Bishop Books

Though this book was first published in 1908, it remains as absolutely one of the all-time great classics in identifying and learning about the trees of the Pacific region of the United States and Canada. The detailed descriptions of the trees, their leaves, their bark, and so on are very clear. The book is unexcelled in giving precise locations of where a particular species of tree can be found, and is also unexcelled in describing the kind of climate, habitat, and soil a particular tree likes. Almost unique among books is an attempt to give an approximate longevity of each tree. True, some of the longevity figures would now be considered inaccurate today, but Sudworth truly did his best to secure the best available information of his times. Sudworth's practical experiences in his tree identification skills truly show in his writings. He allows for variations to be expected, as well as mentioning rules of thumbs and practical ways to help learn to identify the trees. The line drawings of the leaves, fruits or cones, and seeds of the trees are among the very, very best I've ever seen---such exquisite details are to be seen in the drawings! This book has been so useful for me that I'm going to have to find a new---or at least a used copy in good shape---to replace my present but worn copy. For the serious or beginning or advanced dendrologist, this book is an abslolute must in his or her personal library. It's such a great book that it really could use a six-star rating. Sudworth would be bursting with pride to know how useful his book has been for not just me, but for many others as well. It's truly one of the most scholarly and greatest of any tree books ever published, and I highly recommend it.

This beautifully bound little book is a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture. Ms. Bishop has travelled around the country photographing and painting Mr. Wright's buildings. All of his better known designs are here, usually captured in a new setting and presentation that combines photography with painting. This enables Ms. Bishop to capture what she sees, what she feels as well as the photographic reality.

The book is not large, printed in high quality on good paper. It has 64 color pages. Beautifully bound, this book is designed to last foever.

Who was Richard Allen? Among other things, he was the founder of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, first black author to be granted federal copyright and spiritual leader of early black America.

Richard Newman has delivered a compelling account of Allen's ascension to leadership, his symbolic representation of black religion and his personal sacrifice to the cause of justice. Through humanizing anecdote, well crafted prose and lucid analysis, this book has succeeded in its goals:

1.) The story keeps coming back to the meaning of black leadership through the lens of Richard Allen's work. "Black prophetic leadership has historically critiqued American glorification in favor of a broader vision of national salvation." (Newman, 297) With this in mind, Newman observes that Allen uses his faith, the print press, and access to power in the nations capital to achieve his goals--or more specifically God's goals. Newman takes care to avoid reducing Allen's faith to ideology. The suggestion that Allen inaugurates a tradition of abolitionism in the media is quite powerful adding layers to Allen's image as a black founding father.

2.) Allen is something of an untarnished historical figure. Newman makes it clear that many found Allen to be overbearing, and annoyingly persistent as an individual. Not to mitigate his historical importance, but to shed light on personal characteristics.

3.) Newman's treatment of the 1793 Yellow Fever Epidemic with respect to Richard Allen's leadership is a brilliant description of an understudied and underappreciated, but defining moment in American history.

I found The Fresh Air Curtain to be a refreshing twist on the traditional Sci FI and boy meets girl love story. It captured my imagination.
The " Fresh " concept was enlightening and held my interest. I am anxiously waiting for the sequel.
Darlene Hampton

THIS TAPE SERIES IS INCREDIBLE. AFTER I ORDERED ONE TAPE AND PLAYED IT THERE WAS OIL LEFT IN MY HOME. THE OIL FROM THE HOLYGHOST WAS LEFT IN MY ROOM. I WAS AMAZED I LAUGHED I KNEW THAT JESUS CHRIST LOVED ME BUT WOW THAT WAS A SURPRISE.

PRAISE BE THE NAME OF MY LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST
READ ROMANS CHAPTER 10VS 9

This book offers a path into the riches of Augustine's ethics and politics. Burt situates Augustine's views in the larger context of Augustine's vision of the Triune God's work in history of creating a society of friends. A very helpful and enjoyable work.

In 1816 Robert Richford Roberts (1778-1843) was elected to the office of Bishop in the Methodist Church, but his service to the Lord had started many years before. Called to the Lord at a young age, Roberts had been early marked as a future pastor. Feeling unworthy of such a high calling, he had resisted his calling. But, once he embraced his service, he became a well-known and well-traveled preacher - ranging across the nation, bringing the Word of the Lord to just about every corner of the fledgling United States.

Overall, I found this to be a fascinating and wonderfully uplifting biography. The author does an excellent job of presenting all the facets of Bishop Roberts' life, and life in general on the early frontier. If you are interested in Bishop Roberts, then this is a good book for you to get. Heck, if you are just interested in life in early America, then this is also a book you should read.

I really enjoyed this book, and do not hesitate to recommend it to everyone!

A Funeral for the Eyes of Fire, Michael Bishop's first novel, concerns itself with a pair of brothers, the Balduins, who seek to negotiate the transplant of the Ouemartsee, a small nonconformist society on the planet Trope, to another nearby planet, Glaparca, in order to assist its residents in taming an unliveable region there. The brothers embark on this mission essentially out of boredom, as at this point in the future, human society has become hivelike, with every need provided for but with no means of achieving distinction from humanity's mass.

It isn't until the novel's end that the question of the Ouemartsee's relocation is resolved and the various parties' motives are revealed or confirmed; the bulk of the narrative serves to 1) provide a fascinating look at the Ouemartsee, the Glaparcans, and the majority culture of Trope, and 2) set in motion an event (the proposed relocation) that allows these three cultures and their philosophies (as well as that of the human negotiators) to interact in a variety of ways. This is very much a novel of manners, albeit set far in the future on a distant planet.

In writing a novel that focuses so heavily on sociology, diplomacy, religion, and morality--rather than a straightforward conflict narrative--Bishop takes a substantial risk. His cultures must stand on their own, with the only potential for sudden dynamic change coming in the form of the mostly-impotent humans. Fortunately, Bishop succeeds; the Tropemen/Ouemartsee schism is logical and original (when it could have easily been derivative of some aspect of human history); the Glaparcans have a startlingly unique mythology; and the cultural practices of all three serve to demonstrate how alien they are, rather than familiarizing them by making them analogous to human cultures. Needless to say, you would never know this was a first novel, and I highly recommend it to the thinking reader.

Some notes:
--This was published in 1975; it was republished in 1980 as Eyes of Fire, rewritten (I have no idea how extensively) to bring it in line with a continuity established in some of Bishop's later novels. I have not read that version, and this review refers solely to the original book.
--[Spoiler alert] These old science fiction novels are something else; I realize that in 1975 science fiction was still making the transition to actual "literature" in the eyes of many, and a lot of the books being published were still forced to compete for attention in bus station and drug store paperback racks, but attempts to appear sensational can backfire. Plastered across the top of the front cover, above a simultaneously arresting and disturbing portrait of a Tropeman, is the blurb "Their eyes were crystals that could see into the future!" Intriguing? Yes. A huge spoiler? Also, yes. That's something that is meant to be uncovered as the societies of Trope are gradually exposed. It's no reflection on Bishop, naturally; just a humorous example of the way publishers used to shoot themselves in their collective foot.

This is a beautiful story about love and how it grows. This boy and girl start out to build a garden wall. They grow together through the story and in the end the garden wall becomes a place for them to marry. Any little girl would love this story. It is about a girl and a real world prince.

I know. No one likes geometry. You have to take it in high school. And there are all these proofs to do. It's no fun.

But there are some interesting questions in geometry. And one of the most interesting ones is the Isoperimetric Theorem.

Here it is.

Of all plane figures with a given perimeter, the circle has the greatest area.

This theorem was known well over two thousand years ago. And in the nineteenth century, Jacob Steiner almost proved it. He proved that if there is a figure which has a greater area than any other figure with the same perimeter, then it must be a circle. And this book shows how. I think Steiner's proof should be shown to students in any honors geometry course.

Unfortunately, Steiner only proved that if there was an answer, it had to be the circle. He never proved that there was an answer. And when this was pointed out to him, he thought this was not a serious objection.

And yes, Karl Weierstrass did spot the error in Steiner's proof, and he found a way to prove that there is an answer to the problem, finally solving a problem that had plagued mathematicians for so many centuries.

If you are going to take a class in honors geometry in high school, and if my review hasn't talked you out of doing so, get this book. You'll enjoy it.