Blair Books

As a user of this book as a student of Geology I can highly recommend it. There is no douth in my mind that this remains the best book made for identification in optical mineralogy. In addition to containing descriptions of optical properties for over 450 minerals, it has a easy to use system of tabels which crossreference and compare the optical properties of the minerals. This system is very well taliored and makes identification, not a dream but a lot easier. The book also has a large section on the theory of optical mineralogy and polarizing microscope.

I used an older edition of this book in my crystallography studies. It is fasinating to see the pictures. There is a complete section that was helpful on using the polarising microscope. It also has an identification guide which is useful although a modern database could also do this type of searching. A good book for a geology student.

Hard to easily categorize but North Carolina residents will find this a compelling cultural account. Marimar McNaughton's Outer Banks Architecture provides a survey of North Carolina's outer banks region, examining the architectural heritage of cottages, lodges, and other structures. Black and white photos of selected structures are accompanied by descriptions, architectural notes, and history.

Marimar McNaughton's Outer Banks Architecture: An Anthology Of Outposts, Lodges And Cottages is a compendium of facts, anecdotes and photos showcasing the North Carolina Outer Banks' architectural history and styles that range from simple cottages to elaborate custom built homes and striking commercial buildings to lodges, light houses, life saving stations, and community structures. Outer Banks Architecture is a superb regional architectural study and a valued contribution to the growing literature of American architectural history and accomplishment.

I really enjoyed this book. The characters were realistically drawn with ordinary faults and insecurities.
A completely charming story.

Two delightful and believable characters fall in love with charm and humor.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants to enrich their get-togethers with friends and family. I especially like the baby shower ritual. It really made my best friend's shower that much more special and memorable. Even the "anti-ritual" men of the family have embrased these at special occassions.

There are few books I've read that have had a direct and meaningful impact on my life - this is one of them. The book is about rituals -- traditions or activities that bring people together, often at defining moments of their lives, to share an experience or inspiration. One of my favorites is the baby blessing ritual, in which family and friends write a blessing for a newborn child. I did this for my children and, now that they're older, they just love having me read the blessings to them. This book offers ideas for many different types of rituals that I can easily incorporate into my day-to-day life. And for me, bringing these rituals into my busy life has helped me slow down, reconnect, and create some very special memories with the people who are most important in my life.

Books of this quality are rare. For anyone interested in the underlying patterns which orchestrate existence, this book superbly details, describes, compares and analyzes major cosmological concepts and ideas. I heartfelt wish the author, drawing upon 25 years of living these ideas, would write a sequel discussing what he has learned through his sojourn in Indonesia.

A must read for those interested in seeing the connection of mysticism and our natural world.

This book will stand the test of time. Published in 1975 at the height of the "consciousness movement" of the 60's & 70's this book blends myths, magic and religion to modern natural science and leaves the reader wanting more. Author Blair takes the reader on a step by step journey through the transformation of consciousness from the past to the present supported from the microcosm to macrocosm.

This book is a comfortable read though in its simplicity it evokes the reader's own sense of wonderment about the world around him/her.

This book never gets boring. It stimulates and educates. Next time you fly, turn off that awful in-flight movie and read this book!

This book is every bit as timely as the original 1975 printing. It began as the author's doctoral thesis on mysticism, ultimately blending a variety of disciplines into a multifaceted jewel of perception. The preface to this reprint is an account of the author's looking back, with bemusement, at having written the book and the deep ramifications that this had in his life (which included his later explorations with his brother that led to the "Ring of Fire" PBS series about Indonesia). For anyone who enjoys a synergistic blend of science and metaphysics, served with scholarly, yet very spellbinding, prose bordering on poetry, this book is a must.

It takes a few chapters to really enter the world of the old mill village, but then you are hooked on it's cast of fascinating people. We see the community through the eyes of Jimmy, a newcomer to the neighborhood. From the narrator, we are privileged to learn far more about the people of Randleman Road than he ever can. The book is a great look at what becomes of a working class community after the mill closes, something that has happened all over the southeast.

This book was delightful!
Hopefully she will write a sequel.

Most historians, especially Marxist historians, have recognized the great English Revolution of the mid-17ht century, a revolution associated with the name of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans as the first great modern revolution. Moreover, this writer would argue that as with all great revolutions the fate of the English Revolution had many lessons to impart to later generations of revolutionaries. Professor Worden's little book on a specific part of that revolution is filled with such lessons concerning the period that has become known as the rule of the Rump Parliament (1648-53). That is the period from Pride's Purge (the exclusion by the Army of those parliamentarians who wanted to continue to treat with King Charles I despite his various acts of treachery) until the time of the Barebones Parliament and the personal rule of the Army General-in-Chief Cromwell.

The Rump Parliament, as the derogatory designation implies, has not been treated kindly, at least not before Professor Worden's book, at the hands of historians. This nevertheless was a period where dear King Charles I lost his head and scared the crowned heads of Europe out of their wits, leaving them ready for armed intervention against the English revolution. Furthermore, this period, despite confusion about what form of executive power to establish, firmly confirmed the rule of parliament supremacy. However, in retrospect it has also been seen as a sluggish period in the revolutionary saga where no serious reforms were implemented; to the relief of many conservatives and the dismay of the radicals- civilian ones like the Levelers and the various religious sects as well as Army ones, especially in the ranks.

Worden does a fine job of analyzing those conflicts and the basis for those claims of sluggishness. In his hands that reputation for sluggishness is exposed to be false as the work done by this body at that time was as good (if that is the correct word in this context) as any 17th English Parliament as far as dealing with the serious questions of religious toleration, land reform, tax reform, political exclusions, army grievances, extension of the political franchise, law reform and finances. Moreover, in the context of that above-mentioned threat of foreign intervention early in this period it held its own against the internal forces that wanted to make a truce with the European powers.

I have argued elsewhere in this space, in reviewing the books of Professors Hill, Underdown and others who have written about this period, that the shadow of the New Model Army hovers over this whole period. Its periodic interventions into the political events of the time are key to understanding how the revolution unfolded, its limitations and its retreats. There is almost no period where this is truer than the rule of the Rump. Pride's Purge, an army intervention, set the stage for who would govern (and who would not) for the period. The early period of Rump rule, beset by constant military needs in order to defend the Commonwealth is basically an armed truce between civilian and military forces. In the later period of the Rump's rule when there are more dramatic clashes between the Army's needs and attempts to maintain civilian control the balance shifts in the Army's favor. From that point Army rule is decisive. I believe that Army intervention was necessary at the time. Moreover the New Model Army represented the best of the plebian classes that fought for and then defended the revolution. It therefore represented the sole force that could consolidate the gains of the revolution. That it could not retain power over the long haul in the face of a conservative counter-revolution is a separate question for another day. For more insights read about this period read on.

Blair Worden's The Rump Parliament is an exceptionally well researched piece discussing the inception of the Rump, what this body did while in power, and what led to its dissolution by Oliver Cromwell. Dr. Worden discusses the Rump's failures and successes with an insight shared by few of his contemporary historians. This book when read in tandem with Professor David Underdown's Pride's Purge will give the read a full understanding of the political intrigues and infighting which eventually caused this body to be dissolved in favor of the Barebones Parliament

This book is a clear outline of how suburbia took over and imposed a lifestyle on us that I'll bet we didn't want. Do you live in a house that requires you to drive to get anythinq? Even a loaf of bread? The ideas are clear, simple and seem so obvious. An easy read about a very complex subject.

This is the best book available on the problems of sprawl. Preservation Pa.(sponsor of the book) and Hylton recently received a National Trust for Historic Preservation Honor Award for the impact the book has had. The book can be read in 2 hours; the photography is stunning.