Reviews Books

This book was purchased for a college research project and it was just perfect. It talks of Kandinsky's color theory and how music and color co-exist. The seller was professional and I got the book when it was promised. I would order from this seller again...definately!

Wassilly Kadinsky was a 20th century painter and his CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL IN ART provides a blend of philosophical, spiritual and artistic reflection as it examines the premises and presence of spirituality in art. This new edition is a recommended pick not just for art students of modernism, but for readers of spiritual works: it includes letters between Kadinsky and Sadler, unpublished prose poems, and a fine attention to artistic reflection and analysis.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I enjoyed reading the book. At times it was over my head,but still it was worth the effort!!!!

Kandinsky throws his ideas out in a slightly esoteric manner. It make take a few rereads to really grasp the quality of discourse he presents. But, in the end, his commentary shines brightly through his comparisons of music to painting. The spiritual triangle is comparable to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. It is important to remember that Kandinsky is not using the term "spiritual" in a religious sense.
This book is a very good read for anyone feeling slumped in their art making. And for anyone who wants to expose themselves to ways of thinking about art. By the third time I had read the material I had underlined and highlighted almost every line and filled all the margins with notes. The book is fantastic. It is especially good when paired with Hans Hofmann's essay "In Search for the Real." Although the ideas in the two books do not parallel. In fact the lines aren't even on the same page. Kandinksky's critiques of other familiar artists are very interesting too. Names like picasso and Cezanne pop up quite a bit.
I'll stop rambling now. Read the book, it is very good.

Kandinsky had risen to positions of influence in other disciplines (political science/economics and law) before directing his considerable intellect to painting. His insights extended into the historic 'meta' trends of the arts and sciences, including the physical sciences, and had his interests been directed more to the history and philosophy of science instead of the history and philosophy of art, he might have written Kuhn's observations regarding paradigm change a half century before Kuhn did: "Here and there are people with eyes which can see, minds which can correlate. They say to themselves: 'If the science of the day before yesterday is rejected by the people of yesterday, and that of yesterday by us of today, is it not possible that what we call science now will be rejected by the men of tomorrow?' And the bravest of them answer, 'It is possible.'"

Instead, Kandinsky extended the frontiers of painting and authored philosophic writings on the future of art that are among the most important of such works. M.T.H. Sadler, who translated this work into English, was a friend of Kandinsky's and was among his early admirers. The notes he has written in the front of the book (Translator's Introduction) are therefore more helpful than could be the opinions of many other critics, including myself:

"Anyone who has studied Gauguin will be aware of the intense spiritual value of his work. The man is a preacher and a psychologist, universal by his very unorthodoxy, fundamental because he goes deeper than civilization. In his disciples this great element is wanting.

"Kandinsky has supplied the need. He is not only on the track of an art more purely spiritual than was conceived even by Gauguin, but he has achieved the final abandonment of all representative intention. In this way he combines in himself the spiritual and technical tendencies of one great branch of Post-Impressionism.

"The question most generally asked about Kandinsky's art is: 'What is he trying to do?' It is to be hoped that this book will do something towards answering the question. But it will not do everything. This--partly because it is impossible to put into words the whole of Kandinsky's ideal, partly because in his anxiety to state his case, to court criticism, the author has been tempted to formulate more than is wise. His analysis of colours and their effects on the spectator is not the real basis of his art, because, if it were, one could, with the help of a scientific manual, describe one's emotions before his pictures with perfect accuracy. And this is impossible.

"Kandinsky is painting music. That is to say, he has broken down the barrier between music and painting, and has isolated the pure emotion which, for want of a better name, we call the artistic emotion. Anyone who has listened to good music with any enjoyment will admit to an unmistakable but quite indefinable thrill. He will not be able, with sincerity, to say that such a passage gave him such visual impressions, or such a harmony roused in him such emotions. The effect of music is too subtle for words. And the same with this painting of Kandinsky's. Speaking for myself, to stand in front of some of his drawings or pictures gives a keener and more spiritual pleasure than any other kind of painting. But I could not express in the least what gives the pleasure. Presumably the lines and colours have the same effect as harmony and rhythm in music have on the truly musical. That psychology comes in no one can deny."

Some aspects of Kandinsky's color theory are dubious, at best they cannot be universalized, and Kandinsky sees this. But other of his ideas and arguments are widely accepted among artists, even as being self-evident. Stating that "there is no 'must' in art, because art is free," that is, free to address external representations OR "the inner need," to merely chase after material 'objects' OR to wrestle with the mysteriously spiritual, to somehow meld the two visions OR to stay purely to exploration of the spiritual high ground, Kandinsky absolutely rejects the materialistic expectation of an art "explanation" that has been articulated by EO Wilson in his unfortunate daydream 'Consilience' (Wilson knows ants better than he knows humans, and is given to understanding humans to be essentially ant equivalents).

Anyone interested in art history, painting of the past century, or the relationships/correlations/divergences of the various arts (visual, musical, literary), as well as anyone interested in the meaning and purpose of art, or in the philosophy of aesthetics, should read this important book, perhaps more than once.

This book is an excellent adjunct to use in studying for Step 2 CK. By challenging you with a gut-reaction recall type format, you will actively learn and reinforce important topics and associations. It's best used for a quick review in the final days of Step 2 studying to refresh your memory of all the high yield associations.

I found this book to be extremely helpful along with doing questions. It has high yield facts and it's easy to read. However, unlike other reviewers I wouldn't use it as my only source. This book does not go into a lot of detail, so you have to start with a solid background.

First thing first. I scored a 247 on Step 1. As many of you know that have taken the exam. The key is to know what to study for the exam since there is an infinite amount of information. Once you find the "tested" information you have to sit down and MEMORIZE. That is the key to these USMLE exams. For those that have trouble memorizing the necessary information, the best thing to do is to "do questions" so that way you can remember the key concepts. For Step 1 all you really need is First Aid for Step 1, Goljan audio, and Kaplan QBank + Qbook. That's it....

Now for Step 2 it is much different. First Aid is not as high yield as it is for Step 1. Even if you had First Aid for Step 2 in the exam room with unlimited time there will be information that is NOT IN THE BOOK. First Aid lives off of its Step 1 reputation.

For Step 2, I scored a 241. Which isn't spectacular BUT I studied for the exam during my interview season in January. I studied for 3 weeks. I memorized this book and did USMLE World questions. That is all you need. Most of the high yield information that is TESTED is not found in First Aid. Use your time wisely. My advice is to memorize this book, Step 2 Secrets, and do ALL of the questions (and read every answer explanation) in USMLE World. Keep in mind though there will still be questions that you have never seen but these will be fewer and far between if you use the "right" resources. Good Luck.

"Deja Review" was the reason I aced my USMLE Step2. Aside from doing practice questions, this is the only other resource you need to conquer the boards. It is extremely high-yield and concise... perfect for many students like myself who only had 2 weeks to study for the step2. The question-answer format of the text helps the reader actively learn and more importantly remember the material. I wish I knew about DejaReview back when I was studying for Step1. I highly recommend it to all medical students.

UCSD makes us take step 2 early on in the year and time is defintiely a limiting factor. If you are in the same boat, I would highly recommend this book. Even if you are not under a time crunch, you should still read this book to re-enforce facts you already know. The Q&A format is similar to that of Surgical Recall. I used a question bank and read this book to tie everything together before I took the exam. This book is very high yield, and works well as an adjuvant to a more cohesive detailed review source like usmle world q-bank.

After I took step 2, I passed the book onto a fellow panicked classmate going into derm and after reading the book, lets just say he didn't need an ativan or xanex hook-up before the exam. I read the book in 1.5 days (w/ several breaks) and my confidence defintely went way up afterwards.If you are worried about step 2, buy this book and you will realize that you know more from 3rd year than you think.

On radiology, my resident asked me what books I used for step 2 review. Being the slow person that I am, I didn't put two and two together. John Naheedy is now a radiology resident at UCSD and he is a nice guy. So besides donating to feed the "John Naheedy Foundation," your USMLE step 2 score will be higher than your step 1 score after Deja Review: USMLE STEP 2 Essesntials, guaranteed! Good luck on the exam! =)

I love these Official Guides for the X-Files. They tell the entire episode in just enough detail if you may have missed something or have not paid enough attention. They also have the "Backstory" so you could find out information you ay never have even heard of. They have quotes from the fabulous stars. I just wish they would have had more from and about the stars. Bt other than that they are fabulous. I have my rating as 5 stars but because of this I would pick four and a half if I could. They tell everything you need to know and more about the greatest show to ever air!

I love this book,I especially like the behind the scenes stuff, it's great.I recommend this book to anyone who is the biggest fan in the world to the show like me.It has a great picture of David Duchovny in front of the mirror (very cute). I have almost all of season 6 on tape so it was very interesting to read the behind the scenes stuff and see how they made the episode.I have all of season 7 on tape so I can't wait for the next book to come out.I am running out of blank tapes!

I admit to being a X-Files addict, and so this was necessary to try to understand the show. It, and its previous 1 through 4, have made my interest in the X-files grow as I finally got clues and tremendous answers in reviews and stories from many missed episodes. A lot of work obviously went into these books, and I wait eagerly for volume 6.

The End and The Beginning is just another great book in a great collection. It is one of the most descriptive guides yet, with great color photos and a play by play look at each episode from season 6. If you are a true X-phile, this book is a necessity. This is a great look at the series while Scully and Mulder were still on the same planet, so to speak.

This is definitely a must-have for any X-Phile, especially if you missed an important episode of Season 6. It contains a detailed summary of every episode in a mini novel-like form, with commentary about that episode. It's also great to have if you desperately want to view a Season 6 episode, but you didn't tape it. In this book, you can READ the episode. I know it's not the same as watching it, but it's something. And for all you 'Shippers like me out there, you can re-live all the greatest 'Shipper moments, like in the episode "Triangle."--the famous kiss, and Mulder's famous "I love you" line to Scully. And let's not forget the part in "The Unnatural" where Mulder teaches her how to play baseball, or in "Dreamland" where Mulder dances in front of the mirror while in the body of Morris Fletcher.

The book also contains colorful photos commemorating every unforgetful moment of the season. Now I can't wait for the next volume. I'm one of the unfortunate people who missed the Season 7 finale, where Mulder gets abducted and Scully announces to Skinner that she's pregnant . . .

Though I could have lived without some of the articles, mostly this is a great guide book to movies. I laughed while I read it, and I liked the movie picks a lot.

At first glance, this is a book you think you might want to pass up, but it's the perfect guide! These four girls have very different tastes, but each of them have a lot to offer. With little side-bars, and essays, this book is as fun as they come! They have made some very good recommendations for me. If it weren't for these four, I wouldn't be able to expand my horizons. But they're the type who make you open your mind. I mean, I hadn't even heard of 'Gas, Food, Lodging' before this book and let me tell you, it's a good movie! So get this book and see what these girls have to say. You might find a gem of a movie that you enjoy just as much as they say you will.

This can be read as a reference guide OR for just plain pure pleasure--for me the latter...these woman have a great, unigue voice.

I first became familiar with the Girls on Film through their Website. Amazingly, I almost always agree with their movie critiques. That's why I knew I wouldn't be disappointed with this guide. It's more of the same conversational tone and is filled with a lot of movies I know, but also a fair ammount I haven't seen (yet). I'm looking forward to making my way to the video store. The Girls are friends who make you feel welcome- a great movie guide with multiple gen-x style blurbs which are very amusing!

Though far from an all-encompassing movie guide, it is still well-worth the price of admission. I didn't always agree with the choices they made (I mean, Andrea, come on! "My Fellow Americans"???). But I enjoyed every page of the book and found it to be among the wittiest I've read this year. My one complaint? It was too short. I wished there were more!

I first read this book in College 20+ years ago and have re-read it several times since. Before the internet made it easier to find copies of the book, everytime I came across a copy in a used bookstore I would buy it and give it to a friend because I didn't want the book to languish on a bookshelf unappreciated. It is a fantastic novel the follows a complex southern family throughout the entire Civil War. Be sure to also read the continuation (sequel) to the novel - "Unconquered," which follows some of the family through the reconstruction period.

This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for a couple of years, passed along to me by my mother. I just learned Williams is the grandnephew of General James Longstreet, which makes the story even more interesting.
The title is apt since the story deals with the bitterness of my country split in two for four agonizing years.
Williams toggles back and forth between the Currain family matters in Virginia and North Carolina and the lead up and their involvement in the Civil War. Each chapter is given a time period so the reader can read outside sources of these time periods.
When the five Currain siblings learn their long-dead father is the grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, all are affected in different ways. Williams does a good job with the psychological aspect of each sibling's response and subsequent actions to this unfathomable news. Williams does an admirable job in his character profiles.
What is most interesting about this story are the elaborately detailed battle scenes. The author described these so well I was able to see the planning and execution of the "work" (battle)--north and south--in my mind's eye.
General James Longstreet plays prominently in the story and was a Currain family friend before the War. "Jeems" and his wife Louisa are a house undivided, as they give the reader a picture of what unity can accomplish.
The jubilation and angst Longstreet feels as he bears the responsiblility for the work he is given is palpable. His highs are quite high and his lows are very low. As he goes into the last work of the War and assists General Lee with preparations for surrender, we grieve with Longstreet. I wasn't expecting to cry when the surrender was made known to the barefoot and bone-weary southern soldiers.
A good long read. The author captures the easy elegance of the minority Southern wealthy and their journey to a new South four years later.
A postscript: Williams' sequel to this is "The Unconquered" which gives a greatly detailed picture of the Reconstruction, mainly in Louisiana and set in New Orleans. Another good read.

This book which I picked up after reading "Come Spring" is riveting. His detail mirrors that of Kenneth Roberts whose stories of the American Revolution are also in the same category. Living in Southern Maine, K.R. is must reading. I now add B.A.W. to that category. His book has made me more interested than ever in the Civil War and the results of politicians follies which are being duplicated today with the same amount of stupidity as in the past. I highly recommend this book,

This is the best book I have ever read. It has so much history of the Civil War and the reader will learn so much about this important time in our history. The characters are the pivot points for the telling of the South's history. Mr. Williams is really a genius in his technique. He includes political commentaries of the South from the perspective of the poor on up to the slave owners but done out of the mouths of the characters. He very concisely states the "reasons" for the war in a single paragraph stated several times and in different perspectives. He very exactly depicts the scenes and you truly can believe you are there viewing from afar and experiencing in reality the way life must have been for all the characters.

I fell in love with this book and thought that I should read Goned With the Wind afterwards. GWTW was not nearly as good. The detail and story telling was amazing. I would love to own a copy of this book.

These are good USMLE style micro cards. I found them useful for review of material before boards. For an actual micro class they aren't so helpful. They weren't something I could really use to learn new material (like say Netter's flashcards in anatomy).

Great for med students, helped me study for Step 1, and still reference back to them for use on my clinical rotations. Very helpfull easy to read and comprehend, but still has good detail.

I love these cards. They have great organization and just the right amount of detail. These are probably the best microcards out there.

BUY THESE INSTEAD OF BUGCARDS! These cards are amazing for both learning and reviewing. As a first year medical student, I appreciate how concise and useful the information is. The first 8 or so cards show the common infections in each organ system - VERY HIGH YIELD! The rest of the cards cover the important human pathogens. Also included are helpful algorithms and explanations of virulence and toxins. I didn't take micro before now, and I was able to follow along perfectly well. Another resource you may consider to use in conjunction is Medical Microbiology Made Ridiculously Simple. It is very good as well.

I aced my bacteriology exam with these. They are an awesome way to reinforce the course material. Great for a quick review!

OK, so it was the title that got me since i was not a "Who Wants To Be a Millionaire" fan. My friend loaned it to me and i had HAD to check it out. Then i had to have one of my own.

What a clever, funny book that was clearly written from the heart. What a fresh directive. I could almost hear the author talking to me. I could almost "see" the people and nearly experience what was going on, the desciptions were so clear.

I think Im now a Millionaire Fan..

Now i tape all the shows to find J.E.'s show and watch it. -THANKS ALOT -

All i need to know now is.....what's next Millionaire Boy?

about writing a review for this book, Millionaire Boy/The Adventures of a Game Show Contestant, that I forgot to rate it with stars. 5 STARS! 5 STARS! 5 STARS!

Loads of fun!
A very entertaining read!

I wanted to read this book for several reasons. ONE because it was about one of my favorite tv programs, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and TWO because the author was from Montana.
I enjoyed this book thoroughly! It was well-written and very amusing.
The author has a very comfortable style. It is really like he is talking right to you. There are inner monolouges to let you know what he is thinking at key parts of the book.

This was a very visual book, because the author's descriptions of people, settings, and activities were superb!
I had read other reviews of "Millionaire Boy" and questioned if people were really laughing out loud as they claimed.
I can atest to the fact that this is a very funny book and, yes, I DID laugh out loud. SEVERAL times!
I have passed the book along to other fans of WWTBAM and they have enjoyed it as much as I did.
I too am looking forward to the author's next book.
I think he has a great future ahead of him.

Have a game show fan or a Regis Philbin fan on your gift list?
This is a book for them!
But like I said at the beginning, "Millionaire Boy" really is a book for everybody!

This book was a lot of fun and much like several of the others who have written reviews of Millionaire Boy:The Adventures of a Game Show Contestant, I found myself laughing outloud several times.

The perfect sitting by the pool book!
If you like Dave Barry, you'll appreciate the humor in this book.

Anybody know if the author has written anything else?

With all the wit of a Dave Barry read but better! Full of humor and trepidation about making a public appearance on national television. The true story of making your dreams a reality. A great book that is very difficult to read without pausing to go back and read parts out loud to who ever might be around to listen...friends, family, cats, pillows.

New Orleans is my favorite season of Real World thus far, and i am a little disappointed in the contents and layout of this book in comparison to editions for later seasons (ie, chicago and las vegas). Instead of putting cast member information in an orderly fashion, they throw around the facts over various pages. castmember david's fact sheet is also suspiciously missing. I didn't like the rw reunion junk at the back of the book to pad its length. they should have included the floor plans of the house and more photos taken by the cast instead of this.

If you watched the Real World New Orleans, this is a great guide to what you didn't see. If you DIDN'T watch the show, well, then there's no reason to buy the book!
My favorite part about the book was the information about the Kelley/Danny and Melissa/Jamie "feud." With quotes from the sources themselves, it adds even more drama than was on the show! VERY interesting!

This book is amazing!! anything you ever wanted to know is answered!! It even goes into a bit of stuff from other seasons, with pictures of Rachel(S.F) and Sean's (boston)wedding! as well as tonnes of pictures what they're doing now etc....etc.....
You will really enjoy it!!

I liked this Real world book a lot in fact I like most of them, all except Seattle which was incredibly boring . But this book gives you a lot of insight into what the camera didn't show. Some of the things mentioned don't seem to make sense b/c when you see the reunions on tv they don't act towards each other they way that you would think w/some of the comments that they have made about each other in this book. Besides that it is well worth your money and time to read it.

It's amazing how much is told in this book that wasn't revealed on the show. This book gives the show and the cast (which I think is the most interesting cast yet) more depth. The thing dealt with most in the book is something that wasn't hardly dealt with on the show, and that's Kelley and Danny's dislike of Melissa and Jamie. There's way more content than that, but that is what's focused on a bit. 'Unmasked' also put to rest the answer of some questions, such as "Why was Kelley not in the house a lot?" and "What did Matt really think of Julie the whole time she crushed on him?". All the cast members let out what they really thought about each other, and some of the results could be surprising. All in all, I found that this season and this book is the best ever. Can't wait until next season!

A WONDERFULLY TOLD CAT-TAIL! THE ILLUSTRATIONS ARE LOVELY AND APPROPRIATE TO THE PLAYFUL THEME OF THE BOOK.

This is a fantastic story. It sparks children and adults (I'm 53!) the imagination and creativity that will help make the world a more beautiful place. I hence started to write my own children's stories. Amy Tan is my inspiration, and I hope she becomes yours.

I am the mother of 2 boys and have little knowledge of "girl" books. I bought this book for 2 little girls ages 4 and 5. The parents of each girl said their daughters were thrilled with the book and asked that it be read to them twice the day the book arrived. I bought the book because I love Amy Tan's novels and assumed that a child's book would be just as engaging. Amy Tan's story and the beautiful illustrations did not let me down.

The most exquisitely illustrated book I've ever owned! A fun, fictitious way to describe how white siamese kittens get their colors.
It's a bit long for a bed time story, but really fun! Kids ages 8 or 9 and up may be able to read it themselves, but the beginners may have a hard time.

I've read Amy Tan's "Joy Luck Club" and "Kitchen God's Wife" and had no idea that she's a wonderful children's author as well. I learned about this book from watching the same titled PBS series. The series is cute for kids, but the book is a wonderful story, rich in history and beautifully illustrated. Tan is a gifted writer that children and adults can appreciate.