Clark Books

I have a one year old and I have been reading her Baby Einstein "Animal Homes". I love this book and so I took a chance on this one, "What does Violet See? Birds and Nests". I absolutely love this. First of all, it captures my little one's attention as from the beginning I have been taking her on walks to see birds and nests and listen to the sounds of nature. She loves the real pictures at the end of the book, the close up of all the animals when violet uses her binoculars, and she loves touching the realistic feather at the end. Job well done.

My son has always loved Violet and her adventures. This book is colorful, interesting and includes real photos at the end. My son is 5 now, and when he chooses his books he still brings me the ones about Violet!

Violet loves looking at birds and their nests through her binoculars - and loves photographing what she finds!

My 18 month old daughter adores the Baby Einstein books and this is the newest addition to our growing collection, and our first of the Violet "series".

The way the actual photographs of birds and nests are encorporated into the story (as pictures that Violet takes with her trusty camera) is wonderful. I especially love the "touch and feel" feather toward the end (my daughter likes to 'scratch' it)...a pleasant surprise as none of our other Baby Einstein books have this feature.

But I particularly love Nadeem Zaidi's vivid/bold illustrations, which I believe is the key to the success of the Baby Einstein books (in the eyes of the youngsters who adore them). My daughter loves to point to the pictures as we read to her and she enjoys trying to read this story back to Mommy & Daddy (pointing at pictures while she babbles and turns the pages)). This is one of her new favorite stories - it is one of three books accompanying us on our upcoming airplane trip (and we've got hundreds of books to choose from)!

I am anxious to see the other Violet books as this one is definitely a keeper!

As a student of the Overland experience and a resident near the original trail in Nevada County I was just fascinated by this wonderful account. I wholeheartedly recommend this book and have given it as a gift to other early West enthusiasts.

Edwin Bryant's work is a classic not only of overland travel in 1846 but also of life in early California during the same time period.
The Kentucky newspaperman's writing style approaches poetic composition. He was a keen observer of every minute detail on the trail and when in California:
Geography; Indians; weather; describing the many people along the route; river fordings; acting the part of doctor to the many ailing emigrants; traveling with the Donner party; he and a handful of men separating from the main wagon train in Fort Laramie to go it alone; the perils, mishaps, hazards and beauty of the trail; meeting several celebrated individuals including Joseph Walker, Fremont, Sublette, Hastings, Hudspeth and Kearney to mention a few.
When in California, Bryant walked right into the United States' conquest of California from Mexico. He was a volunteer in Fremont's army to thwart insurgents. These and other timely events are well depicted. Bryant's description of what happened in the horrific Donner party expedition are piercing.
This is an exceptional book and highly recommended for enthusiasts of the early west.

In his own words Bryant describes his life on a wagon train going to California from the East Coast. If Bryant had a fault, it was that he too descriptive of the trail and events on the trail! If this wasn't enough, he was a doctor of the day, well, in his words, "Almost a Doctor." He was going to California to complete his studies. Like any good intern, he kept notes of who he treated on the trail and how he treated them. Also, being a bachelor, he was invited by the father of an eligible daughter to travel with them, "to let nature run it's course." This book should be a text book on the high school or the collegiate level.

So Sweet for the little one's. This book tells what God has done for us and written so the children can understand with beautiful pictures. Every one with small children should have a copy to read to their children. I am a grandmother and I enjoyed it. You don't need to be a child to enjoy Why I Love You God and Sister for Sale. We all still have some kid in us. LOVED both Books.

This is one of the sweetest books I've ever read. It's perfect for little ones--and just the right size. Be sure to get add it to your library!

This is such a sweet board book. I loved it! I can't wait to read it to my grandbaby who will be born in August. In this rhyming book, a child lists all of the reasons to love God, such as: roses that smell good to noses and raindrops and popcorn that pops. It's a very special book that would make a wonderful addition to any church nursery, as well as a delightful gift for the little ones in your life. Get this book. You won't be sorry.

Also recommended: "Sister For Sale"

I really enjoyed this book. It was written by one of the top historians on the subject and it gives an overview of the witch trials in Europe and why they occurred. It is easy to read and informational.

THE PERIOD OF THE WITCH TRIALS is the 4th and last volume to be published in the six-volume series edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark `Witchcraft and Magic in Europe'. In some respects, I found this volume a small disappointment as it's thinner and less interesting than earlier volumes about `Biblical and Pagan' societies and `Ancient Greece and Rome' which relied heavily on archeological work. Still, the book contains first class scholarship and tells an important part of the total story. The volume includes several essays.

Part 1. "Witch Trials in Continental Europe" investigates the secular record of the "trials" legal and otherwise that took place in Germany, France and the Mediterranean. William Monter suggests that since the 16th Century, many scholars have attempted to understand and explain the "witch burnings" which racked Europe in early modern times. He suggests while it is incredibly difficult to decipher the "mind of a different age" it is impossible not to link the burnings in the 16th Century with major developments of the age including the Reformation, counter-Reformation, and various political changes.

Monter suggests a major criticism of Luther and Calvin regarding the church of Rome was that it tolerated "pagan" behavior. Early Christian theologians like Augustine linked the devil with witchcraft (from whom witches were thought to draw their power), but from the perspective of the reformers the church had not done an adequate job of acting on this information. The Catholic Church held that not believing in the devil was heresy and the church tried people for heresy--not witchcraft per se.

Monter compares the relative moderation of the tribunals of the Mediterranean Inquisitions with the secular jurisprudence of central, southern and western Europe. He says that during this period "diabolical witchcraft" became a criminal offense meaning an activity involving secular government. People were tried for witchcraft by secular governments but seldom executed. Monter suggests most of the witch burning took place in villages where neither the secular government or the church had absolute control, and these villages (both Protestant and Catholic) tended to be East of the Rhine.

Part 2. "Witch Trials in Northern Europe" covers the Netherlands, Scandinavia, UK, and Iceland. Expanding on Monter's essay, Ankarloo describes the judicial revolution that took place in the northern and western Europe. He suggests that during this period jurisprudence moved from an "accusatorial" to an "inquisitorial" position. The Humanist movement "enlightened" the judges who would not punish someone unless it could be shown that the accused had harmed another. Ankarloo also suggests that the notion that people burned for witchcraft were old crones is mistaken. At the early part of the witch burnings more men than women were executed and many of the victims of were children. In fact, the victims at Salem in the New World represent a good cross-section of who was executed for witchcraft in the latter part of the period.

Part 3. "Witchcraft and Magic in Early Modern Culture" is most interesting from my perspective. Stuart Clark explores the concept of magic in the early modern period and divides it into three categories. He says evidence exists that "popular" magic was practiced by many people from all walks of life and involved healing and love potions and charms and curses. Another type of magic was "demonology" which the church connected to the power of the devil. The third category was "intellectual magic" which interested Francis Bacon and others associated with Renaissance thinking.

Clark includes a discussion about conflicting views concerning the connection between intellectual magic and the scientific revolution. He then goes onto discuss the politics of witchcraft, including the connection between magic and the exercise of power. Queen Elizabeth and other rulers of the age understood how magic could be used to support the concept of divine right, a notion salient in Europe until recently. The last essay alone is worth the price of the book.

Collaboratively compiled and edited by Bengt Ankarloo and Stuart Clark, Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Period Of The Witch Trials is a scholarly examination and analysis of supernatural beliefs in Europe with an especial focus on the prosecutions for the crime of witchcraft, which were most frequent during the fifteenth through seventeenth centuries. Examining witch hunts, methods of torture, historical incidents, and how beliefs in witchcraft, magic, and demonology affected European culture, Witchcraft And Magic In Europe is an informed and informative amalgamation of history and interpretation. Also very highly recommended are the University of Pennsylvania Press companion titles: Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: Biblical And Pagan Societies; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: Ancient Greece And Rome; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Middle Ages; Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Eighteenth And Nineteenth Centuries; and Witchcraft And Magic In Europe: The Twentieth Century.

Among corporate writing consultants, Lee Clark Johns is the real article, and so is her book THE WRITING COACH. The same pioneering spirit that drove her to co-found the Association of Professional Communication Consultants drives this lean, workbook-style guide, off the beaten path of content-centricity and onto the heady road of strategic thinking. Like Volkswagen's, her motto seems to be "Drivers wanted."

I love THE WRITING COACH because it recognizes that writing is a skill, not a content area. As we look over her shoulder at real-world samples, we see how the good writers do it--their organization, diction, formatting. Instead of spouting unhelpful advice like "Write in a language your reader understands," Johns takes us inside the labs, offices, and boardrooms to show us how many readers a single message can have, what languages they share and don't share, and how to reach them all in a single document.

Johns can take us there because she has been there, as a consultant for 25 years. Students, their brains clogged with academic-speak, hear the difference. Her streamlined, muscular style practices what it preaches. Even if, like mine, your department mandates another textbook, THE WRITING COACH makes a great, affordable supplement. I've ordered the books for next semester's BCOM students as, among other things, a collection of authentic sample documents and exercises I won't have to forage for or try to fake myself--and a book they will certainly want to keep and use. Thanks, Lee, for a smart, empowering guide I plan to wear completely out.

This large-format book, by a leading writing consultant, is dedicated "to everyone who `writes for a living'-which means almost all working adults." It's on the short list of recommended resources in my book The McGraw-Hill 36-Hour Course in Business Writing and Communication, and supplements that book very well. I recommend it highly to all business writers.

The introduction to The Writing Coach is inspiring. Lee Clark Johns is enthusiastic about her subject. She treats her subject with the care and skill of a fine novelist. She involves the reader in the subject matter from the very beginning and then leads the way to a great adventure for the business writing community. She adds just enough humor in sample writings to keep smiles on student faces. For those of us who are involved in the honorable profession of teaching English, an enthusiastic and inspired author becomes a silent team teaching member. Lee Clark Johns is just such an author in The Writing Coach.

The material is pertinent to current business trends. Exercises present examples of documents from real world, office situations (some of them are quite funny and others leave the reader aghast, see page 13 memo) and challenge the learner to rewrite/reorganize the document to meet more current standards or more appropriate standards. These exercises are excellent in that they present learners with what not to do and then lead them to what they should do in a business-writing situation

The Writing Coach content is current and up to date. It addresses issues with which the business community is confronted every day, and it demonstrates the techniques necessary to conquer these issues with aplomb.

The Writing Coach has something for everyone and would definitely be an asset to my teaching library. I am pleased to have had the opportunity to meet Lee Clark Johns in the pages of this wonderful book.

Love the pictures. Great story, a perspective not heard much about. Read aloud with your Lewis and Clark unit.

An overlooked character is given a very three dimensional portrait in this book. The book should be given credit for portraying all the people in the expedition what is most likely a more honest rendering (ie, that Lewis and Clark both owned slaves, weren't always kind to them, and that at the end of his life, York was not treated very fairly by Clark, and the two parted company in a sour way.) The expedition is presented in a way that is easy to follow, and with a historical perspective not typically seen in childrens book.

Rhoda Blumberg's YORK'S ADVENTURES WITH LEWIS AND CLARK: An African-American's Part in the Great Expedition, cries out for an Oprah spotlight. Blumberg painstakingly and faithfully recreates how York worked, starved, sweated, suffered, and trailblazed alongside Lewis, Clark, Sacagawea (one of several slaves married to one of the expedition's interpreters, rough-and-tumble Toussaint Charbonneau), and the rest of the crew. A phenomenal human story and a tragic lesson of how prejudice causes society to undervalue a great man's contributions to American and world history.

I have been teaching in introduction to theology and systematic theology course for the past half decade, and if there is one deficit that I find fairly common among the students, it is a lack of knowledge about philosophy. Once upon a time, a young man going to seminary would have a background in liberal arts with a thorough grounding in the basics of philosophy - things have changed! Many seminary students are second-career, having had business or career-oriented educations, and every little philosophy along the way. This text is a very welcome resource for those students, as well as students who do have a background in philosophy, as a ready reference.

This is a book of philosophy terms - specifically theological terms are not covered save insofar as they are direct cross-over terms to theology. There are entries for key philosophers (Descartes, Heidegger, Hume, etc.) and key philosophical topics (ethics, metaphysics, etc.), as well as philosophical schools. Natural theology is covered - this was a topic in philosophy; hermeneutics is a cross-over term that gets dealt with in different ways.

One might quibble with some of the choices here, but for 101 topics in 100 pages, there will necessarily be omissions -- being interested in hermeneutics and Paul Ricoeur, I was sorry to not see Ricoeur's name in the book, mentioned in the topic, or referenced in the back; similarly, having a major entry for Feuerbach but no entry for Kant might be something I would change. However, these are minor concerns that those with more philosophical education would express; from the standpoint of the student and new learner, these are not major problems by any means.

There is a cross-reference index at the back that is handy; similarly, terms throughout the dictionary are marked with asterisks to indicate major entries, and related entries are listed at the bottom of most definitions. This book stands in the line between a dictionary and an encyclopedia of terms; more substantial than dictionary entries generally, they stop short of being complete essays on the topics. The bibliographic references are a wonderful guide to further reading and research, which helps the reader go beyond this text.

The authors, teaching at Calvin College and Gordon-Conwell Seminary, take a broadly ecumenical and objective approach to the terms, so this will be of use to students and readers Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant.

This book is a useful resource and a reference work. The book is a compendium of 101 philosophical terms that are of particular relevance for anyone who is interested in theology. It is probably not the most comprehensive list of those terms, but all the references are very well written and intelligible. I think it will be particularly useful to people who study and read theological works on their own. Even in the age of Internet and easy access to information, it is still good to have all the terms covered in a single accessible book.

Since my niece became a new mommie, she shared this book with me. It is a fabulous collection of ideas to put the "quality" into quality time with the kids. Since I have found this treasure, it has become an item I love to include with my gift for baby showers. Don't pass this up!

This book is an incredible resource of creative, interactive ideas for activities to do with children of all ages. The activities are designed to take advantage of materials parents already have on hand, and they require very little preparation time. The book clearly shows how such diverse activities for children can assist them to build skills as leaders and organizers, develop their creative thinking and help them to become capable game masters.

This book is full of wonderful recipes. I have not had one fail on me. The pictures help clarify what the ingredients are, how to folow certain steps and what the final dish looks like.

This is a book well worth buying.

This book is full of easy to prepare and visually pleasing dishes. Great for impressing dinner guests.

This is a masterful political and economic study of the Revolution, from the point of view of a Signer of the Declaration of Independence who was an advocate of the middle and working classes. It contains economic, social and political ideas still worth considering. Abraham Clark represents a proud and unique tradition in America in which the idea of equality is central. He feared tyranny in the form of the wealthy gaining power over the poor, and institutions over the individual. As the author states, he fought every form of privilege: social, military, economic or political. His economic vision and ability made him a major player in shaping our new country.

This is a masterful study of the political and economic undercurrents of the American Revolution. Abraham Clark, a Signer of the Declaration of Independence from New Jersey, was an advocate for the middle and working classes. He fought against privilege in every form, often pitting himself against the most powerful, and wealthy, leaders of the Revolution. He feared that America would establish a country in which the domination of the poor by the wealthy would continue. He was also concerned that "new sources of tyranny" would "arise from American centers of power." His economic ideas and initiatives centered on "leveling the playing field" and are still worth considering. Most of his work was in this area, both on the national and state level. Called an "excentric genius" by one of his enemies, Clark's actions were extremely popular among the people of his district. He was held publicly accountable for every major bill which passed during his tenure in the state legislature. As a member of Congress, he was an ardent supporter of James Madison's policies and measures in the area of commerce.