Vans Books

This book is the result of over a decade of research by the author at the University of Twente. Merrienboer has managed to synthesize much of the current thinking and research in cognitive psychology, instructional design, and training. He has integrated the theoretical with the practical to provide a handbook for designing complex task training.

This book should appeal to the theorist as well as the practitioner. While it could be used in an introductory instructional design course and it is very clearly written, it could be somewhat difficult for persons who do not have some background in learning theory and instructional design.

The four-component (4C/ID) model creates a nice bridge between descriptive theory and prescriptive empirical practices. It breaks the analysis and design phases of the ADDIE model of instructional development into four layers (two layers for each phase). This approach allows the instructional designer to break complex cognitive skills into constituent skills so that appropriate instructional methods can be selected for the design of the learning environment.

The four components (Compilation, Restricted coding, Elaboration, and Induction) define specific activities for each of the first three layers of analysis and design. For those that are faced with the front-end analysis for an instruction system to teach complex cognitive skills, this book is a definite boon.

The book is divided into three parts. Part A gives the theoretical underpinnings for the model based on cognitive strategies. Part B provides methods for analysis, including skill as well as decomposition, recurrent constituent skills, prerequisite knowledge, supportive knowledge, and strategic knowledge. Part C covers prescriptive methods for the design of instructional systems to teach complex cognitive skills.

This book should be useful for those interested in the study of instruction design as a field as those tasked with designing instructional training materials, including full training systems, electronic performance support systems, and just-in-time training systems.

This book is simply the best and most comprehensive description of a training design system for complex knowledge available anywhere. The information it presents is firmly based in the best research conducted on the learning and teaching of knowledge needed for complex jobs and tasks. The book is clearly written. Trainers with practical experience and an introductory level knowledge of learning research will understand it and find ways to apply it. The information it presents can easily be applied for internet, Web-based, computer-based or classroom-based training delivery. Van Merrienboer supplies the missing ingredients in most modern training design system - the specific methods and conditions that must be present for complex learning to occur. This book is the best I've read in the past 25 years that I've been designing training and teaching design to graduate students. If you are interested in training, buy it!

I have always felt that the most important single source for instructional designers is Gagne's "Conditions of Learning", published by Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1985. In my opinion Merrienboer now ranks with Gagne as a fundamental foundation for instructional design.  Whereas Gagne is based on the best theory available during the 60's, 70's and 80's van Merrienboer is based on the new theory in cognitive psychology available during the late 80's and 90's.  This book should be must reading for all instructional designers. 

Why am I so enthusiastic about this book?  First, it is the best integration of much of the current work in instructional design that is available.  van Merrienboer's model integrates the best of both the instructivist and constructivist approachs to learning.  He shows how these two ways of viewing instruction are both valuable and necessary to effective instructional design.   Second, he incorporates the best suggestions from the best of the instructional models that are summarized in other books such as Reigeluth's "Instructional Design Theories and Models, Vol. 2" and Tennyson, Schott, Seel & Dijkstra, "Instructional Design:  International Perspective" both published by Erlbaum. Third, he starts by summarizing important theory from cognitive psychology research and then relates the two aspects of instructional design, analysis and design, to this cognitive theory.  Fourth,  many of the prescriptions he suggests are supported by solid research which he cites.  Finally, it is one of the best examples of technical writing that I have experienced.  The content is complex but extremely well organized and easy to read.  The organization of the book is tight, his summaries are concise and very helpful, he includes a list of all the important concepts introduced in each section, and he includes suggested readings (not just references) for each section of the book. 

If you read this book, and you are involved or hope to be involved  in instructional design, it will change your life.  It is the top of my top 10 books that should be read and studied by every instructional designer.

The reproductions in this book are the next best thing to seeing the actual paintings. The textures of the brush strokes, the richness of color are superb. Each painting is shown in its entirety on one page or on a double page spread. This is followed by a full page blow-up of a small area of the painting that gets you right into it. A brief discussion of each painting accompanies each reproduction. Let"s hope that the publisher {First Class Books} will follow with a series of similar books on other artists.

This is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL book. You must own it; there's no way around it. The most popular and familiar paintings of Van Gogh you will find here. Not just once, but magnified and then magnified again--as though you are standing in the gallery walking closer and closer to the paintings--not missing a detail.

If you are a student of Impressionism, you know how fascinating it can be to see the individual strokes of paint on the canvas and then stepping back to see how the puzzle all fits beautifully together. This book gives you that exact feeling--only stopping short of hanging the paintings on your living room wall.

Enjoy!

This is a sweeping and beautifully lush book; one of the best Van Gogh picture books I have seen. The text annotating each painting is short but very descriptive especially as regards the author's analysis of composition, color and technique. The detailed enlargements allow you to study the magnificence of Van Gogh's brushwork and color. The author also uses Van Gogh's many letters to his brother Theo to describe their feelings about the pictures and the painter's mindset.

Vincent van Gogh is one of the truly influential painters of his day and painted art revealing complex spirituality and intense emotion that continue to impress art students, connoisseurs, and artists today. He was able to imbue his work with his own psychological presence as is especially evidenced in his many self-portraits. In Van Gogh, art historian and Post-Impressionist expert Belinda Thompson has assembled his paintings and works drawn from the archives and collections of the Art Institute Of Chicago including such famous works as an 1887 Self-Portrait, The Bedroom, and Madame Roulin Rocking the Cradle. Thirty of the images are reproduced in full color, together with another twenty-two duotone comparative illustrations. Van Gogh is further enhanced for the reader with an informative account tracing the great artist's development as a painter in Holland, England, and France in a career that was to last less than a decade. Van Gogh is a very highly recommended addition to any personal, academic, or community library Post-Impressionist art history reference collection in general, and to Vincent van Gogh enthusiasts in particular.

Beautiful and affordable. They make wonderful additions to letters for friends, and my young son likes to make his own stationery with them. We also contributed some art stickers by Matisse and Degas to his classroom for a celebration of spring.

These stickers are approx. 1 3/4" x 2 3/4" and include the title of the painting and artist name.They are clear, good quality despite being sticker size. There are many applications for these including stationary, envelopes, etc. or make great stocking stuffers.

We have had this game for a couple years and love it. My kids (7 yrs, 10 yrs, and 12 yrs) absolutely love to play it as much as I do. We make a pot of tea and have some great family game time. You play it just as you would play Go Fish. They are learning about great art and artists while having fun. What's better than that? A definite 5. One suggestion, though: the only thing that this game gives you over the Go Fish deck only is the book which tells about the art, which we rarely if ever look at. So you could certainly save money by just buying the Go Fish version which is just the deck but the exact same game.

Go Fish for Art is a fun way for your kids to learn artists and their works. You get a beautiful deck of cards and a mini booklet that includes brief biographies of the painters. Artist studied in this deck include Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Seurat, Rousseau, and Toulouse-Lautrec. The game is easy to learn because everyone knows how to play "go fish." A memory game suggestion is also included. The cards are printed on high quality cardstock that is coated in plastic so the deck should hold up well for many years of use.

Beautiful card game, BUT the best is the enclosed art book that tell about the style, color, texture, description, etc. at a level children can understand. Great book and cards for teaching adults and children about Impressionistic art. I will be using this set in my classroom.

Bogomila Ovcharov-Welsh and Phillip Grushkin have created a masterpiece of their own.

I have read a myriad of art books, both "en français" and in English, of Van Gogh's works and never, never have I experienced the passion and vibrancy of his colors in a reproduction as I did while leafing through Welsh's latest book.

Only after my three hours with Van Gogh originals at the Los Angeles Museum of Art this past February and several visits to the Getty and their special exhibit of Van Gogh irises did I realize how washed out and virtually lifeless most printed reproductions are. Even slides I purchased at the Musée d'Orsay miss the mark.

Not so with Welsh's work! Once again, with this book, did I sense the passion (LUST FOR LIFE, revisted)and once again did I shed tears in marvelling at the sheer beauty and poignancy of Van Gogh paintings.

Thank you, Bobi, for your dedication to this masterwork.

The author has compiled a ravishing collection of Van Gogh's works, many of which are in private collections and have never (or rarely) been reproduced before. Chronicling the last few years of the artist's life, this collection offers a much more revealing look at his major artistic output-- and provides a clearer view of his themes, techniques, style, and their development-- than any previous volume. In addition, the reproductions are spectacular. Great care has apparently been taken to print the plates with as much fidelity to the originals as possible in this medium. If the author's accompanying text is somewhat dry and pedestrian, the images more than make up for it. Vincent painted a clearer picture of his life than any biographer is likely to give us and, coupled with his own writings (they ARE still in print, aren't they?), this volume must stand as a major testament to the artist. What a tribute! Well worth the cover price.

This book reinspired my passion for Van Gogh's art. The book is a great example of his art work and his life. He lets you deep inside so you get a real look. And his works of art are expressed with vibrant color.

Vanity in Washington by Peggy vanHulsteyn, published in December 2000, couldn't have been more purr-fectly timed. Yes, it was making its way to booksellers just as gift-givers were making up their minds about what to get the cat-lovers in their lives. But it was the embattled race for the White House that made anything with a Washington, D.C. dateline in demand...

VanHulsteyn's cat Vanity provides both the inspiration and the voice. Vanity's trials and tribulations of touring a particular city are from the feline's unique perspective. Through Vanity's travels, we humans get a tour of our Nation's Capital's hot/top spots. One of my favorites is when Vanity coughs up a fur ball in the cab when the fare seems excessively high because the driver didn't understand English and took them needlessly out of their way. She also pokes fun at bureauCATS and fat cats and other political animals...

Vanity in Washington is light-hearted, and vanHulsteyn's humor makes this a fun and funny read...Its 112 pages make it an easy one- or two- sitting reading for the cat-lover in your life -- you or someone you know. Susan Bard Hall, Pet Times

This delightful book is my choice of a gift for every one of my cat-loving friends. Van Hulsteyn knows cats, their idiosyncracies, their foibles, and their lovingly inattentive ways. Cat owners will readily see their own pet in Vanity and her antics. Upon receiving the book as a gift from me, my friend in Seattle, a 3-cat owner, e-mailed, "I can really relate to her description of Vanity getting into her suitcase that's open on the bed....Just what mine do before I go on a trip. They camp out in it and leave cat hair all over whatever I have already packed!"

And cat owner or not, everyone will spot their favorite bureaucrat in the Washington characters van Hulsteyn deftly delivers, along with enough cat puns to keep them in puurrspective. Her eye for distinctive details, as well as the charming illustrations, enhanced my pleasure as I chuckled through her droll descriptions of Vanity facing the frustrations we all deal with daily, from weather-challenged traffic to rude parking attendants to power-hungry "friends." Few of today's manners, mores and tastes escape her sharp wit.

I had met Vanity in van Hulsteyn's first book about her, "Diary of a Santa Fe Cat," and was pleased to find I could continue my acquaintance with this witty kitty--and have a second round of gifts that please my friends so thoroughly!

"Vanity in Washington" is just the prescription to laugh our way out of our recent national political quagmire. (Shall we at least all agree we could use a good laugh about Washington?) Imagine "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington" with a feline cast. No, it's more sophisticated, more light-hearted than that. OK. Imagine "Auntie Mame" as a cat. That's closer to the level of hilarity. Readers will be "amewsed " (this book is chock-full of cat puns) no matter which political party has their support.

"Vanity in Washington" offers up a charming view of our nation's capitol through the eyes of an adventurous calico named Vanity (thus the title) recounting her attempts to navigate the metro, take in an Orioles home game, attend a formal state dinner, and become the Czar of Snooze as the new director of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Inertia). It's a timeless send up of bureaucracy and a great gift for those who accept that cats already run the world and we humans are just here to open cans. Recommended.

Like other books by Richard Van Emden, this collection was totally enjoyable. The author, similar to Brown, Macdonald, Arthur and others, has the great ability to allow the reader to nearly experience the Great War through the eyes of those who fought it. The emotions, fears, feelings of those soldiers and civilians are captured in a magnificent way in this book.

Having watched the television documentary series, reading the book was a welcome addition and a possession that I will always treasure.

As the years go by, these veterans now in their 90's and many aged 100 plus, are becoming fewer and fewer.

Their experiences so excellently documented here are a fitting epitaph to those no longer able to tell their incredible stories.

The vivid recollections of the experiences in the trenches, at the front, going over the top and seeing so many of their comrades slaughtered are heart-rending.

The individual accounts of these heroes portrayed here relate to one of the most catastrophic and traumatic conflicts in history. A conflict that will soon be beyond living memory. These personal stories are a priceless memory and testament of what occurred in order that we might live in freedom.

With the dawning of the new century, the memories of the Great War will be just that. The authors of "Veterans: The Last Survivors of the Great War" have painstakingly sought out those remaining men and women who fought in World War I, and uses their words and memories to paint the picture of the reality of the experience.

The memories are grouped by chapters which makes it easy to use for quick reference or personal interest. Each chapter contains stories, quotations, and memories from soldiers who fought in the trenches, nurses, or those who waited at home. Each chapter incorporates a variety of memories, not just soldier's memories.

As the horror of that War may fade in our memories, this book will serve to remind us of what was endured by so many as told in their own words.

I love this book. I remember my mother reading me a kid's version of Rip Van Winkle when I was little. Now, I am thrilled to find a version illustrated by one of my favorite fairy tale illustrators. Even though Rackham's art is somewhat darker (colors and style) than some other classic fairy tale artists, it speaks to me the most, bringing the characters to full life. This is probably one of my favorite fairy tale stories of all time and I am thrilled to have a book with illustrations that do it justice. I recommend this for fans of both fairy tales and art.

The character of Rip Van Winkle is like an older version of Peter Pan, overgrown and frumpy. He seeks to enjoy his life and in doing so engages in mostly childish activities. Adulthood bores him, as it should, because he excels at leisure as much as Ben Franklin stands out in industry.

Rip reads well to married people, who seem to be the ideal audience for the story. The detached approach Irving takes in describing the "henpecking wife" and "curtain lectures" is comical to married couples, husbands in particular. It is a great comfort for men in 2005 to learn that the traffic of henpecking was a one-way street then, too. :)

The character of Rip is admirable. How lucky to be free to do nothing and experience no remorse. He is harmless, and a great credit to the community in entertainment value and spontenaity. By enjoying simple things, he understands the best things in life are free, such as the view from the mountain top and pulling a fish out of the stream. He is good for conversation, non-judgmental, agreeable, and rather kind. Strange, but it seems he could be a fine pastor or priest.

The comedy of this story seems to be the escape from his hellish home life. Some have described heaven as a place of rest, away from the burdens of the world. So Rip, on the mountaintop, taking in a beautiful sight, after a day of shooting squirrels, has some delicious liquor, and falls asleep until two tyrants are deposed; his wife and King George.

Washington Irving's 'Rip Van Winkle' originally appeared in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. (1819) alongside another evocative piece of Americana, 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,' a wondrous story equally set in Irving's beloved Hudson River Valley. Though not as multilayered as its longer and slightly more well known fellow, 'Rip Van Winkle' also has long roots in Old World folklore, which is appropriate, since The Sketch Book was the first book by an American writer to be taken seriously by the European audiences that then set the standard in the West. Like the earlier A Knickerbocker's History of New York (1809), 'Rip Van Winkle' is playfully attributed to Dutch antiquarian "Diedrich Knickerbocker," the most famous and certainly the most charming of several personae Irving adopted as an author.

Written in simple but gorgeously visionary language, 'Rip Van Winkle' is the story of the lazy but warm spirited farmer, who, in an effort to escape the "petticoat despotism" of his "termagant" wife, flees for an afternoon's hunting in the lonely, autumnal Catskill Mountains. Accompanied only by Wolf, his faithful but equally harassed dog, Rip is surprised when he notices an odd figure approaching through the wilderness and calling out his name. The "short, square built old fellow with thick bushy hair and a grizzled beard" is carrying a "stout keg," and gestures to Van Winkle to assist him with his burden.

Taking up the "flagon," Rip hesitantly follows the little man into an isolated ravine, and thus steps unknowingly into fairyland; there he finds himself confronted by a solemn and outlandishly dressed party of dwarfs playing at ninepins. Bewildered, Rip pours out the beverage for the assemblage, but can't resist taking a drink himself. Awaking on the mountainside, Van Winkle, finding Wolf gone and a badly rusted gun at his side, returns to town, where he discovers his home in ruins, his wife dead, his children grown to adulthood, the land of his birth now an independent nation freed from the yoke of the British, and himself a stranger to the villagers, who stare at his tattered clothing and exceptionally long facial hair. After making bewildered inquiries, he comes to accept that twenty years have passed.

As a humble, good hearted, and mild tempered dreamer, Rip is an archetypal fairytale hero, though the only dragon slain is Dame Van Winkle, and she accidentally, by the passage of time itself. Like kindred spirit Ichabod Crane, Rip is not an absolute novice when it comes to the fantastic, for he has enjoyed telling the village children who love him "long stories about ghosts, witches, and Indians."

As in traditional Celtic fairy lore, in which eating or drinking while visiting fairyland is often punished with permanent residency there, Rip had made the honest mistake of partaking of fairy foodstuffs, and thus pays an unintended price for doing so. For Celtic fairy lore also featured multiple variations on the theme of fairy time; one minute of perceived human time might be seven years of fairy time, and a man spending a happy week dancing in fairyland might discover that one hundred years or more has past on earth upon his return. Whether dwarfs, elves, boggarts, or fairies, Irving's little people are first cousins to many of the mythological beings of European mythology. Interestingly, like the literally "solitary" fairies of Ireland and Scotland, who were brusque of manner at best and never seen in groups (as were the far more gregarious "trooping" fairies), the little men Rip holds audience with "maintain the gravest faces, the most mysterious silence," and thus represent "the most melancholy party of pleasure he had ever witnessed."

But Irving, who deftly places his story in the historical setting of pre-Revolutionary America, also shrewdly offers his audience other interpretations for Van Winkle's strange mountain encounter. Though narrator Diedrich Knickerbocker acknowledges early that the Catskills are "fairy mountains," one character, sage Peter Vanderdonk, explains that it was the dead "Hendrick Hudson" himself, who returns with his crew every twenty years "to keep a guardian eye on the river," whom Rip encountered, while the postscript indeterminably discusses a variety of Indian spirits, including the Manitou, who haunt the region. One fact entirely overlooked by scholars everywhere is that American literature was born in the daimonic, a tradition begun by Irving but enthusiastically continued by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe.

Like most of Irving's work, at present Rip Van Winkle is a grossly underappreciated piece of pure Americana; certainly American literature could have gotten off to a much worst beginning than it did than with its gallant, optimistic, and uncynical founder. For Rip, despite the precariousness of his experience, learns to accept his fate and settles into a comfortable old age as a venerated member of his community. Not that very long ago, there was a time in America when, taking a direct cue from the story itself, some of America's young schoolchildren were fancifully taught that thunder was not the result of lightning, but merely the echo of the elves' occasional game of mountain bowling.

This definitive edition, first published in 1905, features over fifty genuinely "mesmerizing" though somber watercolor illustrations by British master Arthur Rackham, which perfectly suit Irving's text and will captivate both adults and children alike.

This is The Book I always desire to give to new couples or couples in trouble. Why? Because it has some secrets in it about the male/female dynamic that some couples never discover,the yin/yang in Western context. Through this book I came to understand that no relationship can succeed if the woman is not truly receptive to the man's love and also that no relationship can flourish if the man does not pour forth his love on his beloved. How can we expect to accomplish this? Through some very practical exercizes beginning with listening.
A. Racicot

We have been working on the lessons from this book for years. This book is dedicated to helping a couple turn their marriage into a spiritual path. It has done just that for us. We use the lessons and methods nearly daily and I can say, and our friends will agree, that by using the lessons, we have saved our marriage and made it a fantastic relationship. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to have a relationship go from good to fantastic. The authors have tapped into some universal truth and put it into a book in a clear, understandable, and interesting manner.

Congratulations on an amazing endeavor and achievement. I'm sure, and I know you sincerely hope, that it will be of great benefit to many couples.
Connie L.
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The book is fantastic! Truly, just a real triumph of clear writing and deep inspiration...
One of the aspects that I love most about the book is the format. the bold-type statements followed by short and powerful paragraphs makes the text - and the deeper issues - so accessible. Thank you for all of the years of work - living it and writing it.
Jaune E.
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I love the book. Later I want to buy several copies as gifts. It is such a contribution for couples and so unique as well as substantial.
Patricia B.
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I am so enjoying the book. I'm not reading it in any order; just keeping it by the bedside and opening it up and reading bits and pieces. It is so wonderful to have it.
Elaine G.
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Want to let you know that I am so glad to be reading your opus! There is so much love radiating from the pages - just the right way to end my day and begin each morning! THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU GIVE! I will be buying some more copies for Christmas gifts...
Alison O.
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IT IS GREAT, superb and a warm glow in my heart is smiling at you
 Thanx,  Joseph D.

This is the best generally available book on Chinese and Japanese ink-painting in English of which I am aware. Why? Because it is not, primarily, a "how to" book. Yes, there are extensive examples of specific brushstrokes and characteristic forms and techniques, however they are by way of explanation and illustration, rather than instruction. There is much talk of history and aesthetics, but from a practical perspective; this is not, primarily, a book of art history or criticism. Rather, it looks at those things from the point of view of a painter, rather than an academic. While it's not an easy read, I would recommend this every bit as much for beginners as those with more experience.

So, why would this be useful for the beginning painter? While some authors would have you believe that Asian ink work is rooted in a spontaneous expression of feeling, and/or that a meaningful piece of art can be created with just a few, easily mastered, brushstrokes, these are extreme oversimplifications of the actuality of Asian art. Tossing a bit of ink on some rice paper may be spontaneous, but it isn't the same as the Spontaneous school of Chinese painting. In reading this book, which is admittedly dense and occasionally dry, the reader can gain a strong background in the traditions and aesthetics of ink painting. While learning basic brush control from a teacher or how-to book, "The Way of the Brush" will give you not just context and history, but an understanding of how to compose and construct a work -- how to put those brushstrokes together.

It could be said that this is not a book about how to paint in the Chinese and Japanese style, but how to look at a painting in the Chinese and Japanese style. In doing so, it also points the way towards seeing like a brush-painter. Unless you can see, not merely with your eyes, but with your mind, it is impossible to make the jump from brushwork to painting, from technique to art.

This is the book from which I learned sumi-e. It is well written, with wonderful examples. If one is seriously interested in the subject and in learning how to paint high quality works, it is the definitive work. The artist, P'u Ch'uan, who illustrates particular styles and strokes, is a master, providing some of the best examples one could hope for. The works of other artists in their instructional books pale by comparison; they fall into the "You too can paint a masterpiece in 60 minutes" sort of thing one sees on TV. Those are acceptable if you accept the limitations and set your sights accordingly. The standards set by this book are extremely high.

The historical perspectives help a great deal in understanding not only the background of the art, but also in understanding the background of the strokes. These backgrounds are essential to more fully appreciating the work of others and in informing your own work. The great variety of styles and artists presented--contemparary and historical--help one to form one's own style.

This book teaches both an appreciation of the art form and a sound basis for attempting it. I can't say I have mastered the form by any means, but working based on this book has been a rewarding experience.

Highly recommended.

This is one of the best books about Chinese painting for those who want to understand not just Chinese painting techniques, but also something of the history and variety of traditional Chinese brush painting. The one drawback is the usage of the outdated Wade-Giles romanization (the book was first published in 1962), but that is merely a trivial annoyance compared to the wealth of information the author provides. Most instructional painting books are written by painters who focus on their own style, and give no credit to all the masters who have gone before them. This book shows many examples of paintings by master painters (ancient and modern), along with examples from the author's own teacher, master painter P'u Ch'uan. He thoroughly describes the different painting styles, with excellent examples, and many bibliographical references. I especially liked the fact that he gave 7 different versions of translations of "the Six Principles" of Hsieh Ho; by combining the common threads in all of them, their real meaning becomes clearer.

Another subject he talks about, although briefly, is the importance of understanding brush strokes in order to be better prepared to deal with forgeries and copies. This subject is almost universally ignored in books on Chinese painting, and yet it is very important. I have seen a painting in a catalog from one of the big auction houses that on first glance looked like another one of Li Ke-ran's many water buffalo paintings, and was attributed to him by the (anonymous) seller. Upon closer scrutiny of the brush strokes used, it was obviously a fake. And I am by no means a true expert.

If you are a beginner with no teacher to help you, then you will probably need other books, too. But for anyone who wants to learn about the history and traditions of Chinese painting, this is the ideal book.