Virginia Books

I really enjoy this author's writing style. Unlike most fantasy, it's not filled with the verbose paragraphs of description and the characters don't all speak 100% proper English. Thank you! This is a great, exciting, fast moving read with wonderful, lovable characters. I look forward to the sequel!

The title says it all. First, the characters, by whom I judge a book. They are unique individuals. One cannot help but like them, sometimes in spite of themselves. They are real. The heroine may be a mage and have to rescue queen and crown, but she is a school teacher and wants to go on being a teacher. There is humor, spirit, and refreshing (even annoying) imperfections. Above all, there is courage, loyalty, love, and a driving sense of right and wrong.

The fantasy. Here is a well-crafted, fascinating society with a logical explanation for mage power, natural laws and restraints on its use, a completely believable integration with the 'normal' segments of society and life.

The adventure. Excellent, carefully directed building of tension and danger (emotional and physical both) until the final duel, the Mage Challenge. That is almost more experienced than read.

A good book. Good fun. Buy it and read it, preferably more than once. I did.

This has been the best book I have read in a long time! The reader is instantly swept into the story line and these characters will remain in your heart forever. I strongly encourage everyone with a love of great books to read "Mage Confusion."
A really good book is often thought of as buried treasure, and Mrs. McMorrow has struck gold! Can't wait for books 2 & 3!!!!

I hate to admit this but it has been years since I have been interested enough in a book to get past the first chapter. This book not only got me through the first chapter but I had the book done in two and a half days. For most that may not seem like much but if you had my schedule.....I honestly think this book along with the other two to come would make a great motion picture. You can picture so well in your mind the characters, events, places, ect. like you were there. I was so surprised to find that everything I thought was going to happen was wrong which is the kind of book people like to read. Mrs. McMorrow has done a wonderful job on her first book and I'm sure the sequels will be even better. Kudos to her and I hope more people will read this book and I'm so excited about getting the next installment. Thanks Mrs. McMorrow for a great book!!!!!

This book is a rare delight.

There are two types of science books. Most explain how and why we know something about what we know. The other questions what we assume we know, which is generally the path to new, expanded and sometimes very new fields of scientific knowledge.

Al Gore, for example, who realizes no one gets major headlines by being modest or unsure about one's ideas, says we must end our reliance on fossil fuels within a decade. Dyson says, in effect, wait a minute, we're already overdue for an ice age, maybe global warming is keeping us from freezing.

In contrast to Gore's certainty, Dyson questions, probes, doubts and considers alternatives. In a world overun by people who are dead certain about politics, progress, art, theology, music and almost everything, it's a treat to find educated and thoughtful ideas by someone who admits, "I am trying to reconcile the theoretical law of increasing disorder in the universe with the evidence for increasing order in the universe as we observe it."

On that basis, Dyson will upset people who know things.

Granted, once upon a time he was young, immature, impatient and brashly confident of his wisdom. In 1945, when he was 22 years old, he advised Francis Crick not to give up physics in favour of a new career in biology. Fortunately, Crick didn't take Dyson's advice; instead, within seven years he discovered the double helix structure of DNA which gave birth to molecular genetics.

Suffice to say, Dyson learned, "Even a smart 22-year-old is not a reliable guide to the future of science. And the 22-year-old has become even less reliable now that he is 82."

Great stuff, if you like the idea that science is a continual search for knowledge and not a platform for politically correct dogmas. Science doesn't freeze what little we believe is true into rigid orthodoxies that cannot be doubted, challenged or modified.

Dyson writes that it is the poets who sometimes have a greater insight into science, such as William Blake, who was once "this crazy poet" but who also invited us

"To see the world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour."

Fortunately, those who see more and question more than most in today's world are not crazy. They are merely gifted with a different and sometimes better insight. From them we learn new concepts, or strengthen our own ideas. This intellectual approach creates a rare book when someone such as Dyson share ideas in a clear, concise and provocative style. This book is a dialogue of ideas.

It begins with philosophy of the fox and the hedgehog by Isaiah Berlin and Archilochus, and ends with a beautiful portrait of an autistic child who grew into a wonderful woman. This delightful tour of ideas, questions and observations closes with the thought "... there may be more things in heaven and earth than we are capable of understanding."

Dyson reflects here on the 'dome of many - colored glass that stains the white radiance of eternity' our richly varied world. He shows a commendable humility in his reflections on the place of life in the Universe. Originally given as public lectures to a scientifically literate public Dyson opens with a consideration of problems of biotechnology.
In one section he writes about three heresies he espouses, one in which he suggests that global warning is not perhaps the awesome danger many see it to be. In another reflection he speaks about the divisions between 'humanists' and 'naturalists' the latter being those who wish to preserve 'nature' and believe nature's way superior. He talks about his own native England about the poverty of the natural landscape until human beings transformed it to the land of meadows and moors, of pastures and green farmland. He considers himself a 'humanist' who believes that mankind's mission is too in transforming nature for the better. And this though of course he is aware of the dangers of this, of those we have created for ourselves. In another realm he speaks about his belief that the U.S. is about to be replaced as the world's major power most likely by China but perhaps by Brazil or India. He suggests that about one- hundred and fifty years is all the time a major nation can be predominant before it becomes over- extended in every way. He suggests the U.S will reach this point around 2070.
In speaking to young people about the future he warns about rapid changes making obsolescent the professions and work they have trained for. But he concludes with a modest and somewhat optimistic word of advice to them.
"The main lesson that I would like them to take home is that the long-range future is not predetermined. The future is in their hands. The rules of the world-historical game change from decade to decade in unpredictable ways. All our fashionable worries and all our prevailing dogmas will probably be obsolete in fifty years. My heresies will probably also be obsolete. It is up to them to find new heresies to guide our way to a more hopeful future."








"

Crystalline writing and thinking in this book that goes beyond disciplinary boundaries.
Nathan Szajnberg

Freeman Dyson is one of the most forward thinking people of the last 100 years. For some book review to simply dismiss his resume out of hand is absurd. This is a complex issue that demands we think with our heads and not with our hearts. The study of this issue requires that those familiar with the complex mathematics involved have a say so, and not just climate scientists with only a cursory understanding of the machinations of their climate models....twhair@fgcu.edu

Clear and concise, this book has taken me from knowing nothing about web design to publishing a site of my own in 3 weeks. While there is much more to learn, my site is running smoothly and 100% W3C Strict compliant.

this book is the greatest that i have read ever.
though that i have a little expiriance with HTML and CSS , but this book give you the actually way to write your code only at XHTML and CSS , with a great way of explaining .

I've been studying at web design and construction for over 10 years. Since I'm both dyslexic and limited in my short-term memory, I've had problems with doing more than just the basics. Understanding XHTML and CSS have been problematic for me, and I've had to rely on programs like Dreamweaver and Front Page to write my pages. This book is finally bringing home how web pages are constructed, and how CSS is used for both styling and positioning things. Virginia has put together the best method of presenting the material in a manner that I can comprehend, and hopefully retain. I've purchased a lot of books on web construction, but none have helped me as much as this one has, and continues to do. I'll keep it over all the others as a reference in the future.

Virginia DeBolt's newest book is an excellent resource for modern, standards based design. It combines the depth of a well qualified instruction with lively, real world examples of practical web applications. This book will save you so many hours of work and research by showing you how techniques have evolved and how each application meets the various standards. Webpage structure (including columns), various navigation methods, working with images and picture galleries, banners, links, blogs, and much more are all discussed. Also included (in color) are inspirational website designs showing these modern CSS based techniques.

In the course of designing our numerous large websites for parent support I have read over a dozen design and coding books on html and css, and this is one book I return to over and over again.

I really enjoyed this book as it shedded light on parts of my family I had not known about. Despite the personal connection, I believe the book provides a unique perspective on the hazards of coal mining [particularly timely read based on the Sago mining disaster], life in a company coal town and the struggles of a work force to unionize to raise wages, benefits and increase safety issues.

"Memories From Dante: The Life of a Coal Town" is far more than just a trip down memory lane of a small town in the coal fields of SW VA. The detailed oral histories and the huge number of photographs do provide those living in the area with the chance to renew old memories but it also provides researcheers and scholars with a social, economic, political, religious, and family history of the town and area. Anyone interested in a comprehensive study of a coal town needs this book. I especially recommend it for libraries and archives. Kathy Shearer has done a remarkable job of helping the people of Dante tell their story. Perhaps she never saw a lumb of coal before she came to the area (all the Dante mines are closed now) but the town and its elderly residents live in her book. Without any sense of superiority she has enpowered these people to tell the world what it was like to live in a time and a place now largely forgotten.

This Book took me back to a childhood that many of us only wish we could revisit. Kathy Shearer was able to catch the history of a wonderful little coal town and bring it to everyone's attention. People who grew up in a small town will be able to relate and relive the pleasures of a hometown community. Kathy Shearer took us all back to a time of childhood happiness. This is a wonderful book to read and learn of the struggles these people lived while trying to make a living mining coal and how they held on to each other for support and survival.

I bought this book thinking it's just another novice trying to write about something they know little about, but what a suprise when I started reading it. Kathy has done a thoroughly wonderful job describing these hard working, hard living and honest people in such vivid color you become friends with them instantly.
They become your family, and you love them, laught with them, cry with them, and hate them but you cannot forget them.
She is a first class writer and deserves high praise for a book which is both entertaining and historically founded.
I am just waiting for the sequel.

Francine Prose is one of our more important writers (novels 'Blue Angel', 'After', 'A Changed Man', 'Primitive People'; probing biographies 'Caravaggio: Painter of Miracles'), a writer with a profound respect of the past, for the art of writing and the art of reading. Her most recent book is titled 'Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them' should give an idea of what is in store in this most enjoyable and illuminating book THE MRS. DALLOWAY READER.

Prose writes an Introduction that, while brief, offers keys to unlocking the genius that was Virginia Woolf. 'She longed to fill the book [Mrs. Dalloway] with "speed and life", to "give life & death, sanity & insanity; I want to criticize the social system & to show it at work, at its most intense.' Prose extracts quotes form Woolf's writings in an astute manner that allows us to understand the tortured genius who wrote them. As far as the book 'Mrs. Dalloway', Prose writes '...its all here: life, death, sex, love, marriage, parenthood, youth, age, the present and the past, memory, London, war, reason and unreason, loyalty, medicine, social snobbery, friendship, compassion, cruelty; the occasionally apt but more often unfounded snap judgments we make about ourselves, each other, loved ones, strangers, and the world in which chance and fortune have thrown us all together'. She touches on Woolf's insanity and conflicted sexuality that blossomed with Vita Sackville-West, and with her suicide by drowning, but she is far more interested in sharing the manner in which Woolf created her books - her fleshing out of the state of consciousness.

As editor Francine Prose then gathers writings form such erudite dignitaries as Katherine Mansfield, E.M. Forster, Michael Cunningham, Daniel Mendelsohn, Sigrud Nunez et al, couples these observations with Woolf's own serialized beginnings of her famous novel, and then offers us the entire MRS DALLOWAY at the end of the book. Reading Virginia Woolf in this atmosphere serves to enlighten the reader and once again prove that this novel is one of the more important writings of the last century. This book is a treasure! Grady Harp, December 06

Francine Prose's Mrs. Dalloway Reader makes the enigmatic and brilliant Virginia Woolf's masterpiece and bit easier for us modern readers. Since the publication of Cunningham's spectacular The Hours and the movie titled the same, Woolf's writing has undergone a renaissance, rising once again on bestseller lists everywhere. But she's STILL difficult, with the loooong sentences, endless paragraphs, the convoluted windings of words and thoughts and phrases and explanations and descriptions and disclaimers with which her writing is rife.
This book is the missing link. It includes the complete text of Mrs. Dalloway and Mrs. Dalloway's Party, plus relevant journal entries and letters by Virginia Woolf relating to the creation of Mrs. Dalloway. Also included are essays and reviews by other writers, all about Mrs. Dalloway. Taken all together, these snippets function like a lovely roadmap into not only the character of Mrs. Dalloway, but into the mind of her creator.
Top notch.

`Mrs Dalloway' is a kind of cultural phenomena.

Everyone that I know has a different take on who she is, what this book is, and what the novel is supposed to stand for. Enter into this fray the authors own opinion about the whole of it and you have an all-out melee of fiction versus fiction.

This book, The Mrs Dalloway Reader, attempts to focus this problem somewhat. In it, not only will you find the novel itself, but you will also find various supplementary materials that help to ease you into what this novel is and what it means to so many different people. From those whose experience began with trying to impress a girl (and the lucky happenstance of finding the book at a Book-Mobile) to those who fought off the strains of absinthe addiction, the short pieces in range from essays to the first `draft' of the novel `Mrs Dalloway's Party'. Include in this assortment such lovingly-crafted emulations as Jane Mansfield's `The Garden Party' and you've got yourself a real winning combination.

But is this a good reason to buy this book? Don't you need more reasons? Of course!

Take this one: I knew absolutely nothing about Virginia Woolf when I purchased this book. She lived about 100 years ago. She wrote many books and I've seen some of her diaries in the hands of female students when I was in high school about ten years ago. She is popular with the intelligent-female group, those who want to be well-read and know the difference between Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley. Add to this that I am a guy. Now, take all that and combine it, dashing in the fact that this book single-handedly introduced me to who Virginia Woolf is and what she stood for- just through the supplementary material- and you have not only a great novel but a good place to get your foot into the door of this wonderful writer.

Is that still not enough? Okay: supplementary material aside, how is the book? Wonderful. It is a style of writing that I've heard called `Impressionistic' by some learned person. This is true- until you read Virginia Woolf (who is far easier to understand than other stream-of-consciousness writers such as Joyce) you have no idea what great pictures such simple things as words can express. Mrs Dalloway does this too, moving the reader through a simple narrative that is painted with poetical words, bringing to life a novel that is to fiction what Renoir is to painting; only the basic outline is there, amid all the broad strokes, and you must look to find it...but it is amazing when you see it.

LP

Bottom line: If you know nothing about Virginia Woolf and want a good, solid platform from which to start, pick this one. If you know a lot about her and want to explore more, you pick this one too.

I admit that I almost was very middle aged when I read any of Woolf's novels. And, that was only because I read "The Hours."

I learned that the character names therein related to Mrs. Dalloway and other characters of her novels. So, I picked up "To the Lighthouse" and experienced my first "stream of consciousness" style which I analogize to ADD - now the novel is dialogue, then thought, then observation, then . . . and all in one sentence. But, within that one sentence, you learn more than most authors can present on pages.

Reading one page of Woolf takes twice or three times as much time as other authors. Basically, the density of the writing style prohibits skimming, prohibits glossing, or prohibits you from losing concentration.

Modern authors who can conjure as much in as little paper include J.M. Coetzee or V.S. Naipual. These are three great names in the all-time history of fiction. I truly believe that she influenced these writers and hundreds of others.

This book awakened me to many things which I did not know lay within the pages. And, it also helped explain some of the orthodox-like exactitude of the characters, names and plot of "The Hours." Woolf's fans are true blue, died-in-the-wool absolutists. And, this book reflects that more than anything. Many of the published fans herein are famous in their own right, and they are just as devout to Woolf as her secret admirers - like me and probably you (who else but a Woolfie would be reading about this book?).

I recommend this book greatly as it educated me more than I could ever have imagined about the relationship between the book and her life and other related events.

I live in Kentucky and this book works great for my area. I have nothing to add to the previous glowing reviews. This is just such a wonderful book I wanted to make sure it got as much high praise as it deserves! Well formatted, clear concise descriptions and nice pictures. Everything you would like to see in a mushroom book. Five Stars all the way!

After a decade of waiting for this book, I am certainly not disappointed. As an avid mushroom hunter, I have to say that this is the best field guide I have found.

I live in Tennessee. I own about 40 mushroom books and this one is my favorite. It is great to have a book for identification that covers mushrooms found in the south so well. The pictures are excellent. Roody lists possible look-alikes in many of the excellent, detailed descriptions. He also comments on the edibility of each species. Should be an excellent book for beginners and seasoned mushroom hunters alike. Highly recommended.

I live in New York State and have been collecting mushrooms for years - edible and otherwise. I already own just about every other field guide to identifying mushrooms and other fungi, so when I saw this book for sale, I thought "do I really need another?" Well, it turns out I did. This book is fabulous! The pictures are first rate, and sometimes provide identifying detail that pictures in other books do not. While the "regulars" are there (mushrooms you find illustrated in almost every field guide) it also contains pictures of mushrooms that are common but not regularly pictured in other field guides. Consequently, it allowed me to solve a lot of long-standing "mushroom mysteries" in my backyard. The book contains longer than average "comments" on each species, often providing fascinating information. I highly recommend ths book!

In today's world of multi-cultural marriages, the surprises seem to be endless. So many women have joined multi-cultural families in the Middle East to find their viewpoint on women is not the same as we see them here in the United States. Much easier to get into the marriage than to get out of it.

Ms. Dale's story of an 60s American co-ed who marries a Frenchman livingin Morocco really taught me a lot about the country at that time as well as expatriates who lived there. It is a captivating personalized history which easily brings the reader back to that time. A very good read indeed! I wish I, like Ms. Dale's heroine, had gotten to see Algiers then. It sounds so beautiful.

Going back to our post-college days and meeting a wealthy foreigner is such a romantic notion,but when reality strikes for the differences in culture, the romance hits a different level. A most enjoyable read on every page, an insight into personalities, cultural differences and the adventure of youth.

Well, first of all, after reading only the review online, I don't think I care to buy this book personally. I am a bit offended by the differences of the title and the caption of what the book is supposed to be about. I am an American and I got married to a Moroccan man in Morocco last October. His family is wonderful. But it seems like this book would have a different title than the one for which it is published. For instance: "Don't marry an aristocrat in Europe." or something to that nature. It seems to have nothing to do with actually marrying someone in Morocco or the family being from Morocco. The family mentioned only has a business in Morocco. This is a very misleading title. It would prompt one at first glance to think that the person was actually speaking of an encounter of marrying someone in the country and being subjected to the hassles of a foreignor marrying a Moroccan national.

Schlafly's story has something for everyone. He is a gifted story teller. A real renaisance man, he brings disparate bits of knowledge together to tell the story of his brewery and so much more. His wit reminds me of Mark Twain. Schlafly is a keen student of history and culture and it shows throughout his entertaining book. Once you start, it is hard to put it down.

This book is tons of fun and is filled with lots of St Louis History that I was never aware of prior to reading it. It's the kind of book that is hard to put down, you can read it in one sitting, by the time you finish you feel like you know more about beer and are a personal friend of Toms! As a business major, I also found it to be a wonderful case study in all the economic good businesses can provide to a community(while turning a profit). Restoring areas that had seen better days by setting up shop and making them vibrant thriving "places to be" again is something to be admired and commended. As a beer fan, I can't speak highly enough of this book, it has piqued my interest in homebrewing and I hope to try my hand at it very soon. God Bless Tom Schlafly! I hope he can bring his "Beer the way it used to be" to the Dallas market!

After about 10 years of indulging in Tom Schlafly's products and enjoying the fine food they serve at his restaurants I was excited to see that he had written a book of his David versus Goliath journey in the St Louis beer industry. I was even more excited this Friday night to get to meet him at a book signing event and have a sip with him of his new "No. 15" brew to commemorate their 15th anniversary in St Louis.

Anyway enough of how I came into the possession of this fine book, which can be read in a matter of hours, and on with the review. Not only is Tom a great person and business man but he also has incredible writing talents. As the story unfolds and you are taken on journey of not only Schlafly's rise in the St Louis brewing arena but a historical recount of his beloved town, family, partners, and even his rivals at AB (or the Brewery as it is called in St Louis). Readers of biographies as well as many other reading genres will enjoy this great account of an American business triumph by the little beer company that could! Good luck Tom we hope to enjoy your products and wit for years to come!

This memoir is an interesting and often amusing look at the entrepreneurial spirit of someone who turned his love of beer and entertainment into a thriving business. The book is an easy read and makes you feel as though you just sat down for a couple of beers with Mr. Schlafly and you listened to his story, with lots of sidebars. It helps if you are familiar with St. Louis and the people and workings of medium sized mid-western cities.

This fascinating book gives the little-known history of the growth in the first half of the twentieth century of a vital community of visual artists in the Greenwich Village -- in the two blocks just north of Washington Square -- and the inevitable gentrification that followed. Using real estate records and other contemporary sources, the author provides an illuminating account of the often collaborative -- and very successful -- effort by landlords and artists to develop and renovate property here. Many of the renovations remain today as highlights of one of New York's most famed and picturesque historic districts. Especially noteworthy is Ms. Budny's illustrated accounts of the transformation of part of one particular block by the use of stucco, glazed tiles, and window boxes to evoke a Parisian charm, and of the artists who animated those spaces.

This gem provides beautiful photographs and fabulous documentation of the interwoven influences of art, artists, and art patrons. Context is rarely provided in discussions of artistic excellence, but Budny gives us the spirit of the time and opens the frame of reference to the broader international and provincial levels that compose the vibrant early 20th century art world. This work is an important link between the fabulous Parisian scene and the emerging American dominance of the avant-gard.

This little book is meticulously researched and rich in historic detail and human anecdote. The text is eloquent--spare and clear; the illustrations--many previously unpublished photos--are stunning and arresting. It tells the story of the conversion of a Greenwich Village neighborhood north of Washington Square at the turn of the 20th Century into a creative mecca evoking the Latin Quarter of Paris. Our knowledge of these artists and their families is enriched; a must have addition to any library, personal or public, that is serious about American art history.

A thoroughly enjoyable read about an exciting artistic time I did not know existed. Well researched and illustrated with a clear love by the author for the groundbreaking artists that inhabited this forgotten area of New York City. Clearly a time of extraordinary artistic sharing between artists like Noguchi, Manship, Lachaise and Hopper and many other characters that fully comes alive with colorful stories from the day. The book is both a redefining of the historical beginnings of America's avant garde in the art world and a poetic call to arms for the need for such a nurturing artistic community in New York City.

The book is a well written collection of autobiographical essays that sometimes include astonishingly honest descriptions of his life and thoughts. It describes his personal journey from a troubled dyslexic schoolboy to an internationally known glass artist. His pathway to success and international recognition was not an easy one - instead, it was marked by his relentless determination, commitment, and an unquenchable desire and pursuit for overall excellence and perfection of his work.

I found the book easy and delightful to read. His stories give a personal insight into this most recognized paperweight artist and leave you feeling that you have personally known and understood him for years. Some of the stories are funny, some are touching and some explain his intellectual and artistic blossoming. His spiritual core values, work ethics and artistic integrity become clearly obvious. In this book, Paul wrote "In the studio, I promote excellence like a holy doctrine."

I found it very inspiring and informative to read about Paul Stankard's path as a glass artist, including his stuggles and triumphs. Not only was this an entertaining read, but I also relate to some of the tribulations Paul has faced along his path and I really connect with his love for nature. As a glass artist myself, I find it comforting to see that with perseverance, one can find the right path and eventually be successful doing what one loves to do. Thank you Paul for sharing so deeply and honestly of your experiences.

Paul Stankard, by all accounts one of the most recognized and successful glass artists alive today, has collected his experiences from decades of work with hot glass into a small tome of reminiscences. His memories are organized into a dozen and a half essays, loosely chronological but often overlapping, doubling back upon, and fleshing out earlier episodes. Additional materials include 32 full-color pages of photographs after the Epilogue, and an unexpected but handy Index following that. All of this is bundled within a thoughtfully-designed cover that cradles Mr. Stankard's prose in tones of green and cranberry.

While short in length (183 pages, not including the Foreword and Preface), No Green Berries or Leaves is densely packed with feeling and reflection. Despite the weight of the material, it is a quick and easy read, owing to the fact that the voice which comes through is Paul's. It resembles more a story he might share over a cup of coffee rather than a piece of print. It is this quality, coupled with the way the book is broken down into small bites of his life rather than chronological chapters, that is the underlying strength of the book. No lofty phrasing or clinical assessments are found here, just plain words written with warmth, thought, and honesty.

Paul gives more than just a standard re-telling of how he got here from there. History is interwoven with artistic philosophies, psychological states, and spiritual beliefs, resulting in a story rich with detail and meaning. He relates his youthful dreams, training, and creative yearnings that led to career changes, but also reveals personal struggles with a learning disability, anxiety, and nagging self-esteem issues, all of which culminate in the development of Paul Stankard the artist, family man, friend, mentor, and human being.

Several themes are reinforced throughout: hard work, perseverance, the importance of continually educating one's self, harmony with Nature and its Maker, and gratitude, to name a few. Paul is forthright about the difficulties he endured, but also encourages his readers that if he was able to overcome those to become the acknowledged glass master he is, others can do the same through hard work, dedication, and faith in one's abilities. He strives to be an inspiration to others just as he was mentored throughout his career. His appreciation to all of the people who played a part in his journey flows through the pages, another prominent layer to the book and the person.

For the paperweight enthusiast, this book offers a rare look into the heart of a master craftsman, delving into what originally inspired him to take up the torch to recreate those lovely handfuls of glass, what drives him to push the boundaries of the genre, and how the medium's siren call draws him ever closer into communion with its mysteries.

Mr. Stankard's story, at it's core, resonates with me. As a enthusiast of glass art, I expected to be interested in his journey, but I did not anticipate Mr. Stankard's level of candor and honesty. The combination of his balancing act of family, his struggle with dyslexia, and the pursuit of excellence is more than an inspirational story, it's an affirmation of life as an artist.