Cohen Books

I am the illustrator of this book. Both myself and the author, Judith were hurt by this School Library Journal Review. It seems that the reviewer has forgotten how to look at a book as a child might, and instead goes on a personal rant against this "type" of book. She also obviously has a negative bias against digital artwork, some of which took me several weeks to produce. First off, The critique on the writing is absurd. Those forced alliterations were "tongue-in-cheek," planned that way to kick off each chapter. What better way to open a chapter then with a romanticized description and an art piece that was more painterly and more finished (her idea of inconsistent)? The creature pages will capture your child's imagination-I guarantee! As for the proportions of the character on the spread she mentions-I admit I do not go for strait out photo-realism. Their clothes look strange because it was a scene from the 60's and some clothing was worn tightly.

This is some of my best work, and I stand by it. The Kracken scene alone took an entire week (unfortunately, it is obscured by a design back pane). Another great thing about this book is that it is bold in a time of "plain vanilla" art and writing. This book shows the creatures of legend in the exact way they were feared and perceived. Mermaids were beautiful and terrifying. Jenny Greenteeth will delight and chill.

-Just a different perspective, from a source "close" to the project
By the way, this book won the 2007 Children's Choice Award from the International Reading Association, which is an honor

According to Hermann Cohen's philosophy, religion is not mythology. What differentiates religion from mythology is religion's concern with ethics. Ethics have their grounding in the rational side of human existence and therefore religion is better grounded in reason than mythology is. Polytheism constitutes the viewing of each natural phenomenon as a different god. Monotheism consists of viewing God as being comprised of almost everything in the universe and is therefore closely related to pantheism. However monotheism is not identical with pantheism. Monotheism only posits a unity of God, not a complete unity of the cosmos. God is not sluggish. Unity of the cosmos is an as-yet unfulfilled goal of God's. One of God's means for fulfilling this goal is the love of human beings for one another. Both God and Man possess spirit, goodness, and holiness but Man does not possess them to the same extent that God does. God is in a state of being and Man is in a state of becoming. Elements that polytheistic religions assign to the realm of chance or fate are assigned to the realm of law and salvation by monotheistic religions. Reconciliation between God and Man is an important element of monotheism. Salvation is liberation from sin and at the same time emancipation from suffering. This constitutes Jewish Messianism. Such Messianism is oriented toward a future golden age where religious socialism shall triumph.

--Peter R. Erspamer, Rochester Community and Technical College, MN

Recipes from a French Country Kitchen is by far the best and most used cookbook in my kitchen. I have many cookbooks, by well-known chefs, by well-known virtual persons (Betty Crocker), but this is the one I use the most. Anyone who enjoys a little traditional French cooking should have this one on her/his shelf. I particularly enjoy the Pear and Almond Cream Tart - in which I substitute apples for pears - I have done the Clafoutis aux Cerises (just like in my childhood), the crepes, the creme caramel, the scalloped potatoes is the only form of potatoes my son eats, the zuchini and tomato bake is a weekly event during the summer months.

It is amazing the proportion of recipes we do out of this book. I have just bought 6 for Christmas presents.

Sincerely, Denis Oudard.

One of my oldest cookbooks, but still a great favorite. I have yet to make anything that wasn't scrumptious. The author worked for a store named Kitchen Bazaar, and collected and tested numerous recipes to compile this selection -- sort of a well-tested community cookbook comprised of tried-and-true favorites written as clearly as possible. Absolutely wonderful recipes, and the author seems like a warm, kind person you'd love to know. Highest recommendation!

This book offers a wonderfully friendly doorway for learning directly from nature how life can work in balance and harmony. At times it may seem disconcerting to realize how disconnected our cultural ways are from the innate perfection of the natural world and for it to sink in that we as humans are simply not in charge of life, despite how much we wish we could be or how hard we try to be. At the same time it is immensely refreshing to realize just why so many things in our society and our lives don't work and to see how unnecessary so much of our distress is. It shows us there is another way.

'The Record Men', published on the 50th anniverary of Chess Records, is a fabulous piece of business literature. It tells the story of Leonard Chess, the Jewish founder of chess records - 'rude, comical, vulgar - but when you shook his hand, you knew he had met someone', who hit upon a new music - the black musicians such as Muddy Waters, with their sound steeped in the lore and culture and poverty of their background. From rough, humble origins in the hard, spit and sawdust Macomba Lounge in Chicago (which eventually burned down), Chess hit the road and hustled, persuaded and cajoled his way into building up Chess Records, an independent label with the freshness and creative freedom to outsmart the big majors when it came from picking up the sounds from the street and recording them low budget.

It is appropriate then, that 'The Record Men' was published by small independent publisher Profile Books in the UK. Profile, with their alternative fiction imprint 'Serpent's Tail' are a fantastic small publisher with their intellectual noses close to the cultural zeitgeist. They can pick up on books that the big boys such as Random House and Harper Collins overlook - their ethos very much in the vein of Leonard Chess and his small time hustle leading to great success.

And finally, a word about the style - Rich Cohen, an editor for 'Rolling Stone', writes in what almost seems like a pastiche of the American hard men - Steinbeck, Hemingway, with a hint of Woody Allen in movies such as 'Sweet and Lowdown'. It is fantastic. Cohen has a slick, streetwise voice with a cool ear for dialogue and a sharp eye for metaphor, for example, his description of the musician who plays hard, with his jacket 'frankensteining up his arms'. His writing is steeped in a love of American culture, and popular music - a culture emerging from the speakeasy, the jazz era, the mob. At times, this is almost too overdone, so it comes across as the kind of hardboiled prose cooked up to appeal to the escapist desires of middle class straphangers, but mostly, it is the genuine article -you can almost taste the sweat pouring off the musicians during their late night recording sessions. For anyone who is tired with mass market books, who finds much of the non fiction (and fiction) prose published these days stale and flat, grab a copy of 'The Record Men'. It is a fine, zesty tonic that will revitalise your interest in business, in non-fiction - it could even fire up your passion for life again.

Nurse (Sister Carmichael) always gets the 'bad guys'...at least, those interfering with her patients, with her personally, or with those people she's grown fond of. In my opinion, it's Anthea Cohen's best novel. This time, instead of working in her usual hospital capacity, Sister Carmichael is hired as a private nurse for British nobility. And like so many in high places, there are skeletons in their closet which threaten to destroy life for those around her. A fun read!

Artie Cohen is a worthy addition to the pantheon of cynical and brilliant urban detectives both in love with and in rebellion and rejection against his city. For Artie it is New York: not the glitter, but the grime, the ethnic Russian enclaves, the crime worlds and the worlds of working artists and writers. Nadelson suffuses this book with the gripping sense of dread matched only by Arkady Renko's Russia or Smiley's Berlin at their darkest. The diffused sense of distrust: who is a friend? who is a murderer? is someone - worst of all - both? is electrifying and effective. Balanced against this drama is the pull of a new marriage, new family, a hope of normalcy and faith in a wounded city. We admire Artie, we fear for him, we hope he makes healthy choices - and most of all: we immediately order the rest of his saga!

I've had this book for some years now and it's one of the best pure "browsing" art books around - lots of excellent plates and solid commentaries. It's like a taking a virtual tour of two fantastic museums from the comfort of one's lap. When it comes to art, the French are our friends!

Joel Cohen, director of the Boston Camerata, wrote this enjoyable book on the development of the early music movement. It's interesting to compare the state of affairs then and now--who'd have thought we'd have a quarterly magazine on nothing but early music in the chain bookstores? The book ends with many fine and charming photographs of some of the performers of early music.