Bryan Books

"Jump Back, Honey: The Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar" combines several poems from this beloved African-American poet with illustrations from several different artists: Ashley Bryan, Faith Ringgold, and more. Dunbar (1872-1906) was an expert at writing poems in both a formal "literary" English and in a style that evoked African-American vernacular speech (this second type of poem was known as a "dialect" poem). This book includes excellent examples of both modes. A sample from a "dialect" poem: "Fiddlin' man jes' stop his fiddlin', / Lay his fiddle on de she'f."

I liked how several different visual artists contributed to this book; this gives the book a nice sense of variety. My favorite illustrations include Jerry Pinkney's pictures, which are vibrant with color and energy, and Carole Byard's delicate picture that accompanies "The Sparrow."

These are poems about nature, African-American culture, and the joys of love and family life. This book is an excellent choice for a multicultural children's book collection.

A versatile group of illustrators add flair to Paul Laurence Dunbar's poetry. Faith Ringgold's portrait of Frederick Douglass gives additional power to "Douglass". Jerry Pinkney's illustrations capture the playfulness and sass of "A Negro Love Song"; and "The Colored Band". Both Carole Byard's and Jan Spivey Gilchrist's illustrations add contemporary color and meaning to this anthology. The notes list brief biographical information on Dunbar and some background data on the title of this book. Some facts about the illustrators are also included in this collection of poems. This book can be used for school and church performances and plays.

I, too, have passed copies of this slim book to numerous friends. It was first handed to me by a friend who virtually locked me into a room with orders not to come out until I had read it. I did so, and have re-read it several times since, always to my advantage.

Magee serves Popper well, and one effect has been to encourage me to read several of Popper's own books, also highly recommended.

But most importantly, I have found several of Popper's ideas extremely valuable, notably his views on how science is "done" (that is, the value of theories being proven wrong, which has helped me in my own work in a highly technical field), and his views (in "The Open Society and its Enemies") on the need for dissent if a society is to be able to adapt and grow (which is inherent in Popper's view on science). Magee's book is a brilliant introduction to these ideas.

Very highly recommended, easy to assimilate, stimulating - and not even a long read!

Sir Karl Raimund Popper led a remarkable life, although from most accounts it didn't do much to lend him a sense of humility or good grace. That's as it may be, but it doesn't detract from his tremendous, thought largely forgotten, contributions to Western thought in the last sixty years.

In a country and time where academic discourse is dominated by high-flown and jargonistic theories, Popper's legacy is one that needs to be remembered (in fact, I've loaned this book to several people, and they've all told me that they hadn't realized just how influential his ideas have been). His approach is in the tradition of European liberalism-- Popper was an implacable foe of totalitarianism, mysticism, and absolutism of any sort. As the political left comes more and more to resemble the political right in terms of argumentation and language, it is genuinely refreshing to find that just a short time ago one of the most highly regarded scientist/philosophers of the modern age dedicated his life to fighting for intellectual honesty, academic rigor, and a better life for all of mankind.

Bryan Magee is an engaging philosopher and writer in his own right (this as well as his other books are genuinely fun to read), and does a brilliant job of presenting an accessible and comprehensive overview of Popper's major tenets. From the Open Society to World Three to Scientific Logic, all of Popper's major contributions to the humanities are represented here, and all are eloquently explained-- with extensive use of quotes from Popper's own writings.

The fact that one of the most highly-regarded 20th century philosophers is now virtually unknown-- in spite of the fact that he spent decades fighting against Nazism, fascism, and racism-- is a sad indicator of the strange turns that academic humanist thought has taken in the last couple of decades. At under 150 pages, this is a quick read. But the ideas are timeless, and contain many ideas curiously missing from much of present-day discourse-- from explaining the ways in which each of us view the world in which we live to suggesting ways in which we do our part to provide a better existence for our fellow humans.

I used to hunt a long time ago, but have since grown distant from any need to kill for sport ... so, I was initially rather hesitant about this purchase ... I've had the book for about a week now, gone through it from cover to cover, and must say the hunting element still disturbs me somewhat ... but the subject has been treated in the best possible manner ...

The book is well laid out, with quality paper and colour separation ... the photography is very good, the backdrops & landscapes breath taking ... the dogs themselves are shown at their best ... sharing quiet moments with their human partners ... running, playing and working in water ... and doing that which they excel ... retrieving. A wonderful book for all who love Labradors ... and can keep an open mind about hunting ...

There are alot of labrador picture books, but this is one of the best I've seen. Not only is the photography technically suburb, but the unique ways in which these dogs are portrayed shows you how much Byran loves labs and how much time he spends around them. Mr. Bryan postulates in the intro that people who don't hunt can't really appreciate their lab's full potential. I don't hunt, so our lab is a family dog. But this book allowed me to understand what she's capable of and to appreciate her already fine qualities even more.

The book splains every type of LST's used between 1942 and 2002 with colour arts and full schemes, a good reference for modelers and historians.

The Landing Ship, Tank was a war-winning weapon. Nazi Germany didn't have anything like it and had to seize a port or make do with a barge. Against light resistance, this worked. It wouldn't work against prepared defenses such as the German Atlantic Wall or the determined Imperial Japanese fortified islands from 1943 on.

This Osprey New Vanguard book continues a tradition of excellence. The LST was a British invention, but American industry made it a practical reality. The LST was designed to land heavy equipment over the beach--especially the tank. Prior to the development of specialty landing boats, amphibious assault was conducted with ships' boats, a method that permitted only light weapons deployment. When outside the range of naval gunfire (more importantly, when outside the limited range of communications with the mother vessels) the amphibious soldier was little more than an irritation. Specialty landing craft, both boats and amphibious tractors, permitted landing infantry combat teams with heavy equipment en mass, as coherent units of battalion size or larger. By contrast, parachute infantry had little more than man-portable weaponry and no significant motorized transport (a few air-dropped motorcycles, perhaps), which forced the use of gliders. Even gliders had severe weight restrictions--light airborne "tanks" had virtually no combat utility. Airborne assaults were dependant upon linking up with more heavily-equipped ground troops. An exception was the near disaster of Crete by the German Luftwaffe. The Dieppe Raid proved the need for masses of heavy gear if an independant amphibious assault was to succeed. There was a problem with the little landing craft--they lacked seaworthyness and had to be launched near the objective and loaded up from the mother transport. What the LST accomplished was direct transfer from a friendly port thousands of miles from the objective to the hostile beachhead of the heaviest equipment. Without the LST or something like it, neither Normandy nor the Pacific Islands campaign would have been practical.

The first part of this book covers the history and development quite well. The color plates provide a cross-sectional view as well as paintings of varients such as the mini "aircraft carrier." The latter was capable of launching and recovering modified Army liaison aircraft--in the pre-helicopter days, quite a feat! This was the first I've heard of the Brodie carriers.

Operational history and varients during the 60-year service life of this class of vessels is detailed in the rest of this thin volume. I was surprised to find out that this class of ship is no longer part of the US Navy--I'll have to check because the mission, delivering large quantities of equipment over an unimproved beach, still exists. Today, the improved LSD, LPD, and LHA all feature an internal, floodable dock that can handle large hovercraft or the big LCM, load them safely under all sea conditions, and launch them--so perhaps the LST's day is over. I don't know, but I'm going to find out! The US Marines still can put more combat power ashore than the Army Airborne in the same time (the Airborne can get there quicker, but can't muster much staying power until reinforced by the inadequate air transport fleet), but Marine Corps doctrine has changed from the World War Two frontal assault on a fortified beach to a more subtle "hit them where they ain't" maneuver warfare doctrine proven in Grenada and in the phantom "amphibious assault" on Kuwait during the First Gulf War. Take a look at the complex amphibious operations during the Second Gulf War--too intricate to more than hint at in this format.

The LST was never a perfect solution, merely a workable one. These sturdy work horses were converted to other tasks, and some soldier on in foreign navies. In September, 1979, I made an amphibious assault with Company F, 29th Marines (a reserve unit) from a Norwegian LST somehwere north of the Artic Circle. Now thanks to Osprey, I have pictures of this sea-going workhorse.

Anyone who attempts to read, understand, teach or learn anything about the Gospel of Mark, whether cleric or lay, scholar or non-scholar, MUST read this first. No section, episode or verse should be commented on, interpreted, or even read without the necessary insights of this book. Before we can understand a reading of Mark, we must understand HOW to read Mark. Only after reading this book did I even begin to grasp any other introduction, commentary, or interpretation of the world-changing literary achievement we know today as a gospel. This book unlocks our minds from reading backward through orthodoxy and instead allows a fresh, unbiased reading of what has been unrecognized as a truly literary masterpiece. Mr. Fowler is deserving of any and all accolades he receives for this landmark work of scholarship.

This book is amazing. During the course of writing a master's thesis on Mark, I waded through a LOT of commentaries and this is the only one that I would recommend to the general reader. Here is why: he makes you see so plainly what you almost certainly did not notice before by using simple techniques of literary criticsm to make the text plain. No matter what it takes, hunt this one down.

Forget e-mail! Get a pen and buy some stamps! This beautifully designed postcard box is an object to treasure in itself and the amazing cards inside will inspire you to take pen in hand and rediscover the art of correspondence. Perfect to send to your friends while you're jetsetting around the globe. On the other hand, the cards are so cool you may want to keep them all to yourself so buy two!

I recently bought my own Airstream, and a friend bought this box set for me. I now have several of my favorites up by my desk at work, so that I can daydream traveling the world in it.

The box contains classic photographs from primarily the 1950's and 1960's. Several black and white photos, as well as color ones. The variety of photos and locations on the postcards are very conducive to travel daydreams!

If you have ever owned an Airstream, or have just admired them from afar, this little box of postcards is really a great buy. I plan on keeping the whole box for myself, but maybe I'll buy another box to send to friends while travelling in mine.

I purchased The Lord of The Rings, That Battle For Middle-earth PC and the Prima Official Game Guide this week. The game is everything I had hoped it would be: Challenging, Beautiful, Epic, and just plain fun. If you are huge Real Time Strategy (RTS) fan, the game may not strike a tune with you. Why? The game mechanics are pretty much what you'd expect from any Warcraft inspired RTS: Build Base, Harvest Resources, Build Units, Invade...wash and repeat. But, if you are a Lord of the Rings fan, like I am, you'll love the cinematic battles, dazzling special effects, and "just one more battle" late night gaming sessions!

That being said, the Prima Game Guide is equally impressive. Though not as thick and heavy as the Prima Guide for the Sims2, the Battle For Middle-earth Game Guide is still suprising well done. Each page is in full color, printed on glossy paper, and full of insider tips, unit details, and battle walk-throughs. A fold out map of Middle-earth, also in full color printed on card-stock paper, is included, but, sadly, the map is only sparsely labled and pretty generic. This Prima Game Guide trumps the last one I purchased, the Rome Total War Prima Game Guide, which was printed on cheap paper and entirely in black and white.

In conclusion, I strongly recommend both The Battle For Middle-earth, the PC game, and the Prima Game Guide. Enjoy!

I bought the Battle for Middle Earth without ever having played in RTS games in my life. So, even though I thoroughly enjoyed the game, I had a hard time trying to figure out what was more important to be doing. This guide helped me out tremendously as far as knowing what to build and when, and explaining Powers and Evenstar Powers better, and many other things that I didn't quite understand in the game. It has tons a great pictures and lots of helpful hints and gives you a VERY THOROUGH explanation of all the game elements - which was great to read because I found the manual that came with the game to be very vague and lacking in detail.

Sure, there are walk-throughs with strategies and maps of all the 30-some places you fight your way through, but I haven't looked at those just yet - I like to try and figure things out for myself, but it's nice to know if I keep having trouble, I can go to it.

One thing I love about this book is that it doesn't take away from the thrill of the game by telling you everything you need to do; it just offers strategy suggestions. So, you can read this entire book and know that you haven't been given a complete walk-thru to spoil your fun.

So, if you have found the manual to the game to be very confusing and lacking in detail explaining things and you have never played a RTS (Real-Time Strategy) game before, this is definitely your book and you will not be disappointed.

If you are interested in lost Virginia artchitecture, this is a must-have book. Too bad it's so hard to find, but Amazon finally came through!

Lost architecture has long been a passion of mine: there's something so humbling and bittersweet about buildings that exist now only in memory or on a few frames of precious film. After reading great works on the subject such as Constance Greiff's LOST AMERICA or Larry Millett's LOST TWIN CITIES, I had often complained, "Why isn't there a book like this for my home state?"

I can complain no more. LOST VIRGINIA is here at last!

The book is certainly everything I could have hoped for, combining clear, informative text with beautifully reproduced photos. Hundreds of lost buildings are finally given notice and recognition, from mansions like Rosewell, Barboursville and Pratt's Castle to Rockbridge County's splendid boom hotels (including my favorite long-vanished building, Goshen's Alleghany Hotel).

I can't recommend this book more highly or think of a better gift for any fan of architecture or Virginia history. And since there are many lost buildings yet to be documented, I hope there will some day be a sequel!

This book was very well done. There was a lot of thought put into the photographs. The main subject, Donna was going through extreme chemotherapy and the photgraph captures the pain that she was enduring. It is definitely worth your time and your money. I would definitely recommend this book to lovers of photography.

The coverphoto is impressing and striking: a woman who lost her hair due to chemo, because she had cancer. She lost her battle against this horrible disease. She was a close friend of Bryan's and he dedicated his photobook to her. He photographed only women: celebrities like Shania Twain or Winona Ryder, but also the common girl. The photos are kept black and white and I think, if you take pictures of people, you get the most astonishing result only with black and white. It's a wonderful book.

This book is an excellent source of informations about potato production, it's like being teached in a wonderfull way that brings you to improve the potato production if you follow the proposed technics. If you want to start with the potato cultivation you must read it without doubt!

Bill Dean has spent his professional career both at Universities, Washington State and Michigan State, and the private sector. He has spent years growing and doing research on several different types of spuds. He is well traveled and knows intimately both the scientific, and practical side of growing the potato.

If you need information on growing the potato I'd most certainly buy this book.

p.s. Dad told me all proceeds from his book go toward buying the family cabin in the woods, so your money goes toward a worthy cause.