Bernard Books

Any who seek to unlock creativity either for personal or business pursuits needs Unlock Your Creative Genius. It comes from a noted psychologist whose program teaches how to probe individual creative choices and how to pursue a creative path. From analysis of different fears that hold us back to handling failure and others' expectations, this is an inspirational guide to making the most of underlying creativity.

This is the first step-by-step practical description I've seen of an effective way to deal with fear and procrastination about writing. Golden's system has helped me in working on revisions of my new novel, and on a proposal for a biography. I've recommended the book to all my writing students at Duke, and suggest it for anyone who wrestles with themselves over their writing.

I'm a writer and have gone through a number of episodes of writer's block over the course of my career. It's tempting to chalk up those experiences to a "lack of inspiration" or "burn-out" or "depression" and let it go at that, alll the while reviling one's lack of industry or fortitude or resilience.

Golden shows us how to look beneath the surface of our obstacles to creative fulfilment and deal with their root causes. Golden is a scientist, not a shaman, guru, or spiritualist. His approach is founded on reason...but nurtured with the empathy, warmth and encouragement of a wise, dedicated therapist.

I recommend this book highly.

My son is addicted to this book. He received it from his daycare mom at Christmastime when he was 4 months old. Needless to say as soon as he could crawl he would go over to this book--only this book (he has a HUGE library) and flip through the pages. He is happy to have Daddy or Mommy read it to him or just to look at the book himself. Now 9 months later I have to buy him a new copy due to wear and tear!

My children(ages 3&4) love this book! We read it before we planted our garden this year and they got much more involved and can't wait to try their vegetables! Vivid colors and simple words make this book enjoyable and easy to understand.

This book is great in so many ways. My 15 mo. old loves it because it has a fun rhythm to it and because he hunts for little things on each page (the kitty, the dog, the butterflies, the vegetables). I like it because it shows kids how plants grow "Corn grows up. Carrots grow down. Cucumbers climb around and around. Peppers grow up. Potatoes grow down. Pumpkins vine around and around...." I also like that the children are gardening with their dad, and that this is (apparently) an organic garden...happy bugs, butterflies, worms, and birds are shown ALL over the plants (in a cute way, and a real way...not a gross way). At the end the family harvests their veggies and creates a veggie stew. Fabulous, positive book...makes natural gardening look fun, and kids learn about plants, too!

This terrific little book was my introduction to ethical philosophy in college. This is, in fact, the best way to introduce anyone to real philosophy: Present an important philosophical problem and let two very intelligent, articulate, and well-educated people of opposing views & good faith argue the merits, demerits, and difficulties inherent in a particular theory. In fairly clear and straightforward prose, Smart and Williams plunge right into the matter and hash it out with meticulous care. Smart offers a sophisticated version of Utilitarianism for our consideration. Williams draws out the implications of it and shows how Utilitarian ethics contains contradictions and potentially repellent outcomes. (Although Williams never makes it explicit in this book, he adheres to a sophisticated modern version of classical virtue ethics, a sort of refined Nicomachean ethics.)

This may not be the last word on Utilitarianism, but it is certainly one of the most intelligent and insightful. A perfect entree to ethical philosophy, that endlessly fascinating & vitally important dialogue about how we ought to live our lives.

Ive read a lot of books on Utilitarian Ethics, and this, with out a doubt the best! Smart is concice and cercumspect in his presentation of what has become the most plausible and appliable form of consequentialism, i.e. Utilitarianism.

Williams presents extreemly perseptive critiques of Utilitarianism in perticuler, and consequentialism in general. Unfortunately for Williams it seems to me after 16 years of Ethical study, that Utilitarianism, as tough a theory as it is, is the most viable that has yet been discoverd. R.A.M. 3-15-00

The reviewer from Berkley could not be more right in recommending this book as an introduction to modern moral philosophy. Smart and Williams are two of the most brilliant and important philosophers of the last century and both are brilliantly clear and engaging communicators. The result is not just good introduction but a book that takes you right to the cutting edge of the subject. Smart contributes a splendidly bold and clear headed statement and defence of a form of act utilitarianism (`the view that the rightness or wrongness of an action depends only on the total goodness or badness of its consequences, i.e. on the effect of the action on the welfare of all human beings (or perhaps all sentient beings)'). Williams then provides a peerlessly brilliant and devastating critique of that same theory. The reader is left with a clear understanding both of why so many people as sensible and intelligent as Smart consider utilitarianism just obviously right and why so many people as humane and thoughtful as Williams think it is just crazy. If you are interested in philosophy, then, it's a wonderfully rewarding read. Indeed it's a great thing to read if you aren't sure whether you re interested in philosophy or not. If you find Williams on consequentialism, integrity and negative responsibility a dull read you will probably find pretty well any philosophy dull and you can safely conclude that the subject is not for you.

I read Woolly Mammoth.
I though it was interesting because it tells you how they found it.
It talked about how they found and got the mammoths out of the middle of nowhere.
I think kids in grade 4 would enjoy this book.
I recommend this book because it is really interesting.

During the summer of 1997 a young boy discovered mammoth tusks sticking out of the tundra in Siberia. This book documents the efforts of a team of scientists from around the world to remove the mammoth from the permafrost. Information about the behavior, migration, and extinction of mammoths is included. Photographs from the expedition, diagrams, and maps round out the text. The text also raises the question of whether or not it would be ethical to clone mammoths if it became scientifically possible. The ultimate answer is left to the student. This book would be a great addition to any middle school library.

This book is an excellent resource for the classroom
teacher of upper elementary students. Not only are there
numerous interesting & little known facts about the various
types of Mammoths, but one of the participants in the recent
Zarkov excavation shares every facet of the two-year
expedition to unearth a Mammoth that has been preserved for
23,000 years! The photos in this book are excellent, and it
serves as a companion to the Discovery video "Raising the
Mammoth." My fifth graders actually loved this documentary,
and were delighted that the book includes much of the same
information along with bits of trivia about these mysterious
creatures. My students are constantly passing this book
around to share with each other. This is AMAZING because they
don't like to read! I highly recommend this book for its
educational value. You won't be disappointed!

Indside, some of the most exultant photographic portraits to be found from the late Victorian period. Contained here, brief bios of family, friends, and acquaintances, who became the inspiration for the work of Proust. The book is bound and printed beautifully. The details of the clothing and accessories are well worth the price of this book.

This is a must for any fan of Proust--you get to see not only what the originals for his most memorable characters (the Ducehsse de Guermantes, Swann, Charlus, Mme. verdurin) looked like, but also the interior of one of the great fin-de-siecle chateaus where one couple (the Prince and Princess Radziwell) lived. The Nadar photographs are sharp, startling and magnificent. I've wanted a book like this for years.

This is must reading (or gazing) for any serious student of Proust's IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME. Photographer Paul Nadar was a photographer for whom at one time or another virtually every member of Proust's social set and family sat for at one point or another. The value of this volume for someone reading Proust is twofold: allowing one to see high quality photographic reproductions of many of the actual models for Proust's characters, and providing a vivid picture of the way these people dressed, how they wore their hair, some of their cultural preoccupations, and what their favored accessories were.

I am not a fan of any method of reading Proust that degenerates into a study of Proust's life, that is more concerned with figuring out who the "real" Odette or Albertine or Saint-Loup was. The "real" Odette was a fictional creation by a literary genius of the first rank, and she cannot be found in any of these photographs. Not even in gazing at a photography of Robert de Montesquiou do we see Baron de Charlus, despite our knowledge that he was Proust's most important model for Charlus. But looking at these photographs breaks down the distance between Proust's world and our own. Odette may be based on several real life models, but it is helpful to know what the women that Proust knew looked like in forming our own mental picture of Odette or Gilberte or Oriane or Saint-Loup. I also find it much easier to imagine visually Proust's world after seeing precisely how those members of his social set dressed.

The book also has a great deal to teach about portrait photography in late 19th and early 20th century Paris, at least in an upper class studio. The range of photographs is fascinating, not merely in the posed photos with the subjects dressed in their finest clothes, but in the ones where various individuals appeared "in costume." This includes not merely a series of marvelous photographs of Sarah Bernhardt dressed as various characters, but men and especially women appearing in amateur theatricals. One section features a many of the more celebrated individuals of the time whom Proust either met or loosely based some of his characters on, such as Bernhardt (La Berma), Anatole France (Bergotte), Faure (Vinteuil, though only musically), and Claude Monet (one of several models for Elstir).

Physically, the book resembles a well-produced art book, with a cloth binding, high quality paper, and the highest quality reproductions. It is easily the most attractive book on Proust I have in my rather large collection of Proust titles. Not just a great book on Proust, but a beautiful one as well.

Those are the words I would use to describe this little gem of a book. I received this as a birthday gift (along with a DVD of the Criterion Edition Seven Samurai, I might add). At first, I just kind of went, 'Oh, a quiz book.' Boy, was I wrong. I had a blast reading this. More than anything, the book is informative. I had fun answering the questions I knew ('What is Rosebud?' Duh.), but the ones I didn't know turned out to be a treasure-trove of information on these movies. Really, really fun book. Two thumbs up!

Despite the fact that I don't fully approve of the american film institute's choices for the 100 greatest american films, I am a huge fan of a great deal of these films: sunset boulevard, taxi driver, the wizard of oz, gone with the wind, citizen kane, et al. As a film buff and amateur film historian, I felt I knew a great deal about these projects and their histories. Yet, to my amazement, Mr. Raush's book consistently brought new facts to light. While I'm not really much of a fan of quiz books, I liked this book immensely. In fact, the title is kind of misleading since its really more of film history book than anything else. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and found it an able companion to Roger Ebert's The Great Films book. I would heartily recommend either of these books to anyone interested in movies and movie makers.

My son already liked alphabet books when I selected this one for his second birthday. We didn't need yet another alphabet book, but this one has become his favorite.
At 2 years and 3 months, he can recite the entire thing. It has a few "big" words like "nutritious", "quenching", and "irresistible", which is great for beginning speakers. It is a stretch for my son to pronounce those words, but that's where the learning is, and he's proud of himself.
As we talk about the bats, balls, boats, bananas, blueberries (and much more), he broadens his vocabulary, fine-tunes his pronunciation, and registers the concept of the "b" sound. He acts out this book by taking our plastic letters, quoting each page, ("A was appetizing"), and pretends to gobble the letter as the T-Rex does. The T-Rex puts the letter "R" in the refrigerator, so my son finds his "R" and wants to put it in the refrigerator too.
It is a colorful, visually appealing book, for toddlers through kindergarteners. My older son likes to help point out the items (that begin with the designated letter) on each page for his little brother. Some are obvious; some more challenging.

The educational content of this book is disguised by colorful illustrations and witty passages. With each new letter comes the opportunity to name many objects that begin with that letter--C has clown, cotton candy, a carousel. And the letter that is being presented is always in bold type in every word in that particular passage. A wonderful tool to teach a little one their letters in both capital and lower case form. I chose this book because my son loves dinosaurs. However, I feel this book is wonderful for any child. So enjoyable!

This is a great book my concept about this book it content arewell put together for the struggle of african americans in thesouthern mississippi state.I have not finish the whole book yet it is help to me so far.

This book is well written with excellent historical views concerning the old confederacy. Facts are documented and well organized . This book is wonderful for minority students.

This is exactly the book I was looking for as someone with a brand new St. Bernard puppy. The history helps to know how the St. Bernard developed its temperment and size. The care and training sections are excellent, giving everything from diet suggestions to tips and cautions in training, housing, and playing with your puppy. Although I will probably never have a show dog, I also appreciated those sections that explained what breeders are striving to achieve with the St. Bernard with size, coloring, and build.

i have been breeding saints for several years now, and this is a very good resource book...some of the information is not practical(like make him tripe to eat); but you are able to infer and obtain basic information....saint bernards are the most loveable dogs in the world, if possible everyone should have one!!

The Confessions of Nat Turner audio book is a magic history lesson that is emotionally and intellectually appealing rich in detail and magnificent in scope. It is also exciting, compelling, powerful and tersely written and should be heard by anyone interested in the history of the United States. This excellent documentary should be part of all American History courses.

For those Americans both black and white, who've dared imagine the the myriad horrors of the slavery system, the audio book by Kente Classics "Americas Black Spartacus Remembered" is a compelling and vivid journey back into one of saddest moments in Americas often violent history. The tape brilliantly deals with the actual confessions given by the captured "Black Spartacus", Nat Turner to attorney Thomas Gray in November 1831 (3 months after the revolt, and just before he was to meet a certain fate of death by hanging). Gray went own to publish "General Nat's" confessions in a pamphlet which was widely read throughout the northern and southern states.

As the tape begins, we hear Gray (stage actor Michael Collins) describe Nat Turner's (stage actor Bernard Addison) entry into the interview room, in heavy chains and shackles from head to toe. From that point forward you we "transported" back in time and space to the very room itself.

One of the great advantages of the audio book as a medium, is its ability, like all great live theatre, to engage you through the aural senses to a place where you feel as though you are there witnessing the event taking place. For entire 1:30 min. playing time, this tape holds you in its grip with chilling descriptions by Turner of how he and his band of "disciples" went about their "work". The horrible result being, the ultimate death of over 30 white slave owners and their families, and the capture and slaughter of over 100 blacks in retailiation by maurauding bans of whites and militias mobilized in response. All this carnage taking place in a few days during August of 1831 in Southampton County Virginia.

Where the tape succeeds in a historical context for those interested in the episode, is we see the obvious impact the event had on the politics of the times, and the vast schism that existed between north and south on the matter of slavery.

Furthemore, because we actually hear the spoken words of Turner himself describe his motivation, objectives, and mental state for his actions, we are provided with a direct contrast to the Pulitzer Prize winning, and widely read book (a novel)"The Confessioins of Nat Turner", written by William Styron and published in 1968.

In a well written afterthought provided at the end of the tape, written by William L. Andrews, a professor at the University of North Carolina, we hear of challenges to the authenticity of Gray's confessions because Gray seems to imbue Turner with far too much intelligence and elegance of speech for a uneducated Negro. Andrews also argues convincely that the ultimate result of the Turner revolt may have mitigated southern anti-slavery sentiments to the point where the final conflict which was the Civil War was inevitable. In this, we see the validity of the comparison of Nat Turner to the Spartacus of 2000 years earlier.

The rest of the cast is equally superb, with Collins doubling as the voice of the Judge, and Shakeperean pro Allen Gilmore playing the voice of the William L. Andrews. The tape is punctuated with 2 very moving musical interludes by the great Odetta which help to add to the emotional impact of this sterling production. The tape jacket provides us with artists reproductions of the scowling Turner and a map of the country side where the revolt took place.

As has been the case with other Kente Classics audio books I have experienced, this tape succeeds because of the historical importance of the subject matter chosen, outstanding quality of the writing and editing, and the professional performances of the actors chosen for the various spoken roles.

I highly recommend this or any of the other titles from this house.