UK Books

These Were Our Dogs is a lifelong treasure to have or to give. Not only is the remarkable collection of photos of dogs and their companions beautiful but so is the book itself with all its carefully chosen details. That perfection of content and presentation was also true for Libby Hall's previous books, Prince and Others, Prince II, and Postcard Dogs.

Some of the Photos have a known connection to human history. princesses, writers soldiers actors,
while others invite you into their presence to wonder about their lives. Each time I look through These Were Our Dogs I find a treat I had overlooked the last time.

This is the culmination of several books Libby Hall has done of dog photographs and there is no doubt this is the pinacle. She saved her best photos for last. This book is bond well. The photographs are magnificently reproduced. Another book from a highly distinguished publisher and an author whose love of dogs and artistic eye are unmatched by any other dog book currently on the market. This has place of pride in my library.

I completely concur with the previous reviewer. This is a beautiful, thoughtful, carefully put together and highly enjoyable book. The photographs provide a window into the world of our grandparents, be they kings or carpenters, and their warm involvement with our dear dog friends. The book would be an exquisite gift for yourself or others. Libby Hall is the queen of the genre of historical dog imagery! The best!

Libby Hall's books always move this reader. This newest book of portraits of dogs (and their people) is no exception. The author, herself a photographer, has dipped into her large collection and shared her most favorite images. The book is exquisite for so many reasons: the book itself is lovely to look at and to hold; the photographic reproduction is high quality; its choice of photos and their positioning is evidently deliberate; photos come from several countries, showing dogs in many situations, from running quite wildly to sitting docilely; and the obvious relationship between the canines and their human companions is intense and moving. As is so often true, some dogs and their masters/mistresses look alike, especially in the eyes. The cover photo is a good example. I was glad to see that some humans were actually smiling in these early photographs. Of course, many of the dogs are smiling, but a century or longer ago, humans often didn't smile while being photographed- and being in the presence of their canine friends obviously budged them out of their rigid solemnity. This is a gorgeous, meaningful book - it would be a wonderful gift for any dog lover, any lover of old photographs, or anyone who loves animals, in general, and realizes their importance in our lives.

I have all the bathroom readers and this one, in my view, is the best one so far. If you liked the others, you'll like this one. And if you don't have any of the others, this is a good place to start.

The reputation of Uncle John, despite all his trips to the bathroom remains untarnished. This is where it's at when it comes to weird facts, pointless trivia and astounding information.

Great for starting conversations and suprising friends, -bad- for writing term papers ("Jake, you cited that Pontius Pilate is from England from 'The Bathroom Reader'?" "Uhh, yeah.").

But as long as you don't write a paper you should be fine. I treasure this book, along with its other companions, in my hallowed grounds (a shelf next to the toilet), a great gift. Period.

I bought this book for my husband last year as a Christmas gift.. it is STILL in our bathroom. We have read and re-read it time and again. This year I'm getting another one. It makes a great gift and believe it or not.. very interesting conversations. Oh ya, and tons of laughs! definately 5 stars.. if not higher.

Highly entertaining. This book is filled with more pedantic and esoteric material than you can imagine. I couldn't recommend it higher. In fact, I recommend it to all my friends as a great book for airplane trips, waiting around, and even a coffee table book.

This is a must read for anyone interested in the future of business.

Upsizing seems more a visionary work to me than one to read to find out the environmental consequences of human industrialization (See review below). Pauli presents a vision for an economically viable world where there's ZERO pollution, and offers a number of real-world experiments that seem so far to have worked. However, the path he encourages won't be an easy one -- it requires systematically rethinking what industry is, how it works, and how it fits into our world. Upsizing begins to construct an argument for why we should do this and shows how the rethought world might look.

Basically, Pauli is making a case for turning all industrial waste toward productive purposes. Our current processes, for instance, to make paper result in a huge loss of productivity when waste wood products -- which could be turned to other uses -- are burned or disposed of such that they are lost forever.

While the ideas in this book are incredibly exciting, the delivery seemed to me a bit rough. While competently presented, as an argument this book seems a little bit disparate and untamed, and its style is a bit flat, if not boring. Still, kudos to Pauli for writing it. His is an exciting vision, and I only hope his projects get the press and consideration they deserve. I'm giving it four stars because of the extraordinary ideas: more people should know about how we can make our waste productive.

Pauli has succeeded in doing a rare thing indeed...that of demonstrating how the environment and the economy can complement each other to create synergies! All this in the context of protecting and preserving our environment for current and future generations.

The book is well written and supported by solid facts and well-developed case studies. It serves as a guide post for people of all walks of life, including CEOs, entrepreneurs, environmentalist and public servants, who want to act or promote action that will help reduce, even eliminate waste, while stimulating economic development. More importantly, this book gives hope that we can adopt ways of doing business that reduce the negative impacts on our environment.

This is an excellent book for anyone who's interested in the environmental consequences of human industrialization and development. I had never heard of the author or his organization (ZERI: Zero Emissions Research Institute), but it's all described in this book, and it's a fascinating proposition.

At first I was a little worried that this book would be a little boring, but it's succinct and well-written. You'll think that the proposals are impossible or unattainable, but the author backs them up at the end with real-world implementations that are successful.

I recommend this book for the CEO of any manufacturing company. The concepts presented in this book will show you how to expand your product offering, minimize environmental impact, and make more money all at the same time.

This book has great photography and nice captions to go with them. I would recommend this book to all aviation enthusiasts.

I am his niece from England and these photographs are truly fantastic. A must for every aviator enthusiast.

I am Walter Wright's oldest grandaughter. He was an amazing manwith an exciting life planes were his life. This book is great foranyone interested in planes. My grandfather flew these planes and photographed them all the time.

Hi am am Walter Wright's granddaughter. He was a very good artist. He created millions and millions of stamps and flied in all sorts of aircrafts taking pictures as his career. He was very COOL to all his 6 grandchildren and now he would have 7. If you would like to email me for more info. that would be fine by me... Buddypo@hotmail.com . Thank you very much and i recommend this book for all ages. The pictures and photographs are magnificant.. !!!!!!! Order this book TODAY!!!!!!1

...isn't it time for "The Wild Girl" to come back in print, and to find a U.S. publisher?

In the list of my three favorite books (together with Jean Liedloff: "The Continuum Concept" and John Welwood: "Journey of the Heart"), this one comes first. It is the lost fifth gospel. The wild girl is Mary Magdalene, and she describes her tantric love relationship with Jesus. It is all about the union of the inner man and the inner woman in the inner marriage chamber of the heart. Resurrection and eternal life are not following cruzifixion and physical death, but they are following love and spiritual union, that may also be reflected in physical union. This is the female point of view of Mary Magdalene, in opposite to the male point of view of Simon Petrus. Really great stuff! The story is very touching. It gives no easy solutions. But it shows a clear direction.

How will words justify the rights and wrongs of a life that lives for both sexual love and spiritual love, where sexual love is not just at the debased level of mere lust, but an entry point into greater experiences of understanding the power of love in a restless individual's life. The lady in the story is or suppose to be a person in history. This story promises to be provocative in the sense of the bigger ideas it challenges and tests - against the average man in town, or conventional reader. The story is set in a time between 0 and 1st century AD.

For those who were raised studying the four Gospels, this book offers a plausible and delicious alternative. The story of the life of Jesus told by the woman who first saw the miracle of the resurrection. Beautifully written (as one has come to expect from Roberts) and neatly wound together. I have lent this book out to many friends, and no one has ever returned it to me disappointed.

this was the very first book i came across dealing with the enchanted world series. Every story in here is very good, not to mention some pretty good artwork to go with. my favorite story portion was the tale of the old wizard faustus who made a deal with the devil. next favorite story is baba yaga, a witch folklore tale in russia. this book is well worth your time to purchase if you like the enchanted world series.

This is truly a magnificent volume, the illustrations are like medieval illumination, they jump off the page like jewels. It's not really a history book, there isn't really any history involved. Instead, its a collection of folklore, mostly from northern Europe and the British Isles. If you're looking for a history of wizardry and witchcraft, try something else. But if you're interested in the stories our ancestors told around the hearth, this is the book.

This book is one in Time Life Books' The Enchanted World series. Each of these books covers a different aspect of folklore and mythology, and they are an excellent set. They tell stories in a similar format and complement each other well without repeating the content. Each is about 140 pages.

This is a beautifully illustrated well printed volume. Artists include James C Christensen, John Jude Palencar, Kinyuko Y Craft and Alicia Austin. Older depictions of wizards and witches are mixed in for history. These include work by Arthur Rackham, John Waterhouse, Gallen-Kallela, Sidney Lanier, Mel Odom, M L Breton, Harry Clarke, Ivan Bilibin and Judy King-Rieniets.

Stories are retold in a style that makes for a good read. These stories come from all over the world. Often there will be smaller illustrations and captions in the margins to the main story. These tell variations of the story and related stories from other cultures.

This is a beautifully bound and printed book. The binding is just cloth to collectors, but it is printed to look like a wizard's book. The cover shows a dragon holding a picture of a wizard complete with staff and crystal ball. I think it was the cover that got me reading this when I was child (this would be for older children because of the spooky nature).

Chapters include:
Singers at the World's Dawn: The Welsh Enchanter's Fosterling
Masters of the Forbidden Arts: Tidings of the Heavens
The Shadowy Sisterhood: Haunter of the birch forest

This is a well researched nicely produced series. For me one book in the series (I think it was Fairies and Elves) had me hooked. If you are interested in mythology and all things magic then it is definitely worth trying out the series. High school and middle school libraries should consider the series. Some books might cause issues since they are about the occult, but some like The Legend of Camelot book will be completely Kosher.

This is really a beautiful, well-designed book. The cover is blood red with gold lettering- with a insert of a classical wizard. The full color illustrations from a variety of artists and sources are especially fine. This volume even has marbled end papers! In my opinion it would make a marvelous gift for anyone, young or old, with an interest in the legends of wizards and of magic. It certainly held my interest.

The first part of the book (Singers at the World's Dawn) deals with the greatest of the archetypal wizards from the dawn of time: Vainamoinen, Math, Manannan, Taliesin, Merlin, Volga Vseslavich, etc.

The second part (Masters of the Forbidden Arts) deals with more recent historical practioners: Roger Bacon, Nostadamus, Faust, Albertus Magnus, Michael Scot, Etc.

The third part (The Shadowy Sisterhood) is a general and mostly anonomous history of witchcraft- black and white.

There are even introductory sections on the tarot, astronomy, and magical creatures included.

I actually started to read Lords of the Bow first. Once I had gotten about a quarter of the way through LOTB I went looking for this book. I finished LOTB then eagerly leapt into Wolf of the Plains. WOW! That's about all I can say. I really enjoyed LOTB but, if anything, Wolf was even better! This is truly an amazing story and Iggulden does a brilliant job telling it. If you (like me) had only ever known the Mongols to be a wild, savage, barbaric destroyer then this is a wonderful book for you. It shows the savagery but also the strength, honour and spirit of the tribesmen.
For anyone who is a lover of adventure and particularly historical fiction - give this a read. You won't regret it.

This is book of year!! Not a book I would normally go for, but i'm so glad I did. This book is the first of three in the Conqueror series, with Genghis Khan the main man (couldn't resist). This novel is a narrative built around actual events in the bold Genghis' life.

The story is gripping almost from the very beginning, with easily indentifiable and at times densely layered characters whilst always maintaining a tempo that WILL not allow you to put down until finished.

It really does seem certain to be converted to the big screen, so get reading before they wreck it!

AMAZING book. a very fast and exciting read. i can't wait for the sequel to come out. So much so that i ordered it from the UK (it came out this month, while we have to wait until the end of March to buy it in the US).

Although this book gallops along at Conn Iggulden's usual pace, I was continually tempted to leap ahead to find out what happened next. That makes it much more of a chapter-turner than merely a page-turner, and the narrative left me quite breathless at times!

Temujin is the son of the khan of one of the many Mongol tribes who are in continual, violent conflict. Without spoiling the story for you, his circumstances force him to grow up very quickly rather than lose his life. As the story unfolds, Temujin faces death many times and learns from his terrifying experiences. His list of those on whom he determines to wreak revenge grows as you read. Eventually, he becomes the respected, feared and uncompromising leader of the great horde which dominated two continents during that age.

Had his childhood been easy, he would probably have settled down with a couple of wives and a few goats. Historic record shows otherwise, but that record hardly brings Ghengis Khan's tale to life in the way that Iggulden has managed in this book.

I would recommend this book to anybody, and would challenge them to resist being swept along by such a brilliantly told story. I just can't wait to get my hands on the next episode, "Lords of the Bow," in January 2008.

I liked it. It gives concrete tips on how to have your voice heard.

My biggest problem was my aggression,I never wanted to hurt people only to explain to them what I wanted...but I only knew how to do that by being aggressive .Now although I may not always be understood I am confident that I have expressed my self in a positive,assertive manner.I have gained confidence and am no longer a 'push over who is always available,self sacrificing a victim of the compassion trap.I found this book in a used bookstore ....this is a one time gem of a buy,it is an investment in me and I'm sorry but I never loan it to ANYONE.it is the one book I refer to at all times and would safely say that 'it saved my life'.I am back to square one without it.A must have for all women

I found this book on my library shelf. I had read many others but this was the one that did it for me. I was able to see how destructive agressiveness is and how unecessary. It also helped me to see that my needs and ambitions are important and that I have a right to pursue them. I am now buying this book because it is something I feel I will always refer back to. Strongly recommended.

I was recently assigned this book as "home work" from the psychotherapist that I am seeing. I was reluctant but was told to read and re read this book. It has truly had a huge impact on my life as a successful career woman. It has taught me what "assertive" is, that it is NOT the same as aggressive, and also how to empower yourself as a woman to get what you want and to listen to your inner voice. It allows you to be true to yourself and others. I highly recommend this book

The photography in this book is so moving that you will find yourself stopping at a page for 5 minutes immersed deep in thought. Women AND men will find this book equally enlightening. Truly deeply moving.

This is an absolutely stunning collection of photographs that explore the effects of war upon the women of the world. Snapped in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East, Matthew's cameos evoke fear, rage, determination, sensuality, absurdity, horror, humor, despair, hope.

The cover offers a photo of a young Ethiopian freedom fighter hoisting a rifle over her shoulder, hips askew and drapped with an ammunition belt. There's somethng uncannily sensual about the image--graceful, seductive--that speaks, perhaps, to our fascination in the West with violence and sex. But open the book to the first full page photograph inside the covers, and Matthew quickly disabuses one of any urge to romanticize or sensualize war. The photo is an in-your-face portrait of Phuong, an eight-year-old Vietnamese girl who was born without eyes because her mother had been poisoned years earlier by Agent Orange.

The rest of the photos follow this template of stark contrasts between beauty and horror. One of the most memorable contrasts is midway through the book. One pages shows stacks and stacks of weapons. The facing page shows stacks and stacks of human bones, remains of genocide victims.

The text is minimal, as it should be in a book like this. The photographs should speak for themselves. Trust me: they do.

This is an absolutely stunning collection of photographs that explore the effects of war upon the women of the world. Snapped in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East, Matthew's cameos evoke fear, rage, determination, sensuality, absurdity, horror, humor, despair, hope.

The cover offers a photo of a young Ethiopian freedom fighter hosting a rifle over her shoulder, hips askew, with an ammunition belt drapped around them. There's something uncannily sensual about the image--graceful, seductive--that speaks, perhaps, to our fascination in the West with violence and sex. But open the book to the first full page photograph inside the covers, and Matthew quickly disabuses one of any urge to romanticize of sensualize war. The photo is an in-your-face portrait of Phuong, an eight-year-old Vietnamese girl who was born without eyes because her mother was poisoned by Agent Orange years earlier.

The rest of the photos follow this initial template of starkly contrasts between beauty and horror. One of the most memorable contrasts is midway through the book. One page shows stacks and stacks of weapons. The other shows stacks and stacks of human bones, remains of genocide victims.

The text is minimal, as it should be in a book such as this. The photographs should speak for themselves. Trust me: they do.

This is an absolutely stunning collection of photographs that explore the effects of war upon the women of the world. Snapped in Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the Middle East, Matthew's cameos evoke fear, rage, determination, eros, absurdity, horror, humor, despair, hope.

The cover offers a photo of a young Ethiopian freedom fighter hoisting a rifle over her shoulders. Her hips are askew, an ammunition belt draped around them. There's something uncannily innocent about the image; one could easily imagine that the young woman is dressed in the latest punk fashion and on her way to a club. But open the book to the first full-page photograph inside the covers, and Matthews quickly disabuses us of any urge to romanticize war. The photo is an in-your-face portrait of Phuong, an eight-year-old Vietnamese girl who was born without eyes because her mother was poisoned years earlier by Agent Orange.

The rest of the photos follow this initial template of drawing stark contrasts between images of beauty and images of horror. One of the most memorable contrasts is midway through the book. One page shows stacks and stacks of weapons. The opposing page shows stacks and stacks of human bones, remains of genocide victims.

The text is minimal. In a book such as this, the photographs should speak for themselves. Trust me: they do.

Do yourself a favor - and buy this bargain volumne of classic photographic images collected by the Getty Center from the archives of over 1,000 publications.

Subtitled: "1,000 Remarkable Years of Incident and Achievement", this concise encyclopedia of human culture in North America captures the pleasures, passions, fads and follies of our collective past with short captions and vivid images. An easy and delightful conversation starter.

What a stunning book! And what an incredible bargain for the price! This book attempts to provide a visual history of the America (or, that part that comprises the present United States) for the past one thousand years. The bulk of the book is photographs, but there are a large number of prehistoric and prephotographic drawings. While this book could never replace a text history of the continent and nation, it provides a stunning supplement. Very few major events are omitted, and a large number of the photographs are notable for their brilliance. Most are unfamiliar photographs. They are not the stock photos that seem to get passed on from collection to collection. The famous Dorothea Lange photography of an "Okie" is an exception rather than a rule. No matter what period in American history, this collection never fails to delight and fascinate and educate.

I had only a couple of quibbles. One is that the sports photography, which was considerable, focused almost exclusively on boxing, track, and baseball. As a result, many of the most dominant athletic figures are omitted. This would not be a problem except so many lesser figures were included. A second is that towards the end of the book, the photographs become surprisingly mundane. For instance, there are several pages where PEOPLE magazine type publicity photos of people like Julia Roberts and Meg Ryan are simply place four to a page. Surely there were more interesting photos than these. Most of the book is stunning; it isn't clear why the late 20th century should suddenly become so flat and uninventive.

Nonetheless, this book is a delight. It makes a great history book, art book, photography book, bathroom book, bedside book, or even coffee table book (though in diminutive form).

Another Konemann bargain (how do they manage to produce such lovely books at the price?) with 832 pages, many of them with more than one photo, all the main events in the Nation's history instantly available with a picture and caption (and index). History in the broadest sense too, plenty of people and events from the everyday world. As the text is mostly captions don't expect any great historical insight though.

I think this would be an ideal book for children, rather than a textbook with a few photos why not start with lots of photos to inspire their curiosity about an event or personality and then let them read about it in other books.