California Books

This isn't a great book for the experienced wire jewelry maker because there isn't much in here that's new. The book doesn't teach a lot of techniques or new style, except towards the end. She uses some unique findings, and makes pretty jewelry, but I was definitely disappointed, especially given the other reviews.

I'm fortunate enough to have quite a large number of books about beading, jewelry making, etc., but there are only just a handful that I return to time & time again for inspiration. I know for certain that Jean Yates' Links will absolutely be one of those chosen few! Her way of easily prodding you into finding inspiration is nothing short of genius. Her designs are just beautiful, and I am grateful that she has shared her talents with us in this fabulous book. This title is an absolute MUST-HAVE in your studio library collection!

This book has something for everyone! The projects are interesting, with a good mix of materials and the techniques are varied and useful. The majority of the pieces have a modern, funky feel with a little vintage thrown into the mix. As a beader, I really liked this book, I found the way different colors and textures were used to be particularly inspiring. I found it well worth the money!

This is a very nice book, but somehow I had expected more from it, given the other reviews. The best part is in helping people to see where inspiration comes from, and to encourage them to find and let loose their own creativity. I did not find the projects to be particularly interesting, except for the chain maille, since that's next on my list to learn. The photos are very clear and I think that they will be helpful. I feel like this would be a great book to have on hand at the bead shop where I work at weekends, because it is so approachable that even those who protest that they have no talent will find something worth trying. So, I'll probably be taking it into work and leaving it there.

I fell in love with Jean before I even knew she made jewelry. Her son attends our school and in reading her daily communication logs eight years ago I grew to love, admire, and respect the mom she is. She has an incredible family and I am a long-time fan of her parenting skills.

Jean donated a byzantine bracelet with screwball clasp to a fundraiser our school was having some years ago. This time, I fell in love with "Jean-the-jewelry-designer". I just had to have this bracelet. After I purchased mine (and showed it off), many of my co-workers did the same. This peaked an interest in what other gems she might be creating. I set up a jewelry show with her at our school. WOW! The response was incredible. Many pieces were sold and I started adding to my own collection. I am now an official "Jean Jewelry Junkie".

I finally purchased Jean's beautifully illustrated and well-organized book. I am not a jewelry designer but am so pleased to have this book in my collection. I am also incredibly honored to be a part of it. Jean, your book has inspired me to make an attempt at jewelry design. This is a first for me. I thank you.

-Nancy

I got this book based on the positive community reviews I read and I was not disappointed. There are so many recipes in this book that I want to make. The Chunky Tomato-Vegetable Sauce on page 109 was absolutely yummy! It is now my husband's favorite pasta sauce! I thoroughly enjoyed the Vegetable Chili recipe on page 185. And everyone loved the Shrimp Curry with Asparagus and Snap Peas on page 94. In addition to the great recipes, the book has great informational sections on recommended portion sizes for the average adult (which is really important re-learning that I have had to do) as well as really important background data behind the science of the diet recommendations (look for this in the back starting on page 286). This is now my favorite cookbook and the first cookbook I consult when I am looking for ideas for what to make for dinner! I have enthusiastically recommended this book to both family members and friends!

I'm on Day 6 of a 30-day vegan challenge (just diet, not lifestyle). I just got this book last week and the timing was perfect. It has dozens of gourmet-tasting but easy recipes that are either vegan or easily converted--vegetable recipes, soups, salads, grains, and even some desserts.

Most of the recipes focus on plant foods (which is the whole point of "the new American plate"). The grains recipes often rely on intact grains, which I prefer over flours. The recipes are pretty simple but contain yummy combos I would never have done on my own, like quinoa with peas and sage, or roasted parsnips with sweet potatoes and apples.

The book has a nice layout, a thorough index, and photography that makes me drool (yes, over vegetables). I just wish I could find more books exactly like this one. I'd give it more stars if I could.

I've been cooking healthy for a while, but this is by far the best overall cookbook (healthy or not) I have come across. Everything I tried has been great. Even my picky daughter has bought a copy and lives by it, so whether you have gourmet tastes or plebeian like my daughter, it is a perfect cookbook.

It amazes me that the best healthy eating cookbook is also the best cookbook for modern American cuisine. My fiance bought this book about a year ago and I am consistently impressed by the variety and taste of the food contained within (it also helps that she is wonderful). My personal favorite: the couscous with raisin, apricot and ground beef.

I received this book wrapped in plastic and once opened I was overwhelmed with the smell of mildew. Once all was corrected (great customer service) I enjoyed it. I have cooked several things and tried new legumes I had never heard of. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys the art of cooking healthy unusually good foods.

Woodward had done a masterful job, with his writing assistant, of describing the issues of command, the concern about sending others into combat where they may lose their life, the need to keep in mind what is central about a mission, and so many other thoughts about what leadership means. This book is a study of BOTH (1) management of a large task (be it war, be it a large company or nonprofit, be it of government) when dealing with an adversary compelled to fight you (be it the other side in a war, be it a company fighting you for market share, be it a Democrat or Republican that believes as you do not), and (2) of management of a military war where weapons are wielded by you and weapons are wielded or threatened against you. The real-life drama of uncertainty of events, of certainty of purpose, and of just what went on in this saga is of interest to very many readers. I have British friends, I have Argentian friends, and no matter which side you believe is right (both have their points) this is a good book about a mission one is given and how one needs to carry it out, and the thoughts and second-thoughts that must go through any leader's mind.

Read this as a book about leadership, and you will do fine. Read this as a book about war, and you will also do fine. Read this as a book about both, and you'll get even more out of it.

The book was received in excellent condition. The story is well written and very interesting. Would recommend it highly.

As Wellington famously said of the Hundred Days Campaign culminating in the Battle of Waterloo, the Falklands Campaign was a also damn near run thing, according to the Battle Group Commander, Adm Sandy Woodward, in this excellent book. Writing in what can best be called a distinctly British style, Woodward takes the reader into the bridge of the Hermes, his command ship for the Falklands expedition. What we get is a brutally honest, technically detailed, and gripping narrative not only into how the British pulled off a decisive victory, but also the self-doubts and mentally taxing minutia of a Commander sending troops and sailors into harm's way. This book is especially valuable for its detailed description of how navies fight. This is no small task. For example, the reader learns how:

1. submarines track ships and the risks they run to track them and shoot them. The example of the sinking of the General Belgrano is first rate
2. how a routine matter such as cross-decking troops between ships bedevils commanders and can end in tragedy
3. ship's tactics for defending themselves against aircraft (this is particularly helpful. In the US military, we have become so accustomed to air and sea superiority that those who operate on the ground take it for granted. It's not! It must be gained and earned - if need be, the hard way.)
4. The inevitable tension that will arise between sea, air, and land commanders during the prosecution of an amphibious campaign. We get Woodward's side here, but he is brutally honest on when he was right and when he was wrong.
5. The role of destroyers, frigates, aircraft carriers, amphibs, and supply ships, and the risks they ran -- and still do -- to do their jobs.

This is one of the only books I know of that actually explains how modern navies fight, and it is thus indispensable to navy officers and to those who seek to learn more on control of the seas.

Into the finest traditions of The Royal Navy ( and any other righteous, but self-anylizing, self-depricating, hero-by-fire war-tested veteran), we are allowed an inside view into a theater-of-war that we, who have never paid the price, secretley covet. Gallentry, selflessness, pride of country, pride of duty, discipline, all seem to be the lost arts of the past, but Woodward and others in this telling instruct us that, to this day,our young men and women rise to the occasion, as in the days of old. What is that extraordinary part of us that is able to trandsend all our own limitations and push beyond to victory, over our enemy and over ourselves? This book may help you to answer that question!

This is an absolutely first-rate memoir by the man who led the British fleet to victory in the Falkland Islands War. Only 50 years-old when he was chosen to lead the battle group to recapture the islands in 1982 (hard to believe this gentleman is now 73!), Admiral Sir John F. "Sandy" Woodward was courageous and competent commander. That being the case, he is also refreshingly honest and humble as he tells his remarkable story.

As the Admiral mentions in the epilogue, many will always regard the Falklands as having been "a pushover war - the mighty Brits crushing the ridiculous Args" (349). But as this book makes clear, it was anything but a cakewalk. The Argentinian sailors and pilots were brave and worthy oponents. The British fleet took heavy casualties: 6 ships sunk (2 destroyers, 2 frigates, 1 amphibious warfare vessel and the transport vessel Atlantic Conveyor with its precious cargo of 10 Wessex and 4 Chinook helicopters). Another 10 ships were badly damaged. Many of these were not sunk only because the Argentinian bombs reguarly failed to detonate. The British, of course, won decisively though, thanks to the professionalism and courage of the British forces. But it was an intense and bloody six weeks.

The campaign was also a turning point in the history of naval warfare. Although anti-ship missiles were first used to sink Syrian missile boats by the Israelis back in 1973, the destruction of HMS Sheffield by the French Exocet missiles fired from Super-Etendard fighter-bombers grabbed the attention of the world's militaries. Newsweek's subsequent cover-story on the incident read "Falklands Fallout: Are Big Ships Doomed?" Many wondered if large warships had been rendered obsolete by the effectiveness of anti-ship missiles. Indeed, the two British aircraft carriers in the South Atlantic were very vulnerable. If even one of them had been put out of commission by an Exocet, it is unlikely the Falklands could have been recaptured. It is very interesting to read about how the British struggled with some of their new high-tech weaponry such as the Sea Dart. It took some failed attempts in battle before the bugs got worked out and they got comfortable with the new system.

Admiral Woodward is an excellent writer. His descriptions of the battles are riveting, especially the moments of calamity such as when HMS Sheffield was crippled by Exocets. You really get a sense of the fear, anxiety and adrenaline. It's as exciting as any Tom Clancy novel without a doubt.

Wonderful book like all of Mc Phee's work. However, disappointing in that he did not cover the California orange industry to the same extent he gave Fla. Perhaps another book one day. JMK

Expertly executed. A detailed history of oranges--customs surrounding, growing, marketing, geography--yet if you apply your close reading skills and critical thinking you may find that this work has deeper meaning. Could it also be taking on social issues such as poverty, ignorance, miscenegation, reproductive rights, and just plain old politics. It is certainly intriguing to consider this when drinking in the beauty of the writing and the mastery of weaving a comprehsensive report on all things having to do with oranges. Never dull no matter what your take.

It's forty years now since this brilliant little mandarin of a book appeared. Early reviewers (and readers of McPhee in the New Yorker) were amused and even a bit ill-at-ease at the entertainment that the author squeezed from a subject as apparently banal as oranges.

Fruit, after all, is hardly a subject for serious discourse and therefore must not be a subject for serious readers. But it was hard to avoid the suspicion that there was something more important about the dynamics of everyday life than about the transient political and artistic events that captured 'serious' attention.(Valley of the Dolls was a best seller that same year)

In the years that followed, we saw a growing realization among scholars that ordinary life was worth study. In fact, the suspicion is even raised that ordinary life may be the thing most worth studying. There has been a spate of books examining such mundane topics as salt, the codfish, apples, spices, coffee, sugar and wine. We have had biographies of diseases and inventions and public manias.

Some of this attention to the mundane has been diluted by its focus on the ordinary object as a marker of greater things: sugar stands for colonialism in Sweetness and Power, public napping stands for a cultural of denial in (No) Time for Sleep and so on.
But increasingly the daily lives of ordinary people-the hohum stuff of most of human existence is seen as worth attention.

Remarkably, it turns out that everyday things are often the most fascinating. Here's a book by the man who played the first card in the genre. It remains remarkably readable and charming and its indirectly indicated concerns are very much alive today.

"Oranges" was the first of John McPhee's books I ever read. I found a copy at a thrift store about ten years ago, and was absolutely blown away by it. Since then, I've probably read it another six or eight times. There is so much fascinating information in it, covered in such a beautiful way, that I could probably read it once a month and still find it entertaining. I'm here to buy yet another copy, as I tend to loan out McPhee's books to my friends, whether they ask for them or not. Unlike other books I loan out, my friends eventually return the McPhees, if only in hopes that I'll loan them another one. I always do. Oranges has been away for about a year this time, and I'm feeling a powerful urge to read it again.

Whether a lot of the information in the book is out-dated or not is totally immaterial. McPhee's work is not journalism covering current events, it's brilliant literature on non-fictional subjects, in the same way as the writing of Samuel Pepys is well worth reading today, in spite of all his subjects' being deceased.

I recently read Mr. McPhee's "Survival of the Bark Canoe" again, and found it just as hilarious as ever, and just as informative. Mark Twain couldn't have covered the subject as well, or any more entertainingly.

Aside from the sheer quality of his writing, the great thing about John McPhee is that he's so damned prolific. Any time I see one of his books which isn't already in my collection, I snap it up; yet I still haven't managed to read his entire body of work. But, I'm working at it.

First published in the 1960s, Oranges by twice Pulitzer winning journalist, John McPhee got a limited lease of life back in 2000 when Penguin reissued it as a modern classic. And while it's an interesting little book covering pretty much everything to do with oranges, the reportage within doesn't so much as ground the book in its time than date it

You may think that there is not much to say about fruit in general, never mind being specific. But that's where you'd be wrong as, it turns out, the orange has a catalogue of facts literally bursting with juicy trivia. It begins with uses for the fruit around the world, covering methods of eating, seasoning, and even cleaning the floor and removing grease. It explores the etymology of both the fruit's name, and it's scientific name, Citrus Sinensis. Along the way, as it spouts nugget of information in quick succession, we see the orange in history as it began its two thousand year westward journey from China to the Americas until orange growing and juicing became a worldwide industry within itself.

Splitting up chapters of trivia, McPhee shares the outcomes of his meetings with orange barons, orange growers, and other assorted industry types. While interesting to read, the text is littered with anecdotes containing names that will mean nothing to anyone other than their immediate families. And, to top it off, there is a section whereby we learn of new methods being introduced to improve the industry that, even if you have no experience of it, you know has long since been superceded by methods. It doesn't take a genius to know that in a world rife with technology and technological gains, that the huge workforce mentioned in Oranges has long since been made redundant or replaced by immigrant workers.

McPhee's style is immensely readable, the way he dances from fact to fact a delight to read, and when he injects some humour to his catalogue of orange facts, you can't help but raise a smile - at the joke and in appreciation of its wording. His anecdotes do drag, and I think it wouldn't be uncommon to breath a sigh of relief once they conclude.

It's a quick read and a quirky subject, and McPhee's research is to be commended, although much of the journalistic writing -reading it forty years on from publication - has soured. That said, if you know nothing of the orange industry - and oranges in general - then Oranges is a fun little book that should quench that specific hole in your trivia.

You'd realy be surprised to find out what San Diego has to offer in the way of hiking and trails. This book is your guide for those trails. From a 90 foot Waterfall (Cedar Creek Falls) to many other wonderful hikes. I highly recommend this book if you want to learn more about hiking in San Diego.

This book is the best hiking book I have come across, and I have many. Not only is it well planned out, with attached maps, and hikes separated by areas, but it also grades the level of difficulty very accurately. As for the comment on this book being old and vague on location... well, it's not designed to be an all encompassing guide, and you will have to dust off your map or Map Quest the locations.

We just recently moved to San Diego, and it's been a great source in discovering all the area has to offer, I feel that without it we would have missed out on so much.

My co-worker was telling me about all the wonderful waterfalls and boulders that he saw when he was hiking, and he told me that he learned about the trails from this book. I immediately ordered it, and so far, it has been handy to have.

Each trail is labeled with its difficulty, length, and even the best times to go. The descriptions are very useful and are pretty accurate.

There is an art to describing hikes in a succinct yet useful manner. Like with movie reviews, you don't want to give everything away, but you want to give the reader enough information to decide if the subject matter interests him enough into going to experience it for himself. Jerry Schad is THE master. It is simply amazing how much information he can pack into so few words. Once you do a few of his hikes, and reread his descriptions, you can quickly learn what exactly he means by certain turns of phrase and the like. This is because while English (or any language) is a poor tool for communicating this type of information, it's all we've got when reading a book. But what Schad does is describe practically every worthy hike in San Diego County in a consistent fashion, so you can apply what you learn he means by a certain description for one hike that he uses for another hike.

San Diego County is an amazingly diverse area of natural wonder. To discover it without Jerry's help would be very difficult. I strongly recommend his book for anyone interested in such a discovery.

However, I do recommend that you take several 1-star hikes before going on to a 2-star, and several 2-stars, before a 3-star, etc., primarily to learn how to read and use the book most effectively. Picking up the book and planning a 5-star hike before going through the rest of the process is NOT recommended.

Have fun!

Exhaustively researched, comprehensive, with good descriptions of why you'd want to pick a certain hike, so you'll know what you've got to look forward to.

This may be the only book you'll ever need on the subject, but it's not the only thing to take on a hike: you'll need that most uncommon of things, common sense" -- and that means you'll also need to bring a MAP and water, and the rest of the "Ten Essentials."

Remember, it doesn't replace a USGS or topographic map, let alone good hiking sense. It's "just" a trail guide, albeit the best one the county has had for about 20 years. And frequently and responsibly revised, too. No guidebook, or map, is of much use unless you know how to use it: a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, right?

Don't expect too much. With San Diego's exploding population, your enjoyment of trails can alter seasonally with use, let alone by weather. Schad makes every effort to anticipate your tastes when he describes a trail, when it's best to go, what you'll get most out of a hike. You'll learn how to make your hikes match your tastes the more you use this excellent book. And you'll learn to appreciate, up close and personal, the scenery of the climate you moved here for.

San Diego county has great places to explore, and a wide range of habitats: from coastal to montane, to high & low desert. Most of it makes great scenery, but up close it can be intimidating. Schad's book won't let that stop you.

Most trails, even those in state or county parks, are not well marked except at trail heads (about what you should expect when park budgets are so meager these days).

This book and a topographic map are just the things to reawaken a sense of purpose, and to give our desires a sense of direction. And these, in turn, unlock our sense of beauty and wonder.

San Diego deserves nothing less from its inhabitants, and they and it deserve nothing less than such a resourceful book as this.

This is the story of a brilliant young man who seems to be always on the move, moving from one interesting city to the other.

At the beginning, the author leaves New Delhi for US, where he is awarded a fellowship to study at University of California, but he gets caught into culture shock, as well as an internal dilemma, seeking a deeper meaning of life. While he is most vulnerable, he manages to fall in love with one his student but is unable to express his feelings.

Then he seems to have gone through the roller coaster ride of the technology industry emerging as a winner, a successful technologist leading a group of innovators.

We end in beautiful San Diego, with a moving story about how the author and his family face the Inferno, the great wildfires of 2007.

I don't believe anyone has experienced living unless they have ventured around like the author has. It is in his narratives, his reaction to the challenges he faces and his observations of people and culture of various places that he truly shines.

It is my top read of the year!

Whether you ever wondered about meaning of it all, or you want to read something light amusing, or want to see places like Seattle, San Diego, and Nashville from the eyes of the writer, or vicariously live the life of a student at University of California, this book is for you!

This book combines elements from good humor, a memoir, a scenic travelogue, a touching love story, science fiction and philosophy.

The author, pretends to be an Artificial Imagination computer program simulating human creativity, describes the life/career journey of a modern nomad through the Hi Tech world of California and Washington (Settle). The book is clever, witty and obviously written by someone very intelligent but still manages to be very down to earth and funny! it's light reading, the author has a conversational style, you feel as if you are reading a letter from a close friend!!

As a travelogue, Welcome to the USA is pretty good, Kalpanik certainly made me think about wanting to go to San Diego, Seattle and Nashville.

as a character. Kalpanik seems simultaneously incredibly thoughtful and serious and yet someone who has a carefree attitude towards life, someone who handle life as it happens!

It's a light reading, and yet thoughtful; funny yet serious; conversational yet literary!

This book takes many life concepts expressed in different forms and combine them in a mishmash. He structures the 12 different personal essays, each highlighting a particular transitional period in his life or a specific experience in to a beautiful collage of experiences in this book very successfully. What a funny memoir!

Kalpanik S. is a fine writer with a lot to say about a lot of things and a unique way of making you laugh! I highly recommend her book.

ReKalpanik S. takes us through his arrival in USA as a student and subsequent travel to several places - San Francisco, Seattle, Nashville, and San Diego. In each places, he focuses on similar aspect of his life as a technologist and an immigrant - acceptance by local people, standing out as a ethnic minority and foreign born, life as a technology execuitve and family life. In addition, he covers local food, people, culture and sources of enjoyment, joy, and finally, and his quest for love and balance.


He adds so much meaning, passion and humor, he is so open with the readers that I felt like I was reading a private letter that someone would write only to their best friends.

The writing is refreshingly unexpected, humorous and meaningful. Great read!!

What a treat! So refreshing to have someone as talented and connected as Niven share his uncensored experiences. The stories of Errol were moving beyond anything I'd ever read about him before. Everyone has sung this book's merits, I want to concentrate on "Our Little Girl". WHO THE HECK WAS THAT???? People are saying Vivien Leigh (came from Arizona, left her mother behind, had a baby, married a camera man, married three times, grew up in the Hollywood system, a blonde known as the Erector set?????) Vivien Leigh doesn't even begin to fit this description. Lana Turner seems most viable but these details do not fit her story either. Same with Rita Hayworth. WHO WAS IT???

I read both books at school in the eighties. I well remember coming across them at the back of the room in my English teacher's large bookcase. I don't remember much, just that they were a great read. Well his first time sticks in my memory....

There is something about the way in which David Niven writes about other people where you just know they would approve. David Niven always seemed to play the good guy, the hero, the sort of person to whom we would all wish to aspire. Writing about those people with whom he worked and came into contact was, however, a serious departure from acting - and could easily have gone so horribly wrong.

In this book, however, he confirms his credentials as a writer and pours his own brand of humour onto each and every encounter he describes. Not once does he stoop to the level of gossip monger, not once does attack another person.

Instead, we have a first hand account of that golden age of Hollywood written by a master wordsmith who has also mastered the art of writing humour.

Was it me, or did I detect a certain disappointment from within his own relationship?, or was it that David Niven was far too much the perfect gentleman to describe such things.

If you are a fan of the olden days - the golden days of Hollywood, you will enjoy this book. If you simply want a damned good read, you will enjoy this book. In fact, I cannot think of anyone who would not enjoy such an excellent product.

NM

David Niven is an often neglected actor from the Golden Age, but as a man, he was very likable. This book is proof that the talented actor was also a talented writer. He discusses many different people and scenerios in this book, the title of which is derived from an amusing incident on a film set. He writes with depth and clarity; it is obvious he has really analyzed the people he mentions. His respect for fellow stars and directors is admirable, especially the malligned ones.

Here we learn that the "Goldwynisms" that Samuel Goldwyn is so famous for might have all been made-up. We learn that Errol Flynn was indeed a womanizer, but no rapist. We hear an amusing story about Edward Goulding's funeral complete with the worst pallbearer casting in history.

The oddest thing in the book is a short story in the form of a chapter called "Our Little Girl." I still am not sure why it was included.

The stories and writing are incredible and gives you a real sense of what true Hollywood glamor was like back in those wonderful early years. However, I do believe the "our little girl" story was actually about Lana Turner, not Vivien Leigh. He talked about Vivien and Larry Olivier in another book or section of this book, but I doubt it was Vivien that had a breakdown. Nevertheless, the man was a great actor. What a terrible amount of suffering he endured in life and what a tragic death from Lou Gehrig's disease. Would you believe he and his second wife aren't even buried together! Too bad he's not buried next to his first wife Primula in the church where they were married. Primmie was his true love. He was blessed to have his two boys as comfort after her tragic death at a party at Ty Power's house. Get both the books and read them, you'll enjoy every word and all the inside scoop on lots of famous Hollywood folks we all still love.

Christina Hamlett is a respected and well-known script consultant who has taken her knowledge of the industry and turned it into a thought-provoking look at the process of writing a script. While most how-to books on screenwriting give a reader the nuts and bolts of what makes a good screenplay, Ms. Hamlett does one better and walks her readers through HOW to make a good screenplay. Could It Be A Movie? is conversational and encouraging the whole way through and I especially like the hands on exercises that can be found in each chapter. They truly provide insight on what works for a story and what doesn't.

Ms. Hamlett begins by guiding her readers through deciding which format - movie, book, or stage play - best suits their particular story. She includes interviews and inside stories from some of the industries leading professionals who help explain what writing, and writing for Hollywood, is all about. She touches on everything a writer ever wanted to know about the screenwriting process - three-act story and it's proper structure, character and dialogue, adapting material from other mediums, rewrites, script consulting, more rewrites, and all about the business side of screenwriting - like protecting your work and querying an agent.

This book is one of the best on the market - as an aspiring screenwriter I've read many - and definitely belongs on the desk shelf right next to the likes of Syd Field, Linda Seger, and Dave Trottier. Ms. Hamlett's wonderful insights and straightforward writing style make it clear that she enjoys writing and helping other writers achieve their full potential. I can't say enough good things about this book, but I will say that Ms. Hamlett is a master at providing guidance to aspiring writers and she is a wonderful inspiration to us all!

Could it be a Movie gives great, detailed advice to aspiring screenwriters trying to come up with ideas and inspiration. But the book delivers so much more. This is a seriously good resource and I would highly recommend adding this book to your collection. From soup to nuts, Christina Hamlett keeps it real and discusses dialogue, agents, what producers do once they have your script and more. This is one of the best, most inclusive, humorous and spot-on books on screenwriting I have seen in some time. I just love Christina's voice. Reading her book is like having coffee with a dear friend.

Julie Gray
Founder, The Script Department
www.thescriptdepartment.com

"Could it Be a Movie?" tackles the title question with wit and a great sense of the craft and business of storytelling. Beyond that, it explores the fundamental question: Could I Be the Movie Writer? If that is a career you are considering, read this book first. Not only does it give solid information to help you make that decision, but it clues you in on the fundamental principles of the craft and business of writing for the movies. This remarkable book is loaded with resources from the library and from the internet. Could your idea be a movie? Just maybe, yes, with the aid of this invaluable resource.

There is only one reason a person writes - because they have to. And no one ever has to read what you write. But if you wish, pass copies out to your family and friends. I promise you they will gush and fawn. And you will realize the money you dropped on that script writing software was well spent. Then buy Christina's book. You'll find out that developing a script is not done by just sitting at a computer. Christina's too much of a lady to tell you in the book to do this, but here's what I did after reading COULD IT BE A MOVIE- I grabbed a couple note books, a bunch of sharp pencils, a bottle of scotch, found an empty table, and slashed my way into my soul. Christina helped me find places there I was proud to write about.

Just like Christina Hamlett's other reads, Could It Be a Movie? get's two pens up! This How-To book is your first step in determining whether or not your newly written script is fit for the big screen. Maybe it would be better as a book or maybe a stage play. Now, with this book as your guide, you will be able to make that determination on your own.
This book is chock full of great knowledge dug up from the wonderful mind of a successful theater director, script consultant and former actress. But what is great about the book is its easy to understand voice. Christina writes in a very conversational tone and combined with her wit and great sense of humor, it seems as though you are learning all this priceless information from across a table in a coffee shop. It's amazing how easily the information flows from the book to the brain. I even catch myself (who has no experience in this field) saying to myself, "Oh yeah! That totally makes sense!"
The book also relays great advice such as, "if you can strip away all the glitz and gizmos and your story still has something substantive to say to an audience, you've probably got yourself a solid plot." She instructs you to be familiar with the medium you are trying to emulate. "Don't be a playwright who has never seen a play, a novelist who has never read a book or an aspiring scriptwriter who never goes to the movies." And another brilliant point she makes is: "there are no short cuts in this business so you might as well start at square one."
Like Christina Hamlett's other book, Screenwriting for Teens, this book also has great mind-stimulating exercises to give a try. For instance, she asks the reader to list movies that are written in "bookend format" or what she aptly named the "maypole format." How about turning a commercial you are familiar with into a movie? All the while, she continues to drive home the importance of your story having a solid message. What does your script say to the audience?
There are so many important topics this book touches on that first timers may not already know. For example, she explains how to shorten a script by taking out lengthy stage directions. She advises leaving that to the directors. Or maybe you have never left Wisconsin but you want to write a believable book about a character in Los Angeles. With the invaluable resources she has included such as websites written to help novelist's research different kinds of people, jobs, cities and customs for anywhere in the world or anything you may be writing about, it's now possible. She delves into the legalities of copyrights and how to stay away from shady websites that promise you the world. Worried about how to find an agent? Could It Be a Movie? to the rescue! Yes, even that information is in there.
So start writing that first script because like in her waffle analogy, the first one always gets thrown out.

Robust account of one of the seminal figures of early America, one attempting the creation of an indigenous culture cast in a more universal mode than that of the provincial Christianity of his roots. The courage to give up his secure life as a minister for the uncertainties of exploration and creative renewal marks Emerson's trail through a pioneer's psychological American wilderntess, to touch on and integrate everything from the post-Kantians, to the Buddhists/Hindus to the Persians and Sufis. That Emerson evolved into a near firebrand abolitionist is an aspect of his life unsufficiently told, and this part of his later career runs clear in this book. All in all, a first rate pioneer story of another kind.

This is the only biography of Emerson that truly matters. Richardson locks in on the essentials - the development of a seeking mind is search of the ground of being and the nature of reality. Emerson is our Founding Thinker and to do him justice, a biographer has to grapple with the how and why a mind grows, changes, struggles and reaches new heights. Even if you haven't read much Emerson, this biography sheds light on what Emerson meant when he said, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."

In the past, my experience in reading Emerson has been similar to reading the Tao Te Ching; interesting, non-mainstream in its point of view, puzzling to understand what exactly it means. So I would pick up the Tao and read it at different times of the day and different frames of mind, hoping that it would resonate with me, but it never did. Maybe it was the cultural difference, or the language, or not being able to easily identify with Lao Tzu. Such had been my experience with Emerson. I wanted to understand him better because what little I did understand made me want to learn more, but I just couldn't get there.

This biographer, Richardson, really did his homework and any who want to understand Emerson better should appreciate this work. Emerson kept exhaustive journals and collections of his thoughts for many years. He read widely and deeply, kept detailed notes, and thoroughly indexed the notes. What perfect material to access for writing a biography! Apparently Richardson went back and studied much of the source material that Emerson references in his journals and brings into this biography an understanding of who Emerson was reading and what it meant to Emerson, so we receive the pleasure of following along on a journey in the development of a powerful mind. Then Richardson is able to write about this development so that it is easily readable to us moderns. It's quite a remarkable achievement.

"Mind on Fire" shows me that Richardson is certain that studying Emerson and his message is worthwhile. So much consideration has gone into this biography that when I laid it down after almost non-stop reading for several days over the holidays, I felt like I really understood Emerson for the first time, and now have much better insight. I plan to let this book simmer in my mind a few more months, then pick it up and read it again.

If Richardson could also write something as lucid and detailed to help me understand the Tao Te Ching, I wouldn't have 10,000 questions about the 10,000 things. ;-)

Mr. Richardson's 'Thoreau A Life of the Mind' was not only the best biography I've read on Thoreau, but one of the most exhilerating and enlightening reading experiences of my life. So I decided to read his 'Emerson The Mind on Fire.' And it was every bit as intimate and intelligent.

There are times you feel that you're intruding upon Waldo and Henry on one of their walks. It was an endless stroll of two intellectuals and humanists on the path of being very human. Each of the one hundred chapters (both books) are kept short, which helps move the reader from topic to topic without ever feeling put upon (too much detail can drag what is otherwise very interesting.) Though, for me personally, I would love to savor every moment these two great men shared. I don't think I could ever get bored.

Emerson has many close friends with whom one gets to know intimately. His personal address book was a whose whose of literary and intellectual greats.

The relationship between Emerson and his second wife, Lidian, is of great interest. She was also intellectual and as much a partner in life as she was a wife. Her presence is everywhere in Emerson's life.

Emerson's essays are pure poetry. And the behind the scene snippets into how they became a part of his legacy was both insightful and relevant to the day to day interactions and causes he committed himself. His transformation from the unremarkable child into the neverending 'student' of self-education and commitment to social conscience throughout his entire adult life is one to be admired.

Mr. Richardson is one of the best biographers of nineteenth century literaries. He is truly one with his topic.

Robert Richardson's biography of Emerson is superb. Though, as Richardson reminds us, Emerson did not like superlative language when precise and adequate language would do, it is the case that at times the superlative, the precise and the adequate converge (as, in fact, they often did in Emerson's writings). Richardson's biography is indeed superb in its unfolding of Emerson's life -- the loves, the friendships, the losses, the intellectual and spiritual hunger, the religious quest, the writers in America, in Europe, in Persia and elsewhere to whom Emerson owed and acknowledged debts, the grasping at and for a world, the determination of a single, brilliant human being to find his way and to see his life, and all individual lives, as imbued with the divine and thus worth living.

The book is also superbly written. Each short chapter offers enough substantive insight to urge the reader into the next. It is a long book, but not long-winded. Richardson provides the reader with some morsel of insight in a few pages of narrative, and then offers a rest to digest what has been said. His placement of quotations from Emerson's journals, essays and other works is brilliant, offering the reader a useful sketch of Emerson's metaphysics and ethics. In my own case, this has allowed time to reach for other literature more fully descriptive of the events or scenes offered in a particular chapter, or to reread chunks of Emerson's writings while moving through the biography. The book is a useful tool not merely for a study of Emerson's life but for a study of Transcendentalism and of the interplay of ideas across the Atlantic that shaped American thought in so many ways. One sees more clearly where and how such writers as Nietzsche and Thoreau obtained the seeds of their own truths from Emerson's works and thoughts.

Richardson has set the standard for the writing of future biographies. Again, simply superb.

It's a wonderful story that explores what makes a man "good" or "bad." However, it is not an easy read and requires some patience. The narrative shifts in and out of 1st and 3rd person for no apparent reason, and the writing frequently becomes prose/poetry that leaves the story behind. Some people really enjoy this style of writing but I find that it distracts from the story (which should be the focus of a novel, right?). Thankfully, after the first few chapters the story does become the main focus and most of my complaints become moot. Despite the issues I find with it, I'd still recommend this as a great and worthy novel.

Beautiful, profound book. Buechner is one of those rare authors that seem to "get" spirituality and his prose is better than anybody.

In Godric, Buechner brings to life a twelfth century hermit, a topic I had previously considered dry and uninteresting. Through beautiful, often poetic language and a first person account of the man's life, Beuchner effectively humanizes the ascetic holy man and manages to interpret quite an interesting tale. The novel is separated into very short chapters of stylized first person narrative, many of which I read multiple times for the sheer music of the author's words. Godric is a quick, fairly easy read, but certainly a thought provoking novel that you may choose to read an extra time or two.

Godric is a historical novel based on the life of a real person. What makes this book unusual as historical fiction is its written as if Godric himself wrote it 1000 years ago, as if we are reading a historical document, including period grammer and sentence structure (although not scholarly or difficult for the modern reader to read and understand). This made Buechner's job difficult considering nothing of this type of literary work exists from the period, thus it is fundamentally anachronistic. Further, while we know broad brushstrokes of Godrics life, Buechner filled in many details from the period we simply dont know about.

If you can see past the obvious anachronisms (which I had trouble) there are some valuable descriptions, such as a blood libel, that are imaginative and help to better understand the Middle Ages and how people thought and why.

Everyone points out that this little novel is graceful and poetic, and they couldn't be more correct. Throughout the novel, I marveled at the simple beauty of the words and the way they are put together, and it wasn't until later that I realized why. This novel is so meticulously put together that each sentence is written in iambs. I think that fact kind of holds within how wonderful this novel it is. It is a carefully constructed and beautiful portrait of a life persevering, persisting toward sainthood.

Everything about this novel is perfect. Of course, each sentence is perfect, and at times, I would go back a read and reread certain chapters which strike me so profoundly. The relationships held herein, such as Godric's loving relationship with Burcwen, with Mouse, and with Reginald, are subtle complex and really touching. And of course, Godric's own characterization is the biggest strength of the novel, as he moves from the worst of sinners to a godly, compassionate, and humble man.

I can't say enough for this perfect novel. I am sure that I will return again and again to its pages for the humor and warmth and beauty held therein.