind, cup, etc.) and a fairly detailed description on the life of Hafez, although complete accuracy there is suspect.

Smith manages to imitate the difficult rhyming scheme of ghazal, AABACA, which is so essential to its form and music, and maintain a constant line-length throughout each ghazal, also part of the ghazal's difficult prosody.

The translation is true enough that i sometimes refer to Smith's version to decipher a difficult word or meaning in the original Persian. Although Smith is not a Persian speaker, he worked from H. Wilberforce Clark's painstaking literal translation. Smith adds rhyming, rhythm, music, and fluidity to Clark's, bringing it closer to the original.

I can also recommend Gertrude Bell's fine translation which still remains unsurpassed after nearly a hundred years, although the language and imagery is decidedly 19th cen. If you've had a couple of jugs of wine, or are otherwise high!, Danial Ladinsky's "translations" may lift you a little higher still -- although I for one did not see a smidgen of Hafez in them. Alright, maybe a smidgen.

And there is Haleh Pourafzal and Roger Montgomery's "the spiritual wisdom of hafez" which delves deeper into the teaching and philosophy of hafez (drink and be merry!) and contains fine translations of a few ghazals.

Written by Stephanie Quinn from her years of experience holding summer acting camps in a performing arts studio, Ham It Up: How To Start Your Own Acting Camp for Kids is an in-depth guide to running a fun, safe, and creative program for young people ages 8 to 15, the better to cultivate their performing talents, and includes an exciting performance to produce for family and friends. Black-and-white photographs illustrate these plain-spoken instructions for interacting with parents, leading kids in theater preparation and warmup exercises, and a detailed five-day planner filled with activities for kids to learn about everything from scriptwriting to body positioning to dress rehearsal and curtain calls. The most valuable aspect of Ham It Up is that its curriculum has been thoroughly tested and put into practice, allowing the teacher to focus upon instruction itself rather than fine-tuning lesson plan mechanics. Enthusiastically recommended especially for summer camps, summer school instructors, community theater groups, and Sunday school groups in need of a quality week-long acting camp.

Richard Rieben's Handbook For Liberty: Boundaries For Preserving Your Humanity While Living Amongst Humans is an impressive essay and informative instructional on the differences between true liberty and conventional political rhetoric. Chapters address what Liberty is, where it comes from, why Anarchy is not the answer, and what needs to change in order to embrace true Liberty. Guidelines for building a politically free government in the face of contradicting socio-political realities are presented in this strongly persuasive, inspirational treatise. Handbook For Liberty is strongly recommended for anyone wanting to address contemporary political and cultural assaults on traditional and constitutional personal and political liberties.

Dr. Holba gives an excellent overview of what to expect as a new doctoral student enters a humanities PhD program. Step by step, this book will be helpful to those who do not want to engage in rhetorical over-reach. Taking one day at a time in a PhD program, understanding what to expect and how to navigate the politics of higher education is valuable information explained by Dr. Holba in an easy-to-read style. I'd suggest this for anyone considering a PhD or just applying now!

This is exactly what I've been looking for in class! I am an elementary teacher and can't tell you how much these art projects have helped me. Can't wait to pass on the good news. Thanks J Cataldo for your book!

Everyone compliments my daughter on her beautiful handwriting. She used this book the second half of third grade, and is nagging me to find the "next" one. Fun and useful, and at the end they can actually *learn* something, too.

This is the textbook I wish I would have used as an undergrad - the explanations are thorough yet assessible. Most theory texts often try to teach a bit too much from the historical perspective without enough emphasis on the actual application of theory or fail to go into enough detail to be useful in the long term (Kotska.)
Also, many theory texts often dump undergrads in the middle of part writing and analysis without really showing them where the theorical ideas came from - this is where Theory in Context is the strongest. This is also one of the only texts that gives a detailed yet easy to understand introduction to species counterpoint and relates it to part writing.
Francoli provides a comprehensive view of theory and its application in music ranging from the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and even pop and jazz. He is also excellent at providing a great deal of information about the finer details of harmony while also addressing the bigger picture of analysis by using a modified form of Schenkerian analysis. I cannot say enough good about this text but I do have to give one warning: While the book is very descriptive and thorough, it can initially be a bit wordy for the typical freshman. But, as long as the instructor is at hand to clarify certain ideas, as is in any theory class using any book, the students often remark they vastly preferred his explanations to any of the other texts I have used. My only other complaint is that the book doesn't include nearly enough on 20th/21st century theory, but this this is still my favorite text to date.

I was a counselor at a sleep away camp last summer. I read this book to my campers. The message gave the campers a better understanding and even compassion for the so called bullies that were harassing their lives. The end result of our discusssions of the book, were 8 cabin mates that became good friends. They were able to live and play in harmony for the remainder of the summer.I would recommend this book to people of all ages--We all need to receive love.

The product was exactly in the condition described and I received my shipment within 5 days, I will definitely buy my text books here next year.

Professor Jackson has embarked on a consciously obscure symbolism. Before reading this book, fractals conjured in my mind those trippy psychedelic posters. Then there is a reason fractals are a trippy subject, and the implications are beyond pop culture and pure geometry. Fractals are an epitome of chaos-complexity theory; they are representative of the universes nature. This book demonstrates that humans have innately picked up on the deep sense of order within the universe `chaos-complexity theory'. The universe is highly structured, even when seemingly chaotic there is a very fine intricacy of structure and in the fractal that is repetitive, infinite.

I do have to say that this book can be a bit tricky to read (or rather approach); one must approach it as being less a description, and more of a philosophical and religious dissertation. I mean this to say; that the nature of the Fractal is in this book used - to launch a greater discussion, of the infinite and complexity they represent. Rather this book is about the greater mystery of the universe and an examination of the sacred geometry of fractals. William Jackson takes us across cultures to explore the mysteries of the infinite, the divine consciousness, and how the fractal has played a universal cross cultural symbolism to the mysteries. Otherwise know that fractals are a sort of symbolism and this book is very representative of that nature.

I can say, that it makes one think twice about those tripy pop culture posters, as there exist the possibility that they devour you into revelation.


K.D. Goodman