New York Books

This is a very well written book about the iconic Rockefellers and their family estate. It's interesting how the house seems to act as a metaphor for each of the family member's, their interests, their desires. Kykuit is an amazing set peice and the mixture of Jr.'s Bosworth and Ogden Codman classical estate, Sr's wanting the house to be tasteful and not too grand, and Nelson's avande garde, modern tastes. The estate and it's location are breathtaking and the Codman interiors are exquisite. This is a very well researched and fascinating study of the Rockefellers and their Kykuit. I do recommend getting the Rockefeller Family Home: Kykuit, it's very good.

Lee and Robert Dalzell have put together a very fascinating look at both the history of the home that generations the Rockefeller family occupied, how they built it, wrestled over it, disagreed about it and loved it which reflected the complicated relationships of the dynasty. Not unlike many parent and sibling relationships, there were arguments about what their parents' intentions were, Senior's and Junior's, Abby's, etc. and how they lived their lives based on interpretations of their parental affinities. The home (house?) becomes the symbol of the old world of privilege as well as a modern world of the current generation. The house and now the entire estate essentially was cobbled together and pulled apart as each new generation left its own footprints.
I particularly enjoyed trying to separate Lee's from Robert's "story" as well as the intertwining story of the house and the family.

This is much more than a book on the building of a house. It is about three generations of a family, their individual personalities, their character and development over time, all centered around the construction of a house that became a national monument. It is about their time and place in history. It is well written, a delight to read and leaves the reader yearning to know about the succeeding generation.
Bob McGill

I read this book from an architect's viewpoint, and it squares with my experience that there is something about homebuilding that is intensely personal. Much has been written about visionary Designers. In fact, it is the clients who hire and steer those designers who are writing their world views large. I visited Kykuit once and thought the design was quirky for a pile from the mansion age...quirky but with vim & vigor, bold but not bombastic. Now I know how it got to be that way.

I learned a lifetime love of reading from my parents who had the great insight of choosing childrens books for me that treated children with respect. This book is a perfect example of that. It is simple enough for the earliest of readers, yet captivating and enchanting for me then as now.

I loved this book as a child, and for years looked for it as an adult. Finally, when my fiance found it and gave it to me as an adult on my birthday (41st!) it brought tears to my eyes. It is that good. Thank you Messrs. Vogel and Sendak.

All little Lori wanted to do was visit Times Square. But no matter how hard he tried to get there, things just didn't work out. He started at 8th Street and took the subway. But instead of going to Times Square, he ended up at South Ferry. So he took a bus and got off at 242nd Street, nowhere near Times Square. He hailed a taxi, but the driver wouldn't take him to Times Square because he had no money. So he rode the elevated subway, but ended up at his Uncle Eddie's house in Queens. And on and on to Staten Island, Idlewild Airport, Central Park and even the 125th floor of Macy's, but not Times Square. Poor Lori had had enough. He sat down on the sidewalk and cried and that's when the talking turtle came walking by. He knew exactly how to get to Times Square..... Written in 1963, Amos Vogel's charming and clever little story is as fresh today, as it was almost 40 years ago. His simple, spare text is wonderfully complemented by Maurice Sendak's inventive, humorous and familiar artwork and together they've authored an ageless treasure the entire family will enjoy. Perfect for children 4-8, How Little Lori Visited Times Square is a winner and a story youngsters will want to read again and again.

Almost everyone has a dream now and then when it is impossible to get to where you want to go. In the morning, you may feel more tired than if you had lain awake all night. This book takes that experience, and adds new comic elements to it. Wonderful Maurice Sendak illustrations imaginatively . . . s . . . l . . . o . . . w . . . . . . d . . . o . . . w . . . n . . . . . t . . . h . . . e . . . . . . p . . . a . . . c . . . e.

"(This is a very funny book and should not be read while drinking orange juice or you will spill it!)" Be sure to heed that warning. I suggest drinking nothing more colorful than water.

"One day Lori said to himself: 'I want to see Times Square.'"

Unfortunately, he doesn't quite know where it is or how to get there. He walked to the subway, but ended up at South Ferry. Then a bus took him to 242nd Street. From there, he was soon expelled from a taxi for lack of funds. The elevated subway took him to Uncle Eddie's home in Queens. The boat went to Staten Island. A helicopter flew him to Idlewild Airport (now Kennedy, having been renamed after this book was first published in 1963). A horse and wagon pulled him to the middle of Central Park. A pony trotted him around in circles. Some sea lions just got him wet. An elevator took him to the 125th floor of Macy's (there is no such floor).

He was then crying on the sidewalk, less than 12 blocks from Times Square.

A turtle speaks . . . s . . . l . . . o . . . w . . . l . . . y and tries to help. "So Lori got on, and the turtle started crawling (very slowly of course)."

"AND THIS WAS FOUR MONTHS AGO . . . And nobody has heard from them since . . . ."

The best part of the story is after Lori meets the turtle. Each two-page spread is initially accompanied by only one word, to emphasize the turtle's slowness. Mr. Sendak does a great job of showing how Lori's emotions shift as the turtle continues on speaking slowly.

On the other hand, much of the rest of the book seems somewhat pointless other than to list that there are lots of ways to get around in New York.

A major lesson here is that you need to have both a goal and some idea of how to achieve it. If you don't have a good plan, you had better get a strong partner. This book makes those lessons very well.

Where do you lack clear goals and direction to accomplish those goals? Who can help you quickly to reach effectiveness in your pursuit of the goal? How can you attract their assistance?

Be sure you're moving in the right direction . . . and at the right pace!

Nice book by my dad about me when i was little with pictures drawn by our friend maurice its funny and sad and goes all around 60's nyc to places that don't all exist anymore.

Your kids will enjoy it.

I have read several books on mutual funds but this one by far is the best. Fredman and Wiles cover almost every topic that you could think of: how to analyze the fund, sorting out costs, evaluating risks and much more. The authors make no assumptions about what the reader is likely to know about mutual funds and write in a manner that is both engaging and enjoyable. Also, it is not just an academic treatment of the subject matter. The reader is invited to perform his own calculations and check things out. This is accomplished in one of the concluding chapters where a mutual fund action plan is dicussed in great detail. The book is topped off with some very good sources of additional information for mutual fund investors and appendices which help the reader perform some of the calculations discussed in the book. Overall, this book makes for a good read for a beginner or even a seasoned mutual fund investor.

This is a great book to have in your library, whether it is an introduction to the topic, a refresher, or to fill in the blanks of what you already know. It discusses finance in easy-to-understand language and is great at clarifying its points. It was recommended to me by my employer, a leading financial advisor, who regularly recommends books on the subject. This is the first of many recommendations he made.

Even though the authors are academics, this book is not bogged down with heavy, collegiate, turgid text and calculations. Rather, Fredman and colleagues have simply gone about explaining the various difficult-to-understand aspects of the mutual funds industry. This information is essential to your understanding of the various ratings and types of mutual funds.

As a securities industry manager and former regulator, I first began to use the book to become familiar with the details of such things as 12b-1 fees, expense ratios, comparative assessment of funds, features offered as sales incentives or to ease transactions (e.g. dividend reinvestment, 1035 exchanges, intra-fund familiy exchanges, etc.).

As time went on I have kept this book in my office. It has become essential to answer the occasional questions that arise and which are more detailed and technical than my memory can answer. The book has never come up short on this count.

You should also look for other publications of NYIF (New York Institute of Finance). This is formerly the publishing arm of the NYSE. The material published by NYIF is "from the horse's mouth" and right on the mark for those seeking to learn details of how the profession of finance works. Despite this, the material is never overly technical and theoretical. Rather, the material is practical day-to-day information which will wind up on your reference shelf.

I read this book as a student and consequently learned far more than I expected. The language is easy to understand and the comlexity of the subject/language increases at an acceptable pace. The opinion of the book leans more towards a conservative form of investing...one should expect a decent return but not get too greedy.

I had to review this book. When you're looking for a bit of guidance or reassurance as an actor from a book, you want to be sure that you're spending money on a good opinion. So to any actor that's feeling a little lost and is in between auditions, I think this is a worthwhile buy. However, if you're a pretty opportunistic and entrepeneurial kind of person with a positive attitude and bucket loads of self-belief, then I'd keep a hold of your money. K Callan's book is great to give you that motivation you need to keep going. It's practical, sensical and, although you could probably think of a lot of her ideas yourself, sometimes it's great to have it written down on the page - a checklist of sorts. I live in Australia and I still found it helpful. Basically, the book is a way to get you thinking about yourself - what you have to offer, is there work for you, how can you market yourself, how can you create your own work and then thinking about the marketplace - who's going to hire you, what are producers, casting agents thinking when they see you. It's all those non-acting elements that are vital to your career. The only thing I didn't like so much, as usual, is her list of figures about the type of career you can expect - average length five years!! - the rest of the time, you're just trying to get by. I think that's important to keep in mind, but you can't shoot for the moon and always be practical and realistic. You've gotta have those big dreams and believe you're going to be the next.... But, just be grateful for the breaks you do get.
Easy read, great wrap up tips at the end of each chapter. A good motivator.

This is a great book to guide an actor to the different aspects of chasing her/his dream. She gives advice in every possible thing an actor can face. Buy this book with your eyes closed.
I give it 5 stars despite the fact that I have a comment to the author. At the end of the book, she gives an advice that could detriment and help an actor not following this career. Because she writes that some well known actors, like Duchovny, after they reached the fame they have now, are not happy, and feel empty. I criticize her in this issue, because, she could have taken this information as an advantage to the actor, as an inspiration and not as a negative warning as she did, instead she could teach that sometimes actors chase this profession for the wrong reasons. She could have said that if an actor just want the money and fame, and is not interested also in the pleasure that acting brings, he or she will be disappointed, because once you get there, you will notice that you are the same person in the inside. She can use this information to show that the grade of frustration sometimes reached in this profession is not different from the one reached in other professions as well. I have a cousin who was in his 5th year of Medicine, and told me he was bored and tired, because he realized, medicine was not what he expected. That was 7 years ago. Today he is a radiologist, but he would rather be a full time Digital Photographer. So, there's no reason to disempower a future actor with a wrong interpretation of a fact. Because probably she will finish in another activity, that will bring even more dissatisfaction. And is well known that when we, actors, feel a little emptiness, is usually for a short time, while we recharge our batteries. On the other side, I have seen lots of other professionals, with years of frustration for not following their initial dream, but I have never seen a working actor frustrated because he wants to be a dentist or engineer.

okay...so maybe not ALL career levels. if you're julia roberts or deniro, i think you can pass up this book (but probably only because you're now rich enough to PAY someone to handle all this rigamarole for you, not b/c you couldn't learn anything from it). i have been an actor in nyc for the past 5 1/2 years, and when i picked up this book, i wrongly thought that it would be juvenile in tone and would offer me little that i didn't already know. not so. yes, the first few chapters deal with issues that many mid-career folks have already encountered, but the majority of the book is very informative and insightful even to hardened, old actors like myself - choosing an agent and/or manager, unions, protocol and etiquette, and my favorite, a chapter she calls 'getting a life.' she paints no pretty, glamorous picture of the biz, the info is updated and current, and it's a pleasant read. don't be a snobby actor...you've got something to learn; buy the book.

As a talent agent, I've been lucky enough to speak with K Callan at several seminars and I've always been impressed by her concern for actors who are just starting out in the business. Her book is full of valuable information and I think every actor out there will benefit from reading it.

I found this book to be an excellent source of investment information for a novice investor such as myself. Written in common English, the author doesn't try to impress the reader with big words and far out theory. I recommend this to any person who wants to learn the basics of investing.

"How Wall Street Works" by David Logan Scott is so simply written that even a novice can be assured of acquiring a basic and clear understanding of the world of finance. The question and answer format gives brief and concise explanations without the clutter of the usual confusing and unnecessary jargon. I particularly appreciated the analogies to common-day experiences and the "bottom line" style summaries at the beginning and not the end of the chapters. This book can easily be read and digested in a couple of hours or less. A worthwhile expenditure of your time.

Why five stars: cause it's a nice book for those that know wall street without really understanding how it works (so great title). Still it is soft but the content is rather strong, not too boring, short and the p[resentation is very good. Built aroud lots of questions-answers, that might interest a very large public.
Advice: Buy it cause it is very cheap for the information it provides compared to other books
Note: That is a great introductory book

This is one of the best books I have found for expaining investing to a novice like myself. The author has done a good job of discussing difficult topics in an easily understandable manner. I highly recommend this book.

Six years ago, I wrote my first review for Amazon, of Richard N. Frye's "Bukhara: The Medieval Achievement". Frye's work, concentrating mostly on the 10th and 11th centuries, described in detail how Turkic-speaking nomads combined with Iranian city dwellers and Arab bringers of a new religion to create a new synthesis in Islam in Central Asia, particularly in the city of Bukhara. That syncretic Islam later became most instrumental in the development of the Muslim faith in the Indian subcontinent. Levin's THE HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOLS OF GOD mainly describes the condition of music and musicians in the 1990s in the modern republics of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. That same Richard N. Frye provides a strong endorsement on the back cover. I too find that this volume is a worthy successor in the on-going "project" of bringing Central Asian history and culture before Western eyes. The musical world of Central Asia still involves synthesis and syncretism---between the West and tradition, between new conservatism and older tolerance, between Soviet atheism and local spirituality, between Islam and older religions which we might label shamanistic, and between so-called ethnic groups like Uzbeks and Tajiks.

Levin travelled around the region with a musical companion, Otanazar Matyakubov, who provided endless contacts and insights. Together they interviewed and listened to all the varied performers of Central Asian music, from a female pop singer to humble performers of classical styles, from healers in remote villages who used music in their rituals to performers at schmaltzy Jewish weddings in the transplanted Bukharan Jewish community in Queens, New York. Levin describes the surroundings in which he found each musician, tells of his travels in decrepit cars between ancient cities or by donkey through the dramatic mountain scenery of remotest Tajikistan. While a certain amount of detail may be of interest chiefly to fellow ethnomusicologists, those specialized observations are spaced throughout the text in such a way that the non-professional reader never feels overwhelmed. Levin provides a number of excellent photographs, maps, and most importantly, a brilliant CD which illustrates all the styles and instruments he discusses. The effect of 70 years of Soviet policies is often mentioned, and a reader can deduce the results of this assault on local culture, though I would have liked more direct comment. Moscow's insistence on creating discrete "nationalities" created virulent brands of Uzbek and Tajik (and so many other) nationalism where none had existed. It created separate, ethnic-based countries where none had ever existed. It even created "Uzbek" and "Tajik" music out of a formerly seamless Central Asian tradition. This Soviet policy ultimately resulted in the squeezing out of Bukharan Jews-prominent in the Central Asian musical world for centuries---because they were deemed insufficiently "Uzbek" by newly nationalistic authorities.

In short, this is one of the best books of ethnomusicology I have ever read. It would be of interest to anyone trying to learn more about Central Asia and must be required reading for anthropologists concerned with the area. THE HUNDRED THOUSAND FOOLS OF GOD also brings the region to life and underlines the difference between the materialistic, narrowly nationalistic present and the past in which musicians played out of devotion and love of God without trying to fit into some culture apparatchik's idea of "national music".

Mr. Levin writes about cultural survival and cultural decay in Transoxiana, as seen from the vantage point of traditional musicians. Combining his own traveler's tales with detailed but accessible musicological analysis, he examines the role of the traditional performing arts in the modern world of Uzbekistan, and the way that they have been subverted by the Soviet and successor governments. Engagingly written, without condescension towards the reader or the people of whom he writes, this book will reward readers interested in the cultural life of the region.

Mr. Levin has truly accomplished something noteworthy in this book. It is perhaps the best book from the often boring realm of ethnomusicological research that I have read in recent years. The breadth of understanding and acute cultural awareness brought out in the book is fantastic. It should find an audience among music scholars as well as the average reader, especially given the uncomplicated way Levin tells his tale. The addition of the CD to the book is truly complimentary unlike many of the other "multi-media" gimmicks so often offered to entice the buyer. This book is essential for anyone who seeks a clarity in writing about the musics of another culture.

This book is a many faceted report on the state of music in the Central Asian Republics of the former Soviet Union, especially Uzbekistan. The author did his Ph.D. research in ethnomusicology in Tashkent on traditional court music called Shash maqam in 1977-1978. At the time, Levin was not as interested in this music as he had expected, which he later attributed to the Soviet cultural policies which extinguished the spark of vivacity from the Uzbek music. This book details many of the author's subsequent travels to Central Asia in search of traditional musicians who managed somehow to develop their unique talents within the stifling socialist milieu.

Levin provides much information about the artists, their music, and their poetry, which can all be heard on the accompanying CD. In the text itself, he rarely describes the instruments played by the musicians, referring to them merely with their local names. However, descriptions of the instruments can be found in the glossary at the end of the book, which I unfortunately didn't notice until I had finished reading. Occasionally, Levin's musicology terms get a little too thick for the general reader, but on the whole, the book is quite accessible.

The strongest aspect of the book is its description of the culture history of music in the Soviet Union. In my own brief travels to the Soviet Union, I was struck by how many people there were acquainted with classical music--how an appreciation of classical music stretched across the entire society. I never saw the dark side of this, however. In this book, Levin describes how centralized state policies governed even the field of music, changing and obliterating centuries' old traditions.

Davy Reed is thirteen when the story begins and his grandmother dies, the grandmother who took care of him when his parents divorced and who gave him his beloved dog, Fred. Davy's heavy-drinking mother then takes him in to her Manhattan apartment and tells him he can't bring Fred. No way, Davy rebels, and eventually the mother relinquishes, but it's clear from her tone that Fred is only there on sufferance. Poor Davy has to live in a bedroom done up by an interior designer for a five-year old, with a teddy bear on his pillow. Then he has to start a new school and makes a "New York enemy" within his first two hours of his first day of school. However, this has unexpected consequences because a strange friendship develops between the two boys.

I won't give away the rest of the plot but some pretty terrible things happen, and some wonderful ones too. I first read this book when I was about the age of Davy Reed, maybe a little bit older, and identified with him totally, even though my life was very different. Reading the book now, I'm overwhelmed by how talented Mr. John Donovan is as a writer. Had he pitched this book to an adult audience, I feel sure he would be celebrated as one of the best novelists of the 1960s. His toughness and lack of sentiment makes Richard Yates look like Danielle Steel. Simply put this novel, so shocking in its own day, is still a miracle of construction and discipline. If Donovan is still alive, I hope he continues to produce other great books.

While in high school trying to figure out and deal with being gay, I stumbled across this book in the school library. Without knowing that the book dealt with homosexuality, I checked it out and read it. And read it again. And again. This book was the first place I encountered homosexuality portrayed in anything other than an extremely negative way. It was the first step toward my acceptance of being gay. I am extremely grateful to the author and my school library for this book. I think the book is an important resource for school libraries and counselors. I don't remember the specifics of style, character development, etc., but I do know the effect the book had on my life.

This book is great for early adolescents who find that they feel "too close" to their best friend and question their feelings. The book portrays a boy growing up with an alcoholic mother and absent father in New York and his struggle after kissing his best friend. Recommended for any early teen.

Twenty years ago this crazy title tripped me up in my school library, and I took it home and read it in one sitting. I was caught to it because the boy in the story develops a confusing crush on his only friend, another boy, and I was coping with the same developing problem. I re-read the book several times in my school years, and was always moved and thrilled to find a writer that captured adolescence, its awkwardness and self-expression, its fears and its anticipations so perceptively. In all the years since, I've remembered the book with affection, but not until I travelled around the world last year, and spent an afternoon in the New York Public Library, had I been able to re-read it. As a boy, I didn't see the strong craft of the book, the depth and deftness of the characterizations, the careful handling of its issues. The book pulses with real emotion and life, and I realized, in my school library, and again,twenty years later in the New York Public Library, that I loved this book because, somehow, the author seemed to love me too.

Brant Cortright (Professor of Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies) presents Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth, and Opening the Heart, a daring new approach to psychology and healing that seeks to learn from Eastern methods that focus on the inner being and the psyche's spiritual foundation, as well as the Western methods that focus on the outer being and the injuries of body, heart, mind, and self. Chapters apply classical East Indian yogas as a means to perceive psychotherapy: psychotherapy as behavior change or karma yoga, psychotherapy as mindfulness practice or jnana yoga, and psychotherapy as opening the heart or bhakti yoga. An approach that combines the best of both worlds for psychological and spiritual healing and self-improvement lies at the heart of Integral Psychology. Though Integral Psychology touches upon spirituality, the concepts presented are emphatically not meant to convert the reader to any specific religion, but rather to promote healing and wellness for patients of all faiths and cultural backgrounds. The result is a highly recommended supplementary text especially recommended for psychologists and psychotherapists.

I frequently felt touched by the obvious sensitivity and care taken by Dr. Cortright in writing "Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth and Opening the Heart".

"Integral Psychology" reaches beyond the bounds of empirical science to embrace the spiritual, and indeed the soul. Dr. Cortright insists this bold extension is essential for psychology if it is ever going to discover the defining essence of the human being. In looking to psychology's future, Dr. Cortright proposes a synthesis of western psychology and eastern spirituality. This synthesis is based on the life work of the great twentieth century Indian sage Sri Aurobindo.

Bringing western psychology and eastern spirituality together facilitates opening the heart. Both western psychology and eastern spirituality aspire to open the heart, although, as Dr. Cortright explains, each opens different areas of the heart. To open the heart fully they need each other. Opening the heart clears the way to discover the soul, the eternal core of the human psyche.

"Integral Psychology" is not a religious or dogmatic book. It is a thoughtful characterisation of the psychology traditions of the east and the west, with a result that is inclusive and respectful of both. This book challenges the rational mind and entices those serious about psychology and psychotherapy toward a deeper and expanded perspective.

Dr. Cortright gives us a new look at practical psychology. From this perspective, it is within our human potential to know our true self and the most profound purpose of physical existence. Reflecting the optimism of Sri Aurobindo, "Integral Psychology" embraces the notion, basic to eastern psychology, but revolutionary in western psychology, "that our deepest identity is a self-existent joy, love and light."

Our most essential identity is our soul, which is itself a spark of Divine love. Congruent with our deepest human aspirations, integral psychology aims to move us into alignment with our soul's consciousness. Expressing this unification in daily life is the next step in human potential and the goal of integral psychology.

Brant Cortright's Integral Psychology was for me a reader's digest version of the entire history of Psychology and Transpersonal Psychology into the even deeper realms of our being with Shri Aurobindo's " Integral Yoga". His "map" showed me, in a remarkably concise way, the ever deepening paths of the west and the profoundly deep offering from the east of growing through the opening of our hearts and souls. For the beginner, what an overview this is and for the advanced one, what an acknowledgment of spirit and matter in it's evolution!

Integral Psychology: Yoga, Growth and Opening the Heart, by Brant Cortright

Having read Dr. Cortright's earlier Psychotherapy and Spirit, I was pleased to discover that Integral Psychology was available this year, and read it immediately upon receiving it. It's been ten years since the earlier publication, and the author has [from my long-distance observation] made important progress in his spiritual growth, opening of the heart, and writing style during this time.

The book is based upon Sri Aurobindo's complex Integral understanding, and though it focuses upon psychological aspects of that theory, the spiritual and developmental features are also mentioned. Through Ken Wilbur's use of the term `Integral', many have become interested in the concept; Dr. Cortright presents a fuller explanation of how Aurobindo's thinking can be related to psychotherapeutic theory and practice.

It's a pleasure to read someone who is so steeped in an Eastern approach, and who can relate it to contemporary psychological, clinical issues. For example, whole chapters link behavior change therapy to karma yoga, mindfulness to jnana yoga, and heart-opening to bhakti yoga. In these and other chapters, sometimes with clinical examples, Dr. Cortright demonstrates his superior integration of Aurobindo's original theory, his own adaptations, and his use of such understanding in psychotherapy.

Some readers will be most touched by the early chapter, The Core Wounding of Our Time. Based in part on ego-psychology and self-psychology, Dr. Cortright suggests that "The core wounding of our time is a rip in the very fabric of the self", and goes on to suggest that it effects the mind, higher-, central-, and lower-emotional aspects, as well as the body and spirit. This essentially diagnostic chapter is an important precursor to the later therapeutic orientation. Others may be more interested in the concept and approach to spiritual emergency; since I've had little clinical experience with this proposed entity I found it less compelling.

More broadly, for the reader interested in the possibility of integrating the integral theory of Sri Aurobindo and the thinking of a contemporary clinician and Professor [California Institute of Integral Studies], this book is highly recommended.

When the original VICTORIA Magazine used to be sold, I was always impressed with it's contents. Therefore, ever since the magazine went out-of-print I've been searching for similar magazines or books.

Well, this book is even better than the magazine used to be (if that could even be possible) because it is packed with so many ideas regarding "decorating in a romantic fashion".

So if you loved VICTORIA Magazine, then you will love this book as much,if not more.

PS: I just heard that they will be re-issuing VICTORIA Magazine soon (in 2008) . If the rumor is true, then I'll be subscribing!

Exactly what I was looking for! Creating a Private World is filled with beautiful pictures of cream colored fabrics and walls, lacy windows, draped bedspreads and delicately set tables.

The color ideas can leave you calm and soothed, passionate, nostaglic, or inspired. I originally planned to sit down with a cup of tea and look through each page- but no- I started bursting with thought, looking through my fabric collection and searching for new ways to decorate each room. Needless to say my tea was cold but my mind was soaring.

Obtaining this look is not something you run out on a shopping spree and purchase everything all at once. It takes time and carefully selected pieces to blend together beautifully.

Creating a Private World is a fantastic beginning. This way you can see what styles you like and what would work with the spaces you have. It' s also a very nice read and to thumb through at the end of the day.

I purchased this as a treat for myself, along with Victoria's Romantic Country Style, and Victoria's The Charms of Tea.

A little at a time I'll create my own Private, Intimate home.

A beautiful gift for a friend or loved one~ or yourself.

This book comes from a beautiful series. Each book is wonderfully produced with gorgeous photos, high quality paper, and pretty end-papers (haven't seen any of those for a while).

Each photo is someone's way of creating their own private space - or a space that intimately reflects their personal interests. The text on that page, tells about the person, sometimes telling the evolution of that private space.

Sometimes it is just a corner, or a desktop - but a reminder that we need places that belong to us alone.

Beautiful ways to do our just Being. Remembering just Being is an art form.

I have this book to thank for my beautiful, calming bedroom. But, the photos are so beautiful that I'd have bought it even without plans to redecorate. Victoria magazine fans will love getting much more of the same. Others will be happily surprised to see literary quotes and antique accents side by side with comfy couches and livable linens.

In his preface to this book Professor H. A. R. Gibb says that it puts forward a comparatively uninvestigated and hence unfamiliar view of Islam, about which a majority of modern Muslim rationalists would doubtless say that it is alien to the real Islam: but this is a mistaken view. In point of fact S. Hossein Nasr has successfully shown that the cosmological doctrines in question, which were developed during the period from the ninth to the eleventh centuries, are neither mere Hellenistic heirlooms outwardly adapted to the Islamic faith nor yet first gropings in the direction of the modern natural sciences and therefore now only fit to be dismissed as obsolete and decrepit. What chiefly comes to light in these doctrines is a spiritually based view of the Universe, one which always endeavours to see the whole in the part because from the point of view of these doctrines the Universe itself amounts ultimately to a reflection of the divine Unity. Cosmology in the true sense of the word moreover can only be that and nothing but that. When one comes to think of it, this is true of the real basis of every science, since even modern natural science, which considers itself to be agnostic, tacitly assumes the existence of a necessary relationship between the laws of the Spirit and those ruling over Nature, failing which there could be no such thing as truth at all. However, modern science takes no notice of this assumption, as if once and for all it had relieved the Cartesian division of reality into "spirit" and "matter" of any further concern for whatever goes beyond matter, whereas the Islamic as well as the Christian cosmology sees through the different levels of reality, as it were, with the result that the quantity of things matters less in its eyes than their quality; and likewise the actual course of natural events signifies less than their permanent archetypes. This also explains why the mode of expression in mediaeval cosmology often baffles the modern reader: he considers it "naive" when really it is profound in its preference for symbols over definitions, and bottomlessly "abstract" when it is merely indicating things which we cannot grasp with our two hands. Mediaeval cosmology can in fact sometimes be described as naive, for how can this be otherwise when it is a question of human thinking? It is never naive however in its essential features. S. Hossein Nasr develops all this exhaustively by means of three celebrated examples: firstly, the Rasâ'il (epistles) of the Ikhwân as-Safâ, the "Brethren of Purity," an encyclopedia which was published about the year 1,000 by a group of scholars from the region of Basra; secondly, the cosmographical works of al-Bîrûnî (973-1051), the great Persian astronomer and indologist; thirdly, the cosmology of Ibn Sînâ (980-1037), known as Avicenna in Latin, which was also of decisive importance for the development of Christian cosmology: one says "was," yet it could still have this importance to-day in the sense that even modern natural science could find invaluable suggestions within the scheme of ancient cosmology, wherever it is compelled to reach out beyond what can be weighed and counted, as for example in the sphere of psychology or psycho-somatic medicine.

Writing the most Islamic tradition and examines the classical Islamic cosmology and shows how Ikhwan ,al Biruni combined teaching the Quran

This book is for those with "higher" education. Professor Nasr quotes frequently directly from the French, often from the Arabic and occasionally from the German. Without at least passive understanding of French one would miss out on some important information.

In a way the book shows a descent from the Brethren of Purity through Al-Biruni to Ibn Sina. Professor Nasr has faithfully treated an often complex and difficult subject matter without over-simplification but also without getting lost, using Tawhid as a compass.

There are, however, some underlying basic issues that Professor Nasr might have dealt with in more depth. The first one is the symbolic nature of what is called the "physical universe", even more apparent since the middle ages. Without any apologetics, Professor Nasr could compare say Ibn Sina's Weltanschauung with the post-Keplerian or even post-Einsteinian from a pure traditional perspective.

Another welcome topic would have been an interweaving of the development of Islamic cosmology with the cyclical descent of the Iron Age, also known as Kali Yuga. Humans of the Golden Age needed no revealed Books. In this sense, although the traditions with revealed Books, the Islamic tradition being the last of them, close the cycle, they also mark its lowest spiral.

Thus, Professor Nasr seems to lose sight a bit of the Primordial Tradition in favour of the Islamic one but the latter, of course, is the subject matter of the book.

For those interested in profound approaches to the subject of cosmology, an excellent complement to Professor Nasr's work may be found in:

Miscellanea (Guenon, Rene. Works.)

in particular the article entitled "The Conditions of Corporeal Existence" beginning on page 88. Readers should bear in mind that this English version is a translation from the French original.

Writing the most Islamic tradition and examines the classical Islamic cosmology and shows how Ikhwan ,al Biruni combined teaching the Quran