Bishop Books

Sing a New Song: Portraits of Canada's Crusading Bishops is a captivating blend of history, biography, and religion told through the lives of four charismatic B.C. Anglican bishops; men who fought (and are still fighting) for change not only within the church, but in society. As someone without a religious background, I found Julie Ferguson's story of the Anglican church, and those who've made a difference, an easy-to-follow, compelling read. This book changed my perception of religion as an institution permanently stuck in the past and oblivious to current social concerns. It was encouraging to learn that there are clergy who welcome all people to the Anglican church, and who want to make the world a better place without attaching blame or judgement in their quest. Thanks to Julie Ferguson's knowledge and passion for this topic, I enjoyed an informative and thought-provoking read.

Julie's book is everything one might think church history shouldn't be: exciting, thought-provoking, invigorating, heart-wrenching, beautiful, and true. One needn't be Anglican or even religious to come to a deep understanding and appreciation of the fight for human rights represented between the covers of this book.

Julie Ferguson's Sing a New Song is a great read. It is carefully researched and written in an entertaining and fast-paced style that pulls you along. For anyone interested in Canadian history, this book is a must. The issues tackled head-on by the four bishops are among the central social issues of our time, and the way they were handled by the bishops and their church helps to define us as Canadians. Ferguson has handled some controversial material with care and consideration for her readers, while remaining rigorous to the history. Strongly recommended!

As readable as it is exhaustively researched, Julie Ferguson's Sing a New Song: Portraits of Canada's Crusading Bishops gives us intimate portraits of four courageous church leaders who faced dissent and open opposition, even risking their careers, as they fought for equal rights and social justice. These are four men who were prepared to push the envelope, within their own Anglican faith, and in the wider society of their time. Sing a New Song is a book not just for Anglicans, but for people of all faiths, or for anyone who enjoys a lively and absorbing biography.

This is awesome book about snakes. If you are interested in snakes is it a must read. Did you know that a Boa can swollow something bigger than it's head? That is amazing plus the fact that there can be up to 18,000 snakes in one place. The book is filled with pictures and facts that will give you a new attitude when it comes to the way you look at snakes. This is the best but shortest book I've read. I would recommend it to anyone.

This book about the adventures of Bob Mason, an Oregon State University scientist who studies snakes all over the world, is a must-read for any child (grades four to seven would be great) who loves science or nature - and a good gift idea for any parent who would like to steer their kids in that direction. Easy to read, great photography, compelling stories about snakes, science, the growth of a young boy who just started out watching nature shows on TV and turned that interest into a career as a world-class zoologist. Excellent choice!

Sy Montgomery and Nic Bishop have managed to bring this awesome display of nature and the man who studies it to life! This book would be a wonderful addition to any household, library or school, as it describes the work of a dedicated scientist who has committed his life to understanding what we as humans can gain from the lives of garter snakes. Dr. Mason obviously loves his work and loves passing along his knowledge to others, young and old. "The Snake Scientist" is an accurate picture of an almost undescribable phenomenom.

A fabulous book, replete with color photographs of the snakes. Kids will gravitate to the pictures first, and then the text will engage them in Dr. Mason's research. His comments are child-oriented, yet will not insult the older readers in the audience. Bob's stories of his childhood and career path are an added bonus to this book....and may even encourage more budding "Snake Scientists"! Well done!

...and with whom I made the purchase with. My book was received promptly and in the condition stated by the seller.

THE TEACHING OF CHRIST was the first Catholic book I ever read and it led me to become a Catholic. It has been a companion for many years. I bought my first copy while I was a Presbyterian in the 1980s. I recently bought the 5th edition. It is a wonderful exposition of the Catholic faith, covering everything from the nature of faith and the meaning of grace through the Trinity, the person and work of Jesus Christ, the role of Mary in our redemption and in the church, to the last rites and the fulfilment of all things.

The writing style is always warm and friendly while also being informative. There's always an appeal to the reader's life and loves though it is always subtle in making its appeal. I found it a great help in prayer, in spiritual formation, in understanding the gospel, and in learning what Jesus did for me. I recommend it to everybody.

Years back I decided to convert from Espicopal to Catholic. This book was given to me as a gift. Only recently did I finally open this book and I'm sorry I didn't sooner. In my experiences, the Catholic faith has never been so well compiled and explained. I've been moved by the spirit throughout the readings and come closer to my faith through understanding. I am extremely greatful to the authors for such a wonderful publication. Praise be to God!

I discovered this book during my senior year in high school. I read it twice that year and once a year during my university studies. I've been a Benedictine monk since 1981, and this is the book I have most often recommended to spiritual seekers.

This book has become indispensable for my work. Unlike most floras, it attempts to include propagation and cultivation information. George Staples is not only a terrific taxonomist, but, I suspect, a fine horticulturist, too. This work must be included in the canon of botanical reference works.

We have many plant books, but none is as comprehensive as this. It's a big chunk of money, but honestly, after buying FLOWERS AND PLANTS OF HAWAII (Wood), HAWAIIAN HERITAGE PLANTS (Kepler), GARDENING IN HAWAII (Hodge), HAWAIIAN ORGANIC GROWING GUIDE (Nirab - and that's if you can get this out-of-print book, which is good but limited in scope) - every time we bring plants home, we are frustrated in that we are only able to find a small percentage of them in these books.

THIS book, though technical and voluminous, does have most all the plants we are working with in landscaping and food production (fruit trees and the like). It gives information none of the others do about disease prone species and some historical data that is critical to one's decision in planting (where to plant and how it will fare at a given altitude and location. Also wind and exposure suggestions, insect vulnerability, etc.). True, there are no color photographs. But the in-depth information and sheer number of plants catalogued is found nowhere else that we know of.

FYI, we also purchased PLANTS FOR TROPICAL LANDSCAPES - A GARDENER'S GUIDE (Rauch & Weissich) - and this is a great one for photos both of the overall plant as well as a "close-up" of the flower or fruit or leaf it produces. Recommended to us by a grower here on the Big Island. But it does have its limits in the number of plants described.


Bela Johnson
http://www.belajohnson.com

I have just finished writing a review of this book for the West Hawaii Today newspaper. I've looked it over quite thoroughly. It's flawless! And I'm a very picky reviewer. It will be the authoritative classic for many years to come, and I predict it will garner some horticultural book awards during the coming year. The binding is real cloth, a rariety these days. Bishop Museum has produced a deluxe book. I know tropical horticulture books well and review them on my website.

Not full of flashy photos, so this won't be appealing to casual gardeners. If you have some education in botany and understand the taxonomy, this will be a reference book you will come back to time and again. Very comprehensive.

In addition to being an expertly written whodunnit, I especially enjoyed the geographical description of the small Bishop Hill community and environ. Any native such as myself will easily recognize the dump, steeple building, colony school, the B&B, the Filling Station along with many other sites. The acknowledgements of helpers Lloyd and Donna Anderson, Sheriff Gib Cady and Sharon Wexell were of particular interest to me and shows the local flavor provided as the title aptly tells.

Three months after their marriage, Joan Spenser and police lieutenant Fred Lundquist are finally going to visit Fred's parents in Bishop Hill, Illinois. Not a traditional honeymoon perhaps, but after Fred's mother (an Alzheimer's sufferer) witnesses a murder, it goes completely upside down. Though it is obviously a local, Fred's mother cannot remember who the murderer was. What's worse is that the murderer does not like the idea of a living witness, so it is up to Joan and Fred to protect Helga, preferably by finding the murderer.

I must say that I absolutely loved this book! The author does an excellent job of capturing Bishop Hill and its Swedish traditions. The characters are wonderfully three-dimensional, and I think that she did a wonderful job of sympathetically portraying a family working with an Alzheimer's sufferer. Plus, the story is gripping and believable, with detectives who are human and quite believable.

Am I gushing about this book? You bet! This is a great book, and I highly recommend it to everyone.

I believe I have read all of Sara Frommer's books and they have never failed to delight me. Witness in Bishop Hill is every bit as good as all the other ones and it gets into some different, and not normally mined material, than might be expected in "cozy mysteries."
I am a writer too (author of Safe Sex in the Garden) and a few years ago I was talking to another writer I know, Vicki Leon, author of all the terrific "Uppity Women" books. Vicki was working on a mystery of her own (I think it will be called Nero's Mother, and ought to be out next spring). At any rate we were talking about books and writing and she told me that she had just read as close to perfect a murder mystery as she had ever encountered. Coming from Vicki, that's pretty high praise. It turned out that she was referring to Murder in C Major by Sara Frommer. Vicki was surprised (and impressed!) that I had already read Murder in C Major myself.
If you enjoy books that are finely crafted, where there are no excess words, no filler materials, nothing but the best stuff.....and if you've never had the pleasure to read one of Sara Frommer's novels, do yourself a favor and buy one. Her books are sold as cozy mysteries and I suppose they are, but I feel that they are much more than that. I have recommended these books to everyone I know who reads and appreciates good mysteries and they all thought they were great. Frommer's characters are real, you care about them, fear for them, empathize with them. By all means, do read Witness in Bishop Hill. You'll see what I mean.

Married for three months, Oliver, Indiana Detective Lieutenant Fred Lundquist and his second wife Joan, mother of two grown children and director of a senior center, head to his hometown of Bishop Hill so she can meet his parents for the first time. As they travel to Northern Illinois, Fred's mother Helga, suffering from Alzheimer's, strays away from her home right into the homicide of a neighbor's son.

Fred, Joan, and her college-age son Andrew are shocked by how poor Helga's short term memory is which includes not knowing where she lives or how ends up in various locales. The culprit begins harassing Helga to starting with threats over the phone. As the hamlet gets ready for Christmas, fearing for her mother-in-law more from a killer who drifts in and out of Helga's memory than Alzheimer's, Joan struggles to identify the culprit before he harms her or anyone else.

WITNESS IN BISHOP HILL is a strong Joan entry though her identification of the killer seems somewhat miraculous. The story line contains an engaging blend of elements of an amateur sleuth and to a lesser degree police procedural with Swedish Yuletide trimming to brighten up the fare. However, Sara Hoskinson Frommer's latest cozy belongs to Helga, who is handled with compassion so that Alzheimer's victims and their families (including this reviewer's beloved late mother-in-law know how much Ms. Frommer cares).

Harriet Klausner

About a year ago a teacher/performer friend asked me who my first guitar teacher was. Larry McCabe, quite a few years ago. My friend looked surprised, and told me he uses Larry's books in his own teaching, and that Larry had written something like 80 books to date. I had no idea, as Larry was in the process of writing his first book when I had lessons with him. So when it came time to brush up on some basic blues licks for a band I'm in I ended up obtaining some of Larry's books.

This book of blues turnarounds is where I started. What a great book - full of excellent turnaround licks. At this point I've only played through about half of them note for note, but have used those as a basis for coming up with my own licks. And to me, that is the mark of a great book - lots of useful information if read note-for-note, but can also be used as a springboard for creating new ideas.

The licks I've learned from the book thus far are all in the key of C, but can be easily used in other keys if one has a basic knowledge of the notes on the fretboard. I'd highly recommend this book for a beginner wanting to learn stock blues licks, or intermediate players who need to expand their blues vocabulary.

An Excellent Choice for the Early Intermediate Blues Guitarist

A turnaround is a lick played at the end of a section of music. A blues turnaround would be played in measures 11-12 of a 12-bar blues, or measures 7-8 of an eight-bar blues.

Electric urban blues turnarounds are fairly easy to play, and the difference from one to another is subtle. Having the ability to play a variety of turnarounds is an important skill in blues guitar playing. This is the best book I know of that addresses exclusively the subject of electric blues guitar turnarounds.

This a book for a VERY ambitious beginner, or an early intermediate guitarist who has an interest in Chicago blues in the classic style of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, etc.

The licks are all arranged in the key of C. This is for ease of analysis and comparison. The user is encouraged to transpose the licks to other keys - a worthwhile project for exploring and learning the fingerboard. Very, very good practice for learning the art of blues phrasing.

Great book from one of our leading authors. My students (and myself) have consistently benefited from the interesting instruction contained here.

My students and I work from several of Larry McCabe's guitar books and find that the books produce consistently high results.

This book, like the others, is exceptionally well crafted, specific in intent, and the guitar lines are accurately written exactly as they are heard on the CD. Larry McCabe books are the work of a dedicated teacher who has achieved a high level of respect nationally in the field of music education.

Larry asked me to write a review for this book, and I am happy to do so. The object of this book is to teach the art of playing blues guitar turnarounds to a guitarist who has some prior experience but is just beginning to explore electric blues.

If a student knows how to bend the strings and perhaps play slurs, slides, and hammers, blues turnarounds are not difficult to play. What is important is to play them authentically and with conviction. This book does a very good job in advancing those objectives.

A component of this book that is quite effective is that every phrase is written in the Key of C. The student should then transpose each lick to other keys, a desirable skill that encourages individual incentive and ability to solve arranging problems.

The turnarounds sound exactly like the ones played on classic blues recordings by the great artists from Chicago and other urban areas.

I know other teachers who swear by Larry's books, and I am one of them. Great book- effective in its aims, ambitious content, fun to work through, and a great value.

This very fine book has been in print in one form or another since the early-to-mid 1980s. Not many music books remain in print that long, but this is an exceptional collection of model solos in the urban blues style.

The book is quite popular with music teachers (as evidenced by the other reviews) and it is enjoyable and productive for students as well. The book is aimed at the ambitious early intermediate student, and a few of the solos will challenge an intermediate guitarist.

There are 25 full-length solos in the book, each written in notation and tablature, and each recorded note-for-note on the accompanying CD. The band on the CD is excellent. There are five solos in C, five in G, five in D, five in A, and five in E. The solos are played to standard blues progressions, meaning that they may be "plugged in" to similar blues progressions that are found in many, many songs.

The solos sound exactly like the solos heard on real blues records. They are varied and performed with taste, authenticity, and feeling. You can hear why the author was a columnist for Living Blues Magazine and why his work has received consistently high reviews in a number of guitar magazines.

Great book, highly recommended.

I wish all music instruction books were written in this format. The song tabs just go from one page to the next without a bunch of talking/writing in between, and the song numbers in the book actually match the song numbers on the cd...what a rare and unique idea! Of course, none of that would matter if the material were bad, but that's not the case, the solos are great - quite diverse too. There is a lot of helpful information in this book: theory, writing your own solos, a guide to blues styles and artists,etc. - but it's all in it's own section of the book, not sprinkled throughout the book here and there making it impossible to find. As a full time guitar instructor I would just like to say "great job", "great blues solos" and "great, easy to use format". Thanks.

The author of this book, Larry McCabe, is re-releasing books that have gone out of print for one reason or another. This particular book is an old friend. After I received it, I went into my library and found a copy. It has been in print in one form or another for 25 years. Most instruction books don't last anywhere near that long. First, this book (as the author warns) is not for beginners. You need to be familiar with the movable blues scales we all use. If you are playing out, and feel comfortable with the whole neck, get this book. The style of lead is closer to Gatemouth Brown and Freddie King than anyone else. If you don't know who these men are, buy their CDs. You are in for a treat. Please read the author's introduction. There is a lot of good info there. The Tab system is the older style. It should take about 30 seconds to adjust. It's actually easier to read than the current form. If you consider yourself a Rock guitarist instead of Blues, you really could use this book. If you use these solos as a "how to", instead of just memorizing them, they will give you some new weapons. You know, for scaring the heck out of other guitarists.

Excellent and entertaining look at human dispair. An entirely Nagelbergian (see, "ManFallingBackwardsDownstairs") adventure in getting wasted in Chicago. I enjoy reading "The Anger Report" most while releaving myself after a long night of drinking, particularly, after visits to Wrigley Field. Nagelberg has carved a sliver in the cork that bottles his mind - we should all take a peek. OH,and, NO this is NOT Bukowski revisited. SKOL!!

This collection of free form poems is the reading equivalent of burring you face in a bucket of glass shards. Whether it's too much harsh reality, a disturbing dream, or a booze induced violent rampage, the poems contained in The Anger Report are meant to shock. Individually they can be taken as a look through a very dissatisfied, very troubled, and very drunk mind. Or when taken as a whole, the poems equal a suicide manual for the human race. So crack open a beer and enjoy the Armageddon within.

Disturbing and intoxicating (literally you might need a drink during or by the end). Lets just say I had to seek some lighthearted form of entertainment soon after reading the book. My advice is to read it in doses since the content is pretty heavy but definitely worth buying.

My two month old is completely enamored with this book. He will sit in my lap with me for 30 minutes to an hour every day while I point out and name the critters, tell him the colors, sing song some of them, and make their noises.
Filled with tidbits of information, I know this book will continue to catch his interest, and make him curious to know more.
Babies can understand words before they are ale to speak them, and in a few months he will be able to point them out when I ask him where the snail is, or where the frog is. It is a great tool for many levels of development.

These books by this author are wonderful. The book has outdoor scenes and on the next page the author gives the name of the bug/animal. My kids love these books and so do I.

Bugs, kids, backyards what more could you ask for? well maybe the Backyard Detective to make the experince complete. If you are a Home school family its a must. Lots of color, pictures. This one is a real gift.

Pamela does it again with this collection that demonstrates once and for all her ability to write in almost every genre. She has never been a "hard" science fiction writer nor delved in fantasy as far as I know. She seems too rational, too logical to indulge in such ridiculousness.

Indeed, her characters seem possessed of such qualities as these. The stories range from everyday happenings to alien encounters and the best things about them are they are short enough to be read at one setting while being good enough to be thoroughly enjoyed. Great collection.

I'll say it again: Pamela Sargent is the most underrated writer in the world. Notice I did not say "science fiction writer" because she visits other genres. (Her biography / novel of Ghengis Khan was incredible.) I first encountered Pamela Sargent in the mesmerizing "Shore of Women" then went on to read the Venus Series and all her previous works.

This is one of her earliest but all the elements are present: The interesting story, the time (not too distant future), the interplay among characters separating the wheat from the chaff, the logical progression of current trends. The subject is particularly timely today with all the wild stories over cloning. (Idential twins are clones - should they be allowed?) The twins are cloned for a reason and without giving away the plot it involves reactions to them and the exploration of space for habitation.

Pamela Sargent very very rarely lets me down with her science fiction. I was luckily enough to just find this collection of her short stories and read it through in only two days. The vast majority of the stories are excellent -- well written and populated by enticing characters. Well worth the time and money if you like strong but realistic female characters.