Curtis Books

This is the best book I have read in years. A must to read. I look forward to more books from this author.

Easy reading. Protrays characters in small town pre war without "rose colored glasses". The book fosues on the characters and how the war changes them. Good war scenes but could have used a few more for those wanting more focus on "historical events". I am looking for a sequel to find out what happens to the characters.

I quite often read an "Edit Book".By that I mean a book that is not written by a author,but a book which is a collection of stuff that someone gathers together,edits it,then gets it published.At times the editor puts a lot into it,but more often acts as an assembler only.In fact they often seem like they have been assembled by a bunch of staff "researchers" and without any object except to produce a certain number of pages.The first book I wrote an Amazon review was such a book by the same editor.I wrote the review on August 11,2003,gave it only 1 Star,and remain the one and only reviewer.When I started to read this book,I noted that there had been no reviews to date,even though it was published in 2002.Halfway through,I realized it was by the same editor.
Surprisingly,I really liked this book.In a similar way,there could have been any number of quotes chosen;but the Presidents were all included and in order.In that way it is quite a historical endeavor.
A couple of things come out in this book.
First,and for obvious reasons,a book like this shows that the guiding principles of the Presidents have never wavered,despite their personalities or the issues and things they faced.I can't imagine that would be popssible with any other country.
Secondly,the US was a country formed by the people and for the people,a Republic with 3 branches of government.This results in the President being the President of all the people;instead of the leader of a political party.This contrasts with every other country,including mine,Canada.The US gains immensely from this.
Thirdly,as you read the quotes from each president,you will see the same principles emerge;Liberty,Freedom,Equality,Desire for Peace,Willingness to help others,Desire to improve,No desire to dominate others,Government role is to serve the people rather than for the people to serve the government.
I think it is too bad that there were not comments included on the dust jacket by others.Instead, the easy way out was taken and lines from the Presidents were used.

I have never met Bob Guge but I have taken a woodcarving class taught by one of his students, Steve Schumacher in Nebraska. Steve taught us to carve meadowlarks using Guge's techniques. I entered mine in our county fair the following summer and won a first place blue ribbon. Then, just today at a woodcarving show in Sacramento I saw a meadowlark priced at $600 and it wasn't nearly as good as mine! (Okay, so maybe I'm just a wee bit prejudiced.) On the advice of my Nebraska teacher, I bought this book on how Bob Guge carves and paints a cardinal. Both my husband and I refer to it frequently because it covers basics that can we can also apply to birds other than cardinals. Guge's book covers painting in great detail, it shows how to prime your bird and then to use multiple layers of acrylic washes to build up your color. My husband got so interested in cardinals after reading this book that he has now carved two cardinals and has learned to make bird legs and feet rather than buying the pewter ones. This book is well worth your money!

Jim Sprankle, a carver of exceptional caliber, leads the reader through a step-by-step process in transforming a lifeless block of wood into a life-like work of art. No detail is left unmentioned, and the photographs provide a close-up view of the intricate carving and painting that make Sprankle's work highly prized. Every waterfowl carver should have this book in his/her personal library.

The channeling companion has some new relions and a few new professions but not many. There are alot of new training packages and spells included in this companion. If you like playing priests or other religious characters then the channeling companion is a MUST.

How could a woman not love this story!!! It's very sweet and shows how 'love' is often at first sight -(how we sum up a guy we like in 3 minutes), and also, how setting a good example can bring out the best in others. I very much liked this story, but I always like happy endings (and a sweet romance doesn't hurt a bit!). Thanks, Jack!

Cider with Rosie is about Laurie Lee's boyhood in a small village in Gloucestershire, England in the late teens and early twenties of this century. It is not only the shared nostalgia most of us have for our early years that gives this book it's poignancy, but the quality of the writing itself. It has been described as a 'prose poem that flashes and winks', and certainly most people I know who've read it have been moved and delighted by the writing. If you liked 'Dandelion Wine' by Ray Bradbury then try this, and see what you've been missing.

As the world turns into a global entity, the United States has becomes a bona fide metropolitan nation. The 1990 census painted the picture of this accelerated pace of urbanization in striking numerical colors: Slightly more than 50 percent of us live in the 39 U.S. metropolitan areas with populations of more than a million people. By contrast,the mid-20th century census uncovered only 30 percent of the U.S. population living in 14 metro areas with million-plus populations.

But citistate realities don't just apply to the larger regions -- the New Yorks, Los Angeles, Chicagos, Bostons of America, the Berlins, Londons, Hong Kongs, Shanghais of the globe. All metropolitan regions face stiff competition and challenges. Include the United States' metro regions under 1 million people and the count exceeds 80 percent of the nation's people.

To put a human face on this fast-paced urbanization, three members of the Citistates Group -- Neal Peirce, Curtis Johnson and John Stuart Hall-- coined the new term "citistates." In their words, citistates are "not just the center city, but the entire metropolitan region - the 'real city' made up of center city, inner and outer suburbs, and rural hinterland so clearly and intimately interconnected in geography, environment, work force, and surely a shared economic and social future."

The transformation is apparent across the Atlantic, where Europeans have begun to describe their continent as a hodgepodge of powerful citistates -- from Manchester to Stuttgart, Lyon to London, Milan to Marseilles. Like U.S. citistates, these metropolitan regions are making economic and cultural transactions with little regard to their own nation-state governments.

The Citistates Group associates see a shift in thinking from the familiar governmental paradigm -- federal-state-local -- to one focused on function: global-regional-neighborhood.

* Global because critical issues have worldwide implications -- global warming, economic restructuring, rapid global market repercussions.

* Regional because the metropolitan areas, or citistates, share areawide transportation systems, media outlets, medical assistance, goods, services, even crime. Peirce argues that the success of the regional system -- on every measure from workforce preparedness to the quality of the infrastructure -- determines how competitive and successful the citistate will be for all its citizens in the long run.

* Neighborhood because it is on the personal, community level that escalating U.S. social problems can ultimately be dealt with.

Citistates includes six case studies based on Peirce Reports for the leading newspapers in Phoenix, Seattle, Baltimore, Dallas, St. Paul and Owensboro, Ky. These popularly written analyses examine each region's special problems and suggest potential solutions tailored to the local situation. The goal in each series is to identify ways out of a region's dilemmas by tapping civic energies -- forward-thinking talents and skills in business, civic, academic sectors -- to create a more sustainable citistate in the next century.

In his review of the book, George Knight, executive director of Neighborhood Reinvestment, took note of the role of neighborhoods in civic renewal. "Peirce gives full credit to community-based development organizations for revitalizing some of America's most devastated neighborhoods."

The book's wind-up chapter includes an 8-point formula for "citistate cohesiveness and strength." -- Craig Anthony Thomas, Senior Research Associate, The Citistates Group

As a professional photographer, I love to look at architecture books. This one is truly gorgeous. I haven't read all the writings accompanying the photos but the few I've read (such as the one by Campbell, Boston Globe critic) are excellent.