Papers Books

Scrapbooking is all about recording family memories in a creative way, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that contains not only the personal family journals of a few well-known scrapbook artists, but the expeiences that inpsired the work, and their ideas on how the reader can incorporate these ideas into similar scrapbooks. This book takes family journaling to a whole new level.

The book shows the various journals and then gives ideas -- jumpstarts, if you will, for how the reader can create a similar work that reflects their own family memories. That's the beauty of this book. It's not only provides eye-candy, but great ideas and instructions. For example, on page 26 we are introduced to The Strine family's Time Capsule created by Allison Strine (and the credits for each piece contains ALL the names of the family members, not just the name of the individual artist -- I love that special touch!). On the opposite page is a sidebar that contains ideas for things the reader can collect to create their own time capsule. I fell in love with the Adolph family's "South of the Border" journal designed by the children of Christine Adolph. The journal was created while on a family cruise vacation and the along with photos are ideas on what to gather during YOUR family vacations so you can create your own journal. Throughout the book each artist shares her ideas on how you can create journals just like theirs with your own artistic and familial bent.

This is no doubt one of my very favorite art books because it brings to mind what scrapbooking is all about...our own personal memories gathered together in our own artistic way. This is not about what the magazines are looking for, but what our families treasure most. Awesome book. I'll keep it forever!

Enjoy,
Cris Cunningham

This is an incredibly inspiring book. I own many books expanding on mixed media art and this book is by far the most inspiring, creative, colorful and delightful that I've run in to. The techniques are described sufficiently enough to get you headed in the right direction and encourages your own artistic touch. There is enough variety to keep you trying new techniques and ideas for a long time to come. This has become my most favorite of my collection. I will be coming back to this one over and over again! Enjoy!

This book is an amazing venture into journal making. My passion is creating journals, and I own several related books. This is perhaps one of the best. I've poured over it several times. Lots of projects that are technique driven. Many great tips. Well thought out, beautifully written and illustrated. If you love to journal, make journals, make alterted journals, or just love to read about their magic, this is an excellent book to add to your library. I'll be using it for inspiration for a long time.

What a great selection of Matisse cut paper work! I like that these postcards can be removed easily from the book for use, or display.

What a great selection of Matisse cut paper work! I like that these postcards can be removed easily from the book for use, or display.

This is a great book if you are looking for samples of Matisse's cut paper work. The postcards have perforated edges and can be easily removed from the book. I put magnetic backgrounds on them to hang in my classroom so that children could see them when we focused on Matisse in art class.

I grew up with this book and I adore it. I've yet to find anything even CLOSE to this book- it's amazing.

There are clear line drawings, four to a page, for each fashion cycle- sometimes as little as 5 years, sometimes a thousand years apart. The shifts and transformation in styles are made clear, and the notes about what colors, fabrics, and cuts were popular are amazing.

This is THE ULTIMATE guide to historical fashion and if it's not reprinted, it's a damn shame.

NOTHING beats Wilcox's various costume books. They are invaluable references for designers, costumers, teachers and historians. I wish they would reprint them again. I constantly recommend them, especially THE MODE IN COSTUME. And the clear simple line drawings copy and scan better than any others I have ever come across. I would LOVE a digital version of this book.

This is an excellent reference for all costumers. There are extensive pictures of garmets, hairstyles, shoes, and textile patterns for every period from early Byzantium to at least the 40's. Although it is (currently) out of print, seek it out at your library or bookstore till they bring it back!

I ordered this book after my son has completed his "Let's Cut Paper". It is not any harder than the "Let's Cut Paper", but it just gives him more chance to practice his cutting skills.

I love these products. You need to try them. My girls beg to do them.

I bought this for my son who is now 3. He was a bit younger when we started using it, and he loved it immediately. We also paste our cut out pictures onto paper and put them in a binder so he can do "school work" like his big sisters. It's simple, fun, minimal mess and gives my son a great sense of accomplishment. I just ordered about 4 more of the Kumon books to go along with it.

The used copy of this out-of-print handbook arrived in lovely vintage condition. Discovering it's pale pink embossed linen cover and stylized mynah graphic in seventies jewel tones was startling. You CAN judge THIS book by its cover. And you CAN count on an authoritative treatment in Rosemary Low titles, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that the illustrations, fonts and page designs would be a case of substance with style. This one is certain to be a permanent part of my avian library.

The used copy of this out-of-print handbook arrived in lovely vintage condition. Discovering it's pale pink embossed linen cover and stylized mynah graphic in seventies jewel tones was startling. You CAN judge THIS book by its cover. And you CAN count on an authoritative treatment in Rosemary Low titles, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that the illustrations, fonts and page designs would be a case of substance with style. This one is certain to be a permanent part of my avian library.

The used copy of this out-of-print handbook arrived in lovely vintage condition. Discovering it's pale pink embossed linen cover and stylized mynah graphic in seventies jewel tones was startling. You CAN judge THIS book by its cover. And you CAN count on an authoritative treatment in Rosemary Low titles, so it shouldn't have been a surprise that the illustrations, fonts and page designs would be a case of substance with style. This one is certain to be a permanent part of my avian library.

This book is for the child in all of us who used to canter, rather than walk, to school. The illustrations show Oliver's love for both horses and the Native American craft designs. The loving care and detail of the beautiful trappings indicate how truly the Native Americans loved and valued their horse companions. Each illustration is identified on the back and most all are recreations of historical artifacts from major museums. Children can enjoy this book and will want to cut out all the items to dress the horses up. But adults will enjoy it also as a great source of information on the different tribes and styles, which has been carefully researched. A great gift for the horse-crazy little girl (and boy) in all of us.

This book is for the child in all of us who used to canter, rather than walk, to school. The illustrations show Oliver's love for both horses and the Native American craft designs. The loving care and detail of the beautiful trappings indicate how truly the Native Americans loved and valued their horse companions. Each illustration is identified on the back and most all are recreations of historical artifacts from major museums. Children can enjoy this book and will want to cut out all the items to dress the horses up. But adults will enjoy it also as a great source of information on the different tribes and styles, which has been carefully researched. A great gift for the horse-crazy little girl (and boy) in all of us.

This book is for the child in all of us who used to canter, rather than walk, to school. The illustrations show Oliver's love for both horses and the Native American craft designs. The loving care and detail of the beautiful trappings indicate how truly the Native Americans loved and valued their horse companions. Each illustration is identified on the back and most all are recreations of historical artifacts from major museums. Children can enjoy this book and will want to cut out all the items to dress the horses up. But adults will enjoy it also as a great source of information on the different tribes and styles, which has been carefully researched. A great gift for the horse-crazy little girl in all of us.

Those of us who are interested in the stories behind just HOW major breakthroughs in evolutionary and ecological thought were made have been spoiled in recent years: First there was W.D. Hamilton's marvelous 2 volume NARROW ROADS OF GENE LAND, now we get Bob Triver's wonderful NATURAL SELECTION AND SOCIAL THEORY. Here, in one place, one can find most of Trivers' revolutionary work on the evolution of social behavior, and as an added bonus one also gets Trivers' unvarnished -and often highly entertaining- commentary on just how he came to put together the ideas that -love 'em or hate 'em- provided much of the driving force behind Sociobiology & ultimately lead to Behavioural Ecology and Evolutionary Psychology. Along the way we are introduced to a fascinating cast of characters, ranging from Ernst Mayr, the foremost living Darwinian, through the neo-Marxist wing of Harvard, to Huey Newton, ex-Minister of Defense for the Black Panthers. Trivers' thinking is as eclectic and far ranging as the list of his friends and enemies, and while many of his subjects (altruism, parent-offspring conflict, fluctuating asymmetry, etc.) are still at the cutting edge of evolutionary thought, his writing is sufficiently free of jargon that I think it will draw in even the non-specialist. You may not agree with everything that Trivers says here -and I suspect that some folks will be offended by his candor- but this is a really important book & I see it as essential reading for any of us interested in the question of why we may do so many of the things that we do. Bravo!

This book contains all of Robert Triver's best papers.

In addition, each is book-ended between a two short essays outlining the background to Professor Trivers' initial exploration and thinking behind the paper, often including quite intriguing sociological contexts. Then, which is extremely valuable, Triver's brings the reader up-to-date with the subsequent history of the idea in that paper: who did it influence? Does he still believe it? What is the current hot take on the area?

It is a magnificent tribute to a life-time of work, and valuable for anyone active in the area of evolution.

This is a beautiful book. It combines seminal papers with anecdotes and a post-scripts which place the paper in their context and make it easier for those of us who have been consumers of socio-biology to better appreciate the significance of the ideas presented. Trivers is a compelling writer and this book is a true gift to anybody curious about human psyche and behaviour. Highly recommended.

Walcott's poetry sweeps you along on a series of vivid and memorable images that leave you breathless.

Walcott's photograph on the back of the 1st edition sums up the feeling of Bounty- Sorrow, the grief of the death of friends and loved ones, faith in God seen "as through a glass darkly", the exhaustion of a sensitive man aware of his own mortality. Yet, through it all is the great sense of gratitude for the folk culture of the country that has nurtured him. And if he will not make great declarations of religious faith, he is thankful for the sun on the leaves, the ocean outside his door, the songs of Sessenne the folk singer of St. Lucia. Like Crusoe and Odysseus, this fortunate traveller has returned to his bench on the edge of the sea under the breadfruit leaves, "where stars and fireflies breed." This poet is past posturing. "The only art left is the preparation of grace", and even now, ever the bright eyed poet (behind the tears of the aging sage), he is "going down to the shallow edge to begin again." Walcott's only vocation has been poetry, his universe that of letters. In this he has never lost his faith.

READING THIS IS LIKE PAINTING A PORTRAIT . IT GLIMMER LIKE THE JEWEL OF THE CARRIBEANBLUE TONE IS A DEEP PATHOSOF PERSONAL EMOTION THAT COME ONLY COME FROM THE PEN OF ONE WHO LOVES HIS HOMELAMD AND WRITE ABOUT IT

Simone Weil's "The Need For Roots" demonstrates the purest understanding of Christ's teaching that I have ever come across. One need not be religious to grasp or identify with this brilliant work.

This book is held together by Christ's beatitudes, parables and prayers as a way of emphasizing the need for spirituality, not organized religion, in our lives. Weil insists on vital obligations of the soul (all of which are explained in brief detail) and the importance of spirituality and self-respect in all things.

According to Weil, everything we do is to be approached with the same intense religiosity that pervaded ancient Greek culture. Love of money and glory have buried spirituality in modern societies world-wide. One of Weil's many solutions was to completely reexamine the uses of education in order to instill this spiritual understanding of human existence.

As with all great thinkers, there are countless facets of Weil's thought. The Need For Roots, therefore, is not an easy read. I found myself reading over sentences and paragraphs several times-not out of frustration, but out of an imense craving to fully understand the saintly beauty of her words.

Those who make the effort to read this book attentively will come away with a powerful, fresh perspective of life, including an understanding of the necessity of both joy and pain. Anyone with a soul should read this book.

Two major contributions to the analysis of the modern society can be found in Weil's works. In his "Essay on the causes of freedom and oppression" of the early 1930s she had given a vision of why we are left unsatisfied by progress, substituting social oppression for natural one. Here, while in London just before dying, she gets to such a deep understanding of contemporary social and spiritual problems that has very few comparisons in this century. We needs roots, she assumes, and we find them belonging to alive communities feeding our souls. An entire programme of reform of modernity is developed from this assumption, and it is applied in detail to postwar perspectives in France. According to some of us, this is still a guidebook for understanding what can be done now, a source of inspiration for rethinking how modern societies could be eventually reconverted to serve human needs, instead of representing Plato's image (dear to Simone) of the apocalyptic Great Beast.

In "The Need For Roots," Simone Weil cultivates perhaps the purest, most spiritual definition of Christianity ever put into words. She despises group thought, i.e., organized religion, while constantly referencing the words of Jesus Christ as being the essence of Christianity and a crucial model for living a "well-rooted" life.

One need not be religious at all to identify with the type of religiosity expressed in this book. Simone Weil is no preacher. Going to church every Sunday does not impress her. Dropping money in the priest's basket does not impress her. Love, on the other hand, does. And not just love of God or of religion, but love of eveything we do in life. She stresses the need for love of truth, learning, physical labor and love for what she defines as "the good."

Religion, for Simone Weil, should not just be limited to the church. Simone Weil believes that every aspect of life, everything we do, such as the pursuit of science or knowledge, should be as religious an experience as it was for the ancient Greeks; a civilization she draws reference to many times throughout the book.

Her deep spirituality is strewn throughout these pages, and wakes up the mind to the hypocrissy, spiritual crisis, and moral "uprootedness" of human nature in the modern world. In the midst of stressing this deeply spiritual message, Simone Weil attempts to open the reader's eyes to newer, less narrow-minded definitions of patriotism and greatness, as well as noting the various fundamental uses of education. For Simone Weil, education is not just a kid going to school and trying to get a good grade. Education is for those who have a love of truth, a love of knowledge and an understanding of the importance those virtues carry. It is up to a well-rooted, healthy society to instill those virtues in each individual.

Like the works of most complicated thinkers, this is no easy read. There are many different ideas spiraling around the core of spiritualism emphasized in "The Need For Roots." Simone Weil is extremely intellectual. It is unthinkable that she attained this level of brilliance by the time of her premature death at the age of 33. Most people will find themselves reading over paragraphs several times before fully understanding them. In the introduction, T.S. Elliot suggests that one reading of the book is insufficient, and he may be correct. Anyone who thinks they have grasped this book fully after reading over it once is either lazy, or, if they are correct, a freak of nature. However, the hard work required to tap into Simone Weil's stream of thought is well worth it. This is truly one of the most inspiring and provocative books I have read. While it was written in 1943 and adressed specifically to the state of France under the Vichy government, much of this book still remains crucially relevant today, perhaps even more so.

If this book is read with discernment, rather than in the casual mode in which we often read, I guarantee that a permanent tatoo of Weil's deep passion for humanity will be left on the soul.

My daughter spends hours cutting out the dolls and dresses. It enhances motoric skills as well. This activity could be also turned into great history fasion lesson.

Awesome! Simply awesome! The dresses are magnificent, the two dolls are pretty...one can hardly find a fault in this book!

A wonderful example of the various fashions that made their way in the wealthy wardrobes of America's leading women 100 years ago. Tom Tierney does it again. Only one thing I wish he would have included: a wedding gown! Otherwise flawless!