Studios Books

This is one of those rare instruction books that gives you the feeling of sitting in a private class; just you and the teacher discussing the nuances of the craft. It is full of not just side note tips, which are extremely helpful, but all kinds of personal guidance. The one that comes immediately to mind is when the author is talking about drawing roughs. She encourages you to doodle and experiment since no one will see this stage of your finished piece. She even goes so far as to let in in on the little secrets of the creative process; even professionals get butterflies just before the work is done. Besides these wonderful additions, this book is clear and thorough in its instruction. If you are intimidated by the beauty of the penned word, this book is your guiding hand

Wood, metal/tin, glass and terra cotta pots are all used to make unique candleholders for your patio or house. There are single holders, triple holders, elegant holders and whimsical holders. Choose your material, grab your paints and you are ready to begin.

The two pages of general instructions give all the information needed to be able to prepare the various materials so the paint will stay on them. Brushes and painting terms are discussed. All templates are included along with full color photos of each project. The instructions are well detailed and easy to read. The book even gives instructions on how to paint the designs so you get the best results.

If you love to paint and like to make candleholders as gifts or for you own use, this book will provide you with hours of enjoyment.

Character education went out of fashion in U.S. schools in the 1960s & 1970s. Many teachers didn't believe that the schools should be doing it. This book tells why, now more than ever, the schools should be teaching the principles of good character.

I used this book both as a young and maturing Christian, and I highly recommend it for its clarity, its practical explanations of difficult passages from the Ten Commandments, Apostles Creed, Lord's Prayer, and the Sacraments, its introductions to the symbols of the church, and a biographical sketch of Martin Luther. Each lesson is supplemented by a passage from a Lutheran Hymn, a prayer, catechetical review, Bible readings and a very useful set of proof texts. I hope that Concordia will issue an updated edition of this book of helps for future students.

I recommend you start with this book. Dr Spies' photos have been featured in "Parade", "Cats Magazine" and "Popular Photography" as well as verious other magazines. He's even had a one man show of his cat photos at the Smithsonian. So this is definitely the "go to guy" for this particular niche of photography. His cats look natural as well as beautiful without the use of computer enhancements. Dr Spies give examples of how to "pose" the cat as well as what type of camera and lens to use on the photos.

Even if you don't want to be a cat photographer, the black and white photos of cats is well worth the price of the book. And who knows, it might be you and your photos of Fluffy at the Smothsonian. Or maybe you could start your own line of greeting cards or t-shirts with your cat's photos. SO if you are the least bit interested in capturing the divine cat on film, this is the book for you.

Having had the chance to borrow a friend's copy, I soon found that I had to have one of my own. The photographs of these wonderful boxes are stunning and makes me wish I could have one of everything in this book. The price guides are accurate and the general information interesting.

Donald Graves' history of the South Alberta Regiment in World War Two is acclaimed as one of the best WW II regimental histories yet written. This history, of the South Alberta Light Horse, is just as good, and offers a substantially wider view, looking in detail at the SALH from inception to the present, 1905 to 2005 (hence the title).

The book is substantially more than that, however. The SALH result from several postwar amalgamations, and therefore the book provides a detailed history of the 31st Battalion in World War One, the 13th Field Regiment, Royal Canadian Artillery and the South Alberta Regiment in World War Two. Aside from the history of these combat units, the peacetime service of the 15th Alberta Light Horse, 19th Alberta Dragoons, South Alberta Regiment, and others is told in some detail, as well as the story of the many cavalry units in Southern Alberta from inception through the First World War and into the 1920s reorganizations of the Militia, as well as stay-home Militia units in WW II such as the 31st Recce Regiment.

Graves does not just start his story in 1905, however, and traces the history of the Militia in Alberta back to its starting points.

Despite covering all this ground, the book is laid out in several distinct chapters, broken up with interesting sub-paragraph headings and always written so the reader knows exactly which unit is being discussed.

The prose is lucid, meeting the tenets of good historical reporting using period terminology (yet avoiding abbreviations that would confuse the layman) and remaining conversational and even light in tone. To that end, despite the richness of detail and abundance of academic footnotes, Graves has very much made this book - like the SAR history - storylike in tone, making maximum use of personal anecdotes to illustrate points.

And those points are well covered - Graves discusses many themes in detail - for the combat units, he sketches out methods of employment, conditions for the average soldier and the officers in charge of them, and places their battles into the overall larger context demanded. He does the same thing with peacetime history, providing the political context of how and why the Militia evolved, what its purpose was, and how the SALH and predecessors went about meeting its objectives.

The book can't be praised highly enough for being a comprehensive look at not just one regiment, but the histories of many Alberta militia regiments and how they reflected on the Canadian Army as a whole.

Colour photos and plates by the superb Ron Volstad bring the subject matter to life, though they are unfortunately few in number. The mass of black and white photos are unpublished and extremely well captioned, each caption being more of a sidebar to the main text than simple explanatory piece of the picture itself. The photos have been carefully selected to maximize the understanding of the reader and make him relate to the story being told.

Additionally, Chris Johnston's line drawings are here in abundance, a very welcome treat, including such rarities as the loading layout for LCTs of the the 13th Field Regiment (self propelled) on D-Day, and a look at the rare ammunition sledges they towed into action on 6 June. There is much in this book for not just devotees of regimental history, but wargamers, general interest historians, armour buffs and more.

The maps (all thirty of them) are also superb and in appropriate quantity to illustrate the text fully.

This book will give the general interest reader a deep understanding of what it was like to be in a cavalry or infantry unit in the First World War, in the Militia in the mid and post war eras, in an armoured or artillery regiment in Normandy and NW Europe, and paints a vivid picture of life in the Militia today.

Extensive appendices include Rolls of Honour for the pertinent units, lists of Battle Honours of same, Major awards and decorations from 1914 to 1945, Commanding Officers and RSMs of the SALH, national and command competitions won in the postwar era, a complete lineage of the SALH, Commanding Officers of the predecessor units, and a listing of Canadian Expetionary Force units raised in Alberta.

The colour photo section includes a nice layout of insignia of all predecessor units.

And, a full glossary is included. Sadly, no battle manual as in the SAR history, but Graves has a real grasp of the mechanics of how these infantry, cavalry, artillery and armoured regiments "did business" and this comes through in the text and photo captions.

This book can not be bettered by any regimental history in the foreseeable future.

This book has very interesting information and lots of pictures
A good reference

... bought this at the Getty's museum and paid full price so amazon's is a real deal. Was not crazy about Cezanne's oil, but his watercolors are beautiful and style is wonderful - i learnt a lot by reading this book. Totally changed my view on Cezanne. This is the next best thing if you missed the exhibit at the Getty's.

Chet gecko is such a great series! And the Narrator is great! He does a good job explaining things and character's voices.I LOVE CHET GECKO! he is such a great detective! And it also helps when Bruce hale put in Natalie attired, chet's partner, she is so funny! With some of the jokes she tells. Anyway this story is wonderful.