Texas Books

My daughter-in-law is one of Don's daughters. I have collected the calendars for 15+ years and have some of his original art works and attended some of his art shows over the years. I am so pleased to have this book published.

Linda

Whether you are old enough to remember Model T Fords or young enough
to understand the Blue Berry, you will find this book the most exacting
record of the past and the most interesting to follow through. These
drawings of Don Collins are not only facinating but authenic. This book
will be the most read on your coffee table. Sam Harris, 3232 Hwy 29E,
Burnet TX 78611

A difficult book to locate, but seller went out of the way to find it for us and kept us informed during the process. Book arrived shortly in beautiful condition. It's a lovely book, worth the trouble and the wait. Thank you!

These are the delightful memoirs of a young immigrant from Germany who accompanied her parents to Torreon, NL, just on the western edge of the LAGUNA district just across the state line from Gomez Palacio, CH, arriving jusy before la Revolucion began.
Torreon is located where the north-south Mexican railway from Juarez to Mexico City meets the east-west lines running east to near Monterrey.





Tulitas of TorreonTulitas of Torreon;: Reminiscences of life in Mexico,

This is the true story of an American girl of German descent growing up in Torreon, Mexico prior to and during the Mexican Revolution, told by the girl herself. Tulitas's father was a civil architect from San Antonio, Texas, working in Coahuila, Mexico. He moved his wife and five children to Torreon and Tulitas lived there from an early age until several years after she was married, when she moved back to the US due to the continuing civil unrest. In the book she describes a pre-revolutionary Mexico, and also tells the story of what happened when Pancho Villa arrived. It's obvious that Tulitas loved Mexico, and this book is a rare first person history of a forgotten era. For anyone interested in this period of time, this is a great book.

I bought it some time ago for my wife, and she loved it. We live in Torreon, were the book was wroten and a cultural institution translated it and now the whole spanish edition is sold out. I dont think 1500 people are wrong.

All other attempts to post have failed. This is a test.

I know poetry. I teach the stuff. I don't know war. Firsthand, that is. But I suspect I've come as close as I'll get by reading Unaccustomed Mercy.

I very much enjoy poetry, but I don't like - really like - many poems. So much poetry is solopsistic slop and slobbering encased in fine technique. This book is different. This book is real. Ehrhart offers us slice after slice of war, of being right in the middle of it, of it being right in the middle of you, physically, emotionally, and years after it was supposedly over. Ehrhart's editting is masterful. He's earned the right to choose who goes in the book, and he's chosen well.

Some critics have said that what these works lack in poetic technique they make up for in gut-searing impact. Half right. The necessary technique is there. Whether studied or intuitive, form fits content in poem after poem.

I have a PhD in literature. I write and publish this stuff. Well, not this stuff. I've not lived this stuff, thank God. Every poet in this book has though. And they've let me get close.

We all know the war was bullsh*t. Still, readers will thank the poets for their poems and their service.

War poetry, as oppossed to poetry written by veterans, is certainly not new. The "Iliad" comes to mind. Most English literature classes also throw in poetry from World War I, which produced the likes of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon. Not since Vietnam has American Literature produced such fine poets. Thanks to the best-known Vietnam War poet Will Ehrhart, ofter described as the "Poet Laureate of the Vietnam War," we have a number of such poets being published.

Ehrhart (Marine) is known for early work such as "A Relative Thing," an angry statement reminding America that we returned veterans did "your" work ("accomplices in this travesty of dreams") and that "we are your sons, America, and you cannot change that." In "Letter," we see hope on the horizon.

Bruce Weigl (Army) is my second favorite poet. It is from his "Monkey" that the title of this collection comes from. "Burning **** at An Khe" speaks to us Vietnam veterans on more than one level. "Song for the Lost Private," about the death of a friend, and "Anna Grasa," about his reaction to a family "welcome home" truly capture some of our inner feelings.

Walter McDonald (Air Force) can write some varied poetry, from people to places. "For Kelly, Missing In Action," and "For Harper, Killed In Action," are about obvious topics. Likewise, "After the Noise of Saigon," and "For Friends Missing in Action" should be read in tandem. His "Interview with a Guy Named Fawkes, U.S. Army" is simply too witty for description.

Bryan Alec Floyd (Marine) writes one of the most poignant poems in this book. All his poems in this collection are named after individuals. His "Private First Class Brooks Morgenstein, U.S.M.C." is the one poem all should read. Brooks has a wife at home, and this is the sole reason for his being and his survival. "He only knew as he held his rifle/during a sweeping operation/that next year he would hold her/and when he kissed her/his tongue would touch hers/and she would feel/as though a piece of the sun/was in her mouth."

I know I am leaving out all the other fine poets represented in this book, not least Jan Barry, a close frind of Ehrhart's. We all owe our gratitude not just to the poets of the Vietnam War, but most certainly to Will Ehrhart for ceaselessly working to bring us this exceptionally beautifull form of expression.

The book title, Understanding Automotive Electronics, is an understatement. This book, in chapters 5, 6, and 7, gives one of the best explanations of modern engine control systems I have ever read. Every major concept of OBD-II vehicles is discussed in clear precise language. These chapters alone are worth the price of the book.

My favorite feature of the book is the end of chapter questions which can be used to test your understanding of the material. And in the back of the book, you can check your answers.

Be careful when buying automotive books. Many are written by good in-shop mechanics who have poor writing skills. This book is different. Mr. Ribbens not only knows his stuff but can communicate it to others as well.

You won't be disappointed, from air/fuel/spark to control systems, this is a very well written and informative book.

Electronics has taken over control of the modern automobile, so much so that it is difficult to tinker with the car as we used to do in the old days, since all of the electronics is contained in embedded systems and diagnostics are usually performed by a PC. All the key functions are, or can be, controlled with electronics which has greatly benefited the driver.

There are 11 chapters and over 450 pages illustrated with diagrams, circuits and performance graphs, but very few photographs of the electronics. The chapters step the reader through fundamentals of combustion, controls, engine and motion control and diagnostics. After each chapter there is a multiple choice quiz relating to the chapter. You will have to read the text in detail to answer the questions, not speed-read. It's an interesting textbook and ideal for education in the topic. I found it to be easy to read and informative. The book shows how the electronics works to improve the safety and performance of the automobile. There is little coverage on the type of componentry, wiring or reliability of different forms of assembly, so the book is only of interest to manufacturing engineers if they want to understand the reasons behind the circuits built into automobiles. Instead there are quite a few block diagrams, equations, snippets of assembly language code, and even explanations of more elementary electronic devices and systems that will probably be most interesting to the electrical engineer who is interested in how electronics controls the modern automobile.

Scooter Keyshawn looks forward to becoming one of the Graveyard Armadillos, which include Russell Knight and his sister, Racquel, Kristie Chandel, Jo Gunn, twins BJ and CJ Mochrie, and Garrett. His initiation was both heart pounding and preposterous at the same time. All he had to do was take a picture, a picture of Marcus Chandler, a retired filmmaker with a rare skin disease that left him with white - really white - and sensitive to sunlight, whom Garrett believed was a vampire. He took the picture, unfortunately, but of course there were consequences for doing such a foolish deed. Scooter apologized, forced to by Judge Grandfather Keyshawn, and he actually came to be fond of the man. As soon as people started to disappear, things became uneasy for Scooter. And, when they found Tony and Teri, the Newbaker twins, dead, everything just fell apart. He knew all accusations pointed to Chandler, but he wasn't a vampire and he didn't kill them, or so he thought.
The Graveyard Armadillos was just a local gang that no one wanted to be apart of, no one except Scooter Keyshawn. Scooter was an outcast in school, and no one really knew him well except his best friends, Flash and Russell. Flash, his Labrador, is the perfect dog for him; he's smart, loyal, and obeying. Russell, his human friend, is pretty much just like him; they like each other for who they are, and not who they want to be. Scooter, however, wants to be the one in Kristie Chandel's, the minister's daughter's, eyes. He's got a major crush on her and he hasn't made his move yet. Once they started "hanging out," they came to grow fond each other, and he even received his first kiss from her.
Although I'm not into the whole "love scene" that much, my favorite part in this fantastic book is when Scooter and Kristie kiss. Scooter had killed - staked through the heart - the vampire, Mr. Shade. He was responsible for the deaths and disappearances of the teenagers of the town. Scooter found Kristie afterwards and kissed her. The kiss was short, yet sweet, and in my opinion, nothing else could have reached the height their kiss did. It was the perfect moment for it; they both liked each other and were in great danger just minutes before. The best part: she beamed brightly and said, "I think everything is going to be all right now." Obviously the kiss wasn't just a kiss, it was a spark of true love.

Once again William Hill brings his characters to life. From the first page to the last you'll be riveted. This is Bills third trip into the realm of the vampire and I can't wait for the fourth, fifth, sixth.....

This book had alot of drama and action. It introduces many new ways to kill a Vampire. There is no telling who the vampire is. Many seens had me think it was time to lose a charactor. It shows real life matters with totally off the wall stunts. It was easily one of my favorite books.

I came across this book while looking for a biography of Carl Hayden. While there is a considerable amount of biographical information in this book, it is not primarily a biography. Instead the title of the book is an good description of this books contents: a description of the political battles involving over water in the lower Colorado River basin and the role and impact that Carl Hayden played in this political drama. Towards the goal expressed by the title, this book is well written and an engrossing read. If you are looking for a general biography of Hayden that does not focus primarily on a single area of the senator's career then Ross R. Rice's Carl Hayden is a better choice.

Author Jack August tells an engrossing tale of the politics of water in the American southwest which is virtually the same as the past, present, and future of this region. Arizonan Carl Hayden became the Arizona's first congressman (when Arizona only had one congressman) upon statehood in 1912 and moved to the the U.S. Senate in 1927 where he remained until retiring in 1969. In today's era of sound bites and short attention spans, Hayden labored for decades, leading the way to first establish federal control over western water management (so the resources of the federal government would build the needed dams and other projects needed to tame and manage the area's rivers), then parceling out the rights to the water between the various states and other jurisdictions through legislation, compacts and court decisions, and finally, after it was established by the U.S. Supreme Court in "California vs Arizona" that Arizona did have rights to Colorado River water, getting the authorization and funding for the Central Arizona Project which today brings water from the Colorado River near Parker, AZ to the mushrooming metro areas of Phoenix and Tucson. August writes a technically detailed book. Its not a fast read, but I found it indispensible to understanding the past and probably future of this state which over 5.5 million people now call home.

August brings extensive expertise concerning the history of water and hydroelectric power development in the Southwestern United States. The story of water politics in the American southwest is instructive for the governments of both the United States and Canada.

Management of North America's water resource is poised to become the defining issue in Canadian-American relations in the twenty first century. Certainly, that issue will dominate trade negotiations and will precipitate fallout for the movement of other major commodities of Canadian goods into American markets.

In Arizona, water rights was topical as a political concern before the turn of the century to 1900. Central to the issue was Carl Hayden who was elected in 1911 and served in the U.S. Congress for the next 57 years; as a Democratic member of the House of Representatives until 1927 and then as a Senator from 1927 to 1969.

August reveals in this engagingly-written biography that Hayden knew from 1914 that his political future would be tied to water resource development; a thought documented as a young politician in letters to his parents. Hayden's personal papers disclose his legendary kindness in all relationships and perhaps part of the secret to his long political career.

In constructing the history, August draws out the competing interests of upper basin states with those downstream of the Colorado River, bringing in the early interest expressed by Los Angeles for electricity and water. What was involved was large scale manipulation of water in an extremely arid environment.

The protracted negotiations resulted in CAP -- the Central Arizona Project -- which put Colorado River water to thirsty agricultural areas and provided for the unimpeded development of Phoenix and Tucson by protecting them from water shortages. The bill was signed into law September 30, 1968 by President Johnson. The cost of implementation, US$1.3 billion, was the most expensive single Congressional authorization in history. Hayden considered the accomplishment the most significant contribution of his career.

The book is extensively researched and animated through interviews with Barry Goldwater and others prominent in the issue. The author has also drawn fom Johnson's presidential papers, court cases, and six decades of the Congressional Record. Some flavor of the thrust and parry of political debate has been drawn from accounts in dozens of newspapers and journals. That all of these sources have been assembled in one volume is a valuable gift to future scholars.

Evoking transportation images to bracket Hayden's working life, August reminds us that "He began his public career riding a horse and buggy to his office and ended it voting for funds that ultimately enabled him to watch people walk on the moon." No doubt, those astronauts were looking for water!

Contention over management of North American water resources has bracketed both the beginning and end of this century and will carry on well into the next. The World Bank warns us that the wars of the next century will be about water. August's prediction: "In the future, the use of water will underlie every public policy decision made in the American West."

As a die hard Longhorn I found the stories to be fascinating and often very funny; from Earl Campbell talking about Darrell Royal coming to visit his mom to Doug English talking about his only touchdown in college [which came off a punt blocked ironically by Earl Campell], I thought it was good reading and recommend it to any Longhorn fan who wants to hear a little of the inside 'scoop' on Longhorn football life.

Sit back and prepare to see how over the years, The University of Texas has impacted lives. While the crux of this is supposed to be just about football players, you quickly realize that this book transcends football and really touches how U.T. Austin impacts lives.

I highly recommend for anyone that has every had any connection to U.T. Austin or for any High School student that wants to understand what U.T. is all about.

Hook 'em

VERY AWESOME READ!! SIMPLY CAN'T PUT IT DOWN. THE PERFECT ADDITION TO ANY LONGHORN COLLECTION. BILL LITTLE DID AN OUTSTANDING JOB ON THIS BOOK. IT'S LIKE A LONGHORN TIMELINE FOR PLAYERS. AN INSTANT CLASSIC!!

As the title makes clear, the editors gathered the works of women writers who have ventured to put the spirit of the Southwest into words. The editors wisely divide the 100 or so essays and poems into eight categories such as "Geographies" and "The Nature of Urban Life." This allows the reader to navigate with greater ease through these vibrant, evocative and often moving pieces.

In Sandra Ramos O'Briant's wry essay "The Green Addiction," the writer recounts how her paternal grandmother "didn't like it that Daddy had married a Mexican." After her parents divorced and she left Texas with her mother for New Mexico, she was introduced to the exquisite pain of eating chile, something her non-Mexican relatives "didn't have the cojones to deal with."

And in Nancy Mairs' moving "Writing West," we get a taste of what it is to live and travel in the Southwest in a wheelchair. Her prose is spare, tough and unsentimental.

Pat Mora's "Voces del Jardín" is a homage to both the legacy and pleasures of her walled garden, which, she notes, is a "design indigenous to Mexico ... brought to the Americas by the Spanish ... a tradition Moorish and Mexican."

And, of course, there are descriptions of nature, wild and free, as in Sandra Lynn's "Poem in Which I Give You a Canyon": "Notice that this canyon is comprised of / two strata of volcanic origin: / a dark bitter chocolate and an airy vanilla."

It is a daunting task to describe fully the contours of this anthology, because so many fine writers are represented here -- including Joy Harjo, Denise Chávez and Barbara Kingsolver.

"What Wildness Is This" is a fitting tribute to the rugged complexity of the Southwest from the pens of a diverse group of women writers.

[The full review first appeared in the El Paso Times.]

Although I am a New Yorker by birth and now live in Pennsylvania, I am drawn to the Southwest by the stories in What Wildness Is This. Years before, I was attracted to that part of the country by the conferences and retreats held by Story Circle Network. When I opened the book, I turned first to the stories by women I've met through this organization. Then I searched the index for stories about places I've been: the Texas Hill Country, Austin, Phoenix, the Grand Canyon. Then I read about Utah where my husband lived for twelve years before we met and a place that remains a part of him.
Almost three hundred women sent personal stories or poems for this anthology and fifty pieces were chosen. The editors then added another fifty pieces of previously published work by writers such as Diane Ackerman, Barbara Kingsolver, Terry Tempest Williams and Naomi Shihab Nye. The result is a hundred pieces exploring the relationship of a woman's life experiences to a place, the American Southwest.
The works are arranged in eight sections: the way we live on the land (A Land Full of Stories;) our journeys through the land (Geographies: Journey Notes;) nature in cities (Home Address: The Nature of Urban Life;) nature at risk (Earth Is an Island: Nature at Risk;) nature that sustains us (The Sustaining Land;) our memories of the land (The Key Is In Remembering: Growing Up On the Land;) our kinship with the animal world (Eagle Inside Us;) and what we leave on the land when we are gone (What We Leave Behind.)
The poems, essays and memoirs I read drew pictures for me, taking me back where I've been and showing me new, yet unseen landscapes through the writers' eyes. These word artists showed me what the Southwest looks and feels like - big dangerous snakes; hot, humid summers; endless wind; parched desert; small deer and short trees; distant horizons. We only have one of those in Pennsylvania - the humid summers.
This is a rough, un-softened land unlike the Northeast where I've lived all my life. The writers' words made me want to see the river that flows through a canyon, to watch the blackbirds, to feel the "muscular wind" of Linda Joy Myers' Oklahoma ("Song of the Plains."). I want to eat tortillas in Santa Fe like Sandra Ramos O'Briant ("Chile Tales: The Green Addiction.")
My ethnic and immigrant roots pulled on me when I read about the hope of a young Jewish couple in Davi Walders' poem "Big Spring, Fifty Years After." A line from her poem "Jewish Oil Brat" could serve to summarize the whole book: "...courage rooted deep here, gushed high and fierce here..."
Reading, I pictured oil wells and gas wells and dogs in the yard. I felt what it was like to be the part-white child in an Indian school like Leslie Marmon Silko in "Not You, He Said." I laughed at the cunning of Patricia Nordyke Pando's grandmother in "Dumplings Come to Town."
So many other images remain with me: Ironwoods and cactus and dust and "the occasional elm." The lives in these stories and poems are lived outdoors, no matter the number of hours spent within four walls. The land colors everything, determines everything, and decides everything.
What makes this different from other anthologies of nature writing? Written entirely by women, the authors are an integral part of each story or poem. Kathleen Dean Moore says in the Foreword that they "break down the cultural constraints of ...European ideals of `man and nature'...and "Man as individual, ...distinguished by the presence of mind from all of nature, which is as lifeless as a millstone..."
Co-editor Susan Wittig Albert says that the editors were looking for writers who had experienced the natural world "not as Nature, objectively...'out there,' but in a deeply personal, intimate and self-revealing way `in here'."
This is a collection to celebrate not only because it adds so many beautiful female voices to the canon of nature writing but especially because our own Story Circle Network sponsored it. To paraphrase Barbara Kingsolver in "Not Long Ago," "I can't think of (a book I've read that gave me) such a clear fix on what it means to be human."

What a treat! Not only are the stories and poems inside the cover delightful, passionate, insightful and/or all of the above, but handling the book itself is a delight. From the picture on the cover connecting past and present to the decaled edges and the weight of the pages, What Wildness is This is a pleasure to handle.

Inside, riches flow. Here you will find women who pour out their passion for, and their connection with places in the Southwest. The places vary from solitary canyons casting protective shadows from the blazing sun through open prairies with dancing grasses to city backyards shielding home-nests of families from urban chaos. The women who write these words write with deep feeling, fine writing and connections to Nature. These are not mere descriptions; in many cases, they are love songs.

About half of the almost 100 writers in Wildness were chosen from a call for entries by Story Circle Network, a national organization dedicated to helping women tell their stories. The others are previously published writers including Joy Harjo, Terry Tempest Williams and Barbara Kingsolver.

In the introduction, Kathleen Dean Moore writes, "the women write with a heady freedom from definition and expectation, exploring the folds and shadows of the whole geography of language and land, heart and mind." The writings are arranged into themes such as: how we live on the land, our journeys through the land, nature uncovered in urban life, our kinship with the animal world, what we hope to leave behind and other related topics.

Cindy Bellinger says it well in her "This Land on my Face", "It seeps under your skin, coursing through your veins like footsteps following old mountain trails. Before you know it, the land settles on your face. And you know you're home." There are so many delicious quotes that I can not include them all. The poetry, much of it written by First Americans, soars. As I read, I look into my own backyard, and nod my head in harmony with the writer. I remember the trails I've hiked in Bandolier National Monument in New Mexico. I am given the feeling of having been where I will never, in this reality, go. And, I, always a city gal, can taste the honeysuckle, experience the dust and feel the sweat provided by vivid memories of rural life in the Southwest,

What Wildness is This takes you not only deep into the Nature of the Southwest but also into the natures of many selves. Ry reading this anthology, you will find yourself visiting your own inner landscape as well.

by Judith Helburn
for Story Circle Network Book Reviews
www.storycirclebookreviews.org
reviewing books by, for, and about women

These authors really know their stuff! Lots of information to help your chances of actually observing these native beauties in the wild. Conservation is a repeated theme throughout. Texans will be blown away by the incredible photos! I love mine.

The authors, a husband-wife team, combine their specialties to create an exciting experience for the reader. Joe is a biologist and photographer, and Ann is a writer. They have crafted a beautifully executed book. The writing is excellent; the photography is exquisite; the organization is wonderful; and the information is easily digestible for the lay person. The authors have spent years chasing down these delightful and beautiful orchids and now bring their beauty to you. The University of Texas Press has created a book of high quality and beauty with great color photographs. Fifty-four types of orchids are discussed and described in their natural habitats. Each of the regional sections are described and orchids living in each listed. Orchids are listed by flower color, genus and species, and scientific names. One appendix lists species distribution by county. The list of references and index add great value to the book.

This book is clearly a labor of love on the part of the authors, and is one that should be very useful to nature lovers in general, and both amateur and professional orchidologists. The photography is excellent, giving a feel for both the habitat and individual plants and flowers. There is only one very rare species that is not pictured. The index is well done and quite useable. The authors have done a superb job of promoting the cause of orchid conservation -- including such things as "How to Save Our Native Orchids: What You Can Do" on page 5. They have a good general discussion of orchid life cycles, their habitats, mycorhizal associations and pollenators. For those not familiar with Texas the inclusion of a vegetation map and a short description of each major vegetation type is very useful. Orchids are listed by: 1) flower colour, 2) by vegetation/habitat types, and finally species distributions by county are given. One orchid Habenaria quinqueseta does not have a distribution map, but since it was collected over 150 years ago, we shouldn't be too concerned. The only real lack that I have found is that there is no key to the genera and species given. This is an excellent book that every serious orchid species enthusiast should have in their book collection -- if only for the wonderful photography.

My daughter was reading it and I looked at it out of curiosity to see what it was about. I started reading and I couldn't put it down. It's a fascinating story about a family that fought for justice and won. It's more exciting that a Clancy novel!

A book every one should read. Hard to believe how the IRS treated this family. Unbelievable.

Picked up this book because Charlie Moncrief is a friends father. Started reading this book and could not put it down, the story is told so well and the emotions and the drama are so put together -- reads like a Ludlum, and the amazing thing is that it is all real.

Highly reccomend.